Republican presidential candidate and former Texas Governor Rick Perry said that no one in the presidential race has “more experience of dealing with the border than I have” and argued “it’s the federal government’s responsibility to take care of border security, not a state. Now, Donald Trump may not know that” on Thursday’s “Fox & Friends” on the Fox News Channel.
Perry stated in response to criticism he received from fellow candidate Donald Trump, “There’s not anybody that’s going to be on that stage, nobody that’s running for president that’s had more experience of dealing with the border than I have, and the people of the state of Texas and our law enforcement. And I know for a fact that it’s the federal government’s responsibility to take care of border security, not a state. Now, Donald Trump may not know that. But, the fact is, when the president of the united states made it abundantly clear to me last summer that he was not going to put into place the personnel, the effort that needed to be made to secure that border, that’s when Texas acted. And we not only had our Texas Ranger recon, our parks and wildlife wardens, we had 1,000 National Guard troops down there on the border. We saw a 74% decrease in the number of apprehensions. I don’t consider that to be a failure.”
Perry was then asked about the fact that the border is not secure and why he didn’t do more to secure the border as governor. He responded, “We have dealt with this issue. We put almost 800 to $900 million in border security over the last — I mean, the idea that someone would legitimately stand up and say the state of Texas has failed at this, just doesn’t understand that this is a federal responsibility. And I’m surprised that anyone, anyone, you included, would think this is a state responsibility. It is not. This is the federal government’s responsibility. Americans know, when I’m in New Hampshire — last September, people came up to me, county attorneys and sheriffs and said, ‘Governor, thank you for doing what you did. Nobody else is addressing this issue of border security.’ We have known for years that there was a challenge and have done everything in our power. The federal government has failed on this. I know how to secure the border. You put the personnel there in the right places, you have strategic fencing in place, and you aviation assets flying from Tijuana to El Paso to Brownsville that’s — 1,933 mile border, looking down 24/7, with technology, identifying where the challenges are, what’s illegal, what’s suspicious, and quick response teams to be there. And at that time you can secure the border. But that is a federal responsibility.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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