[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2706]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  LONE STAR VOICE: BORDER AGENT'S WIFE

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, on the lawless southern border, Border Patrol 
agents are routinely assaulted by illegals. They are shot at. They are 
run down by smugglers in trucks. Officers who daily risk their lives 
protecting America are not always protected by America.
  As a border agent's wife writes me: ``In Texas, agents are regularly 
assaulted, and no prosecution is sought. They are told their injuries 
are not severe enough to deem Federal prosecution. My husband and his 
partner were both shot while on duty. The criminal who shot them was 
never tried on Federal charges. Instead, he was tried by the State of 
Texas. Why is it when an agent doing his job injures a criminal, the 
highest level of prosecution is sought, but when agents are assaulted, 
rarely, if any, prosecution is sought? Why also is it that hundreds of 
drug smugglers flee to Mexico, but we never try to track them down 
until they will aid in prosecuting border agents? Those who do a 
difficult job of protecting our borders need all the help they can 
get.''
  Mr. Speaker, America needs to vigorously prosecute criminals who 
assault our border agents. After all, they are the first line of 
defense from the illegal invasion into our homeland.
  And that's just the way it is.

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