Not ‘A Mile’ of Border Secure, Texas Sheriff Says

By Penny Starr

Texas Sheriff Tomas Herrera said he does not agree with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's assessment of security at the U.S.-Mexico border as being "better than it has ever been."

Herrera, in a telephone interview with CNSNews.com, said that not "a mile" of the 85-mile stretch of border in Maverick County, Texas, which is separated from Mexico by the Rio Grande River, is secure and that the violence of Mexican drug cartels is spilling over into the United States as cartels come into Texas and kidnap teenagers for their smuggling operations.

"They come in and kidnap some of our citizens in this county and take them into Mexico," Herrera told CNSNews.com. "We're talking about young kids."

"These are high school kiddos and junior high kids that are used by the cartels to smuggle drugs into the United States," said Herrera, who has been in law enforcement for 37 years and sheriff of Maverick County for five.