Texas Gov. Rick Perry
What to do about unaccompanied migrant children arriving at the U.S. border continues to be a fight in the U.S. Senate and in Texas. In the Senate, Democrats are trying to pass emergency funding requested by President Obama before the August recess, but Republicans are opposed because it
might not be punitive enough:
[Sen. Jeff Sessions] demanded that any supplemental funding request sent to Obama include a requirement that funding be blocked for federal initiatives that grants undocumented immigrants work permits—such as to beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
In Texas, meanwhile, Gov. Rick Perry is
calling out the National Guard, and Rep. Joaquin Castro is among the Democrats unhappy about that:
“We should be sending the Red Cross to the border not the National Guard to deal with this humanitarian crisis,” the Democratic congressman said in an email. “The children fleeing violence in Central America are seeking out Border Patrol agents. They are not trying to evade them. Why send soldiers to confront these kids?”
“Militarizing our border is the wrong response to the arrival of children,” Castro continued. “I remain hopeful that our state can provide a more helpful response than to send armed soldiers to greet children seeking refuge from violence.”
But Perry clearly sees this as a chance to regain his swagger in advance of 2016, and why wouldn't he, as
the recipient of tongue baths as lavish as the one Philip Rucker (name and shame!) gives him in the
Washington Post: Perry, according to Rucker, "looked like a Texas A&M football coach giving the Aggies a pep talk" at one speech to conservative activists, where he "scored a touchdown." "There’s little doubt," according to Rucker, that Perry's self-assessment of having become "wiser" is accurate. But despite his rhetorical touchdowns and his workout schedule ("sit-ups, pull-ups, crunches and time on a stationary bicycle," in case you're wondering), and a new "look more bookish than buckaroo—and more in keeping with his attempt at intellectual reinvention," Perry's "humility stems from a deep Christian faith" ... according to one of his advisers.
So why wouldn't Perry militarize the border? It'll get him points with the Republican base and apparently he's now a serious, glasses-wearing political thinker as far as the traditional media is concerned. All he needs now is to figure out how to show up wearing a flight suit and bearing a "mission accomplished" banner to a center where migrant children are being detained.