Gov. Rick Perry meets with sheriffs from the Texas-Mexico border to discuss border security. Photo Courtesy of Office of the Governor Rick Perry
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Governor Rick Perry said in San Antonio this week he wants “no more federal briefings on border security from down-level staffers” in the administration. Texas Public Radio’s Eileen Pace reports the governor appeared in support of border sheriffs asking the federal government to step up its delivery of more border patrol guards.
August 11, 2010 · “We need boots on the ground. We need technology,” Governor Perry said as he and border sheriffs spoke to reporters in San Antonio Tuesday.
On the heels of the U.S. House approval of $600 million for border security, Perry said not enough of that money is coming to Texas. He said twelve hundred agents for eighteen hundred miles of border is a ‘giant disappointment.’
But Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West said the government’s allocation is going to help.
“For example, in 2007, by doing this and by adding what we call ‘JOICs,’ -- and JOICs are Joint Operation Intelligence Centers that are set up throughout the state -- we’ve got a reporting mechanism for what we’re seeing – any kind of trends,” West said. “For example, if we see a trend that’s taking place in McAllen and see it move to Del Rio, then we’ve got a heads-up of what’s coming toward us, if it’s coming toward us. So the sharing of this information back and forth is really advantageous to us. The good thing about it, the federal government can see they need to share this information as well, whereas in years past, it’s always been a one-way street.”
Sheriff West said in his county, there are 98 miles of border, but the 500 border patrol agents there patrol only the Interstate 10 area. West said I-10 has become the “new border” east of El Paso.
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