http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6318877.html

ACLU: Millions for Texas border security misused
By CLAY ROBISON Austin Bureau
March 18, 2009, 11:25AM

AUSTIN — Millions of dollars budgeted by the state to beef up security along Texas’ border with Mexico has been misdirected toward routine police activities and has done little to combat drug trafficking or potential terrorism as the Legislature intended, the American Civil Liberties Union said today.

In its report, the ACLU evaluated the activities of 11 of the 40 local law enforcement agencies that have participated in Operation Border Star, a program for which the Legislature appropriated $110 million two years ago.

“As a law enforcement program, Operation Border Star has been a failure because it encourages police and sheriff’s departments to measure their success based on everyday policing activities like disorderly conduct,â€