DALLAS – Texas Gov. Rick Perry has seen firsthand the recent surge of illegal immigration and unaccompanied minors crossing America's southern border, and he says President Obama is clueless about what's really going on.
"To this day the president of the United States has yet to see the facts on the ground at our southern border, even though they area direct consequence of his policies," Perry declared Friday at the "Defending the American Dream Summit," sponsored by Americans for Prosperity.
Perry detailed what he's seen and why Obama is to blame: "Young boys and girls, children, thousands of miles away from their parents – they're vulnerable, they're afraid, they're drawn here by rumors of amnesty. There are these coyotes and these smugglers and these gang members and these other low-lifes that are taking advantage of these children."
Republicans like Perry have consistently warned that Democrat policies preventing a secured border and swift deportations have not only left the border open, but also left the impression that children can come to the United States illegally with little fear of being deported, de facto "amnesty."
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In fact, a very small percentage of the tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors who have crossed into the U.S. in 2014 have been deported.
The other reality of the border that Perry explained both mainstream media and administration spokespeople have missed is that with the flood of unaccompanied minors have come an even greater number of adults, many with criminal records.
"The unaccompanied children you've been reading about and seeing video of are just about 20 percent of those who are illegally crossing our border," Perry continued. "Most are adults, and a lot of those folks are working for cartels, engaged in criminal activities. There are thousands of criminal aliens who have committed theft and assault and murder after coming here illegally."
Perry explained U.S. Border Patrol agents "are overwhelmed" and related the tale of one Border Patrol agent, presumably Javier Vega Jr., who was shot and killed Aug. 3 in front of his wife, two children and parents during a botched robbery in Santa Monica, Texas.
Two illegal aliens were charged with the crime, which local law enforcement suggested is likely cartel-related.
"The alleged perpetrators were two criminal aliens, one of them who had been arrested no less than four times, the other one who had been deported multiple times," Perry said. "Because of the danger that is posed by these drug smugglers, these transnational gangs, the human traffickers – that is the reason that I deployed the National Guard to the border to secure it.
"If Washington, D.C., will not do its job to secure that border, Texas will," Perry declared.
Watch video of Perry's speech below: