Gray areas: Perry's security plan creates legal, logistical problems

HoustonChronicle.com - Gray areas: Perry's security plan creates legal, logistical problems: "IN contrast to his counterparts in Arizona and New Mexico, Gov. Rick Perry has responded to frustration over federal border control with distinct restraint. While the two Democratic governors criticized the president and called states of emergency over border problems, Perry quietly adopted an ambitious $9.7 million proposal marshaling state and local agencies and the National Guard to fill in where federal policy has failed. Perry repeatedly, and rightly, calls border security a federal problem, but contends that Texas cannot wait to address terrorism, crime and illegal immigration at its frontier.
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But Perry's plan is at once too broad in scope, skimpy in funding, and blurry in its conception of constitutional protections. The program calls for almost $10 million for measures that include strengthening local law enforcement by hiring more deputies and paying current officers overtime; including the National Guard in training and emergency response exercises; and expanding state wiretap authority."