Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry swung back Sunday at GOP presidential nomination rival Donald Trump, saying that the billionaire businessman is unaware of Texas’s record on immigration and “does not represent the Republican Party.”
“I don’t think he understands the challenge, obviously,” Mr. Perry said on ABC’s “This Week.”
“When it became abundantly clear that the president wasn’t going to deal with this issue, we acted last summer, we surged our law enforcement and our National Guard,” Mr. Perry said. “We had a 74 percent decrease of apprehensions in that region of the border where the real challenges were.”
“My bet is that Mr. Trump doesn’t know that,” he added.
Mr. Trump took a swipe Saturday on “Fox & Friends” at Mr. Perry, saying that “he could have something a little bit — maybe a lot more” to reduce crime by shoring up the southern border during his 14 years as governor.
The real estate mogul drew an enormous backlash during his June 16 presidential announcement when he said that illegal immigrants from Mexico are “bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime,” adding that “they’re rapists and some, I assume, are good people.”
Mr. Perry said Sunday, “I will stand up and say those [comments] were offensive, which they were.”
“The fact is, I’ve said very clearly that Donald Trump does not represent the Republican Party,” Mr. Perry said. “I was offended by his remarks. Hispanics in America and Hispanics in Texas from the Alamo to Afghanistan have been extraordinary citizens of our country and our state, they have served nobly, and to paint with that broad a brush as Donald Trump did — he’s going to have to defend those remarks.”
Quizzing Mr. Perry was ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, a former top campaign and White House aide to President Bill Clinton and donor to the Clinton Foundation. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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