--- title: Obama Heads for his Own Alamo description: Governor Rick Perry has been sharply critical of the administration's immigration policy and declined to meet the president on arrival canonical: https://time.com/2967925/obamas-texas-trip-sets-stage-for-immigration-alamo/ author: Denver Nicks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-09T00:25:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:02:07.799Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Heads for his Own Alamo og:description: Governor Rick Perry has been sharply critical of the administration's immigration policy and declined to meet the president on arrival og:url: https://time.com/2967925/obamas-texas-trip-sets-stage-for-immigration-alamo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf443b4e7811d0b3c/69869af6e53aba14c74d37dc/2014-07-08t204455z_1468202568_gm1ea790.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: Obama waves from Air Force One as he departs Joint Base Andrews in Washington en route to Denver og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Heads for his Own Alamo twitter:description: Governor Rick Perry has been sharply critical of the administration's immigration policy and declined to meet the president on arrival twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf443b4e7811d0b3c/69869af6e53aba14c74d37dc/2014-07-08t204455z_1468202568_gm1ea790.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama's Texas Trip Sets Stage for Immigration Alamo  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Jul 9, 2014 12:25 AM UTC  President Barack Obama waves from Air Force One as he departs Joint Base Andrews in Washington en route to Denver July 8, 2014\. Obama will then travel to Texas on Wednesday and will meet Governor Rick Perry. President Barack Obama waves from Air Force One as he departs Joint Base Andrews in Washington en route to Denver July 8, 2014\. Obama will then travel to Texas on Wednesday and will meet Governor Rick Perry.Kevin Lamarque—Reuters  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Jul 9, 2014 12:25 AM UTC President Barack Obama travels to Texas Wednesday to raise money for Democratic campaigns in Dallas and Austin, speak about the economy, and meet with community leaders for a discussion about the [wave](http://time.com/2941422/barack-obama-immigration-reform-border-deportations/) of migrants, many of them children, flooding the U.S.-Mexico border in recent months. Texas Governor Rick Perry will meet with the President during his visit, but declined an offer to welcome Obama to Texas by meeting him at the airport. “I appreciate the offer to greet you at Austin-Bergstrom Airport,” Perry wrote in a letter [seen](http://www.statesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/perry-to-obama-no-totarmac-handshake-yes-to-though/ngbBt/) by the Austin-American _Statesman_, “but a quick handshake on the tarmac will not allow for a thoughtful discussion regarding the humanitarian and national security crises enveloping the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas. I would instead offer to meet with you at any time during your visit to Texas for a substantive meeting to discuss this critical issue. With the appropriate notice, I am willing to change my schedule to facilitate this request.” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Tuesday that the President will meet with border officials on his visit to Texas but not tour the border itself, something Governor Perry has repeatedly invited him to do. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2967925/obamas-texas-trip-sets-stage-for-immigration-alamo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2967925/obamas-texas-trip-sets-stage-for-immigration-alamo/"},"headline":"Obama's Texas Trip Sets Stage for Immigration Alamo","datePublished":"2014-07-09T00:25:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:02:07.799Z","description":"Governor Perry, who has been sharply critical of the administration response to a wave of child migrants on the border, declined to meet the president on arrival","url":"https://time.com/2967925/obamas-texas-trip-sets-stage-for-immigration-alamo/","keywords":["Texas","Barack Obama","violence","Mexico","Drug War","rick perry","central america","illegal immigration"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf443b4e7811d0b3c/69869af6e53aba14c74d37dc/2014-07-08t204455z_1468202568_gm1ea790.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Denver Nicks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf443b4e7811d0b3c/69869af6e53aba14c74d37dc/2014-07-08t204455z_1468202568_gm1ea790.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Obama waves from Air Force One as he departs Joint Base Andrews in Washington en route to Denver","caption":"Obama waves from Air Force One as he departs Joint Base Andrews in Washington en route to Denver","creditText":"Kevin Lamarque—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2967925/obamas-texas-trip-sets-stage-for-immigration-alamo/","name":"Obama's Texas Trip Sets Stage for Immigration Alamo"}}]}] ```