[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 59 (Monday, April 18, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H1797-H1799]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ISSUES OF THE DAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2015, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Gohmert) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friends, as led by our 
friend, Congressman Ted Yoho from Florida, and our friend from Georgia, 
Brother Hice. We heard great comments from Dr. Gosar and our friend, 
Steve King, from Iowa.
  These are deeply troubling times, and the Supreme Court taking up 
United States v. Texas really accentuates that issue. Sometimes it is 
nice to just pause and pay tribute to folks, for example, a beautiful 
couple here.
  It is a pastor. His name is Pastor Jesse Estrada Sabillon and his 
wife, Maria Sabillon. They are with their granddaughter in this 
picture. They are a beautiful couple. You can feel the love emanating 
from the picture.
  Pastor Jesse Estrada Sabillon was a Baptist minister at Nuevo 
Amanecer Baptist Church of Houston in the Cloverleaf area. He was an 
excellent carpenter. He owned a home remodeling business, J J & Sons 
Remodeling. His wife, Maria,--you can tell she loves her 
granddaughter--was a retired home caregiver for children with special 
needs. They were a beautiful couple.
  Mr. Sabillon never accepted a salary from the church and instead 
relied upon his job as a carpenter to feed his family. So it appears 
that Pastor Sabillon was working and acting in the vein of the Apostles 
Peter and Paul. Particularly Paul didn't want to be a burden to others. 
So he made tents, sewed, and did whatever he needed to so that he 
wasn't a burden to others.
  Instead of being a burden to others, Pastor Sabillon and his wife, 
Maria, were a blessing to Texas. They were a blessing to the Houston 
area and to so many whom they helped, the special needs kids that Maria 
helped with.

                              {time}  2115

  It appears that Jesse, Pastor Sabillon, was doing what Jesus said to 
do, to be a light to others, to be salt to the world, to administer to 
others' needs, or as Jesus told Peter, ``If you love me, you will tend 
my flock.'' Well, Pastor Sabillon did that and, apparently, did that 
very well.
  This story, April 15: ``Alexis De Larosa Sosa, 21, is a Mexican 
national who entered the United States illegally, HCSO''--apparently 
Harris County Sheriff's Office--``public information officer Ryan 
Sullivan confirmed in a phone interview with Breitbart Texas.
  ``His intake''--by this he means, Alexis De Larosa Sosa--``form says: 
U.S. citizen, no; alien status, illegal . . . De Larosa Sosa was wanted 
in connection with a street racing crash where Pastor Jesse Estrada 
Sabillon, and his wife, Maria Sabillon, were killed. The couple was 
driving home Tuesday night after visiting their niece who had just 
given birth to a baby when they were struck by the truck.
  ``The suspect is reported to have fled the scene following the crash 
and did not turn himself in until Friday morning about 10 a.m. local 
time.
  ``He was allegedly driving a 2006 Chevy pickup truck and was said to 
be racing with a dark-colored Dodge Challenger or Charger, the Houston 
Chronicle reported on Wednesday. The two vehicles were said to be 
racing along the Sam Houston Tollway feeder road when De Larosa Sosa is 
reported to have run a red light, striking the 2004 BMW 330 driven by 
Sabillon. The couple were both pronounced dead at the scene of the 
crash. De Larosa Sosa is said to have fled the scene on foot. The 
driver of the Dodge fled the scene in his vehicle.
  ``Officials with the Harris County Sheriff's Office quickly notified 
the family of the pastor who expressed relief at the news,'' talking 
about the apprehension of the suspect.
  ``De Larosa Sosa is currently processing into the Harris County jail 
and has not yet made a court appearance. He is expected to be charged 
in connection with the two homicides and fleeing the scene of the fatal 
accident.''
  We know there are some wonderful people who have come into this 
country illegally. There have been. But there is no question that 
criminals have taken advantage of the situation to cross our border, 
since it has been porous, and to inflict crime on people of the United 
States. There should be little doubt about that.
  And then we have this story from the Washington Free Beacon: ``Number 
of Children Illegally Crossing Border Up 1,200 Percent Between 2011 and 
2014.'' Ironically, it just happens to be, as people were finding out 
south of our border and in other parts of the world, that if you make 
it into the United States illegally, then you are probably going to 
stay. Odds are 97 percent you will stay.
  As border patrolmen have told me, drug cartels across our southern 
border call our Border Patrol, our Homeland Security, the logistics, 
and they laughingly say if they get people illegally into the country, 
then Homeland Security is the logistics that ships them wherever they 
want them to go in the country.
  As I have seen a number of times in the middle of the night as people 
are being processed, and like, for example, the one older lady who was 
asked how much she paid, some would say $6,000, some would say $7,000, 
$5,000, or $8,000.
  On a number of occasions, a border patrolman has challenged them: 
Where did you get that kind of money? You don't have that kind of 
money.
  It normally took repeated questioning to elicit an answer: Well, I 
paid $1,800 from family in this place, some people sent $2,000 from the 
United States, and I am going to pay the rest by working it off in the 
United States.
  They tell them where they want to go. Amazingly, Homeland Security 
has shipped people that have come into the country illegally all over 
the country. We have reports about Mexican drug distribution in all of 
our major cities. When you know that Homeland Security is shipping 
people that still owe the drug cartels money into different

