HOUSTON, TX – Beginning today, Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) flights will begin out of Corpus Christi, Texas with the expressed intent of covering the U.S./Mexico border from the El Centro Sector in California all the way to the Gulf of Mexico in Texas. The UAS drones will be used for aerial surveillance to assist personnel on the ground.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says the new, border-wide use of the Predator aircraft comes on the heels of the recently passed Southwest border security supplemental legislation, which will provide two additional UAS's that will bolster these newly expanded operations and comes just before the November 2 elections amidst increasing drug gang related violence near the border.

The Department of Homeland Security calls the addition of the drones, “just the latest steps in the historic approach – and unprecedented amount of resources – that the President and this Administration have directed to the southwest border since launching the Southwest Border Initiative in March 2009.”

Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security Secretary said,"This is yet another critical step we have taken in ensuring the safety of the border and is an important tool in our security toolbox."

The DHS says that President Obama has authorized the deployment of an additional 1,200 National Guard troops to the border, “to provide intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance, and immediate support to counter narcotics enforcement while Customs and Border Protection recruits and trains additional officers and agents to serve on the border. The Administration is dedicating $600 million in new funding to enhance security technology at the border, share information and support with state, local, and tribal law enforcement, and increase federal law enforcement activities at the border. That effort will include the deployment of more agents, investigators, and prosecutors as part of a coordinated effort with states and cities to target illicit networks trafficking in people, drugs, illegal weapons, and money.”

Of the 1,200 National Guard troops deployed to the 2,000 miles of border, only 250 will be deployed in Texas. Governor Rick Perry (R) says that is not enough and has requested 1,000 National Guard troops be deployed to the Texas/Mexico border.

On August 9th President Obama stopped by Texas to attend two fundraisers and Perry was waiting on the tarmac at Austin’s Begrstrom International Airport as Obama emerged from Air Force One. The two men spoke for a few seconds and Perry gave a letter to one of Obama’s aides stressing the need for more federal involvement along the embattled border.

Perry’s letter stated in part, “Drug cartels and related forces are waging war in Northern Mexico, their tactics including death threats, car bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and beheadings. Since 2006, this war has taken 28,000 lives.”

“Absent stronger federal action, it’s only a matter of time before that violence affects more innocent Americans. There is mounting evidence of spillover violence on U.S. soil.

“The need for border security along the Rio Grande should no longer be underestimated by the federal government, Mr. President. An unsecured border is a threat to our national security and to the safety and security of all of our citizens."

Perry specifically noted that the proposed deployment of just 200 some-odd National Guard troops along the 1,200 miles of Texas/Mexico border “is clearly insufficient.”

More recently every Republican member of Congress from Texas sent a letter to the president supporting Governor Perry’s request for more guardsmen and called the president’s current plan “woefully inadequate.”

In the few days since Governor Perry’s letter, violence along the border area in Mexico has increased. Last week a mass grave containing 72 people believed to have been murdered by a Mexican drug cartel less than 100 miles south of McAllen, Texas.

Over the past few weeks stray bullets from gun battles south of the border have struck the El Paso City Hall, closed a major highway, and hit the University of Texas at El Paso. After the bullets struck a building on the University of Texas at El Paso campus, Governor Perry said, “By the grace of God, the stray bullets from these incidents have yet to injure or kill a Texan.”

“It is unconscionable that the Obama Administration is gambling with American lives, betting that escalating violence from these cartels won't eventually shed the blood of innocent people on U.S. soil,” Perry said.

"We must ensure El Paso and other border communities remain a safe place for people to live, work and raise a family. It's time for Washington to stop the rhetoric and immediately deploy a significance force of personnel and resources to the border to protect our homeland."

The drones and too few additional law enforcement personnel on the ground also do little to stop the flow of illegal immigrants across the porous border. Calls to close the border continue. John Faulk, Republican candidate for Congress (TX 18th Congressional District) is a staunch defender of a secure border and the full completion of a fence along the U.S./Mexico border.

In response to the addition of aerial drones along the border today, John Faulk says, “No amount of technology can permanently solve the issue of border security. Illegal immigrants will always find a way to cross the border.” Faulk adds, “What is needed is a focused policy of enforcement at the national level that eliminates the lure for those illegal immigrants: jobs, education and free health care.”