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CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
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WHEREAS, The State of Texas is charged with protecting more |
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than 1,200 miles of land and some 367 miles of coastline along the |
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Mexican border, a job that has become increasingly difficult; and |
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WHEREAS, On September 25, 2006, Officer Rodney Johnson of the |
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Houston Police Department was fatally shot during a routine traffic |
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stop in Houston by a criminal illegal immigrant who had been |
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previously deported and had once again entered the country; and |
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WHEREAS, Two years later, on November 22, 2008, two employees |
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from the Texas Tech Medical School were gunned down in Juarez, |
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Mexico, while participating in a funeral procession for a family |
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member; less than a year after that, bullets from a gun battle in |
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Matamoros, Mexico, grazed a campus building at The University of |
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Texas at Brownsville, and on June 29, 2010, stray bullets from a |
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deadly gun battle in Juarez struck the El Paso City Hall; and |
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WHEREAS, The Texas-Mexico border was especially violent in |
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late summer 2010; on August 21, a portion of Highway U.S. 85 had to |
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be shut down when gunfire from Juarez reached The University of |
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Texas at El Paso and at least one bullet pierced Bell Hall; then, on |
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the 11th of September, Mexican drug cartel members brazenly shot at |
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patrolling U.S. law enforcement officers, and on the 30th of that |
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month, members of a Mexican cartel viciously murdered David Michael |
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Hartley, who was skiing on Falcon Lake with his wife; and |
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WHEREAS, Already, 2011 is shaping up to see more of the same; |
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on January 14, an armed man from the Mexican side of the border |
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fired a high-powered rifle at road workers in Hudspeth County, and |
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later that month, on January 26, Nancy Shuman Davis, an American |
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missionary, was driving with her husband about 60 miles south of the |
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border when she was shot and killed by gunmen; in February, the |
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United States lost an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, |
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Jaime Zapata, who was assigned to the ICE attache office in Mexico |
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City; he and another ICE agent, who was injured, were attacked by |
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unknown assailants while the agents were driving between Monterrey |
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and Mexico City; and |
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WHEREAS, All of these events, as well as others that have not |
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been cited or are not yet known, exemplify the inadequacy of federal |
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border security efforts; the State of Texas has attempted to |
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address the problem by adding 172 commissioned law enforcement |
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officers to the border, purchasing five state-of-the-art |
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helicopters, conducting border security surge operations, and |
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paying more than $79 million for overtime, training, equipment, and |
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technology for local law enforcement officers in just the last four |
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years; and |
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WHEREAS, Since 2006, law enforcement agencies working |
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together in Texas have seized more than $6.8 billion in illegal |
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drugs and more than $128 million in cash, along with over 2,600 |
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stolen firearms and weapons and approximately 2,230 stolen |
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vehicles, all related to drug and human trafficking; and |
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WHEREAS, Texas has repeatedly asked the federal government to |
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send more border security resources to this state, requesting |
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specifically an increase in manpower of 3,000 border patrol agents |
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and the deployment of 1,000 Title 32 National Guard troops and at |
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least one Texas-based and dedicated unmanned aircraft like those |
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being used in North Dakota and Arizona; and |
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WHEREAS, At an average salary of $60,000 a year, the cost of |
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tripling the number of border patrol agents along our border with |
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Mexico would cost the federal government less than $2.5 billion, |
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while the estimated costs of illegal immigration exceed that amount |
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in Texas alone; and |
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WHEREAS, Texas taxpayers have spent billions compensating |
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for the lack of federal resources provided to the state; in just one |
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example, Texas prisons house nearly 12,000 violent offenders that |
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claim foreign citizenship, and the state bears the entire cost of |
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housing and prosecuting those offenders; at an average cost of $47 |
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per day, that is over $200 million per year that the federal |
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government's failure to secure our border is costing Texans; at the |
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very least, the federal government should be responsible for the |
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cost of housing illegal immigrants who have been convicted of |
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committing a crime in the State of Texas and the state should be |
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reimbursed for its recent expenses in this regard; and |
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WHEREAS, Moreover, despite Texas' repeated requests that the |
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federal government cease and desist transferring illegal aliens |
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from other parts of the country to southwest Texas, the federal |
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government continues to do so as part of the federal Alien Transfer |
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and Exit Program; and |
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WHEREAS, Worse yet, Immigration and Customs Enforcement |
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director John Morton released a memo stating that the agency did not |
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have enough resources to deport all apprehended illegal aliens and |
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instructed ICE employees to prioritize the apprehension and removal |
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of aliens, effectively giving many of them a free pass and |
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handicapping local law enforcement; and |
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WHEREAS, The inability of Washington to develop some form of |
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comprehensive immigration reform that might address this border |
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security problem puts an unfair and unreasonable burden on the |
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entire state, but in particular on Texas border communities, which |
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already struggle to keep their streets and neighborhoods safe from |
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spillover gang violence; and |
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WHEREAS, The federal government imposes immigration laws on |
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our state while withholding both the funding and the manpower |
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necessary to effectively enforce those laws, and this broken system |
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has punished Texas taxpayers for far too long; now, therefore, be it |
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RESOLVED, That the 82nd Legislature of the State of Texas |
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hereby urge the members of the Texas congressional delegation to |
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provide to the legislature a cost analysis of the exact funding |
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necessary for full enforcement of all immigration laws in Texas and |
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to immediately report to the legislature as to the status of that |
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funding; and, be it further |
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RESOLVED, That the lieutenant governor of Texas and the |
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speaker of the Texas House of Representatives send a delegation of |
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members from both chambers to meet with members of Congress and |
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members of the executive branch to discuss the ongoing border |
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security crisis; and, be it further |
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RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official |
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copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to |
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the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of |
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Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the |
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members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that |
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this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a |
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memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |