WASHINGTON An unmanned aerial drone will soon fly over Texas skies as drug-cartel violence continues to escalate on the U.S.-Mexico border, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told a Senate hearing Tuesday.
Texas is the last border state to receive a Predator drone, and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said that has hurt intelligence capabilities to federal, state and local law enforcement on the ground.
I'm concerned that some of the assets that could be deployed to help not only quell the violence but also keep our borders secure, are not being deployed because of unnecessary foot-dragging,' Cornyn said.
Napolitano said Texas was the last Southwest border state to receive a drone because Texas airspace is more crowded.'
She said the timeline for placing a drone in Texas, which tentatively would be stored in Corpus Christi, remains a decision for the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA now has to go in and carve out, as I understand it, space for the Predator,' she said.
The secretary said that over the past 15 months, federal law enforcement initiatives have made the border more secure than in any other time in history.
Then her lips fell off ...
She said the number of Border Patrol agents has doubled from 10,000 to 20,000 in just five years, and 653.3 miles of border fence have been built.
What border fence? 
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