I will not stand idly by while our citizens are under assault and little children from Central America are detained in squalor. We are too good a country for that to occur.

Gov. Rick Perry, explaining his decision to activate up to 1,000 National Guard troops to send to the Texas-Mexico border to back up personnel from the Department of Public Safety

They can provide intel support. They can be lookouts. But can they go out there and apprehend? Absolutely, under the law, they cannot do that.

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, on the inherent limits on what the National Guard can do on the border

We need our borders protected. We need a lot of things, but what we don’t need is more people at the trough. These people are not coming in with a good, Christian heart. Most of them are criminals, anyway.

Thomas Rolland, in a meeting where Tea Party activists accused state Rep. David Simpson, R-Longview, of not being tough enough on border security

When you run a state like Texas, you’ve got to be pretty darn smart.

Iowa resident Sharon Dickson after hearing Perry speak over the weekend in Clear Lake

Why would you give money to someone who’s going to lose a race and piss off the one who is going to win?

HillCo Partners co-founder Bill Miller, explaining one of politics' ironclad rules