Border securityCritics question Texas spending on border security

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), and other state agencies, are prepared to spend between about $500 million and $800 million on border security.

Critics maintain that whatever the final amount the Texas state legislature actually spends this year, it is money that would be better spent on items like education or health care rather than poorly defined “border security,” which is not the primary responsibility of either DPS or the state.

DPS’s mission statement lists four goals: combat crime and terrorism, enhance highway and public safety, improve statewide emergency management, and augment public safety licensing and regulatory services.

Critics of the expenditure maintain that of the four action items, only three truly can be considered primary responsibilities of DPS. Highway and public safety is how most people know DPS — as the Highway Patrol, and, of course, issuing driver’s licenses is one of the agency’s core public functions. Border security, they argue is a function of the federal government and local law enforcement, with DPS in a secondary role.

Despite that fact, or perhaps because of it, the critics argue that it is impossible even to measure the effectiveness of the state’s expensive border operations, or how much they have helped ongoing federal and local efforts.

San Angelo Livereports that state representative Drew Darby allowed that there is little the state can do to stem the tide of illegal immigrants. Darby expressed frustration with the way the federal government seemingly undercuts what the Texas is attempting to achieve.

In his trips to the border, Darby explains that after newly arrived illegal immigrants cross to the northern bank of the Rio Grande, there is a sign posted that reads, “The buses are at the top of the hill.” And they promise every illegal immigrant that they will arrive at the federal detention center with a bottle of water.

“Let me tell you, there’s a lot of family units being formed on that bus ride from the border to the detention center,” Darby said. “I’ve watched them being formed.” If you are a family unit, after processing through the detention center, you are allowed to go anywhere in the country, Darby remarked.

State Senator Jose Rodriguez, in a commentary in The Texas Tribune , maintains “before we commit future legislatures to continue down this path, we should at the least be able to explain clearly what the state has gotten for the $1 billion it has spent on “border security” since 2008.