Texas Medicaid Debate Complicated By Politics And Poverty

NPR, 5/21/2013

When the sun rises over the Rio Grande Valley, the cries of the urracas — blackbirds — perched on the tops of palm trees swell to a noisy, unavoidable cacophony. That is also the strategy, it could be said, that local officials, health care providers and frustrated valley residents are trying to use to persuade Gov. Rick Perry and state Republican lawmakers to set aside their opposition and expand Medicaid, a key provision of the federal health law.

The Rio Grande Valley has a load of troubles: high unemployment, low-paying jobs, warring Mexican cartels, a meager tax base and legions of people without health insurance. While many of those woes seem incurable, expanding Medicaid to the region’s uninsured is, to , who runs several local health clinics, a no-brainer. “I think if we’re not ready, if Texas doesn’t buy in in the next three months, shame on us,” she says.

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Romney’s Lawn Care History and the Fight Over Immigration

New York Times, 10/18/11

Rick Perry’s most pointed attack against Mitt Romney in Tuesday night’s debate concerned an immigration matter that came to light when Mr. Romney was campaigning for president four years ago.

“You hired illegals in your home,” said Mr. Perry, the governor of Texas, “and you knew for — about it for a year.” For Mr. Romney to say he was tough on illegal immigration was “the height of hypocrisy,” Mr. Perry said. While it is not clear that Mr. Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, ever knew directly that his landscaping company was using illegal immigrants to tend his lawn, the episode was embarrassing for him in 2007 when it happened, and it is awkward now.

The Boston Globe first reported in December 2006 that Mr. Romney was employing a lawn care company that regularly hired illegal immigrants.

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US troops aid Mexico in drug war

Global Post, 10/6/11

When a young corporal in the Mexican marines was ambushed by drug cartel gunmen in the state of Tamaulipas, his first thoughts were for his pregnant wife and unborn child.But within a split second, he was focused on combat, as his unit took defensive positions around their convoy to return fire.

They managed to shoot dead four attackers while only suffering two injuries.The victory — one of many by Mexico’s marines — was helped largely by U.S.-supplied equipment and training with the U.S. Northern Command in Colorado.

“We have learned from American officers who have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said the corporal, who asked that his name not be used as he is not authorized to speak to the media.

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Perry’s suggestion to send U.S. troops south riles Mexican officials

CNN, 10/4/11

Arturo Sarukhan

Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s suggestion that the United States may send troops to fight Mexican drug cartels riled officials and spurred debate from analysts on both sides of the border Monday.

Mexico’s top representative in the United States rejected the idea, which the Republican presidential candidate mentioned at a New Hampshire campaign stop Saturday.

Mexican Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan told reporters his country’s longstanding opposition to the presence of American forces had not changed.

“It may be well-intentioned, but it has the potential of really undermining cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico,” said Eric L. Olson, who studies security relationships between the neighboring countries at the Mexico Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington.

“If there’s a perception in Mexico that this is all designed somehow as a backdoor entry into Mexico by the U.S., if there’s a perception that this is leading to the United States’ direct intervention into Mexico, it puts at risk all those cooperative efforts,” Olson said.

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For the SPANISH version of this story, click here.

Perry’s Remarks on Mexico Are Praised, Dismissed

The Texas Tribune, 10/4/11

Was it the latest in a string of campaign-trail mistakes, the gaffe of an inexperienced candidate outside the friendly confines of Texas, or a legitimate conversation starter for an issue now too large to ignore?

Gov. Rick Perry’s suggestion over the weekend that he might be in favor of sending the U.S. military into Mexico to help that country quell cartel-related violence elicited a variety of reactions, from outright dismissal to praise that Perry had brought the issue to the forefront of the presidential campaign.

Perry, still fighting accusations that he is soft on illegal immigration because he signed a 2001 bill to provide in-state tuition rates to some college students in the state illegally, told a crowd in New Hampshire he would be open to sending the military to America’s neighbor and third-largest trading partner.

While the governor also said that any action would have to be agreed to by the Mexicans, advocating possible U.S. military intervention would go well beyond the current agreement — called the Mérida Initiative — that provides for equipment, training and intelligence sharing between the U.S., Mexico and Central American governments, says Eric Olson, a senior adviser at the Mexico Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.

