Martha McSally

Ms. McSALLY

Ms. McSALLY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.

Ms. McSALLY. Well, you can come down any time. The door is open. We are ready to show anyone, really, from this body, so that they can see firsthand what we are dealing with. I want to thank the gentleman from Illinois for his comments and his encouragement and his support to this bill in this initiative. We have got to find like-minded individuals to move this forward because that is what the American people are asking us to do. When we were hosting the CODEL down at the Ladd ranch, Jack Ladd and John Ladd, just amazing and wonderful Americans and hardworking people who gave us their perspective, along with many other ranchers. If you remember, one of the ranchers said: Look, these mules are just trafficking through our neighborhoods, but they are going to yours. Once they hit the highway and they are able to get around, they are moving on to Phoenix, they are moving over to California, they are moving up to Illinois. They are bringing their drugs to all over the United States. There is cartel presence in many of these States. This is a very sophisticated criminal organization. Even though it starts in my district, it is impacting everyone in the country, related to their presence in everybody's district. This is the time. We have been talking about border security for a very long time, and there have been efforts. With putting up some of the additional barriers, we have seen the efforts and how that has delayed activity, for sure. We have seen how the San Diego sector has really done a fantastic job in order to go from what was literally just an open border to having much better control. But this is a sophisticated organization, these cartels, and they adjust. What do they do? They adjusted into my sector. Even as we put up some barriers, it basically funneled them into these rural areas, so that these criminals were trafficking through the ranchers' neighborhoods and border residences. Again, we were the highest sector since 1998 until last year, as far as the number of apprehensions, but as we said on the trip, we don't know what the denominator is. If all we are doing is measuring the numerator of how many individuals we have caught or apprehended, but the Border Patrol does not have situational awareness to be able to see all activity and then intercept the activity, we don't even know what those numbers are. We have got to have the political will now to address this very important issue, so that we can bring the promise home to the people who live in my community and then in the rest of the country. This is not hard. This is a good bill. In our sector, it provides additional resources, it provides additional technologies to increase the situational awareness. It holds Border Patrol and the senior appointees in Homeland Security accountable for securing the border, and it provides the resources and the capabilities that they need in order to gain situational awareness and operational control. I have heard many of our colleagues--and if you all want to join on this discussion--say, Just build a fence, just build a fence. Look, we have built some fences in southern Arizona, and those fences and those vehicle barriers and the pedestrian fences, they are delaying activity, for sure. What we have seen is these sophisticated cartels have got scouts on hilltops, they have got good communication devices, they have got incredible equipment, and they are across those fences. They either go over it, through it, or under it; and they do it in very fast time. A barrier is certainly one element of a strategy in order to slow down the activity, but that is not the only answer. It is very costly, about $5 million a mile for some of this fencing, so where it is appropriate, it definitely needs to be put up. But if we don't actually have Border Patrol actively monitoring where the fence line is, using intelligence-driven operations, and then intercepting the activity, patrolling right at the border on the south of John Ladd's ranch, not on the north side, then we are still not going to be able to stop these breaches because they will happen. For those who don't understand that, I welcome them to come to Arizona and see that. I yield again to the gentleman from California (Mr. Valadao), my colleague.

Ms. McSALLY. Thank you. Again, I appreciate the gentleman from California. Thank you so much for your perspectives. I agree. If anyone thinks, if anyone in this body thinks, let's just build a fence, I would invite you to please come to southern Arizona and see the doggy doors that are cut--even in California, the doggy doors, as they call them--that get cut out in less than 60 seconds and where individuals are still coming through. So those barriers are helpful, but they are a speed bump. We are dealing with sophisticated organizations that are much more nimble than we are. When we come up with a different strategy, they are able to react much more quickly. But we have got men and women in Border Patrol right now that if they are able to detect any sort of activity, they just start tracking them sometimes by themselves, they are out there tracking them, without any situational awareness as to what they are tracking, who they are tracking, what do they have on them, are they armed, are they not armed, what is their intent. Some of the other things in this bill actually help provide them with the situational awareness that they need. Some of it is bringing technologies back that we have used overseas so that we can just have motion sensing and know what is moving and what is not moving so we don't have to bother lining agents up on the border, but we can respond and react with intelligence. Mr. Davis, would you like to join us again and provide some more comments? I yield to you.

