[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 71 (Wednesday, June 7, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H3432]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               RAPE TREES

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. POE. Ripped from the bodies of unwilling women, undergarments 
cling to branches of a tree just a few feet from the lawless U.S.-
Mexico border, dozens of pairs of underwear thrown there by rapists.
  These are called rape trees. Each pair is a trophy from a woman that 
was smuggled into the United States, victims that are heard screaming 
in the desert. They are raped, even gang raped by illegal human 
smugglers, then forced into silence.
  These trees are a warning. Illegal immigrants evade our borders but 
crime doesn't evade them. Some become criminals. Some become victims. 
They are raped, robbed and murdered by other illegals, human smugglers 
and brutal criminals who then claim other victims.
  More than 70 percent of their rapes, murders and child sex crimes are 
against Americans. One expert who studies sex crimes says about a 
hundred illegal sex offenders cross the border every day, leaving 
thousands of victims every year.
  Rape trees are a warning to illegals not to talk. They should be a 
warning to Americans as well, to shout out against illegal entry and 
human smuggling.
  And that's just the way it is.

                          ____________________