ACLU: Texas border security funds mismanaged ACLU: Millions for Texas border security misused

Millions of dollars budgeted by the state to beef up security along Texas’ border with Mexico has been misdirected toward routine police activities and has done little to combat drug trafficking or potential terrorism as the Legislature intended, the American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday.

In its report, the ACLU evaluated the activities of 11 of the 40 local law enforcement agencies that have participated in Operation Border Star, a program for which the Legislature appropriated $110 million two years ago.

“As a law enforcement program, Operation Border Star has been a failure because it encourages police and sheriff’s departments to measure their success based on everyday policing activities like disorderly conduct,” said Laura Martin, an ACLU policy analyst.

“It therefore takes the focus from the program’s intended goal of fighting (drug) cartel violence and organized crime.”

According to the report, the Val Verde County Sheriff’s Department searched 851 vehicles during 83 days of participation in the program, resulting in only one substantial drug seizure , 623 pounds of marijuana, and no asset forfeitures.

The report also noted that police in the small border communities of La Joya and Sullivan City combined to make 9,576 traffic stops — one for about each resident of the two towns — as part of Operation Border Star. The stops resulted in 3,314 traffic citations and 5,387 warnings.

“Operation Border Star’s performance measures encourage participating agencies to engage in law enforcement activities that do not further the state’s goal of improving statewide public safety and protecting Texas from organized crime,” said Rebecca Bernhardt, the ACLU’s Texas policy director.

The report, Martin acknowledged, is based on agencies that were provided only about $5 million of the $110 million.

Katherine Cesinger, a spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry, said the findings aren’t an accurate representation: “The governor is confident that Operation Border Star and the state’s border security efforts are working.”

Katherine Cesinger, a spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry, said the findings aren’t an accurate representation: “The governor is confident that Operation Border Star and the state’s border security efforts are working.”

clay.robison@chron.com