The crippling influx of migrant children escaping violence in Central America is a “side issue” to tackling the wave of crime from undocumented immigrants, Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Sunday.
While most politicians in Washington expressed concerns about the 62,000 unaccompanied minors crossing the border, Perry said he is “substantially more concerned about” the criminals coming into the state.
“That’s the real issue here, and one that all too often gets deflected by the conversation about unaccompanied minor children,” Perry said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
Perry said last week that he plans to deploy up to 1,000 National Guard troops to “combat” crime.
“We’ll continue to do what we have to do to keep our citizens safe,” he said.
