How Homeland Security got involved in the hunt for Texas Democrats

From Dallas News.com, here is an exceprt from a statemnt by the Federal Bureau of Immigration and Customers Enforcement about how the Homeland Security department became involved in the search for the Texas Democrats.

It's important to note that the statement neither indicates the name of the officer that contacted the department, nor gives any idea of why he chose to do so or if he were instructed to by someone else. Those are questions that are still in need of answer.

While it is certainly possible that an over-zealous officer might have decided to use any tool he could think of to try and locate the Democrats, I have to think that it is more likely that he made the call after being told to do so by someone higher up in the chain, for the simple reason that calling in the Homeland Security department - which is intended to be used only for the prevention and investigation of terrorist attacks - isn't something that would be high on the list of things for an officer to do.

DallasNews.com | Dallas-Fort Worth | Politics: State

Here, from a statement by the Federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is how its Air and Marine Interdiction Coordination Center got involved in the search for a plane carrying the Texas House Democrats:

The bureau says one of its officers at the center in Riverside, Calif., received "an urgent phone call from a concerned Texas Department of Public Safety officer" on Monday who stated: "We got a problem, and I hope you can help me out. We had a plane that was supposed to be going from Ardmore, Oklahoma, to Georgetown, Texas. It had state representatives in it, and we cannot find this plane."

The bureau says the DPS officer "expressed concern that the plane had not arrived at its intended destination." The DPS officer provided the tail number of the aircraft to the center and asked for help. The bureau says "from all indications, this request from the Texas DPS was an urgent plea for assistance from a law enforcement agency."

"Believing the aircraft may have crashed or be lost," the center contacted the FAA and others but was unable to locate the plane.