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Governor visits Fabens, says he's got more to do for border security

Brandi Grissom
Austin Bureau
Thursday, January 12, 2006

Republican Gov. Rick Perry peered through thermal heat-sensing goggles over the vast unguarded fields of the border in Fabens late Wednesday and vowed to continue fighting for increased federal money for border security if re-elected.

"If the Texas border is secure, America is safer," Perry said, ending a day of campaign stops in five cities with a tour of the border area led by El Paso County Sheriff Leo Samaniego and Texas Homeland Security director Steve McCraw.

During a statewide tour that started Tuesday, Perry touted his conservative record, including putting millions into border security, fueling job and economic growth and cutting billions from the state budget. But, he said, there is still much to do to bring the state school finance system up to constitutional muster, reduce school property taxes and improve border safety.

Perry sent $6 million to the Border Sheriff's Coalition, a group of sheriffs from 16 border counties, last year to allow more deputies to patrol the border, especially in rural areas like Fabens. The program, Operation Linebacker, is meant to serve as a second line of defense to the U.S. Border Patrol.

"The bottom line for us in Texas is if the federal government is not going to secure our borders, then we must step in and you know hopefully it will bring enough attention to our friends in Washington that they'll step in and do what's right," he said.

Samaniego thanked the governor for the grant, which amounted to about $367,500 for his department. He said the money, which is paying for overtime for sheriffs' deputies to patrol in areas that usually go unmanned, will last for only seven or eight weeks.

To keep the program going, the border sheriffs have asked Congress for $35 million. Samaniego said the program, modeled after the successful 2004 Operation Stonegarden, would reduce illegal immigration and crime associated with it.

Farmers who live in the border area came out to thank Perry for his recent attention to border security and recount the threats and property damage they've suffered from undocumented immigrants who cross into the country and through their pecan groves and cotton fields.

"We kind of feel at times we're like back in the Wild West here. When I go walking, I carry a pistol," said Suzie Brown, a farmer in Fabens. "It's a scary thing."

But Perry said he would not call for militarizing the border, did not support vigilante groups like the Minutemen and said the congressional proposal of a fence along the border was "silly."

The border tour marked the end of a day with stops in Houston, San Antonio, Corpus Christi and Brownsville on Perry's "Proud of Texas" re-election campaign launch tour. The tour continues today, starting with a rally in El Paso.

Perry is running for a second full term as Texas governor, which would make him the longest-serving governor in history at 10 years.

He could face up to three challengers in the November general election.

Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn announced last week she would abandon the Republican Party primary to challenge Perry as an independent. Kinky Friedman, a kooky author and musician, is also making an independent bid. And four Democrats are fighting for their party's nomination.

Brandi Grissom may be reached at bgrissom@elpasotimes.com; (512) 479-6606.