Governor Rick Perry of Texas announced today that he would be sending up to 1,000 Texas national guard troops to the border to supplement border agents being overwhelmed by the flood Central Americans because of President Obama’s 2012 executive action “Dream Act” which has given them the idea children will be allowed to stay once in the U.S.
The Texas governor said, the tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors only make up roughly 20 percent of those being apprehended illegally crossing the border, Perry said he can no longer wait for the president to act as gang members and drug cartels flood into Texas, causing crime to skyrocket.
The problem gets worse as we learn that border patrol agents have been ordered to release any female illegal migrant believed to be in any stage of pregnancy. Such an order is in violation of the law and outside the scope of executive action.
New Mexicans may wonder where the governor of New Mexico might be as Rick Perry takes a stand against the apathy of the President Obama.
Governor Susana Martinez visited the temporary detention center in Artesia on Saturday. The barracks of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center is just one of several facilities in conservative communities around the United States that the Obama administration is using to house the thousands of men, women and children that have crossed the US southern border in direct violation of the law.
However, the governor has not publicly called out President Obama specifically. Preferring instead to spread the blame to congress. “The immigration situation we face today is a direct failure of gridlocked Washington lawmakers and President Obama,” Martinez said in a statement to the Albuquerque Journal .
“I share the frustration that people throughout the state, and in the Artesia area, are feeling,” Martinez added. “In fact, what has been unfolding in border states represents the human consequence of Washington’s dysfunction.”
New Mexico’s first female Hispanic governor is uniquely positioned to speak out on the issue of lawless immigration. Because she is seeking reelection, she chooses to parse her words and take a moderate stance on both the cause and the effect of the president’s 2012 executive action.
To my knowledge she has yet to challenge in any meaningful way, the president’s declaration of New Mexico’s southern lands as a national monument. It seems interesting that President Obama made such a declaration just as the immigration problem exploded, but I digress.
Many would argue that it is important for the governor to be reelected in order to tackle these issues. There will always be a next election that is very important. There will not always be a time to lead. Governor Martinez has often taken the path of least resistance and least conviction. As governor of New Mexico she has an obligation to stand up for the state of New Mexico.
She has the bully pulpit of the governor’s office and the authority of the executive branch. While the NM national guard is limited by law, it would still send a message to deploy them to the southern border. Martinez could challenge our US senators and congressmen directly, why not call them to the governor’s office? She could demand the president give an account of his actions, even though he might not respond.
The time has come for American governors, including the governor of New Mexico to stand up to runaway federalism and flagrant lawlessness. We are already over the cliff and we are being prevented from deploying the emergency parachutes.