[[Page H1798]]

cities, it is not hard to figure out how they are getting some of their 
less than happy workers helping them with their drug distribution.
  This article from Adam Kredo says in this Washington Free Beacon: 
``The number of children apprehended on the U.S. border attempting to 
immigrate illegally has surged more than 1,200 percent since 2011, and 
the number of these children crossing the border during 2016 could be 
another record, according to a newly released government report.
  ``The number of unaccompanied alien children (UACs) illegally 
crossing the U.S. border `has increased sharply' since 2011, with a 
surge of more than 1,200 percent just between 2011 and 2014, according 
to the Congressional Research Service. The agency also disclosed that 
the flow is increasing significantly in the first 5 months of fiscal 
2016.
  ``The illegal immigration of these children hit record-breaking 
numbers in 2014, with U.S. officials apprehending more than 52,000 
alien children. Nearly 20,000 have been apprehended within the first 5 
months of 2016, setting the stage for another potentially record-
breaking year.
  `` `This unexpected surge of children strained U.S. Government 
resources and created a complex crisis of humanitarian implications,' 
the report said. `They increased in the first 5 months of FY 2016, 
however, and experts warn that significant migration flows will 
continue until policymakers in the countries of origin and the 
international community address the poor socioeconomic and security 
conditions driving Central Americans to leave their homes.' ''
  That is interesting, but I would submit, Mr. Speaker, that actually 
they will continue to surge as long as they are led to believe by the 
administration, and the evidence continues to indicate, that they will 
be allowed to stay in America, we will send them where they may claim 
to have relatives or where the drug cartels tell them to request to be 
sent.
  Just in the last few weeks, spending some days and nights on our 
border, our southern border, it is heartbreaking what you see because 
there are people that clearly want a better way of life. They are 
leaving the country of origin because their countries do not enforce 
the rule of law. There is graft, there is corruption, and the rule of 
law, the law is not evenly and fairly supported and enforced across the 
board. Therefore, the jobs aren't there.
  There are more opportunities here in the United States. Although we 
have breakdowns, we do try to enforce the law more evenly than, I would 
submit, anywhere in the world, at least until more recently when this 
administration makes exceptions of millions of people who are assured 
that they can violate the law with impunity and will be awarded for it.
  People come from countries where there is no equality under the law 
and they come to this country, as soon as they get here, for those of 
us that were out in front of the Supreme Court today, being shouted 
down by people who are angry, many of them shouting in Spanish--fine--
but we were told that people in their positions were all in the 
shadows.
  Now, I did see some people lounging around under a few trees, but 
most of them were not in the shadows. They were, in fact, on the steps 
of the Supreme Court right there in front yelling and screaming and 
showing disrespect for the U.S. national anthem and yelling, trying to 
prevent freedom of speech.
  It is just really interesting, seeing posters like ``Jesus was an 
immigrant.'' Well, sort of, but he never violated the law. He never 
encouraged anyone else to violate the law. In fact, he urged people to 
go forth and do wrong no more, but that is not the case.
  The great and really tragic irony of what is taking place is people 
coming to America illegally demanding that the laws not be properly 
enforced, not be fairly enforced. Sure, there have been millions and 
millions and millions and millions of Americans who have come through 
our system legally, but we are the millions that did not come legally 
and we demand to have the same treatment as if we did come legally.
  If we do that, it will not be long before we will be in the same 
shape as the countries these people fled from because there is not 
adequate opportunities. Since there is not adequate room for the 
billion or so that we have been told may want to come to America around 
the world, it would be far better to encourage their nations to end 
graft and corruption, to treat people fairly across the board.
  Here is an article from the Center for Immigration Studies. It says: 
``The criminal aliens released by ICE in these years, who had already 
been convicted of thousands of crimes, are responsible for a 
significant crime spree in American communities, including 124 aliens 
charged with 135 new homicides. Inexplicably, ICE is choosing to 
release some criminal aliens multiple times.''
  These are people that not only came into the country illegally, but 
have committed crimes multiple times, many of them, while they are 
here. At least they have certainly been charged with them.
  ``A total of 121 criminal aliens who were freed by ICE over the 5-
year period between 2010 and 2014 were subsequently charged with 
homicide-related crimes within that time frame. Three more were charged 
in 2015. These 121 accused murderers were associated with 250 different 
communities in the United States, with the most clustered in 
California, New York, and Texas.
  ``These aliens were charged with a total of 135 homicide-related 
crimes after release. Two of them had homicide-related convictions even 
before they were released. These aliens had 464 criminal convictions 
prior to release by ICE.
  ``Another three aliens who were released by ICE during that time were 
charged with homicides during the first 10 months of FY 2015 . . . this 
tally does not include aliens who were released by sanctuary 
jurisdictions, nor those aliens that were released by local law 
enforcement agencies after ICE declined to take them into custody due 
to Obama administration prioritization policies. This list includes 
only those aliens that ICE arrested and then released.''

