[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 37 (Tuesday, March 3, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H2909-H2910]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      BORDER WAR WITH DRUG CARTELS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I bring you news from the second 
front. As reported by Sara Carter, the enemy has more than 100,000 foot 
soldiers. And I'm not talking about al Qaeda and I'm not talking about 
the Taliban in Iraq or Afghanistan. I'm talking about the drug cartels 
south of the border in Mexico.
  The Mexican army isn't much larger than 100,000; so the drug cartels 
have almost as many foot soldiers as the Mexican military. And the 
Mexican military, we understand, has been infiltrated by the drug 
cartels. And these drug cartels are violent.
  There are two major ones. The Sinaloa cartel, also known as the 
Federation, and the Zetas cartel, which is known in America as the Gulf 
cartel. And they both operate down Mexico way.
  There are four commodities that are being sold and traded across the 
U.S./Mexico border. Two commodities go north and two of them go south. 
Going north, operated by the drug cartels, of course, are drugs. Also, 
the drug cartels working with the coyotes are bringing people into the 
United States, both illegally done.
  Going south are guns that the drug cartels end up using and, of 
course, that money, that filthy lucre that funds all of this process.
  Right here, Madam Speaker, I have a photograph that was taken this 
past weekend in Juarez, Mexico, right across the border from El Paso, 
Texas. It's a population of about four times the size of El Paso. And 
the Mexican government has tried to do something about it. You see here 
federal police officers, a convoy, that goes for a mile, going into 
Juarez to try to control the drug cartels. Here you have peace officers 
or federal peace officers or military with M-16 rifles.
  Madam Speaker, it's a war zone. It's a border war. And I commend the 
President of the Mexico for trying to

[[Page H2910]]

stop the violence on his side of the border. But we are naive to think 
it's not going to come to the United States because eventually it will. 
It is a national security issue, Madam Speaker.
  Some say that Mexico will be a failed state because of the drug 
cartels' influence, and it's certainly a tough situation for Mexican 
nationals that live along the border. I've been on both sides of the 
border, and I've seen it's a tough situation for people who live there 
because they live in fear because the drug cartels are fearless and 
they would do anything to bring those drugs into the United States.
  Our own State Department has issued a spring break advisory: Don't go 
to Mexico. It's not safe to go down there. There are beheadings of 
local and law enforcement officers. There are kidnappings of not only 
Mexican nationals but Americans that are being kidnapped now on our 
side of the border. It's a violent place, Madam Speaker. The United 
States now says that only Pakistan and Iran are more of a national 
security concern than Mexico. That's serious, and we should be 
concerned about it.
  We now understand, of course, about the corruption in the Mexican 
Government. Even though President Calderon is trying to do what he can, 
you see, those drug cartels pay their criminals a whole lot more money 
than these federal peace officers get paid, and they switch sides and 
some of them even work for the federal government in Mexico. So he's 
put troops on the border. I'm talking about the President of the 
Mexico. He's put several thousands of troops on the border. Several 
thousand went into Juarez to try to stop the drug cartels from 
operating there.
  More importantly, Madam Speaker, this is a national security issue 
for the United States. Both sides of the border are violent, and we 
need to do everything we can to deal with this problem.
  The first thing we need to do is realize it's going on. In last 
year's election, neither person running for President ever mentioned 
the border problem. They didn't want to talk about that. It wasn't 
politically correct.
  We have to deal with this issue. We have to help the Border Patrol. 
We need to change the rules of engagement. The Border Patrol, right now 
they can't shoot anybody unless they're shot at. They have got to take 
the first bullet; so they back off.
  We need to help the sheriffs. One of the sheriffs down in Texas told 
me that the drug cartels outgun them, out-finance them and out-man 
them. They've got better equipment, more money, and more people. A 
deputy sheriff in South Texas makes about $12,000 a year. A guy running 
drugs or guns across the border will make that much in 2 weeks. It's 
important that we help them.
  And, of course, I think that we ought to put our troops on the 
border. If we put our troops, the National Guard, on the border, people 
will quit crossing. Mexico is doing what it can with its military, but 
we won't do that because we might offend somebody.
  Down the road the United States has to deal with the real problem, 
and that's the tremendous addiction Americans have for illicit drugs. 
We have to deal with that or this is all going to continue. But until 
we fix that problem, we need to stop the crime from coming into the 
United States.
  It is time, Madam Speaker, that we realize the truth because the 
first duty of government is not building roads and bridges and sending 
money to museums and foreign aid. The first duty of government is to 
protect the people. That's the people of the United States. And our 
government needs to get with the program and send the National Guard to 
the border.
  And that's just the way it is.

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