Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican openly considering a presidential run, doubled down on his claim that President Obama is somehow orchestrating the current border crisis.
More than 52,000 unaccompanied minors have fled Central American countries since October, walking alone across the U.S.-Mexican border, acting on false rumors that children who enter the country will be allowed to stay. The government has run ads disputing the rumors in Mexico and has said repeatedly that the vast majority of these children will not be allowed to stay, but Perry doesn’t believe that’s the whole story.
“We either have an incredibly inept administration or they’re in on this somehow, I hate to be conspiratorial, but how do you move that many people from Central America across Mexico, into the United States without there being a coordinated effort?” Perry suggested on Fox News.
Pressed on ABC on Sunday, Perry doubled down, saying he’d written the president in 2012 about the crisis but had not been answered.
“When you do not respond, you are either inept or you have some ulterior motive,” he said.
Perry also blamed the president repeatedly for the crisis, calling it a “failure.”
“I don’t believe he particularly cares whether or not the border of the United States is secure,” Perry said. “The president has sent powerful messages time after time, with policies, by nuances, that it is OK to come to the United States and you’ll be accepted with open arms.”
Perry has repeatedly indicated that he’s considering another run for the White House, promising that this time he’ll be better prepared, crediting medical problems with his last run, where he famously forgot one of the federal agencies he’d promised to abolish.
Jane Timm