[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 82 (Thursday, June 22, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H4497]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PUERTO RICO'S BORDER WAR

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Price of Georgia). Under a previous 
order of the House, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized 
for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, more news from the front. The border war 
continues, and today this dispatch comes from the weakest 272 miles on 
the second border of our Nation.
  This could be a postcard from that front, snapshots of illegals all 
across the beaches here running ashore, coming from this boat called a 
yola. We see here a Blackhawk helicopter.
  This invasion started in one Caribbean island and lands on another 
Caribbean island. This boat is packed with hundreds of illegals. They 
ride the waves that carry them to a new existence in these primitive 
boats. They wash ashore on the most advanced country in the world, a 
superpower.
  Mr. Speaker, this looks like a naval invasion from World War II in 
one the Pacific islands.
  This boat was spotted by the Border Patrol, and even though there may 
be 100 or 150 individuals that are illegally entering Puerto Rico, only 
10 to 12 of them will actually be arrested. Sometimes the Border Patrol 
is not this lucky and doesn't find any of these individuals.
  I have spoken to border agents who patrol Puerto Rico, and they have 
arrested individuals. Recently they arrested an individual of Middle 
Eastern descent. He was actually swimming ashore. And when he was 
questioned about what he was doing on American soil, he replied with 
answers like, ``Allah is great,'' and, ``Bush is the devil,'' and that 
is all he would say.
  Stories like this prove the same warfare that let us conquer the 
Japanese islands in World War II is in play on our shores. It was 
called island hopping back in World War II, when the American marines 
would go from island to island getting ever closer to the Japanese 
homeland. Island hopping.
  But after marines were sent to capture an island in the Pacific, they 
would move on to the next island, getting closer, and it worked, and it 
worked in the Pacific. But now this strategy is being used against the 
United States, and the invasion of Puerto Rico poses a national 
security issue, 272 miles of a border that needs to be protected.
  But another island is being targeted first by these island-hopping 
invaders. It is called Mona Island. That is also a part of the United 
States, part of Puerto Rico. It is right here, Mr. Speaker, next to the 
Dominican Republic, Haiti, and then you see this little island called 
the Mona Island, very close to Puerto Rico.
  This island is inhabited basically by a bunch of botanists, for lack 
of a better phrase, and they are investigating whatever nature 
resources there are there. It is a 25-mile nature preserve. And the 
biologists and naturalists that are there aren't the only people there. 
It is a breeding ground for illegals.
  You see, what happens, Mr. Speaker, illegals stop off at Mona Island. 
They are Cubans, Chinese, Dominicans, Middle Easterners, South 
Americans and any other illegals from around the world.
  They land on Mona Island, the first island-hopping stop in their 
Caribbean trip, and then they move over to the mainland of Puerto Rico. 
They make their way to Puerto Rico, where, at any given time, there are 
only four Border Patrol agents on patrol for 272 miles of border or 
coastline.
  Then when illegals get to Puerto Rico, once they land, what they do 
is they find someone to sell them a fake American driver's license, 
pretend to be a U.S. citizen, and then catch an airplane to the 
heartland of America.
  Mr. Speaker, we are being invaded by land and by sea. The obligation 
of the U.S. Government is to protect its citizens. That is the number 
one obligation of this government. We must protect our citizens from 
invasion from all foreign nations by any means. The border war includes 
the American held island of Puerto Rico and Mona Island.
  Mr. Speaker, while we are sending more Border Patrol and National 
Guard to our southern border, we are losing ground in Puerto Rico. This 
island hopping must stop.
  Why aren't we using the resources of the Coast Guard to protect our 
coasts from this unlawful invasion into Puerto Rico? There is a 
concentrated effort by other nations to infiltrate our national 
borders. It also happens to be illegal.
  The government must have the will to protect our borders like we 
protect the borders of other nations throughout the world. Meanwhile, 
the battle for the border continues on the homeland, the second front.
  That's just the way it is.

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