[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 35 (Monday, March 5, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H1144]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            BORDER SHOOTOUT

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, last week, border protectors were 
patrolling near Roma, Texas, when they spotted drug smugglers trying to 
move narcotics into the United States. The agents found themselves 
under attack from the Mexican side when narcoterrorists unleashed 
gunfire from the other side of the Rio Grande River. The agents 
returned fire in self-defense. This sounds like a scene out of a 
western movie, but unfortunately this is real life on the Texas border.
  The legal ports of entry may seem safe, but in the hinterlands it's 
the Wild West. Law enforcement is outmanned, outgunned, and 
outfinanced. We have troops protecting the borders of other countries; 
why don't they protect ours? But Texas is defending itself. It has to.
  On Thursday, Texas DPS unveiled the second in its fleet of six 
gunboats that will now patrol the Rio Grande. Why does Texas have to 
send its own navy to defend the border of the United States? Because 
the Federal Government refuses to do its job, and someone has to 
protect the homeland.
  And that's just the way it is.

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