Texas tuition break for illegals hurting Perry's chances

Washington Times:

Republican presidential front-runner Rick Perrystrolled into Florida last week with a bull’s-eye on his back, and hobbled out wounded as he struggled to explain his state’s policy of offering in-state college tuition discounts to illegal immigrants.

Baffled by his position, some activists from the conservative ranks who begged the Texas governor to enter the race just a few months ago were now warning that the issue of illegal immigration is so toxic that his stance could doom his bid.

“I think it could drag him down, because it undermines a core principle, a core value, which is the rule of law,” said Joe Stitch, chairman of theRepublican Executive Committee of Volusia County.

Mr. Perry was booed at a debate here Thursday when he defended the policy he signed in 2001 to grant some illegal immigrants the same in-state tuition rates citizens and legal immigrants enjoy at Texas universities. He then failed to quell the grumbling when he addressed about 3,000 grass-roots activists at the Conservative Political Action Conference meeting on Friday, which in turn haunted him in the Presidency 5 straw poll on Saturday.

“If you say that we should not educate children who have come into our state for no other reason than they have been brought there by no fault of their own, I don’t think you have a heart,” Mr. Perry said at the debate. “We need to be educating these children, because they will become a drag on our society.”

He also attacked suggestions that more fencing would help secure the border, arguing it is unwise and unnecessary to build a fence across the entire 1,950-mile length of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Before Saturday’s straw poll, Florida Gov. Rick Scott said illegal immigration remains a “big issue” in Florida and predicted the vote would provide some measure of how big a hurdle the Texan faces in the state. If that’s the case, Florida could be bad news for Mr. Perry’s presidential hopes: He placed second to former pizza magnate Herman Cain, a political newcomer who took more votes than Mr. Perry and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney combined.

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He has an editorial excerpted below which explains his position on the fence issue.  Not explained is who people who own border property oppose the fence.  Ranchers rely on the Rio Grand for the scarce water supplies in teh area.  A fence would block access to the water for their live stock.

There is really not much Perry can do about the education issue, but he needs an explanation that does not accuse those who oppose the idea of being heartless.  He has to show some understanding of the opposition.