THIS IS WHEN THE GOP LOST THE HISPANIC VOTE FOREVER

It was when the crowd booing Rick Perry...

Opponents pile on, Rick Perry calls them heartless on immigration
By ALEXANDER BURNS | 9/22/11 9:58 PM EDT Updated: 9/23/11 8:51 AM EDT
POLITICO

The word of the night is “magnet.”

First, Michele Bachmann used it to describe laws that allow illegal immigrants to get in-state tuition benefits for college. Rick Perry signed a law making such benefits available in Texas.

Mitt Romney piled on at the first opportunity, saying Perry’s argument that tuition benefits help make immigrants part of civil society “doesn’t make sense to me.”

“That kind of magnet draws people into this country to get that education,” said Romney, telling viewers that in-state tuition benefits in Texas come to $22,000 a year.

“We have to have a fence,” Romney continued. “We have to crack down on employers that hire people illegally. And we have to turn off the magnet of extraordinary government benefits.”

Offered the chance to respond, Perry stood by the Texas tuition law, saying that to deny opportunities to children who have been brought into the country illegally through no fault of their own would be callous.

To candidates who would take that stance, Perry said: “I don’t think you have a heart.”

“We need to be educating these children because they will become a drag on our society,” Perry said.

The audience booed.