Texas begins $1.3 million per week border security surge

Texas leaders authorize border security surge in response to flood of illegal immigrants

ICE anti-human trafficking raid near Houston, Texas | PHOTO CREDIT: ICE (public domain)

AUSTIN, Texas, June 18, 2014 — Approximately 66,000 minor children entered the US illegally, over 34,000 in Texas alone, so far this year, according to several congressman including Henry Cuellar (D- Texas). Experts estimate 75 percent of those children originate from Central and South American countries such as Honduras, not from Mexico. IN the first eight months of fiscal year 2014, US Border Patrol agents detained over 160,000 illegal immigrants in the Rio Grande Valley alone. This exceeds the total number of detentions in fiscal year 2013.

In efforts to slow and deter human traffickers’ efforts along the Texas border, leaders authorized an emergency allocation of up to $1.3 million per week for the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) to conduct a border security surge operation.

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Governor Rick Perry stated that Texas cannot depend upon federal authorities for help:

Texas can’t afford to wait for Washington to act on this crisis and we will not sit idly by while the safety and security of our citizens are threatened. Until the federal government recognizes the danger it’s putting our citizens in by its inaction to secure the border, Texas law enforcement must do everything they can to keep our citizens and communities safe.

Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst echoed Perry’s sentiments:

The federal government has abdicated its responsibility to secure the border and protect this country from the consequences of illegal immigration, but as Texans we know how to lead in areas where Washington has failed. Last year DPS conducted Operation Strong Safety and achieved astounding results. Crime rates related to drugs, cartels, transnational gangs, and illegal border activity plummeted because of the resources we allocated to stop illegal entry at the border. It’s time to make this type of presence on the border permanent.

This state-level border security surge is intended to combat drug cartels, sex slavers, and human trafficking cartels operating along the Texas-Mexico border. Texas leaders directed DPS to initiate surge operations and continue them through December, at least.