Perry: ‘I was offended by’ Trump’s remarks

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Sunday ripped fellow GOP 2016 hopeful Donald Trump over controversial remarks the businessman made about illegal immigrants, saying Trump’s views are not representative of the party as a whole.

“Donald Trump does not represent the Republican party,” Perry said on ABC’s “This Week.” “I was offended by his remarks. Listen, Hispanics in America, and Hispanics in Texas, from the Alamo to Afghanistan, have been extraordinary people, citizens of our country and our state, and they have served nobly. To paint with that broad a brush that Donald Trump did — he’s going to have to defend those remarks. I never will.”

{mosads}Last month, in a speech announcing he would seek the Republican presidential nomination, Trump described immigrants crossing the border as dangerous criminals.

“They’re sending people who have a lot of problems,” Trump said. “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

There has been considerable backlash against the remarks, with Macy’s, NBC, and Univision all cutting their business ties with Trump.

Some Republicans are worried that the reality TV star will damage the GOP as the party seeks inroads with Hispanic voters. However, Trump’s straight-talking style and hawkish immigration stance have vaulted him into second place nationally in some polls.

Perry argued on Sunday that Trump doesn’t have any direct experience dealing with illegal immigration, so he doesn’t understand the issue.

“I don’t think he understands the challenge,” Perry said. “Obviously we’ve been there, 14 years as the governor of that state with a 1,200-mile border. When it became abundantly clear that the president wasn’t going to deal with this issue, we acted last summer. We surged our law enforcement and our national guard; we had a 74 percent decrease of apprehensions in that region of the border. … my bet is that Mr. Trump doesn’t know that.”