[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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