City gets little state cash to secure border
By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 03/20/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT


County Commissioner Veronica Escobar, center, and County Attorney Jose Rodriguez, left, were among those at a hearing Wednesday of the Texas Border Security Task Force of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus at the El Paso City Council chambers. (Rudy Gutierrez / El Paso Times)
A group of state representatives investigating the use of state money for border security projects were surprised to learn that little has been spent in El Paso.

At a hearing Wednesday at El Paso City Hall, interim Police Chief Greg Allen told members of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus Texas Border Security Task Force said that his department received about $1 million from the state in the past two years, and El Paso County Sheriff Jimmy Apodaca said that his department received $500,000.

"$500,000 is nothing!" said state Rep. Norma Chávez, D-El Paso.

Texas Homeland Security Director Steve McCraw assured Chávez that more money was coming and that only $1.8 million out of $110 million had been spent along the Texas-Mexico border so far.

Armando Cardoza of Central El Paso waited six hours for the public comment part of the hearing. He was still reeling from Tuesday's decision by the El Paso City Council to deny federal border fence engineers access to city roads. "In the old days, they would be called communists," Cardoza said of the council members.

The task force has one more meeting, in Laredo in April, before it puts together a report for the Legislature with recommendations such as using state money for police radio compatibility among different agencies, for encouraging young people to go into law enforcement and for creating comparable statistics to gauge the effects of border security programs.

Louie Gilot may be reached at lgilot@elpasotimes.com,

546-6131.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_8631938