Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) won't be on hand to greet President Barack Obama when Air Force One lands in Austin on Wednesday.
The governor's office says the White House extended an invitation to Perry to meet Obama on the tarmac when he
arrives for Democratic fundraisers in Dallas and Austin.
However, Perry refused the offer, asking instead to meet with Obama in private to discuss the high number of
unaccompanied children arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border in recent months.
“I
appreciate the offer to greet you at Austin-Bergstrom Airport, but a
quick handshake on the tarmac will not allow for a thoughtful discussion
regarding the humanitarian and national security crises enveloping the
Rio Grande Valley in South Texas,” Perry
wrote
Monday in a letter to the president. “I would instead offer to meet
with you at any time during your visit to Texas for a substantive
meeting to discuss this critical issue.”
The Texas governor has
been a vocal critic of the president's handling of the situation at the
border, repeatedly suggesting that the administration is "in on this
somehow."
"I have to believe that when you do not respond in any way, that you are either inept, or you have some
ulterior motive of which you are functioning from," Perry said during a Sunday appearance on ABC's "This Week."