Thread: Gov Perry Announces Comprehensive Border Security Plan Texas

http://www2.kauz.com/kauznews/fullnews.php?id=1703

Gov. Perry Announces Comprehensive Border Security Plan for Texas
posted by Jermaine Ferrell on 10-12-2005 1:37


LAREDO –Today Gov. Rick Perry announced a comprehensive, far-reaching security plan for the Texas Mexico-border region.

“This border security plan will increase the law enforcement presence in the border region, provide new investigative tools, improve communications among law enforcement officials, and make our border region more secure,� Perry said. “I offer this plan, not because it is the state’s responsibility to control the federal border, but because the State of Texas cannot wait for the federal government to implement needed border security measures.�

Perry’s Border Security Plan consists of the following six action areas:

ï‚· Fully support local law enforcement and Operation Linebacker.
ï‚· Reduce violent crime along the border.
ï‚· Accelerate radio interoperability.
ï‚· Develop a Bi-lateral All-Hazards Response Plan.
ï‚· Leverage the expertise and experience of the National Guard to provide training and participate in response exercises.
ï‚· Pass legislative reforms, including the expansion of state wiretap authority.

“With more than twelve hundred miles of border shared with Mexico, Texas is clearly at the center of the important debate about how best to secure our border,� Perry said. “In this post 9-11 era, there is no such thing as homeland security without border security.�

Perry noted that Al Qaeda and other terrorists and criminal organizations view the porous Texas-Mexico border as an opportunity to import terror, illegal narcotics and weapons of mass destruction. Gangs like MS-13 have begun operating on both sides of the Texas border and warring factions of the drug trade have had a dramatic effect on life in Laredo and Nuevo Laredo, with confirmed reports of kidnapping, rape and murder on the rise.

“Texas cannot stand idly by when the safety and security of our people is threatened by multi-national criminal syndicates that seek to spread fear and do harm,� Perry said. “This border security plan will improve law enforcement coordination, increase our law enforcement presence, and better prepare us to respond to a catastrophe along the border. It will lead to a safer America because it focuses not only on what happens at our ports of entry, but also between them as well.�

Perry praised recent federal efforts that provide for 1,000 new border patrol agents and greater investments in technology at crossings, but said that congress must do much more. Perry called on the federal government to hire many more border patrol agents; expand the use of technology at, and between, ports of entry; authorize homeland security funding to pay for law enforcement positions and overtime to expand patrols; designate the entire border region in Texas a high-threat area so border communities have the same eligibility for homeland security funds as our large urban areas; and significantly expand federal detention facilities.



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Texas Governor’s Office ~ Post Office Box 12428 ~Austin, TX 78711 ~ (512) 463-2000 ~ 711 for Relay Texas

Border Security Plan for Texas

Border security is a multi-dimensional problem that threatens both the safety of Texans and the security of our nation. Although border security is a federal responsibility, Texas has an obligation to protect its citizens. The following is a summary of actions Governor Perry will take to amplify border security:


1. Fully Support Operation Linebacker.

Operation Linebacker was conceived by the Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition as a means to integrate law enforcement resources along the border to increase both public safety and national security between points of entry. Key aspects of the initiative include increased patrols and the support of the local community to enhance border security.

The Governor recognizes that local law enforcement leaders are the “on-the-ground-experts� in the best position to develop and execute meaningful strategies.

Specific the Governor’s plan will support Operation Linebacker:

ï‚· The Governor has identified $3 million in Criminal Justice grant funds to hire additional local law enforcement personnel.

ï‚· The Governor has identified an additional $3 million in Criminal Justice grant funds to fund local officer overtime. Increased patrol activity increases public safety.

ï‚· Four rapid deployment teams, consisting of 50 state troopers each, will be established to quickly react to hot-spots in direct support of Operation Linebacker.

ï‚· Homeland security grant funds will be provided to support the Neighborhood Watch, Reserve Deputy and the Citizen Academy programs along the border.

