DALLAS - The major political and economic issues facing Texas - energy, water, immigration, healthcare, crime, education, trade and transportation - all converge at the border of Mexico.
"Border issues are Texas issues," said Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos, a native of Mexico who was designated by Gov. Greg Abbott as the next secretary of state.
"Even if you don't live in a border community, Texas' relationship with Mexico has an overall effect on the state's economy, especially when you remember that Mexico is our number-one trading partner," Cascos said.
Hot-button issues of immigration and guns generate large percentage of the rhetoric in Texas politics, and they impact the state's finances as well.
The bond industry has played a role in financing a series of for-profit detention centers in several counties along the border. The largest opened last year in Dilley, Texas. Homeland Security officials called the detention centers a deterrent to illegal border crossings.
Former Attorney General Greg Abbott has not retreated from his conservative rhetoric since winning election as governor Nov. 4, succeeding Rick Perry, who served 14 years.
In one of the last of his
U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen in Brownsville heard arguments in the case Jan. 15, but has not indicated when he would rule on the issue.
The ruling could affect as many as 533,000 undocumented immigrants in Texas. Another 92,000 live with children who are not citizens but could be in the country legally.
Republican leaders continue to push border security as a political issue, though federal data shows illegal border crossings at the lowest level in more than 30 years.
The opening of the Dilley detention center came after then-Gov. Rick Perry dispatched 1,000 Texas National Guard troops to the border in response to thousands of children from Central America crossing the Rio Grande and seeking refuge from U.S. Border Patrol officers.
To pay for the National Guard deployment and an increase in Texas Department of Public Safety troops on the border, the Texas Legislative Budget Board appropriated $86 million from revenues earmarked for state bond funds.
About $48 million was allocated from funds that were originally dedicated to paying off debt for the Texas Department of Transportation. Money from the governor's disaster fund provided $13.7 million, and another $17.5 million came from funds going to the Texas Public Finance Authority. The last $7 million came from the state's emerging technology fund.
Officials from TxDOT and the TPFA said the diversions of funds would have no impact on their outstanding bonds, which are rated triple-A.
"More than sufficient general revenue remains appropriated to pay debt service on currently outstanding bonds," said Lee Deviney, executive director of the TPFA.
Abbott and Patrick have indicated plans to spend a record amount of money on border enforcement, though details have to be worked out in the Legislature.
While guns and immigration tend to dominate conservative talking points in Austin, the issues that Rep. Poncho Nevarez, a Democrat from Eagle Pass, hears about most from his constituents are the need to expand Medicaid to those above the poverty line, the need for infrastructure and chronic problems with the school funding formula.
"This Texas Miracle that these politicians like to talk about, it doesn't touch everyone here," said Nevarez, speaking from his Eagle Pass office. "I hear from doctors, health providers that we need this expansion of Medicaid. They tell me: 'Push for it.' And we will. But I'm not very hopeful."
Republicans including Abbott have refused to accept federal dollars to expand Medicaid in the state, even though studies show it would bolster the economy.
According to a
"Failure to expand Medicaid health care coverage has already cost Texas $3.6 billion and will deprive the state of approximately $66 billion in direct federal payments over 10 years," according to the report.
Abbott called the current Medicaid system "too broken to expand." As attorney general, Abbott sued to overturn the U.S. Affordable Care Act and claimed a partial victory when the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to opt out of expanding Medicaid for those who earn up to 133% of the federal poverty threshold.
Nevarez said that Abbott and Republicans in Austin have no constructive responses to issues in his district.
"I'm just tired of hearing talking points," Nevarez said. "I'm tired of hearing nothing. I hear these sound bites: 'Medicaid is broken.' Well, how is it broken? The Reaganesque response is: 'Let the market take care of it.' Okay, well, how? Explain to me how the market is going to work to solve this problem. I hear nothing."
One border healthcare project Republicans can claim some credit for is the first medical school in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. The University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley Medical Branch in Edinburg is financed by Permanent University Fund Bonds from the UT System Board of Regents.
The Regents issued $54 million of bonds for the medical school in November 2013, and lawmakers later combined two UT campuses in Edinburg and Brownsville into one University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley. Republican Gov. Rick Perry signed the legislation into law.
Border counties have also led the oil and gas boom in the Eagle Ford Shale area of South Texas. Property values have exploded in most cases, leaving the counties flush with tax revenue but bracing for a return to hard times as oil prices fall.
The boom has brought tremendous stress to roads in the counties, while requiring bond issues to expand schools and more money for police, fire protection and health facilities.
In LaSalle County, assessed property values have more than quadrupled in five years due to the surge in drilling activity. From 2010 to 2013, the Cotulla Independent School District in LaSalle County saw property values soar 90% per year, growing from $400.5 million to $2.37 billion.
LaSalle County Judge Joel Rodriguez said that even though oil prices have fallen more than half since August, traffic in his county in the heart of the Eagle Ford Shale remains intense. The county is in the midst of a $55 million bond-funded program to improve roads that have been crushed by heavy truck traffic to and from the oil fields.
"We have one road where the contractor was unable to finish the contract because the oil traffic continued to use the road," Rodriguez said. "You wouldn't even think there's a drop in oil price."
In some cases, the oil field operators repeatedly graded dirt roads, turning them into canals for rainwater to fill, Rodriguez said.
The county's financial advisor, Noe Hinojosa Jr., who built his business on the once neglected credits of the border region, vouches for the roads' condition.
"I had my picture taken on one of those roads, and the banks of the road were over my head," he said.
Some help is on the way from the Texas Department of Transportation after voters approved Proposition 1, a constitutional amendment that directs about $1.7 billion per year from the state rainy day fund to road and bridge construction.
"We anticipate that projects will begin being awarded as early as March," said TxDOT spokesman Mark Cross.
While Austin wrangles over political and economic issues, the bond industry is helping with "quality of life" issues in the border regions, Hinojosa said.
Hinojosa is working on financing for a new arena in Edinburg, similar to the $47 million Laredo Energy Arena that was completed in 2002. Like Laredo, Edinburg is far from the state's largest cities and major entertainment venues. The Laredo arena hosts events ranging from minor-league hockey to rock concerts.
"You have population of young kids who are going to college, who are getting good jobs in the Valley now," Hinojosa said. "And unless you give them something to do, they're going to go other places like Dallas. You're going to need to provide entertainment and business opportunities where the people are. You're seeing a lot of great talent staying here."
