[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 84 (Monday, June 26, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6493-S6494]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DOMENICI:
  S. 3565. A bill to designate Sandoval County, Valencia County, and 
Torrance County, New Mexico as the new Southwest Border High Intensity 
Drug Trafficking Area counties; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. DOMENICI. President, I rise today to introduce a bill that will 
significantly help my home State of New Mexico fight the war on drugs.
  New Mexico has many serious drug problems. The proximity of my home 
State to Mexico makes it a convenient

[[Page S6494]]

corridor for traffickers who smuggle narcotics into the United States. 
In a June 22 Albuquerque Journal article entitled ``N.M. Says It's 
Making Progress Against Meth Labs,'' State Police Sergeant Eric Burnham 
was quoted as saying, ``We've made it much tougher for them to get 
their main ingredients, and we've made it difficult to sustain large 
operations here in New Mexico . . . But methamphetamine use has stayed 
the same or even risen. Large quantities are coming in from Mexico--
they're being smuggled in and sold for cheap.'' In additional to our 
serious meth problems in New Mexico, cocaine seizures are on the rise, 
Mexican marijuana is prevalent, and Mexican black tar heroin is 
available throughout my home State.
  However, New Mexico also has a significant tool in the war on drugs--
the Southwest border high-intensity drug trafficking area, HIDTA. In 
1988, Congress established the HIDTA Program. In New Mexico, there are 
currently 13 counties that participate in the Southwest border HIDTA, 
with the missions of reducing drug availability through task forces 
aimed at disrupting or dismantling international and domestic drug 
trafficking organizations and helping coordinate drug trafficking 
investigative efforts among Federal, State, and local law enforcement 
agencies.
  Despite these efforts, drug abuse continues to affect many in my 
State, particularly in the Albuquerque Metropolitan area. The Southwest 
border HIDTA tells me that in this area, investigative links between 
narcotic trafficking groups are established frequently, often between 
Bernalillo County and surrounding counties that are not part of the 
Southwest border HIDTA and therefore don't have access to HIDTA tools 
and resources. The legislation I am filing today would rectify this 
situation by making the three surrounding counties, Sandoval, Torrance, 
and Valencia, part of the Southwest border HIDTA.
  Mr. President, high-intensity drug trafficking areas have done a 
great deal in the war on drugs in the past 18 years. With the bill I am 
introducing today, HIDTA will be able to do even more.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 3565

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. DESIGNATION OF HIGH INTENSITY DRUG TRAFFICKING 
                   AREA.

       The Southwest Border High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area 
     for the State of New Mexico under the High Intensity Drug 
     Trafficking Areas Program of the Office of National Drug 
     Control Policy shall include Sandoval County, Valencia 
     County, and Torrance County, New Mexico.
                                 ______