http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/15822328.htm

Posted on Sun, Oct. 22, 2006

Candidates differ on border issues
By JAY ROOT
STAR-TELEGRAM AUSTIN BUREAU

AUSTIN -- Never mind that border security and immigration are supposed to be federal issues.

The candidates running for Texas governor this year are promising to do what Washington hasn't, or won't, on the longest stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border in the nation.

Their proposals range from the near militarization of South Texas to a throw-open-the-gates policy allowing people to come and go throughout North America just like they do in Western Europe.

Whether any one of the proposals makes it into law or even makes any sense, the prominence of the issues on the campaign trail highlights voter anxiety about illegal immigration, grisly drug violence and the possibility, even if it's remote, that foreign terrorists might exploit the porous border to stage attacks on the U.S.

Republican political consultant Bryan Eppstein of Fort Worth said polling data consistently indicate that border security and immigration are among the top three concerns for Texas voters, and they expect action from government whether it's at the state or federal level.

"This issue has a presence not just along the border; it has a presence in all areas of Texas," Eppstein said. "It could play a determining role in the outcome of this election."

Drug cartels

Texas, which has two-thirds of the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, is a major transit point for the smugglers of illegal immigrants and drugs.

The lucrative trade has sparked bloody wars among drug cartels competing for control of the shipping routes, particularly in places like Laredo. Execution-style murders in Dallas, kidnappings of dozens of U.S. citizens along the border and large seizures of sophisticated weaponry, including bazookas, have been tied to the cartels, according to a recent report by the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security.

"The Texas-Mexico border region has been experiencing an alarming rise in the level of criminal cartel activity," it said. "The cartels operate along the border with military-grade weapons, technology and intelligence and their own respective paramilitary enforcers."

At the same time, poor immigrants, mostly from Mexico, continue to pour into Texas looking for work. In the first half of the decade, 70,000 to 85,000 undocumented immigrants a year settled in Texas, boosting the illegal population to between 1.4 million and 1.6 million, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

Against that backdrop, President Bush, a former Texas governor himself, made comprehensive immigration reform his top domestic priority for his second term. But Congress deadlocked over what to do about the 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. and the employers who readily hire them.

Federal foot-dragging

The perception of federal foot-dragging has made Washington a convenient whipping post in the Texas governor's race -- even from the Republican who replaced Bush in the Governor's Mansion.

"Nothing threatens the future of this state more than the federal government's inability to protect the border," said Gov. Rick Perry, using one of his favorite applause lines during a recent campaign swing in the Texas Hill Country. "In Texas, we have waited for Washington to do the job, but we couldn't wait any longer."

Perry touts his Operation Rio Grande, which channels state law enforcement help and grants to border-county sheriffs, as the centerpiece of his proposal. The governor says he'll ask the state Legislature for another $100 million to fund the initiative for another two years.

The other top candidates have also focused on border security. Independent Carole Keeton Strayhorn says securing Texas ports should also be included, and she wants to enhance the role the Texas Rangers play in border security.

The other independent in the race, Kinky Friedman, vows to send 10,000 more National Guard troops to South Texas. Unlike Perry and Strayhorn, Friedman and Democrat Chris Bell have laid out fairly detailed initiatives to address the issue beyond the border: Both propose penalizing Texas employers who hire illegal immigrants with stiff state fines and penalties, for example.

"We'll never make progress curbing illegal immigration unless we address the economic incentives that draw workers across the border," Bell says.

Strayhorn aides have said she does not favor state sanctions on businesses that hire illegals, but she told reporters Friday, without specifying how, that employers who do should face fines and prison. Perry has said he opposes using state laws to punish employers who hire illegals.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is Libertarian James Werner. He favors all but the elimination of international boundaries.

"Anyone who wishes to come to the United States and work should be allowed to do so, with the exception of known criminals, or individuals with ties to criminal or terrorist organizations," Werner says. "History proves that we will prosper mightily by accepting new workers and citizens from around the globe."

Apart from expanding law enforcement and hitting employers, various state lawmakers are proposing to crack down on the illegal immigrants themselves.

One measure would cut off state prenatal assistance to undocumented women. Another would reverse a 2001 law that allows certain illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at public colleges.

Political value

There is little doubt that addressing immigration and border security have political value. Republican pollster Mike Baselice said that they're not only important stand-alone issues, but that they also tie into other voter concerns, including taxes, healthcare costs, education and crime.

Perry, for one, says his proposals are producing more than catchy campaign sound bites. At a meeting of border sheriffs in Uvalde last week, Perry said South Texas has seen an "astonishing" drop in crime -- an average 60 percent reduction borderwide -- when the joint state and local operations were under way.

However, neither the Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition nor the governor's office could provide the raw numbers upon which the crime drop was based. In addition, the figures only counted unincorporated areas in 16 border counties. So while Operation Rio Grande may have caused a drop in rural Webb County, the city of Laredo, home to 90 percent or more of the county's population, neither participated in the operation nor figured into the crime data cited by Perry. Same with Brownsville, El Paso and all the other South Texas municipalities, officials said.

"We didn't see a penny of that money," said Juan Rivera, spokesman for the Laredo Police Department.

"They should have included the cities. The majority of the population is in the cities. The majority of the activity is in the cities."

Meanwhile, some experts doubt whether even the best-intended state reforms and programs can do anything to stop massive illegal immigration, let alone take a bite out of the multibillion-dollar drug smuggling business.

Terry Nelson, a veteran federal law enforcement official who spent years in U.S. Border Patrol and customs agencies before retiring in Granbury, has participated in interdiction efforts resulting in tens of thousands of pounds of seized cocaine. None of it made the slightest bit of difference in the domestic consumption, price or availability of the drug, said Nelson, who favors drug legalization.

"When you arrest a drug dealer you just create a job opportunity," he said. "They're not going to run out of cocaine."

The border positions

Chris Bell (D): Opposes new walls along border, favors stiff penalties for employers who hire illegal workers and vows to lobby Congress to pass guest-worker legislation, allowing illegals to eventually earn citizenship by paying a fine and learning English.

Kinky Friedman (I): Says he would send 10,000 National Guard troops to border, require foreigners to get taxpayer ID cards and slap $25,000 and $50,000 fines on companies that hire undocumented workers.

Gov. Rick Perry (R): Slaps Washington for inaction, wants Texas to spend $100 million on border law enforcement. Opposes state sanctions on employers of undocumented workers and would keep law allowing in-state college tuition for otherwise qualified illegal immigrants.

Carole Keeton Strayhorn (I): Turn state homeland security over to the Texas Rangers, scrap law giving in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants and pump $84 million into South Texas to improve infrastructure and fight poverty.

James Werner (Libertarian): Throw the borders open and let the free market do its will, but keep out criminals and terrorists while ensuring that no foreign worker receives public assistance.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jay Root, 512-476-4294 jroot@star-telegram.com