Texas Governor and GOP candidate Rick Perry entered the 2012 presidential race in August and almost immediately shot to the top of most national-level polls. After a poor performance at the Fox News-Google debate and a second place finish in the Florida straw poll, Perry’s campaign enters the month of October with a lot of work to do.
Many of Perry’s positions have proven to be very controversial, drawing unwanted attention to the Texas Governor during the GOP debates. Perry’s position on Social Security and his support for Texas’ HPV vaccine policy and in-state tuition program for the children of illegal immigrants have forced the Texas Governor to defend himself with some success.
Perry’s support for Texas’ controversial in-state tuition program was brought into question on the national stage at the Fox News-Google debate. In response to the criticism, Perry fired back that “if you say that we should not educate children who have come into our state for no other reason than they’ve been brought there by no fault of their own, I don’t think you have a heart.”
Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum assured Perry that everyone on the stage wanted to educate children. However, Santorum pointed out that paying for the in-state tuition program with subsidies was the wrong approach. “I think you are sort of making this leap that, unless we subsidize this, the taxpayers subsidize it, they won’t be able to go,” Santorum argued.
On Saturday, Perry faced some tough questions on illegal immigration at the Hampton forum in Hampton, New Hampshire. Many of those in attendance were particularly upset about Perry’s defense of Texas’ in-state tuition program for the children of illegal immigrants.
As quoted in SeacoastOnline.com, Perry responded to the criticism by pinning the problem back on the US government. “The United States has failed in its constitutional duty to defend our border,” Perry argued. The Texas Governor said that if a state allows the children of illegal immigrants to fall through the cracks, they’ll be a drag on society. Perry professed that Texas’ in-state tuition program allows these children to start “in our institutions of higher learning, paying in-state tuition, pursuing citizenship.”
Despite his unwavering support for Texas’ right to give the children of illegal immigrants a tuition break, Perry said that states’ rights are important and that he’d respect the decision of each state on this type of program if he were president. “If you don’t want to do that in your state, I absolutely respect that right, Perry said.
Earlier in the week, Anita Perry defended her husband’s position on Texas’ in-state tuition program at a campaign stop in Iowa. As quoted in the NationalJournal, Mrs. Perry said that “either we take care of those populations, or they get on welfare, which is a greater cost to our taxpayers.” Mrs. Perry also cited her husband’s enforcement of tough immigration laws. “Rick is the same governor who vetoed driver’s licenses for illegal aliens, who fought to keep sanctuary cities out, and who just billed the federal government $350 million for the cost of incarcerating illegal aliens,” Mrs. Perry said.
