[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 116 (Wednesday, July 29, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H9041]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   HONORING OUR BORDER PATROL AGENTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Speaker, on the 23rd of this month, Rosalie Rosas 
watched her husband go off to work. She stayed at home with Robert, her 
son, 2, and Alesa, an 11-month-old baby, thinking that the next morning 
her husband, Agent Rosas, would be back at home with the family. Sadly, 
that wasn't to be.
  Agent Rosas was in the Campo area of southern California serving a 
nation that he looked forward to serving for so long; a young man who 
had grown up in the Imperial Valley area, had served as a reservist, 
always looked forward to being a Border Patrol agent. While alone, he 
detected individuals crossing the border. Somewhere in the process of 
confronting the illegals crossing the border, Agent Rosas was murdered 
by those illegals.
  Mr. Speaker, Agent Rosas' situation, and more importantly, the 
situation of Rosalie and the two children, is something that all 
Americans should remember, that there are Americans every day that are 
not only defending this country far, far away, but there are agents 
every day and every night that stand on the border, stand in ports of 
entry or throughout this country, standing up and defending this 
country from incursions from across the border and from foreign lands.
  Agent Rosas died in the service of this country, was murdered in the 
service of this country, and Rosalie and the two kids will never be the 
same, and neither should this country.
  Mr. Speaker, there are Border Patrol agents today that are in the 
sweltering heat of Yuma, Arizona, across the Texas frontier, that 
confront smugglers every day from New Mexico to San Diego. And they do 
not know which one of the individuals they are confronting, if it's 
just an innocent illegal who happens to not realize that you can't come 
into this country illegally anymore, somebody that may not mean harm 
but is being brought in by vicious, terrible smugglers who not only 
smuggle illegals, but smuggle drugs. That agent doesn't know if the 
person they're confronting is going to surrender or draw a firearm and 
kill him immediately.
  Agent Rosas was shot in the head and killed. But he was able to wound 
one of his assailants, and the assailant later was detected as far up 
as northern California, and he was arrested there. With the cooperation 
of Mexican officials, we were able to apprehend individuals in Mexico.
  But I think that more important than talking about the crime that was 
committed at our border--something that I think all Americans should 
have known was coming when we've seen the violence that has occurred on 
the other side of the border for far too long--Americans should have 
known this violence was going to cross over, while we continued to turn 
a blind eye to the illegal activity along our border, because it just 
wasn't politically proper to raise the issue that crime and violence is 
occurring along our frontier.
  No, the thing that I would like to remember tonight is that Agent 
Rosas is just one of many that are out there in the terrible heat of 
the summer, the terrible cold of the winter, through rain and sleet and 
snow and whatever it takes to do their duty, and doing it in a nation 
that tends not to recognize their true service.
  Mr. Speaker, we use the word ``hero'' a lot of times in this country 
and, sadly, we use it too often instead of using the word victim. But 
there is a big difference, Mr. Speaker, between a victim and a hero. A 
victim is someone who is at the wrong place at the wrong time and 
suffers for it. But a hero is someone who willfully puts themselves in 
harm's way at the wrong time and suffers for it. And I do not think we 
should, as a society, ever forget the difference between a victim and a 
hero.
  Agent Rosas is a true hero, somebody who served this country. And we 
should all remember, as his services are held this week, that his 
services are in recognition of not only his sacrifice and his family's 
sacrifice, but of the sacrifice of men and women around this country 
that defend us along our borders.
  I think it goes without saying that all of us in Congress want to 
send out our heartfelt sympathies to Rosalie and Rob and Alesa for 
their great loss and their great contribution by losing their father. I 
hope we all remember that there are fathers and mothers around this 
country that we ought to appreciate while they're alive and not just 
honor them when we lose them.

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