[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 84 (Thursday, May 26, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3269-S3270]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                      TRIBUTE TO FEDERAL EMPLOYEES


                               Oscar Peru

  Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, as the Presiding Officer knows, he is 
stuck with this Senator on the floor on many late afternoons. It seems 
that when everybody is packing up and heading for home, the Presiding 
Officer has to listen to this Senator, hopefully waxing eloquently, 
talking about some of the very good people who work for the Department 
of Homeland Security.
  When looking at people who do important work for our country, there 
are a lot of valuable agencies, a lot of very valuable and hardworking 
people. But some of the best and brightest folks work for the 
Department of Homeland Security, trying to protect us and our families 
and our businesses and our country.
  I have come regularly to the floor now for a couple of years to 
highlight some of the great work being done by the men and woman who 
serve us at the Department of Homeland Security. As you may recall, the 
Department of Homeland Security was sort of cobbled together roughly a 
dozen years ago. We took 20 different component agencies with over 
220,000 employees stationed all over the world and said: We are going 
to make you the Department of Homeland Security.
  It has not been easy, but I think it is a work in progress. But when 
you consider that the Department of Defense was created right after 
World War II and they still struggle at times to function as 
effectively as we would like, we should not be surprised that the 
Department of Homeland Security has gone through some growing pains, if 
you will, in learning how to work together.
  We are proud of the work they do and grateful for the work they do. 
But they have some of the toughest jobs of the folks who work in 
Federal workforce. From stopping drugs from crossing into our borders 
to protecting our cyber networks from hackers to securing nuclear and 
radiological materials, the Department of Homeland Security has a 
diverse, complex, and a difficult mission--really, a combination of 
missions.
  Each and every day, tens of thousands of Department of Homeland 
Security employees quietly and diligently work behind the scenes. They 
work to achieve the mission, the core of which is keeping over 300 
million Americans safe as we go about our daily lives.
  It is easy to forget that despite all it achieves each day keeping 
Americans safe around the world, the Department of Homeland Security is 
still a teenager. I said earlier that it came together in 2002, almost 
14 years ago, following the attacks on 9/11, when it became clear that 
we needed a centralized agency to pool and share information--about 
what?--about the threats to our country and to coordinate the efforts 
to keep these threats at bay.
  In 14 years, the Department of Homeland Security has done an 
exceptional job, integrating nearly 20 agencies from across from the 
government, with different histories, different cultures, and different 
capabilities and expertise. Senior leaders in the Department--chief 
among them now are Secretary Jeh Johnson and Deputy Secretary Ali 
Mayorkas--work each day and every day to make the Department of 
Homeland Security more than the sum of its part. They stand on the 
shoulders of those who came before them as Secretaries and Deputy 
Secretaries of this Department.
  I am proud that just yesterday the Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs Committee, on which I serve as the senior Democrat, approved 
bipartisan legislation to support the Department's efforts by 
authorizing its Unity of Effort Initiative. That initiative 
successfully brought agencies within the Department together to pool 
resources, to deepen coordination, and more effectively to tackle their 
joint missions together. I like to say that if you want to go good 
fast, go alone. If you want to go far, travel together. What we see 
happening at the Department of Homeland Security is the creation of a 
cohesive unit of what were very many different disparate agencies.
  One component agency within the Department of Homeland Security that 
not only serves a critical mission today but has a long and storied 
history is called U.S. Customs and Border Protection. In 1789--1789--
before some of our pages were born, the U.S. Customs Service was 
established, and a fleet of vessels set out patrolling our shores to 
prevent the shipment of illegal goods--1789.
  Then in 1924, nearly 92 years ago to the day, the U.S. Border Patrol 
was established. Later in 2003, the Customs Service and the Border 
Patrol merged to create the modern Customs and Border Protection agency 
that operates within the Department of Homeland Security today. Today, 
Customs and Border Protection performs a number of duties on the 
frontlines of the battle against threats such as terrorism, drugs, and 
human trafficking. They work to secure thousands of miles of border and 
coastline around the country.
  They work to facilitate travel, to inspect ships and cargo at our 
ports of entry. They work to stop illegal drugs and other contraband 
and violent criminals from entering into our country. Today alone, its 
60,000 employees are hard at work welcoming nearly 1 million visitors 
to our country--just in 1 day--screening more than 67,000 cargo 
containers for hazards and customs violations, and stopping more than 
12,000 pounds of illicit drugs from entering our country.
  I am not talking about what they do in a year, or a month, or even a 
week. That is what they do in a day. Think about that--in one day. The 
key resource that our Customs officials on the frontlines count on is 
the support of CBP's Air and Marine Operations. Air and Marine 
Operations uses a fleet of 256 aircraft and 286 marine vessels to 
detect, to track, and to apprehend criminals in places that agents 
can't reach on foot or in cars.
  From fast interceptor boats to Huey helicopters to P-3 aircraft, like 
the one I flew in during most of my 23 years in the Navy, Air and 
Marine Operations provides critical support to CBP agents. They often 
do important and dangerous work. Air and Marine agents are also key in 
helping to find and rescue people on our borders who may be in danger, 
saving countless people who are found lost or injured in some of the 
most remote parts of the country.
  One CBP Air and Marine Operations agent who goes above and beyond to 
help secure our borders and keep people safe looks a lot like this 
fellow. His name is Oscar Peru, like the country. He is pictured here 
to my left. Oscar Peru is a CBP aviation enforcement agent based out of 
Tucson, AZ. He was raised in Tucson.
  Oscar joined the Arizona Army National Guard after college. He served 
his State and his country as a guardsman for 10 years, including by 
fighting in Operation Iraqi Freedom. After working for the State of 
Arizona on their Joint Counter Narcotics Task Force, he joined the 
Border Patrol as a senior patrol agent in 2003.
  After 5 years as a Border Patrol agent, Oscar joined the Border 
Patrol Search, Trauma, and Rescue Unit. As a trained emergency medical 
technician, Oscar was able to provide lifesaving care to countless men, 
women, and children who were lost or injured in some of the harshest 
environments along the southwestern border of our country.
  At all hours of the night, Oscar has conducted searches to find and 
save those in need. Oscar also performed the difficult and--I am sure--
heartbreaking task of retrieving the bodies of those who have perished 
so they can be returned to their families and given a proper burial.
  Since 2008, Oscar Peru has served as an aviation enforcement agent, 
coordinating efforts across Federal agencies. Working with State and 
local law enforcement, Oscar conducts operations to identify and stop 
criminal activity along the border, from drug smuggling to human 
trafficking to rescue operations.
  Oscar's work has saved countless lives, arrested countless criminals, 
and kept countless pounds of drugs from ever reaching our communities.
  Oscar, I would say that is one impressive day's work. We are grateful 
to you for doing it.
  Those who know Oscar routinely describe him as a man who shows 
incredible compassion for everyone that he encounters, both in his 
personal life and in his work.
  Through his years of dedicated service, Oscar has earned the trust of 
his

