[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 179 (Monday, November 13, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H16949]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  REALITIES OF LIVING ALONG THE BORDER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 1995, the gentleman from California [Mr. Bilbray] is 
recognized during morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Speaker, I would just like to point out that a lot 
of people out in the real world America are watching the Republicans 
and the Democrats arguing about the budget issue. And it is sort of 
interesting to see that people who claim to be protecting the seniors 
again and again would actually encourage a veto of a bill that would 
guarantee that something be stopped that the seniors of America have 
been sick and tired of having happened too often.
  I am just a freshman. I do not know about all these great tactics. 
But I know one thing: Seniors in my district are sick and tired of the 
Federal Government dipping into their reserve fund for Social Security 
and Medicaid and other reserve funds. They want that put aside for 
them, so that they have some guarantee. All this maneuvering may sound 
real good in Washington, but my seniors want the President and Congress 
to keep their fingers off the Social Security trust fund and the 
Medicare trust fund and the other trust funds and figure out how to run 
government without raiding those funds.

  But, Mr. Speaker, I am not here to speak about that today. I am here 
to sort of remind Washington, DC, of the realities of those of us that 
live along the border. I am privileged to represent the communities in 
San Diego that happen to be on the international frontier. Mr. Speaker, 
while we hear all about Washington, about how Operation Gatekeeper 
secured the border, that we have control, that do not worry about it, 
well, Mr. Speaker, I guess the message really struck home this week, 
because while Secretary Babbitt was visiting us in San Diego, Mr. 
Babbitt learned something that those of us in San Diego and along the 
border know all too often. He went out to get his van. It happened that 
his van was gone. The van had been stolen.
  Mr. Speaker, the fact is a day later his van was found. It has 39 
illegal aliens in it going down the freeway. Welcome to San Diego and 
the border, Mr. Secretary. This is what we live with along the border 
every day of the year.
  The fact is those of us in the Southwest put up with our cars being 
stolen and shipped south and north, because of the no man's land that 
the Federal Government continues to allow to occur along the border, 
and the immorality of the Federal Government to have the gall to try to 
say that they have secured the area. I think it is terrible and 
propagates this concept that the people cannot trust Washington, 
especially when they know their cars are disappearing.
  I have one constituent that has gone out four times, and all he has 
left of the four cars that used to be there is a bag of plastic where 
they had torn up his car to be able to break in and take it.
  Not only do the cars go north, Mr. Speaker, but they also go south. 
We have been able to photograph Mexican Federal officials driving 
American cars down south. A lot of us supported free trade with Mexico, 
but let me assure you, this is not the free trade we had planned. And 
the Mexican officials do not even have the decency to take the license 
plate off the car. They still have California license plates out there, 
Mr. Speaker.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I would ask that Secretary Babbitt get together with 
the President and remind him that things are not under control along 
the border, that common decency says the Federal Government must 
straighten this out. And if he does not care about his own car, I ask 
that you recognize the same day this happened that tragedy occurred in 
the Tijuana River, where four illegal aliens tried to swim the river 
back because they were concerned about being caught by immigration 
officials and they drowned. There are four families in Mexico, Mr. 
Speaker, who are going to have bodies shipped back to them in body bags 
because they were told in Mexico come on into America. We will let you 
in illegally. And they tried it, and they are now dead, and their 
families are going to have to accept the body bags.
  That is the immorality, Mr. Speaker, of our American Government not 
controlling our national sovereignty. And in the words of the ex-
Governor of Baja, CA, that ring quite clearly to those of us along the 
border, we need to recognize that American sovereignty is not only a 
right, it is a responsibility, and it is a responsibility of the 
Federal Government that they have to finally bear.

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