                              {time}  2130

  ``The names of the criminal aliens were redacted by the Judiciary 
Committee, but the list presumably includes murderers like Apolinar 
Altamirano, an illegal alien who was arrested by ICE in 2013 following 
his conviction on local charges involving a burglary and abduction, but 
who was released on a $10,000 bond and permitted to remain free and 
elect to have deportation proceedings that would take years to 
complete. In January 2015, Altamirano shot and killed 21-year-old Grant 
Ronnebeck while he was working at a convenience store where Altamirano 
had come to buy cigarettes.
  ``ICE has previously disclosed that 75 percent of the homicidal 
criminal aliens were released due to court orders, including the so-
called Zadvydas cases in which the aliens' home countries would not 
take them back. The rest were released by ICE's choice.''
  The article also points out: ``In 2014, ICE released a total of 
30,558 criminal aliens from its custody. These aliens had already been 
convicted of 92,347 crimes before they were released by ICE.
  ``As of July 25, 2015, a total of 1,895 aliens have been charged with 
a crime after being freed by ICE.
  ``In a separate communication, ICE provided a list of countries that 
currently are uncooperative in accepting their deported citizens: 
Afghanistan, Algeria, Burundi, Cape Verde, China, Cuba, Eritrea, 
Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, India, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Libya, 
Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, and 
Zimbabwe.''
  We have the power to force these countries to either take back their 
citizens who have come illegally into this country or who are illegally 
in this country--particularly if they have committed crimes in this 
country--or have consequences. Instead, this administration chooses to 
provide benefits to countries like Iran and Afghanistan. For goodness 
sake. Make sure they are running Christians and Jews out of 
Afghanistan, but shouldn't they at least take back their own people?
  I was told by one of the leaders in Afghanistan--this is a few years 
ago--that their budget was around $12 billion a year. They only 
provided about

[[Page H1799]]

