Gov. Perry on Border Security

Interview with Texas Gov. Rick Perry
By Lou Dobbs Tonight

DOBBS: Conservative voting power can make the difference at upcoming key elections across the country. Here comes November 3rd. A new Gallup poll shows the number of Americans as describing themselves as conservative outnumber both moderates and liberals in this country. The trend could benefit Texas Governor Rick Perry. He's caught up in a tough primary battle to remain his party's electorate. Governor Perry joins us here now. Good to have you with us. Are you surprised by that poll, the Gallup poll showing conservatives overwhelming both moderates and liberals?

GOV. RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: No, it doesn't necessarily surprise me. We go back and forth in this country, back and forth, hope and change gets people's attention and then we look at policies and people go, wait a minute, that wasn't the hope --

DOBBS: Need a little more change.

PERRY: The change we were hoping for. It's out there and people are looking for folks to stand up and say, here's what I believe in, here's what I'm going to do, or to have a record to look at.

DOBBS: You say Texans are so fed up with big government that the state may want to succeed. The federal government certainly hasn't become any smaller. What do you think about the necessity of succession?

PERRY: I don't think that's exactly the quote that I made. But let's just say that people are fed up with big government. There is a reason that Republicans are not in power in Washington, D.C. a lot of folks put their hands up and say, listen, elect me and I want to go be a Republican and then they went up and they voted like Democrats. And people kicked them out. People are fed up with government spending our kids' future. These $1 trillion deficits are scaring people. Health care bills that have $1 trillion attachments to them, people are just fed up with that.

DOBBS: You and Kay Bailey Hutchison are tied in a -- statistically tied in a recent Rasmussen poll. What's your plan to win the primary?

PERRY: I just run on my record. When you look at a state that's got 1,000 a people a day moving to it, a place with more than fortune 500 companies, inarguably Texas is the envy of the other 49 states economically. I'll put that record up against anybody.

DOBBS: You have five patrolled ports of entry into the state, as you know. Do you think homeland security Janet Napolitano is doing enough to secure the borders? And we'll limit that just to the state of Texas.

PERRY: And neither did the previous homeland security director.

DOBBS: Michael Chertoff.

PERRY: Neither one are doing enough. We've asked this administration for 1,000 National Guard troops to come, put boots on the ground. We haven't gotten an answer. There's a conflict between the department of defense and homeland security about who's going to pay for it. I don't care who's going to pay for it, just get the troops on the ground. Let's use the technology available. Why not fly predator drones up and down that border region. They're training drones anyway. They're practicing for the real deal. Let's use them, take that data, use it to help on our homeland security.

DOBBS: What's the number one issue for the state of Texas in the next five to ten years? And what are you doing about it?

PERRY: Making sure we keep the economy going. There's nothing more important than any governor does. I like to see states compete against states. So keeping that economic climate very positive in the state of Texas so that people know they can keep more of their money, they can have the type of quality of life, they can have the freedoms that they desire. If states get focused on the tenth amendment, if we continue to make Texas a place where people want to live, obviously, when there's 1,000 a day coming there, there's a reason for it, and it's the economy, stupid.

DOBBS: All right. Well, we're going end to with you calling me stupid. Governor, good to have you with us.

PERRY: Good, Lou.

DOBBS: Governor Rick Perry, good to have you here.

The Border: Texas Steps Up Where Washington Falls Down

By Texas Governor Rick Perry

During a time when Washington seems more determined than ever to inject itself into the day-to-day lives of everyone in the country, border security is one area - a legitimate federal responsibility - where the federal government has demonstrated a decided lack of urgency.

For Texans, border security is not, and never has been, a mere rhetorical exercise. It has a direct and tangible impact on the lives of everyone who lives in the Lone Star State, as well as grave homeland security implications, which is why - over the past several years - we have given up waiting for Washington and done it ourselves.

In 2005, Texas vastly expanded our border operations, increasing the number of law enforcement officers on patrol along the border - the “boots on the ground” that are so vital to success. We focused first on local authorities, giving the people who best understood their specific needs the resources and support to address their problems directly.

Beyond that, we deployed state-of-the-art helicopters, enhanced integral radio communications between the various levels of law enforcement, and expanded the sharing of information and the use of new technologies.

In 2007, lawmakers authorized my request for $110 million to expand our efforts further, increasing our patrol capacity to detect, disrupt and deter organized smuggling activity. A key part of the plan was providing critical funding to pay local law enforcement officers overtime to help U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel conduct random inspections, helping intercept stolen vehicles, bulk cash and weapons flowing into Mexico.

The results were striking, as crime fell as much as 65 percent in the unincorporated areas of Texas counties bordering Mexico.

However, the process of securing a border is an ongoing effort, and a welcome drop in crime is no sign we can relax.

The profits from smuggling drugs and humans are enormous, and the Mexican organized crime cartels are too adaptable and too persistent.

Also, as battles wage between cartels in Mexico, the potential of spillover violence needs to be addressed. For example, Juarez has set a most unwelcome record, with more than 1,700 people murdered there so far this year.

In our own major cities, members of transnational gangs like MS-13, Barrio Azteca, Hermanos de Pistoleros Latinos, Tango Blast and the Mexican Mafia conduct criminal operations on our streets, along the way recruiting new members from our communities and schools into lifestyles of violence and death.

Compounding this are the countless lives devastated by drug violence, the drugs themselves, and related criminal activities such as human trafficking and child prostitution.

