[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 143 (Wednesday, September 10, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H7990-H7991]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     WE NEED TO PROTECT OUR BORDERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, recently this country has been very concerned 
about something that's taking place in lands far, far away. It seems as 
though that the Russians have decided to invade the Republic of 
Georgia. Many Americans didn't even know where the Republic of Georgia 
was. Now, most of us know where it is and where it's located.
  In fact, the government has been doing much lately, talking about 
this invasion of another country and very concerned about the people of 
South Ossetia that have now occupied or have their country or territory 
occupied by the Russians. In fact, the country is so upset about this, 
our country, we have sent $1 billion to Georgia to help Georgia, 
supposedly for humanitarian aid.
  But we seem to be somewhat concerned--and our rhetoric as a Nation is 
that one sovereign country has invaded the sovereign country of 
another, concerned about the borders of the Republic of Georgia.
  It's interesting to me that we are concerned about the sanctity and 
sovereignty of other Nations and their borders, but yet back here at 
home we seem not to care about the sovereignty and sanctity of our own 
borders. We protect the borders of other Nations throughout the world. 
We're concerned about the border of Georgia, but yet this country still 
has no policy about being concerned and enforcing border security of 
our own Nation.
  Yes, Mr. Speaker, I'm talking about the southern border with Mexico, 
and I'm talking about the northern border of Canada. Yet every day we 
still have hundreds of people crossing into the United States 
illegally. It's an invasion into our country. Without permission people 
are coming into this country, and they're here for all purposes. Sure 
we hear about those who are over here trying to look for jobs, that 
supposedly Americans won't take.
  But there are also other people coming over here. We get the good, 
the bad and the ugly because we don't secure our borders, and right now 
we're getting a lot of bad and ugly. Mr. Speaker, if you don't believe 
me, I will take you down to the Texas-Mexico border and show you how 
the violence has gotten worse and worse because this Nation refuses to 
protect its own border from people coming in without permission. That's 
very unfortunate.
  We are in a Presidential campaign. We hear a lot of talk about all 
kinds of issues, but yet I have not heard from either Presidential 
candidate about a plan to secure our borders. They're talking about 
everything else. I'd be glad to take either one or both of them down to 
the Texas-Mexico border and show them what it's like, the porous 
border, because we don't protect the sovereignty of our own Nation.
  But yet we're concerned about the Republic of Georgia halfway around 
the world and their border. Doesn't make much sense to me. We should be 
just as concerned about our own borders as we are about borders of 
other people and give the money to our own people on our own border to 
secure it.
  We send $1 billion quickly to the Republic of Georgia. What could our 
border patrol agents do with $1 billion on the Texas-Mexico border? 
They could do a whole lot more. And they're not getting it. They're not 
getting the support that they need. They're doing the best job they 
can. The sheriffs all along the border, from San Diego all the way to 
Brownsville, they're doing the best they can.
  But let me tell you something, Mr. Speaker, the drug cartels have 
more money, they outgun our border security officials, and they're more 
tenacious and they're doing everything they can to come into the United 
States illegally. Yes, we're getting all of them, we're getting 
everybody because we refuse to secure our border.
  And we don't need to do a whole lot except enforce the laws we 
already have. It's already illegal to come into the United States 
without permission. Why don't we enforce that law? We are trying to 
enforce the border security of Georgia. Let's enforce the border 
security of our own Nation. That's the public duty our government has.

[[Page H7991]]

  We can work out the issues of what to do with people that are here 
illegally down the road. America will do the right thing, but we can 
never deal with that issue until we secure the border.
  One of the things we ought to do is enforce the rule of law, and if 
businesses choose to hire folks that are illegally in the country and 
they know they're illegal, those business owners need to be prosecuted 
under current law. We see a few of those CEOs be carted off to jail in 
handcuffs, maybe they'll quit hiring folks that are illegally in the 
country. That's just one answer, but it's already the law.
  So I encourage our government: enforce the law, protect our borders, 
secure our Nation first. That is the duty, obligation, and moral duty 
of our government.
  And that's just the way it is.

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