[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 17 (Friday, January 27, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H837-H838]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               GET TOUGH WITH MEXICO REGARDING CAR THEFT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Bilbray] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  (Mr. BILBRAY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Speaker, we have heard a lot of Mexico again this 
week, 
[[Page H838]] a lot of talk about the bailout of the Clinton 
administration when it comes to Mexico. I happen to represent the city 
of San Diego, the proud home of the championship San Diego Chargers. 
But sadly we happen to be the home of one of the biggest car theft 
rings in the United States.
  Mr. Speaker, the citizens of San Diego County have to put up with 
their vehicles being stolen and shipped to Mexico and sold on Mexican 
markets. This is not the kind of free trade, Mr. Speaker, that we 
support in San Diego. In fact, in the treaty of the 1920's and in 1981, 
it specifically stated that stolen cars that were inappropriately 
exported to Mexico would be returned within 45 days, 45 days, of the 
time that they were recovered.
  Well, Mr. Speaker, not only are the vehicles not returned within 45 
days, but they are actually held, used by Federal and State Mexican 
officials for their personal and public use. And, Mr. Speaker, here is 
a photo of a Mexican agent driving a United States stolen car.
  What is the issue here, Mr. Speaker? The issue is that there is a 
fine line between being a nice guy and being a patsy. And frankly I am 
not so sure that the Clinton administration knows where that line is 
when it comes to foreign policy.
  In San Diego we strongly support cooperative efforts with our 
neighbors to the south. And when I say neighbors, I mean neighbors. I 
live on the border with Baja California, and I am proud of the way we 
have been able to work with them. But this administration sent a letter 
6 months ago, Mr. Speaker, asking the Federal Government to address 
this atrocity against the private property rights of the people of San 
Diego. It has been 6 months, and all this administration has said is 
that ``We'll talk to them.''
  Mr. Speaker, the Clinton administration wants us to approve a loan 
guarantee, that they will be rough and tough in case Mexico doesn't 
come across. Well, we have treaties today, and these treaties are being 
thrown away and discarded by both governments. And frankly, I have to 
say to the President and his administration that if they do not have 
the guts or the wherewithal to be able to recover our stolen cars when 
they are being used by Federal agents in Mexico, my God, how do they 
expect us to be able to trust them with a $40 billion-plus guarantee?
  Mr. Speaker, I spent 20 years working with Mexico and 20 years 
working with the Federal Government, and it is sad to say that this 
administration shows me no ability to do what is right for the people 
of the United States when it comes to representing us in the world 
outside our boundaries. This administration has sold us down the river 
and refuses to stand up for the rights of our citizens.
  I know that there are those in Mexico who will not want to hear this, 
but frankly I don't blame the people of Mexico and I don't even blame 
their Federal Government half as much as I blame the Government that my 
citizens have not only elected, but they pay the salaries of to 
represent them and fight for them.
  The fault does not lie with Mexico. It lies with a Federal 
administration that does not have the guts to stand up for its 
citizens.
  Mr. Speaker, we look forward to good cooperation with Mexico. We want 
to see free trade, the right kind of free trade. We want to see the 
great social and economic and political bonds that are possible with 
our neighbors to the south. But if this President and his 
administration does not understand that before we can harvest the crop 
of economic and social prosperity with the NAFTA free trade and other 
relationships, if they don't understand we must first pull out the 
stumps and the boulders out of the field of environmental problems, of 
uncontrolled crime along the border, then this administration just does 
not get it. It is taking short cuts that are leading to a dead end.
                              {time}  1520

  I stand here today to call on the administration to tell the people 
of San Diego County when they can expect to have their cars returned. 
And it does not take very far to look, Mr. Speaker. All you have to do 
is go to the federal agencies in Baja California, and you can find 
American cars with California licenses still on the car, still on the 
car driven to official raids by the federal agencies. That is not a 
hidden agenda. That is a public agenda, and now it is up to the 
President and the administration to make sure this agenda is addressed 
and the property of the citizens of the United States is returned to 
its proper location. Maybe then we can talk about what kind of 
guarantees we can work with. But only after they have taken care of the 
existing treaties.

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