PERRY PLANS SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS ALONG BORDER

Texas citizens and law enforcement officials will be able to monitor
video footage of some of the most isolated and dangerous stretches of
the Texas-Mexico border under a border security plan announced
Thursday by Gov. Rick Perry.

"With the voluntary participation of private land owners, the state
will begin posting hundreds of surveillance cameras along criminal
hotspots and common routes used to enter this country," Perry said.
The effort is part of a border security initiative that Perry launched
Thursday, saying the state must step up efforts in response to
inactivity by the federal government.

The video, which will include night vision, will be available to
state, local and federal authorities and will be posted on the
Internet in real time, Perry said.

"When citizens witness a crime taking place, they will be able to call
an 800-number that will be routed to the appropriate law enforcement
agency," he said.

"I look at this as not different from the neighborhood watches we have
had in our communities for years and years," Perry said.

He said the cameras would be placed in the "very, very far reaches
where it's hard to get to, where there are very few roads in" but
where illegal drug activity and immigrant trafficking occur.

The governor also said he'll allocate $20 million in this two-year
budget cycle to continue Operation Rio Grande, an ongoing border
security plan. That money will pay for officer overtime and equipment
such as body armor, four-wheel drive vehicles and night-vision goggles.

In addition, Perry said he'll ask the Texas Legislature next year to
authorize $100 million more to continue the operation.

"Enforcing the border is the federal governments responsibility, but
Texas will not wait for them to act," Perry said. "A stronger border
is what the American people want and it's what our security demands
and it's what Texas is going to deliver."

The Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday that Texas
would receive a 30 percent cut in counterterrorism funding.

"We can say to the federal government 'please give us our fair share,'
but we're not going to sit here on our hands while we have a border
and citizens' safety at stake and not do everything we can to address
this issue," he said.

Border sheriffs and the U.S. Border Patrol will lead the beefed up
efforts on the border, he said.

Also Wednesday, Maj. Gen. Charles Rodriguez, adjutant general of the
Texas Military Forces, said he expects National Guard troops to be on
the border this month. The troops represent the launch of President
Bush's plan to dispatch up to 6,000 National Guard members to states
bordering Mexico to support the Border Patrol and help stem the flow
of illegal immigrants across the border.

"The agreement between the governors and the Department of Defense is
being final drafted right now," Rodriguez said. "It'll perhaps be this
week or at the latest early next week.

"We're looking for activity very slowly beginning in June and,
depending on how quickly it can get coordinated and finalized,
certainly by July," he said.