Thread: Texas Rep. Joe Pickett, other state lawmakers blast decision to send troops to border

Immigration: State Rep. Joe Pickett, other state lawmakers blast decision to send troops to border

By Marty Schladen / El Paso Times
POSTED: 07/22/2014 11:10:33 PM MDT


Texas Gov. Rick Perry flanked Monday by Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw, left, and Adjutant Gen. John Nichols of the Texas National Guard. Perry announced a controversial plan to send 1,000 national guardsmen to the South Texas. (Marty Schladen / El Paso Times)

	REPORTER
	Marty Schladen

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›› Editorial: Gov. Rick Perry promotes ambition over border cities

AUSTIN >> Add the chairman of the Texas House Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee to the list of those who are blasting Gov. Rick Perry's decision to send 1,000 National Guard troops to the border.

State Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, and all of his colleagues in the local delegation have raised objections to the governor's announcement Monday that he would send the troops to South Texas to combat increases in cartel violence that have supposedly accompanied a surge in Central Americans illegally crossing the border.

State Rep. Marisa Márquez, D-El Paso, said she would use her post on a special committee to get to the bottom of Perry's security claims.

State Rep. Mary González, D-El Paso, said she is organizing an effort to help unaccompanied Central American kids who are being housed in El Paso.

But the objections Pickett voiced Tuesday are especially significant. He's a moderate Democrat who is close to House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, and he chairs the committee that oversees the agencies that Perry is sending to the border.

During a July 1 committee hearing, the mayor and the police chief of McAllen, the border city at the center of the immigration crisis, testified that immigrants are turning themselves in to the Border Patrol and that crime has not increased.

On Tuesday, Jeff Davis County Sheriff Rick McIvor, chairman of the Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition, told Marfa Public Radio that members of his organization also have reported no increases in crime.

The El Paso Police Department gave the same report last week.

Even so, Perry announced the National Guard deployment. It comes after the governor announced last month that he would send additional DPS troopers to the border.

Neither agency has the power to enforce immigration law.

"Why are we doing this?" Pickett asked Tuesday.

He said he instructed his staff to find out if any of the troops would be deployed to El Paso, which for several years has been ranked as one of the safest cities in the United States.

"I want to know how many there are," he said, facetiously adding: "I don't want them to be in harm's way. I want them to come to El Paso."

The National Guard did not respond to an email Tuesday asking if it planned to send troops to El Paso.

Critics pointed out that on Sunday, Perry was in Iowa, where many political observers speculate he's laying the groundwork for another presidential run. On Monday, he went to the Texas Capitol to announce the National Guard deployment.

Many El Paso lawmakers believe Republican Party politics is leading the governor to hype claims that the border isn't secure. Exaggerated claims of border violence are a sore spot for border officials and businessmen because they fear the claims needlessly scare off people and commerce.

"I think there are very important problems caused by ramping up the rhetoric and scoring political points as the governor is doing here," state Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, said Tuesday. "Gov. Perry has been wrong about the border for a long time, going back to when he thought bombs were going off in El Paso."

That was a reference to two public statements by Perry in 2010 that a car bomb had detonated in El Paso, when it had actually gone off across the border in Juárez. Perry's office later said he misspoke.

"Attempting to militarize the border with a surge of National Guard troops and DPS officers of this magnitude is an absurd reaction to a refugee crisis," state Sen. José Rodríguez, D-El Paso, said in a statement just after Perry made his announcement Monday. "The proposal by Governor Perry reeks of politics over policy with the undeniable consequence of further straining limited resources that are absolutely critical for transportation, infrastructure, and health care needs, especially in rural areas along the border."

On Monday, Perry dismissed statements by border police agencies that their communities are safe.

"There can be no national security without border security, and Texans have paid too high a price for the federal government's failure to secure our border," Perry said. "The action I am ordering today will tackle the crisis head-on by multiplying our efforts to combat the cartel activity, human traffickers and individual criminals who threaten the safety of people across Texas and America."

To support his claims, Perry pointed to statistics provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety stating that "criminal aliens" who have been booked into Texas county jails since 2008 have been charged with more than 640,000 Texas crimes sometime in their lives.

Pickett said he would call DPS Director Steve McCraw to testify at an Aug. 5 hearing to explain the numbers.

