AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas official overseeing an historic $800 million border security spending plan says nowhere along the state’s 1,200-mile border with Mexico is secure nearly a year after the money was approved.
Texas leaders have faced criticism in recent years for vaguely defining what constitutes a secure border while embarking on costly missions in pursuit of that goal.
Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw defended the spending Tuesday at the Texas Capitol and offered lawmakers a new chart with proposed security benchmarks. He says several counties remain “clearly at the unsecured level” but the high-traffic counties of Hidalgo and Starr have reached “operational control.”
McCraw says one goal of putting an extra 250 troopers on the border is almost complete