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The Senate Committee on Border Security met on April 4th to review border security appropriations and their directed purposes. The committee heard testimony from the Office of the Governor, Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, and Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board. A video archive of the hearing can be found here.

This report is intended to give you an overview and highlight of the discussions on the various topics taken up. It is not a verbatim transcript of the discussions but is based upon what was audible or understandable to the observer and the desire to get details out as quickly as possible with few errors or omissions.

 

Opening Comments

  • Birdwell – Reviewing allocated funds by the legislature for the purpose of border security
  • Preliminary reports might not account for the entirety of the agencies’ decisions; keep this in mind over the next two days

 

Sarah Hicks, Director of Budget and Policy for the Office of the Governor

Aimee Snoddy, Director of Public Safety for the Office of the Governor

Andrew Friedrichs, Public Safety Grant Director for the Office of the Governor

  • Birdwell reviews material prepared by the Office of the Governor
  • Birdwell – Sat down with the Governor funding report from 20-21 & 22-23; commonality with the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), is that completed across all border counties or the whole state?
    • Snoddy – Whole State; would defer to DPS for specifics
  • Birdwell – Immense amount of grants; $1 billion available for permanent wall and temporary wall
    • Hicks – Of this funding $24 million has gone to TxDOT; Over $2 million paid out for temporary fencing and c-wire
  • Birdwell – Does the facility commission have a graphics overlay for where the permanent and temporary walls are?
    • Hicks – I think they can show you that; must be careful of people who own this land
    • Can also account for where it is geographically impossible to build any wall or fencing
  • Birdwell – Explain the difference between temporary and permanent?
    • Hicks – Permanent is steel, concrete and tall; temporary is more like a chain link fence with barbed wire
    • Placement of the temporary fence is enforcing state law to protect landowners; deals with if local areas are willing to prosecute trespassers or not
    • Temporary barriers are established by landowners and DPS and Guard; Permanent barriers are established by land surveyors
  • Birdwell – Where are local law enforcement grants going?
    • Hicks – HB 9 grants have a certain list of eligibility; better discussed by Amy
    • Snoddy – Operation Lone Star (OLS) local grants administered under HB 9; Funding for law enforcement, jail operations, human remains processing and court administration
  • Birdwell – Under jail operations, are we minimizing local tax dollars paying for state surge; don’t want to commandeer local budgets
    • Snoddy – Counties participating in misdemeanor arrests those inmates are flowing into TDCJ facilities
  • Birdwell – Court administration grants being sent to the local court or are they being transferred to the judicial courts?
    • Snoddy – Going straight to the local courts; software, attorneys, translators etc.
  • Birdwell – Are you giving law enforcement grants for the border or for all law enforcement?
    • Snoddy – For the Operation Lone Star grant you must be in a disaster declared county on the border or helping a border county.
  • Snoddy – Biggest funding spending in law enforcement on the border is vehicles, overtime, and technology
  • Birdwell – Is any of this funding helping get officers through law enforcement academy?
    • Snoddy – This is a local decision, but I know some have hired additional staff
  • Birdwell – One item that says indirect funding
    • Snoddy – clerical staff and other indirect funds
  • Birdwell – Can you tell me about your anti-gang funding
    • Snoddy – Several anti-gang centers with the newest one on Laredo; $11.3 million to keep urban tags
  • Birdwell – What are the measures of their effectiveness?
    • Snoddy – Bi-annual reports are completed and are measured by team members
