[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 24]
[House]
[Page 32029]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  0915
           AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN BORDER AND U.S.-MEXICO BORDER

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I had the opportunity to be with our 
resilient troops last week in Afghanistan near the violent southern 
border with Pakistan. Part of their mission is to secure the border by 
preventing drugs, arms, money and Taliban criminals from crossing back 
and forth through the vast border regions. It's in America's interest 
to have our military in Afghanistan and protect the sovereignty of that 
country.
  It is ironic, however, we see the need to protect the borders of 
other nations; but because of political reasons, we don't have the 
moral will to protect our own borders. This is not the first 
administration that has given a wink and a nod to our porous borders, 
but it should be the last.
  Our southern border region is a haven for organized criminal cartels, 
gun smugglers, human smugglers and rogue outlaws that cross as freely 
as they did in the days of the old west. We should be as concerned 
about protecting our own border as we are about protecting the borders 
of Third World countries like Afghanistan. We should put our military 
on the border if necessary.
  After all, the first duty of government is protection of our own 
homeland.
  And that's just the way it is.

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