UNFAIR – AT 10:26 A.M. ET:  We've been a bit down on Rick Perry, as readers know, assessing his debate performances as marginal and his policy positions as vague.  However, I've come to think that some of the criticism of his Thursday night comments, coming from some Republicans, is a bit unfair.

I'm referring to Perry's immigration stance, now the subject of a minor firestorm within the party.  On immigration, Perry, normally quite conservative, is moderate.  He, with the overwhelming support of both parties in the legislature, initiated a program giving children of illegal immigrants to Texas the privilege of in-state tuition to the state's public colleges and universities.  Some are outraged by this.

Perry tried to explain, not well, that these are the children of illegals.  They have broken no law, even though their parents did.  It is a fundamental of the Judeo-Christian ethic that we do not visit the sins of the parents upon the children.  Perry explained that these children, some of whom may well have been born in the United States, are not being deported, and want to be educated, and that it is in society's best interest to educate them.

Perry is fundamentally correct, although he may have gone about the issue in a heavy-handed way.  It may well strike many as unfair that the child of an illegal immigrant gets a tuition break, whereas a legal Hispanic-American kid from next-door Oklahoma, wanting to go to a Texas school, pays full price.  That's another discussion, however. 

Governor Perry represents a large Hispanic constituency, and he shows respect for that constituency.  Although we have a right to be deeply disturbed by the legal violation inherent in illegal immigration, we aren't going to deport the 12 million illegals who are here.  Let's be blunt:  Part of our southwestern economy would collapse without them.  Yes, they broke the law, and some penalty must be assessed, but everyone really knows there will not be a mass deportation.  Preventing new illegality, yes.  Sending boatloads back – it's just not going to happen. 

And so Perry has tried to make the best of it by insuring that the children of illegals are prepared for citizenship.  He was wrong to say Thursday night that anyone who opposes his tuition plan has no heart.  That's bomb throwing.  But I know what he was trying to say, that law enforcement must have a common-sense, compassionate component.  And conservatives, who believe in conserving the idealistic and religious values of this society, should approach this subject in a serious, reflective way. 

Illegal immigration is a serious issue, and should be dealt with by serious policy proposals.  Perry is at least trying, and deserves credit for the balance he's trying to strike.

September 24, 2011