Ms. McSALLY. Thank you, Mr. Davis, for your kind words and your support. I come from a very diverse district and a very split district. I won by 167 votes to get here. So we are a very diverse and split district. But I will tell you, this is a unifying issue, even in my district. When I look at the things that are going to unify us, it is making sure that we are safe and secure and have economic opportunity. Throughout my district, people agree we need to secure the border. Now, they also want to look for thoughtful solutions to modernize and revamp our legal immigration system so that those who want to come here to work and are going to contribute to our economy have a legal way to do that. We need to work on those challenges as well. As we talk about it in southern Arizona, we need a high fence and a wide gate, sort of metaphorically. What that means is, let's focus our border security on transnational criminal organizations and the public safety and national security threat, but we also need to make sure we have got good economic development and opportunities for individuals to come here legally, and also for commerce to be able to flow, which is a separate issue. They often get lumped in together and oftentimes these issues get hijacked by others who have other intentions that are trying to politicize it. But I think every American--Democrat, Independent, Republican--can agree that they want their families to be safe and secure from transnational criminal organizations. I can't find anyone who doesn't agree to that. So why is this not an issue that would unify this body? Why is this not an issue that we could work together on within our party and then across to the other side of the aisle to actually get the job done, to use commonsense solutions, to give the situational awareness, the tools they need, to hold Homeland Security accountable, to secure our border once and for all, direct a better strategy sector by sector, to provide that situational awareness and operational control? I strongly support this bill. I appreciate the leadership of Chairman McCaul, my colleagues who have joined me here tonight, and others who have gotten behind this bill. And I want to urge those who are watching and listening to please call your Congressman, tell him to support the Secure Our Borders First Act, and let's get this thing through the House, through the Senate, and signed by the President. This is not time to play politics with border security. The residents and the ranchers in my community cannot wait any longer in order to have that fear go away so that they can feel like they can sleep well at night and their livelihood is not at stake and their families are not at risk. We owe it to them to take action. Let's figure out how to unify, work through any sort of solutions that we need to in order to get to a commonsense agreement, and let's pass this bill. Mr. Speaker, with that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. McSALLY

Ms. McSALLY. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Ms. McSALLY

Ms. McSALLY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate it. Would my colleague from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry) want to join the conversation?

Ms. McSALLY. You know what we are dealing with.

Ms. McSALLY. Thank you, Mr. Perry, and thank you for your support, again, of this urgent matter and the bill that we hopefully will be bringing before our colleagues as soon as possible, because every day that goes by is a day that our ranchers and border residents are still dealing with this. Before I recognize my next colleague here, I just want to paint the picture of what we have seen go on in the different sectors. In the early 1990s, the San Diego sector is really where most of the illegal activity, the transnational criminal organizations were just at will crossing into the San Diego sector. A lot was done there. We were visiting it 10 days ago. We got to see the new tactics, the resources, the fencing, the lights, the technology. The agents there are really able to squeeze the activity related in the San Diego sector. These are living organizations, these transnational criminal organizations that are trafficking in our communities and our neighborhoods, so they react. It is like squeezing a balloon. Guess what happened? They tightened up in San Diego, and that meant that these organizations were now coming in and out of my community. The sector in Tucson put up some fencing and other resources in more populated areas around Nogales, but then that pushed the activity out into the rural areas where the Ladd ranch is that we visited. Mr. Chairman mentioned Jack Ladd, third generation rancher, and John Ladd, fourth generation rancher, with about 10 miles on the border right there. We got to see firsthand what they are dealing with. These organizations are nimble. They are going to respond and react, and they are going to move. As we create obstacles and we address in certain areas, they are going to move to other areas. What we have seen in the Tucson sector, from fiscal year 1998 up until fiscal year 2012, we have had the highest number of apprehensions. We have had the highest number of assaults in the last couple of years. In the last few years, we have had the highest amount of marijuana seized. By the way, we don't know what the denominator is, though. Apprehensions is the numerator, but we don't know what the denominator is because our agents do not have full situational awareness. And you can just look at the price of drugs on the street. This is a supply- and-demand issue. If the cost is still low, which it is, it means that we are still not catching a whole lot that is trafficking in and out of these neighborhoods. So again, the potential for violence is up, and even though the numbers of apprehensions are down in the last few years, those that live on the border--and the Border Patrol has confirmed to me the types of people that are coming--are more the transnational criminal organizations, the traffickers. It is drugs and people coming north and weapons and money coming south, and they have more of a criminal record, and the potential for danger is certainly up. I do have some stories to share, but I know I have a number of colleagues who want to join the conversation, so I will yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hurd). What, do you have, 800 miles? I only have 80. You have, I think, 800 in your district.

