Good News from the Border Print E-mail
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Friday, 29 February 2008
By Representative David Swinford, Chairman of the House State Affairs Committee

Border security and illegal immigration are today's top issues of concern among Texans.  Most of us will agree that these are genuine issues with real consequences.  However, the public needs to understand that there is some real progress being made on these fronts.

As chairman of the State Affairs Committee in the Texas House of Representatives, most of the bills concerning these issues come before our committee.  Many of the bills in our committee considered during last year's legislative session were deemed unconstitutional by the panel of experts from the Attorney General's office.  Immigration and border security are constitutionally dedicated to the federal congress so when states start writing immigration laws, it is guaranteed that they will be overturned by the federal courts.

The Attorney General's panel was asked about our odds of successfully defending these bills in court.  When they decided that we would eventually lose each of these cases and that we would have to pay the other side's legal fees as well as out own, it was decided that spending the taxpayer's money on securing the border was a better use of public dollars rather than wasting them on legal fees.

The Texas Legislature has now authorized over $100 million to secure the state's border.  This will also save us billions of dollars in costs related to drug crimes, illegal immigration, health care and education.  Our border security plan is now maturing and the records show that we have dropped the influx of drugs and illegal immigration by 45 percent across our 1200 mile border with Mexico.

Representative Warren Chisum, the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, recently accompanied me to the border. We watched firsthand the capture and deportation of those persons who had no criminal records and the incarceration of those who did have one.  Officials with the Department of Public Safety, Texas Parks & Wildlife, and the Texas Rangers gave us tours of the border in boats, planes, and helicopters.  We met with the Border Patrol and the National Guard, and we were able to visit the "War Room" where all information is centralized and plans are made to react to any situation in an instant.  This is a well oiled machine, and I can truly say that we are winning the war on the border for the first time in decades.

The most upsetting thing we learned is that almost 50 percent of the illegal immigrants captured are "OTM", meaning "other than Mexican".  Some are from all over South America and, even more disturbingly, from the Middle East.  We also learned that over 92 percent of the illegal immigrants captured are economic immigrants who are trying to come to America to find work and support their families.  While we sympathize with them and their predicament, we must insist that they come to this country legally and that the safety of our citizens is paramount.

It is a shame that we have to spend Texas taxpayer money to secure the federal border, but we cannot wait any longer.  Texas is committed to securing the border and the great law enforcement agencies of this state are working overtime to protect the citizens of Texas.
Last Updated ( Friday, 29 February 2008 )
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