[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 3084-3085]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          CHIEF ERNIE MENDOZA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE. Madam Speaker, peace officers are a noble breed, daily 
risking their lives to protect and serve the rest of us. They are what 
separate the evil of the lawless from us.
  Two weeks ago on a dark, cool, misty Texas night, Needville, Texas, 
Independent School District Chief of Police Ernie Mendoza, was coming 
home from his job. He had been supervising a basketball game at one of 
the local schools. As chief of police of Needville Independent School 
District, it was his job to protect students during school and during 
events.
  However, on the same road was 29-year-old construction worker 
Guillermo Paniagua. Guillermo was drunk and driving his pickup truck. 
He was headed toward the chief's car. And within moments, Gulliermo's 
truck crossed the center stripe of the road, slammed head first into 
the chief of police's vehicle. The crash instantly killed this 
dedicated police chief.
  The chief had devoted 25 years of his life as one of Texas's lawmen. 
It was something that meant a lot to him. He was proud to serve his 
country as a peace officer. He was a 1983 graduate of the Waco Police 
Department where he worked in this small central Texas town.
  Then he moved on to the big city of Houston, Texas, where he worked 
with the Houston Independent School District Police Department--one of 
the Nation's largest school districts. And then in 1996 he accepted the 
position with the Needville ISD Police Department where he became chief 
of police.
  ISD police officers have the responsibility to protect children and 
teachers while they are in school. They maintain law and order and 
discipline. They keep the kids safe from day to day. And Chief Mendoza 
was one of the best. He strived to be a positive role model for the 
kids he protected, and he made peace officers look good.
  He took the time to talk to kids and was well liked throughout the 
school. But it all ended a mile from his own home and the indifference 
of a drunk driver.

[[Page 3085]]

  Like most drunk drivers, Guillermo had only minor cuts and bruises. 
He was not injured. But those bruises did not keep him, the coward, the 
killer, from running from the scene in the darkness of the night.
  He was quickly captured by the Wharton County, Texas Sheriff's 
Department, and now he faces first-degree felony murder charges, and 
failure to stop and render aid.
  You see, when you drink and drive and kill somebody, that is a 
felony. As it ought to be.
  Chief Mendoza's wife and four children are now deprived of their 
husband, and father for the rest of their lives. The kids of the 
Needville school system have lost a good protector.
  But, Madam Speaker, this was not Guillermo's first rodeo. You see, he 
has a total of four intoxication convictions in the United States, two 
in Texas and two in Georgia. In Texas he was given probation for a DWI, 
but that was revoked when he was rearrested. And then when he got that 
second DWI, he only spent 3 days in jail and got 18 months probation 
and his license was suspended.
  This drunk should never have been given his driver's license back at 
all. His four DWI convictions proved that the system is not holding him 
accountable for being a drunk driver.
  But the most disturbing thing about Guillermo Paniagua is he is 
illegally in this country. So why is he still here? How did he get a 
driver's license in the first place? Why was his immigration status not 
checked by the police officers each and every time he was picked up for 
drunk driving? He should have been deported the first time he was 
arrested.
  Police Chief Ernie Mendoza was killed at the hands of an illegal, a 
drunk driver. And this could have all been prevented. He and his family 
have become more victims of the U.S.'s inability to secure the border 
and protect its citizens.
  Madam Speaker, Chief Mendoza was a real person. This is a photograph 
of him taken shortly before he was killed. The Needville ISD and the 
great State of Texas have lost a fine lawman. And the casualty list 
continues to mount in the U.S. by those lawless insurgents who are 
illegally occupying our land.
  This government should be as concerned about the homeland casualties 
as it is about those casualties killed in lands far, far away. Or there 
will be more Chief Mendozas killed.
  And that is just the way it is.

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