deported. most of those folks were deported. as we speak right now, some of those children are in texas schools. some of the people who came here across the border are accessing healthcare. most were deported? i don t know the raw number. all i do know is the absolute fact, and that is texas has incurred taxpayer dollars out of pocket as a result of the prior executive order. it has been stated by members of the obama administration that this new executive order will lead to the same results. when we talk about harm, i want to get into this financial issue. you talk about the issue of social services, how much money you have to spend to deal with these undocumented folks. illegal immigrants that are working in texas provide an do participate in the economy. there have been some estimates if you deported everybody who was in texas illegally, it would actually be an economic it would create an economic recession for the state of texas. how do you separate those facts?
because we re not suing for that economic harm. it s the way that texas has been impacted that gives us standing. what we re suing for is actually the greater harm, and that is harm to the constitution by empowering the president of the united states to enact legislation on his own without going through congress. i want to play for you a clip that you have heard from a previous governor from texas and what he said about immigration. here it is. i want to remind people that family values do not stop at the rio grande river. people are coming to our river country to do jobs that americans won t do to feed their families. i think there s a humane way to recognize that at the same time protect our borders and at the same way to make sure that we don t disadvantage those who have stood in line for years to become a legal citizen. do you agree with that statement? well, in a way i understand this even more powerfully, because my wife is going to be the first hispanic first lady i
technology that we are deploying right now, you can have monitors and cameras and see whether or not people are crossing the border. you want to see that grow to zero would be the perfect metric. congress has the power is that realistic? congress has the power and the resources to decide whether or not that will be 0 or 15% or 20%. rick perry, ted cruz, two texas officials running for president. rand paul, born in texas. jeb bush, his son is serving in texas. do you have a favorite? i will be strongly supportive of the republican nominee to be the next president of the united states. you are staying out of the primary totally? i m staying out of the primary. all right, greg abbott, we will watch you when you are governor of texas. thanks for coming on meet the press. thank you. here is a map of the 20 states. rick, the governor of texas told me that he has filed a preliminary to try to get a preliminary injunction if you believe harm is done. you want the law no
there s a reason why people come from across the world to the united states. that is because of the power of what the constitution has enabled this country to be. it s the constitution itself that is under assault by the president of the united states by this executive order. chuck, what we are doing is this issue in this lawsuit is not about immigration. the issue in this lawsuit is about abuse of executive power. if this abuse is not stopped, it will erode the constitution. let me ask a basic question. illegal immigration, good or bad for the state of texas? bottom line. legal immigration is great for the united states of america. any illegal activity is not good anywhere. yet it s been good for the
faces the same long-term immigration problem it did 18 months ago. if we don t pass immigration reform, if we don t get it off the table in a reasonable, practical way, it doesn t matter who you run in 2016. we are in a demographic death spiral as a party. for meet the press, luke russert. joining me now is the next governor of texas and the current attorney general, greg abbott. thanks for coming on meet the press. my honor. thanks. let s start with the lawsuit. standing requires you to show harm. you argue the president s actions are going to inspire a fresh wave of illegal immigration, that that s the harm you will show. we have seen other attempts at this before where courts have thrown out lawsuits like this because you can t quantify the harm. this is going much the same way that the lawsuit concern obamacare grew from 13 to 27 states. as to the standing issue,