What is 'spillover?' It depends on whom you ask

Spillover violence from Mexico’s drug wars has either already crossed from Mexico into the United States or it’s a threat that’s been present for years — even decades — that has not reared its ugly head on this side of the Rio Grande.

It all depends on whom you ask.

“The ‘spillover’ term gives the connotation that it’s widespread violence without any focus,” said John Johnson, who heads the FBI office in McAllen. “And if you were to look at the incidents we’ve had in the Valley, you’d be hard pressed to find incidents that include law-abiding citizens.”

Federal authorities define spillover violence as “deliberate, planned attacks by the cartels on U.S. assets, including civilian, military or law enforcement officials, innocent U.S. citizens or physical institutions, such as government buildings, consulates or businesses. This definition does not include trafficker on trafficker violence, whether perpetuated in Mexico or the U.S.”

That definition was recommended by the Southwest Border Task Force and adopted by the Department of Homeland Security last year.

That would rule out most instances of violence seen in South Texas, since the assailants and victims are usually involved in drugs or human smuggling, said Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Treviño, who also serves as vice chair of the Southwest Border Task Force.

Most drug-related crime in South Texas would be classified as “border violence,” defined by the task force as any act of violence motivated by drugs, human smuggling or money that takes place within 25 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border — and can be linked to crime across the border.

Gov. Rick Perry announced this week the activation of the first phase of the “Texas Spillover Violence Contingency Plan.” Drafted last year as the “Operation Border Star Contingency Plan,” the plan’s first phase calls for increased awareness and communication among local, state and federal law enforcement personnel.

The first phase also provides “increased intensity” of Texas Department of Public Safety patrols along the border and put additional troopers on standby — but does not actually send more manpower to the border, said DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange.

DPS Director Steve McCraw told state legislators in February 2009 that “anything that involves cartel activity that impacts Texans on this side of the border is, by definition, spillover violence,” according to the El Paso Times.
San Juan Police Chief Juan Gonzalez said he has a similar definition for spillover.

“Any violent act or any violent crime that deals with people from organized crime and cartels, that is spillover violence,” he said.

Katherine Cesinger, a Perry spokeswoman, said there have been incidents of spillover violence in Texas, such as bullets that struck buildings at the University of Texas-Brownsville last September.

Cesinger said the decision to activate the plan had nothing to do with recent events of spillover on Texas soil, although there have not recently been any in the state, she said. But widespread violence across northern Mexico did influence the decision.

“Texas leans forward into threats,” she said. “It is all proactive, not reactive.”

Local officials have said they were not asked to give input for the spillover plan — something Cesinger disputed — and were surprised when it was activated this week.

Treviño has said he believes the spillover plan may be politically motivated, given Perry’s run for re-election in November — a notion the governor’s office denies.

“I am trying to diffuse, I am trying to mitigate, the fear of crime that the governor has created,” the sheriff said. “Give us all the security we can get. But don’t tell (the public) about something that is not happening. Don’t instill the fear of crime into them.”

Jared Taylor covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4439.