[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 5944]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              HIDTA AWARDS

  (Ms. GIFFORDS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. GIFFORDS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the Arizona 
Region of the National High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force, 
also known as HIDTA. The HIDTA mission is to reduce drug trafficking in 
the areas of our Nation that are most impacted. This is done through a 
team effort among Federal, local, and State authorities.
  At the recent HIDTA conference here in Washington, D.C., the Arizona 
HIDTA was honored for its interdiction successes and its financial 
investigations.
  In 2009, the Arizona region completed a 4-year investigation which 
led to a $93 million settlement with Western Union. And the Southwest 
Border HIDTA, which includes Arizona, was named the national HIDTA 
region of the year. The Southwest HIDTA region covers the drug 
trafficking corridors through which more than 90 percent of the drugs 
that are brought into this country flow through.
  I commend the men and women who carry out these essential and 
dangerous drug interdiction efforts. Thank you to the service these men 
and women give to our Nation. Thank you for helping us secure our 
borders.

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