California’s Jerry Brown cites God, ‘religious call’ to embrace illegals

California Gov. Jerry Brown told a crowd of climate change watchers at an event in Mexico that Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s push for National Guard troops on the border was flat-out wrong — that God demands a friendlier reception for illegals.

Mr. Brown outright called on Mr. Perry, along with other politicians in the United States, to abide the “religious call … to welcome the stranger,” in reference to illegal immigrants, Breitbart reported.

“I hesitate to comment on the thinking that goes into the support of the Texas National Guard on the border,” Mr. Brown said, Breitbart reported. “I would suspect that it will be of a relatively short duration, and wiser minds will prevail over the next several months.”

Mr. Brown didn’t discuss the influence of drug cartels on the border, or the numbers of of gang members who have entered the United States in recent weeks, Bretibart reported. But he did speak of spiritual principles that pressed him to embrace the illegal crowd.

“This is a human problem,” he said, Breitbart reported, “and it has been the religious call of all religions to welcome the stranger, and it’s in that spirit that I believe the clergy can call the United States, Mexico and all the players to perhaps a higher response than might otherwise happen.”

He also furthered the much-contested notion that the majority of recent illegal border crossers were small, young children, innocent and simply seeking to reunite with family members in the United States. Many reports in recent weeks have instead shown that a large percentage of the illegal minor-aged immigrants who are crossing are actually older teens, nearly adults, and affiliated with gangs or drug cartels.

“These are children,” he said, Breitbart reported. “Many of them have relatives that are in California and other parts of the United States who are working, contributing to the well-being of people in the United States. So given the principle of family values and family reconciliation, I want to give utmost consideration to what is in the best interest of those children, not what is in the best interest of politicians who might want to exploit this particular topic.”