Republican presidential candidate and former Texas Governor Rick Perry responded to Donald Trump and touted his “real results, not just rhetoric” on border security in a YouTube video released on Wednesday.
Perry began, “Hey Donald, I saw your tweet the other day, but I think you might need to borrow my glasses to get a good look at the steps I took to secure the border while I was governor of Texas.”
He continued, “no one knows the concern Americans have about our porous border better than I do. You see, as governor for fourteen years of the state with the longest border with Mexico, I know that there can be no national security without border security. I also know that while border security might be Washington’s responsibility, it’s Texas’ problem. That’s why under my leadership Texas dedicate nearly a billion dollars to border security efforts, including surge operations and the creation of Texas Ranger recon teams. That’s also why last summer, when it became clear that President Obama would rather go to fundraisers in Dallas than to see than the unprecedented crisis his amnesty policies were creating, I told him this, ‘Mr. President, if Washington won’t secure the border, Texas will.'” And “You might have forgotten, Donald, that I deployed the Texas National Guard to supplement our state law enforcement surge operations, which worked to combat illicit activities in the border region like drug, weapons, and human trafficking. And I’m guessing you might not know that that deployment resulted in a 74% decrease in apprehensions. Those are real results, not just rhetoric.”
Perry then stated, “I know securing the border is going to take a lot more than just building a wall. It’s going to take more personnel on the ground, aviation assets, quick response teams, and yes, strategic fencing in the metropolitan areas. And securing the border will be one of the first actions I take if I’m elected president of the United States.”
He then turned to Trump’s comments about Mexicans, saying, “I also know that your comments about Mexicans are offensive, and they don’t reflect the values of the Republican Party. Mexican-Americans have been part of the fabric of Texas from the very beginning, and have fought on behalf of our state and our country from the Alamo to Afghanistan.”
Perry concluded, “Donald, you might want to take a trip down to Texas some time to meet some of the Hispanic-Americans who have helped make our nation great, and to learn a little bit about what we need to do to secure our border with Mexico. Otherwise, your remarks might make for good reality TV, but they’re way out of touch with reality. There will always be bad actors out there, and that’s why we need to secure the border once and for all, to protect all Americans from those who would do our country and our citizens harm.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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