President Obama doesn’t plan to accept an invitation from Texas Gov. Rick Perry to visit the Mexican border next week during a fundraising trip to witness the immigration crisis first-hand, the White House said Wednesday.
“Right now there is no plan to visit the border,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest. “The president’s getting regular updates on the situation.”
But Mr. Earnest held open the possibility that the president could change his mind, saying “sometimes schedules change.”
Mr. Perry called on the president to accompany him to the border next week to see for himself the problems of illegal immigration, including a surge of children from Central America in recent months. Mr. Obama is traveling to Texas to attend Democratic fundraisers in Austin and Dallas.
“If the president of the United States is really serious about securing that border, we can show him how to do that,” Mr. Perry told Fox and Friends. “But I haven’t even had a phone call from this president.”
Seemingly referring to the governor, Mr. Earnest said “the most important thing [people in border states] can do is not to offer public invitations but to lend their public support to comprehensive immigration reform.”
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House Republicans said this week they won’t take up immigration legislation this year.
Mr. Earnest said Mr. Obama has been kept apprised of the border problems by top aides who have visited the southern border regularly in recent weeks.
“The president’s getting regular updates on the situation,” Mr. Earnest said, adding that Mr. Obama has visited the border both as a presidential candidate and as president.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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