Opinion

An empty photo op at the border

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, left, takes a photo of a wristband GPS that shows the location of Texas Ranger Major J.D. Robertson, right, and the location of the border surveillance cameras near him. Without real metrics, the state’s efforts have all the makings of boondoggle and heaping helpings from the public pork barrel for DPS. less Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, left, takes a photo of a wristband GPS that shows the location of Texas Ranger Major J.D. Robertson, right, and the location of the border surveillance cameras near him. Without real ... more Photo: Marie D. De Jesus /Houston Chronicle Photo: Marie D. De Jesus /Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close An empty photo op at the border 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A photo op isn’t a proper measure of effectiveness. And without real metrics, claims of turning away border smugglers and cartels are as shallow as some parts of the Rio Grande.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Department of Public Safety Director Steven McGraw toured a part of the Rio Grande recently, saw what $800 million in state funds has bought, and essentially claimed victory.

If these new measures — armed patrol boats, cameras, surveillance aircraft and increased manpower — weren’t here, they said, the cartels would return. And this has the whiff of expenditure into perpetuity, though border security is a federal responsibility in which at least two administrations have poured millions in dollars and resources over the years. The border, even without this state initiative, has never been more secure.

Patrick was cagey about the specifics of success — and made a pitch for a border wall of the type Donald Trump and Ted Cruz suggest (with Mexico paying). And we suspect the caginess is because there are no specifics of substance to offer. We know that a Mexican-funded wall is as fanciful as past DPS claims of success with its border surge.

Claims of success last year turned out to be hollow, with the state claiming seizures that the feds actually pulled off. The state share of “success” turned out to be embarrassingly little.

No matter, the Legislature appropriated that $800 million anyway in the last session. And so far, we see that it has paid for a dandy Patrick photo op.

Speaker Joe Straus has instructed a House committee to measure the success of this expenditure and to come up with the metrics to do so. We await these findings and hope they are more fruitful than getting photographed at the border in a helicopter.

Without such metrics, the state’s efforts have all the makings of a boondoggle and heaping helpings from the public pork barrel for DPS.

Simply, this isn’t the state’s job. It is a federal one. And, despite the histrionics on the campaign trail, the border is not as unsecure as billed. If immigration is the target, Central Americans are coming apace (as are deportations), but Mexican migration is down to net zero. And if other types of smugglers are the target, a walled border bristling with guns, cameras and high-tech gadgets is only one part of the solution. The other is diminishing the market for such goods — drugs — on this side of the border. And that’s harder to do.

Which is why, we suspect, photo ops with new gadgetry are trotted out.

This convinces no one.