DALLAS (Reuters) - Texas has launched a
law enforcement surge to crack down on drug and human trafficking from
Mexico in a move that comes as the state is about to deploy as many as
1,000 National Guard troops to the border, officials said on Friday.
The surge, announced last month and recently implemented, places
more law enforcement officials and resources on the border and will
result in $1.3 million in additional spending a week for the Texas
Department of Public Safety, officials from the department said,
without offering a specific date when it was launched.
Texas Governor Rick Perry, seen as a potential Republican candidate
in the 2016 presidential election, has blamed the Obama
administration for not doing enough to halt a surge in children from
Central America crossing the border. Perry said the influx of
children has diverted U.S. Border Patrol attention from cracking
down on criminal syndicates.
"Mexican cartels and criminal elements are taking advantage of this
situation by further exploiting these gaps along the border to
commit heinous crimes that will further their business," said Texas
Department of Public Safety spokesman Tom Vinger.
During the nine months ending June 30, more than 57,000 children,
many of them from Central America, were detained at the U.S.-Mexico
border, double last year's count, according to U.S. government data.
The White House and others have called the influx a humanitarian
crisis. The Obama administration has requested an additional $3.7
billion from Congress to address the situation.
On Thursday, the department took media out to the Rio Grande to show
how its fleet of gunboats is patrolling the waterway that divides
Mexico and the United States.
“We know the enemy, the cartel, on the other side they have cover,
they have concealment, they have the element of surprise. But what
we enjoy is superior training, superior tactics, speed and
overwhelming firepower," Department of Public Safety Lieutenant
Charlie Goble told reporters.
The National Guard deployment that will begin within the next 28
days is expected to cost about $12 million a month with the troops
helping the state's efforts to secure the border.
Perry has won praise for his moves among Republicans and criticism
from Democrats who say he is spending millions on deployments that
are more about politics than border protection.
(Reporting by Marice Richter; Additional reporting provided by pool
reports; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Eric Beech)