Thankfully, this year, the Texas Legislature allocated $113 million to maintain and expand our border security efforts, affirming our commitment to working with local law enforcement and the U.S. Border Patrol to protect Texans.

This month, I announced the formation of Ranger Recon Teams, consisting of members of the Texas Rangers supported by Texas National Guard Counterdrug forces, in coordination with our Texas sheriffs and DPS Highway Patrol strike teams. These teams will be deployed to “hot spots” in remote areas along the border, where well-armed smugglers seek to avoid detection.

These teams are nimble, lean and tapped into the best information our intelligence sources can provide. They will redeploy as needed to consistently stay one step ahead of the bad guys, utilizing advanced technology and unified intelligence.

I also recently announced a commitment to continue a promising high-tech solution to increasing the patrol presence along the border through the Virtual Border Watch program, operated by the Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition. This program enables concerned Texans and others around the world to utilize technology to add their own energy to our efforts. I’m proud of the people who have participated and the deterrent effect they have provided. In meeting the challenge of border security, all effort is necessary.

More, of course, must be done. In the absence of adequate federal resources along the border, I’ve asked the Obama administration for an additional 1,000 National Guard troops under our control and six helicopters equipped with Forward Looking Infrared Radar to support our border operations. Under federal law, this authorization requires an order from the president, which I requested in January and have since continued to urge approval.

To date, I’ve received no official word from Washington.

Of all the issues in the national spotlight and all the funding being thrown around in D.C., border security is one area where Washington needs to make its presence known, and fast.

EL PASO -- Even though the vast majority of El Pasoans say they have not been personally affected by the crime that has been strangling Juárez for more than a year, they do feel threatened by it, a new opinion poll found.

An El Paso Times poll suggests that fear in El Paso has increased as a drug cartel war in Juárez has worn on since January 2008 and includes grisly mutilations, and daily shootings and massacres in bars, drug rehab centers and restaurants that have left more than 3,300 dead.

The poll, conducted Sept. 28 by The Reuel Group, found that 80 percent of respondents had not been personally affected by the crime in Juárez, but 60 percent said they still felt threatened.

"Generally speaking, there is a broadening concern
about what is happening in Juárez," pollster Russell Autry of the Reuel Group said.

El Paso Mayor John Cook said the poll matches with what he hears from constituents.

"It certainly justified what I felt all along," Cook said. "We haven't been impacted. But just knowing your sister city -- so close to you, that you have relatives in and business interests in -- seeing so much violence there makes you worried."

Law enforcement officials maintain that there has not been an increase in violence in El Paso despite two high-profile cartel cases this year. On May 15, federal informant Jose Daniel Gonzalez-Galeana was fatally shot outside his home in an upscale East Side neighborhood. Police arrested five men, including a Fort Bliss soldier, on capital-murder charges.

On Sept. 3, Sergio Saucedo was taken by gunmen from his middle-class home in Horizon City in a daytime abduction seen by several witnesses, including children on a school bus. Saucedo was later found dead in Juárez with his hands cut off. There have been no arrests.

Horizon City Mayor Walter Miller said that his quiet bedroom town east of El Paso is safe, but that the kidnapping raised awareness that drug traffickers are not limited by the border.

"It woke people up," Miller said. "It's what we knew all along. It's here among us."

Manuel Rico Jr., the town's interim police chief, said that since the episode, residents have been more willing to report suspicious vehicles and people.

"We, as a police department, are doing everything we can to make people feel safe," Rico said. "Are they going to be a little scared? Yes. The border is right across the street."

It is a border El Pasoans are increasingly unwilling to cross because of the murders, other crimes and other factors.

In 2007, an El Paso Times poll found that about 44 percent of El Pasoans visited Juárez at least once a year.

This latest poll found that more than 80 percent of El Pasoans had no plans to visit Juárez through the end of 2009.

University of Texas at El Paso sociology professor Theodore Curry said the threat El Pasoans feel is real.

"It's a feeling that the violence can seep across the border at any time," he said. "There is a conventional wisdom that it will stay in Juárez, but there is a possibility that they can come over here when they want, and they just haven't. But the cartels have shown they can cross over anytime they want."

Juárez city government spokesman Jaime Torres said daily life continues while authorities work to improve security.

"We respect the opinions of other groups, but people continue to keep coming to Juárez," Torres said.

"The maquiladoras keep working. The tourism we see is business tourism. Also here on the border, there are a lot of family ties, business ties and cultural ties that go across the border."

Even if the violence is contained to Mexico, it still affects how El Paso is viewed, especially through the national media's description of the situation as "border violence."

El Paso District Attorney Jaime Esparza said people from other parts of the country often have a perception El Paso is violent despite the city's low crime rate.

"I had an individual ask me if I have a (body) guard because of the violence in Juárez, which I do not," Esparza said.

There have been nine murders in the city of El Paso this year. There have been about 1,700 in Juárez, including more than two-dozen victims who were from the El Paso area.

"Some people are taking advantage of what is happening in Juárez to make it appear that the border is not safe," Esparza said.

Such accusations led to the announcement last month of Texas Gov. Rick Perry's plan to send "Ranger recon" teams of Texas Rangers to what the governor described as high-crime spots along the border.

The plan has support in El Paso: The Times' poll found that about 57 percent of El Pasoans said they would feel safer with Texas Rangers on the border.

"Texas loves their Texas Rangers, don't they?" asked Autry, the pollster, who explained the survey did not determine whether the reaction was reflective of Perry or of the legendary reputation of the state's most-storied law-enforcement agency.

Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com; 546-6102.