Obama urges Congress to move quickly on border funds, pledges to consider Perry’s requests
Source: Dallas Morning News
President Barack Obama tried to ratchet up pressure on Congress – and specifically Texas Republicans – to act quickly to provide resources to deal with the influx of unaccompanied children at the state’s southern border.
Obama, in the state for three fundraisers for Democratic campaigns this fall, said that his administration would consider suggestions offered by Gov. Rick Perry in a private meeting, such as moving Border Patrol agents and increasing surveillance.
“There’s nothing that the governor indicated he’d like to see that I have a philosophical objection to,” Obama said at Love Field after a larger meeting that included Perry, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins and several other local officials and religious leaders.
But the president noted that the White House had requested an emergency $3.7 billion from Congress and had encountered pushback from Republicans. He said he asked Perry to use his sway with fellow Texas Republicans, the largest GOP delegation in the House, to get the legislation moving quickly.
Read more: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2014/07/gov-perrys-chat-with-obama-will-be-aloft-on-marine-one.html/
Gov. Rick Perry (left), Mayor Mike Rawlings and President Barack Obama among those participating in immigration discussion. (Jewel Samad/AFP)
Additional updates and remarks from Gov. Perry:
“Five hundred miles south of here in the Rio Grande Valley there is a humanitarian crisis unfolding that has been created by bad public policy, in particular the failure to secure the border,” Gov. Perry said. “Securing the border is attainable, and the president needs to commit the resources necessary to get this done.”
Among the requests Gov. Perry made to President Obama to secure the border:
• Visit the Texas-Mexico border to witness firsthand the impact of the border crisis;
• Deploy an additional 1,000 National Guard troops to the Texas-Mexico border to immediately enhance border security operations;
• Direct the Federal Aviation Administration to allow the National Guard to utilize Predator drones along the Texas-Mexico border for identifying and tracking human and drug trafficking;
• Medically screen all illegal immigrants to ensure their health and the health of our citizens;
• Direct the Centers for Disease Control or another appropriate federal agency outside the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to conduct, in conjunction with the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), inspections of facilities in which illegal immigrants, including UACs, are being housed to ensure accepted international and national emergency sheltering standards are met;
• Modify or rescind policies that serve as a magnet to encourage illegal immigration, including:
• DHS Catch and Release policies by which DHS issues an illegal immigrant an NTA before an immigration judge and releases them. The U.S. Department of Justice reports that 33 percent of those released on their own recognizance failed to appear in FY 2013.
• Deportation policies and procedures that prohibit UACs from countries other than Mexico and Canada from being immediately repatriated back to their country of origin. After DHS processes these UACs, they are issued an NTA and delivered to a sponsor or relative in the United States, regardless of the relative’s immigration status.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Looks like she is playing coy...
