Rick Perry Claims Obama Encourages Unauthorized Immigration By Minors

WASHINGTON -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry accused the Obama administration last week of skirting its immigration enforcement duties to the point of encouraging undocumented minors to illegally cross the border to the United States.

"This is precisely what happens when the federal government refuses to recognize its responsibility for our nation's immigration and border security ... Inaction encourages other minors to place themselves in extremely dangerous situations," Perry wrote Friday in a letter addressed to President Barack Obama, first
reported by Fox News on Monday.

Perry, who ended his bid for the Republican presidential nomination in January, is one of many Republicans who says the Obama administration is failing to police the border and unauthorized immigration in general. It's part of an odd conflict for the administration, which deported a record number of people last year but is still accused by the right of failing to enforce the law.

As a candidate, Perry attacked the president in December 2011 after a report that the federal government would reduce the number of National Guard troops along the southwest border from 1,200 to about 300, while Perry wanted an additional 1,000 National Guard members on the Texas-Mexico border. He claimed during his campaign that the state spent $400 million sending Texas Rangers to the border -- a statement Politifact Texas found to be false.

The National Guard troops were always considered a temporary solution as Customs and Border Protection, part of the Department of Homeland Security, staffed up by about 1,200 agents. The administration began to remove troops from the border in April.

At the same time, the administration has sent a record number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel to the border and upped the number of Border Patrol agents by 11,000 since 2004, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano told the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 25.

Perry's letter requests an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security into the number of undocumented minors entering the United States, and how many are being deported. Perry contends that these unaccompanied minors create a significant cost to taxpayers, in part because of health care.

He wrote that 5,200 unaccompanied minors entered the United States illegally in the first half of the 2012 fiscal year, citing "reports." The figure appears in an Associated Press report on April 28 about the surge of undocumented young people entering the United States alone.

Although DHS picks up the undocumented minors, they are then transferred to Office of Refugee Resettlement in the Department of Health and Human Services. The agency is caring at any given time for about 2,100 unaccompanied minors who are in the country without authorization, according to the AP.

Neither DHS nor HHS gave an official comment on the letter, each referring questions to the other.

Perry writes that unaccompanied minors could be subject to violence while crossing the border.

"Every day of delay risks more lives," he wrote. "Every child allowed to remain encourages hundreds more to attempt the journey."

The full Perry letter, posted to Scribd by Matthew Keys of Reuters:

Gov. Rick Perry accuses Pres. Obama for perceived rise in illegal immigrant children

Comments

[D nice]

01:07 AM on 05/19/2012

and the proof of his claim is that Deportations Of Immigrants Hits Record Number Under Obama. The proof is also that illegal immigration is lower now under Obama than it is under someone Bush. Yeah Obama is encouraging immigration

[ronin8404]

09:47 AM on 05/15/2012

The IQ challenged Gov. speaks!

The man's inanity knows no bounds.

[terribletwo2]

09:29 PM on 05/09/2012

I support immigration. So what if they have drugs? Some females have drugs, does that mean we should ban them from the country?

[Dham4201]

12:16 PM on 05/09/2012

Mass deportation of all 11 million aliens is a measure so draconian and unAmerican and would tear so many lives and families apart that the day we see a measure like that will be the day of the Second American Revolution. Not to mention that prices of produce will skyrocket - anyone want to pay $10 for a head of lettuce - wonder if you'll be able to buy that with food stamps used by 46 million Americans. Yeah, it'll open up jobs, jobs that Americans don't really want to do, and the companies employing them will tank as prices go up since they actually will have to pay decent, liveable wages.

[Brobdingnag]

02:05 AM on 05/09/2012

By minors? Obama encourages unauthorized immigration by *every* foreign national. Here's some of the many ways how:

1) wants to give amnesty to almost every unlawfully present person

2) the "Morton memo": order to close cases of illegal aliens already in the enforcement system and allow them to apply for work permit

3) pushing an enforcement priority of only certain categories of illegal aliens not yet in the enforcement system = de facto protected status for vast majority of unlawfully present

4) worksite raids minimized; when employers busted, no legal consequence for the illegal workers (free to go be illegally hired somewhere else (sometimes back at the same employer!) or given work permit

5) slash funding for existing 287(g) programs; no new 287(g) contracts

6) weaken Secure Communities by penalizing local law enforcement agencies that identify too many illegal and criminal immigrants through Secure Communities.

7) sue states in an attempt to prevent them from inquiring with ICE over whether a person is unlawfully present even though a federal statute already REQUIRES the federal government to do so.

