[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 17634-17635]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        BRANDON RANDOLPH MICHAEL

  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 recently got a letter from a 
grieving family in Florida. Their young 21-year-old son was killed 3 
years ago in a senseless homicide by an illegal. The family is still 
seeking justice, however. This is their son's story.
  On August 15, 2007, Brandon Randolph Michael was on the way to his 
lunch break. This is Brandon's photograph right here. He was driving to 
the credit union to cash his payroll check. His vehicle was struck by a 
car driven by a twice-deported illegal named Mario Tellez. Brandon's 
car flipped over several times and landed on its hood. Brandon was 
thrown into a ditch.
  The illegal driver, Mario Tellez, got out of his vehicle and calmly 
sat on the curb. He did nothing to help Brandon. He did not call for 
aid. He did nothing but watch Brandon struggle when he took his last 
breaths.
  Tellez refused to admit he was driving the vehicle, and Brandon's 
family had to go through a torturous, lengthy trial.
  Brandon's family found out that Tellez had been in this country 
illegally for 7 years. He was working and sending his money back to 
Mexico, even after having already been deported two times.
  It took a jury only 20 minutes to find him guilty of driving without 
a license and causing the death of another person, that being Brandon. 
The defendant was sentenced to only 2 years in the penitentiary, 2 
years for taking the life of another individual.
  Tellez has now served the 2 years for murdering Brandon Michael, and, 
upon release, he was deported yet again. But here is the rest of the 
story.
  Tellez's friend, a Richard Curtis, admitted during the trial that he 
harbored the illegal fugitive for years and hid him out, and Curtis was 
never prosecuted.
  It was Richard Curtis' automobile that Mario Tellez was driving when 
he killed Brandon Michael. Curtis worked for the Federal Government. 
And, get this. He worked for the IRS. Don't the laws apply to Federal 
bureaucrats as well as other people in this country?
  So the family asked the Florida State Attorney's Office, ICE, State, 
and local law enforcement officers to enforce the law. The family is 
asking them to charge Richard Curtis with harboring, aiding, and 
abetting an illegal fugitive in this country.
  But no one has prosecuted this apparent lawbreaker. And why not? No 
one seems to be talking. Brandon's family deserves some answers.
  Brandon's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Michael, wanted me to know how 
precious their son Brandon was to them.

                              {time}  1800

  Here is what they said about him. They said he was a fun person to be

[[Page 17635]]

around. He loved life, he celebrated with people, and he was seldom 
ever sad. He made others happy. He was looking forward to getting 
married and starting a family. And he was a Dallas Cowboys fan. He 
played the keyboard. And he played several different sports growing up, 
from T-ball as a small child to football in high school. He grew up 
with a loving middle-class family that raised him to respect people and 
respect the law.
  Brandon loved giving to those that had less than him. He helped feed 
the hungry. He often called his friends and asked them for blankets, 
coats and shoes so he could give them away to the needy in his area. 
While in middle school, Brandon and his sister were pages for the local 
city council meetings. He worked hard for the car that he was driving 
on that dreadful day he was killed by a person illegally in this 
country.
  Brandon loved animals and had just about every type during his 
childhood. He wanted to be a veterinarian.
  This is a real American family, suffering real consequences because 
of lax immigration and border enforcement laws in this country. 
Brandon's life was cut short by a twice-deported illegal who should not 
have been in the country in the first place.
  Brandon's family is a very close-knit group. They told me they have 
worked hard to raise children that loved the Lord and loved others and 
loved this country.
  The family said others things. The father, Richard Michael, well, 
first of all, he defended this country for 20 years in the military, 
and the family feels as though our country has turned a deaf ear on 
their plight and their situation. Our government officials that they 
have trusted seem to have turned their backs on this case and Brandon's 
death.
  The time to enforce the laws in this country is now, and they asked 
me how many American children such as their precious son have to be 
killed at the hands of illegals before our government gets serious 
about enforcing the laws of the land? They said, ``We cannot afford to 
ignore this enormous problem any longer. We don't want another family 
to endure what we have been through and are still going through.''
  Mr. Speaker, Brandon Randolph Michael is worth the fight to get it 
right in this country, to enforce the laws that we have, to prosecute 
the guilty, to deport criminal aliens, and to secure the borders, 
because it is a national security issue to protect the lives of people 
like this.
  And that's just the way it is.

                          ____________________