[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 741]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 DEPUTY GILMER HERNANDEZ--BORDER LAWMAN

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, in the small border town of Rocksprings, Texas, 
where drug smugglers and human smugglers sneak across the Rio Grande 
into America, lone Deputy Sheriff Gilmer Hernandez was on patrol. In 
the stillness of the vast night, a speeding Suburban runs a red light. 
Deputy Hernandez, 25, stops the vehicle, but suddenly, without warning, 
the vehicle takes off. Deputy Hernandez says the vehicle tried to run 
him down. The lawman fires several shots, one of which shoots out the 
rear tire, just like in the movies.
  The vehicle stops, and eight or nine illegals jump out and take off 
running into the sagebrush. One illegal had a minor injury from a 
bullet. The U.S. Government rounds up six or seven of the illegals and, 
guess what, prosecutes Deputy Hernandez, claiming he recklessly 
discharged his firearm and uses the illegals as witnesses against the 
lawman during a trial.
  Citizens of his town are mad. One said, ``Our deputy's in jail for 
doing his job.''
  Mr. Speaker, another example of how the Federal Government is more 
concerned about people illegally invading America than it is about the 
men who protect America. Once again, our government is on the wrong 
side of the border war.
  And that's just the way it is.

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