TX Lawmakers Say Special Session May Be Needed To Secure Border
DALLAS (KRLD) -- State Rep. Debbie Riddle (R-Tomball) says that the surge of illegal immigrants along the Rio Grande Valley has passed crisis levels, with over 100,000 expected to be captured this year.
"I visited with Colonel Steve McCraw who's over all of the DPS and our border security here in Texas. He assures me that securing the border is a possibility. We can do it -- it's gonna take $1.3 million per week," says Riddle. "We need a surge capacity to do that; he would pull in the Texas National Guard, the Texas Guard, all of the DPS."
Riddle says a special session may be required to release the funds needed for Colonel McCraw to secure the border if Governor Rick Perry, Lt. Governor David Dewhurst or Speaker of the Texas House Joe Straus (R-San Antonio) can't do it.
"If we need a special session to appropriate the money, then we need to do it." says Riddle.
An online petition has also been created urging Gov. Perry to call a special legislative session in order to "allocate funds to protect our border."
State Rep. Senfronia Thompson (D-Houston), Co-Chair of the Human Trafficking Committee in the Texas House, thinks that before anything is done, the federal government needs to get involved.
"I'm looking to see what the government position on this is gonna be before I say a special session ought to be called, and the policy of the Lt. Governor and the Governor," says Thompson. "We have committees already in place that can be implemented to take care of this matter."
Illegal Immigration Crisis In Texas
Thompson says her main concern is that the recent surge of young illegal immigrants into Texas is going to create a similar surge in the human trafficking business.
"I think it's going to significantly impact the human trafficking problem that we have, not only within the state of Texas but within our nation," says Thompson. "A lot of things can happen to them. They can get trapped in the human trafficking of labor -- a lot of people can prey on them for free labor... and secondly they can be preyed upon for sex in sex trafficking that can be spread all throughout this state and the nation."
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