Critics should back off Perry on immigration

He entered the presidential race with a splash, and but now he is being cast as a push-over on immigration.

Texas Governor Rick Perry stormed onto the national stage last month and has quickly been beaten down by his fellow Republicans over the last two debates. According to FoxNews.com this week, Perry has fallen as much as 13 percentage points in a recent poll and is now tied with former pizza boss Herman Cain for second place behind former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.

This column has not been a particular fan of Gov. Perry, particularly after he line-item vetoed some funding for community colleges several years ago. Some of the criticism he has received at the national level has been predictable, particularly on education issues and his political faux pas with the HPV vaccination effort. And while some of the criticisms are fairly leveled, the one that seems to be causing him the most problems is surprising – immigration.

First of all let’s keep in mind what entity is responsible for securing national borders. That would be the federal government. In fact, that is one of basic reasons for being. But, as everyone knows, the feds can’t seem to handle the vexing problem of immigration because it is do busy doing things like manipulate people’s lives through the tax code, dissuade me from taking chocolate cupcakes to my son’s elementary class, and worry about how much salt is on my french fries. And as a result, Texas, under Gov. Rick Perry has had to spend in excess of $400 million to secure the United States’ border with Mexico.

It is also important to mention that Texas, better than any other state in the Union, knows the importance of having a good relationship with Mexico.  Texas has already been through one war that, in some ways, was caused by poor immigration policies. The immigrants were Anglo-Americans in that case. So we understand that it is necessary to enforce the law but at the same time foster good business and cultural relations with our neighbor to the south. Tea Partiers like the idea of building a fence on the border and passing English-only laws; but there is no fence that can’t be gone over, under, or around, and a Spanish-only law was one cause of the Texas Revolution.

As long as there is a better way of life, more economic opportunity, and greater freedom, people will come to Texas and America. The law needs to recognize that and try to facilitate it; and at the same time, it must keep out the criminal element. It’s a delicate balance that a politician from back east can never hope to understand.

Should children of illegal immigrants qualify for in-state tuition? If they meet the residency requirements of having been here for three years and are on the legal path to citizenship, then yes they should. It is in our state’s economic best interests to provide our residents with every educational opportunity we can give them. The governor and our Legislature are right on that.

Rick Perry is no liberal… certainly not on immigration. He knows what needs to be done and how to do it. He has other faults to be sure, but on this issue, Yankees like Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum just need to be quiet before our governor walks across the stage and shuts their mouths for them.