    • We make funding available then federal state partners monitor tag units and tell us what they would like to spend
  • Birdwell – Do you establish internal controls on these grants?
    • Snoddy – Grant management accountability is huge in our office; risk assessment and quarterly requirements
  • Birdwell – What does the category “other” for $1 million cover
    • Snoddy – Money for fire departments that are on the Texas border; asked for ambulances, firetrucks, medical equipment and generators
  • Birdwell – $170 million for Processing centers
    • Hicks – One in Val Verde and one in Jim Hogg as extensions of local county jail; Soft-sided holding cells, online magistration area, health assessment area; held until TDCJ comes
  • Birdwell – There is a 3-7% chargeable rate; Are you charging everyone or just ones seen doing the crime
    • Hicks – People processing in this center have committed state crimes, felonies, trafficking, drugs, or other misdemeanors
    • Goal is to build 3 facilities; deals made with adjoining counties in order to make more arrests
  • Birdwell – Overflow capacity as individuals are charged with property crimes; how many people are achieving bail and how many return for trial?
    • Hicks – I don’t have these numbers
  • Hinojosa – So TDCJ just holds individuals who are awaiting a hearing
    • Friedrichs – Magistration happens in the intake center; TDCJ handles all other types of hearings
    • Court hearings are local process; this hearing must occur in this same jurisdiction
  • Hinojosa – In Hidalgo County they provide all the recourses necessary to contact a lawyer or get a hearing; this process however takes months which is why I am trying to find what causes this delay
    • Friedrichs – Our role is to fund these local county systems, but the docket of their cases is managed in the local level
  • Hinojosa – The court coordinator also affects this process, and they are a part of TDCJ
  • Birdwell – Felony or misdemeanor charge if the person makes bail what is the time between bail and trial
    • Hicks – That is a question for the board prosecution
  • Hinojosa – Costing the state $2.5 million a week for TMD; moved funding TCDJ but still low in money
    • Hicks – CRF funds were used for hospitals surge staffing and got reimbursed from FEMA
    • During session the legislature designated these CRF dollars; some went into FY21
  • Hinojosa – We have spent $3.9 billion on immigration challenges; we are doing away with title 42 and I think it will get worse
  • What is the plan to pay for these challenges in the future?
    • Hicks – Asking for the federal government to reimburse us; funds available to do another $600,000 salary swaps
  • Hinojosa – We are trying to get a grasp on future costs; concerned about the sustaining of this spending
    • Hicks – Unfortunate that we are in this position; this is something that has to be a part of the conversation
  • Hinojosa – What is the purpose of the wall; temporary fences and funneling
    • Hicks – Funneling has made a large difference, using things instead of people to control crossing
    • The more we can shrink the open areas the better we can control response
  • Hinojosa – Once Title 43 is ended we will be overwhelmed with migrants again; do we have a plan to refocus if this happens
    • Hicks – DPS oversees Homeland security Plan, but we have been in communication about being prepared for this
  • Hinojosa – Anti-Gang efforts have been effective in Houston and the RGV; there is a lot of coordination and communication
  • DPS is doing their job however due process is not being awarded to migrants; we must address this
  • Hall – It costs the people of Texas for people to cross illegally; how would you characterize the objective of the border security grants
    • Hicks – Prevent and predict crime upon the entry of Texas
  • Hall – What needs to change so we can have a meaningful impact on the people coming into our country
    • Hicks – On federal level an enforcement on the laws of immigration; on our part we will protect Texas residents
  • Hall – Are you familiar with interstate compacts; one on border security would allow for better protection of Texas residents

