BILL ANALYSIS
By: Swinford
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
A porous Texas-Mexico border constitutes a significant threat to the safety and security of all Texans, and until the border is secure, the citizens of Texas will be vulnerable to organized crime, violent gangs, and international terrorists. Supported by former military commandos and international gangs, powerful and ruthless Mexican criminal organizations engage in kidnapping, torture, and murder to support their drug trafficking and human smuggling operations along the border. While these activities affect every community in Texas, residents on both sides of the border are victimized by the criminal organizations that terrorize the entire region.
A vulnerable border also allows international terrorist organizations such as al Qaeda to smuggle operatives into the United States undetected; in a recent one-year period, 234 illegal aliens from countries with a known al Qaeda presence were apprehended along the Texas-Mexico border. These captures are particularly alarming given that Texas is a uniquely desirable target for terrorism with the state's heavily populated urban areas, critical infrastructure and key resources, and nationally significant agricultural, financial, and petrochemical industries.
Although protecting the sovereignty of the Texas-Mexico border is a federal responsibility, the federal government has been unwilling and unable to implement needed border security measures; such inaction leaves Texans unprotected from terrorist and criminal organizations that seek to cause harm to the residents of the state. The importance of a secure border to economic growth and the quality of life in Texas has prompted the state to initiate border security operations to significantly reduce terrorist threats and violent crime in the region, and it is fitting that these efforts receive the state's full support.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this resolution does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
ANALYSIS
HCR 193 provides that the 80th Legislature of the State of Texas hereby declare that the current threat to public safety along the Texas-Mexico border requires decisive action to protect all residents of the state.
HCR 193 provides that the legislature express support for ongoing state-led border security operations to control the Texas-Mexico border and ensure the safety of the people of Texas.