Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples Testifies Before Congress On Danger Along Us/Mexico Border (10/14/2011)

WASHINGTON D.C. - Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples today testified before the Homeland Security Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, and also presented to Congress, "Texas Border Security: A Strategic Military Assessment." The assessment chronicles the impacts of Mexican drug cartels and transnational criminal organizations on Texas and its citizens, and offers solutions to addressing their increasingly violent tactics.

The assessment was co-authored by retired General Barry R. McCaffrey, the former U.S. Drug Czar under President Clinton and SouthCom Commander of all U.S. troops in Latin America, and retired Major General Robert H. Scales, former Commandant of the United States Army War College.

Below are excerpts from Commissioner Staples' submitted written testimony. To view all of the testimony click here. To view the assessment click here.  

"'Texas Border Security: A Strategic Military Assessment' documents in clear terms, we have a violently insecure, porous border with a lack of operational control. Texas is simply calling for sufficient action - ample federal resources to secure our country.

"Texas farmers and ranchers along the U.S.-Mexico border are regularly becoming victims of intimidation, aggression and outright violence by armed trespassers who often have direct ties to Mexico's drug cartels.

"And our President indicates this is okay by saying we are more secure today? Members of Congress please do not rest until we convince the President, that an insecure border is an insecure America.

"These are only some of the acts of violence these transnational criminal organizations have committed in the past few months:

• On Feb. 18 - Two energy company employees were assaulted and robbed in rural Webb County 
• On March 11 - A ranch foreman was injured from shots fired by suspected drug cartel members in rural Webb County  
• On June 9 - Texas DPS and Game Wardens were shot at by drug traffickers in rural Hidalgo County
• On June 19 - U.S. Border Patrol were shot at by drug traffickers in an area that has seen repeated shootings aimed at U.S. law enforcement in Hidalgo County
• On July 14 - Shots fired at water district workers in rural Hidalgo County
• On Sept. 27 - Shots fired, killing at least one individual, on Hidalgo County highway

"The reality is our porous border is a problem for all Americans - not just those at the border. Law enforcement in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and Houston has confirmed that cartels have gangs operating in these cities.

"I launched a website to document the real stories of Texans suffering from our insecure border. ProtectYourTexasBorder.com posts videos from those who have bravely come forward - in many cases anonymously for fear of retaliation - to share their encounters with these dangerous individuals. These are true accounts that document what is really happening on our side of the border.

"We need help and we need it now with the immediate deployment of additional boots on the ground.

"Congressmen, the only message from a united America should be this: We will meet any opposing force with greater force and we will not cede one inch of American soil."