“I think given the broader, stark context and sensitivities to U.S. intervention, these kinds of statements can create fear and misunderstanding and anger,” he says. “Mexico is in the middle of a presidential campaign, and that kind of collaboration [under Mérida] could falter and be stopped.”

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Perry’s suggestion to send U.S. troops south riles Mexican officials (In Spanish))

CNN Mexico, 10/3/11

Arturo Sarukhan

La sugerencia del gobernador de Texas, Rick Perry, acerca de que Estados Unidos envíe soldados para combatir a los cárteles de la droga en México irritó a funcionarios mexicanos y detonó este lunes un debate entre analistas en ambos lados de la frontera.

El más alto representante de México en Estados Unidos rechazó la idea, que fue planteada por el aspirante a la candidatura presidencial del Partido Republicano en un acto de campaña en New Hampshire el sábado.

El embajador Arturo Sarukhán dijo a periodistas que la tradicional oposición de su país a la presencia de soldados estadounidenses no ha cambiado.

“El tema de la participación o presencia de tropas estadounidenses en suelo mexicano no está sobre la mesa (de negociaciones)”, dijo Sarukhán. “No es un componente que forme parte de los acercamientos que México y Estados Unidos han estado usando para confrontar al crimen organizado transnacional”.

“Puede ser bien intencionada, pero tiene el potencial de afectar la cooperación entre Estados Unidos y México”, dijo Eric L. Olson, quien estudia las relaciones de ambos países desde el punto de vista de la seguridad en el Instituto México del Centro Internacional Woodrow Wilson International, en Washington.

“Si en México existe la percepción de que todo está diseñado para crear una puerta de entrada para Estados Unidos, si existe la percepción de que esto llevará a la intervención de Estados Unidos, se ponen en riesgo los esfuerzos de cooperación”, dijo Olson.

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OPINION: On Immigrant Tuition, Texans See It Perry’s Way

Ross Ramsey, The New York Times, 10/1/11

Rick Perry’s tuition troubles have a lot to do with the difference between politics in Texas and politics everywhere else.

His support for in-state tuition for the children of illegal immigrants — and the fact that he’s sticking with it — started a political tornado. It was enough to make Herman Cain say he would vote for Mitt Romney for president but not for Mr. Perry.

In Texas, there was almost no controversy when the law passed in 2001 with nearly unanimous support from lawmakers of both parties, and it hasn’t been much of an issue since — or wasn’t, until that twister touched ground. Earlier this year, an effort to undo it died in the halls of the Capitol.

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Perry’s Immigration Problem

The New York Times, 9/23/11

In 2007, Senator John McCain of Arizona discovered the hard way that a moderate approach to illegal immigration was a nonstarter in the Republican presidential contest.

At every town-hall style meeting that year, conservative voters stood up and assailed Mr. McCain for pursuing a “pathway to citizenship” and accused him of supporting amnesty. The issue scared donors, drove activists away and nearly derailed Mr. McCain’s White House bid.

Now, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is facing the same challenge. At the debate here on Thursday night, Mr. Perry was attacked ferociously by his rivals for supporting tuition discounts for children of illegal immigrants who attend Texas colleges.

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Immigration Reform a Subject of Republican Presidential Debate

Voice of America, 9/8/11

Presidential candidates from the U.S. Republican party traded barbs and criticized President Barack Obama as they debated jobs, health care, immigration and other issues Wednesday evening.

But the hot button topic of immigration seemed to prompt a greater consensus: almost all the candidates agreed the U.S. should build a fence along the entire U.S. border with Mexico to block illegal immigration.

 

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A Chameleon of a Politician (In Spanish)

Dolia Estévez, PODER 360, 8/31/11

Tras semanas de especulaciones y rumores, Rick Perry finalmente anunció que sí contenderá por la candidatura presidencial del Partido Republicano. Perry busca ser identificado como el abanderado del anti Establishment y del empleo. En el discurso en agosto en el que formalizó sus aspiraciones,  el gobernador de Texas culpó a Barack Obama de la crisis económica y prometió que de ganar la presidencia, “haré todo lo que esté a mi alcance” para que el gobierno federal en Washington “carezca de importancia”, en la vida de los ciudadanos.  Por ahora,  las encuestas ubican a Perry en segundo lugar, luego del ex gobernador de Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, el puntero entre siete aspirantes republicanos.

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