Perry warned Obama about children 2 years ago
Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2014 5:12 pm
Before border crisis peaked,
Texas governor warned
Obama administration
By David Nakamura
The Washington Post
When President Obama arrives in Dallas Wednesday evening, his first order of business will be to huddle with local leaders to discuss a border crisis that a White House spokesman this week described as an “emergent situation.”
But one of the leaders invited to that meeting, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), says the administration has no excuse for being surprised. In a letter to Obama more than two years ago, Perry raised a red alarm about an influx of unaccompanied children crossing the southern border, citing federal statistics showing that the number of minors had shot up 90 percent.
“By failing to take immediate action to return these minors to their countries of origin and prevent and discourage others from coming here, the federal government is perpetuating the problem,” Perry wrote to Obama in May 2012. “Inaction encourages other minors to place themselves in extremely dangerous situations. . . .Every day of delay risks more lives. Every child allowed to remain encourages hundreds more to attempt the journey.”
Two years later, Perry’s letter appears prescient. The number of unaccompanied children at the border, which was 5,200 in 2012, has shot up to more than 52,000 this year — and it could reach 90,000 by the end of September, according to internal Border Patrol estimates.
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Texas governor warned
Obama administration
By David Nakamura
The Washington Post
When President Obama arrives in Dallas Wednesday evening, his first order of business will be to huddle with local leaders to discuss a border crisis that a White House spokesman this week described as an “emergent situation.”
But one of the leaders invited to that meeting, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), says the administration has no excuse for being surprised. In a letter to Obama more than two years ago, Perry raised a red alarm about an influx of unaccompanied children crossing the southern border, citing federal statistics showing that the number of minors had shot up 90 percent.
“By failing to take immediate action to return these minors to their countries of origin and prevent and discourage others from coming here, the federal government is perpetuating the problem,” Perry wrote to Obama in May 2012. “Inaction encourages other minors to place themselves in extremely dangerous situations. . . .Every day of delay risks more lives. Every child allowed to remain encourages hundreds more to attempt the journey.”
Two years later, Perry’s letter appears prescient. The number of unaccompanied children at the border, which was 5,200 in 2012, has shot up to more than 52,000 this year — and it could reach 90,000 by the end of September, according to internal Border Patrol estimates.
MORE