[[Page S3270]]

peers, who rely on him as a leader during risky operations and 
dangerous missions. As a certified master and instructor in helicopter 
ropes and suspension techniques, Oscar uses his experience to train 
others in skills necessary to operate safely in a dangerous 
environment, often leaning out of the door of a helicopter hundreds of 
feet up in the air. It is no wonder his colleagues describe Oscar as 
courageous and as an inspiration to those around him.
  So, Oscar, my friend, we say thank you. Thank you for your remarkable 
and continued service to our country and to your community in Tucson. A 
special thanks for all of the lives you have saved and will continue to 
save through your heroic work.
  To Oscar's wife and four children, we say thank you for sharing with 
us a good man, your husband and your dad, for letting him do the 
important work that he does every day to keep Americans safe along the 
southern border and really around our country.
  To the 1,200 men and women of the Air and Marine Operations and the 
60,000 employees at Customs and Border Protection, thank you for your 
continued service to our country and for your dedication to the safety 
and security of so many others. As I said earlier, more than 200,000 
employees at the Department of Homeland Security have some of the 
toughest jobs of any of our public servants, working outside the 
spotlight to tackle difficult challenges and to protect our community 
and our families.
  To each of you, I just want to say again, as I say here every month: 
Thank you. Keep up the good work. May God bless each and every one of 
you.

                          ____________________