Perry to meet with Hispanics and speak out for Israel on fundraising trip to NYC

NEW YORK - Rick Perry, on a two-day swing to raise campaign funds here, also appears to be hoping to rob the Democrats of votes.

The Republican presidential candidate is scheduled to meet Monday afternoon in Harlem with Hispanic leaders.

Some members of the Hispanic community have been disenchanted with President Obama because he has failed to deliver on his promise to enact a sweeping immigration reform bill.

While none of the Republican presidential hopefuls has expressed support for giving some of the estimated 11 million people now living in the U.S. illegally a path to citizenship, Perry has broken with Republican conservative orthodoxy on immigration.

The Texas governor opposes extending the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border as impractical, and has backed offering in-state tuition to students in his state who were brought to the country illegally by their parents.

On Tuesday, Perry has scheduled a morning press conference to express support for Israel ahead of a speech Friday by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the United Nations, where he is expected to seek full U.N. membership for the Palestinian Authority. Israel opposes the recognition.

President Obama is also opposing the Palestinian request, but his support for a Palestinian state, based on Israel returning some of the land it acquired after the 1967 war with its Arab neighbors, has aroused strong opposition among conservatives and became an issue in a New York City special congressional election which Republican Bob Turner won last week in an upset.

Both Hispanics and Jews supported Obama overwhelmingly in 2008. Exit polls showed Obama won 67 percent of the Hispanic vote and 78 percent of the Jewish vote.