ï‚· Homeland security or criminal justice grant funds will be provided for management and planning personnel to support Operation Linebacker.

ï‚· Homeland security or criminal justice grant funds will be provided for equipment to support Operation Linebacker.


2. Reduce Violent Crime Along the Border.

The increased patrol presence and intelligence that result from Operation Linebacker will increase public safety and border security, particularly in rural areas. To ensure a stronger law enforcement presence throughout the border region, additional local law enforcement initiatives that are singularly focused on the reduction of violent border crime are needed.

Citizens who live along the border suffer the daily consequences of border-related violent crime. Powerful criminal organizations support their operations by torturing, kidnapping and murdering citizens on both sides of the border. The Governor recognizes that initiatives developed and executed by local law enforcement leaders are the most effective way to stop the criminal organizations deeply rooted in local areas along the border. To reduce violent crime, the Governor will directly fund and support the multi-agency investigative initiatives of local law enforcement agencies.

ï‚· The Governor has $3.7 million in Criminal Justice Grant funds to support local, multi-agency law enforcement initiatives.

ï‚· DPS will permanently assign 54 criminal investigators to the border in support of local law enforcement agencies.

ï‚· Prioritization will be given to the border for implementation of TDEx, a statewide technology project that bridges gaps in criminal information sharing. TDEx will enable law enforcement personnel to search for information on specific subjects and violations across all law enforcement agency databases in Texas. This unprecedented capability will foster cross-case analysis and help law enforcement dismantle organized criminal groups.




3. Achieve Radio Interoperability.

Expedite plans to achieve radio interoperability for border first responders.

Texas has a statewide plan to achieve radio interoperability by 2007. This plan will be fast-tracked along the border. Radio interoperability will improve multi-agency capabilities to rapidly act upon information related to violent crimes and to quickly respond to all hazards. Recognizing the border threat, the Governor’s Office has already allocated an additional $5 million to South Texas to more rapidly connect law enforcement agencies and other first responders. The State will closely monitor and expedite this initiative. The Governor will provide an additional $1.2 million to Laredo to complete the purchase and deployment of an interoperable system that will serve as the communications backbone for the entire region.

[Funding Note: Currently, $1.2 million has been provided to the City of Laredo for this initiative. The State Administrative Agency for homeland security grant funds (SAA) will meet with local officials at the end of October to announce the process for dispensing remaining funds. The SAA provides regular status updates to local jurisdictions.]


4. Develop Bi-lateral All-Hazards Response Plans.

Develop and exercise bilateral regional response plans for disasters that occur along the Texas-Mexico border.

Texas will seek partnerships with Mexican communities to minimize loss of life and damage to property if a catastrophic event occurs in the border region. Just as terrorism and crime affect both sides of the border, disasters and other emergencies do not respect national boundaries. Response and recovery are critical homeland security functions and will be tailored to the bi-national needs of the border. Bilateral emergency response plans and exercises will foster information channels between first responders in Texas and Mexico. These communication channels will also enhance other aspects of homeland security.


5. Leverage the Expertise and Experience of the National Guard to Provide Training and Participate in Response Exercises.

Enlist the National Guard to provide homeland security support, training and exercises without militarizing the border. The National Guard will serve in a support capacity to enhance Homeland Security activities along the border. The Guard will also provide training and participate in exercises to test response capabilities.


6. Border Security for the Legislature to Consider.

Legislators should consider legislation to address border security, including providing investigative tools for dismantling criminal organizations that support terrorism and engage in violent crime.

An example of critical border security legislation would be a bill that expands wire tap authority for the state for all 3g offenses – such as aggravated robbery, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault, and other similar crimes – so that investigators can better identify, infiltrate and dismantle the heavily entrenched criminal organizations along the border. Current Texas statute limits the use of wire taps in Texas to DPS investigations of drug-related crimes, capital murder and murder. The criminal organizations wreaking havoc along the border are involved in myriad crimes in addition to murder and drug-related crimes, including kidnapping, sexual assault and extortion, and could be providing direct or indirect support to terrorists. Wire tap authority is an essential tool to take down these violent criminal groups that threaten public safety along the border.


