Texas Gov. Rick Perry today hand-delivered a letter asking President Obama to deploy more troops to the border, saying the administration hasn’t done enough to combat the “dire threat” coming from “international drug cartels and transitional gangs.”
“The need for border security along the Rio Grande should no longer be underestimated by the federal government, Mr. President,” Perry wrote in the letter, which he gave to Obama as the president landed in the Lone Star State for an education speech and some campaign events.
He added, “America cannot have a rational discussion of immigration reform without real, effective border security.”
He said the administration’s plans to send 1,2000 National Guard troops to the border is “clearly insufficient” since just 286 personnel have been deployed. Perry cited four instances of attempted violence on U.S. soil, including bullets hitting the El Paso City Hall on June 29, 2010. But he also said that “death threats, torture, car bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and beheadings” had already cost 28,000 lives, presumably of Mexican citizens.
“We cannot afford to allow these cartels to believe they’re free to extend their reach across the border onto American soil. On any given day, the Mexican border region is beset with vicious murders, torture, kidnappings and armed confrontations with Mexican law enforcement and military,” he wrote.
Perry reminded Obama he’s invited the president, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Defense Secretary Robert Gates to meet with him. Here’s his formal ask for more troops:
I respectfully but urgently request that the federal government quickly deploy 1,000 troops to the Texas-Mexico border, as well as additional law enforcement tools and technology. We must show the cartels that Washington will no longer tolerate their terrorizing and criminalizing the border region.
Read the letter in full here.
According to a pool report, Perry gave the letter to Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett when greeting the president on the tarmac. Perry, in a tan suit and cowboy boots, clapped his hands as Obama deplaned from Air Force One, a first, according to White House aides.
