QUESTIONS RAISED AS BORDER CAMERAS MULTIPLY

Does operating a system of border cameras and sensors put the state of Texas in the business of enforcing immigration law, a function reserved for the federal government?

By Marty Schladen

El Paso Times
March 5, 2016

AUSTIN -- Texas is in the midst of a massive augmentation of Operation Drawbridge — a network of sensors and cameras along the border that Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw says is a key part of the state’s border-security strategy.

But a lawmaker who has demanded accountability for Texas’ ballooning expenditures along the Mexican border said the system itself raises important questions.

Among them is whether operating such a system puts the state in the business of enforcing immigration law, a function reserved for the federal government, said state Rep. César Blanco, D-El Paso.

Blanco also asked whether access to the system is secure enough so that authorities can be certain criminals aren’t using it to thwart law enforcement.

Texas had no official definition of “border security” last year as the Republican-led Legislature voted to spend $800 million on it. Officials have insisted that the border is not secure even though experts say that over the past decade, the federal government has doubled spending and the number of agents along the Mexican border, much fewer people are crossing illegally and operational control has increased significantly.

While Texas has no official definition, Gov. Greg Abbott and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, say “border security” means zero illegal crossings.

Doing that, McCraw last year told lawmakers, would require that the state put 80,000 people along the border — which would be far too expensive. A more practical option, he said, is to beef up the Operation Drawbridge network so that law enforcement would know about every illegal crossing and the crossers could be “interdicted” — law enforcement speak for “caught.”

Department of Public Safety spokesman Tom Vinger in January said that 3,300 cameras have been installed as part of the network since 2012, bringing total expenditures to $4.8 million. Thousands more cameras are being installed now, he said in an email.

“The strategic goal is to saturate the border with detection capabilities zone by zone, and the Drawbridge cameras — along with boats, ground sensors, aviation assets, etc. — are examples of that effort,” Vinger said.

But, Blanco asked, to what purpose?

“Is the (Department of Public Safety) enforcing immigration law?” he asked. “That’s where things get sticky.”

The Constitution and the U.S. Supreme Court reserve almost all authority over immigration enforcement for the federal government, Jennifer Chacon, a law professor at the University of California at Irving, wrote in Insights, a publication of the American Bar Association.

Blanco asked what state troopers and National Guard troops deployed to the border as part of what is now known as Operation Secure Texas are doing if they’re not enforcing immigration law using information gathered by Operation Drawbridge.

“They’re probably writing a lot of traffic tickets,” he said, jokingly referring to an El Paso Times investigation showing that during the border deployment, the number of traffic tickets issued in some border counties has exploded, while traffic accidents increased elsewhere in the state.

Last year, Blanco criticized McCraw for refusing to provide statistics detailing what state law enforcement personnel alone have done during the border surge, which started in summer 2014. The refusal amounted, Blanco said, to DPS taking credit for the work of federal law enforcement along the border while Abbott, Cruz and other state leaders claimed the feds had failed to secure it.

Blanco, who has served as a military intelligence analyst, also said it’s important that there are adequate safeguards to ensure that the wrong people don’t have access to the Operation Drawbridge network.

Vinger said that about 1,740 people have access to the system. They work for the Department of Public Safety, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Border Patrol, Texas border sheriffs' offices, the National Guard and the Texas State Guard, he said.

“Each user is manually vetted by the Operation Drawbridge team before access to the system is authorized,” Vinger said. “The vetting process includes justification by the user’s supervisors as to the need for accessing the system.”

Blanco said he’ll ask DPS for more specifics about the system for giving security clearances to access Operation Drawbridge.

“What classification system is it?” he asked. “Is it the federal system? Is it a state system?”

He said it’s important that the wrong people — such as those in drug cartels — don’t get access to the surveillance system and use it for their own nefarious purposes.

Blanco said it’s also important that the system be “compartmentalized” — that access is limited only to the part of the border that a law-enforcement official is responsible for.

Vinger said that limitation does not yet exist.

“Currently each user is able to view images from the entire Operation Drawbridge network,” he said. “However, in an effort to be more efficient, we are working with our development team to further compartmentalize the program, so that stakeholders only view cameras relevant/pertaining to their area.”

Blanco said he wants use his oversight authority as a legislator to ensure Operation Drawbridge is secure and that state officials are using it only for legitimate purposes.

“This is important stuff that needs to be talked about,” he said.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Harry Dunne wrote:

I knew this was going to happen. In an effort to secure the border, which isn't even the state's job they have created a vacuum of troopers in other parts of the state. Tickets are up along the border because that's how DPS tracks productivity. Accidents are up in other parts of the state because DPS is on the border. 800 million dollars to fund a job that's not mandated.