This video report shows how much security is deteriorating on the border. Via Stand with Arizona:

Texas Ranchers Using AK47s to Defend Against Cartel Invaders from Stand With Arizona on Vimeo.

Just a little note on how secure our border is from CNS News:

(CNSNews.com) – Organized crime-related deaths in one Mexican border state during the first nine months of 2011 exceed the number of Afghan civilians killed in roughly the same period in all of war-torn Afghanistan.

According to the Mexican government, from January through September 2011 2,276 deaths were recorded in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, which borders Texas and New Mexico.

A Nov. 2011 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report states that over nearly the same period – January through October 2011 – 2,177 civilians were killed in Afghanistan, where a U.S.-led war against the Taliban is underway. It did not provide a breakdown of responsibility for that period, but said that in 2010, 75 percent of civilian deaths were attributed to the Taliban and other “anti-government elements.”

Per capita, a person was at least nine times more likely to be murdered in Chihuahua last year than in Afghanistan. (Chihuahua has 3,406,465 inhabitants, according to Mexico’s 2010 census; the CIA World Factbook reports that in July 2011 the estimated population of Afghanistan was 29,835,392.)
According to the reported numbers, the drug-related murder rate was about 67 for every 100,000 inhabitants in Chihuahua last year, while in Afghanistan the civilian killing rate was an estimated seven for every 100,000 people living there.

There were more drug-related killings in Chihuahua than in any other Mexican state, according to the government figures.  Chihuahua, the largest state in Mexico, includes Ciudad Juarez, a border city located across from El Paso, Texas. It is the deadliest city in Mexico and is considered one of the most dangerous places in the world.

In other words it’s a feral city surrounded by lawless no-man’s land where neo-fuedal warlords fight for control of resources which included not only drug routes but slaves and even the economies of small towns who are extorted by cartel gangs.

So why would we need border security?

The idea that this violence doesn’t threaten our security no matter what policies we enact (legalizing drugs won’t create a functioning Mexican society) is a pipe dream. We need a strong border security policy that treats the border as the low intensity conflict zone that it is.

Above is a picture via Theo Spark of thee kind of gunboats Texas is using to combat cartel pirate activity on borderland lakes. There are several photos so be sure to check them out.

But why does Texas need to deploy gunboats in U.S. territory? Because the obama adminstration (and frankly Bush before that) have ignored the deteriorating situation on the Mexico border and there is now basicly a war going on down there.

From GO San Angelo:

SAN ANGELO, Texas — The Texas Department of Public Safety soon will patrol border lakes with gun-mounted, high-speed power boats in response to drug-related violence along the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Mexican drug cartels have unlimited financial resources to procure high-powered, military-grade weapons,” Tom Vinger, assistant chief of public affairs with the DPS, said in an email.

“Cartel operatives have fired at law enforcement officers while they were attempting to interdict drug loads on the Rio Grande River. When our officers come under fire from these weapons, we want to afford them every opportunity to return home safely from each patrol mission.”

Vinger declined to be interviewed for this story and did not answer several questions submitted by email.

According to a Dec. 9 report on KXAN-TV in Austin, six gunboats will patrol Amistad and Falcon lakes. Vinger said the boats “will patrol all navigable portions of the Rio Grande River and the border lakes it supplies. There will be boats that are primarily assigned to patrol the lower portion of the Intracoastal Waterway of Texas, but will still be available to respond to incidents occurring on the Texas-Mexico border if needed.”

KXAN reported that the boats, costing $580,000 each, are 34 feet long and have armored hulls and three 300 horsepower outboard motors, four machine gun turrets and state-of-the-art night vision cameras.

The television station said 40 DPS officers will be assigned to the newly created Tactical Marine Unit.

So Texas needs a “tactical marine unit” but that border is secure?