Rick Perry seeks $134 million to increase security on border
By Brandi Grissom / Austin Bureau
Article Launched: 10/01/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT

AUSTIN -- Gov. Rick Perry will ask lawmakers for another $110 million for border security operations and an additional $24 million to fight transnational gangs, he said Tuesday.

"Putting more boots on the ground is the best way to drop the hammer on these criminal activities," he said.

The announcement came as Perry released recommendations from the Border Security Council, which lawmakers created to oversee the distribution of some of the $110 million they dedicated to state-led operations last year. But at least one expert questioned the council's report, and some lawmakers said they wanted to see more details before approving millions for the operations.

Tony Payan, a University of Texas at El Paso political science professor, criticized the council's measures of success and said the report appeared, at the least, flawed.

"It doesn't mean anything," he said.

The council, which had hearings last year in El Paso, Laredo, McAllen, Corpus Christi and San Antonio, called state-led border operations a success and recommended continued funding.

"Because increased funding for border operations has led to a decrease in crime, the state should sustain funding for border operations," said Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos, chairman of the Border Security Council.

Since 2006, Perry has sent millions in grant dollars to local police and sheriff's departments, allowing them to buy equipment and to pay their officers to work overtime for border operations.

El Paso County Sheriff's Office spokesman Jesse Tovar said the department received had about $1.5 million from the state since 2006, which contributed to a 35 percent drop in crime.

Lt. Peter Pacillas said the El Paso Police Department has received $2 million since January. The money, he said, was used to target auto thefts, which have fallen about 14 percent since February.

"Without that funding, we wouldn't be able to have these targeted operations," Pacillas said.

According to the council, reported crimes fell 65 percent in border counties, and apprehensions of undocumented immigrants dropped about 45 percent since border operations started in 2005.

"It shows that our strategy is working," Perry said.

The crime-reduction rates the council's report boasts, Payan said, are based on deterrence and prevention, factors that are nearly impossible to calculate.

"When you say, 'We stopped so many things from happening,' how do you know they were not going to happen in the first place?" Payan asked.

And the report, he said, fails to account for other factors that could have influenced the crime rate and the reduction in undocumented immigrant apprehensions.

Those factors, he said, include the federal government's beefed-up U.S. Border Patrol presence on the border, the troubled U.S. economy that has reduced the job pool for undocumented workers, and the Mexican government's war against drug cartels with help from the U.S.

And, Payan said, most of the drugs that come into the U.S. are smuggled through the ports, not in rural areas between them where much of the state grant money has been targeted.

"It is not clear to me from the report that the money is working," Payan said.

Lawmakers, he said, should ask tough questions before approving millions more for Perry's operations.

State Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, said he was glad Perry wanted to send more money to fight crime on the border, but he said that should be separated from immigration.

Past state-led border operations faced criticism after reports showed officers arrested many times more undocumented immigrants than criminals.

"We all know about the issues that we're having with Mexico and the things people have to put up with along the border," Pickett said.

State Rep. Norma Chávez, D-El Paso, said she wanted comprehensive hearings to find out more details about how the border money would be used.

"We're under siege in El Paso, and I don't believe that we do enough," Chávez said. "We're worried about immigrants coming and trying to pick chiles in Hatch, New Mexico, and we should be worried about crack and cocaine that's going into our public schools."
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