HOUSTON – Dan Patrick, Texas State Senator and Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor, issued the following statement regarding recent emergency action by Governor Perry, Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst, and Speaker Straus:
“I want to thank Governor Perry, Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst, and Speaker Straus for their decisive emergency action today in authorizing Department of Public Safety, Director Steve McCraw to take all necessary and appropriate actions to secure the Texas/Mexico border.
“Throughout my campaign, I have made clear that securing the border will be my top priority as Lieutenant Governor and I am pleased that Governor Perry, Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst, and Speaker Straus have made this important decision.
“Today’s action will ensure that Colonel McCraw has the resources and the flexibility to deploy them when and where they will be most effective.
“This is an emergency. Law enforcement is currently overwhelmed. Shifting resources there is critical.
“Rest assured that when the Texas Legislature convenes in January 2015, I will make border security a priority for the Texas Senate. We should not be funding border security as an emergency, or part of a temporary surge – instead we must fund border security as a 24/7/365 operation. The Texas Senate will get this done.
“Texans along the border are in harms way. However, the effects of the drug trade, sex trade, and human trafficking are omnipresent across Texas. This crisis deserves the attention of our state leadership and today they responded.”
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