Perry hits back at Mexican president

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) on Wednesday said Mexico’s “failure” to secure its own borders was partly to blame for the large influx of unaccompanied child immigrants captured in the United States over the summer. 

“Our challenges today are partly a consequence of the failure of the Mexican government to secure its southern border from illegal immigration by unaccompanied children and other individuals from Central America, or to deploy adequate resources to control the criminal element in Mexico,” Perry said in a letter to the Mexican president. 

{mosads}Perry was hitting back at Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, who last week called the governor’s deployment of National Guard troops to the border “reprehensible” and an “attack” on good relations. 

The Mexican embassy in Washington issued a similar statement last week. 

The governor, a potential GOP presidential candidate, invited Peña Nieto to visit Texas, assuring him that people obeying the law have nothing to fear. 

Perry said that some — but not all — illegal immigrants are crossing the U.S. border with criminal intent.

“I will continue to act as necessary to uphold my constitutional obligations, and when it comes to the safety and security of Texans, I will not be dissuaded by rhetoric of any kind,” he said, adding the two leaders must work together to address the issue. 

The first National Guard troops began deploying last month after Perry authorized up to 1,000 in July. 

Perry authorized the troops amid a surge of unaccompanied child migrants flooding over the U.S.-Mexican border, many coming from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. The surge has receded in the past few months.