Congressman Henry Cuellar, a prominent member of the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee, today introduced legislation to prevent southern border violence from spilling over into the United States.

Congressman Cuellar’s bill, the Southern Border Security Task Force Act, aims to stem the tide of border violence associated with drug trafficking, gunrunning, kidnapping and illegal alien smuggling.  It authorizes funding for a task force to coordinate federal, state, and local agencies in order to better protect border communities.  It also further coordinates existing task force to integrate security operations while providing for the optimal use of resources in a fiscally constrained environment.

“Border states face daunting challenges in coordinating their security efforts, and the federal government has yet to create a comprehensive, border-wide strategy to address the problem,” Congressman Cuellar said.  “Right now, with border violence on the rise, it is more important than ever that we work together to protect border communities.”

Coordination between the various federal, state, and local border security agencies is currently informal and has no clear leader.  For example, Texas has to coordinate Customs Border Protection, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the FBI, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and local sheriffs’ offices.  Other border states face similar logistical challenges.

 “We’ve learned through long and hard experience the dangers of failing to coordinate security efforts,” Congressman Cuellar noted.  “In the months before the September 11th attacks, numerous federal and state agencies had information that could have mitigated or even prevented the attacks, but they had no way to piece together the puzzle.  That same kind of patchwork collaboration still hampers our efforts to protect the southern border.”

He added, “This is clearly a border safety issue, and just as importantly, it’s a good government issue.  When federal, state, and local governments are all reading out of different playbooks, there’s a real risk of duplicative or wasteful spending.  Better coordination holds the promise of preventing waste and protecting taxpayer dollars.”

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