Governor seeks $24 million to fight gang growth on border

Gov. Rick Perry urged state legislators Tuesday to fund a $24 million initiative aimed at fighting international gangs along the Texas border with Mexico.

Citing groups with names like the Texas Syndicate and Barrio Azteca, he called such criminal organizations "the most important threat to our state's security."

The governor's remarks came the same day the state's Border Security Council issued a largely supportive report on local efforts to secure the southern frontier.

"As a result of border security efforts, Mexican drug cartels now rely on transnational gangs to smuggle drugs and humans into the U.S.," Perry said. "When the bad guys realize their old tricks don't work anymore, they try something new."

GROWING THREAT

At Perry's request, lawmakers provided $110 million last year for border security efforts, including money for training, equipment and overtime costs for local law enforcement.

Some of that funding has already been spent to beef up southbound inspections at the international bridges and invest in new technology such as license-plate readers.

But legislators created the Border Security Council to evaluate spending priorities and auditing measures.

Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos, who helms the committee, said he and his colleagues have heard from dozens of government, business and law enforcement officials in drafting their recommendations for future spending.

The group suggested Tuesday that all border security grants be audited to ensure their effectiveness and that local police departments and sheriff's offices be required to report crime data to centralized border intelligence centers.

Although international gangs received scant mention in the council's findings, Gov. Perry emphasized their expanding role in drug and human smuggling operations during a news conference Tuesday in Austin.

New money appropriated to fight the problem would go toward creating a statewide gang intelligence center, expanding cooperation between state and local agencies and funding gang prevention efforts, he said.

"These increasingly sophisticated organizations are expanding their influence across our state," Perry said. "(They're) spreading like a virus, recruiting members in our middle schools, high schools and prisons."

Recent violent flare-ups have largely occurred in cities such as Laredo and El Paso in the western part of the state, but the Rio Grande Valley cannot afford to ignore the problem, Cascos said Tuesday.

"We do not live in a cocoon," he said. "We can't put our heads in the sand and pretend that this is all happening west of Rio Grande City."

LOCAL INFLUENCE

Groups such as the Texas Syndicate and Mexican Mafia have been linked to drug smuggling efforts in Hidalgo and Cameron counties.

And while federal authorities bear the main responsibility for preventing contraband from entering the country, the trafficking business tends to spawn other types of violent crime.

Last year, a federal grand jury indicted 13 Texas Syndicate gang members and their associates on conspiracy and racketeering charges linked to a handful of murders and kidnappings allegedly carried out in Hidalgo County.

"I'm glad the governor has heard our pleas and is wanting to do something about this," Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Treviño said. "We have to be as proactive as possible. This is all about getting ahead of the curve."

Earlier this year, the sheriff called attention to the growing numbers of recent immigrants involved in criminal activity in Hidalgo County.

While most illegal immigrants likely enter the United States solely for work, sheriff's deputies are encountering more and more who cross the border and immediately fall in with local and statewide street gangs, he said.

Investigators have named undocumented immigrants as suspects in 11 of the county's 19 homicides this year. Seven of the men on the sheriff's Top 10 Most Wanted list were in the country illegally when their crimes were committed.

"The gang problem has not been so pronounced in Hidalgo County in years," Treviño said. "Even the local street gangs are beginning to take a strong hold with illegal immigrants."

In addition to the $24 million gang package, Perry hopes to secure an additional $110 million in border security funding during the next legislative session scheduled to begin Jan. 31, 2009.

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Jeremy Roebuck covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4437.