AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ The Texas Department of Public Safety director says drug-related violence along the Mexico border is much worse than the drug wars in Colombia 20 years ago.
Members of the state House Select Committee on Emergency Preparedness told DPS Director Steve McCraw to recommend an action plan for Texas lawmakers to consider when they meet next year.
McCraw said Tuesday that drug cartels use gangs to operate as hit squads along both sides of the border.
He says he considers illegal immigrants who join Houston gangs and engage in criminal conduct to be “spillover violence.” However, McCraw acknowledges that broad definition would apply to communities across the United States.