Posted on 07/20/2014 9:06:01 PM PDT by bd476
Gov. Rick Perry to deploy 1,000 National Guard troops to RGV
Texas Gov. Rick Perry plans to announce he will activate the Texas National Guard at a news conference Monday in Austin, said state Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen.
Hinojosa did not have details of the effort, but an internal memo from another state official’s office said the governor planned to call about 1,000 Texas National Guard troops to the Rio Grande Valley — at a cost of about $12 million per month.
The memo was provided to The Monitor on the condition of anonymity because the information is not yet public.
Troops are expected to enter the area gradually, building up to 1,000 after about a month, the memo said.
The troops will join the Texas Department of Public Safety in its recent surge to combat human smuggling and drug trafficking amid the influx of mostly Central Americans illegally crossing the Rio Grande. Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, and Texas House Speaker Joe Straus announced the $1.3 million per week effort last month.
State leaders approved funding for extra DPS troopers to fill in gaps in Border Patrol coverage in the Valley as the federal authorities were overwhelmed with an influx of children and families from Central America. The state officials feared Mexican drug cartels might exploit the situation to move their own drugs and human contraband while Border Patrol attention was turned elsewhere.
Hinojosa said Perry's move smacked of political gamesmanship.
“All these politicians coming down to border, they don't care about solving the problem, they just want to make a political point,” he said.
State officials denied the move amounted to a militarization of the border.
“This is not a militarization of the border,” the memo states. “The DPS and the National Guard are working to keep any drug and human trafficking south of (U.S. Highway) 83 and with the goal of keeping any smuggling from entering major highways to transport East/West/and North.”
DPS officials want to send National Guard troops into western areas of the Valley and the ranch lands further north, according to the memo.
“Smuggling has supposedly according to DPS moved West on the border with an increase in Jim Hogg County," the memo states. "DPS especially wants to apply the Guard in the rural areas to patrol.”
The National Guard deployment — added to the DPS surge — will bring the price tag of troopers on the border to about $5 million per week, the memo said. And the funding source for the effort remains unclear.
“It is not clear where the money will come from in the budget,” the memo states, adding that Perry's office has said the money will come from “non critical” areas, such as health care or transportation.
Hinojosa said the National Guard was not equipped to aid immigrants crossing the Rio Grande.
“They (cartels) are taking advantage of the situation,” he said. “But our local law enforcement from the sheriff’s offices of the different counties to the different police departments are taking care of the situation. This is a civil matter, not a military matter. What we need is more resources to hire more deputies, hire more Border Patrol.
“These are young people, just families coming across. They're not armed. They're not carrying weapons.”
BUMP
He is not allowed to let them shoot..You might go to Obummer for that permission. Good luck
Gov Brewer needs to follow suit and call up her state’s NG.
The National Guard will primarily be patrolling rural areas for cartel, gang, and terrorist activity. In previous operations, we have driven them back across the border. They don’t want to get caught.
As for the illegals who are surrending themselves to BP, I think tent cities similar to Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s tent prison camps might work as temporary housing until they can be deported. They should go no farther into the U.S. They should not be released with a NTA and allowed to hop on a Greyhound bus to join family elsewhere in the U.S.
Once they realize that their destiny is a tent city with no opportunities to work for pay, create a home, or purchase goods and services, they’ll go home on their own or stop coming here illegally. Provisions and medical care in those tent cities should be minimal. Treat medical emergencies, immunize everyone, and send them home
The older I get the dumber my spelling gets LOL
It just amazes me that Perry is about the only one doing anything about the border, and he catches hell here on a daily basis as if he created the problem on the border.
If the time comes, we won’t be asking for permission.
Sadly all will be handed over to ICE/BP/Feds and will be turned loose.
Good men and women risk their lives on the border everyday with their hands tied by the Feds.
The problem lies in Washington.
Our system IS broken.
If he wants them to be meaningful and not a political showcase.....
He needs to deputize them and give them arrest, detain and full engage authority....Make them a temporary part of the Texas Rangers....
Amen...
The border is an international one and our governor should be getting support from Obummer...and the Congress.
Fat chance of that.
If we can’t immediately deport the illegals..and the feds won’t..they will disappear.
It is the job of our federal government to protect our borders..and they won’t do it.
Agreed. It's much more complicated than most people think.
I wonder if you can train alligators to stay on the U.S. side of the river? ;-)
Cut off all the benefits and jobs, deport on contact and most of them will probably leave.
Amen!
While Texans are happy to fight, this is not ours to fight alone.
Yall want a fence? Pony up some cash and get yer happy butts down here to help us build it maintain it and patrol it.
Please refer me to the law that allows the Texas governor to do that.
BUMP!
And truth is a fence will never work.
Especially along the Rio Grande, 99% of Tx is private land and you just cant have the fed taking over your land to build a fence that cuts your cattle off from the river.
The problem lies in Washington and in Mexico city.
Mexico is a rich country and there is no reason for the poverty there other than corruption.
Now we have given rise to the drug cartels, that increases the flight.
We encourage it in DC, hand out EBT cards to the illegal refugees and bitch that Tx aint doing enough to stop the problem.
Bust the cartels and Mexico citys balls and this crap will stop
When I was a child in the 60’s we had Mexican migrants all the way into NE Ohio.
It was not an issue.
They come, they pick tomatoes they don’t bother anyone and they go home in autumn.
Now they stay and get on the Dem taxpayer funded tit.
And all of a sudden – President Obama has a news conference, ostensibly getting tough with Putin RE the Ukraine…
4.3 Military and Police Powers
The Texas Constitution names the Governor the commander-in-chief of the Texas National Guard when the state's units have not been placed under the command of the U.S. President. (Article II of the U.S. Constitution names the President commander-in-chief of the state national guards when they are mobilized for national service.) The Adjutant General, whom the Governor appoints, heads Texas Guard units. Though Texas Guard units can be dispatched to respond to situations such as civil unrest, they are more commonly used to aid in natural disasters or other forms of emergency relief in which local emergency services need additional resources.
Though most law enforcement and police investigation responsibilities rest in the hands of city and county governments, the Governor also has limited police powers. The Governor (with Senate approval) appoints the members of the Public Safety Commission, which directs the Department of Public Safety (DPS). The Governor can also assume command of the Texas Rangers (a division of the DPS) under some circumstances, although this is a rare event.
http://texaspolitics.laits.utexas.edu/1_4_3.html
The feds are supposed to guard an international border...Talk to the feds.
But he just punted to the UN.
Tough guy. LOL
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