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Border Security Push Yields Bumper Crop of Traffic Tickets
Source: Associated Press
Border Security Push Yields Bumper Crop of Traffic Tickets
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DALLAS — Nov 27, 2016, 3:49 PM ET
A new border security approach promoted by the Texas Department of Public Safety has yielded at least one result: a bumper crop of traffic tickets.
Traffic stops in Starr and Hidalgo counties on the Texas-Mexico border accounted for nearly 8 percent of all traffic tickets issued in Texas in September, an analysis by The Dallas Morning News ( http://bit.ly/2fTBBZQ ) found. The analysis comes as the Department of Public Safety is preparing to ask the Texas Legislature for an unprecedented $1.1 billion in border security funding for the next two years.
The state began intensified border enforcement in 2014 in response to a surge of illegal immigration and cartel activity. Last year, the Legislature committed $800 million to back that enforcement campaign, including the hiring of 250 more state troopers to work the border.
The department actually had made fewer traffic stops recently in response to complaints from local officials along the border, resulting in a drop in the number of warnings issued. But the number of citations being issued along border-zone highways remains undiminished.
"For that level of scrutiny on your driving habits, what are we getting?" said state Rep. Poncho Nevarez, a Democrat from Eagle Pass and vice chairman of the House Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee.
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By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DALLAS — Nov 27, 2016, 3:49 PM ET
A new border security approach promoted by the Texas Department of Public Safety has yielded at least one result: a bumper crop of traffic tickets.
Traffic stops in Starr and Hidalgo counties on the Texas-Mexico border accounted for nearly 8 percent of all traffic tickets issued in Texas in September, an analysis by The Dallas Morning News ( http://bit.ly/2fTBBZQ ) found. The analysis comes as the Department of Public Safety is preparing to ask the Texas Legislature for an unprecedented $1.1 billion in border security funding for the next two years.
The state began intensified border enforcement in 2014 in response to a surge of illegal immigration and cartel activity. Last year, the Legislature committed $800 million to back that enforcement campaign, including the hiring of 250 more state troopers to work the border.
The department actually had made fewer traffic stops recently in response to complaints from local officials along the border, resulting in a drop in the number of warnings issued. But the number of citations being issued along border-zone highways remains undiminished.
"For that level of scrutiny on your driving habits, what are we getting?" said state Rep. Poncho Nevarez, a Democrat from Eagle Pass and vice chairman of the House Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee.
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Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/border-security-push-yields-bumper-crop-traffic-tickets-43806893
Related: After 2 years and $800M, Texas' border boost has one solid outcome: more traffic tickets (Dallas Morning News)
