Lack of cash halts efforts by county to secure border

By Brandi Grissom / Austin Bureau

Article Launched: 01/13/2008 12:00:00 AM MST

AUSTIN -- Border security operations in El Paso County and some other counties are on hold while local law enforcement departments await more grant money and instructions from the state to re-up their patrols.

"Everything is at a standstill right now," said Cmdr. Claudio "Tony" Morales, who is in charge of border security operations in the El Paso County Sheriff's Office. "We're not being funded currently."

State agencies are already putting to work their portion of $110 million legislators approved last year to increase security on the Texas-Mexico border. Gov. Rick Perry, though, has sent only about $2 million in grants to local departments for border operations.

A Perry spokeswoman said officials were working to make the grant process easier for counties and were between major border mobilizations right now. But, she said, more operations and more money to local departments are "forthcoming."

Meanwhile, some sheriffs and the Texas Border Sheriffs' Coalition, which have been participating in state-led border security efforts since their inception in 2005, are already out of state money.