MSNBC "Hardball with Chris Matthews" - Transcript: Immigration

Interview

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Anyway, joining me right now is Democratic Congressman Lloyd Doggett of Texas and Wayne Slater, who is the senior political writer for "The Dallas Morning News."

Congressman, thank you for joining us.

REP. LLOYD DOGGETT (D), TEXAS: Thank you, Chris.

MATTHEWS: I have been watching Governor Perry. And I have been watching his attempt to deal with the visual. He now wears glasses on television. He got rid of that snappy blazer with the gold buttons he used to wear. He`s trying to look like a serious grownup. And here he is admitting it`s all visual, this sending the border guys and women who have no authority to arrest anybody, stop anybody, pursue anybody, do anything, because he says it would make a good visual.

I`m wondering who he`s sending the picture to. Is it the voters of Iowa or some bad guy down -- or a good parent down in Honduras? Who is he sending pictures to?

DOGGETT: Chris, I think those new glasses may make him look more thoughtful. They may or may not have improved his memory. But they certainly haven`t improved his vision.

He doesn`t understand this problem. He`s even been willing to welcome nuclear waste to Texas, but not these children so desperate to escape abuse. I think that really the taxpayers of Texas are just being asked to pay once again for his rather grandiose political ambitions.Our National Guard is very skilled, it`s highly trained, but not to do the job. He`s not so much about boots on the ground. That`s what he wants to project. These Guard members, after they get their training, may provide
pencils on the table or a wrench at the garage. But they are not going to be doing anything that we couldn`t do through other means.And it will, of course, disrupt the lives of many of these Guardsmen who served our country so well abroad.

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MATTHEWS: Lloyd, Congressman, why would that be a bad thing to say in the Republican Party, what he just said there?

DOGGETT: Well, there is such a fear and hate with regard to some of the immigrants. I think a failure to recognize that these are desperate children coming to our shores seeking refuge, but it seems to play very well in the Republican Party to say they`re not our kids, not our problem, when they are our problem and we ought to be recognizing their unique circumstance and defend existing law and see that it`s properly implemented.

I`m encouraged that the Senate is apparently beginning to move some appropriations to fund full enforcement of our laws, including the justice system for these children. And that measure apparently includes no changes in the existing law, which should be forced to prevent track trafficking of these children.

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