Perry Notes: March 2008

IN A POST-9/11 AMERICA, winning the war on terror and securing the homeland is the great calling of our time. In Texas, this challenge takes the form of securing our border with Mexico.

There can be no homeland security without border security. I have taken this message to Washington, D.C. for the last several years, only to have it fall largely on deaf ears. That’s why in 2005, I decided it was time for the State of Texas to take matters into our own hands.

ASSESSING THE THREAT

Powerful and ruthless Mexican crime organizations such as the Gulf, Juarez and Sinaloa Cartels dominate the lucrative U.S. drug and human smuggling market, posing a significant threat to the safety of Texans and the nation as a whole.

Utilizing former military commandos for protection, these cartels rely on transnational gangs such as MS-13, the Texas Syndicate and the Mexican Mafia to support their operations on both sides of the border. Armed to the teeth with weapons more suited to the battlefield—sniper rifles, grenade launchers, shoulder-fired rockets, machine guns and hand grenades—these crime cartels are a serious threat to our safety as they ferry their human cargo, drugs and other contraband into our state.

In addition to narco-traffickers and violent criminals, U.S. Intelligence tells us that terrorists and their supporters also consider the southern border a prime route into the heart of America. For example, since March 2006, more than 434 illegal aliens from terrorism-related countries, such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq, Jordan and Yemen, have been arrested crossing the Texas-Mexico border.

In short, our border has been under increasing pressure from those who consider our southern boundary a conduit for their contraband, a gateway to illicit opportunity and a curtain behind which to hide when they have fled apprehension.

Taking Action

OPERATION LINEBACKER

In 2005, the governor’s office provided $6 million to the 16 sheriffs’ departments on the border to support Operation Linebacker – a plan to immediately increase local patrols in high-threat areas from Brownsville to El Paso. Increased local patrol presence in these areas decreased crime and increased public safety. As a result, the governor’s office provided an additional $3.8 million to further expand local patrol capacity along the border.

OPERATION RIO GRANDE

Based on the success of Operation Linebacker, the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and the Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition decided to expand this border-wide effort. With the launching of Operation Rio Grande in February 2006, the state of Texas for the first time committed significant state assets to address the federal responsibility of securing our southern border.

Texas began coordinating the combined capabilities of local state and federal law enforcement as well and National Guard elements to conduct massive surge operations along the entire length of the Texas/Mexico border. These random, unannounced operations led to significant drops in all crime and had a disruptive effect on the gangs and drug and human traffickers across the border. Operation Rio Grande put more boots on the ground, more technology in the hands of local law enforcement, and, for the first time, allowed local, state and federal law enforcement to work together to combat border crime. The results of these surge operations were immediate and overwhelming:

OPERATION WRANGLER

The next phase of Border Security operations directed from the governor’s office began in January 2007, with Operation Wrangler, where the lessons learned from Operations Linebacker and Rio Grande were applied statewide. Recognizing that a porous border affects the entire state, the Governors Office of Homeland Security expanded law enforcement surges into known drug and crime corridors that traverse Texas from Mexico. The first phase of Operation Wrangler was an unprecedented statewide effort, utilizing over 6,000 personnel from over 200 local, state and federal
law enforcement agencies, supported by thirty-five maritime patrol assets, 45 helicopters and 33 fixed-wing aircraft.

OPERATION BORDER STAR

In September 2007, the governor’s office launched the latest border security initiative: Operation Border Star. Armed with $110 million authorized by the Texas Legislature, Operation Border Star began in high-threat areas, and will soon expand to continuous high-intensity surge operations along the entire Texas/Mexico border. Utilizing the combined state resources of DPS Troopers, Texas Rangers, state helicopters, Parks & Wildlife Game Wardens and river assets, Texas Civil Air Patrol, U.S. Border Patrol and local police and sheriffs’ departments, Texas is disrupting smuggling operations, putting crime cartels on notice and securing the border.

NATIONAL INSIGHT

"We were working on a major case and, according to our sources, [the cartels] were having an extremely difficult time getting their shipments to Texas and Atlanta. Interestingly enough, our informants tell us they were blaming [Texas] border security for their problems."

Roy Harris, Commander
Chatham-Savannah Counter
Narcotics Team, Georgia
November 2007

LOOKING AHEAD

The effectiveness of our border security strategy is demonstrated by the 45% drop in illegal alien apprehensions since 2005.

Bottom line, fewer people are attempting the crossing because they know we will stop them.

Since November 2005, there has been a 65% reduction in serious crime in 1,170 miles of unincorporated area along the Texas-Mexico border that crime cartels use to smuggle humans and drugs into Texas. These operations have also disrupted drug smuggling along the Texas-Mexico border, resulting in the higher price and lower purity of cocaine.

Even though securing the border is ultimately a federal responsibility, in a post-9/11 world, the state of Texas will never be able to completely back away from our border security efforts, nor should we try. As we finalize our preparations to significantly expand Operation Border Star, we are mindful that although progress has been made, we can never rest until the border has been secured from all threats.