Texas Governor Faces Unexpected Moment of Truth On Immigration

BigPeace ^ | 6-1-2011 | Ben Barrack - Commentary

[smoothsailing]

Texas Governor Faces Unexpected Moment of Truth On Immigration

By Ben Barrack

June 1, 2011

As Arizona’s immigration law – SB 1070 – received overwhelming public support last year, Texas Governor Rick Perry attempted to thread a political needle by talking tough on immigration while asserting that a law similar to Arizona’s “would not be the right direction for Texas.” In a case of dramatic political theater, the Texas legislature has unwittingly and quite unexpectedly, put Perry in a box he made every attempt to avoid being placed in.

As the Texas legislative session was winding down just this week, Democratic state Senator Wendy Davis (Fort Worth) made a huge blunder; she filibustered an education spending bill that could not be left unresolved, in part, because of all the funds that would be withheld from public schools as a result of it being tied to the budget.

Failure to pass the bill all but mandated that Perry call a special legislative session to resolve the impasse. However, there’s a hitch that Davis and her fellow Democrats failed to recognize. In Texas, special legislative sessions make it possible for any and all unresolved bills to come to the floor for a vote. In this case, one such bill is very similar to Arizona’s SB 1070. Perhaps even more important is the fact that a super majority is not required to bring a vote to the floor in a special session; it can be done with a simple majority.

If HB 12, dubbed the “Sanctuary Cities” bill, would have been passed and signed into law, cities and counties would have been prohibited from forcing law enforcement not to inquire about a person’s immigration status. In essence, it was a nuanced version of the Arizona law, which requires officers to check immigration status. This Texas bill would simply prevent officers from being told not to.

At the beginning of the regular session, Perry placed sanctuary cities on his list of “emergency items” he wanted the legislature to address. On its face, this would indicate he endorsed passage of such a bill. In the end though, HB 12 passed in the House but died in the Senate when it was blocked by 12 Democrats.

This leads us back to the special session. HB 9 – a bill that effectively mirrors HB 12 – has been filed by a Republican State Rep. With no need for a super majority, the odds of such a bill passing will go up exponentially. Only one thing needs to happen in order for the vote to be brought to the floor; Governor Rick Perry must add it to the list of items to consider.

On one hand, Perry has said a bill similar to the one in Arizona “would not be right for Texas.” On the other hand, he has said dealing with the issue of sanctuary cities is an “emergency” and a “priority.” To remain true to his word, Perry must allow HB 9 to be voted on before the special session ends after 30 days. Compounding the debate further is what happened in the hours before Davis’ ill-fated filibuster. A Houston police officer named Kevin Will was killed by a drunk illegal alien with a BAC of .238. If a sanctuary city law was in place prior to Will’s death, perhaps his would-be killer would not have been in Texas at all. Will leaves behind two children and a wife who is expecting.

As the Texas Governor mulls a presidential run, he is likely hearing from political consultants and gurus that he should not touch this legislation, that doing so will dramatically hamper any such aspirations.

In reality, the opposite is true. If he listens to such consultants, he will have been exposed as someone who doesn’t mean what he says. In essence, ascribing the word “emergency” to the issue of dealing with sanctuary cities will have been nothing more than a political calculation. It will mean he talked tough only when he thought he wouldn’t be called on it. It would make him a dishonest RINO.

If Perry allows the bill to be voted on, it will quite likely get passed. If he then signs it into law, his odds of being the Republican presidential nominee in 2012 will go up. Go figure, all he has to do is ignore those consultants.

Ben Barrack is a talk show host on KTEM 1400 in Texas and maintains a website at benbarrack.com

[Liz]

DISQUALIFIER Perry endorsed him for 2008 president AND partnered with RINO Rudy Giuliani (who is persona non grata on Free Repub) to build the Trans-Texas Corridor which allows Mexican trucks to enter the US and traverse all the way to Canada.

