Citizenship check causes controversy at Perry event
Manchester, New Hampshire (CNN) – Rick Perry''s campaign moved quickly Wednesday to correct an employee''s inaccurate statement that non-United States citizens would not be allowed to attend a town hall the Texas governor held at a plant.
The event was hosted by Granite State Manufacturing, which does defense contracting work. An employee checking in members of the news media at the entrance asked each person for his identification and whether he was a citizen.
When asked what would happen if a person were not a United States citizen, the woman said she would deny them entrance.
The Perry campaign brought Granite State Manufacturing Facilities Manager Shawn O''Hagan to the press area to tell reporters that was not true.
O''Hagan said the woman had been misinformed by another employee. Non-citizens would be allowed to enter, but the company would assign an employee escort to accompany them, which is standard for defense contractors complying with NAFTA rules and applies to anyone entering the building.
Everyone who checked in said he or she was an American citizen, the employee checking in press members said.
At GOP rival Jon Huntsman''s town hall at the same company earlier this year, journalists were asked not to film some areas of the factory that contained proprietary information.
A Perry aide pointed to other political events at defense contracting companies where attendees were subject to similar rules.