[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 4223]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                RETREAT?

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, 9 months after the administration sent 
1,200 National Guard troops to the border, Washington has decided that 
it is time for the troops to withdraw. In my opinion, this decision is 
dangerously irresponsible. Violence has already spilled into the United 
States from Mexico. The 16 Texas border counties are packed with 
foreign nationals charged with serious crimes in the United States.
  According to the GAO, 56 percent of the border is wide open; and 
instead of fulfilling their duty to protect the people of this country, 
Washington orders retreat. It defies logic that we would remove the 
National Guard from the border. If anything, we need more troops on the 
ground.
  Doesn't Washington know that the border is a war zone? To abandon the 
third front puts Americans at risk with cross-border crime. This is a 
national security issue that cannot be ignored. It is the first duty of 
the Federal Government to protect the people and the homeland, not 
order retreat.
  And that's just the way it is.

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