Aug. 28, 2007----In Mexico for trade talks, Perry blasts US immigration policies
Houston Chronicle, Mexico City Bureau | DUDLEY ALTHAUS
FR Posted on 08/28/2007 by Dubya

MEXICO CITY — Leading a large delegation of Texas executives trying to drum up business in Mexico, Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday criticized the U.S. Congress for failing to pass an immigration bill that would legalize millions of workers. "I don't think this is that difficult an issue if Congress would have the maturity to sit down and really discuss it and cut out all the mean rhetoric," Perry said during a break in the third day of meetings with Mexican officials and business executives. (Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...

=============================================

August 24, 2007 ---- TX governor Perry rapped for paving way for construction of Trans-Texas Corridor;
allows Mexican trucks to enter the US and traverse all the way to Canada.
One News Now | Chad Groening
FR Posted on 08/25/2007 by Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Texas Governor Rick Perry is being called to task by an author and investigative journalist for vetoing bills that would have blocked construction of the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor.

Dr. Jerome Corsi has been one of the leading voices warning the American public about the consequences of the Trans-Texas Corridor, which will be part of a superhighway -- purported to be four football fields wide -- that will allow Mexican trucks to enter the U.S. and traverse the core of the country all the way to Canada.

The best-selling author asserts that Governor Perry cleared the way for construction to begin in his state when he vetoed several bills passed by the Legislature that would have stalled the project.

"Governor Perry has been 100 percent gung-ho in building this road," says Corsi. "The Legislature voted a two-year moratorium, it voted a redefinition of eminent domain -- [and] Governor Perry vetoed them. [On] at least one of those measures, he waited until the Texas Legislature was out of session so it couldn't even override his veto."

Corsi says it is unfortunate that there has been political pressure to get the project started. "The Federal Highway Administration's lawyer wrote letters threatening the Texas Legislature to cut off federal highway funds if they got in the way of this Trans-Texas Corridor," he says.

Corsi believes the same pressure will be applied on other states, like Oklahoma, to go along with the project. He suggests that would mean a loss of more American jobs and could pose a threat to U.S. sovereignty.

==============================================

April 17, 2011----513 People Crammed Into Two Mexican Trucks Bound for US

TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico - Police on Tuesday detained 513 undocumented migrants from Latin America and Asia who were crammed into two trucks bound for the United States, prosecutors in southeast Mexico said. The migrants, from Latin America, Japan, China, India and Nepal, "were traveling in inhuman conditions" in the southeastern state of Chiapas, near the Guatemalan border, the local attorney general's office said in a statement. Police stopped the trucks, carrying 240 and 273 people, on the outskirts of state capital Tuxtla Gutierrez early Tuesday, after they accelerated through a vehicle scanner at a police checkpoint, the statement said. Officers chased down the vehicles shortly afterward, it added.

Police detained the Mexican drivers of the two trucks, and the migrants were provided with aid and food, the statement said. Mexican lawmakers last month unanimously approved a law to "strengthen the protection and security" of migrants amid widespread abuse. Rights groups have long criticized Mexico for failing to protect tens of thousands of migrants, mainly from Central America, trying to cross the vast country to illegally enter the US each year. The gruesome discovery of 72 murdered migrants from Central and South America in northeastern Tamaulipas state last August increased pressure on the government to act. Copyright 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.

SOURCE http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/mexico-detains-513-people-crammed-into-two-us-bound-trucks-20110517-ncx

============================================

April 12, 2011----US Taxpayers Pay To Upgrade Mexican Trucks, US Trucks Not So Lucky
http://radioviceonline.com/ Steve McGough
FR Posted by Biggirl

A story broke yesterday concerning the retrofit of more than 100 trucks from Mexico that do not meet United States environmental standards. Our federal government is paying to upgrade these trucks, yet when the state of California and the EPA set new rules for US-owned trucks, they fine companies who do not comply.

This post is not about the environment, it concerns how US trucking companies are treated by the federal and state government as compared to Mexican-owned rigs. From AzCentral.com. For air-quality regulators, the border creates a legal barrier.

State and federal agencies can’t force vehicles manufactured and bought in Mexico to comply with U.S. emissions rules, even though the trucks cross into this country.

