Inflamed Rhetoric On Website Stirs Debate Over Claims That The Border Is A War Zone

In Texas where Governor Rick Perry has repeatedly asserted that the southern border between the United States and Mexico is a war zone, going so far as to compare the region to Iraq, the debate over border security is heating up.

Texas State Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples has put up a web site paid for by the state of Texas entitled Protect Your Texas Border, which has led some to complain that some of the comments made on the website are unnecessarily inflammatory..

Julian Aguilar of the Texas Tribune has the full story HERE:

Launched last week, protectyourtexasborder.com  has drawn the ire of some who oppose comments made on the site’s message board, comments calling for armed vigilante groups, land mines and booby traps on farm and ranch lands near or on the border.

The website has garnered some infamy as it has fast become a place for its users to post derogatory and violent comments about the border, which led Commissioner Staples  to call for civility on the web site.  Yet some in Congress are wondering why this site even needs to exist to begin with:

U.S. Rep Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, said the site was nothing more than propaganda that portrayed rural Texas like “rural Afghanistan,” and cited statistics indicating border communities in Texas are safer than most others, including Austin.

U.S. Rep Henry Cueller D - Laredo also weighed in:

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, defended Washington’s actions and said his party last year injected more funds toward border security than at any other time in history. But the new GOP-controlled U.S. House has gutted those funds by at least $350 million, he said.

As the debate continues in Texas and other states over the safety of border region it should be noted that the situation along the southern border is far less volatile then the rhetoric currently being utilized by some. In fact a recent report by NDN shows that the resources allocated by the border have shown real results in lowering the level of violence along the border.