By . Daily Mail Reporter . Texas has sent up to 1,000 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border as it tries to crack down on drug and human trafficking, officials said Friday. The surge, announced last month and recently implemented, will cost the state's Department for Public Safety an extra $1.3 million a week. Governor Rick Perry, a potential Republican candidate in the 2016 presidential election, has blamed the Obama administration for not doing enough to halt a surge in children from Central America crossing the border. Patrol: U.S. border agents detain immigrants on the Texas side of the U.S.-Mexico border. The state has increased patrols . Perry said the influx of children has diverted U.S. Border Patrol attention from cracking down on criminal syndicates. 'Mexican cartels and criminal elements are taking advantage of this situation by further exploiting these gaps along the border to commit heinous crimes that will further their business,' Tom Vinger, spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said. During the nine months ending June 30, more than 57,000 children, many of them from Central America, were detained at the U.S.-Mexico border, double last year's count, according to U.S. government data. The White House and others have called the influx a humanitarian crisis. The Obama administration has requested an additional $3.7 billion from Congress to address the situation. On Thursday, the department took media out to the Rio Grande to show how its fleet of gunboats is patrolling the waterway that divides Mexico and the U.S. Patrol: Helicopters survey scrub near the border, where an extra 1,000 National Guard troops have been sent . Search: A Customs and Border Protection team drives along the border. Texas has seen a surge in immigrants crossing recently . 'We know the enemy, the cartel, on the other side they have cover, they have concealment, they have the element of surprise. 'But what we enjoy is superior training, superior tactics, speed and overwhelming firepower,' Department of Public Safety Lieutenant Charlie Goble told Reuters. Perry has won praise for his moves among Republicans and criticism from Democrats who say he is spending millions on deployments that are more about politics than border protection.
Surge in agents comes after rise in drug gangs and people smuggling .
Governor Rick Perry claims cartels are taking advantage while agents are distracted by surge in immigrant children .
By . Daily Mail Reporter . Texas has sent up to 1,000 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border as it tries to crack down on drug and human trafficking, officials said Friday. The surge, announced last month and recently implemented, will cost the state's Department for Public Safety an extra $1.3 million a week. Governor Rick Perry, a potential Republican candidate in the 2016 presidential election, has blamed the Obama administration for not doing enough to halt a surge in children from Central America crossing the border. Patrol: U.S. border agents detain immigrants on the Texas side of the U.S.-Mexico border. The state has increased patrols . Perry said the influx of children has diverted U.S. Border Patrol attention from cracking down on criminal syndicates. 'Mexican cartels and criminal elements are taking advantage of this situation by further exploiting these gaps along the border to commit heinous crimes that will further their business,' Tom Vinger, spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said. During the nine months ending June 30, more than 57,000 children, many of them from Central America, were detained at the U.S.-Mexico border, double last year's count, according to U.S. government data. The White House and others have called the influx a humanitarian crisis. The Obama administration has requested an additional $3.7 billion from Congress to address the situation. On Thursday, the department took media out to the Rio Grande to show how its fleet of gunboats is patrolling the waterway that divides Mexico and the U.S. Patrol: Helicopters survey scrub near the border, where an extra 1,000 National Guard troops have been sent . Search: A Customs and Border Protection team drives along the border. Texas has seen a surge in immigrants crossing recently . 'We know the enemy, the cartel, on the other side they have cover, they have concealment, they have the element of surprise. 'But what we enjoy is superior training, superior tactics, speed and overwhelming firepower,' Department of Public Safety Lieutenant Charlie Goble told Reuters. Perry has won praise for his moves among Republicans and criticism from Democrats who say he is spending millions on deployments that are more about politics than border protection.
Governor Rick Perry, a potential Republican enough to halt a surge in children from Central cartels and criminal elements are taking