Thursday 25th February, 2010
WEATHERFORD -- Area law enforcement officials grappling with illegal immigration and the problems they say it brings from drug trafficking to increased demand on healthcare providers said Monday that they need help dealing with the issue in North Texas. That help could come from Congress, which they say could send more money for training and equipment, or from the state, which might gain the ability to tax transfers of money out of the country and use that revenue to help law enforcement or healthcare.
"There's no end to it," Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler said of illegal immigration. "It's just a fact of life."
Fowler was among more than a dozen law enforcement officials, along with state Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, and Minuteman Project co-founder Jim Gilchrist, who joined U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, for a round-table discussion about immigration Monday in Weatherford.
After the meeting, Gilchrist announced his endorsement of Granger in her bid for a seventh term representing U.S. House District 12.
"There is only one candidate that has a proven record of working on behalf of taxpayers to work toward solving the problems of border security and illegal immigration," Gilchrist said. "And that is why I offer my full endorsement of Kay Granger."
Granger faces two Republican challengers: Matthew E. Kelly, a wholesale grocery distributor, and Mike Brasovan, an energy company owner endorsed by the Minuteman Political Action Committee. The winner of the March 2 primary will face Democrat Tracey Smith, a real estate broker, in November.
The Minuteman PAC is linked to the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, which was created when Gilchrist and Chris Simcox, the other co-founder of the Minuteman Project, parted ways. Both groups are opposed to illegal immigration.
Granger said talk continues about an immigration bill coming up in Congress this year or next. She said it's not just a border issue, because the problem of illegal immigration seeps into all states and boosts the need for services such as healthcare and law enforcement.
Area authorities say drugs and violence are among the problems they see with illegal immigrants.
A key indicator of whether illegal immigration is on the rise can be how drug sales are going. Low demand, and higher prices, means fewer illegal immigrants are here.
"We haven't seen a price increase in a long time," Weatherford City Manager Jerry Blaisdell said.
But they also say the immigrants who make it here are somewhat victimized, paying large sums for being transported in and earning low wages.
They sometimes live in shoddy areas, such as a building in Parker County that had raw sewage, downed power lines and as many as six people crowded into each room. Fowler said he helped shut it down.
King talked of a bill that was proposed last year in the Legislature and that should come up again next year. It would charge a transaction fee on every wire transfer from Texas to a foreign country. He said this would capture some of the dollars illegal immigrants ship back home and would not apply to U.S. citizens.
King said such a fee could create a pot of money to help county hospitals, who help provide healthcare to all in need.
"It's a very doable deal," he said.
Source: star-telegram.com
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