In Iowa, Rick Perry’s Immigration Problem Grows
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SPENCER, Iowa — Rick Perry’s immigration problem isn’t going away. It’s getting bigger.
Two weeks after he said Republicans who disagree with the Texas law allowing undocumented immigrants in-state tuition “don’t have a heart,” angering many of his base, Perry found himself in northwest Iowa Saturday trying to explain to voters exactly what the program does.
He did not have much success, his words seeming to confuse some voters rather than allay their suspicions. “I’m not sure exactly what he wants,” said one. “Maybe I misunderstood,” said another.
In stump speeches at three stops here, Perry portrayed himself as an expert on immigration issues, saying in Orange City that “I have done more as the governor of Texas than I will suggest to you the federal government has done in that 10-year period of time to secure the border.”
And in Sioux City, he insisted: “I’ve got a strong record on immigration from the standpoint of clearly being a rule-of-law person.”
But each time voters asked about the tuition policy — questions were posed at all three events — it was clear those asking the questions believed the Texas program to be much broader and, to their ears, sinister, than it actually is.
In Sioux City, Perry was asked: “In Texas, you have a program that assists illegals going to college. If you were president, would you expand that beyond Texas?” In Orange City, he was asked why undocumented immigrants receive “a free ride” at Texas colleges. And in Spencer, in a packed banquet room at the Pizza Ranch restaurant, Perry explained to voter Kathryn Parsons that Texas sought to make undocumented immigrants productive members of his state, as he did at the day’s first two stops.
He said that those eligible for in-state rates must be on a path to citizenship — a fact his wife, Anita, reminded him of during the Sioux City stop — and that Texas public schools had paid for their elementary and high school educations.
“Are we going to create a class of tax wasters or are we going to create taxpayers? Texas chose the latter,” Perry said. “Every state has the freedom to make that decision. It’s not a federal issue. I would not want it to be a federal issue. What I want to do is to be the president of the United States who secures the border so future governors don’t have to mess with that particular issue.”
But after that explanation, Parsons, 88, a retired secretary from Spencer, said she remained confused about what Perry was defending.
“I’m not sure exactly what he wants,” she said. “I’m guessing that he expected to give money toward tuition to these illegal people.”
Earlier, in Orange City, Perry gave a similar explanation to Fae Groff-Moritz, a 63-year-old medical reference clerk from Remsen, Iowa, who said her son pays out-of-state tuition to attend the University of South Dakota. She also found herself confused by Perry’s response, and by what he said the Texas program does.
“What it sounded like when he was on TV, that … they came into the United States illegal, they were pursuing citizenship, that’s what I understood, and then they were going to college but it sounded to me like they had a free ride. But he said, ‘No, that wasn’t the case,’ so maybe I misunderstood.”
Contributing to the confusion is, of course, Mitt Romney, whose campaign gleefully emailed reporters trailing Perry Saturday to offer their own characterization of the tuition policy.
“He opposes a border fence and signed legislation that provides taxpayer-backed benefits to illegal immigrants,” said Romney spokesman Ryan Williams. “His liberal immigration policies are out of step with Iowa values and wrong for our country.”
The reception for Perry’s weekend Iowa trip, his first since he made his now infamous remarks on immigration at the Orlando debate, is of striking contrast to his conquering-hero jaunt through the state following his August entry into the race. In the most Republican and conservative part of the state, Perry is no longer seen as the GOP field’s savior.
“When he got in the race, everybody was really excited,” said Kris Thiessen, a Ron Paul supporter who is the GOP chairwoman in Clay County, which includes Spencer. “Certainly that last debate he did not show very well. … It just changed my whole opinion of him. If you’re going to be a strong conservative, you’ve got to be right on the issues. You have to have the background to prove it. You can’t say you believe one thing and then have a record of something else.”
The list of local grievances is long: Perry hasn’t debated well. He hadn’t visited before Saturday. The media storm around his August entrance into the race stepped on the Ames straw poll results. He doesn’t sufficiently support ethanol subsidies. His mandating Texas schoolgirls receive the HPV vaccine.
But the tuition issue is, for many, a deal-breaker.
“It doesn’t play well,” said Brian Rosener, the GOP chairman in Woodbury County, which includes Sioux City, Perry’s first stop Saturday. “With in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, we can’t be chasing after votes, we have to chase after what’s right for this nation. When you do that, you will draw the vote. It’s not about personal self-interest.”
Perhaps just as troublesome for Perry is his Romneyesque it’s-good-for-my-state-but-not-yours reply, won’t come close to satisfying the majority of Republican voters who don’t agree on the tuition issue, said Sam Clovis, a popular Sioux City conservative talk radio host who attended Perry’s event there.
Asked if Perry’s tuition answer was satisfactory, Clovis said: “No, because the states can’t grant a path to citizenship. That’s a plenary power of the Congress of the United States. Go look it up.”
Even some of those trying to defend Perry on the tuition issue don’t understand his stance. Iowa state Sen. David Johnson, an Ocheyedan Republican who introduced Perry here, told POLITICO that he believed the policy applied to children of undocumented immigrants, not the undocumented immigrants themselves.
“Let’s say that these students were born in the United States, shouldn’t they be entitled to in-state tuition?” he said. “They are paying tuition, I just don’t see how this is a subsidy for them.”
George Moriarty, who for 18 years was the Clay County GOP chairman before retiring in 2010, said Perry needs to do a better job explaining the Texas policy. He said the confusion rampant among northwest Iowa Republicans is something the Perry campaign must work harder to correct.
“It’s very important to anyone who is upset about immigration,” he said. “They really need to understand that or they’re going to be opposed to him. That’s how strong our people feel about it.”
And Harry Rasdal, a retired Spencer physician who was chairman of Sen. Chuck Grassley’s first statewide campaign and managed campaigns for former Gov. Robert Ray, said the Texas governor has not sufficiently explained himself on the issue.
“It’s a problem for him,” Rasdal said. “And he’s the one who brought this up.”
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