Tag Archives: Obama border crisis

Politics, Texas Politics

Rick Perry Wants BOOTS On The Border, Not Humanitarian Aid

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Long gone are the days when Rick Perry showed any semblance of compassion for the plight of undocumented children and families.  Instead of working to find a solution to his state’s most recent border crisis, the Texas Governor and 2016 Presidential hopeful is doubling down on photo ops and party politics.  Here’s more from CNN…

Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he won’t encourage his state’s congressional delegation to approve President Obama’s request for $3.7 billion in emergency funds to mitigate the border crisis.

“The President doesn’t have to have this big amount of money,” Perry told Fox News Channel’s Brit Hume. “He could pick up the phone today, call the (Defense Department) and direct them to have the 1,000 National Guard troops on the border.”

[…]

Perry said the physical presence of the National Guard would send a clear, visual message to potential immigrants that U.S. borders are not wide open.

“They need to be right on the river,” he said. “They need to be there as a show of force, because that’s the message that gets sent back very quickly to Central America.”

It doesn’t take a thousand National Guardsmen and Guardswomen to decipher the message that the Governor is trying to send here.  The only thing Perry cares about now is using the current border crisis as a meal ticket to 2016.  Don’t forget… he is not someone that is unconnected to the realities of these issues, as he has dealt with them consistently since Barack Obama was a State Senator in Illinois.  For Perry to come out now and say that the only thing needed on the border is more troops is nothing short of lunacy.  He’s well aware of the detrimental need for more immigration lawyers and judges to process these children the correct way.  He’s well aware of the critical need for more humanitarian aid, including shelters, food and other supplies.

It’s a sad day for the people of Texas when our Governor can become so obsessed with his political aspirations that he completely ignores the needs of his state.  But in fairness, President Obama also needs to stop playing politics here.  It’s time for the Commander-in-Chief to come to the border… not for a photo op like Perry, but to assess the situation at a personal level.  Asking for aid from Congress is in part a political move, given the current brokenness of the institution.  We need some leadership on this issue Mr. President, and with the total ineptitude coming from our state’s top official and from Congress, that job (once again) falls to you.

Politics, Texas Politics

‘Obama’s Katrina’? No, But…

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A true crisis just the same.

If you’ve watched any American news outlet in the last 48 hours, you are probably aware that President Obama will be in the Lone Star State today for a very brief trip… appearing at two separate Democratic fundraisers.  The timing simply couldn’t be worse for the Commander-In-Chief, as things on the Texas Border seem to be anything but in command.  The Right-wing media has been hugely successful in exploiting the tough situation, as evidence on Neil Cavuto’s Fox News program…

QUESTION: You say there’s an urgent humanitarian situation. Are you not at all concerned about the optics that the president can fly to Texas to raise political money, but he can’t go see this urgent humanitarian situation?

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We’re not worried about those optics, George, and that’s simply because the president is very aware of the situation that exists on the Southwest border.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: Very aware, so he doesn’t need to see the border for himself.

That isn’t exactly flying with Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar from the fine state of Texas. He says the president is one step behind on this mess.

The congressman now joins me on the phone.

So, Congressman, by that, I take it you — you mean he should be seeing the border?

REP. HENRY CUELLAR, D-TEXAS: Well, I hope this doesn’t become President Obama’s Katrina moment.

I’m sure that President Bush thought the same thing, that he could just look at everything from up in the sky, and then he owned it after — for a long time. So, I hope this doesn’t become the Katrina moment for President Obama, saying that he doesn’t need to come to border.

He should come down. Not only Governor Perry has asked him to come down, but I know my colleagues Filemon Vela and Ruben Hinojosa invited him to come down. And I certainly would ask him to come in, even though I still think he is still one step behind.

But he should come down to the border to see exactly what is happening.

Will the current border crisis become Obama’s ‘Katrina moment’??  The simple answer is no.  These children aren’t being cared for in a way that is acceptable, but at least they are alive, and someone from our country is looking after them.  Millions of people starved, and thousands died during Hurricane Katrina due to poor planning of the Federal Disaster apparatus.

Even if it won’t be a Katrina moment as Congressman Cuellar so irresponsibly suggests, it’s still a crisis… one of the longest-running humanitarian crises in U.S. history.  We should not downplay how serious these issues are, nor should we try and use them to score political points that way Rick Perry and Congressional Republicans are doing.  Instead of securing the border with faux militias that are nothing more than trigger-happy domestic terrorists, we should be ‘securing the border’ by making it a refuge for children and families in dire need.  The legality of why they are here can be sorted out later, but the first thing we do as a country is to provide safety, in every case.  Each one of these families has an entirely different situation, and the only way to do justice here is to talk to them all and find out why there are here, then take the appropriate legal action.

Does it ‘look bad’ for the President to be coming to Texas for fundraisers, and not taking time to personally view the situation in South Texas?  On that point I have to agree with Republicans… yes it does.  A better outcome would be for Obama to change his schedule and see what’s going on first hand.  But unlike the GOP, Obama is at least willing to DO something about the crisis and about immigration reform.  They are the ones that have blocked legislation at every turn.  They are the ones that are protesting children in buses and crying for no amnesty.  If not for Republican obstruction, Comprehensive Immigration Reform would already be law in the United States.  All of these people that are demanding the optics of seeing the President on the border, when are you going to help him actually DO something on the border?  The White House has already asked Congress for $3.7 billion dollars of aid for the region.  If Congress agrees that we should send the money, then they need to pass a law.  If they disagree and think there is a better solution, then they need to speak up and put that solution on the table.