Top Texas officials directed Department of Public Safety troopers late Wednesday to begin a surge to secure the Texas-Mexico border in the wake of a growing number of immigrants flooding into the southern part of the state.

Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Joe Straus signed off on a plan to spend $1.3 million a week to try to combat the problem, even as a group of conservative state lawmakers asked them to call the legislature back to work in a special session to address the situation.

“Texas can’t afford to wait for Washington to act on this crisis and we will not sit idly by while the safety and security of our citizens are threatened,” Perry said in a statement. “Until the federal government recognizes the danger it’s putting our citizens in by its inaction to secure the border, Texas law enforcement must do everything they can to keep our citizens and communities safe.”

Perry, Dewhurst and Straus released a joint letter directing DPS officials to move forward with surge operations through at least the end of the calendar year, using any money allocated for the agency. They noted that previous law enforcement surge operations in the border proved effective.

This came as a number of state legislators asked for a special session to try to find their own solution.

Read more at the Star-Telegram