Category: Uncategorized

Jun. 30, 2006

Perry: Texas National Guard on Schedule in Operation Jump Start

AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry today announced the Texas Army National Guard is meeting the deployment schedule laid out to support Operation Jump Start, under which the troops will support federal border security officers.
“Texas has activated more than 700 Texas Army National Guard troops and more than 300 Texas Air Guard troops under Operation Jump Start orders, and they have already reported for duty along the border or are on their way,” Perry said. “We are on schedule – actually a bit ahead of schedule – at this point, and will continue to ramp up to meet the requirements of the mission in our state.”

Texas’ goal was to have 500 troops deployed by the end of June. The Texas National Guard will continue to ramp up troops throughout the summer with a goal of reaching 1,500 by the end of July. Perry authorized up to 2,300 Texas troops to support the mission, and will continue to ramp up to meet the requirements of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol in our state.

About 200 troops from other states are expected to provide specialized aviation support in Texas in the future. Details on the timeline for their arrival, and which states will provide the support, are still being determined.

“The Texas-Mexico border is becoming an increasingly dangerous and violent place for peace officers and the citizens they protect. I am pleased we are on schedule to provide more resources and personnel to address the border threat,” Perry said. “The National Guard is also playing an important role in my state-led border security initiative, Operation Rio Grande, in which they provide logistical and analytical support.”

National Guard troops operating in Texas as part of Operation Jump Start will remain under Perry’s command, although the federal government will cover the cost of the mission. Troop activities may include detection and monitoring, engineering, transportation, logistics, vehicle dismantling, analysis, road building and language support.

The temporary deployment is expected to be phased out as new Border Patrol agents are hired. Gov’s Web Posting

Our first open records request for Operation Jump Start has come back empty-handed, with the governor’s office of Texas saying it has no documents responsive to requests for evidence of the governor’s approval of the mission, a dated memo that actually inaugurates the operation, or any other documents that would help to establish a documentary trail of the governor’s involvement.

As for Use of Force rules, the Governor’s office does have that, but wants to not turn it over, so the Texas Attorney General will be asked to rule.

In my many years of experience with open records requests, this is a quite peculiar result.

Here’s the letter from the governor’s office:

We received on June 8, 2006 your request under the Public Information Act (the “PIA”) for the following information:

“…provide the following documents referenced in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) released by the Governor’s office June 4, 2006. By term document I intend to reference both paper and electronic forms of communication, including pdf and email.

(1) The first phrase of the MOU says “In response to a request”. Please provide the document that initiates the request.

(2) Item five of the MOU references “disbursement of Jump Start funds”. Please provide all documents that cover any disbursements to date (June 8, 2006.)

(3) Item five of the MOU references “approval of missions” by the Governor. Please provide all documents issued by the Governor approving missions to date (June 8, 2006.)

(4) Item six of the MOU references Rules for Use of Force “attached”. Please provide the Rules.

(5) Item eight of the MOU references “date of signature”. Please provide the dated document that officially authorizes the commencement of Operation Jump start. In addition to these documents related to the MOU, I would like to follow up on a comment made by Guard Chief Gen. Blum in a May 16 press conference (posted at the DHS website) indicating that legal review of Operation Jump start was already underway with state –level authorities.

(6) Please provide documents that indicate the earliest requests for involvement of the Governor’s Office of General Counsel in the operation that has come to be know as Operation Jump Start.

(7) Please provide documents that indicate the earliest request for involvement of the Governor in preliminary assessments of Operation Jump Start.”

Our search revealed that we only have documents responsive to Item number 4 of your request. However, we believe that the responsive information is excepted from disclosure under the PIA.

Therefore, pursuant to Section 522.301 of the PIA, we have requested an opinion from the Attorney General. A copy of that request is enclosed for your review.

We found this discussed at Scott Henson’s blog, Grits for Breakfast, when we went looking for his take on the governor’s fresh brag about reducing major crime at the border.

As a long term trend, border counties are fast growing and fast reducing crime rates, which tells you more about the quality of the new arrivals than about the value of border crackdowns.

Which brings us to Henson’s second point: it’s not migration that’s getting out of hand, it’s immigration crackdowns. Here’s another source on the issue of border crime from the US/Mexico Border Counties Coalition:

“The contemporary situation in southwest border counties relating to crime and law enforcement is quite different than many would expect. Consider, for example, that some of the nation’s safest cities are located along the southwest border, including Tucson and El Paso. Given the link of crime to important quality of life decisions, the low rate of crime in southwest border counties, combined with attributes, such as affordable housing is part of the landscape of increasing retirement in the southwest. Since 1990, official crime statistics have recorded a dramatic drop of 30 percent (Figure 13.1). Property crimes are down 40 percent between 1990 and 2000 and violent crimes, among the lowest in the nation making up only 12 percent of all crimes, dropped 29 percent in the same decade.”

Chapter 13, “At the Cross Roads: US/Mexico Border Counties in Transition”

. . . the Strategic Resource Assessment (SRA). The SRA combines statistics on workload, facility and stakeholders, identifies current and future needs, and outlines short and long-term facility project needs prioritized across the national portfolio. Two pilot region-sites have been completed, Buffalo NY and Tucson AZ. The reports for these sites are under development, but they will establish key trends/facts and priorities.

The next SRA for the San Diego region is underway. CBP is requesting input from SCT and INDAABIN in this area and is scheduling another site visit to gather this information. The schedule for the other regions has been established, with El Paso to be completed in December 2005, and Laredo in September 2005. Source: JWC Meeting Minutes; Las Cruces, New Mexico;
May 24-25, 2005. USDTransportation, Federal Highway Administration, JWC U.S./Mexico Border Transportation Planning.