[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 150 (Wednesday, November 17, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H7525-H7526]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          OUR SOUTHERN BORDER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. I thank the Speaker for yielding time to me.
  About 3 weeks ago, I and four of my colleagues wrote a letter to the 
President of the United States. Mr. Poe of Texas, my good friend, Ralph 
Hall of Texas, Pete Olson, and Ed Royce of California wrote a letter to 
the President talking to him about the horrible, deteriorating problem 
that is taking place on our southern border.
  We have a border between the United States and Mexico that is 1,980 
miles long, and the problems are getting worse every single day. There 
have been reports on numerous television channels over the past few 
weeks talking about how really bad it is getting down there, and there 
is absolutely nothing being done by the administration to really deal 
with it.
  Now, in the letter that we wrote to the President, we said it was 
extremely important to get on with dealing with this problem very 
quickly, and we gave the President a few ideas on how this could be 
accomplished.
  First, we said, it became apparent that the Mexican Government and 
law enforcement authorities in Mexico are either unwilling or unable to 
address this problem. Therefore, we believe it is imperative that our 
President meet very quickly and begin a serious dialogue with President 
Calderon of Mexico on building a comprehensive framework in the spirit 
of Plan Colombia that will better coordinate a more aggressive and 
proactive strategy to turn the tide. This needs to be done immediately.
  Second, we must complete construction of the border fence. The money 
has been appropriated for that and it has been stopped. We need to get 
that completed. Any responsibility we have to minimize the impact of 
the fence on the physical landscape or native species in the region 
pales in comparison when measured against the value of human lives that 
will be lost if we don't seal the border.
  And, finally, we said to the President in this letter, we believe it 
is critical that we deploy additional National Guard troops to the 
border. Media reports indicate that 17,000 National Guard troops were 
deployed to the Gulf region during the recent oil spill, 17,000; yet 
the administration has pledged only 1,200 to the 1,980-mile border of 
Mexico. Twelve hundred National Guard troops to protect that border; 
that is nothing. It will not work.
  When you talk to sheriffs and Border Patrol agents who are down on 
the border, they will tell you that it is a war zone and it is spilling 
over into the United States, and American citizens are being killed on 
the Mexican side of the border. But bullets are actually coming across 
the border and hitting things in the United States in Juarez and 
elsewhere.
  It is extremely important that we address this problem before it gets 
completely out of control. And some people say we are already there.
  We have signs in Arizona 80 miles into the United States, 80 miles 
into the United States, saying, ``Don't go south of here toward Mexico 
because it is dangerous.'' Can you imagine?
  We are sending troops halfway around the world to fight for people's 
freedom and to secure our country from terrorist attacks, and yet we 
have the prospect of terrorists and drug dealers and everybody coming 
across that border because we are not protecting it, and it is in our 
front yard, 1,980 miles, and it is unprotected. They are coming across 
at will.

                              {time}  1930

  The President needs to get on with doing what is necessary. I believe 
he needs to authorize at least 15,000 troops down there and work with 
the Mexican government to seal both sides of the border and get on with 
it as quickly as possible. If we don't, the problem is going to get 
worse and worse and worse.
  If you don't believe what I am saying tonight, and if I were talking 
to the President, I would tell him directly this: ``If you don't 
believe this, Mr. President,'' I know he watches television once in 
awhile, and if I were talking to the President I would say, ``Watch 
what is going on and do your job, Mr. President, instead of fighting 
the Governor of Arizona and the people in Texas, the law enforcement 
agencies along the border who are staying up day and night trying to 
defend their constituents in the border area.''
  People are being threatened. Their houses are being threatened to be 
burned to the ground if they even take pictures of the people coming 
across the border. This is a tragic situation, and if I were talking to 
the President tonight, I would say, ``Mr. President, you are being 
derelict in your responsibility to the people of the southwest part of 
the United States by not addressing this problem in a very thorough and 
comprehensive way.''

