Texas Gov. Perry Asks for Troops

The escalating border violence has prompted Texas Governor Rick Perry to ask for troops to guard the border. This week Juárez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz moved his family to El Paso for safety.

This morning the El Paso Times reports that Texas Governor Rick Perry is asking for 1,000 troops to guard the Texas-Mexico border. Perry is also asking the Texas state legislature for $135 million for border security. The Mexican National Commission of Human Rights has reported that organized crime has killed more than 10,000 people in Mexico since 2007! According to yesterday’s El Paso Times, El Paso police are investigating the possibility that elements of the Juárez drug cartel may cross the border into the United States to come after Juárez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz and his family. El Paso police Detective Carlos Carrillo said Monday. "

We received information that the Juárez mayor lives in El Paso, and that possibly they were going to come to El Paso to get him," Carrillo said. "He has not asked us for our help, but it's our duty to protect any resident of our city who may be under threat."

Mexican authorities are investigating the killing of a bodyguard of Chihuahua Gov. Jose Reyes Baeza. Two other Baeza bodyguards were also wounded and all of the bodyguards were members of the Chihuahua state police.

Juárez city official Guillermo Dowell said the violence in Juárez and Chihuahua state is comparable to what occurred in Ireland and Iraq, "where people were killed not because of what they did or failed to do, but to plant terror in a city and its authorities."