Obama Tries To Shift Migrant Debate

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — President Barack Obama is seeking to recast the political debate over young migrants arriving at the border as a question of Republican willingness to tackle the problem, not his decision to skip a chance to view the crisis first-hand.

Obama turned to one of his chief critics, Texas' Republican Gov. Rick Perry, to try to make his point.

Following a meeting with Perry in Dallas Wednesday, the president suggested there was little daylight between Perry's calls for additional assistance at the border and the nearly $4 billion request Obama sent to Congress this week. He also made a public appeal for Perry, a potential GOP presidential candidate in 2016, to wield his influence with Texas' Republican-heavy congressional delegation and press them to back the emergency spending package.