On “Fox News Sunday,” Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) said President Barack Obama “was not even aware his Border Patrol was 40, 45 miles away, back from the border. They need to be right on the river, as a show of force.” Perry had argued instead they be positioned closer to the U.S.-Mexico border. 

“It’s important to do that, because this flood of children is pulling around the border patrol from their normal duties of keeping bad people, keeping the drug cartels, they’re being distracted, so that I would suggest is a very obvious reason that those National Guard troops should come play an important role,” he said.

In discussing the Obama’s proposed $3.7 billion emergency funding request to address the flood of illegal unaccompanied children crossing the border, he said “It is a very large amount of money and as you analyze it, very little of it is for border security.”

Follow Pam Key On Twitter @pamkeyNEN