[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 1342]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       NEWS FROM THE SECOND FRONT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I bring you news from the second 
front. The second front is the border war on the southern border of the 
United States between America and Mexico.
  It is important that America understand that there is a violent 
atmosphere in Mexico, our neighbors to the south. It's a possibility 
that the government may collapse. There is chaos, there is high 
unemployment, and much of the blame goes to the drug cartels that are 
operating in Mexico. They are violent; they are mean; they have a lot 
of money; and it makes no difference who they kill that gets in their 
way to smuggle that cancer into the United States.
  This should concern all of us. We cannot wait for the reaction of the 
violence along the Texas-Mexico border, especially, to come into the 
United States. We must be proactive and not wait for Americans to be 
killed before our country does something about it.
  You know, our country protects the borders of other nations, nations 
that many Americans don't even know where they are on the map. But the 
first duty of government is to protect our Nation and protect our 
borders, especially from those narcoterrorists that come into the 
United States habitually.
  Even the Department of Homeland Security now has actually admitted 
that there is a problem on the border. For so long, in my opinion, 
Homeland Security has done very little to protect our border in the 
southern part of the United States.
  But Homeland Security has developed a plan involving the U.S. 
Northern Command to deploy the United States military to protect 
American citizens in the event the drug wars in Mexico spill into the 
United States.
  Just last year, there were over 5,300 murders in Mexico, that's more 
murders in Mexico than the number of American troops killed in the wars 
in Iraq and Afghanistan put together, and it's all because of the drug 
cartels and the violence that has occurred there.
  I have had the opportunity to be on the Texas-Mexico border and the 
border all the way to California that we have with Mexico. I have been 
there many times, and every time I go, it's worse. The violence is 
terrible.
  There used to be a time when Americans would go to Nuevo Laredo 
across the river from Laredo. Not any more. The three drug cartels are 
fighting for turf in Nuevo Laredo to smuggle drugs into the United 
States.
  I want to read, Mr. Speaker, a portion of a military report that I 
have obtained from November 25, 2008, from the United States Joint 
Forces Command. It states that Mexico ``bear[s] consideration for a 
rapid and sudden collapse,'' because ``its politicians, police, and 
judicial infrastructure are all under sustained assault and pressure by 
criminal gangs and drug cartels.'' ``Any descent by Mexico into chaos 
would demand an American response based on the serious implications for 
homeland security alone.''
  What this military report by our military says is the Mexican 
government could be on the verge of collapse because of the drug 
cartels. It should concern us that our neighbors to the south are 
having this problem. It's important to America that there be a stable 
government in Mexico and that we get a grip on the drug cartels and not 
wait for crimes to be committed in the United States, but immediately 
send our military to the United States-Mexico border so we can take 
care of those drug dealers that come into the United States.
  A border sheriff once told me that the drug cartels that come into 
the country, have more money, have better equipment and more people 
than he has to fight them off. Now is the time to be prepared and send 
our military there to protect the integrity of the United States 
border.
  It's important that we help Mexico, but, Mr. Speaker, I am not one 
that favors giving blanket checks to Mexico as we have done in the 
Merida Initiative, $1.5 billion we have sent down there in equipment 
and money. Unfortunately, it may happen that that equipment be used by 
the drug cartels against our border protectors. It's important that we 
reinforce this side of the United States border and be prepared for any 
action of the drug cartels that come across the border from Mexico and 
figure out other ways to help Mexico.
  Border security is the number one issue in this country. It is time 
to secure our borders. The fight has already begun. We have to be 
engaged in this and protect the people of this country from the drug 
cartels.
  And that's just the way it is.

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