Barry don’t know nothin about border securin.
Via Dallas News
The White House hit back hard Thursday against Gov. Rick Perry, accusing him of playing politics with the humanitarian crisis at the border.
“It’s hard to take seriously Gov. Perry’s concerns,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest, swatting aside Perry’s insistence on a border tour during President Barack Obama’s two-day Texas trip next week.
In a caustic and unusually personal attack on a governor from the White House briefing room, Earnest questioned Perry’s sincerity when it comes to solving the border crisis.
If the commitment were genuine, he said, “He could probably be pretty useful. I hear he’s a pretty persuasive fellow. He could pick up the phone and call some of those Republican members of Congress from Texas who are standing foursquare against commonsense immigration reform.”
Obama will be in Dallas on Wednesday, raising money for House Democrats at the home of lawyer Marc Stanley. He’ll then fly to Austin for another fund-raising event, and stay there overnight.
On Thursday he’ll do yet another fund-raising event in Austin. And he’ll speak about the economy, alongside “folks who have written him letters.” It’s a continuation of a “day in the life” tour. Last week in Minnesota, he sat down for burgers with a letter-writing mom named Rebekah Erler.
Republicans hit back.
“It’s hard to take President Obama’s commitment to border security seriously when it appears he thinks of Texas more as an ATM machine than as the center of the greatest domestic crisis of the day,” said Perry spokesman Travis Considine.
At GOP headquarters in Washington, spokesman Izzy Santa chided Obama for pointing fingers.
“The next time the president wants to lecture Republicans on immigration, he should instead reflect on his habit of politicizing the humanitarian and border crisis occurring on the U.S.-Mexico border while prioritizing money and politics when he has a chance to do his job,” Santa said. “But honestly, the president’s action is fitting; after all he did promise immigration reform within his first year in office and didn’t do anything.”
At the White House, reporters peppered Earnest with questions about Obama’s decision to omit any border component from his Texas trip, given the scale of the border crisis and how close he’ll be anyway. Since October, 50,000 unaccompanied minors or families with children have streamed into Texas and other border states illegally. Obama himself has called it a humanitarian crisis. He’s beefed up enforcement, dispatched top aides, and had his vice president and secretary of state in Central America talking with top leaders about the dangers and impetus for the migration surge.