What exactly is ‘cross-border violence’? Reps. Michael McCaul, Francisco Canseco want to create a legal definition.


Posted by Jeanna Smialek on June 11, 2011

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, has joined two other Texas Republicans to sponsor a bill that would create a federal definition of cross-border violence. The bill would also require the Department of Homeland Security to develop ways to quantify border crime and to regularly report that data to Congress.

The legislation is designed to resolve a linguistic debate with serious political and policy consequences. The Obama administration argues that the level of border violence is lower than it has been in years and that “cross-border violenceâ€