So the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality tried a different approach, offering to pay Mexican truck owners to replace old mufflers with new catalytic converters that will reduce harmful diesel emissions by up to 30 percent. The project in effect circumvents the more lax Mexican rules about exhaust systems. (Excerpt) Read more at radioviceonline.com

=========================================

QUESTIONS PERRY SHOULD BE REQUIRED TO ANSWER

<><> Have you made deals with illegal aliens to exchange campaign cash and votes to use your office to get illegals US govt handouts----free education, EITC, welfare, food stamps, UI, SS, SSI, healthcare, sub-prime mortgages, subsidized bank loans?

<><> Do you know this is a felony?

<><> Do you know which identity illegals use to register to vote for you?

=================================

July 21, 2006----BERGEN RECORD, NJ

Texans accused of selling counterfeit IDs (impoverished illegals "here for a better life" pay several thousand $$$ for fake ID's)

Pelcastre brothers, Angel and Jorge, Dallas, Texas, were a walking threat to US national security, expert document forgers who, for a few thousand dollars, could give anyone a new identity, NJ L/E authorities said.

The Texas brothers were a "one-stop shop" for a myriad of fake US documents, including birth certificates, Social Security cards, driver's licenses---- for any state in the US------ passports and resident alien cards, said state police.

The Texas brothers turned a NJ hotel room into a business office and were readying a massive cache of fake Social Security cards for delivery to a local NJ identity broker. Officers happened upon two cars bearing Texas plates in a NJ hotel parking lot. Authorities wouldn't identify the NJ hotel by name for fear it would spark retribution. The Drug Interdiction Task Force regularly runs checks.

The Texas brothers were followed to a NJ office supply store nearby where they purchased computer supplies. Officers then followed the Texans to a NJ storage facility in Secaucus, NJ, where the Texans loaded several boxes into a car. One of them stood lookout. Authorities approached the Texas brothers when they returned to the NJ hotel and questioned them separately.

The Texas brothers consented to a search. Police recovered laminating sheets with built-in security features, pages of blank documents waiting for fake names and information, finished documents, computers and software to create the fake IDs. All told, the haul was worth about $500,000 on the street when sold to "impoverished illegals." Police also recovered $6,000 in cash, which was the first payment from a NJ fake document broker for a shipment of 500 phony Social Security cards. ####

[bcsco]

This is a ping list promoting Immigration Enforcement and Congressional Reform.
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Viva Mexico, Dos

Hispanics say they are being targeted at police checkpoints

[stevie_d_64]

Well, Houston has another great example of how much of a problem being a “Sanctuary City” is all about...

An HPD Officer was hit and killed by an ILLEGAL alien in this country who had been deported twice before...Tests on the ILLEGAL alien who had been deported twice before was 3 times over the legal limit of driving while intoxicated...

So...Maybe a few of those folks directly effected by that negligence, namely his pregnant widow and two other kids could lend a face to the effects of this states political indifference and feckless apathy towards eliminating this problem altogether...

I’m not holding my breath...

[stevie_d_64]

And it is costing us lives...

[stevie_d_64]

Part of me agrees with your information...But you have to ask yourself this question...

“Has any of those Cameras actually caught anyone coming across the border illegally???”

I ask that in a partially tongue and cheek retort, “Camera 123, just caught a band of illegals near the Lajitas Shallows of the rio Grande last Tuesday...”

Have any “ground” assets been vectored to intercept and arrest anyone as a result of being seen on those cameras???

I’m not so sure, I have not seen any statistical data to support the cameras effectiveness...

Now on the other hand, the boots on the ground we do have in certain areas have been effective, yet they are so spread out, they can’t realy make an impact on the problem at hand...

My solution is a full court press on the border, (not checkpoints infringing on the priivacy of our citizens 50 miles inland in some places), but substancial investigations, manuevering units on the ground and in the air to really make it untenable to attempt to cross illegally into this country...

Provide systems at legal crossings to limit the time people coming into this country can stay...If they are caught, then enough severe penalties applied will clean up that abuse at those crossings...

There could be substantial budgetary funds for this type of serious systemic changes in our border areas, even in this time of revenue shortfalls...

You just have to elect people into office that have the courage and steadfastness to get the job done...

