Pubdate: Tue, 28 Feb 2006
Source: Washington Times (DC)
Copyright: 2006 News World Communications, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.washingtontimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/492
Author: Jerry Seper

TEXAS SHERIFFS TO ASK CONGRESS FOR BORDER FUNDS

A coalition of Texas border sheriffs will testify at Capitol Hill 
hearings this week that illegal immigration and drug smuggling have 
sent law-enforcement costs soaring and exposed their deputies and 
communities to escalating violence.

Overwhelmed by a flood of illegal aliens, drug smugglers and rapidly 
increasing violence, the Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition -- which 
includes all the sheriffs from Texas' 16 border counties -- want the 
federal government to help them pay for manpower increases, rising 
fuel bills, vehicles and equipment.

"If anything happens along the border areas, we're the first ones to 
respond, and it's the local taxpayers who are footing the bills for 
the federal government's inability to control the area," said Zapata 
County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez. Sheriff Gonzalez, who heads the 
coalition, has argued that the federal government's failure to 
control illegal immigration and drug smuggling and to curtail growing 
violence along the 1,200-mile U.S.-Mexico border in Texas has forced 
county law-enforcement authorities into a "financial nightmare."

"We feel our government is not protecting our country, particularly 
at a time when terrorists could make their way into the United States 
through our southern border," Sheriff Gonzalez said.

The coalition says criminal organizations involved in narcotics and 
human trafficking have become more sophisticated and dangerous and, 
as a result have moved their operations all along the border.

Val Verde County Sheriff D'Wayne Jernigan, backed by eight coalition 
members, will testify tomorrow before a joint hearing of the Senate 
Judiciary subcommittee on terrorism, technology and homeland 
security, and the subcommittee on immigration, border security and 
citizenship. The hearing is titled "Federal Strategies to End Border Violence."

On Thursday, a joint hearing by the House Judiciary subcommittee on 
immigration, border security and claims, and the subcommittee on 
crime, terrorism and homeland security will hear from Sheriff 
Gonzalez and El Paso County Sheriff Leo Samaniego.

Executive Director Rick Glancey said the coalition it has reached out 
to other law-enforcement agencies along the U.S.-Mexico border "who 
share the same unique problems with very limited resources."

"We have decided as a coalition to reach out to our fellow sheriffs 
in neighboring states to prove the issue is not about politics or a 
hidden agenda; it is about border security," Mr. Glancey said. "You 
must have border security in order to have national security and 
homeland security."

Joining the coalition in support at the hearings will be Sheriff 
Larry Dever of the Cochise County Sheriff's Office in southern 
Arizona and Sheriff Todd Garrison of the Dona Ana County Sheriff's 
Department in southern New Mexico. Sheriff Dever's jurisdiction 
includes 83 miles of U.S.-Mexico border that have become the nation's 
most traveled immigration corridor.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman