Outgoing Lt. Governor, David Dewhurst, has announced that the state will begin ramping down the number of National Guard troops assisting with the state’s border surge in the Rio Grande Valley, that's following an $86 million extension of the executive order that first sent the Guard to the Texas-Mexico border.
He isn’t able to discuss the numbers, but Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst chalks the gradual troop withdrawal to a drop in the number of crossings happening in South Texas.
“We’ve seen the surge work, which is a 77 percent drop in the most active zone, which is the Rio Grande Valley,” said Dewhurst.
Dewhurst said the proposal that he, Speaker Strauss and Gov. Perry put forward, would go towards adding more DPS troopers on the border region, in addition to enhanced technology.
“The cartels are not going to go home and start going to Sunday school, every single Sunday, they’re not going to do that, they’re going to try, just like the Taliban, to outlast us.”, Dewhurst said.
Another reason for the Guard drawdown, he said, was that the state is able to do more with the DPS at a significantly lower cost.
The $86 million proposal will extend the Texas border surge until the end of August, but must first be approved by the legislative budget board. State lawmakers argued that decision is one that should come from the legislature.
