[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 7 (Wednesday, January 19, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H259]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        SHOTS ACROSS THE BORDER

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, recently, in the border ghost town of 
Fort Quitman, Texas, a county road crew came under automatic weapon 
fire. The four Hudspeth County workers reported at least eight shots 
were fired at them from across the border in Mexico.
  The Rio Grande is very narrow in this isolated region and is used by 
armed drug smugglers to bring drugs into the United States. Speculation 
by the Texas Rangers is the shooter was trying to protect the drug 
route from the workers. This newest attack on the road crew is yet 
another example of the brazen, violent determination of outlaws to 
invade the United States.
  The United States protects the borders of other nations. Why doesn't 
the Federal Government do its constitutional duty and really protect 
our border from foreign invaders? Are border States going to have to 
not only give road crews shovels but rifles to protect them from the 
drug cartels?
  It's time to be serious and protect Americans and put more National 
Guard troops on the border. Meanwhile, Washington seems to be whistling 
by the graveyard of indifference.
  And that's just the way it is.

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