[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 29 (Wednesday, March 8, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H759-H760]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SECURE TEXAS-MEXICO BORDER
Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to claim the time of
the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier).
[[Page H760]]
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Texas?
There was no objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, our porous southwestern border is getting worse
by the day and the number of illegal entries into the United States
continues to grow at a ridiculously rapid rate.
Just yesterday, a study released by the Pew Hispanic Center said that
the population of illegals is growing by 500,000 a year. This is
because of the lack of border security in this country. Our
government's failure to slow this illegal action is fueling financial
crisis to American taxpayers, especially those in the 24 counties along
the 2,000-mile border between the United States and Mexico.
The costs that come along with this are draining local communities as
they struggle to find money for health care, education, and other
social service costs associated with caring for illegal individuals.
Unfortunately, the people that pay for this illegal activity are
American citizens, not illegals. Americans pay the price for illegal
immigration. Americans always pay.
Unrestricted illegal immigration throughout Texas and the entire
United States drains local cities of money that should be used
elsewhere. About 20 percent of health care costs, 20 percent of
education costs, goes to those illegally in the United States. They
take from America and do not contribute to these expenses.
There is more, Mr. Speaker. In California, San Diego County spends
$50 million a year in the arrest, jailing, and prosecution and defense
of illegal immigrants for crimes committed after they enter the United
States.
The University of Texas at El Paso has a study that found the
following: Treating illegal immigrants in hospitals accounts for nearly
one quarter of the uncompensated costs at border county hospitals in
our country. Cochise County, Arizona spend tens of thousands of dollars
picking up trash left at campsites by these illegals. Prosecuted and
jailing illegals costs this county an additional $5 million a year. And
25 percent of Cochise County's budget is paid to health care for the
uninsured. Most of those people are illegally in the country.
Our out-of-control border is not only affecting the taxpayers, it is
also affecting local law enforcement officials. According to the USA
Today, in 2004 there were 1.14 million arrests along the U.S.-Mexico
border. There are not nearly enough Federal detention centers to house
all of these individuals; therefore, some are captured and then let go.
Others are put in local jails, and once again, the taxpayer and local
communities are left to foot this bill.
I have been down to the Texas-Mexico border and I have spoken
firsthand with numerous sheriffs in our communities. They are
struggling and they need more help from the Federal Government. We have
a policy in this country that we capture individuals who are illegally
here and then release them. This catch-and-release policy defies common
sense.
Meanwhile, Mr. Speaker, there are approximately 10,000 FEMA trailers
sitting in Hope, Arkansas that have never been used. They were not used
in hurricane recovery because FEMA has some ridiculous policy that
those trailers cannot go to flood-prone areas, so they were never used
for individuals who had to evacuate because of Katrina and Rita. So why
don't we take those 10,000 trailers down to the Texas-Mexico border and
when we capture people illegally in the United States, why don't we put
them in those trailers and house them there until they can be deported?
Mr. Speaker, the violence along our southern border continues to
increase and violent confrontations between drug smugglers and law
enforcement officials is at an all-time high. Local Texas sheriffs have
come to expect violent resistance when they encounter drug smugglers
and human traffickers. Not to mention our sheriffs are out-gunned, out-
numbered, and out-financed by these outlaws. Drug cartels and coyotes,
those individuals who smuggle other individuals into this country for
money, have gone so far as to hire contract mercenaries from other
countries to bring drugs and people across to the United States, across
our borders.
{time} 1945
According to the Washington Times, in the past 5 months the U.S.
Border Patrol has detained 42,000 illegals who were convicted criminals
or persons wanted for crimes committed at our borders. Last year,
Homeland Security reported that 140,000 detainees apprehended at the
border had criminal records at the time of their arrest.
Mr. Speaker, we must fight harder against the insurgent uprising at
our borders and become more vigilant than we already are. Three groups
enter our land illegally: those drug dealers, terrorist operatives and
citizens from other countries. The illegals and drug cartels are only
becoming more ruthless and defiant every day. That is because
lawlessness on our border breeds more lawlessness.
Mr. Speaker, Third World countries protect their borders better than
we do, the most powerful Nation on Earth. The failure of this Congress
to act quickly on correcting our country's broken borders trickles down
to the communities we all represent. We must enforce existing laws, as
well as pass new ones that stop this lawlessness. We cannot ignore the
facts and the key word is ``illegal.'' It is illegal entry that we must
stop.
Congress and America must have the moral resolve to protect the
dignity of our country. Send the word. We will secure our borders. That
is just the way it is.
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