8) opposes E-Verify (checking to see if a job applicant is a citizen or legal resident)

[Syllogizer]

10:59 AM on 05/09/2012

Not a word you wrote is true. Except that he opposes E-verify -- which is the right thing to do. E-Verify is a huge mess that creates more problems than it solves. It is a perfect example of the well-known computer principle GIGO -- garbage in, garbage out. But since people rely on its accuracy to get and keep jobs, yes, it is a huge mess.

[Brobdingnag]

08:29 PM on 05/09/2012

"Not a word you wrote is true."

Says the person who did not refute a single word.

[ronin8404]

09:43 AM on 05/15/2012

So what you're saying is he's acting like a Repub?

[holyghostie]

08:16 PM on 05/08/2012

The President needs to tell Katherine Sebilius and Janet Napolitano that these kids should be stopped by ICE and immediately deported back into Mexico or handed over to the consulate of their nation within 72 hours of being caught. If they get caught again they should serve a year in Juvy.

The United States should deduct the $33 Million dollars this ONE program cost this year from our UN dues or from our donation to the UN refugees program.

Finally, Rich Latino's there are many of them....should set up a fund with the Federal Government to help defray the cost of illegal immigration.

[ECB]

07:16 PM on 05/08/2012

Romney is paying Rick to give speeches so that Mitt may appear to be smart.

[Kurfco]

05:38 PM on 05/08/2012

By not having the Social Security Administration and the IRS policing the rampant misuse of the Social Security and tax systems, Obama is encouraging illegal immigration of adults, kids and even completely fictitious kids, as this TV station in Indiana discovered:

http://www.wthr.com/video?clipId=7054149&autostart=true

[mollybeejay]

12:23 AM on 05/09/2012

Please, if it is in Indiana, it is suspect. The teaparty is rampant there and they hate president Obama.

[ennis438]

05:37 PM on 05/08/2012

The next thing Ricky will allege is Obama ordered the attack on Pearl Harbor, even though he was not born then.

[IndestructibleLioness]

04:29 PM on 05/08/2012

"Rick Perry Claims Obama Encourages Unauthorized Immigration By Minors"

The guy who was HIGH at two of the debates.

[skippy42]

06:10 PM on 05/08/2012

DRUNK?

[IndestructibleLioness]

08:17 PM on 05/08/2012

Probably both

[catbyte]

02:44 PM on 05/08/2012

Awwwwwww, is Little Ricky feeling neglected?

[ennis438]

05:39 PM on 05/08/2012

I sure hope he doesn't feel neglected. I will lose sleep every night if poor little Ricky feels he is neglected.

[TruthResearcher]

01:34 PM on 05/08/2012

Rick who??

[DixieWrecked]

01:32 PM on 05/08/2012

Rick, how would you prevent and discourage? Shoot the unaccompanied minors on site? That's probably why they are crossing the border. Too much cartel violence in the border region.

[ruburnt]

08:12 PM on 05/08/2012

A border wall with a Federal Government who enforces US immigration laws would be a good start.....

[phoebe54]

12:53 PM on 05/08/2012

The Pew Hispanic Center recently did a study on the number of Mexican immigrants entering and exiting the US. It's pretty interesting. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/jan-june12/migration_04-24.html

[freekybig53]

01:28 PM on 05/08/2012

P- Partial
E- Ethnic
W- Website

It pretty much figures that a government that can erase all evidence of murders including the coroners that autopsy the bodies can do anything and prove anything they want the citizens to believe !!

[phoebe54]

03:01 PM on 05/08/2012

The Pew Charitable Trust is a non-partisan, well-respected, nonprofit organization with a strong history of research in many areas. And you seem to be spouting off in a number of different directions.

[dtairtime]

12:42 AM on 05/09/2012

In best Homer Simpson tone - doh.

Of course they are not flooding here like they were.

Mexico has about 5% unemployment and in the fields illegals flock to, CITIZENS of this country, have about a 15% unemployment rate.

Add in the states like AZ and AL who are passing laws that make it harder to be criminals, the SCOTUS holding up e-verify as constitutional and their hopefully correct verdict on the legality of sb1070 means they are not so welcome anymore.

But all the recent talk about the dream act and promises of amnesty have emboldened minors. They know none of the dream act bill require a shred of evidence for acceptance and they know they are released here and not sent home. So this is a no risk and all reward situation for them. Little problem is there are about one BILLION poor kids in the world. We can't even treat the citizen minors we have with enough respect, how are we going to take care of the rest of the world?

[ppace60657]

12:50 PM on 05/08/2012

Perry wants the big, bad, evil federal government to help him? A government he hates so much he wants to secede from the Union? Funny how Republicans love "big government" when they want something. State's rights, Rick, handle it yourself.