https://www.texastribune.org/2014/06/19/states-leadership-instructs-dps-increase-patrols-b/
1. Introduction: An argument is “a form of discourse in which the writer or speaker tries to persuade an audience to accept,
reject, or think a certain way about a problem that cannot be solved by scientific or mathematical reasoning alone” (White and Billings 3).
#1:Have you driven to Rio Grande City lately? If not, go west and you will notice the pervasive presence of both the United States
Border Patrol and, most recently, the Department of Public Safety State Troopers parked in their black and white patrol units at every
corner. The DPS presence is a response to what has been perceived as the most recent “crisis on the border” as immigrants cross in
flight from conditions in their home countries in search of more livable conditions here.
The questions that you must address are:
1. Should the DPS be involved in border enforcement?
2. What is its role?
3. Is a DPS presence helpful or harmful? Read all the articles, decide where you stand on the issue, and then formulate your
argument.
2. Evidence: Your argument must include credible evidence in support of your position. You must include 2-4 sources on the list. You
must use at least two articles listed in the essay folder and also, if necessary, provide additional documentation that informs and
supports your argument. Additional documentation is not mandatory.
3. Structure of the Argument: You must use the classical model of argument: thesis, evidence, the appeals (ethos, pathos,
logos), counterargument and refutation, and conclusion.
4. More Specific Instructions:
• Your essay must be 4-6 pages in length;
• Type your essay in MLA format, double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12 point font.
• Document your sources using MLA format and include a Works Cited page
The Classical Model of Argument
(see Aristotle’s Rhetoric)
I. Introduction
A. Lead-in
B. Overview
C. Background
II. Position statement (thesis)
III. Appeals (ethos, pathos, logos) and evidence
A. Appeals to ethics, character, authority (ethos); to emotions (pathos); to reason (logos)
B. Evidence: citing of statistics, results, findings, examples, laws, relevant passages from authoritative texts
IV. Counterargument and Refutation (often presented simultaneously with evidence)
V. Conclusion
A. Highlights of key points presented
B. Recommendations
C. Illuminating restatement of thesis
DPS Goes International
byMelissa del Bosque Published on Wednesday, May 7, 2014, at 1:50 CST
www.txdps.state.tx.us
Steve McCraw
Ever since Steve McCraw, who was once an FBI agent, became director of the Texas Department of Public Safety in 2009, he’s striven to make
the state’s largest law enforcement agency more like a wing of the Department of Homeland Security. McCraw has invested in armored
gunboats, a surveillance plane and even a helicopter sniper program (since discontinued after two undocumented Guatemalan migrants were
killed in 2012). Now the agency has become the federal government’s newest partner in fighting the global war on drugs.
In late March, McCraw signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs
(INL) that allows DPS to send its troopers to other countries to train. DPS can also train foreign police officers in Texas under the new
agreement.
The INL oversees a $1.7 billion annual budget, of which about half a billion is dedicated to “counternarcotic control strategies” such as
law enforcement training, drug crop eradication and foreign programs that support the U.S drug war strategy. INL spokesperson Pooja
Jhunjhunwala says the federal agency has one other partnership in Texas. Webb County Sheriff Martin Cuellar (whose brother is Democratic
Congressman Henry Cuellar) signed an agreement with the agency in 2011. Last year, Martin Cuellar’s department hosted a three-week study
tour in Laredo for eight narcotics officers from Ecuador.
After signing the agreement with DPS’ McCraw, Ambassador William Brownfield, assistant secretary for the INL, told Texas Public Radio that
DPS has unique expertise in border security, especially in drug- and gang-related crimes. Brownfield cited Central American gangs as one
area that DPS might focus on in the new collaboration. He said he hopes U.S. law enforcement will soon “address issues related to gangs
down there that eventually operate up here.”
McCraw, in a written statement, said he was pleased to have DPS join the U.S. State Department’s global campaign in the war on drugs:
“Crime today is alarmingly transitory, transnational, organized and covert, and it’s not enough for governments to focus solely on
protecting public safety and disrupting crime within their borders—the efforts must be global.”
