CANDIDATES DIFFER ON BORDER ISSUES

Never mind that border security and immigration are supposed to be
federal issues.

The candidates running for Texas governor this year are promising to
do what Washington hasn't, or won't, on the longest stretch of the
U.S.-Mexico border in the nation.

Their proposals range from the near militarization of South Texas to
a throw-open-the-gates policy allowing people to come and go
throughout North America just like they do in Western Europe.

Whether any one of the proposals makes it into law or even makes any
sense, the prominence of the issues on the campaign trail highlights
voter anxiety about illegal immigration, grisly drug violence and the
possibility, even if it's remote, that foreign terrorists might
exploit the porous border to stage attacks on the U.S.

Republican political consultant Bryan Eppstein of Fort Worth said
polling data consistently indicate that border security and
immigration are among the top three concerns for Texas voters, and
they expect action from government whether it's at the state or federal level.

"This issue has a presence not just along the border; it has a
presence in all areas of Texas," Eppstein said. "It could play a
determining role in the outcome of this election."

Drug Cartels

Texas, which has two-thirds of the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, is
a major transit point for the smugglers of illegal immigrants and drugs.

The lucrative trade has sparked bloody wars among drug cartels
competing for control of the shipping routes, particularly in places
like Laredo. Execution-style murders in Dallas, kidnappings of dozens
of U.S. citizens along the border and large seizures of sophisticated
weaponry, including bazookas, have been tied to the cartels,
according to a recent report by the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security.

"The Texas-Mexico border region has been experiencing an alarming
rise in the level of criminal cartel activity," it said. "The cartels
operate along the border with military-grade weapons, technology and
intelligence and their own respective paramilitary enforcers."

At the same time, poor immigrants, mostly from Mexico, continue to
pour into Texas looking for work. In the first half of the decade,
70,000 to 85,000 undocumented immigrants a year settled in Texas,
boosting the illegal population to between 1.4 million and 1.6
million, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

Against that backdrop, President Bush, a former Texas governor
himself, made comprehensive immigration reform his top domestic
priority for his second term. But Congress deadlocked over what to do
about the 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. and the employers
who readily hire them.

Federal Foot-Dragging

The perception of federal foot-dragging has made Washington a
convenient whipping post in the Texas governor's race -- even from
the Republican who replaced Bush in the Governor's Mansion.

"Nothing threatens the future of this state more than the federal
government's inability to protect the border," said Gov. Rick Perry,
using one of his favorite applause lines during a recent campaign
swing in the Texas Hill Country. "In Texas, we have waited for
Washington to do the job, but we couldn't wait any longer."

Perry touts his Operation Rio Grande, which channels state law
enforcement help and grants to border-county sheriffs, as the
centerpiece of his proposal. The governor says he'll ask the state
Legislature for another $100 million to fund the initiative for
another two years.

The other top candidates have also focused on border security.
Independent Carole Keeton Strayhorn says securing Texas ports should
also be included, and she wants to enhance the role the Texas Rangers
play in border security.

The other independent in the race, Kinky Friedman, vows to send
10,000 more National Guard troops to South Texas. Unlike Perry and
Strayhorn, Friedman and Democrat Chris Bell have laid out fairly
detailed initiatives to address the issue beyond the border: Both
propose penalizing Texas employers who hire illegal immigrants with
stiff state fines and penalties, for example.

"We'll never make progress curbing illegal immigration unless we
address the economic incentives that draw workers across the border,"
Bell says.

Strayhorn aides have said she does not favor state sanctions on
businesses that hire illegals, but she told reporters Friday, without
specifying how, that employers who do should face fines and prison.
Perry has said he opposes using state laws to punish employers who
hire illegals.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is Libertarian James Werner. He
favors all but the elimination of international boundaries.

"Anyone who wishes to come to the United States and work should be
allowed to do so, with the exception of known criminals, or
individuals with ties to criminal or terrorist organizations," Werner
says. "History proves that we will prosper mightily by accepting new
workers and citizens from around the globe."

Apart from expanding law enforcement and hitting employers, various
state lawmakers are proposing to crack down on the illegal immigrants
themselves.

One measure would cut off state prenatal assistance to undocumented
women. Another would reverse a 2001 law that allows certain illegal
immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at public colleges.

Political Value

There is little doubt that addressing immigration and border security
have political value. Republican pollster Mike Baselice said that
they're not only important stand-alone issues, but that they also tie
into other voter concerns, including taxes, healthcare costs,
education and crime.

Perry, for one, says his proposals are producing more than catchy
campaign sound bites. At a meeting of border sheriffs in Uvalde last
week, Perry said South Texas has seen an "astonishing" drop in crime
- -- an average 60 percent reduction borderwide -- when the joint state
and local operations were under way.

However, neither the Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition nor the
governor's office could provide the raw numbers upon which the crime
drop was based. In addition, the figures only counted unincorporated
areas in 16 border counties. So while Operation Rio Grande may have
caused a drop in rural Webb County, the city of Laredo, home to 90
percent or more of the county's population, neither participated in
the operation nor figured into the crime data cited by Perry. Same
with Brownsville, El Paso and all the other South Texas
municipalities, officials said.

"We didn't see a penny of that money," said Juan Rivera, spokesman
for the Laredo Police Department.

"They should have included the cities. The majority of the population
is in the cities. The majority of the activity is in the cities."

Meanwhile, some experts doubt whether even the best-intended state
reforms and programs can do anything to stop massive illegal
immigration, let alone take a bite out of the multibillion-dollar
drug smuggling business.

Terry Nelson, a veteran federal law enforcement official who spent
years in U.S. Border Patrol and customs agencies before retiring in
Granbury, has participated in interdiction efforts resulting in tens
of thousands of pounds of seized cocaine. None of it made the
slightest bit of difference in the domestic consumption, price or
availability of the drug, said Nelson, who favors drug legalization.

"When you arrest a drug dealer you just create a job opportunity," he
said. "They're not going to run out of cocaine."

The Border Positions

Chris Bell (D): Opposes new walls along border, favors stiff
penalties for employers who hire illegal workers and vows to lobby
Congress to pass guest-worker legislation, allowing illegals to
eventually earn citizenship by paying a fine and learning English.

Kinky Friedman (I): Says he would send 10,000 National Guard troops
to border, require foreigners to get taxpayer ID cards and slap
$25,000 and $50,000 fines on companies that hire undocumented workers.

Gov. Rick Perry (R): Slaps Washington for inaction, wants Texas to
spend $100 million on border law enforcement. Opposes state sanctions
on employers of undocumented workers and would keep law allowing
in-state college tuition for otherwise qualified illegal immigrants.

Carole Keeton Strayhorn (I): Turn state homeland security over to the
Texas Rangers, scrap law giving in-state tuition rates to illegal
immigrants and pump $84 million into South Texas to improve
infrastructure and fight poverty.

James Werner (Libertarian): Throw the borders open and let the free
market do its will, but keep out criminals and terrorists while
ensuring that no foreign worker receives public assistance.