TX: Sheriffs want bigger voice on border security

Sheriffs want bigger voice on border security
By Jeremy Roebuck/The Associated Press
August 5, 2007 - 10:10PM
EDINBURG — Gripping an automatic rifle in one hand and his steering wheel with the other, Deputy Enrique Rodriguez eases his car to a stop on a quiet residential road in Weslaco.

He surveys a home investigators believe to be a cocaine stash house, as federal and state authorities pull up behind him.

Then, just as the sun begins to rise, the men bound from their vehicles and storm the home.

They find nothing on this trip, but Rodriguez and the three other deputies who comprise the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office’s Linebacker Unit have participated in dozens of operations like this July 24 raid — some ending in large narcotics seizures.

As the county’s frontline fighters against drugs and human smugglers, they are the local contribution to national efforts to secure the U.S. border with Mexico

And Sheriff Lupe Treviño hopes that by focusing patrols along the Rio Grande and loaning his deputies out to federal agencies, he can slash Hidalgo County’s crime rate as well.

“Drug and human smuggling are also violations of state law,â€

Whatever Rick Perry does is designed to NOT help.

The DPS could do a lot as far as the illegals go. All they have to do is enforce the traffic laws. Sorry to say, Texas DPS seems to be nothing more than a revenue-gathering force. If you dont' look like you will pay the fine - they aren't going to bother stopping you.

I wonder where the TExas Rangers fit into the illegal question?

Texas Rangers historically had quite a presence on the Mexico border.