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Gov. Perry accuses federal government of failing to secure Texas border

Cindy Arnson

In this article, Cynthia Arnson is quoted on immigration and border security.

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Meanwhile, experts disputed the governor's claims that the Texas border surge was responsible for the decrease in illegal immigration since summer. South Texas was the scene of a wave of unaccompanied children and families from Central America that has since subsided.

"There's no way the whole story is told by enhanced border security," said Cynthia J. Arnson, director of the Latin American Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.

Arnson said that since the immigration wave began, the United States and Central American governments have conducted massive public-relations campaigns in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador discouraging people from heading north to the United States.

After blaming an earlier executive order by President Barack Obama for last summer's immigration wave, Perry said a presidential order issued last month will lead to future wave.

The order says that certain undocumented immigrants won't be deported. On Wednesday, Texas Attorney General and Gov.-elect Greg Abbott announced a lawsuit seeking to block the order.

Arnson said that if Obama's order leads to more immigration, it would be the product of confusion or deception.

"The order is very clear that it only applies to people who have been in the country for a certain period of time," she said.

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About the Author

Cindy Arnson

Cynthia J. Arnson

Distinguished Fellow, Latin America Program
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Latin America Program

The Wilson Center’s prestigious Latin America Program provides non-partisan expertise to a broad community of decision makers in the United States and Latin America on critical policy issues facing the Hemisphere. The Program provides insightful and actionable research for policymakers, private sector leaders, journalists, and public intellectuals in the United States and Latin America. To bridge the gap between scholarship and policy action, it fosters new inquiry, sponsors high-level public and private meetings among multiple stakeholders, and explores policy options to improve outcomes for citizens throughout the Americas. Drawing on the Wilson Center’s strength as the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum, the Program serves as a trusted source of analysis and a vital point of contact between the worlds of scholarship and action.  Read more