Putting aside special cases like refugees, asylees, immediate family members and so forth, in general illegal aliens in the United States are not eligible to be permanent resident aliens unless amnesty is given.
Working in the US without USCIS permission or being in the US illegally makes an illegal INELIGIBLE for adjustment to permanent resident status. They require AMNESTY in order to get a green card.
Perry IS a big supporter of amnesty, so perhaps that is what you are thinking of.
Perry wants to give illegals working here now amnesty by calling them "guest workers."
Perry is not a supporter of amnesty:
From the Governor’s book “Fed Up!,” the Kindle PC version:
From pages 118-119:
“”We have already been burned once by false promises of border security in exchange for tying security to other aspects of the immigration debate. President Regan, in 1986, signed the immigration reform and control act, which legalized close to 3 million undocumented immigrants. The law was supposed to be a comprehensive solution with provisions intended to clamp down on border security. These provisions were never enforced, and the subsequent explosion in illegal crossings has resulted in some 11 million illegal aliens living in the United States today an estimated 1.8 million illegal immigrants are currently residing in Texas, compared with 1.1 million in 2000. In ten years, that represents an increase of 54 percent or 70,000 persons each year coming to our state illegally. Today, the Pew Hispanic Center estimates than about one in ten people born in Mexico live in the United States. And all of this has occurred outside the system and to the disadvantage of others who have been waiting in line for many years. There are literally millions of people waiting to get into the country legally.””
The kids of illegal parent(s) technically committed no crime so I believe they are eligible as a special case.
Perry is not a big supporter of amnesty.
Perry wants the border sealed and that is what he would do if he were President.