[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 68 (Tuesday, May 5, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H5134]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1600
                           CROSS-BORDER CRIME

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Griffith). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about one of the most 
important things taking place in our country, and that is the battle on 
the second front. I am not talking about the war in Afghanistan or the 
war in Iraq, but I am talking about the battle that is fought daily on 
the southern border of the United States with Mexico and those people 
that try to come into the United States illegally. I call it the border 
wars.
  Mr. Speaker, we hear a lot about that crime comes into the United 
States from the south, from all countries, through Mexico. And then we 
hear that it is not really a problem. Sometimes it is very difficult 
for us to know exactly what the truth is. It always tends to be based 
upon who is giving us that information.
  Recently, I was down on the Texas-Mexico border. I visited with 
numerous of our sheriffs and I asked them this question: How many 
people do you have in your county jail that are charged with crimes in 
your county? I am not talking about people being held on immigration 
violations, just people in jail charged with misdemeanors or felonies. 
And so the different sheriffs gave me the information that I would like 
to relate to you tonight.
  We will start off in far west Texas, in El Paso, a large population. 
The Sheriff's Department says: About 18 percent of the people in our 
county jail are foreign nationals in the United States legally, 
illegally, charged with crimes, misdemeanors or felonies.
  You move next door to Hudspeth County, a vast county the size of 
Connecticut and Rhode Island, not very many sheriff's deputies in that 
county. Sheriff Arvin West says: 90 percent of the people in my county 
jail are foreign nationals.
  Moving on down the Rio Grande River toward the Gulf of Mexico, 
Culberson County Sheriff Carrillo, 22 percent. The three next counties, 
Jeff Davis, Presidio, and Brewster Counties did not have information 
that they could furnish me, so I will move on down the river and talk 
about the other ones.
  Val Verde County, 39 percent of the people in the county jail are 
foreign nationals; Kinney County, 71 percent, foreign nationals; 
Maverick County, 65 percent; Dimmit County, 45 percent; Webb County, 
that is where Laredo is, 45 percent are foreign nationals; Zapata 
County, 65 percent; Starr County, 53 percent; Hidalgo County, 23 
percent; and then Cameron County, down on the Mexico-Texas border that 
buttresses the Gulf of Mexico, is 28 percent.
  You can make statistics prove whatever you want them to, Mr. Speaker, 
but those are a lot of people in American jails from foreign countries 
that have been charged with committing crimes in this country. That is 
one reason, maybe the primary reason, why we need to protect the 
sanctity of the border.
  We talk about border security. We are spending money on border 
security. We are sending a lot of money down to Mexico to spend on 
border security. But the truth of the matter is cross-traveler crime is 
still being committed, and people are committing crimes in American 
counties who are foreign nationals, and it is time the United States 
realize this truth and secure the border.
  A lot of these people are charged with drug crimes, the drug cartels, 
drug runners. Many of those people in our jails are those individuals. 
We are learning now that there is a new effort to build tunnels into 
the United States, not just over in California, but in Texas and 
Arizona, as well, where needed.
  So, obviously, the sheriffs in these counties need help, and we need 
everybody working on the border, all the Federal agencies, the Border 
Patrol, the ATF, the DEA, we need all of them. Plus, we need the locals 
who patrol the whole county. Unlike the Border Patrol that only patrols 
the first 35 miles inland, the county sheriffs patrol the vastness of 
the county.
  So what can they do about it? There are a couple of programs that we 
need to help the sheriffs be involved in. One of those is they can get 
from the Department of Defense used equipment, equipment that has been 
used by our military, and all they have to do is repair it and they can 
use that equipment. We are talking about Humvees. We are talking about 
trucks. We are talking about, even, helicopters. They can repair that 
equipment by sending it to the State penitentiary where those mechanics 
are that can repair it. They can also buy, at a low price, equipment 
that has been used occasionally, new or used equipment that is no 
longer used by our military.
  So both of those things, we should encourage the sheriffs departments 
to use and to get that equipment. Because, you see, Mr. Speaker, the 
drug cartels have more money, they have more people, they have better 
equipment than we do on this side of the border, and that is one way we 
can enforce the security of the border.
  We ought to also use the National Guard on the border. The border 
Governors have requested the use of the National Guard, and we should 
use the National Guard.
  And lastly, Mr. Speaker, I have met with the sheriffs from 
Brownsville all the way to San Diego, and they are in a group called 
the Southwest Border Sheriff's Coalition. There is 31 of these 
sheriffs, and they have asked, through me, to ask the President of the 
United States to meet with them so the sheriffs can tell the President 
firsthand what is taking place on the border from Brownsville, Texas, 
all the way to San Diego, California, and hopefully the President will 
do that. We need to protect the border. That is the first duty of 
government.
  And that's just the way it is.

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