Overview: The Border Threat

Al-Qaeda leadership plans to use criminal alien smuggling organizations to bring terrorist operatives across the border into the U.S. A vulnerable border also gives terrorists opportunities to smuggle weapons of mass destruction into the U.S. undetected. There can be no homeland security in Texas without border security.

Illegal aliens from countries other than Mexicoâ€â€

Did anybody notice....was there any mention whatsoever of deporting Mexican illegal aliens?

RR

http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/new ... 884063.htm

Posted on Wed, Oct. 12, 2005

Perry commits money to border security plan

ABE LEVY

Associated Press


LAREDO, Texas - Gov. Rick Perry vowed Wednesday to provide $9.7 million for a sheriff group's security plan along the Texas-Mexico border, money he said would meet immediate needs until the federal government decides on permanent funding.

"It's a one-time thing right now, but the fact of the matter is we're going to be counting on our federal counterparts," Perry said while making the announcement across the border from Nuevo Laredo, which has been plagued by drug-related violence this year.

"Operation Linebacker," the Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition plan to boost border security, would get $3 million to hire additional deputies, $3 million for overtime pay and $3.7 million for other initiatives from Perry's criminal justice fund.

The news came on the same day that Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez announced a team of federal agents will come to Texas, including Laredo, to help combat border violence. Gonzalez will also meet Thursday with his Mexican counterpart Daniel Cabeza de Vaca to discuss drug-related border violence.

The coalition, made up of 16 sheriffs from counties on or near the Texas-Mexico border, formed in May to foster support for their role as "front line" defenders of the nation's borders.

"I believe Gov. Perry has done his part and now it's up to the federal government to do its part," said Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez, coalition chair. The money from Perry is available now and up to the coalition to distribute among members, Gonzalez said.

Perry promised the money as part of a multipronged border security plan that also would establish four rapid deployment teams, each with 50 Department of Public Safety troopers, and permanently assign 54 DPS criminal investigators on the border to support local law enforcement.

"Enforcement of our border is a federal responsibility, but the consequences of inaction is suffered by border states," Perry said. "The state of Texas cannot wait for the federal government to implement needed border security measures."

Perry said he has been in talks with governors of Mexico's border states about this initiative, which includes creating a binational, disaster response plan among other measures. He said he will ask the Legislature next session to expand wiretap authorities for border investigations.

Perry said he will not support any particular federal plan, saying "I'm for the one that frankly brings the most money to our sheriffs."

U.S. Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn have pursued federal help along the border.

Hutchison last week introduced a bill that seeks to give arrest powers of illegal immigrants to state and local police currently granted only to federal immigration authorities.

The Senate also is considering two immigration reform bills, one from Cornyn, that seek to create guest worker programs and tighter border enforcement, among other measures.

Perry called for more federal detention space and expressed concern about the growing number of illegal immigrants beyond Mexico, saying nearly 120,000 from other countries had entered Texas in the first seven months of the year. Perry said that number included people from countries with ties to al-Qaida, such as Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.

Perry said he hoped the federal homeland security department would declare the border a "high threat" area, making it eligible for the same grants that go to highly populated regions.

Appearing with Perry Wednesday was Republican U.S. Rep. John Culberson of Houston, who plans to introduce a bill soon seeking at least $34 million for the sheriff's coalition to enact its security measure for a year.

http://www.wfaa.com


Perry pledges $10 million to patrol border

Sheriffs, governor say they can't wait for U.S. immigration help


07:54 AM CDT on Thursday, October 13, 2005


By KAREN BROOKS / The Dallas Morning News


Sheriffs from El Paso County to the Gulf Coast are taking up the cause of national security, as Gov. Rick Perry vowed Wednesday to send $10 million to border counties to help deputies patrol the Texas-Mexico border.

