[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5337]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        THE THIRD FRONT--PAGE II

  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, I bring you news from the third 
front, and that's the war for this Nation's national security on our 
southern border with Mexico.
  We are engaged in three conflicts, three wars: the one in 
Afghanistan, the one in Iraq, and the border war on our southern 
border.
  The $40 billion a year illicit drug trade in Mexico has resulted in a 
vicious wave of violence in northern Mexico. Over 18,000 Mexican 
nationals have been killed in recent years by the criminal drug 
cartels, most of those, innocent civilians; but also many of them are 
the competition among the drug cartels. And they're fighting for 
control of the routes that lead into the United States where those drug 
cartels can sell their wares.
  Just a few days ago there was a bombing at the United States Embassy 
in Nuevo Laredo, just on the border. Recently, a pregnant U.S. Embassy 
employee and her husband were murdered in Juarez, Mexico, right in 
front of their young daughter and other witnesses.
  And in 2008 there were 1,500 murders in Juarez, Mexico alone; and 
this year, over 500 people have been killed. To put it in perspective, 
in 2008 there were only 300 murders in all of Houston, a city that 
dwarfs the size of Juarez, Mexico. And the violence is escalating.
  Good people are abandoning the border cities in Mexico and fleeing 
further into the interior, and some are fleeing to the United States to 
stay with relatives, all because of the violence on the U.S.-Mexico 
border.
  And people in this country who say that the violence on the border 
won't come into the United States live in blissful ignorance of 
reality. It's already here.
  In the El Paso sector of the Border Patrol in Texas, our agents are 
being targeted by the Azteca hitmen for the Juarez drug cartel. The 
Azteca gang is a group of individuals who work for the drug cartel, the 
Juarez drug cartel, and their primary mission is to enforce the ability 
to bring drugs into the United States. And now we understand our Border 
Patrol agents in the El Paso sector are being targeted to be shot and 
kidnapped and murdered by these hitmen. They're after our Border Patrol 
agents.
  And recently, as recently as today, we've learned that there is a 
$250,000 bounty on our Border Patrol agents for their murder and for 
their kidnapping. The drug cartels are putting out these hits on our 
Border Patrol agents because they are enforcing the rule of law and 
keeping the drug cartels out of this country to the best of their 
ability.
  This is serious. This is violence. And it's being perpetrated by the 
drug cartels against Americans, both in Mexico, Mexicans in Mexico, and 
Americans in the United States.
  Unfortunately, too many people in Washington, D.C. are closing their 
eyes to reality. They don't see that the violence has already spread 
into the United States.
  Madam Speaker, there are 14 counties in Texas that border Mexico. And 
recently I called each of those 14 sheriffs and asked them this 
question: How many people in your county jail are foreign nationals 
charged with crimes in the United States, other than immigration 
violations? How many are charged with felonies, misdemeanors, crimes of 
violence? And they told me that 37 percent of the people in the border 
county jails in Texas are foreign nationals charged with crimes, not 
immigration violations. So we see that the crime in Mexico on the 
border is coming into the United States and affecting our border 
counties.
  And these counties are not rich, wealthy counties. They don't have 
the money to try, prosecute and house these individuals.
  We shouldn't wait till something tragic happens before we do 
something about it. There are border incursions every day by these 
criminal drug cartels, and now there are reports that the drug cartels 
are cloning Border Patrol vehicles so that they can bring drugs into 
the United States. Recently, there were two incursions by Mexican 
military helicopters across the Texas-Mexico border into the United 
States, and their intentions are still unknown.
  So it's important, Madam Speaker, that we do what is necessary to 
protect the dignity of our Nation. The first duty of government is the 
national security to protect the people.
  The Texas Governor and other Governors asked for the National Guard 
to go to the border to help secure and protect the dignity of our 
Nation. I think we should send the National Guard to the border. We 
need to do what is necessary because it is the duty of government to 
protect the people. And that protection starts at the border. And it's 
time we wake up to the reality of the way the world is, that the drug 
cartels are serious about being violent and about being criminals.
  And that's just the way it is.

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