AUSTIN—Gov. Rick Perry, saying violent gangs are “spreading like a virus” along the southern border, said Tuesday Texas lawmakers need to spend millions more to beef up law enforcement and fight international smugglers.

Perry said he would ask the state Legislature, which in 2007 approved $110 million to fight border crime, to provide another $24 million to hire more police, upgrade law enforcement technology and enhance multi-agency intelligence sharing.

“The most important threat to our state’s security is the rise of these ruthless and powerful transnational gangs,” Perry said. “They’re spreading like a virus, they’re recruiting members in our middle schools and highs schools, in our prisons. They are ultra-violent gangs.”

Perry, a Republican who is seeking re-election in 2010, spoke after accepting a report from the Texas Border Security Council. The panel was created to oversee state border security dollars and make recommendations to the governor.

The council recommended expanding border security operations to inspect vehicles and people going into Mexico from Texas in order to stop the illegal shipments of weapons, cash and vehicles. It also called for enhanced technology to enable better information sharing among law enforcement officials and said the state should consider adding K-9 units at ports of entry.

The report recommends maintaining and possibly expanding funding for intelligence centers, patrol boats and vehicles, video surveillance and police overtime pay. Some border-area officials have complained that deputies are burned out from pulling extra shifts, but Perry said he’ll also seek money to hire more officers.

In addition to the $24 million, the governor said he’ll ask the Legislature to give law enforcement better gang fighting tools and expand gang prevention efforts.

“We’ll bring massive pressure to bear on the leadership structure of these gangs and we’ll grind them down, one tip at a time, one piece of information at a time, one conspiracy conviction at a time, one gang at a time,” he said.

The 88-page report, and Perry, offered up criticism of the federal government. The council said Washington had failed to provide sufficient funding and staff to prevent smuggling and had also failed to ensure the “secure and efficient movement people and commodities to and from Mexico.”

Perry offered a more blunt assessment: “We’ve been asking Washington D.C. to help us on border security for years now and they basically have done nothing.”