The State Politics of the Whack-a-mole drug war, immigration crackdown and border security: Danger on the U.S.-Mexico border

An OpEd plea by a Texas border county sheriff and past president of the Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition for including the sheriffs in federal border security planning. For an indepth look at the politics of this Coalition see our Sept. 2010 post  At War in Texas. Together, the two articles make clearer the political dynamic behind what appear - on the face of it- to be illogical accusations by border state politicians that the federal government is not attending to border security despite its huge increase in spending on the border. These state politicians want to be an integrated part of the regular federal "border secuirty budget", instead of just receiving one-time "economic recovery stimulus grants" and other "emergency grants," as they have the past couple of years. 

Danger on the U.S.-Mexico border - The Washington Post: "While border security is undeniably a federal responsibility, spillover effects are principally dealt with by local jurisdictions — and along the U.S.-Mexico border, this is mostly sheriff’s offices operating in large, sparsely populated county areas supported by small tax bases.

Border counties are among the poorest in the United States and can barely afford to hire and equip sufficient, qualified law enforcement personnel to meet citizens’ needs.

While billions of federal dollars are spent each year to increase the number and technical capabilities of Border Patrol agents, little is being done to improve security beyond the border area. An increase in border patrol agents gives the appearance of more security. But what about the soil past those agents’ narrow jurisdiction? ...

Border security is promoted as an aspect of (the immigration reform) issue, but no one is taking on the real deficiencies. Efforts among all agencies — federal, state, local and tribal — must be aligned and provided adequate resources. A unified effort requires interagency adherence to a comprehensive national border security strategy that outlines goals, measurable objectives, well-defined priorities and common methods.

Without a comprehensive security plan from which officials at all levels can draw, we cannot create the conditions for true security. When Congress appropriates emergency funds, as it did in August, it sounds like a lot is being done. But in the absence of an agreed-upon plan, lawmakers will continue to spend on projects that fail to contribute efficiently to progress, and it’s not clear how we justify the resources needed to adequately staff, train and equip law enforcement agencies for coordinated border security operations.

U.S. border security cannot continue to be left to various law enforcement agencies that employ different procedures, lexicons and equipment, and whose objectives and priorities may conflict. Conducting operations in jurisdictional stovepipes precludes interagency coordination and cooperation. Maintaining the status quo means we will continue to give up miles of U.S. territory to criminals who threaten our citizens as they pass through our border counties to the depths of our country."