President Obama, who is in Texas posing for
cameras and raking in donations for democrat candidates, was too busy today to
meet with Governor Perry to discuss the issue of border security so Governor
Perry gave the president a letter instead.

In his letter Governor Perry pulls no punches
in his demand for 1,000 more Title 32 National guard Troops to be deployed to
the border, noting that the current 286 National Guard personnel assigned to
cover 1,200 miles of shared border between Texas and Mexico is “clearly
insufficient.”

Governor Perry also accurately describes
the escalation of the violence noting that the Mexican Drug cartels are now
even using car bombs against their enemies, police, and Mexican Military. The first car bomb used in drug cartel clashes
with police came just outside of El Paso in Ciudad Juarez a few days ago.

We don’t know if President Obama will be
moved by Governor Perry’s letter. We don’t
know if President Obama will heed Governor Perry’s call to action. We don’t even know if President Obama will
ever even read the letter, but you can.

Dear Mr. President:

Welcome to the Lone Star State. The purpose of this letter is to reiterate
the dire threat amassing on our southern border in the form of international
drug cartels and transnational gangs, and to again request sufficient federal
resources to combat the increasing violence.

Drug cartels and related forces are
waging war in Northern Mexico, their tactics including death threats, torture,
car bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and beheadings. Since 2006, this war has taken 28,000 lives.

Absent stronger federal action, it’s
only a matter of time before that violence affects more innocent
Americans. There is mounting evidence of
spillover violence on U.S. soil. A few
high-profile examples from media reports:

In January 2009,
a grenade was thrown into a bar in Pharr, Texas, where three off-duty police
officers were customers. Fortunately, it
did not detonate. Federal investigators
say evidence links this incident to grenades used in separate attacks on the
U.S. Consulate and a TV station in Monterrey, Mexico.

In May 2009,
Jose Daniel Gonzales Galeana, a midlevel member of the Juarez Cartel living in
El Paso, was shot eight times outside of his Texas residence. Experts believe his slaying may be the first
time assassins from one of Mexico’s violent drug gangs have killed a ranking
cartel member on U.S. soil.

In May 2010, a
Walmart store in McAllen, Texas was the site of a suspected cartel kidnapping
and murder attempt. The FBI says the
number of kidnappings in the McAllen area nearly quadrupled from 11 in 2008 to
42 in 2009.

On June 28,
2010, several bullets believed to be from a gun battle in Ciudad Juarez struck
El Paso City Hall. Nine months earlier,
a building and a vehicle on campus of the University of Texas – Brownsville were
hit by stray bullets.

Drug-trafficking organizations have established
connections with transnational gangs throughout Texas and use them to traffic
in drugs and humans, providing the cartels with willing soldiers who operate on
both sides of the border and in our communities.

The Mexican cartels have recently added
a new deadly weapon to their arsenal: Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive
Devices (VBIED), which they use to attack their rivals and the police. These car bombs were used in attacks in the
Mexican border city of Juarez last month and in Ciudad Juarez jut a few days
ago.

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.

The need for border security along the
Rio Grande should no longer be underestimated by the federal government, Mr.
President. An unsecured border is a
threat to our national security and to the safety and security of all our
citizens.

You administration announced plans to
send 1,200 National Guard troops to the border.
Secretary Napolitano wrote that the intent of this plan is “to ensure
that law enforcement personnel have the resources and support they need to
confront the complex and dynamic challenges that exist along our borders.” Given that goal, the deployment of the just
286 National Guard personnel along the 1,200 mile Texas-Mexico border is
clearly insufficient.

In recent years, the State of Texas has
committed hundreds of millions of dollars in state funds and state personnel
into border safety and security. Texas
has developed a proven and successful multi-agency border security strategy
that leverages state and local law enforcement agencies in communities along
the border to fill the gaps where the U.S. Border Patrol is stretched too
thin. These brave federal agents are all
doing what they can, but more help is desperately needed.

As you are aware, I have a standing
request with your administration for 1,000 Title 32 National Guard troops for
Texas, and have provided Secretary Napolitano and Secretary Gates with a law
enforcement sensitive deployment plan.
Texas Military Forces would be embedded with law enforcement
contingences along the Texas-Mexico border on land, on water and in the air,
providing direct support of current security operations. I urge you reconsider the current deployment
numbers and approve our requests for greater resources.

I also recommend an expeditious
deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles to provide real-time surveillance and
intelligence to law enforcement officials along the Texas-Mexico border. The combination of sufficient “boots on the
ground,” modern technology and the strategic fencing already built in key
border areas will help secure our southern border and make America safer.

In Texas, just as in our nation as a
whole, border security affects our safety, job creation our quality of
life. America cannot have a national
discussion of immigration reform without real, effective border security. The federal government must step up and
finally do what is needed to secure our borders.

My previous invitation t you, Secretary
Napolitano and Secretary Gates to meet with me, my homeland security staff and
local law enforcement experts still stands.
Border county sheriffs, local police, Texas Rangers, state troopers and
Texas military forces are all working hard together to protect our citizens and
border communities.

Better border safety is an issue all
Americans can agree on, regardless of political party or ethnic or regional
differences. It matters greatly to the
citizens of Mexico as well.

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.

American lives, jobs and safety depend
on a more robust federal commitment to border safety and security.

Rick
Perry

Governor

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About John G. Winder

John G. Winder has spent 29 years in the broadcasting industry as an on-air report, General Manager and Executive in both radio & television.

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