Border securityAustin fights to keep federal money to battle cartels
With federal lawmakers struggling to reduce spending and cut the deficit, Austin, Texas, could lose as much as $2 million in federal grant money that it uses to combat Mexican drug cartels; on Tuesday, Austin police chief Art Acevedo and Representative Michael McCaul (R-Texas) urged lawmakers not to cut their funding citing the fact that the city is a dangerous hub for drug cartels
With federal lawmakers struggling to reduce spending and cut the deficit, Austin, Texas, could lose as much as $2 million in federal grant money that it uses to combat Mexican drug cartels.
On Tuesday, Austin police chief Art Acevedo and Representative Michael McCaul (R - Texas) urged thelawmaker not to cut their funding citing the fact that the city is a dangerous hub for drug cartels.
In a press conference, Acevedo said, “I do not want to scare people, but this is not a sleepy college town.”
According to the police chief, La Familia, the Gulf Cartel, and Los Zetas, three deadly Mexican drug cartels, use Austin to distribute drugs, money, and weapons killing anyone who interferes with their business.
“We know that we’ve had at least one homicide directly related to the drug cartel that was actually a hit involving drugs,” Acevedo said.
In addition, Acevedo said that in January police arrested two La Familia gang members in Northeast Austin for attempting to kill a drug dealer who owed them money.
To combat the drug violence as well as terrorism, the Austin police department has received roughly $2 million a year since 2007 from DHS as part of its Urban Areas Security Initiative. The bulk of the grant money has gone toward funding the new Austin Regional Intelligence Center (ARIC).
With lawmakers looking to cut federal spending, DHS has decided not to give Austin any funding this year.
“I don’t think it makes any sense for cities like Cincinnati and Cleveland, Ohio to get this funding and yet a city like Austin has a state capital, state university, and dangerous cartels is taken off the list,” Representative McCaul said.
The San Antonio police department is also slated to lose its federal funding, a decision McCaul says will make Austin more vulnerable as it will have less resources to devote to gathering intelligence.
Echoing McCaul’s statements, Acevedo added, “We do not need to retreat. We need to move forward.”
McCaul has delayed a decision in the House and is struggling to stall deliberations in the Senate in an attempt to have Austin included in the funding process.