Mr. Perry said Texas border residents can no longer wait for Congress to act while threats from violent gangs and terrorists rise. So the state will have to step in with its own plan for securing more than 1,100 miles that Texas shares with Mexico.

"I offer this plan, not because it is the state's responsibility to control the federal border, but because the state of Texas cannot wait for the federal government to implement needed border security measures," he said in a news conference in Laredo.

The plan also includes beefing up communications among law enforcement agencies; involving the Texas National Guard in training exercises for local border officers; creating a binational emergency response plan for natural disasters; and permanently assigning 54 Department of Public Safety criminal investigators to the border.

Mr. Perry asked the federal government to designate the border area as a "high threat" for terrorist activity, which would allow local police agencies to tap even more homeland security dollars.

The porous border is a threat to national security, Mr. Perry said, citing a recent spike in the number of illegal immigrants detained by authorities who are from countries other than Mexico.

Border Patrol officials said those detentions have more than doubled since 2004, probably as a result of increased and targeted enforcement. An estimated 155,000 immigrants from outside Mexico have been detained in California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas in fiscal year 2005 – up from 65,916 in 2004. Most of those are from countries such as Brazil, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Ecuador. Mr. Perry said he's most concerned about immigrants from Iraq, Iran, Indonesia and Bangladesh.

Funding for the state initiatives will come from grants earmarked for homeland security and criminal justice programs.

The highlight of the governor's plan is support for Operation Linebacker, originally conceived by the fledgling Texas Border Sheriffs Coalition this year as a way for deputies – who are the first responders to 911 calls in rural border areas – to serve as a second line of defense behind the U.S. Border Patrol.

Sheriffs from along the border celebrated Wednesday's announcement, saying they had been stymied by a lack of money in an increasingly violent and populated area of the country.

"Our biggest threat is terrorism," said Webb County Sheriff Rick Flores, whose jurisdiction includes Laredo.

Minuteman Civil Defense Corps president Chris Simcox welcomed Mr. Perry's action.

"It is a disgrace that four years after the terror attacks of September 11th, our borders are wide open to anyone who wishes to do our country great harm," he said.

Mr. Simcox said that since the border plan will take time to implement, the minutemen will continue to patrol "until such time as the border is secure."

The state dollars for Operation Linebacker come as Texas congressmen, including Republican Rep. John Culberson of Houston and Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Laredo, push for $100 million in federal funding for Linebacker to operate in all four of the states that share a border with Mexico.

The idea is to use deputies not for immigration enforcement, Border Patrol officials said, but as public-safety officers that can act as eyes and ears for federal agents.

"Border security is a shared effort," said Salvador Zamora, a spokesman for the U.S. Border Patrol in Washington, D.C. "I think it has to be noted that the 11,100 agents nationwide cannot solely protect this great nation against terrorists and terrorist weapons."

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mp ... an/3394125

Oct. 12, 2005, 10:44PM

Governor pushes plan to patrol the border
His $9.7 million proposal taps local and state agencies, with help of Texas National Guard
By JAMES PINKERTON
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Rio Grande Valley Bureau
RESOURCES
KEY POINTS

Gov. Rick Perry's $9.7 million border security plan would:
•Give $6 million to local sheriffs so they can hire more deputies and pay overtime.

•Improve radio communications between multiple agencies.

•Develop a response plan to emergencies and disasters on the border.

•Ask the National Guard to assist in training and take part in emergency response drills.

•Encourage laws that would enhance investigations and expand state wiretap authority.

•Reduce violent crime along the border


HARLINGEN - Texas Gov. Rick Perry outlined a six-point plan Wednesday to combat drug violence and prevent terrorist infiltration along the Texas-Mexico border.

His $9.7 million plan would help beef up local law enforcement patrols along the border, help pay overtime, assign 54 state investigators to the region and enlist the help of the Texas National Guard.

"With more than 1,200 miles of border shared with Mexico, Texas is clearly at the center of the important debate about how best to secure our border," Perry said. "In this post-9/11 era, there is no such thing as homeland security without border security."

