Governor Perry Lies Again

Well, this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone familiar with Texas Governor Rick Perry. It seems he's told another bald-faced lie, and on top of that, he's ready to misuse the state's premier investigative agency -- all in an attempt to play to the racist base of his party and win that party's primary election.

A few days ago, the governor told the people of Texas that property owners and local border law enforcement are being "overwhelmed" by smugglers and gangs from Mexico. Perry announced he would send the Texas Rangers to work with the Texas National Guard and beef up border law enforcement (although neither organization has been trained for that kind of operation).

The Texas Border Coalition, self-described as the "collective voice of border mayors, county judges, (and) economic development commissions focused on issues that affect more than 6 million people along the Texas-Mexico border region and economically disadvantaged counties from El Paso to Brownsville", disagrees with the governor (and they should know since they actually live in the border region).

Speaking for the group, Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster says, "Your remarks, if accurately reported, create a public impression of lawless hordes overrunning the border region and do not reflect our collective experience. While each of our communities has their own unique issues, being overwhelmed by criminal elements from Mexico is not one of them.

Foster went on to say that crime on the border has decreased by 65% in the past few years, and the apprehension of illegal border crossers has dropped by 40% (60% in El Paso). It sounds to me like local border law enforcement and federal immigration officials are doing a good job on the border. The governor's political ploy will only interfere with their efforts.

The Texas Rangers and the Texas National Guard are very good at the jobs they were trained to do. Governor Perry needs to stop using these organizations to play politics, and let them do their jobs.