 

Tom Krampitz, General Counsel for Border Prosecution Unit

Tonya Ahlschwede, Border Prosecution Unit

Nelson Barnes, Project Director for Border Prosecution Unit

Sarah Hicks, Director of Budget and Policy for the Office of the Governor

  • Crumpets – Awarded $3.765 million; 19 lawyers, 9 investigators, 2 support system and 1 vehicle
  • Hinojosa – This unit was created to prosecute border crime and now you are helping the prosecution of migrants being charged with trespassing
    • Krampitz – That is one part, but our coordination efforts are much more than that
    • OLS has morphed the organization into a broader perspective
  • Hinojosa – Majority of arrests are migrants; have you had any issues with the process from the time processed to the closing of a case
    • Ahlschwede – Issues early on but magistration process is completely different than any other legal process in Texas
    • Magistrate immediately appoints an attorney; unlike any other process
  • Hinojosa – In some testimonies you hear there is not enough criminal defense attorneys to process these cases
    • Ahlschwede – This is not what I have overviewed; most attorneys come from outside the border area
    • We oversee appointing an attorney, but we do not control the contact between attorney and client
  • Birdwell – How many total attorneys do you have?
    • Krampitz – 51 lawyers; 45 staffed currently
    • Finding the right kind of lawyer for these positions has proved to be difficult; also, can’t ensure them permanent positions
    • OLS has focused attention on criminal trespassing, but the looming felony charges are smuggling cases
  • Birdwell – 45 lawyers are they proportional to populations crossing the border?
    • Ahlschwede – 3 attorneys that oversee the proceedings; typically, do not go into a county but each attorney has jurisdiction.
  • Birdwell – Of the 45, is there a group that just works misdemeanors? Do they work felonies?
    • Ahlschwede – BPU brought about to prosecute felony cases; OLS is new to BPU to assist county attorneys in prosecuting misdemeanors with criminal trespassing initiative
    • More than just the prosecution; Coordinating all parts of the prosecution to prevent overburden
  • Birdwell – Attorneys do not overlap regions, correct? You’ve deployed across regions, not just a central location
    • Ahlschwede – No, we do not have overlap
  • Birdwell – What is your primary measure of effectiveness? Prosecution rates, convictions?
    • Ahlschwede – Justice is overall measure of success; Overall output measures are given to governor
  • Birdwell – Need indications of effectiveness to determine where to place additional funds
    • Krampitz – Personal measure of success is when local residents express comfort sending their kids out to play; Difficult to show this through metrics
    • Believes landowner feedback is most valuable display of effectiveness

 

Nelson Barnes, Assistant DA 452nd Judicial District, Project Director Operation Lone Star

  • Has attended 3 recent landowner meetings; Most have lost hope that the system wants to help them, feelings of abandonment
  • Many comments from landowners of criminal mischief; Police don’t arrive for at least an hour
  • Goal at processing center is to have each individual out in under 12 hours; Magistrate twice a day and transport twice a day
  • 45% of Kenny county defendants have made bond
  • New prospects have been put into place to address delays that were occurring in Kenny county; Success so far with these changes
  • Defendants go to court within 8-13 days
  • Limited by how much court time is available, working with courts to make Zoom times available
  • Every defendant goes to Briscoe initially, transferred afterwards based on staffing and availability
  • Hinojosa – Where is magistration taking place?
    • Barnes – At processing center before transfer to Briscoe
  • Barnes – Overall, changes being made to increase staffing and availability to expedite process and avoid more delays and backlog
  • Hinojosa – Problem of excessive costs for farmers and ranchers, wants OLS to take this into account
  • Birdwell – What is misdemeanor to felony ratio and is that a determination for the numbers of attorneys needed? Are attorneys placed based on their level of experience?
    • Ahlschwede – Not a good idea to place entry-level attorneys on misdemeanors; Need seasoned attorneys participating

 

