[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
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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.
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