Rick Perry: Even with the new glasses, he can't see his way clear to deport anyone.

Texas Governor Rick Perry is still trying to climb out of his coffin, despite my recent stomping on his ludicrous pretense to be an immigration patriot. After the GOP base frustrated the House Leadership’s Becky Tallent-authored attempt to slip amnesty provisions into its border bill, Perry put out a faux-tough statement that by an amazing coincidence played into the attempt to stampede the GOP: Rick Perry to Boehner: Pass Something to Address Border Before Congressional Recess, by Matthew Boyle, Breitbart.com, July 31, 2014. (NumbersUSA’s Roy Beck applauds the final legislationhere). Ominously, and significantly, the Washington Post’s fanatical immigration enthusiast blogger Jennifer Rubin has just (again) virtually endorsed Perry for president: Rick Perry leads on Israel, August 1, 2014. It’s time to nail this coffin shut.

The illegal immigration invasion continues to devastate Texas. Perry has sent 1,000 Texas National Guard troops to the border. But because the National Guard can’t arrest anyone and most of the damage is on private property, Rick Perry’s public relations gambit won’t actually do anything to assist law enforcement or besieged Texas citizens. [Texas Sheriffs Speak Out On Damage From Illegal Immigration, by Chuck Ross, Daily Caller, July 29, 2014]

Unfortunately, this hasn’t prevented Perry from becoming a hero of the opposition to Obama’s Children’s Crusade (with some skeptics like Breitbart.com's Joan Fleming and Michelle Malkin). The otherwise-estimable Matt Drudge rewarded Perry with a headline crying “"'OUR CITIZENS UNDER SIEGE' PERRY SENDS NATIONAL GUARD TO BORDER.” Eric Erickson from Redstate.com (no longer estimable, alas) editorialized “Thank God for Rick Perry”. Even Rush Limbaugh told his listeners: “So the Regime is forced now to act like they've just discovered a problem, may be a problem. They're gonna look into it now. They're never gonna acknowledge that Perry was first and Perry was right.”

Of course, even if you believe Perry had a Road to Damascus conversion on immigration, he was hardly the “first.” He was cheering for Amnesty just last year.

The Left is equally eager to paint Perry’s empty gesture as the second coming of Operation Wetback. Politico’s Roger Simon tweeted “Rick Perry sending 1,000 National Guard troops to border to shoot small children. Could make good headlines — in Russia.” Julian Castro’s twin brother, Congressman Joaquin Castro accusedPerry of “militarizing our border” and said we should be sending the Red Cross instead. [Joaquin Castro: Rick Perry ‘militarizing’ border, by Jonathan Topaz, Politico, July 21, 2014]

As usual, this shadow boxing obscures the real problem driving the crisis. Castro was right to note that the “children” are turning themselves in to Border Patrol agents—not, however, because they are desperate, but because they know agents are forbidden from doing their job. They hope and expect to get amnesty and other goodies (such as in-state tuition, which Perry supports) once they get to America.

If Perry was serious about resolving the crisis, he could have demanded that Obama change his policy of refusing to deport “unaccompanied minors.” Obama and his Main Stream Media allies go to the usual “blame Bush” playbook by tying the policy to the Wilberforce Act, which George W. Bush signed into law. However, though Bush should have vetoed that law, there is good reason to believe it does not apply to the vast majority of unaccompanied minors. [2008 Trafficking Law Largely Inapplicable to Current Border Crisis, by Jon Feere, Center for Immigration Studies, July 2014] And there are other law enforcement solutions already available.

But Rick Perry has not even said the policy should be changed.

Earlier in the month, Perry was a guest on ABC’s This Week. Reporter Martha Raddatz challenged his border security talk by noting: “This isn’t necessarily about Border Patrol. This is about a law... they have to let these people into the country when they’re from non-contiguous nations, when they’re from Central America or South America. Should that law be changed?” [ABC News Cuts Off Rick Perry in the Middle Of An Insane Obama Conspiracy Rant, by Jason Easley, Politics USA, July 6, 2014]. Perry’s nonsensically responded: “The rule of law is that ‘The Constitution’ requires the United States to secure the border.”

Raddatz kept on pressing Perry on the law, noting that ”The 2008 law that was signed into law by George Bush. Isn’t this is a backlog in the courts? Doesn’t that have to be addressed first?”

Perry just kept babbling about border security and drug cartels.

The fact that Perry either can’t or won’t give a coherent response to the most obvious question suggests he doesn’t actually want to solve the problem. Nor is he as savvy as everyone thinks—his new glasses notwithstanding.

Right now, Perry is more dangerous than Obama. No one thinks Obama is serious about immigration enforcement, so his talk will not fool anyone. The American people have decisively turned against his lawless immigration policy.

However, if those good instincts are channeled towards frauds like Perry, all our progress will be for naught.

Washington Watcher [email him] is an anonymous source Inside The Beltway