Steven McCraw, Director of Department of Public Safety

Suzy Whittenton, Chief Financial Officer DPS

  • Birdwell – When will the 650 new troopers complete the academy?
    • McCraw – These troopers are already on board
  • Birdwell – Is this sufficient to relieve the military department from augmenting DPS?
    • McCraw – We need about 5,000 troopers statewide to do our job
    • Did not expect dramatic increase on the border over the past year
  • Birdwell – It sounds like you need additional troopers in the next legislative session to accommodate for the increased placement at the border, is this correct?
    • McCraw – Yes, when we remove troopers from certain areas other groups have to pick up the slack
  • Birdwell – 50-hour work week was a management decision for the morale of troopers, Has that overtime and 50 hour work week been the morale boost needed?
    • McCraw – Has put DPS in a great position, hiring troopers from other states because they do not have to have secondary employment
    • Increased capacity initially, made DPS more competitive across the state and nation
    • Helps the state because capacity increased, costs avoided
    • Large surges predicted after Title 42 is terminated; Need to prepare additional resources
    • Personnel costs is largest concern; At some point technology will need to be updated
  • McCraw – Absence of disorder and crime is positive; Extent of prevention and proactive use of barriers and technology is essential but takes time to build
  • Senator Hall – Large amounts of money being spent on a fraction of the work that needs to be done; From an operation standpoint, what should be done?
    • McCraw – Troopers should be involved in prevention and protection, not in charging and processing
    • These troopers should work on detecting and intervening in criminal activity
  • Senator Hall – If the federal government continues to refuse to help, how do we protect the people of Texas?
    • McCraw – It can be done by securing the zones; If federal government refuses, State of Texas must
    • Troopers, special agents, and DPS capabilities can secure these zones
  • Senator Hall – What do you need from the Texas Legislature to accomplish the job you just described?
    • McCraw – Obviously it takes a lot of money and legislature has allocated large amounts of funds
    • Prosecution for criminal trespassing
    • National Guard needs resources to deploy staff across the state
    • We don’t have enough personnel to increase intensity across the state, but if state leadership prioritizes this issue, DPS and partners will secure the border
  • Birdwell – State doesn’t have authority over immigration, which is major problem in every district; Must focus on prosecuting state crimes because federal immigration law cannot be changed
  • Hinojosa – We need to separate the issue of immigration from cartel criminal activity; When federal government doesn’t place enough resources on the border, burden is placed on Texas
  • Hinojosa – Bailouts are a problem because border control is overwhelmed by number of immigrants; Excessive costs for ranchers and landowners
  • Hinojosa – DPS is not there to enforce immigration law, Legislature providing assets to accomplish DPS’s responsibilities
  • Hinojosa – Concerned about local communities’ frustrations with DPS officers
  • McCraw – DPS operates based on probable cause; Cameras have been very helpful to address citizen concerns
  • McCraw – Cartel members look like US citizens, important to operate on probable cause and evidence; Always seeking to improve
  • Hinojosa – Do you have information/ numbers on guns and ammunition going south?
    • McCraw – 769 firearms seized since beginning of OLS over the past year; Individuals with weapons are arrested
  • Birdwell – From a financial perspective, Governors’ office has bulk of financial responsibility; Most of OLS expense falls under DPS, does military department have its own terrain assigned or is it a supplement to DPS areas?
    • McCraw – Success relies on coordinated effort; National guard success relies on DPS operations and vice versa
    • Funds being used for reinforcements and brush teams
    • Owning terrain is not a DPS function; Securing zones is military area, could not be secured without national guard
  • Birdwell – Trying to understand command relationship between national guard and DPS troopers, since guard is deployed by governor
    • McCraw – DPS supports national guard as they take the lead organizing zones
    • At the end of the day, unified command works very well, and all parties are well-trained
    • National guard has never been on active state duty, so a different relationship than in the past
    • DPS fills gaps where national guard cannot handle the load; State benefits greatly from resources that allow these gaps to be filled
    • Personnel is top priority to continue this cooperation
  • Birdwell – Do appropriated assets give you capacity for flexible capacity to adapt to seasonal or regulatory surges?
    • McCraw – Prepared to go where needed; Costs will increase with travel and personnel costs
  • Birdwell – At a future point, committee will want an idea of how operations, wall construction, border patrol, game wardens, and other logistics come together; Need understanding of integration to know how funding should be allocated to each piece
    • McCraw – TX Map tool can integrate static data and border incidents to track where hotspots are and have a shared view of threats

 

 

 

 

 

Mike Rodriguez, Department of Motor Vehicles

  • Birdwell – Please tell the committee what you do with funds, measurements of effectiveness, and what you do with the allocated $12 million
  • Rodriguez – Program designed to prevent auto theft and burglaries and act when these crimes occur
  • Grants given to specific cities and sheriff departments to expand investigations across Texas; 12.9 million is a statewide allocation
  • Birdwell – Do you separate the funds according to specific crimes?
    • Rodriguez – Cartels are utilizing stolen vehicles for their work
    • Cartels bring people from all over the state to drive these vehicles
    • Gives grants to different task forces to communicate where problems are happening and establish areas to focus on
  • Birdwell – Are grants designed to prevent auto theft or returning vehicles to actual owners? What are you accomplishing with the 12.9 million?
    • Rodriguez – Currently, local agencies (sheriffs and police departments) increasing operations to investigate auto thefts
    • Immediate threats are priority, would like to expand on additional task forces because most local departments are swamped
    • Agencies investigating auto theft have other responsibilities, so need to expand their abilities to make these investigations possible
  • Birdwell – So without resources, localities would not be able to focus on auto theft?
    • Rodriguez – Correct, cartels are smart at what they do so these funds allow authorities to focus on the thefts that help cartel operations

 

Chad Jones, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

  • Birdwell – Please provide granularity on operations and measures of effectiveness
  • Jones – Department receives roughly $30 million for border initiatives; 139 budgeted positions
  • 49 border wardens funded solely through border funds; 90 regularly funded positions
  • Utilized some funds to create intelligence-based operations; Wardens visit various locations and see many drug interdictions and trespassing problems
  • Some funds must be used for specific purposes assigned by state and federal governments
  • Daily operations interact with illegal immigration although this department is not tasked with immigration
  • Agrees with McCraw that success measure is feedback from landowners
  • Funds not used for equipment, but always in need of vessels
    • Conservation of wildlife is main priority; 1200 vessels across the state
    • Patrol for water safety across rivers and lakes
    • Work with DPS on OLS in Rio Grande River
  • Birdwell – Do you define the border region the same way as DPS? A map would be very helpful
    • Rodriguez – Yes essentially the same, a map can be provided at a later date
  • Birdwell – How many vessels operate in Gulf of Mexico?
    • Rodriguez – Will have to get back to committee on exact number, there are various vessels of different types
    • Can only arrest in a specific 9 miles; Do not have federal authority to make arrests in Gulf
    • Parks and Wildlife if a supplementary support for DPS, part of the collaboration efforts McCraw discussed
  • Hinojosa – Has the interior portion paid an opportunity cost in game wardens being moved to the border for surges or routine temporary deployment?
    • Rodriguez – Yes, 551 wardens across the state and gaps of service do occur
    • Many counties only have one game warden, Wardens in neighboring counties assist gaps but delays can occur
    • Largest problem is that wardens have many responsibilities other than border control
  • Rodriguez – Equipment for vessels and other operations is largest priority for our border efforts
  • 7 arrests for human smuggling made by Texas game wardens since January; Acting as a force multiplier with DPS

 

Rex Isom, Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board

  • Birdwell – Can Carrizo Cane be eradicated?
    • Isom – Eradication is a misnomer; 300 miles have been treated with 80-90% kill rate
  • Follow-up treatment required and it still manages to come back; Will probably never be completely eradicated
  • Board works closely with McCraw to determine priority areas of risk; Provide protection for subcontractors and personnel, thankful for DPS involvement
  • Birdwell – With a 1200-mile border, how much actually has Carrizo Cane?
    • Isom – Contracted specialist estimates that all 1,200 miles have some degree of infestation
    • Control is possible with the right kind of management; Achieved in some areas
  • Birdwell – You mentioned 300 miles completed; What assets do you need to maintain these 300 miles and expand through other areas? Legislature only wants to pay for this once
    • Isom – Sections of the plant itself can re-root; There’s a chance of reintroduction
    • Fast growth rate; Can grow 6 inches per day and reach heights of over 20 feet
    • Incredible challenging weed to control; Areas must be resprayed
    • With regards to acreage, 1.5 – 2.5 applications need to be budgeted
    • $200 per acre to treat
    • Management process must be consistent and never ends
  • Isom – Another issue is landowner approval to operate in areas with large amounts of Carrizo
  • Isom – Overall, Follow-up maintenance funding is what Board needs from legislature; Initial treatments occurring