Texas Gov. Rick Perry has asked the U.S. Department of Homeland Securityfor nearly $350 million to cover the costs he says Texas has incurred incarcerating illegal immigrants in state prisons and county jails.
In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Perry reiterated a claim he’s often leveled against the federal government: that it’s not doing enough to secure the border with Mexico and as a result, has allowed illegal immigrants to enter the U.S. and use taxpayer-funded resources, including the prison system.
The letter was dated Aug. 10, three days before the Republican governor formally announced he is running for president.Reached after-hours Friday by phone, DHS spokesman Matthew Chandler said he wasn’t in position to comment and said he could not confirm that the DHS had even received the letter.
This isn’t the first time Perry has tried to get the president’s attention on the border, and Obama is known for not taking any letters from Perry.
Obama is also known for making stupid insult comic jokes in response to the rolling mess that is the US-Mexico border.
When she was governor of Arizona, Janet Napolitano sent several in invoices similar to Perry’s to the federal government.
Two separate stories can give a glimpse of just how extensive and expensive the illegal alien problem is here in Texas. At Dallas’ Parkland Hospital, fully 70% of the births there are to illegal alien parents. And in Leon County, TX, as of two months ago, all five inmates in the county jail were illegal aliens awaiting action by ICE. One hospital, one rural county, a huge and ongoing problem. And note that Perry’s invoice just covers incarceration costs, not the total costs Texans are forced to shell out to support illegal aliens.
Obama’s answer so far: Race-baiting, pandering and a lawless and not very stealthy amnesty by fiat.
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