Washington, Aug 1, 2010 - Guest Columnist/El Paso Times

As we have seen in El Paso, many local governments in the border region are struggling to cope with large budget deficits and pressing law-enforcement needs.

With the continued violence across the border, the U.S. House of Representatives stepped up last week to provide an additional $700 million to ensure the continued safety of the border region.

On Wednesday, I joined my colleagues in approving a bill that I co-sponsored to add 500 new Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at our land ports of entry and 1,200 additional Border Patrol agents.

It also provides more funding for federal prosecutors and increases grant funding to support local police and sheriff's departments along the border with Mexico.

These additional federal resources would further efforts on both sides of the border to diminish the critical life-lines that organized criminal groups depend on, while improving the quality of life for all border-area residents and businesses. The funds augment the goals of the president's Southwest Border Initiative, implemented in March 2009.

In addition to the great work by El Paso's local law enforcement, one of the main reasons El Paso is the safest city in the continental U.S. is due to the variety of law-enforcement agencies that have a major presence in the city.

When I retired as Sector Chief of the U.S. Border Patrol in 1995, there were 5,800 agents patrolling the border. Today, there are more than 21,000. The number of Immigration and
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Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents along the border has grown by nearly 10 percent in the last two years, to approximately 3,300 agents.

ICE has also tripled the number of intelligence analysts along the Southwest border who monitor cartel-related violence.

Although the federal government has dramatically increased the resources over the years to boost security in the areas between our ports of entry, similar investments have not been made to enhance operations at our international bridges. Insufficient staffing at our nation's land ports has placed our national security at risk and has hindered the flow of trade and commerce.

Additional officers are needed to implement more stringent inspections of vehicles traveling southbound into Mexico.

In addition, increasing the number of CBP officers at our ports of entry has been a top priority of El Paso's business community. Having more inspectors on the ground is needed reduce the long wait times that have a negative impact on business and the environment.

While the 500 additional CBP officers provided in this bill are a step in the right direction, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that several thousand more officers are needed to fully staff our ports of entry.

I have authored legislation that would provide 5,000 additional CBP officers and $5 billion in security infrastructure upgrades at the ports of entry over five years, and I'm pleased that the House is working to address this shortage.

The Senate must follow through on this effort.

While there are more resources dedicated to the safety of the border region than in all my 26 years in the U.S. Border Patrol, Texas Republicans will stop at nothing to say the government "isn't doing anything." However, as President Obama correctly pointed out recently, "the (U.S.) southern border is more secure today than any time in the past 20 years."

The House-passed bill represents another major investment in the public safety of border communities.

Now that the House has stepped up to provide the critical funding for our region, it is time for the Senate to do the same. To date, over 340 bills that have passed the House remain stalled in the Senate. I urge my Senate colleagues to act quickly on this important legislation.

Congressman Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, represents Texas District 16 in the U.S. House of Representatives.