I am sympathetic to his argument, and yet it always bothers me when someone uses that phrase. We don't oppose illegals getting government services because we don't like the sound of their name, or the color of their skin, or their accent -- it's because they broke our laws.
I can sympathize with the children of illegals, because they didn't purposely break the laws. They were brought here without their own choice. And if they have been here for years, they may well be more tied to OUR culture than their nation of origin.
If we could solve ALL the other problems of illegal immigration, I wouldn't mind these few thousand kids being given student visas and green cards so they could go to college and then be productive members of society.
In texas, the total number of immigrants (legal AND illegal) who get in-state tuition appears to be around 11,000 or so. It's not a tidal wave. But so long as we have undefended borders and a government unwilling to send the people who DO choose to break our laws back home where they came from, it's hard to push for special treatment for the small number of children who are caught up in the mess.
But Perry's use of the catchphrase "because of the sound of your last name" is itself extreme prejudiced and a form of vile namecalling against any who disagree with his position on the issue, because it tars all who disagree with the inferred epithet of anti-Hispanic racism.
And Mr. Perry amped up his utter disrespect for all who do not share his opinion by that "take that!" toothy assertive and aggressive grin he would end it with.
It ties in with his utter disregard for fellow Texan adults who are the parents of kids upon whom he forced the wart vaccine gardasil.
This is the Dream Act, a rolling amnesty that would give up to 3 million legal status and eventual citizenship. And once they reach age 21 they can sponsor their siblings parents, cousins, uncles, aunts, etc. to enter the US thru chain migration, i.e., family reunification.
And where is the fairness to those "kids" who don't want to go to college? Shouldn't we be willing to help them so that they "can be productive members of our society?" We need electricians, carpenters, lawn maintenance personnel, etc. If you are going to be generous with other people's money, let's help them all.
I DESPISE politicians who claim opposition to illegal immigration is based on racism. My wife is from the Philippines, and we adopted two kids from the Philippines. However, we did it LEGALLY - and spent years working the paperwork to do so.
My question for Perry - why are people with Mexican-sounding names better than people with Filipino-sounding names?
Why is a Mexican crossing the border illegally a good person, and a Filipino a bad person?
Does Perry hate Filipinos? Does he hate the Chinese? Or does he just not know what “illegal” means? What makes Mexican-illegal good, and Filipino-illegal bad?