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Rick Perry: September 15, 2011 - " The bigger issue is that you’re never going to have a conversation that is anything more than an intellectual exercise about immigration until you secure the border. That is what we must focus on as a country. I do not agree that building a 1,800-mile barrier is thoughtful. It’s an easy answer. I think it’s a cop out for anyone who’s actually been on the border. It’s like building a wall from Bangor, Maine to Miami, Florida. What does work is strategic fencing in your metropolitan areas, having the boots on the ground. We are woefully understaffed on that border.

We have the technology. Predator drones are being flown in United States air space as we speak. Why not fly those from Brownsville, Texas, to El Paso and to Tijuana and back and use that real-time information for local law enforcement, our state law enforcement and our federal counterparts? That’s how you thoughtfully secure that border, and then you can have a discussion about what type of immigration reform we want to consider as a country. But not until then. Too many times, we’ve been told, if we’ll just pass this immigration reform then we’ll secure the border. And it hasn’t happened...."

Gov. Perry is the top executive of a border state that has a 1250 mile INTERNATIONAL border that he's repeatedly asked help to secure (even tried to personally hand Obama a letter detailing the problem and asking for federal help as Obama exited Air Force One on a fundraiser to Austin, TX. A letter that he would not take and that Valerie Jarret accepted in a dismissive gesture on the tarmac).

The state of Texas spends $100M yearly from state funds, using among other things an elite Texas Ranger force to try to secure our long border with Mexico. Rick Perry wants and has asked for drones in the air and boots on the ground (but not a fence except in urban areas where it helps).

The Federal government with it's social engineering, it's public school "don't ask for a child's U.S. citizen status" dictate, and their continued inaction on this, have put Texas in the position of resorting to working the problem as it relates to the state. So the children of illegal immigrants who have attended a minimum 3 years of high school in Texas and graduated (who want go on the college) - who are working toward citizenship, they are allowed to pay in-state tuition. This makes them more likely to contribute to the state economy than take from it. This is a big help because Texas pays a lot of money on education and health care costs due to the current federal inaction of securing the border.

I think a President Perry would have the brains and fortitude and the credibility, to finally do something about this -- no one else will. Gov. Perry has said that the border MUST BE SEALED before any talk of "where do we go next" will take place -- he said he will not repeat the cycle that keeps occurring. Gov. Perry also said in the Reagan Library debate that, "If President Obama thinks El Paso, Texas is safer today (which Obama said at a rally during a fund raising trip to the Mexican border town), either he has the worst Intel ever, or he is an abject liar."

Border related crime is a big problem for Texas (for the nation) -- it cost us money and it is a human tragedy of immense scale (crime, human trafficking, drug trafficking...)