$1.5 billion. All the rest came from other countries, and most of that 
was from the United States. If they won't take their people back, then 
shut the government down. They will take their people back. This is 
ridiculous.
  Also, an important point was made in this article.
  ``As of July 25, 2015, only about 3 percent of the 30,558 criminal 
aliens freed by ICE in 2014 have been removed . . . ICE reports that 
28,017 still had a pending immigration case as of July 25, 2015,'' but 
some of them don't show up for their hearings. Many don't. The largest 
percentage do not. They are just given notices to appear.
  ``Recent National Gang Unit-led operations include--'' and this is 
from a different article, from the article: ``ICE Arrests More Than 
1,100 in Operation Targeting Gangs.'' It talks about all of the efforts 
to capture gangs. Let's see. ``Of the 1,133 arrests, 915 were gang 
members and associates; 1,001 were charged with criminal offenses; and 
132 were arrested . . .'' It is just more and more numbers of drugs, 
firearms, currency. Again, about 3 percent, apparently, is all they are 
removing of those who are committing crimes in the country.
  Jessica Vaughan, from a year ago, had an article from May 28: ``The 
Non-Deported: ICE Still Releasing Criminal Aliens at a Rapid Pace.''
  She documents, according to this article: ``The majority of convicted 
criminal releases occurred because of Obama administration policies 
that require ICE officers to let the offenders go. In some cases, 
judges will allow aliens to be released after a bond hearing, but the 
conditions are usually set by ICE, and ICE attorneys say that they have 
been instructed not to vigorously contest an alien's request for 
release,'' which brings us back to the Sabillons. My Christian brother 
and my Christian sister are gone; and we don't enforce our immigration 
laws as the oath taken by those in this administration require.
  I want to finish up by mentioning again about my being on the border. 
I was so struck. Texas has utilized and provided massive amounts of 
money to try to help us defend our border. The number one area through 
which people are coming into the United States moved some years back 
from Arizona to the McAllen corridor into Texas. I had occasion to be 
on a DPS boat with fantastic DPS officers. They had fantastic equipment 
that they were able to utilize to spot people who were clearly getting 
ready--behind bushes and whatnot--to cross the Rio Grande, from the 
Mexico side, into the U.S. It appeared, clearly, that some of them were 
just people who were going to be brought across, and some were carrying 
things. Maybe they were drugs. We don't really know.
  After we had spotted these folks when we were cruising down the river 
on the DPS boat--and there were a couple of Border Patrol boats that 
were much smaller, and there were other assets that allowed them to 
focus once we identified where these people were so that the Federal 
Border Patrol would know--and after we stayed silent for a while, we 
finally got a radio message from the Border Patrol that asked us to go 
ahead and return back to the dock way on down the river so that they 
could try to intercept these folks. Fine, because I know, if the 
Department of Public Safety sees a raft coming across, they will stop 
them. They do destroy the raft, which, as I understand, gets the coyote 
in trouble with the drug lord who sent him with the raft with people 
who had paid money to get them across. So the DPS would do that.
  They said: Why don't you go ahead. They are waiting for you to leave 
the area. Then we can interdict. We can catch them red-handed.
  It turns out that is exactly what they did. We spent massive amounts 
of money and effort in spotting people before they came across the 
river illegally. Whether it was bringing drugs, whether it was people 
coming across, we knew where they were. We spotted them, and we 
directed the Border Patrol to them. I say ``we.'' It is our Department 
of Public Safety people in Texas. We got word: That is exactly what 
they were waiting for. They came across after you left the area, and 
now we are in-processing them into the United States.

  We have the power to secure our border, but this administration has 
no will, and that is why unaccompanied children are up 1,200 percent. I 
have seen tiny, little girls, who couldn't have been more than 3 or 4, 
just in the last trip down, in the days I spent down there. Girls like 
them say: Oh, I am unaccompanied.
  I guarantee you they did not cross that river unaccompanied. They did 
not come 1,000 miles unaccompanied across Mexico. They were 
accompanied. Thank God they were not sold into sex trafficking as so 
many have been.
  When we in the United States, as I have been told by African 
friends--some of whom I have seen in the last month--say we are the 
hope of the world and when we don't follow the law, when we don't 
enforce the law, when we don't enforce our own laws, the world suffers. 
As Christians in Africa have told me: We know where we go when we die, 
but our only hope of having a peaceful life is if America stays strong.
  We haven't done that. Christians are now being persecuted in greater 
numbers than ever in history. Jews are being persecuted again as if we 
are headed toward a new holocaust.
  It is time for American leaders who have taken an oath to the United 
States Constitution and to this country to realize: to whom much is 
given, from them much will be required. There is going to be a day of 
judgment on America if we don't rise to the occasion and use what we 
have been blessed with.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________