And we are farrrrrrrr from that point...

Again, just another dos centavos...

Just my dos centavos...

[ViLaLuz]

“talking tough and appearing tough on illegal immigration while secretly doing jack squat about illegal immigration is a GOP art form. Let’s see how good Perry’s game really is.”

He’s already shown his true colors. He was elected because he was going to “secure the border.” Two weeks after the election, he told the chumps that voted for him that securing the border “ain’t gonna happen.”

[HonestConservative]

excellent article, smooth. tx

[Paine in the Neck]

As the Texas Governor mulls a presidential run, he is likely hearing from political consultants and gurus that he should not touch this legislation, that doing so will dramatically hamper any such aspirations.

His consultants have it backwards. This is a make-or-break issue for me as regards any further consideration of Perry for President. If he goes PC on this, he's categorically out; if he puts the sanctuary cities bill on the agenda he goes up in value.

[gunsequalfreedom]

That was sarcasm, right?Webcams, that's a good one. Oh look, there goes another group of 50 crossing the border.

[mad_as_he$$]

Prediction. Perry will fold when push comes to invaders.

[Republic of Texas]

It’s hard out there for RINO’s.

[dusttoyou]

Pro Perry are you? Hard to know when we’re blinded by piles of bullshi’te.

[Ro_Thunder]

Illegal aliens are not persecuted in this country; we simply want them all to go home. If they want to come back, then do so through the front door - legally.

I don’t want illegal aliens persecuted. I want them PROSECUTED to the extent the law allows. I want them to go back to whatever country they are from, getting off taxpayers freeways, out of taxpayers emergency rooms, out of taxpayers schools, out of legal residents jobs, and not killing our legal citizens. That’s not too much to ask. It’s not persecution, certainly.

[Eaker]

Romney/Paul or McCain/Gingrich or Trump/Giuliani

Whoo - Hooooo!

[snowrip]

I don’t know about you, but once Perry’s webcams started going up on the border, I felt a lot safer!

Because the webcams could detain illegal aliens?

Because the webcams kept illegal aliens from crossing the border?

Putting up webcams rather than building a wall manned by men with guns proves exactly what Perry is all about: PUNTING ON BORDER SECURITY. When push comes to shove, Perry is soft on it, which is the point so many people are making.

[CowboyJay]

I realize I’m spamming Perry threads, but this cannot be repeated enough times:

Perry is a rat wearing an elephant suit. He has never governed one iota to the right of what he needed to in order to keep from being lynched by the Texas public. He is a progressive sleeper, and would take a hard left turn once he got to DC. Bank on it. No Perry. No way.

[HiJinx]

Ping!

[af_vet_rr]

That was sarcasm, right?Webcams, that's a good one. Oh look, there goes another group of 50 crossing the border.

Very much sarcasm. I still can't believe Perry tried to sell Texans on webcams protecting the border.

[Arrowhead1952]

If he goes PC on this, he's categorically out; if he puts the sanctuary cities bill on the agenda he goes up in value.

This bill has a much better chance of passing in the special session, since the 2/3 majority rule to pass is thrown out and it just takes a simple majority.

[af_vet_rr]

Part of me agrees with your information...But you have to ask yourself this question...

I was aware of Perry's precious taxpayer funded webcams at the time, but I have to ask myself this question now that I look back at the timing:

Bush's Department of Homeland Security cut their funding to Texas by 30% less than 6 months before the Governor's election in 2006. Bush is doing this as the former Governor of Texas, who is aware of just how leaky our border is, and this is less than 5 years after 9/11, at a time when we should have already secured our border, but didn't. At the same time Perry announces the webcams which we all knew would not and did not work at protecting the border. Both of these things, the budget cuts and the webcams, hurt our border security, and both happened at a time when Perry was in trouble - remember, he got less than 40% of the vote in the general election.

I have to ask, was the effort to hurt our border security in the summer of 2006 tied to the Governor's election?

Certain groups were protesting efforts to secure our border and were working on registering voters and then in the summer of 2006 Perry announces the feds are cutting funding and he's putting up webcams instead of putting the money into physical security. That's kind of odd....