[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 104 (Monday, June 23, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H5846-H5847]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          OPERATION STREAMLINE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Culberson) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CULBERSON. Speaker Cuellar, it's perfectly appropriate that 
you're in the chair today because you and I have served together in the 
Texas House, and we have worked together, Mr. Speaker, in cooperation 
with our friend, Congressman Ciro Rodriguez of Del Rio. You and I and 
Ciro have worked together to successfully implement a program that I 
want to single out for praise tonight.
  In the Laredo sector and the Del Rio sector, the immigration laws of 
this country are being enforced with a zero tolerance in a program 
called Operation Streamline. With the full support of the local 
community that you represent, Mr. Speaker, because the crime rate in 
Laredo has dropped 70 percent--excuse me; in Del Rio we have seen a 70 
percent drop. I think you have seen about a 60 percent drop in the 
crime rate in the Laredo sector as a direct result of simply enforcing 
existing law in a team effort, Mr. Speaker, between the Border Patrol, 
the U.S. Marshals, the prosecutors, the judges, the magistrates, and 
the sheriffs, with their local Congressman, Congressman Cuellar. You, 
Mr. Speaker, Ciro Rodriguez, and myself on the Appropriations 
Committee, we have been able to bring together that team approach in a 
bipartisan way that has resulted in a dramatic decline in the crime 
rate. The illegal crossings in the Del Rio sector are now at the lowest 
level they have been since the Border Patrol started keeping statistics 
in 1973.
  I bring this to the attention of the House tonight, Mr. Speaker, 
first of all, to congratulate and praise those fine men and women in 
the law enforcement community of the Border Patrol in Del Rio and 
Laredo, also in the Yuma sector, where this is working so well. In 
particular, in the Laredo and Del Rio sectors we have seen real success 
because of the teamwork of those law enforcement officers and the 
judges and the cooperation we have seen at an unprecedented level 
between members of both parties in making sure the community and the 
Nation are safe in those sectors.
  I am working with you now, Mr. Speaker, as well as with the local 
Members of Congress in rolling out Operation Streamline, it's called, 
the zero tolerance program, in the Rio Grande Valley sector. So that 
the goal is, of course, from the mouth of the Rio Grande now, up 
through the Del Rio sector, Lake Amastad, that the border will be 
secure.
  Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, it is a very different story in Tucson, 
Arizona. In Tucson, Arizona, the local U.S. Attorney refuses to enforce 
existing law, and in Tucson, if you are arrested by the Border Patrol, 
for example, in Del Rio or Laredo, you have a 100 percent chance of 
being prosecuted and serving some time in jail, obviously

[[Page H5847]]

with the exception of women and children. The officer will use their 
good judgment and their good heart.
  But if you're arrest in Del Rio or Laredo, you're going to jail. If 
you're arrested in Tucson, Arizona, Mr. Speaker, carrying less than a 
quarter ton of dope, you have a 99.6 percent chance of nerve going to 
jail, and you will probably be home in time for dinner.
  It's an unbelievable and outrageous situation that I have worked on 
behind the scenes as quietly as I can with the Department of Justice, 
with the U.S. Attorney out there, Diane Humetewa, who refuses to met 
with me, who refuses to talk to me, who refuses to cooperate. She, to 
this day, Mr. Speaker, refuses to do anything to improve the 
prosecution rate in the Arizona sector of the border. As a result, 
those officers' lives are in danger. As a result of her refusal to 
enforce the law, the lives of the people of Arizona are in danger. This 
Nation is in danger because of the refusal of the U.S. Attorney in 
Arizona, Diane Humetewa, to do her job.
  Frankly, I am sick and tired of it, and it needs to be brought to the 
attention of the American people here on the floor because we have 
found a bipartisan solution to this. We have found a solution that 
people on the border support.
  You represent the Laredo sector, Mr. Speaker. I know your community, 
the people you represent are thrilled with the reduction in the crime 
rate. It has been a team effort. There are no party labels when it 
comes to Texans. My good friend, Sheila Jackson-Lee, will be speaking 
in a moment, and we are Texans first. There are no party labels when it 
comes to what is good for Texas and the Nation.
  We have found a solution, Mr. Speaker, in Operation Streamline and 
the Zero Tolerance Program, enforcing existing law with existing 
resources and existing personnel in a unified team effort, and it's 
about time for the U.S. Attorney in Arizona to get with the program and 
recognize that she has an essential role in protecting this Nation.
  Frankly, Mr. Speaker, if the U.S. Attorney in Arizona will not 
enforce the law and live up to her oath of office, I think she ought to 
find another job. It's about time for her to just step aside. It's 
unacceptable for a U.S. Attorney to refuse to enforce the law. Those 
officers' lives are in danger.
  We on the Appropriations Committee, I serve on the Homeland Security 
subcommittee, Mr. Speaker, we sent 40 additional U.S. Attorneys, 
prosecutors to the southwest border with specific instructions that 
those attorneys be used to prosecute border crime. The U.S. Attorney in 
Arizona got 21 of them, and she will not use them to protect the border 
or this Nation.
  Mr. Speaker, we have done great work in Laredo and Del Rio, and the 
U.S. Attorney in Arizona needs to get with the program and enforce the 
law with zero tolerance or find another job.

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