|
Security on the
border
By
Sheriff Leo Samaniego
El Paso County
In 1986, the federal government, unable to deal with the immigration problem plaguing our country, took the easy way out and gave amnesty to five million illegal immigrants. Congress also approved sanctions against employers that knowingly hire undocumented aliens, and promised to beef up the Border Patrol to gain control of the U.S./Mexico border.
Twenty years later, the border is not secure, the Border Patrol is still undermanned and overwhelmed, employer sanctions are not being enforced, and we have an estimated 12 million undocumented aliens in our country and Congress is again thinking of amnesty. Amnesty only fuels the desire of millions more to come in illegally and hope this practice will continue.
El Paso is a leading gateway city for the transshipment of narcotics and a staging area for illegal aliens. There are at least five powerful drug trafficking organizations operating in and through the Juarez/El Paso corridor. Hundreds of smaller groups assist the major organizations in their smuggling, stashing, transporting, distribution and money laundering efforts. It is estimated that 65 percent of all narcotics sold in the U.S. market enter the country through the Southwest border. Violence associated with drug trafficking organizations continues escalating as they attempt to gain or maintain control of their areas of operation.
The fact that border security and illegal immigration are the responsibility of the federal government does not lessen the burden being placed on border law enforcement agencies that are already overburdened, understaffed and underfunded. A 2000 Law Enforcement Management & Statistics Survey indicates that the number of full time officers in border counties is 38 percent below the national average. Texas spends the least on border counties, averaging less than 90 percent of what non-border agencies in the state receive. The survey also revealed that border counties arrest rates are 16 percent higher than the national average.
A 2001 study conducted by the United States/Mexico Border Counties Coalition found that law enforcement and criminal justice expenses associated with illegal immigration exceed $89 million annually for southwest border counties. While the federal government provides assistance in covering costs related to detention of certain criminal aliens and the prosecution of federal drug cases, border law enforcement agencies are provided no assistance in their effort to combat drug and human trafficking, terrorist threats and a multitude of other border related crimes.
As law enforcement officers on the border, our primary concern is the safety of our citizens. The members of the Texas Border Sheriff�s Coalition have done everything possible to bring awareness to the leaders of our nation. The terrorism threat is very real. It is unfortunate that most Americans have already forgotten the fear, horror and anger we experienced on September 11, 2001.
On September 15, 2005, at a meeting of the coalition in El Paso, �Operation Linebacker� was approved as a coalition wide initiative that would place more deputies all along the Texas/Mexico border. Congressman John Culberson approved the plan and introduced H.R. 4360 which provides $100 million for sheriffs on the U.S./Mexico border. This resolution became part of H.R. 4437 which was approved by the U.S. Congress on December 16, 2005. There has been no compromise between the House and the Senate in regards to this resolution.
In January of 2006, Gov. Rick Perry stated that Texas could no longer wait for the federal government to take control of the border and awarded $10 million for the Border Sheriff�s Coalition to implement �Operation Linebacker.� The Governor later implemented �Operation Rio Grande,� making available all state law enforcement assets in an effort to take control of our border.
|
