“It is extremely frustrating it is extremely frustrating because we hear a lot of rhetoric a lot of talk a lot of promises. We’ve had committee hearings even at city hall and yet we're empty,” says Mayor Raul Salinas.
Of all the groups that should be included in discussions on how to keep border residents safe, Mayor Raul Salinas says the Texas border coalition should be at the top of the list.
[...]
The border coalition has sent a letter to Perry asking why they were never notified.
“Some of these folks just come for photo ops . We don’t want photo ops we want real action."
Local officials have said they were not asked to give input for the spillover plan — something Cesinger disputed — and were surprised when it was activated this week.
Treviño has said he believes the spillover plan may be politically motivated, given Perry’s run for re-election in November — a notion the governor’s office denies.
“I am trying to diffuse, I am trying to mitigate, the fear of crime that the governor has created,” the sheriff said. “Give us all the security we can get. But don’t tell (the public) about something that is not happening. Don’t instill the fear of crime into them.”
What notification was there? Well, according to Rick Perry's official spokesperson from his Governor's office, Allison Castle, local officials were notified -- in January of 2009.
Castle said the mayors should be knowledgeable about the contingency plan.
"The plan was created in consultation with local law enforcement and federal partners," she said. "And that plan was created in January of last year."
For Governor Rick Perry, notifying local officials is not as important as notifying the media.The Texas Border Coalition sent their letter asking Perry to please fill them in on his secret border plan on Wednesday, March 17. The day before -- on Tuesday, March 16 -- Perry's office sent out a press release stating they had begun the first stages of the secret border plan "in coordination with local" law enforcement.
From the Office of Governor Perry, read the press release here:
At the governor’s direction, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), in coordination with local and federal law enforcement along the Texas-Mexico border, has implemented critical elements of the state’s spillover violence contingency plan. These steps include increased surveillance of border activity by state and local law enforcement...
Apparently, Governor Perry, you have a very different vision of coordination than anyone else involved with border security.
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