Perry says Obama made mistake in saying troops not needed on Mexican border

12:00 AM CDT on Friday, March 13, 2009
By LAURA ISENSEE / The Dallas Morning News
lisensee@dallasnews.com / The Dallas Morning News
Todd J. Gillman contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON – Gov. Rick Perry said Thursday that the Obama administration was not doing enough to secure the border with Mexico as top Homeland Security officials said sending troops to the region would only be a last resort.

Perry, appearing on Fox News, said the president "made a mistake" when he told The Dallas Morning News that more forces are not necessary on the Mexican border right now.

"Washington has been an abject failure at defending our border," Perry said. "We're spending our taxpayer dollars in Texas to defend the border. That is not our role. That's the federal government's role."

Last month, Perry asked Washington for 1,000 troops or border agents as drug-cartel violence in Mexico escalates, and this week, the governor of Arizona requested more help from the National Guard. Obama said Wednesday that it was too soon for that kind of mobilization.

"We're going to examine whether and if National Guard deployments would make sense and under what circumstances they would make sense. ... I don't have a particular tipping point in mind," the president said.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Thursday that Obama and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will review the requests for reinforcements.

"The president obviously has concern for the news in Mexico ... and obviously takes very seriously governors who have requested additional National Guard to be deployed there," Gibbs said.

At a U.S. House subcommittee hearing, Homeland Security officials said the federal government has a strategic plan that covers all scenarios. The agency expects to finish updating that plan next month.

But the military wouldn't be deployed until other resources, including Border Patrol agents, other Homeland Security personnel, and state and local police, were maxed out, officials said.

"All the indications we have right now is that we will never get to that point," said Roger Rufe, who directs operations coordination at Homeland Security. "But we have a plan in place if we were to get there."

Lawmakers on the panel agreed that something needs to be done to support Mexico, as thousands are killed in the drug war, particularly to stop the southward flow of guns from the U.S.

Texas lawmakers on the panel were split on sending National Guard troops to the border. Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee and Al Green, both Democrats from Houston, did not advocate it, while Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, and Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, said they would.

Spillover violence from Mexico is not a problem in border communities, said Chad Foster, the mayor of Eagle Pass and who leads a coalition of border mayors, county judges and economic groups.

The coalition said Obama has made the right decision about sending troops to the border. But some sheriffs in border communities disagreed.

"They don't want sales taxes to go down because then they'd lose revenue. ... We're safety vs. them economics," said Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez Jr.


Staff writer Todd J. Gillman contributed to this report.


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