Texas Democratic gubernatorial nominee Wendy Davis was against a plan to send Texas law enforcement agents to secure the border before she was for it.
On Monday, Davis, a state senator from Fort Worth, sent a letter to Gov. Rick Perry expressing support for his plan to send Texas Department of Public Safety agents to help stabilize the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border, which has been inundated by a surge of Central American immigrants, many of whom are unaccompanied children.
“The crisis along our border is an emergency and requires additional immediate attention,” wrote Davis in the letter to Perry, calling the current situation “untenable,” according to the letter, published by KXAN.
Last week, Perry announced that he would spend $1.3 million per week to combat what he called “the absence of adequate federal resources to secure the border.” The plan included sending more Texas Department of Public Safety agents.
But Davis’ support for Perry’s move is a change from her opinion of a similar plan proposed earlier this year by her Republican gubernatorial opponent, state Attorney General Greg Abbott.
“Greg Abbott’s positions don’t vary much from the ‘stop the invasion’ rhetoric we’re hearing from his allies,” Davis spokeswoman Rebecca Acuña said in February, in response to Abbott’s plan, which involved sending 500 Texas Department of Public Safety agents to the border.
“Actions speak louder than words, and Greg Abbott’s actions are downright hostile,” Acuña said. “Abbott even went as far as comparing the Texas border to a third world country. Unlike Greg Abbott, Senator Davis has a strong record of fighting for all Texans.”
Abbott’s $345 million plan called for other immigration-curbing measures, including more funding to prosecute corruption cases involving drug cartels, in order to make up for the federal governments’ lack of action.
“You took a solid step, which I support, to address that by increasing support to the Department of Public Safety to help along the border,” Davis wrote to Perry on Monday.
She proposed that Perry take four additional courses of action, including the declaration of a state of emergency, support for an emergency special session of the Texas legislature, a request to the federal government for additional immigration judges, and, finally, a request that Perry “send the state/local bill to the federal government.”
“If the federal government does not lead, then we must,” she wrote.
The Daily Caller sought comment from the Davis campaign on her position on the border crisis. TheDC also requested comment from the campaign on Monday. The campaign did not respond to either request.