Southbound Checkpoints Face Uphill Battle

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-legislature/82nd-legislative-session/southbound-checkpoints-face-uphill-battle/

measure eyed by some lawmakers as a means to stop the flow of illicit cash and weapons into Mexico via the Texas border is on life support.

An amendment to a Department of Motor Vehicles “clean-up” bill, HB 2357 by state Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, would grant the Texas Department of Public Safety the authority to erect southbound checkpoints 250 yards away from an international border crossing into Mexico to search for cash, drugs, ammunition and weapons. It was offered by state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, who tried and failed to have the measure adopted as a stand-alone bill earlier this session.

HB 2357 seeks to modernize DMV record sharing, retention and vehicle registration, which Pickett says makes the amendment too unrelated to be attached to his bill.

“It’s not something this bill had anything to do with,” Pickett said. He fears fighting to keep the amendment on will kill the entire bill, which he said would also expand the DMV's online capabilities for titling, registration and liens.

State Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, is the Senate sponsor of the bill and accepted the amendment after two lines in Lucio’s original bill were altered to include in the checkpoints’ purposes checking for the fraudulent titling of stolen vehicles heading south.

how much more of Mexico's job are we supposed to do?