Texas Gov. Rick Perry said terrorist groups, including ISIS who earlier this week killed an American journalist, could be using the ongoing border surge crisis alon the U.S.-Mexico border to sneak operatives into the United States. Perry spoke at The Heritage Foundation in Washington D.C. as part of a discussion panel called The Border Crisis and the New Politics of Immigration. Perry said Congress needs to focus on securing the border before discussing broader immigration reform.
"How about we start with comprehensive border enforcement?" Gov. Perry said. "Defending the border is not a political option. It is a constitutional obligation. Until the federal government meets that duty and secures that border, all talk of immigration reform is pointless because Washington has no credibility on the matter."
Texas has been on the front-lines throughout the border surge with the majority of illegal border crossers and unaccompanied alien children illegally crossing through the Rio Grande Valley border sector. Numerous videos have spread across the internet showing smugglers using jet skit to bring people from Mexico to the United States across the river. Last month, Gov. Perry took a proactive step by ordering the deployment of 1,000 Texas National Guard troops to the border to support Border Patrol efforts.
"I think there is the obvious, great concern that — because of the condition of the border from the standpoint of it not being secure and us not knowing who is penetrating across — that individuals from ISIS or other terrorist states could be [coming across]," Perry said.
For more information, see the N.Y. Times and The Heritage Foundation.