Ms. McSALLY. Thank you, Mr. Hurd. Again, thank you for your leadership on this issue as well. It is great to be working together with individuals who have operational experience and understand what it takes to get the job done, so I look forward to working with you. Mentioning the ultralights, I was with our CBP team for several hours a couple of weekends ago and was actually on a Black Hawk getting an aerial tour of the border. We tried to intercept an ultralight. We had a radar hit. We went over to the area. The challenge there is these things are small specks, and you don't have any sense of what altitude they are flying at. We looked around. We were eyes in the sky. We were trying to find them. As quickly as we have a last radar hit, they pack up, they are out of there, or they are flying back low over the border, and we can't find them. We don't know what they have dropped and where. These are some of the challenges that our agents have out there in trying to address this threat. It is a very nimble and sophisticated cartel, transactional criminal organizations that are reacting to us. They are much more nimble than we are. My colleague, Mr. Katko from New York, if you want to share your perspectives.

Ms. McSALLY. Thank you, Mr. Katko, for your leadership and the great experience you are bringing to Congress. It is wonderful to have a freshman class with people like you. You bring a unique experience. You also remind us it is not just the southern border, so thanks for your great additions to the bill. Next, I will invite Mr. Carter from Georgia to join in the conversation.

Ms. McSALLY. Mr. Speaker, I really appreciate the opportunity today to spend some time with my colleagues to highlight an urgent and important issue that, quite frankly, should unite this body in a call to action. I represent Arizona's Second Congressional District, and that includes 80 miles of the southern border. Today, we are going to be talking about the importance of securing our border both in the south and in the north. My colleague here from New York will be speaking on that matter. We do have Chairman McCaul here who will be joining us, but I have just a couple of lead-in comments. I have spent a lot of time down at the border with our border residents and ranchers, and I can tell you the border is not secure. These people are daily taking risks for their families, for their livelihoods. This is a public safety risk, and this is a potential national security risk. Although some efforts have been taken, our border is not secure. We now have the opportunity to have a call to action to take the measures that are important in order to secure the border once and for all, which is impacting, again, the residents of my community. I am grateful that a bipartisan group of Members of Congress came down to visit our southern border just 10 days ago. We had 20 Members, plus myself, so they could see firsthand what our ranchers and border residents are dealing with in Arizona. The group, under the leadership of Chairman McCaul, whom I will ask to join us here in a minute, visited the San Diego sector, then came to our Tucson sector, and then moved on to also see the challenges in Texas. We got to see firsthand what is going on in each of these different sectors and to reinforce the fact that this is an urgent matter that we have to address. It should be a bipartisan and uniting issue. I have got lots of stories to share from the Tucson sector, but I have a number of colleagues who want to join in the conversation. I will first ask Chairman McCaul if he would like to join the discussion.

Ms. McSALLY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I really appreciate your leadership on this issue. I also want to thank you for coming to southern Arizona to my district to see firsthand what our border residents and ranchers are dealing with on a daily basis. I look forward to working with you on the committee to get this bill across the finish line and getting the strategy and the resources to those in the Border Patrol so that they can actually address the threat.

Ms. McSALLY. Right.