                                Congress of the United States,

                                 Washington, DC, October 26, 2010.
     Hon. Barack Obama,
     President of the United States of America, The White House, 
         Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. President: We are writing to you today to express 
     our extreme concern regarding the deteriorating security 
     situation along our Nation's southern border. It seems that 
     every day brings a new report of some atrocity; the most 
     recent being the apparent murder of a U.S. citizen at Falcon 
     Lake, Texas; yet little if anything appears to be being done 
     by our government or the Mexican government to stop the 
     bloodshed and bring the perpetrators to justice.
       Protecting our borders and our citizens is a paramount 
     responsibility of the Federal government; enshrined in the 
     preamble of the Constitution. It would be an unforgivable 
     breach of our constitutional responsibilities if we do not 
     take stronger measures not only to prevent the upward spiral 
     of violence from further spilling over into the United States 
     and threaten the safety of U.S. citizens on American soil but 
     to reclaim those areas of our border already overrun by 
     smugglers and criminals. We can no longer pretend that this 
     is simply Mexico's problem. The time has come to recognize 
     that the drug violence along the border is a direct threat to 
     the United States and act accordingly.
       First, it has become apparent that the Mexican government 
     and law enforcement authorities are either unwilling or 
     unable to address this problem unilaterally. Therefore, we 
     believe it is imperative that you immediately begin serious 
     dialogue with President Calderon on building a comprehensive 
     framework, in the spirit of Plan Colombia, that will better 
     coordinate a more aggressive and proactive strategy to turn 
     the tide of this conflict.
       Second, we must complete construction of the border fence. 
     Any responsibility we have to minimize the impact of the 
     fence on the physical landscape or native species in the 
     region pales in comparison when measured against the value of 
     human lives that will be lost if we do not seal the border.
       Finally, we believe it is critical that we deploy 
     additional National Guard troops to the border. Media reports 
     indicate that 17,000 National Guard troops were deployed to 
     the Gulf region to respond to the recent oil spill. Yet, you 
     have only pledged 1,200 National Guard troops to protect the 
     border--and according to media reports only a small fraction 
     of those troops have arrived to date. It is unrealistic, if 
     not pure insanity, to believe that a mere 1,200 National 
     Guard troops, even with the support of the Border Patrol, can 
     effectively cover the nearly 2,000 mile long Southwestern 
     border of the United States. We must put additional bodies on 
     the ground and we must give them the weapons and specify 
     rules of engagement that give them the authority to do 
     whatever is necessary to secure the border. A National Guard 
     trooper armed with only a pistol and given no authority to 
     engage the enemy is useless against a criminal armed with 
     military grade weapons and ammunition.
       Mr. President, we implore you to view this situation for 
     what it is, a war and to act accordingly.
           Sincerely,
     Dan Burton,

[[Page H7526]]

     Ralph Hall,
     Ed Royce,
     Ted Poe,
     Pete Olson.
                                  ____


                           [From FoxNews.com]

           America's Third War: National Guard's New Mission

                           (By Casey Stegall)

       There are many theories on how to effectively secure the 
     nearly 2,000-mile-long border the United States shares with 
     Mexico.
       Some believe building a fence to separate us from our 
     southern neighbor is the best route while others think adding 
     additional surveillance equipment and Border Patrol 
     checkpoints will help decrease the number of illegal 
     immigrants and drugs entering America.
       One thing virtually everyone close to the border security 
     issue can agree on: America seems to be waging a third war 
     with the Mexican cartels that will stop at nothing to smuggle 
     humans and drugs into our homeland and the national security 
     threat it poses.
       One of the more popular ideas on how to secure the region 
     is through the deployment of troops and creation of a strong 
     military presence along the border. In May, President Obama 
     gave the green light for up to 1,200 National Guard troops to 
     be assigned to the four southwest border states. In late 
     September, armed troops started trickling in and working 
     alongside U.S. Border Patrol agents, but the ramp up period 
     is a gradual process since it takes a great deal of time to 
     train the soldiers for their new mission.
       According to the National Guard Bureau, nearly 1,200 troops 
     are at work on border issues as of Monday: 263 in California, 
     561 in Arizona, 80 in New Mexico, 284 in Texas and 10 others 
     assigned to border issues at the National Guard Bureau in 
     Virginia. The deployment is expected to last one year 
     although no official end date has been made public.
       Sheriff Paul Babeu, Pinal County Arizona: I'm telling you, 
     as a sheriff, where we're the number one passer county here 
     in Arizona, that it's not secure. That the violence and the 
     concerns we have, are more than just a public safety matter. 
     520 soldiers are not going to stop it. We have said we need 
     3000 armed soldiers just here in Arizona.

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