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Border
security
By Sheriff Leo Samaniego
El Paso County Sheriff
On May 4, 2005, lawmen and employees from 16 law enforcement agencies representing the western tip of Texas to the most southern tip of the state gathered in a motel meeting room in the heart of border �insecurity:� Laredo, Texas. The subject matter was border security: special interest aliens, false documentations (Social Security cards and other sensitive IDs) and the discovery of military insignia with Arabic writing and Iranian currency.
The stories carried a similar theme despite the steep variances in terrain, manpower, and resources. The theme quite simply was the Texas-Mexico border was growing in terms of violence and the wide open porous border invited a criminal enterprise that challenged every agency in terms of manpower and financial resources.
That meeting resulted in the formation of the Texas Border Sheriff�s Coalition.
The coalition now consists of 18 sheriffs whose counties are within 25 miles of the Texas-Mexico border. The purpose of the coalition is to prevent criminals, terrorists, contraband of all types and aliens from special interest countries from entering our country. Border sheriffs believe that without border security, you don�t have homeland security, which means jeopardized national security.
These lawmen, who work along the rural Texas-Mexico border, recognize that a porous border is an opportunity for exploitation.
This results in drug and human trafficking, robberies, homicides, aggravated assaults, vehicle pursuits on farm to market roads and a litany of organized criminal activity. Not to be forgotten are the occasional international incidents such as border incursions by the Mexican military or traffickers receiving protection by military-style gangs that roam the international border with ease. These organizations easily have more firepower and sophisticated military-style equipment than the Texas law enforcement agencies assigned to interdict their operations.
The transnational gangs have become sophisticated criminal organizations much like the mafia, with a similar hierarchy and whose influence stretches from any border community in the state to major metropolitan areas in Texas such as Dallas, Houston or San Antonio, and across state lines to Chicago or New York City.
Some financial relief has been provided to the coalition with a congressional earmark secured by U.S Rep. John Culberson, 7th District of Texas. The grant money has helped equip border rural law enforcement so they can, at the very least, be on the same playing field as those crime groups roaming the border.
The governor of the state of Texas has also taken a significant lead in making sure the state is protected. Gov. Rick Perry awarded the coalition $9.8 million to fund law enforcement operations along the border. The operations (Operations Linebacker, Rio Grande and Wrangler) have been highly successful with significant crime reduction in counties and cities along the border.
The bottom line; when an individual crosses an unprotected border unnoticed and illegally, that is a federal failure. When that individual commits a crime in rural Texas the 911 call goes to the sheriff. This 911 call never gets rerouted to Secretary Michael Chertoff at the Department of Homeland Security in Washington, D.C.
Instead, the phone rings loud and often in the office of the local Texas sheriff.
The unprotected border is a federal responsibility that has been neglected. This everyday occurrence means the locals will foot the bill and pay a heavy price for protecting border residents. These individuals are committed, from a national security perspective, to protect lives, property and the rights of the people, maintain order and security in the United States along the Republic of Mexico border, enforce the law impartially and provide police service in partnership with other law-enforcement and community partners.
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