More of these state troopers on the border, fewer elsewhere.

More of these state troopers on the border, fewer elsewhere.

Texas spent a billion dollars on border security in the past eight years. Increased spending for that purpose continued even as the state was hacking billions from education, transportation and other programs.

For the 2014-15 budget, a record $331.2 million was appropriated for border security. Still not enough, according to Republican lawmakers. For the 2016-17 budget, both the state senate, at $815 million, and Gov. Greg Abbott, at $735 million, want to spend more than double the previous amount. The budget is being considered in the legislature session now underway. Lawmakers in the state House of Representatives want to appropriate a good deal less than that, but still a large increase—to $500 million. Much of the money, whatever is finally appropriated, would go toward funding the hiring and training of another 500 state troopers.

State Rep. Armando Walle, a Houston Democrat, complained about the increases because, he said, border security is "something that doesn't even have a definition." During budget hearings, Abbott offered an off-the-cuff definition: zero border crossings by undocumented people.

This comes at a time when the federal government has added 3,000 additional Border Patrol agents since 2008, increased surveillance and strengthened the border fence. During that period, illegal border crossings have been cut in half.

As Marty Schladen at the El Paso Times reports, state government in the past three years has shifted hundreds of Texas state troopers from their usual turf to the border. At the same time, the number of traffic citations issued by those troopers has fallen 22 percent. As that has happened, so has something else:



As troopers issued substantially fewer tickets, the number of accidents on Texas roads jumped by 14 percent during the same period, according to data obtained by the El Paso Times. [...] "You can see there is a correlation," said state Rep. Trey Martinez Fisher, D-San Antonio. "Here's what we all know: Police officers are community caretakers. When there's a presence in our community, there's a tendency for people to follow the law, people are safer, people are more observant of the laws. Conversely, if you think you can run a red light or speed down the highway because you don't think there are any adverse consequences, sometimes people are going to do that."

Numerous Republican legislators said there are not enough data to prove a correlation between the border security shifting of personnel, the decrease in ticketing and the increase in crashes.

Maybe not. But at the same time, there aren't enough data to show any benefit from the state's increased emphasis on border security—which includes the deployment of Texas National Guard troops by former Gov. Rick Perry. The lack of data obviously has not stopped Republican lawmakers from preparing to spend even more money on the effort.