Rick Perry forestalls discussion of immigration reform

Texas Gov. Rick Perry told reporters at the Monitor Breakfast that the 'unaccompanied alien children issue ... has the potential to be an absolute catastrophe.'

|
The Christian Science Monitor
Texas Governor Rick Perry speaks at a Monitor-hosted lunch with reporters on Thursday, June 19, 2014.

Rick Perry has been governor of the nation’s second most populous state since December 2000. In 2012, he briefly ran for the Republican presidential nomination. He was the guest at a June 19 Monitor luncheon for reporters.

On the surge of unaccompanied children from Central America entering the US: 

“This unaccompanied alien children issue ... has the potential to be an absolute catastrophe, a humanitarian catastrophe.... I consider it to be a failure of diplomacy by the United States.” 

On prospects for immigration reform:

“Immigration reform is down the list of things you have to do.... The American people do not trust the federal government until they secure the border ... with boots on the ground, with strategic fencing in the metropolitan areas, with technology.” 

On his 2012 run for the White House:

“I am glad I ran in 2012 – as frustrating, as painful, and as humbling as that experience was.... Preparation is the single most important lesson that I learned.”

Why he is considering another run:

“Whether I decide to make a run for the presidency or not, I hope to stay engaged ... being a person of influence in some form or fashion.”

On the recent Environmental Protection Agency proposal to regulate carbon emissions from existing power plants:

“It will cause huge economic impact on this country ... based on ... science that is not settled yet on the issue of CO2 .... Calling CO2  a pollutant is doing a disservice to the country.”

On his statement to a San Francisco audience suggesting homosexuality was like alcoholism:

“I readily admit, I stepped right in it....”

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Rick Perry forestalls discussion of immigration reform
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/monitor_breakfast/2014/0627/Rick-Perry-forestalls-discussion-of-immigration-reform
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe