(Austin, TX) -- Texas Governor Rick Perry is once again urging the federal government to take action to prevent spillover violence into the U.S. from Mexico. Perry sent a letter to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano requesting that the federal government use Unmanned Aircraft Systems for missions over the Texas-Mexico border, as the only three predator drones assigned to the southwest border are operating exclusively in Arizona. Perry also requested again one-thousand National Guard Troops be stationed along the border. Late last week, Perry said reports of a Mexican helicopter incursion into Texas and an uptick in violence in Mexican border communities underscore the urgent need for the federal government to take serious actions along the Texas-Mexico border.
A pregnant American woman and her American husband fell victim to the ruthless Mexican drug cartels over the weekend in Juarez. A reported 47-hundred homicides have been committed across the border from El Paso in Ciudad Juarez since January 2008, making it one of the most violent cities in the world. The Texas Department of Public Safety has urged all Texas students to avoid traveling to border cities in Mexico during spring break, and extra troopers will be on patrol as a precaution. The state of Texas is using its Ranger Reconnaissance Teams and more than 110-million-dollars in state funds to address border security.