"I think they're playing politics," Pickett said of the police agency and the governor's office.

He said many statewide leaders seem to rely on the Department of Public Safety — rather than border representatives or local officials — when they go to the border to see the crisis for themselves.

"They're all being fed information from one source," Pickett said, referring to the DPS.

Last month, the DPS was awarded an additional $1.3 million a week in response to the wave of Central American immigration.

"The border between Texas and Mexico is not secure," DPS spokesman Tom Vinger said in an email. "And on a daily basis, the hardworking law enforcement personnel at the local, state and federal level are literally risking their lives to combat the very serious threats presented by vicious and ruthless Mexican Cartels and other criminal operatives exploiting this international border. "DPS was directed by state leadership to begin conducting amplified border security operations - and that is what we did," Vinger said.

Pickett pointed out that Perry and many conservative Republicans in Texas are not questioning the $17.2 million monthly price tag for Perry's "Operation Strong Safety," but raised immediate objections when President Barack Obama, a Democrat, said he wanted $3.7 billion to deal with the immigration crisis.

"I'm tired of so much partisanship," Pickett said, adding that he had plenty of criticisms of the federal government's handling of the immigration crisis as well.

Representative Márquez said that as a member of a special committee, she plans to dig deeply into the expenses incurred by Operation Strong Safety.

Already a member of the House Appropriations Committee, Márquez was appointed by Straus earlier this month to the Interim Committee on the Fiscal Impact of Border Operations. The committee's mission is to delve into Texas' spending on border security.

On Tuesday, Márquez expressed deep skepticism about Perry and McCraw's claims that the border isn't safe.

"We're paying for rhetoric," Márquez said. "It's a tactic to create fear."

When the committee starts holding hearings starting next Tuesday, she has some pointed questions for Perry's staff and for the DPS about the border operation.

"What need is it meeting? Where are the gaps in security? What purpose will the National Guard serve?" Márquez asked. "These questions have not been answered."

She said the DPS and border-security spending have to be subjected to the same scrutiny that other appropriations are.

"We can't keep funneling money just because some people want an issue to run on," Márquez said.

Representative González agreed with her colleagues that Operation Strong Safety is an inappropriate response to the border crisis.

"To me, it's deeply concerning that the governor has completely militarized the border instead of addressing the situation," she said.

"It completely ignores that the people who are in the center of it are children — young kids who need beds, clothes and blankets. It's a shame they're being used as political pawns."

To address the situation, González's office contacted the three centers in the El Paso area that are housing a total of about 200 unaccompanied Central American children. When asked what the kids could use most, González was told that many of them are bored stiff — stuck in the centers with nothing to do.

So she's organizing a coloring book and toy drive. To contribute or to volunteer, call her office at 790-2299.

State Rep. Naomi Gonzalez, D-El Paso, also was critical of Perry's border initiative.

"I would prefer that he would devote his attention to developing the economy and creating jobs for Texas," she said.

Marty Schladen may be reached at 512-479-6606.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_2...on-send-troops

When a State's governor deems it necessary to deploy the NG to best secure the state, the states senior senator after he does not get a bill passed throws up his hands and says "It looks like we will do nothing,' referring to Congress. what does it mean, what does it imply? They are both members of the same party, securing the federal border is more of the Senator's business by law than the Governor's. They are both members of the same political party!

What intel can I decode from that? It says that when I support that party, I cannot be sure of what I supported? Or does it just indicate that the ego of both men are over-inflated and then both are ineffective over disappointment? Being Texans, hopefully concerned about other Texans, what Reason would keep them from seeking a Texas solution favoring Texas? Duh, more confusion in a confusing situation, already!

Honestly, I've yet to figure out exactly how the Texas NG is going to reduce illegal immigration at the border. From what I've read, they won't be able to apprehend anyone or use their weapons. Furthermore, the Obama administration will not allow the BP to work with them, which means they won't be working together. Is this just a political move by Perry? I'm not sure, but I guess there could be some details of their mission that I've yet to hear or read about.

Looks like it will be a while before we can see what the National Guard is going to do.

http://www.alipac.us/f12/texas-natio...5-days-307954/

(I bet Perry calls it off before it happens.)

All of the Democrats are protesting protecting our borders. they don't want the illegal voters to be turned away. JMO