Ms. McSALLY. I wanted to point to one of the visuals we have here. Again, this is from the area in my sector where you can see we do have a fence, but the area that is cut out here in the middle is where the cartels very quickly come up, and they cut it out, and they are across that border in a minute or 2 minutes, maximum. I will give some other examples later, but this is just a visual example of the fence delays the activity, as you saw when you came to visit, but it is not the answer to build a fence and then walk away because they are smart, they are resourceful, they are adaptive, and they are very quickly getting through many different types of fencing, both pedestrian and vehicle fences. Thanks for bringing that up.

Ms. McSALLY. Again, thank you, Mr. Carter, for your comments. Again, thanks for coming to visit my community and listening to the residents there that are dealing with this, having that ear and coming back as an advocate and a leader on this issue. Thanks for supporting this bill. I really appreciate it. Mr. Palmer from Alabama, would you like to join the conversation?

Ms. McSALLY. If the gentleman will yield, I will elaborate a little bit on that. That was on Mr. Ladd's ranch less than two weeks ago, where we saw that, and they showed where they ramped over. According to Mr. Ladd, there have been 47 drive-throughs on his ranching area in the last about 2\1/2\ years. That particular case was caught by the Sierra Vista police, which is a town a little bit further inland, because the truck just didn't look right. It was weighed down. Its wheels looked a little funny, and they got about $600,000 worth of marijuana, 2,000 pounds of marijuana they caught on that vehicle alone. So that is just an example of what is happening.

Ms. McSALLY. Thank you, Mr. Denham. I appreciate you coming to visit our district to see that firsthand, and I look forward to working with you as well on getting this bill across the finish line. One thing I think is important for those who are watching to know is we have had a variety of people speak in support of this bill. Often we have different views on some other topics or even what we should be doing as we are addressing some of the other challenges related to immigration. But we are all in agreement on one thing, which is we need to secure the border; that this is an urgent issue. Across the spectrum, this is something that unites those of us within the conference, and really should unite this body. I know my community is a very split district politically, but everyone agrees, whether they are Democrat, Independent or Republican, they want their family to be safe and secure. They want their community to be safe and secure, and this bill does that. So it is time that we work together to get this thing passed. So thank you, Mr. Denham. I will continue to tell a few stories here from my district that I do want to share. Mr. Perry, I yield for just a minute. I do have a number of things I do want to share before we wrap up.

Ms. McSALLY. Thank you, Mr. Palmer. I appreciate it. Just to elaborate a little bit on what my colleague was talking about, the challenge we have--the men and women in Border Patrol are doing the best they can. They are my constituents as well. I really appreciate them every day putting on the uniform and doing the job they are doing. But the strategy is not working for those who live in these rural areas near the border, and we need a strategy that pushes our intelligence deeper south of the border, using intelligence-driven operations, so that we can use some of these airborne assets and radars in order to detect the cartel activity, detect the movement, monitor the movement. Then these forward operating bases are critical. The bill--in consultation with the chairman, they agreed to add in two forward operating bases in Tucson to get the Border Patrol operating right at the border so that we can either prevent the activity or they can very quickly respond to it when they see a breach happening, a challenging response time if they are further inland or in some of the tougher terrain. So some of the things that I added into an amendment to address this issue are related to the fact that right now they are focused on defense in depth. So sometimes we are seeing mules and traffickers--and I will show a picture here--oftentimes, 30, 40, 50 miles inland. This is just one example of mules with packs on their backs. So they are trafficking across private property while they are moving into the defense in-depth strategy, and that is just not working. So we have got to get the Border Patrol closer to the border. I offered an amendment. I am glad the committee agreed to it, to get the Border Patrol closer to the border, have them patrolling on the south side of John Ladd's ranch and not on the north side. Have those forward operating bases manned to the max extent possible and also developing a quick reaction capability, so that when we see the activity happening, they can quickly get--especially in these areas of tough terrain--to stop the activity or intercept it as soon as possible when it comes over the border; because this, again, if they are coming through Mr. Ladd's ranch and some of the other ranchers', they don't know who it is. They don't know if they are armed. They don't know what their intentions are, and it puts them at risk on a daily basis

Ms. McSALLY. Exactly. Thank you, Mr. Palmer. Now I yield to my colleague from California (Mr. Denham).

