[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 11 (Tuesday, February 3, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S537-S538]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                COMMENDING A FLORIDA IMMIGRATION OFFICER

  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I thank the leaders for giving 
me this time. I want to have the Senate recognize an American citizen 
who, very likely, prevented the entry into the United States of what is 
suspected as the 20th hijacker. I want to tell you this story about 
this immigration officer, who is at the Orlando International Airport. 
His name is Jose Melendez Perez.
  Mr. Melendez, a little more than a month before the attacks on 
September 11, 2001, denied entry into the United States at the Orlando 
Airport of a Saudi national who had arrived at the airport from the 
Middle East by way of London. Federal authorities now believe that this 
man, Mohamed al-Qahtani, was the missing 20th hijacker. He was later 
captured in Afghanistan. He is now being held in Guantanamo Bay, a 
place I have just visited with our four-star general, General Hill, 
just before Christmas to have Christmas dinner with our troops who are 
conducting that operation there.
  This story is quite an interesting story. It is beginning to get a 
flurry of recognition, and that is just recognition for this great 
American. The fact is, he was just doing his job, but he was so expert 
in it that he stopped the entry into the United States of this person. 
He alertly denied al-Qahtani entry into the Orlando Airport based on a 
combination of indicators that suggested he was up to no good. Mr. 
Melendez's experience, training, and instincts served our Nation very 
well.
  It is interesting that what he told me, when I met with him last 
Friday to congratulate him, was that he just got

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a feeling about this guy as he was referred to Mr. Melendez for 
secondary questioning, since he did not speak English. After 
questioning al-Qahtani and discovering many holes in his story--holes 
about why he was there, how long he was going to stay, who was going to 
meet him--and it is thought, very possibly, that it was the hijacker 
pilot of the first plane that went into the World Trade Center who was 
the guy upstairs to pick him up--Mohamed Atta. We don't know that for 
sure. But also there was the fact that he didn't have a return ticket 
or enough cash to purchase one.
  After having that uneasy feeling about none of these answers and a 
very belligerent manner, by the way, by the man being questioned, Mr. 
Melendez put it into his own hands to make the decision that he was 
going to have him arrested, put into detention, and sent back the next 
day on a plane. By refusing al-Qahtani entry into the country, Mr. 
Melendez very well may have helped save many additional lives on 
September 11.
  So this is a proud professionalism in the Immigration Service which 
so often gets nothing but complaints. I think it is time for us to 
stand up and salute Mr. Melendez and his service. He modestly protested 
to me last Friday that he was only doing his job. But we know because 
of the replicated actions of folks like him being done every day, not 
only in our Border Patrol and other immigration activities, but in the 
State Department and in decisions being made as to whether or not to 
grant a visa in embassies around this country, and with all of our 
intelligence services as they are making these decisions day by day, 
hour by hour, it is working to protect us.
  Mr. Melendez has shown us what correct protection of our borders 
looks like. Now we want to rededicate and congratulate all of the hard-
working colleagues at the Department of Homeland Security. We want to 
provide them with the resources they need to protect our borders and 
the ports of entry. Dedicated security personnel are not there to make 
travel more difficult; they are there to make us safer. Mr. Melendez in 
this instance apparently prevented the compounding of a national 
tragedy on September 11, 2 years ago.

  Mr. President, I thank you for the opportunity that I could recognize 
a wonderful American, an American who spent 27 years in the U.S. Army.
  When Mr. Melendez retired, he decided to continue his Federal 
service, in this case with the Immigration Service. He is a wonderful 
American who has a big family centered in Orlando, with nine 
grandchildren spread over several cities and some back in his native 
Puerto Rico.
  I am very proud today to share his story so our colleagues in the 
Senate might also recognize his brand of modest heroism.
  I thank the Chair.

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