Perry announced his plan two months after the governors of Arizona and New Mexico declared states of emergency, saying violence, drug smuggling and illegal immigration had gotten out of control.

The Texas governor's Comprehensive Border Security Plan, unveiled in Laredo and in San Antonio, triggered a range of reactions. Some leaders along the border praised it; others questioned it and one Perry foe called it "an empty political stunt."

The Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition strongly supports the plan. "We are elated," said Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez, the coalition chairman. "It will help the war on terrorism and protect the country."

The governor proposes drawing $9.7 million from state grants to hire additional border lawmen, fund overtime pay and upgrade police radio networks. He also wants to expand state wiretap authority and develop a binational disaster response plan with Mexican border officials.

Al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations see the border as a way to import terror, drugs and weapons of mass destruction, the governor said.

"Texas cannot stand idly by when the safety and security of our people is threatened by multinational criminal syndicates that seek to spread fear and do harm," he said.

In August, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano declared a state of emergency along the Mexican border and said $1.5 million in emergency funds would be used to fight border crime and violence. Days earlier, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson issued a similar declaration.

Both governors are Democrats who have criticized the Bush administration's border security measures. In pushing his border security plan, Perry, a Republican, has taken a less confrontational approach.


Politically touchy
Border security has become a volatile political issue this year and is also a source of tension between Mexico and the United States.

Today in San Antonio, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and his Mexican counterpart, Daniel Cabeza de Vaca, plan to meet to discuss ways to improve border security.

On Wednesday, Gonzales told reporters that a federal Violent Crime Impact Team will travel to Laredo to help combat delinquency, according to the Associated Press. Such teams have been sent to about 20 U.S. cities that are struggling with violent crime problems, the AP said.

Perry's plan calls for paying sheriff's deputies overtime to patrol the border, looking out for not only terrorists but any drug and human smugglers, Sheriff Gonzalez said.

"They'll be getting overtime to look for terrorists," Gonzalez said. "But in looking for terrorists they'll be running into drug and human smugglers, and they'll be dealt with accordingly."

Sheriff Gonzalez said the overtime program, called Operation Linebacker, was modeled on a 2004 Department of Homeland Security effort which paid border lawmen $5 million in overtime to team up with Border Patrol agents in five border sectors.

Several elected officials criticized the plan, which they said could violate constitutional provisions against unlawful searches.

"We want to see the details on this plan and how it will affect the 5 million people who live and work in these 43 border counties," said Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso.

Democratic challenger Chris Bell, who is challenging Perry in next year's governors race, called the governor's plan "an empty political stunt."

"I'm all for tightened border security, but if we start requiring law enforcement officers in border town to engage in border patrol, then that will seriously detract form their ability to fight other types of crime," Bell said in a statement.

Perry's plan, and its provisions, took many border officials by surprise, including longtime El Paso County Commissioner Dan Haggerty.

"So the government is saying we're going to get serious about securing our border? Well, OK, it's about time. We either need to get serious or forget about it all together," said Haggerty, who noted the county's budget has increased from $135 million to $231 million in 11 years largely because of increased illegal immigration.

In Starr County, a sparsely-populated ranching center located on major drug-trafficking routes, Assistant District Attorney Marco Treviño said he supports the plan "if it is actually going to be implemented. It would be great â€â€

MORE HOT AIR UNTIL THE NATIONAL GUARD AND OR THE ARMY IS ON THE BORDER IN MASS NOTHING IS GOING TO CHANGE! POLITICIANS AND THEIR TALK.............................1,000 to 10,000 more tonight!

I'm afraid this is just another way to blow the taxpayers money. I didn't see anything in that 'step' about deporting illegal aliens, denying them public services, stopping illegals at the border. What I did notice was they want expanded laws to wiretap....interesting but it's only so much political puff and window dressing.


It did show that our state expenditures have more than doubled for the expenses for illegals.

A real 'get tough' proposition. Yeah, right.


RR

Nope, more BS from the liar in chief of Texas.

This article is dated 2005.