[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 15]
[House]
[Pages 22900-22901]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       AGENT BRIAN TERRY: U.S. BORDER PATROL--ON THE THIRD 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. Madam Speaker, it was about midnight when gunfire 
erupted in a remote area of Rio Rico, Arizona, a city near the border 
of Mexico and the United States. Border Patrol agents and unknown 
gunmen exchanged shots in the dark, and one shot proved to be deadly, 
claiming a life in this war zone--our southern border, the third front.
  Radio chatter alerted dispatch of the incident, and a call for 
assistance was received this Tuesday night about 11 p.m. Border Patrol 
agents were making rounds in a very isolated and rugged area just north 
of the border town of Nogales.

                              {time}  1720

  They were trying to catch bandits, the kind that target illegal 
immigrants. They rob and steal and pillage those immigrants, and our 
Border Patrol agents protect those immigrants. Banditos have long 
traveled border districts, robbing these individuals.
  But while on patrol Tuesday night, United States Border Agent Brian 
Terry, and this is his photograph, Madam Speaker. Brian Terry and team 
members encountered a group of armed gunmen. Upon seeing Agent Terry 
and three other Border Patrol agents, they opened fire on Agent Terry 
and his comrades with automatic weapons. Border Patrol Agent Terry was 
shot in the back with an AK-47. He died en route to a hospital.
  Four suspects have been arrested for this dastardly crime. One 
individual is still at large and on the run. Justice is deserved and 
needed for these murderers. Border Patrol Agent Terry is 
irreplaceable--yet another American life claimed by the violent border 
battle on the third front.
  Agent Terry was 40. He was a brother and a son. His family called him 
a tough, big guy who committed his life to public service. Terry was 
headed home today to Michigan to see his family for Christmas. He had 
purchased his plane ticket earlier this week.
  He was an agent for 3 years, but he had a military background. Right 
out of high school, he joined the United States Marine Corps, and he 
served 3 years. Part of that time he was in the combat zone in Iraq. He 
later became a police officer and he joined the Border Patrol in 2007. 
His life was dedicated to public service and the protection of the 
American people. He had been a member of the elite Border Patrol 
Tactical Team; and according to his family, he loved that job. He would 
call home before going on a mission, and he would call when he got back 
in. The excitement of protecting this Nation fueled his passion in the 
workplace, and he put his life on the line to protect our security and 
sovereignty as a Nation. And he paid for it by giving his life.
  Madam Speaker, going back to the year 2004, I have a chart that shows 
assaults that have occurred on our Border Patrol agents. In 2004, about 
400 assaults occurred. All of the way to 2009 and even this year, there 
are over a thousand assaults committed against our Border Patrol agents 
by illegals arrogantly coming into the United States. Mainly those 
assaults are by rocks being thrown at those Border Patrol agents and 
causing injuries. You don't hear too much about the assaults against 
our border protectors. But the media sure tells us a lot about how 
important it is that we let people who are here in this country 
illegally stick around and make the rest of us pay for it.
  Agent Terry's fatal shooting is not the first murder of a Border 
Patrol agent. Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas of Campo, California, 
was assassinated in 2009 while responding to criminal activity in a 
notorious alien and drug smuggling area. The men and women on the 
border are under constant assault. They are the iron gatekeepers to a 
violent battle that reveals each day and every night uncontained 
authority.
  Because you see, Madam Speaker, whether we want to admit it or not, 
there are portions of the Texas-Mexico border, the U.S.-Mexico border, 
that are under the operational control of the drug cartels. The United 
States does not have control; Mexico does not have control. Not in all 
areas, but some areas; and that is where this ruthless third front is 
taking place. The border war is a bloody battlefield between the law 
and the outlaws. Once a Texas Ranger told me: Congressman Poe,

[[Page 22901]]

after dark it gets western on the border. He said we are out-manned, 
out-gunned, and out-financed by the enemy.
  Madam Speaker, we need the moral resolve as a Nation to secure the 
dignity of our borders and to protect the people who are protecting us, 
our Border Patrol agents. They are doing the job that we asked them to 
do, so it is long overdue that we protect the border of this country 
like we protect the borders of other nations so that no more Border 
Patrol agents will be murdered by those who sneak into our country.
  And that's just the way it is.

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