Thread: Texas police outmanned in halting immigrant flow

Tom Wyss (R) Indiana


Published: September 14, 2010 3:00 a.m.
Texas police outmanned in halting immigrant flow
Tom Wyss

After having the opportunity to tour the U.S.-Mexican border, I’m convinced the area is a dangerous sieve. Federal dollars could effectively be used to help support local authorities who stand ready but lack resources in the fight against illegal immigration and drug-trafficking violence.

As chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, Transportation and Veteran Affairs, I recently traveled to Texas and joined Hudspeth County Sheriff’s Department officials and Texas Rangers. I was escorted along parts of the border to help understand the challenges of controlling illegal immigration and illegal drug shipments and what I might be able to do in my roles on four national homeland security committees.

One footbridge I encountered – originally designed to assist with irrigation – is being used to smuggle drugs into the U.S.

Security officials — just days before I arrived — confiscated 114 pounds of marijuana that smugglers had left on the American side of this small bridge. Criminals have found ways to use utility and farming equipment along the river to transport smuggled goods to and from the U.S.

Only a few miles from Hudspeth is Mexico’s Valley of Juarez, a known battlefield of various drug cartels. Since Jan. 1, more than 2,000 people have died in Mexico as a result of drug-related murders. Many U.S. residents live in constant fear of the violence spreading to border towns on the American side.

Police departments simply lack the appropriate amount of officers on the ground needed to curb drug-trafficking, drug-related violence and illegal immigration. I believe the federal government would benefit by giving dollars to local sheriffs, so they can hire the necessary officers to increase patrols. Hudspeth – one of the largest counties in Texas – only has 17 officers to protect 5,000 square miles.

Federal government dollars helped build a 15-feet tall fence along the border, but construction is incomplete. One section of the fence I toured was only 1.5 miles wide, making it easy for illegals to navigate around it.

Earlier this year, Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West told local residents to arm themselves because he can no longer guarantee their safety from spillover border violence.

Officers there are working diligently to help protect their families, neighbors and communities.

Unfortunately, police departments are overwhelmed and understaffed. I will take what I’ve learned first-hand back to Indiana General Assembly and to the federal task forces on which I serve as we discuss illegal immigration and drug issues in the future. Stopping one criminal at the border could mean one fewer we have in our own state or hometown.

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/2 ... 2/0/EDIT01

One footbridge I encountered – originally designed to assist with irrigation – is being used to smuggle drugs into the U.S.

The US Coast Guard is responsible for these bridges (since they are over waterways) and they can take them down.

Dixie

So there you have it Janet Napolitano Ms. Secretary of Homeland Security! Texas ain't safe and neither is Arizona and your phoney declaration about a "secure border" to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus is full of it!

Originally Posted by Dixie

One footbridge I encountered – originally designed to assist with irrigation – is being used to smuggle drugs into the U.S.

The US Coast Guard is responsible for these bridges (since they are over waterways) and they can take them down.

Dixie

are you sure its not the Corps of Engineers?