AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Another $86 million on border security spending in Texas is up for approval by the state’s top budget office.
Republican Gov. Rick Perry on Monday will formally present to the Legislative Budget Board plans to finance an extended deployment of state troopers and the Texas National Guard.
As many as 1,000 guardsmen that Perry sent to the Rio Grande Valley are scheduled to go home by April. Top Republican leaders want to replace them with a mix of additional state troopers and technology.
Illegal crossings along the Rio Grande have slowed dramatically since an overwhelming surge of immigrants this summer.
Perry is leaving office in January. Gov.-elect Greg Abbott and a new Legislature could scrap the funding plan if they have different preferences on how much to spend and where.