Perry: I’ll Say What I’ll Do With Illegals In US at ‘Appropriate Time’

Republican presidential candidate and former Texas Governor Rick Perry stated that he would “lay out at the appropriate time” how to deal with illegal immigrants in the US and that the discussion on illegal immigration should focus on border security on Tuesday’s “Cavuto: Coast to Coast” on the Fox Business Network.

Perry was asked [relevant exchange begins around 6:10] what he would do with illegal immigrants already in the US, he answered, “there are a lot of of really smart people that I’ll be working with to address that issue, but that’s not what Americans care about right now. They want to see this border secure. They’ve heard this deflective conversation for 30 years about how do you deal with the people that are here? Ronald Reagan signed a piece of legislation that gave over 4 million of them amnesty, but the border was not secured.”

After host Neil Cavuto followed-up about what a President Perry would do, Perry stated, “President Perry will lay out at the appropriate time how he will deal with this, but not until we get the border secure, Neil.”

Cavuto then told Perry, “with all due respect Governor, what you just told me isn’t a lot different than what Hillary Clinton said on Keystone, [paraphrasing] ‘I’ll get back to you, if I become president.'” Perry answered, “There’s only one person on that stage that knows how to secure that border, and it’s me, because I’ve done it.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett