[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2923]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         SHERIFFS ON THE BORDER

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, it has been 5 months since David 
Hartley was brutally murdered by pirates on Falcon Lake. His body 
remains missing, and those responsible for this border murder remain at 
large.
  Shamefully, the only American peace officer apparently still working 
on this case is Sheriff Sigi Gonzalez of Zapata County. He has 
identified four of the seven shooters as Zeta Cartel members.
  At least there's still somebody on the case.
  The local sheriffs cannot do the job that they are supposed to do of 
protecting their counties while doing the Federal Government's job of 
protecting the border as well. Sixty-five Americans were murdered in 
Mexico last year, and not one case has been solved. Unfortunately, some 
of the Mexican border law enforcement personnel are in cahoots with the 
drug cartels. That relationship breeds incompetence and corruption.
  Until the FBI, the State Department and Homeland Security get fully 
engaged in the murders of Americans in Mexico, it will be the 
responsibility of local sheriffs to keep the peace on the border.
  And that's just the way it is.

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