“Violence in the vicinity of the U.S.-Mexico border continues to increase at an alarming rate. We believe that this violence represents a serious threat to the national security of the United States as well as a serious threat to U.S. citizens that live along the 1,969-mile long border,” a dozen bipartisan members of Congress from border states wrote President Obama.

“The federal government currently does not know who is entering our country and when, which obviously creates tremendous security concerns,” said Brewer’s spokesman Paul Senseman.

And in Texas, “we respond to threats based on risk, not occurrence,” said Gov. Rick Perry’s spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger. Thus Perry has activated a secret state border protection emergency plan.

“With the safety of Texans on the line, we can’t afford to wait,” he said.

But the Huffington Post assures us we can all relax:

“It’s one of the safest parts of America, and it’s getting safer. It’s the U.S.-Mexico border, and even as politicians say more federal troops are needed to fight rising violence, government data obtained by The Associated Press show it actually isn’t so dangerous after all.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/03/us-mexico-border-safety-a_n_598825.html