Cornyn calls for 5,000-job package for border security
HIDALGO — The United States should spend $6 billion to hire 5,000 new Customs and Border Protection officers and upgrade the nation’s ports of entry, including the aging Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge, Sen. John Cornyn said Tuesday.
The Texas Republican outlined his border security plan while standing on the bridge, surrounded by local mayors. Cornyn met with Rio Grande Valley officials before announcing the bill, called the Emergency Port of Entry Personnel and Infrastructure Funding Act of 2011.
Security appeared tighter than normal during Cornyn’s visit, and several machine-gun toting CBP agents stood nearby while he spoke to a gaggle of reporters.
If approved, the money would be available to improve the Hidalgo-Reynosa bridge, which needs an electrical upgrade and other basic improvements.
“This one alone is about 30 years old, and in need of a little bit of a facelift and a lot of extra work,” Cornyn said. “It can only come if the federal government is willing to make that investment.”
Hidalgo is familiar territory for Cornyn, who held an almost identical meeting and news conference two years ago.
Cornyn visited the Hidalgo-Reynosa bridge and met with many of the same officials Aug. 27, 2009, after President Barack Obama signed a $600 million border security measure. Standing in exactly the same spot, Cornyn blasted Obama’s plan, saying the measure was “a step in the right direction, but not nearly enough.”
The legislation Cornyn proposed Tuesday would:
>> Add 5,000 full-time CBP officers to ports of entry along the nation’s northern and southern borders. About 20,000 officers currently work at those ports of entry. “That’s up quite a bit from a few years ago, but it’s not nearly enough to allow them do what they do best, which is to make sure the border is secure and make sure that legitimate trade and traffic continues across our borders,” Cornyn said.
>> Add 350 full-time support staff at ports of entry.
>> Equip every CBP officer with new satellite communication gear capable of communicating with other law enforcement agencies and between ports of entry.
>> Build new ports of entry and improve or repair existing ports.
While the Hidalgo-Reynosa bridge recently acquired $2 million for badly needed infrastructure upgrades, including electrical fixes, the bridge will eventually need a complete overhaul, Hidalgo Mayor John David Franz said.
“Ultimately, we need to redesign and redo this particular port to meet the needs of today,” Franz said. “This was designed in the ‘70s, when security was not a concern. We had peace on both sides of the border.”
