[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 48 (Thursday, March 25, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H2443]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2130
                              THIRD FRONT

  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. I bring you news from the third front. The first 
front is in Iraq. The second front is in Afghanistan. And the third 
front, which we don't talk much about, is the front of the border; the 
border wars in south Texas on the border between Texas and Mexico.
  We have heard a lot about the fact that there is violence on the 
border, especially the southern border. On the border where Mexico 
meets the United States, on the Mexican side, the drug cartels are 
fighting for turf. They are violent. They are vicious, and murder is a 
way of life against those good Mexican nationals that live just south 
of the U.S.-Mexico border.
  Recently, the Zetas cartel and the Gulf cartel have engaged in 
violent acts in the town of Guerrero, Mexico. That is over here in the 
south Texas area on the other side of the Rio Grande River where Falcon 
Lake is the border between Mexico and Texas. People in that town have 
taken cover. In fact, the police department of Guerrero, Mexico, has 
told people of that town of 6,000, Do not come out of your homes 
because the drug cartels will take your life. They are fighting to take 
that turf, that entry into the United States, to bring that cancer and 
to sell it.
  But there are those that say that the border war on the southern side 
of the U.S. border doesn't affect us. Well, of course, those people are 
wrong. Let's take one example. There are 14 counties on the border of 
Texas and Mexico. So, yesterday, I called the sheriffs of these 
counties and I asked them this question: How many people do you have in 
your county jail who are foreign nationals who have been arrested for a 
crime in the United States? Most of those sheriffs were quick to tell 
us. Some of them did not tell me. But, overall, of the 14 counties that 
border Mexico from Texas, 37 percent of the people in those county 
jails are foreign nationals charged with crimes in the United States.
  Yes, the violence on the border and the failure of the United States 
Government to secure our southern border affects people who live in 
those border communities. These are not wealthy counties. These are 
poor counties where people have day jobs on both sides of the border. 
These counties are so poor, and I'll give you an example.
  Over here in Hudspeth County where 63 percent of the people are 
foreign nationals in Arvin West's jail, the county commissioners don't 
even have enough money to give Arvin West, Sheriff West and his deputy 
sheriffs a motor pool. They have no vehicles. So what do they do to 
obtain vehicles in the sheriff's department? They have to confiscate 
drug vehicles that have been captured and turned over to the United 
States and then turned over to the county. So the sheriff of this 
county only drives vehicles that he's confiscated from the drug 
cartels. You see, the sheriffs along the border say that they are 
outfinanced by the drug cartels, they're outmanned, and they are 
outgunned by these drug cartels.
  The crime that occurs in the United States by foreign nationals 
crossing our porous border affects counties along the border but also 
affects counties throughout the United States. I think we would be 
shocked to find out how many foreign nationals are in county jails 
throughout the country charged with crimes that they have committed 
here, both legal and illegals who have come across our border.
  Once again, 37 percent of the people in the county jails on the 
Texas-Mexico border on the Texas side are foreign nationals. It goes 
all the way from 1 percent--and I don't think that is correct--over in 
Webb County all the way up to 100 percent in Terrell County. In Terrell 
County, the sheriff said, Everybody in my county jail is a foreign 
national charged with a crime in my county.
  It is the duty of the Federal Government to secure America's borders. 
This is the third front, yet we are blissfully ignorant up here in 
Washington, D.C., about what is taking place on this entire border. 
There are good people who live on both sides of this international 
border and there are good people who live in fear on both sides because 
of the violence that is created by the drug cartels. We need to do 
whatever is necessary to prevent crime from occurring and coming across 
our border, and that includes sending the National Guard down to the 
Texas-Mexico border. The Governor of the State has requested it. We 
need to do it.
  We need to secure the border. It is the first duty of government to 
protect Americans citizens. And we better get with the program and 
start protecting these good Americans or these county jails will 
continue to fill up with foreign nationals who have committed crime in 
our country.
  And that's just the way it is.

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