Breitbart Texas contacted Gov. Perry’s office to request his comments about the growing humanitarian crisis underway in South Texas. Perry’s press secretary, Lucy Nashed, responded to a series of questions from Breitbart Texas about the issue stating, “Texas has been raising this issue with the federal government since 2012, and it’s clear that two years later, they simply don’t have a handle on this growing problem. The governor wrote a letter to President Obama a couple of weeks ago that addressed this.”
“This entire issue stems from the fact that our border with Mexico remains so unsecured,” Nashed continued, “that thousands of children are able to cross illegally. At a time when human trafficking is on the rise, it is concerning that we’re seeing increasing numbers of vulnerable children – who can fall prey to human traffickers – crossing the border illegally and alone.
“The federal government’s failure to have a clearly articulated solution for addressing the issue is unacceptable and merely encourages this dangerous behavior,” she concluded.
Breitbart Texas obtained a copy of the three-page letter dated May 28th from Governor Perry to President Obama.
“With the alarming surge in illegal immigration along the Texas-Mexico border,” Perry began in the letter, “I am compelled once again to call your attention to the public safety threats posed by the federal government’s failure to secure this critical border.” As Perry stated in this letter, this is not the first time he has written Obama on the issue of Texas’ border security problem. Perry famously hand-delivered a letter about the “dire threat” Texas was facing from drug violence along the U.S.-Mexico border during a presidential visit to Austin in August, 2010. Perry attempted to hand the letter directly to the President who deflected him to then National Security Advisor Valerie Jarrett.
Perry described in the current letter, the ninety percent increase in illegal border crossing apprehensions since 2010. He said the Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Sector has apprehended nearly as many illegal immigrants in the first eight months of this fiscal year as they did in the entire 2013 fiscal year. He expressed concern that more than half of the crossings in this period were from what is referred to at OTMs (Other than Mexicans).
The Texas Governor’s biggest concern however come in relation the growing trend of human trafficking. Criticizing the federal government’s handling of the situation, Perry quoted Federal Judge Andrew S. Hannon and claimed the judge accused the Obama Administration of “abetting human traffickers by fostering an atmosphere whereby illegal immigrants are encourage to pay human smugglers for further services. “This court is quite concerned with the apparent policy of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of completing the criminal mission of individuals who are violating the border security of the United States. …The failure by DHS to enforce current United States law concerns this Court First and most importantly these illegal activities help fund the illegal drug cartels which are a very real danger for both citizens of this country and Mexico,” Judge Andrew S. Hanen wrote.
Perry reminded the President of the multiple claims by him and his administration that the U.S.-Mexico border is safe. “Nothing could be further from the truth. ‘With 64 percent of the U.S,-Mexico border,” Perry stated. “Texas has seen more than its share of illegal activity stemming from inadequate border security.”
The Perry letter lays out a series of requests of the President and his administration. “Absent imminent reforms to our broken immigration system I, therefore, ask that you:
- provide, at minimum, parity in the number of USBP agents stationed in Texas as compared with the rest of the states bordering Mexico (Texas has about seven agents per border mile while the other states combined have about 17 agents per border mile);”
- grant the request I made to you in 2009 to deploy 1,000 National Guard troops to the Texas-Mexico border to support USBP operations until sufficient resources can be hired and trained;”
- redirect resources from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – which you are currently drawing down – to the Texas-Mexico border;”
- direct the Secretary of DHS to eliminate policies that, in effect, encourage human smuggling and illegal immigration. (i.e. giving illegal immigrants a court date and releasing them from custody when many of them fail to appear for court and remain in the United States, releasing OTM UACs to their illegal immigrant parents in the United States that paid to have them smuggled into the United States, giving lawful presence status and work permits to illegal immigrants);”
- release the results of the recent review of your deportation policies and provide full disclosure to the American people who fund it. Do not delay the release of your report for the political purposes of pushing through immigration reform in a vacuum; and”
- continue the Secure Communities program, which has proven to be a valuable law enforcement tool that helps identify criminals when they are caught entering this country illegally.”
Perry concluded the letter stating, “In Texas, we understand there can be no homeland security without border security. With the number of adults and children crossing illegally into Texas rising so dramatically, the question of whether our border is secure has been answered. Texas has had to fill in the gaps left by the federal government – allocating hundreds of millions of dollars for border security through new technology, improved communications equipment, law enforcement personnel and other resources. Texas has stepped up to the plate. Now it is your turn. I ask you to take action to prevent the situation along the U.S.-Mexico border from further escalating by providing more resources to secure our porous border.”
Breitbart Texas has announced a Border Security and Public Corruption Tipline. If you have information that is in contrast to the information being released by DHS, you are encouraged to call or email Brandon Darby, Managing Director of Breitbart Texas. The number for you to call is 877-204-2033 or you can email Darby via bdarby@Breitbart.com.
Bob Price is a staff writer and a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.