Pubdate: Wed, 28 Jan 2009
Source: El Paso Times (TX)
Copyright: 2009 El Paso Times
Contact: http://www.elpasotimes.com/formnewsroom
Website: http://www.elpasotimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/829
Author: Brandi Grissom
Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/area/Mexico

LAWMAKERS SAY TEXAS SHOULD REIMBURSE EL PASO OFFICIALS FOR DRUG WAR 
VICTIMS TREATED AT THOMASON

AUSTIN - The state should reimburse El Paso law  enforcement for 
providing increased security at  Thomason Hospital, which has been 
forced to treat  victims of the raging violence in Juarez, local 
lawmakers said Wednesday.

"You've got citizens who are in fear of going to that  hospital 
because they're treating victims of this drug  war," said state Rep. 
Joe Pickett, D-El Paso.

The brutal drug war in Juarez and preventing its  spillover into El 
Paso was the focus of a homeland  security briefing lawmakers 
received from Texas  Homeland Security Director Steve McCraw and FBI 
special agent in charge of El Paso, David Cuthbertson.

"We have to presume that they will at one time come  over here," 
McCraw said, referring to violent drug  cartels. "We have to worry 
about places like Thomason  Hospital, where we take victims of cartel 
shootings out  of Juarez."

About 1,600 died in the bloody drug battle in Juarez  last year. And 
nearly 50 wounded in the violence were  brought to Thomason for 
treatment at a cost of about  $1.4 million.

State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, said Juarez  victims should be 
taken to William Beaumont Army  Medical Center, the military 
hospital, so that local  taxpayers don't have to foot the bill.

"That's the appropriate place to provide the treatment  and the 
security," he said.

McCraw said he had proposed that idea to military  officials but was 
unable to make an arrangement for  patients to go to Beaumont.

Until or unless that happens, McCraw said, the state would 
"absolutely" help with the cost of  providing security at Thomason.

Already, he said, some of the grant money Gov. Rick  Perry gave the 
El Paso police and sheriffs departments  for state-led border 
security operations has been used  to reimburse them for guarding the hospital.

Shapleigh also asked McCraw what plans the state has to  help take 
down international drug gangs. Perry's plans  so far, including 
installing border Web cameras and  sending millions to local sheriffs 
in remote counties  with little crime, Shapleigh said, have been ineffective.

"What are we doing to concretely develop task forces  based on proven 
models on the drug corridors where we  know these guys are 
operating?" Shapleigh asked.

McCraw said Perry is asking lawmakers this year to set  aside money 
to target and investigate transnational  gangs like the Barrio 
Azteca. Perry has said he plans  to seek $110 million for border 
security operations  along with another $32 million that would be 
used to fight drug gangs.

McCraw said Perry would also ask lawmakers to give the  Texas 
Attorney General and the Texas Rangers more money  to investigate 
corrupt law enforcement officials on the  border.

Other lawmakers at the hearing expressed concern about  recent 
reports indicating Mexico could be on the verge  of collapse.

State Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, asked whether Texas  has a 
contingency plan in place to deal with such a  scenario.

"I would think we would have a significant amount of  people trying 
to enter Texas and the United States  fleeing for their lives," Patrick said.

McCraw said Texas has the framework for a plan, but he  said the 
state needs a contingency plan to deal with  any potential mass 
migration from Mexico.

El Paso FBI agent Cuthbertson told lawmakers it remains  unclear how 
long the fighting in Mexico will continue  but, he said, it has 
become staggeringly brutal.

Even as the level of atrocity in Mexico increases,  though, 
Cuthbertson said he had seen no signs of  spillover into El Paso.

Federal, state and local law enforcement, he said, can  ensure that 
remains the case by working together and  sharing information at all levels.

"If nothing changes in Mexico in their ability to deal  with the 
cartels," he said, "then we've got a long way  to go."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom