--- description: Texas Gov. Rick Perry and other leaders called Wednesday evening for a “surge” in law enforcement along the border. title: Texas Leaders Direct State Law Enforcement To Boost Border Security image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltecd486fb50f570f9/6986984113c79fc2b2192b6b/rick-perry-immigration.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Immigration](/tag/immigration/) ## Immigration Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Rick Perry Tells Texas State Police to Boost Border Security  by [Noah Rayman](/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 19, 2014 1:18 PM CUT  Rick Perry, governor of Texas, speaks at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Wednesday, June 11, 2014. Rick Perry, governor of Texas, speaks at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Wednesday, June 11, 2014.David Paul Morris—Bloomberg via Getty Images  by [Noah Rayman](/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 19, 2014 1:18 PM CUT Texas Gov. Rick Perry and other state leaders called Wednesday evening for a “[surge](http://governor.state.tx.us/news/press-release/19828/ "undefined")” in law enforcement along the border, announcing plans to inject $1.3 million more into the effort every week in response to a recent influx of illegal crossings. “Texas can’t afford to wait for Washington to act on this crisis and we will not sit idly by while the safety and security of our citizens are threatened,” Republican Gov. Rick Perry said in a statement. The intensified security operations will be in effect at least through the end of the year, and will replicate a program last fall targeting human and drug trafficking. Perry and fellow Republicans Lt. Gov. David Dewhust and Texas State House Speaker Joe Straus called for the enhanced security measures [in an open letter](http://governor.state.tx.us/files/press-office/Border-Letter-06-18-2014.pdf "undefined") to the head of the Texas Dept. of Public Safety. The governor’s statement cited federal numbers detailing a spike in border crossings and blamed the federal government for not doing enough to secure the border. “Until the federal government fulfills its duty, it falls on the State of Texas to address those obligations,” the state leaders said in the joint letter to the director of the Texas DPS. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2899989/rick-perry-border-security/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2899989/rick-perry-border-security/"},"headline":"Rick Perry Tells Texas State Police to Boost Border Security","datePublished":"2014-06-19T13:18:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:30:33.872Z","description":"“Texas can’t afford to wait for Washington to act on this crisis and we will not sit idly by while the safety and security of our citizens are threatened\"","url":"https://time.com/2899989/rick-perry-border-security/","keywords":["Immigration","Texas","rick perry"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltecd486fb50f570f9/6986984113c79fc2b2192b6b/rick-perry-immigration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Noah Rayman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltecd486fb50f570f9/6986984113c79fc2b2192b6b/rick-perry-immigration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Texas Governor Rick Perry","caption":"Texas Governor Rick Perry","creditText":"David Paul Morris—Bloomberg via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/immigration/","name":"Immigration"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2899989/rick-perry-border-security/","name":"Rick Perry Tells Texas State Police to Boost Border Security"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch Rick Perry's History Of Talking About Gays","description":"Watch Rick Perry's History Of Talking About Gays","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/qX5oTiir/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-06-12T17:32:06.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qX5oTiir.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/2899989/rick-perry-border-security/","duration":"PT4M33S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/2899989/rick-perry-border-security/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```