[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9589]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



          CONDEMNING A BOUNTY OFFERED FOR BORDER PATROL AGENTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, under ordinary circumstances, 
I would not rise to the floor of the House to discuss as delicate an 
issue as this if we had been briefed by law enforcement officials, the 
Department of Justice or the Border Patrol, for the issue is so 
troubling that I do not even think Americans would want this kind of 
terrible proposal to be promoted.

                              {time}  1900

  But the fact that article was in the Houston Chronicle today brings 
me to the necessity of addressing this question publicly. ``Bounty 
Offered for Killing Agent of Border Patrol,'' Houston Chronicle, today, 
Tuesday, June 6, 2000.
  The reason I come to the floor of the House is to condemn any such 
attempt to put a bounty or to ask for an assassination of any of 
America's law enforcement officers or, for that matter, anyone in the 
United States who are lawfully performing their duties.
  This request for a bounty on a Border Patrol agent has been asked for 
by Mexican activist Carlos Ibarra Perez. Certainly, the border between 
the State of Texas and the other border States and Mexico has had some 
troubling times. Yes, there has been an infusion of illegal immigrants. 
There have been acts that have been acted upon by citizens illegally 
trying to protect their properties. But I think that it is important 
for those of us who have responsibility and oversight over law 
enforcement personnel throughout this Nation to condemn this heinous 
request, to indicate that there is no reason that anyone should call 
for a bounty and for an act to assassinate or kill another human being 
and particularly in this instance.
  This also calls for this Congress to act expeditiously to provide the 
extra funding that will necessitate or provide for extra Border Patrol 
along that border.
  In addition, I will be asking the Department of Justice to provide 
more FBI agents in that area to ensure that this may be what I believe 
it is, an idle threat. But no life should be taken for granted. And 
though we have much to do at the border to protect all the individuals 
who are there, Border Patrol, those who see the necessity to come into 
this country illegally, and that is wrong, but to protect the area and 
the people who live there and the lives of people who are in the midst 
of that, if you will, confusion.
  But to be able to sit idly by while someone calls for the 
assassination of a Border Patrol agent, any Border Patrol agent, is 
intolerable and should not be accepted.
  I am asking that we continue to monitor that area, that the 
Department of Justice keeps a watchful eye, that more funds are 
provided for Border Patrol agents, along with more training, and that 
increased law enforcement is added to that area to ensure the 
protection of the protectors.
  There is no excuse that we should stand idly by, as I have indicated, 
while these kinds of threats are made whether or not this is a citizen 
of Mexico. And let me applaud the leadership of Mexico and the foreign 
policy representatives of Mexico who have, likewise, condemned this 
travesty.
  But this kind of public display of disrespect for the law and 
disrespect for human life is not to be tolerated; and I, for one, will 
not tolerate this kind of bounty being set upon law enforcement 
officers who are doing their job.
  I am shamed that this has even happened. I ask for Carlos Ibarra 
Perez to withdraw such a request. I ask for those who even may be 
thinking of it to not even dare. And I ask the law enforcement of this 
country to provide the necessary protection and support for these law 
enforcement officers, the U.S. Border Patrol, who are doing simply 
their job.

                          ____________________