1694 Why the Federal Government should not usurp the role of the states in disasters

Governor Rick Perry of Texas says the federal government does not need to step in and be a first responder, but it does need to look at its role in relocating the refugees. He reported that almost two months after Katrina, Texas is still looking after 400,000 refugees from Louisiana “left in hotels, shelters, and other places of last resort and 6,000 evacuees with special needs in hospitals and nursing homes with no federal plan in place to help determine what happens to them next.” He believes housing vouchers would be a better plan than spending hundreds of millions of our tax dollars for the government to be a landlord/social worker. I’m guessing that the word “voucher” which brings up the thought that people can make decisions independent of the government, will defeat this idea.

In the same presentation, he points out another area of Homeland Security that the federal government really needs to attend to in order to prevent a disaster, that shouldn’t be left to the states, and that is border security. I had no idea that so many non-Mexicans (OTMs) were entering this country through our border.

“Perry said that an indication of how the federal government will respond to future disasters is how it is currently responding to the ongoing threat of disaster posed by a porous border with Mexico. In the first seven months of this year, the U.S. Border Patrol apprehended 119,000 illegal immigrants who did not originate from Mexico, or "Other Than Mexicans" (OTMs) as they are sometimes called. As a result, federal officials are taking desperate measures, including busing OTMs to inland towns, dropping them off and asking them to return for a detention hearing on their honor.

"Federal officials must significantly re-examine this nonsensical deportation system that depends on the honesty of those who have already broken our laws," Perry said. "Unless the federal government changes course and adequately addresses our border problem, it's only a matter of time until the federal 'catch and release' policy leads to another terrorist attack on our nation."

How would you like to live in one of those inland towns where illegals are being dropped off “on their honor“ to be good?

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