Border Sheriffs Perplexed by Rick Perry's Plan to Send 1,000 Troops to Stare at Mexico

[DonViejo]

Why would you spend millions of dollars sending troops to the border who can't actually detain anyone? That's what some Texas sheriffs of border towns are asking in the wake of Gov. Rick Perry's plan to send 1,000 National Guards members to the Texas/Mexico border in the next month, according to the Dallas Morning News. For them, it would be more useful to spend the money on hiring more deputies and police, aka people who are allowed to detain migrants.

“I don’t know what good they can do,” Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio told the Dallas Morning News. “You just can’t come out here and be a police officer.” Lucio and other sheriffs said they weren't consulted before Perry's announcement and, in Lucio's opinion, the police and Border Patrol agents were handling the small uptick in crime. "At this time, a lot of people do things for political reasons. I don’t know that it helps,” Lucio said.

This isn't the first time people have questioned the wisdom of sending National Guard troops to the border. In 2010, President Obama sent over 1,000 troops to the border. They weren't allowed to pursue or detain immigrants, "or investigate crimes, make arrests, stop and search vehicles, or seize drugs," The Washington Post reported in 2011. "Nor do they check Mexico-bound vehicles for bulk cash or smuggled weapons headed to the drug cartels." Basically, they keep watch and radio in any suspicious activity. Critics also argued that the National Guard's help cost an estimated $6,271 per person caught. But defenders of sending the guard argue they are a deterrent. In the upcoming deployment, guard officials said they would have some medical training and be supplied with water. Still, the most immediate reward is political, and as The New York Times noted, Perry stands the most to gain for being tough on the border.

In 2012, one of his major gaffes was calling people "heartless" for panning his plan to give undocumented students in-state tuition. This time around he won't make the same mistake. “Drug cartels, human traffickers and individual criminals are exploiting this tragedy for their own criminal opportunities,” Perry said Monday. “I will not stand idly by while our citizens are under assault, and little children from Central America are detained in squalor.”

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http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/07/border-sheriffs-dont-understand-why-rick-perry-is-sending-1000-troops-to-stare-at-mexico/374817/

[Frustratedlady]

1. Perry will come down and lead the troops.

He got a taste of the power last week, and it's just making him itch to play soldier games again.

Someone take those new glasses away.

[cloudbase]

14. The only thing he can lead is

an Aggie yell.

[immoderate]

2. How can Rick Perry escape the impression that he is a "dumb fuck?"

--imm

[bluesbassman]

7. Karl Rove gave him Junior's playbook.

The one with all the stick figures and purty colors.

[underpants]

3. Political grandstanding to prove himself to their propaganda wing

Fox News and radio which is basically running them now

[Hugabear]

4. None of this matters to the Teahadists

They're already whooping it up and patting each other on the back over Perry "standing up to Obama" by sending National Guard troops to the border. This has absolutely nothing to do with actually "securing the border", and everything with improving his standing with teabaggers around the country.

[Lee-Lee]

5. Technically if he wanted he could grant powers of arrest

When the NG is acting under state authority the Governor can have them sworn in as State LE if he/she wishes.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

15. I've Googled but no help so far... IS THIS TRUE? ^^^ Because if it is, then

almost every comment is this thread is hyperbolic. If Perry can swear them in as sort of deputies, then will they be able to engage in LE operations?

[Lee-Lee]

16. It's true for every state

Unless called to Federal service by the President the NG in this case is acting in a capacity that makes them state employees, subject to state laws. These "Title 32" tours mean the Guardsman is not subject to the UCMJ but the state equivalent and is paid by state funds as a state employee. They don't get retirement credit or any other federal benefit of active duty for this duty.

Governors generally have very wide latitude for granting legal power of arrest for any state employees.

In short anything a governor could do to grant arrest powers to any other state employee holds true for NG members working under Title 32 Authority. This may vary depending on if the Governer has declared a state of emergency based on each states law.

So if the Governer or head of any other state LE agency could swear/deputize/whatever any other state employee they can the NG members as well.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

17. This is what I've always thought, that the governor can empower LE

duties onto NG troops.

Hoping someone who knows the legalities involved will comment.

[lpbk2713]

6. Purely and blatantly political.

Obviously the only possible reason for this is to generate
headlines that the mouth breathers will love him for. As
noted in the article, there is nothing at all they can do.
Aside from standing around and burning up tax dollars.

[lunasun]

13. Mouth breathers never worry about tax $$ spent on hate or discrimination

Helping other Americans or refugees ? Not a dime from the I got mine crowd

[blogslut]

8. This This This

Exactly. It's a horseshit move by numbskull who is more interested in doling out contracts to scammers who fleece us for untold monies that pay for nothing but barbed wire and fence-posts, erected by underpaid laborers. Of course he wants the National Guard because that way he has more state money to toss out to cronies than to actual enforcement personnel.

[Comrade Grumpy]

9. It's border security theater, brought to you by the master of it, Rick Perry.

[GOLGO 13]

10. Good move Perry...

Put people who have been trained in combat to kill with automatic weapons to stop children who don't speak their language.

What can possibly go wrong Perry?

[Baitball Blogger]

11. I so know the answer to that question.

They want to provoke a confrontation which they can use to escalate their cause.

[Capt. Obvious]

12. They're playing Texans vs. Mexicans

Perry is putting his thumb on the scale in hopes they catch Mantequilla.