DONALD L. REAY
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
TEXAS BORDER
SHERIFF’S COALITION
November 8, 2010
Austin, Texas
Senate Committee on
Transportation and Homeland Security
Chairman Williams and
Honorable
Members of the Committee:
My
name is Donald L. Reay and I serve as the Executive Director of the Texas
Border Sheriff’s Coalition and have done so since February 6, 2007. My background is almost 40 years in law
enforcement as a Border Patrol Agent, a Drug Enforcement Administration Special
Agent, as a Special Agent with the U. S. Customs Service retiring as an
Assistant Special Agent in Charge; as a Training Director for El Paso County
Sheriff’s Office Regional Training Academy while serving six counties in West
Texas, and as a consultant to U. S. Customs and the National Drug Intelligence
Center. My specialty has been, and is,
working within task force and coalition environments.
The
Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition was organized on May 4, 2005, and is
represented by the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of each respective
county. Texas Sheriffs, empowered by the
state constitution, are committed, from a national security perspective, to
protect lives, property, and the rights of the people, maintain order and
security in the United States along the Republic of Mexico border, enforce the
law impartially, and provide police service in partnership with other law
enforcement agencies and community partners.
This is the Mission
of the Coalition.
The
area covered by the Texas Border Sheriff Coalition (TBSC) membership is approximately
45,366 square miles which is larger than 17 of the 50 states within the United States. The area represents 17% of the great State of
Texas. There are 2,003,174 reported in the 2000
Census in this area. The border with Mexico consists
of 1,276.7 miles of river border.
Membership
is limited to counties within 25 miles of the Texas/Mexico border. There are now 20 member counties.
The
counties of the TBSC are Brewster, Cameron, Culberson, Dimmit, El
Paso, Hidalgo, Hudspeth, Jeff
Davis, Jim Hogg, Kinney, Maverick, Pecos,
Presidio, Starr, Terrell, Val Verde, Webb, Willacy, Zapata, and Zavala.
The
Coalition of these Texas
sheriffs gave birth to a program that developed for border security. Through an evolution of programs and lessons
learned, the cooperation of law enforcement agencies in the state grew as the
synergy was developed between city, county, state, and federal law enforcement
agencies. For the past two plus years we
have been involved with the Local Border Security Program. It has been a collaborative effort that has
lead to a unified command to provide coordination of law enforcement entities
along the border. Six Joint Operations
Intelligence Centers (JOICs) were created in the state along Customs and Border
Protection (Border Patrol) Sector lines under the leadership of the State of Texas yet with a unified
command structure.
The
unified command structure has value added with the Texas Rangers taking the
coordinating control of the JOICs, with the Recon Ranger Program, with BSET
grants to buy some equipment not otherwise available, and the Border Watch
virtual border watch program coordinated by Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition,
and funded by grants from the state for two and one half years.
The
result of this partnership has caused UCR crime to be reduced overall in the
border area, the Border Patrol generally reports a decline in illegal entry
activity, and the incidence of border crime is reduced. Perhaps, most importantly, is the fact that actual
events of violence on the streets of Texas
have been kept to a minimum while a war is waged in Mexico. For our Sheriffs, one case
of violence on our streets is too many.
The
Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition has defined Spillover as:
ANY ACTION ON ONE SIDE OF THE BORDER,
THAT IS THE RESULT OF VIOLENCE, OR THE THREAT OF VIOLENCE, WHICH CAUSES A
REACTION ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BORDER.
THAT ACTION/REACTION MAY RESULT IN A LAW
ENFORCEMENT RESPONSE, AN ECONOMIC IMPACT, A SOCIAL CONSEQUENCE, OR A
COMBINATION OF THE THREE.
I
would submit to you that the highly visible, patrol centric activities combined
with a mobile enforcement team in the United States has been a visible
deterrent to containing the majority of the violence at our border. Further, I would submit to you that the violators
of that gruesome violence in Mexico
know that the resistance by law enforcement in the United
States is much different than what they encounter in Mexico. In Texas,
we have not witnessed an institutionalization of corruption as has been seen
elsewhere. Where corruption has been
found, it has been investigated and prosecuted, as we continue to police our
own.
The
list for asylum victims grows as people flee the violence in Mexico; this
too has an impact on our nation as we extend our sympathy to those in
need. However, the federal system is not
designed to handle the volume of cases that grows day by day.
The
economic and social impact is represented by several of many incidents that
follow:
1. University Medical Center in El Paso, Texas, reported that from January 2008 to March 2010, 158
victims of gunshot or stabbings in Mexico
were treated in El Paso. The cost to the hospital was approximately $3
million dollars of which $2.2 million was unpaid. Texas Tech Doctors were short by about
$300,000. That is only part of the
economic and social issue. The victims
were transported generally by EMT from the border, protected by El Paso Police
Department, and then the El Paso Sheriff’s Office secured the hospital to
protect, victims, staff, visitors, and other patients.
2. The cost of prosecution continues to climb. In Terrell
County, Texas, a
group of eight persons who admittedly had delivered marijuana were caught as
they burglarized a ranch house on the way back south. The Terrell County Jail could not house that
many prisoners so they have had to pay to house them in Val Verde County at a cost of approximately
$10,000 per month. Within the last two
weeks, a jury pool could not be selected in Val Verde County to accommodate that many
defendants. The result being that the
trial may well be moved to another county with new costs.
3. The economic impact of the fishing tourist industry
has severely been damaged in Zapata
County by the
cancellation of several bass tournaments and many traveling anglers. This is all due to the Hartley case and the
other acts of piracy on the Falcon
Lake.
4. The cost of the uncontrolled growth of Carrizo Cane
and Salt Cedar along the Rio Grande
has created a plight for ranchers and farmers as a salt cedar uses about 78
gallons of water a day. In addition, due
to the thick growth, law enforcement and others along the river cannot see the
river in places creating a security breech.
One rancher we visited recently has quit running livestock in his area
adjacent to the Rio Grande
and long ago quit farming because of these issues. This is in the area of Culberson, Hudspeth,
Jeff Davis, and Presidio
Counties.
5. In Starr County it has been reported that there are many
electrical hookups as people migrate from Mexico for protection. This also affects the infrastructure.
Each
county will have their own story and only five are listed here as examples of
the social and economic impact as well as a security issue for our State caused
by violence and the threat of violence or spillover.
The
Texas partnership is bolstered by Sheriffs, City Police Departments, Texas
Department of Public Safety with their Texas Rangers, Highway Patrol, Aviation
Assets, Investigators, the Texas
Parks and Wildlife
Division (Game Wardens), and our Federal partners lead by Customs and Border
Protection. This force multiplying group
has a common goal of keeping our state and nation safe.
The
Sheriff’s Association of Texas and the National Sheriff’s Association provide
valuable guidance, support, creativity, and focus and we are proud to be
members of these two great American associations.
The
Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition focuses on crime and not the nationality of
the criminal. For example, in the Border
Watch program if a person enters the United States at other than a port
of entry, the one constant is that a crime has been committed. An appropriate law enforcement response by a
law enforcement agency will determine what that violation is and then the
appropriate action will be taken or referral made to the agency with
jurisdiction over than crime. The community impact has been increased security
in our communities without violating the rights of persons and infringing on
property. All cameras are located with
the permission and often the request of land owners. We have had over 172,239 virtual deputies
register to participate. We surpassed
100,000,000 hits on the website as of October 25, 2010. Our viewer time is 11 minutes and 4 seconds
per session. The worldwide response and
interest has been great with viewers from 85 nations around the world. The program has also received press from many
parts of the world.
Another
example is when a Sheriff receives a complaint that a rancher’s fences are
being torn down and his property is being littered. The Sheriff will dispatch deputies, not
knowing who the vandals are. They may be undocumented persons; they may be
poachers, or citizen vandals. However,
if upon contact, it is determined that the violators are probably undocumented
persons then the Sheriff must act on both issues.
There
are also examples of a Sheriff responding and finding persons in peril, in
substandard living conditions, or in an indentured status, and upon arrival,
learns that the persons are also illegal immigrants. Then one has to judge, has
the Sheriff worked an immigration case or has he saved human beings from an
indentured status or possible harm? I
would submit that the Sheriff has provided a humanitarian service by doing his
job and the by-product is that the undocumented persons must be referred to CBP
or ICE.
Unfortunately,
these encounters with illegal immigrants represent some of the many numbers who
have “beat the border”. The TBSC through
its Operation Linebacker provides an adjunct to the CBP and is not in competition
and certainly not a replacement to that organization. The term Linebacker suggests backing up, and
in football terms filling holes, and these numbers that have been used to
criticize the coalition but in reality should be a compliment to the residual
support to CBP. The Linebackers are
doing their job. Immigration is not the
targeted enforcement activity of the Sheriffs.
The
most difficult job of evaluating what is done with increased border area
presence by the Sheriffs is that of the deterrent effect. Reduction in the crime
rate is one thing and is best judged over time as crime tends to be cyclic with
peaks and valleys dependent on many uncontrollable circumstances. The CBP reported
decreased apprehensions overall in the last numbers made available to the
Coalition. Could this be a residual
effect of Linebacker? Community impact
is another effect and that is best judged by whether or not residents feel
safer in their community because of the increased presence of law
enforcement. The Sheriff is the best judge
of that because I can guarantee that his/her constituents will let him know if
they are not feeling safe and secure in their domains.
Funding
for the TBSC comes from grants. We are
subject to audit and scrutiny and have in fact already been audited or
monitored fourteen times since inception.
Our last two audits by independent auditors have resulted in zero
findings and zero recommendations. Our
other audits have also been remarkably strong.
The
purpose of the TBSC is that of a force multiplier to provide public safety by
combining ideas and resources to better protect the inhabitants of the 20
border and adjacent counties.
One
only needs to ask the neighbors of the victims of a home invasion if they are
not impacted. One only needs to ask the hospital
worker or visitor if they are not impacted when a victim of violence,
especially from Mexico,
is brought into their facility for treatment.
One only needs to ask the witnesses to a kidnapping or murder if they
are not impacted.
It
was reported by the University of Juarez in October 2010 that 245,000 had left Juarez because of the violence. The report stated that 54% went to the United States and 45% specifically to El Paso. In June 2010, the Juarez Chamber of Commerce
reported approximately 30,000 abandoned homes in Juarez.
The answer for Border Sheriffs is not to
send more money to Mexico
but to augment the needs of our local law enforcement to contain that violence
at the border first. It is most difficult to change the
institutionalization of corruption that has engulfed Mexico. It is not to say that all Mexicans are
corrupt but there is an institution that must be changed from within. The Texas Border Sheriffs in consensus, but
not unanimity, objected to the Merida Initiative because there were no
sanctions for money that was not used for which it was intended. This was confirmed in a conference call with
Department of State and Department of Homeland Security representatives.
Therefore, our recommendation is to contain violence at our border first and
then carefully administer monetary aid while a neighbor nation works to change
this plague of violence.
The PRIORITY NEEDS OF THE TEXAS BORDER SHERIFFS ARE:
1.
Manpower
This would preferably be permanent personnel. However, as an alternative to that it would
be sustaining the program that supports overtime for deputies, administrative
professionals, dispatchers, jailers, and the hiring of augmentees.
2.
Direct Operating
Expenses
These items would include fuel, maintenance,
administrative tools, specialty uniforms and those for special hires, tires,
and the general material so support enhanced operations.
3.
Equipment
The primary concern is replacement vehicles and
specialty equipment that is needed to protect Texans. As equipment has increased use its cost of
maintenance and replacement grows. This
would include equipment, may be surplus, that would help to clear roads for
access to remote areas.
4.
Communication
Interoperability
To date our attack on this issue has been a patch work
design and is in need of a serious approach that takes in local, county, and
state needs.
5.
Training/Travel
As we expect more of deputies, we must provide
increased training. In addition, travel
to train, plan, collaborate, and execute law enforcement initiatives is
critical to success.
6.
DPS Aviation
The helicopters provided by the legislature to DPS
have been valuable to county and local law enforcement. A need has been identified to add fixed wing
aircraft to this arsenal due to an assessment of needs as we adjust to the
threat.
These
Sheriffs were visionary in creating a plan that is effective, yet simple in
approach, and has maximized the resources granted to them by the state and
federal government. Through grants, and by working in partnership, they have
created a synergistic effect in law enforcement. In fact, they have been so innovative that
the Sheriffs along the border in New Mexico, Arizona, and California
have formed with Texas
a partnership that is called the Southwestern Border Sheriffs Coalition. Ladies, and Gentlemen, when creative minds
come together, combined with sincere dedication, the results serve as a force
multiplier. That is the effect of this
Coalition.
I
am always available to answer your questions.
Yours
in Service,
Donald
L. Reay
Executive
Director
Texas
Border Sheriff’s Coalition
