Reyes Fires Back at Perry After TV Appearance

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-mexico-border-news/texas-mexico-border/reyes-fires-back-at-perry-after-tv-appearance/

A border congressman today lashed out at Texas Gov. Rick Perry after Perry's appearance Tuesday on Fox News where he proclaimed that the southern border is under siege while the federal government stands idly by.

U.S. Rep. Sylvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, said Perry should instead focus on the increased crime in Austin and other cities away from the Rio Grande.

“Austin, Texas, where Governor Perry resides in his $10,000-a-month rental mansion at taxpayer expense, reported a 72 percent increase in homicides in 2010,” Reyes said in a statement. “The city of Austin had more homicides last year than El Paso, Laredo, McAllen, and Brownsville combined.”

Perry appeared with Fox News' Greta van Susteren in the first installment of a two-part series. During the segment Perry said the Obama administration's border security efforts “an absolute national disgrace.”

“The president either does not know or does not care what is going on on the border of Texas,” Perry told van Susteren.