Texas’ border security spending will show press inconsistency

Robert Pratt

“Mexico’s Gulf Cartel Made $38 Million in a Few Months during Last Year’s Immigration Surge” was the headline of a story by Ildefonso Ortiz at Breitbart Texas. The story reported that Texas DPS estimates that the Gulf Cartel, one of the brutal narcotics groups plaguing Mexico, made $38 million smuggling illegal aliens during the surge last year.

The Houston Chronicle, the newspaper that leaked the DPS report, saw fit not to focus on the danger to Texas and the horrible world of human smuggling but as you might expect, on how much it costs for us to have an increased law enforcement presence on the border. In fact the focus of that Chronicle piece was how moving DPS troopers to the border in such large numbers was hurting law enforcement in other parts of the state.

If the Chronicle reporters were consistent they would point out how bad the illegal immigration is for Texas’ poor because it causes so much our social safety net resources to be directed toward the border region leaving those in other areas with fewer resources.

As the Texas legislative session moves forward with large increases in border security funding, the press will lament the large amounts of money. You’ll see stories from every angle questioning the effectiveness of such spending on law enforcement. And as the Chronicle has done, you will see stories pointing out unintended consequences which may occur due to the border security ramp-up.

And all of that is good and a role the press should play – too bad they don’t do the same for all the other big government spending. The Leftists in the press will advocate for larger government and more spending in most every area with little questioning until of course, we get to legitimate law enforcement and the border.