[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 7938]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   WARNING TO TEXAS STATE LEGISLATORS

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the Texas Department of Public Safety 
has issued a stern safety warning to members of the Texas legislature 
living near the southern border: Remove your car license plates that 
say ``State official'' on them. Texas legislators were warned to remove 
their identifying car license plates because of threats from Mexican 
drug cartels. Based on intelligence estimates from information they 
have received, law enforcement cautioned that the drug cartels may 
target members of the Texas legislature for assaults and kidnappings, 
especially those living on the border region. Some of the members and 
their staffs have removed those ``State official'' license plates and 
some are seeking concealed carry permits. There have been earlier 
reports of Mexican officials being assaulted and kidnapped by the 
cartels in Mexico. Now the threats have crossed to our side of the 
porous border region.
  Now it seems to me the National Guard is probably better suited to 
deal with the violent narco-terrorists than a bunch of legislative 
staffers with concealed weapons--even in Texas.
  And that's just the way it is.

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