Rick Perry presidential campaign, 2016/Immigration

	; ; Former presidential candidate; Rick Perry
	Political offices: ; Governor of Texas; (2000-2015); Lieutenant Governor of Texas; (1998-2000); Texas Agriculture Commissioner; (1990 - 1998); Texas House of Representatives; (1984-1990)
	Perry on the issues:
	Taxes • Government regulations • International trade • Budgets • Agricultural subsidies • Federal assistance programs • Foreign affairs • Federalism • Natural resources • Healthcare • Immigration • Education • Abortion • Gay rights • Civil liberties
	Republican candidate:
	Donald Trump
	Ballotpedia's presidential election coverage; 2028 • 2024 • 2020 • 2016

Rick Perry announced his presidential run on June 4, 2015.^[1]

This page was current as of the 2016 election.

In August 2015, Rick Perry suggested Donald Trump’s call to end birthright citizenship was not politically possible. “Well here's the real issue. If you're saying will you do away with the 14th Amendment, I think you need to look back at a little bit of history. When's the last time we changed the constitution of this country, and it was back in the early 90s and it took 202 years to do that. So I'm a governor who has to deal with finding solutions to problems I know how to deal with solutions and it's not changing the constitution, that's political rhetoric,” Perry said during a Fox News interview.^[2]

In December 2014, Perry issued an executive order requiring state agencies and companies that contract with them to use a federal electronic employee verification system, E-Verify, to avoid hiring someone living or working in this country without legal permission. Previously, Perry had downplayed the usefulness of E-Verify, saying it wouldn't "make a hill's beans of difference" during a gubernatorial debate in 2010. In 2014, Perry explained, "The E-Verify system has been improved, it’s been streamlined and it is the most accurate and efficient way to check a person’s legal work in the United States."^[3]^[4]

In 2014, Perry supported "legislation that would prohibit municipalities and other local governments from adopting policies that forbid local peace officers from enforcing federal immigration laws. That includes asking the immigration status of someone detained or arrested by a police officer. The legislation would cut off state funding for governments adopting such policies."^[5]

Speaking before the Texas Border Coalition in 2006, Perry stated he preferred targeted border solutions to a massive physical wall along the border. According to Perry, "Strategic fencing in certain urban areas to direct the flow of traffic does make sense, but building a wall on the entire border is a preposterous idea. The only thing a wall would possibly accomplish is to help the ladder business."^[6]

In a December 2006 op-ed, Perry proposed allowing immigrants without legal permission to live in the United States to instead stay in the country under a "guest worker" program. Perry explained, "I would rather know who is crossing our border legally to work instead of not knowing who is crossing our border illegally to work. A guest worker program that provides foreign workers with an ID removes the incentive for millions of people to illegally enter our country. It also adds those workers to our tax base, generates revenue for needed social services and it can be done without providing citizenship. Along with millions of Americans, I think it is wrong to reward those who broke our laws with citizenship ahead of those who have followed the law and are waiting to enter this country legally. And like millions of Americans I do not support amnesty. With a more secure border and a reasonable guest worker program we can allow guest workers to help build our economy without offering citizenship. Many don’t even want to become citizens – they just want to provide for their families back home."^[7]

In 2001, Perry signed a law that offered in-state college tuition to immigrants living in Texas without legal permission who attended Texas public schools. Ten years later, Perry defended his support of the law at a debate in Florida, saying, "In 2001, members of the legislature, they debated it, they talked about it…and the option they chose was in the best economic interest of the state of Texas, in that young people who are here, by no fault of their own…to give these young people the opportunity to be givers rather than takers, to be a constructive part of this society, and that’s what did."^[8]

Recent news

This section links to a Google news search for the term Rick + Perry + Immigration