Rick Perry defended his stance in favor of public education for the children of illegal immigrants.
Perry said that nobody else on the stage had worked as hard as he had on the issue of border security, noting the 1,200-mile border the state shares with Mexico.
“But if you’re saying we should not educate children who were brought to our state, by no fault of their own, you have no heart,” Perry continued — triggering a mix of cheering and booing from the audience.
“We need to educate those children so they don’t become a drag on our society,” he also said, adding that there were only four dissenting votes in the Texas legislature, on this solution to the issue at a state level.