VIDEO: State ag commish leads border talks at Crime Stopper conference

McALLEN — Border security was spotlighted at the 23rd annual Crime Stoppers conference Tuesday at the McAllen Convention Center, where Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples once again asked the federal government to back state efforts to curb illegal activity along the Mexican border. 

Event organizers invited Staples to speak at the statewide conference as part of Law Enforcement Day, an event organized to give the public a chance to learn about the policing efforts to curb human and drug smuggling.

“There’s a need to take part in Crime Stoppers,” Staples told a room full of volunteers from across the state. “We continue to hear from farmers and ranchers about the rural areas and the rural runaround of the drug trade that we know is negatively impacting the farmers and ranchers.”

Staples, a longtime critic of the federal government’s attempts at fighting the drug war, spearheaded a state-led effort to assess the impact of illegal activity along the border on rural landowners and the agriculture industry. He tasked two decorated military generals to undertake the assessment, which culminated in a report released in September that stated in part that “living and conducting business in a Texas border county is tantamount to living in a war zone.”

The statement sparked criticism from lawmakers and law enforcement leaders from across that state who argued that many of the border cities have lower crime rates than metropolitan areas — like Houston — that are not along the border. 

“I think the comments that were made were originally made by some rural sheriff’s deputies and those working in the rural areas,” Staples said of the “war zone” reference. “Not obviously our cities that are robust and are having a great deal of economic activity.”

The agriculture commissioner also touched on education, which he said was integral in forging the future of the state and fighting transnational organizations.

Educational opportunities for the youth are needed so it’s not “here’s $50 to go move a vehicle every four hours … . Because we know what that leads to,” he said.

A recent warning from the Texas Department of Public Safety indicated cartels are using juveniles for their operations.

The more educated a person is, the less likely he or she is to become involved in criminal activity, Staples added.

He asked the federal government to even out their resources to better reflect the reality along the border. 

“The strength and manpower that we have in rural areas is just not balanced with what we have in other border states, and we’re asking for more resources from our federal government in order to give relief to those rural farmers and ranchers,” he said, adding that 93 percent of the state’s border is unincorporated.

Texas accounts for 64 percent of the border between the U.S. and Mexico, yet only 41 percent of Border Patrol agents are stationed in the state, Staples said. New Mexico, Arizona and California have an average of 15 agents per post, while Texas has six, he added. 

He called for a unified effort from the state to secure the border.

“If you want something to happen, tell a Texan it can’t be done,” he said, referring to a billboard he recently saw in Austin. “We want every part of Texas to experience the growth that McAllen has because success begets success, and that’s what we’re looking for, from the Rio Grande Valley to the Panhandle.”

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Naxiely Lopez covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4434.