[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 23782]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       TEXAS SHERIFF RICK FLORES

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. POE. Madam Speaker, this past weekend I traveled to the United 
States-Mexico border and spent time patrolling the Rio Grande River 
with Sheriff Rick Flores and his deputies of Webb County, Texas. 
Sheriff Flores is a determined lawman. He is fighting invasion of 
illegal immigration and the war against the dangerous, violent drug 
cartels that are slithering into the United States.
  Flores has only 13 deputies to patrol a county bigger than Delaware. 
In the tense border towns like Laredo, Rio Bravo and El Cenizo, the war 
between the drug cartels is waging and getting more dangerous every 
day. These drug outlaws have more money, extra manpower, better 
electronic equipment, a better intelligence network, and better 
firepower than the sheriff and his posse.
  The sheriff needs Humvees, body armor, off-road vehicles, satellite 
phones, GPS systems and much more to fight this battle against drug 
cartels and human smugglers. Madam Speaker, Sheriff Flores has a 
passion to protect Texas and all of America. Sheriff Flores put it best 
when he said protecting our borders is not a partisan issue, it is a 
red, white, and blue issue. Madam Speaker, that is just the way it is.

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