Gov. Perry: there is a “war raging along our Southern border”
From San Antonio’s WOAI:
Perry blasts federal inaction, announces new programs to fight Mexican drug gangs in Texas
Saying there is a ‘war raging along our southern border with Mexico,’ 1200 WOAI news reports Texas Gov. Rick Perry today announced a major effort to fight Mexican drug cartels and ‘transnational’ criminal gangs which have been stepping up their increasingly brazen assaults and kidnappings in the southwestern United States.
"All too often these gangs are better armed, they are highly organized, they are better funded than ever before, but we are going to start fighting back," Perry said.
Texans never leave it up to others to take care of themselves and Perry argues that its the Feds’ fault we’re having to spend so much on protecting our borders:
Perry says his program is aimed at ‘dismantling’ Mexican gang activity in Texas.
"In addition to paying overtime, these funds will go to essential items such as the collection, analysis, and the sharing of intelligence among local state and federal agencies, improved equipment, education programs for our kids, so they can learn about the dangers of getting involved in this type of activity."
Perry said $4 million from Texas criminal justice funding will be made available today, and he will ask the Texas Legislature for an additional $24 million when lawmakers convene in January.
Perry said none of this would be necessary if the federal government properly carried out its job of border control and enforcement.
"We always had held out hope that Washington would do their appropriate job, but that seems to not be the case so far," he said. "Texans are having to fund these efforts ourselves. We can’t sit around and wait for Washington to secure our border. We can’t sit around and wait for Washington to keep its citizens safe. We have to do it ourselves, it appears."