[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 34 (Wednesday, February 28, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H2035-H2036]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          IMMIGRATION CONCERNS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I was certainly listening to 
my friend express himself on important issues. I believe it is 
important for this floor and this Congress to really turn on the light 
and have a transparent government. And so I will attempt this evening 
to share some of my concerns as they relate to a number of issues that 
I believe we have both the interest of the American people in making it 
transparent in its debate, but also an obligation, in some instances, 
to even save lives.
  First let me say that with all of the missteps on immigration issues, 
there is no route left for this Congress to take other than to begin a 
debate on comprehensive immigration reform, because until we get an 
orderliness with the individuals that are in this country and the 
securing of the border, all of the frustration will continue. And so I 
think it is the right step to make to save lives of those who would 
come into this country undocumented, fleeing for an economic 
opportunity; for the needs of the Border Patrol agents in the northern 
and southern border, what I consider to be a plus-up. Inasmuch as the 
support system provided by the National Guard has a time certain to 
end, we need to be constructive and look toward comprehensive 
immigration reform.
  I want to add to that discussion what I think is an injustice that 
has occurred to two particular Border Patrol agents who now languish in 
jail because they have been prosecuted by the Department of Justice and 
the U.S. Attorney's Office. After the U.S. attorney prosecuted, he was 
heard to have said, I am sorry I had to do it, I wish there was another 
way. Well, Mr. Speaker, there was another way, and that is, of course, 
there could have been administrative action. And that is the issue 
surrounding the Border Patrol agents who fired at a fleeing alien, 
undocumented, across the border, wounded that individual, none of which 
I applaud, none of which I believe that any comments I make tonight 
sanction, but the harshness of 12- and 13-year sentences for what could 
have been an administrative proceeding to fire those individuals 
inasmuch as they were in the line of duty, this act of a prosecution 
and jailing does not speak to the sensibleness of addressing this 
question of inappropriate behavior, or, if you will, out-of-procedure 
behavior that might have occurred in this instance.
  The real question is why did the U.S. attorney proceed for a criminal 
prosecution? That needs to be corrected. And I have asked the Attorney 
General for an explanation and a reason why his U.S. attorney proceeded 
in that manner. Prosecutorial discretion was used wrongly.
  Let me conclude by suggesting that we are also wrongly in the Iraq 
war. There will be an opportunity forthcoming to make a very serious 
and deliberative decision about whether we continue the funding of this 
Iraq war. This is not in any way a diminishing of the heroics and the 
work of our United States military. I frankly believe, through my 
legislation, the U.S. Military Success Act, and the plussing up of 
diplomacy affirms that these individuals have done their job.
  It is now time for methodical, deliberative debate on how we do not 
interfere with the leadership of the United States military and brass 
and leaders on the ground in Iraq, but begin to give them the 
assignment of a strategic redeployment of our troops. It is the right 
decision to make when you look at the debacle of housing conditions for 
returning injured troops, when you see the mounting numbers of 22,000, 
23,000, 25,000 severely injured troops, many of them with brain injury, 
as we saw very eloquently put forward by Bob Woodruff, who did a 
wonderful expose after himself being a real miracle of recovery, to 
show the imploded brain injuries of these soldiers.
  We are not there to babysit the insurgent violence and civil war 
violence and possibly al Qaeda violence. We should be engaged in the 
war on terror, but not as, in essence, a sitting symbol for them to 
abuse and misuse. And frankly, that is what the Iraq war has become.
  I applaud some of the diplomatic successes, determining how to 
organize the oil revenues, and some of the other steps that the Iraqi 
Government has made. They can continue to make that so that their 
reconciliation and the downing of the violence can be based upon a 
reconciliation diplomatic act. If

[[Page H2036]]

there is a deployment time set, redeployment, it will give the generals 
on the ground the opportunity to secure the area and as well make sense 
of this terrible, terrible incident. We need to end the war now and 
bring our troops home.

                          ____________________