DALLAS -- Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's proposal to spend $12 million on border security through May is receiving a lukewarm response from House Speaker Joe Straus and pushback from border Democrats who challenge depictions of the region as a "war zone."
With Senate supporters standing behind him, Patrick told reporters that Texas must continue to secure its international border with National Guard troops past a March deadline.
The cost to the state to keep funding Guard operations on the border through May would be $12 million, money which Patrick says is available. Funds to keep the Guard on the border through the summer would come from the governor's office in the form of a supplemental budget, Patrick said.
"Now is not the time to remove the National Guard from the border," Patrick said.
Straus, who serves on the Legislative Budget Board with Patrick and agreed in December to allocate $86 million for Texas National Guard and Department of Public Safety troops on the border, appeared to distance himself from Patrick's latest proposal.
"I appreciate (Lt.) Gov. Patrick's remarks, but Gov. Abbott is the commander in chief and he will decide whether to extend the National Guard's deployment," Straus said in a statement.
Although Straus is a Republican like Abbott and Patrick, he has attracted challenges from hard rightwing members of the party for what they characterize as moderation.
The House and Senate budgets propose differing amounts for border security in the biennium that begins Sept. 1 and ends Aug. 30, 2017. The Senate's base budget includes $815 million for border policing to the House's $392.7 million.
The Senate's spending plan is more than the previous seven years of state spending on the border combined.
In a hearing before the House Appropriations Committee on Feb. 11, Democratic committee members presented a report showing that the state has spent about $1 billion on border policing since 2008.
About 200 Texas National Guard members remaining on the border are funded through March. That number is down from the 1,000 ordered there in June by then-Gov. Rick Perry after thousands of unaccompanied children from Central America began showing up on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande seeking refuge from poverty and abuse.
"The border is not secure," Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw told The Bond Buyer's Texas Public Finance Conference in Austin on Feb. 9.
To secure the 1,254-mile border would require 80,000 officers, McCraw said, noting that is 5,000 more than the total number of law enforcement officers in the entire state.
"It can be done," McCraw said. "There's no doubt about it."
McCraw declined to say how much such an operation would cost.
"That's above my pay grade," he said.
However, McCraw told the House Appropriations Committee that DPS has requested about $25 million for its enforcement efforts.
McCraw said that 92 law enforcement officers have been shot in 110 incidents at the Rio Grande area in recent years.
"They are shooting at us from Mexico," he told The Bond Buyer conference. "When you patrol that area, it's an ambush area. We're not going to give up an inch of Texas to anyone. We've demonstrated we're willing to shoot into Mexico."
Democratic lawmakers from the border counties have challenged the "militarization" of the zone and accused Republicans of portraying it as a "war zone."
Texas National Guard Major General John Nichols told the committee that the longest deployment before this one lasted only about two weeks. They have now been on the border for half a year.
"We're high-intensity, short-duration people," Nichols said.
Nichols said that troops are staying in motels near the border and that keeping 200 troops there costs about $2.5 million per month.
Nichols eventually asked committee members for "predictability" in regards to deployment as he said it makes it harder on the guardsmen, who have to leave their families behind.
"When do we know that we've won?" asked Rep. Armando Walle, D-Houston, asked Legislative Budget Board senior analyst John Wielmaker.
"With respect, that's a policy question for you and your colleagues to mull over," Wielmaker replied.
Patrick said Tuesday that the Senate is committed to passing a comprehensive border security plan this session, one that includes increasing the DPS presence along the border. Until then, Guard troops must continue to ensure border security, he said.
"The short and long range plan is to keep the Guard there now, as long as necessary, in whatever strength in terms of troop level is necessary until we have more DPS officers stationed in that area," Patrick said.