Ms. McSALLY. Thank you so much. I appreciate it, Mr. Perry. Again, I have about 10 minutes to wrap up here. I do want to tell some stories related to the level of activity in the district and how it is impacting real people in southern Arizona and their families and the threat that has been increasing. For those who are not aware, Rob Krentz is a rancher in my district, and he was killed. He was murdered on his own ranch in 2010. This is as it was reported by The Arizona Republic: On a breezy spring morning, a red ATV rolled across southeastern Arizona's border badlands beneath the mystical Chiricahua Mountains. A gray-haired rancher in classic cowboy attire--jeans, boots, denim vest, and shirt--was at the wheel, accompanied by his dog, Blue. Robert Krentz, 58, was checking stock ponds and water lines on the 35,000-acre spread not far from where Apache leader Geronimo surrendered to the U.S. cavalry. The Krentz clan began raising cattle there more than a century ago, shortly before Mexican Revolution leader Pancho Villa prowled nearby. In modern times, the sparsely populated San Bernardino Valley, bordering New Mexico and Senora, became a magnet for bird watchers and a haven for smugglers. Krentz pulled to a stop, as he noticed a man apparently injured. The rancher made a garbled radio call to his brother, Phil--something about an illegal alien hurt; call Border Patrol. It was about 10:30 a.m., March 27, 2010. What happened that morning as shots echoed across the grassy range would roil Arizona politics and fuel the U.S. immigration debate for years to come. One day earlier, Phil had put Border Patrol agents onto a group of suspected drug runners on the family's land, resulting in eight arrests and the seizure of 200 pounds of marijuana. After Krentz's broken radio transmission, family members almost immediately launched a search. And also neighbors. There were other ranchers in the area that started this search, trying to track the killers, and they enlisted help to track the footsteps south. Rob was found just before midnight, his body lying on the ground with his feet still inside the all-terrain vehicle. Two 9-millimeter slugs had fatally penetrated his lungs. Another bullet wounded his dog, which had to be euthanized. Krentz carried a rifle and pistol in his Polaris Ranger but apparently never got a chance to use them. After being shot, he managed to drive about 1,000 feet before collapsing. The only immediate sign of an assailant was a set of footprints. Trackers followed them nearly 20 miles south to Mexico, where the trail vanished. His murderers have never been caught to this day. Rob Krentz' family deals with this grief and deals with the fear of the border not being secured and what is going to happen next to them. This is very real in southern Arizona. In 2010, Brian Terry, a Border Patrol agent, was also murdered by smugglers in our district. On December 14, 2010, Border Patrol Agents William Castano, Gabriel Fragoza, Timothy Keller, and Brian Terry demonstrated extreme bravery while facing a lethal threat from a superior number of armed subjects suspected of trafficking drugs in the area. And I am reading from a citation, where he earned the 2010 Congressional Badge of Bravery. All four agents were operating as members of a small four- man rural assault element tasked with interdicting armed suspects operating west of the town of Rio Rico, Arizona. This four-man element had occupied a remote interdiction site consisting of rugged, steep, and difficult terrain for a period of 48 hours without relief. At approximately 11 p.m., the team was alerted to at least five suspects moving into the interdiction zone. Without regard for individual safety, the small team maneuvered into a position to interdict and apprehend the five individuals passing directly in front of them. As the agents identified themselves, suddenly and without warning, the subjects opened fire on them. Placing themselves at great risk of serious physical injury or death, all four agents bravely stood their ground in an attempt to provide vital protection for their teammates. During the short and horrific gun battle, Agent Brian Terry sustained a fatal injury. Realizing that Agent Terry had been injured, the team, without hesitation, continued to selflessly place themselves in harm's way by attempting to provide lifesaving techniques for Agent Terry and providing perimeter security, preventing the assailants from maneuvering on their position. One of the suspects was wounded during the incident and was ultimately taken into custody. Brian Terry is a hero. Rob Krentz was on his property when he was murdered. Brian Terry was brutally murdered. Let me tell you another story, one of rancher Kelly Glenn Kimbro, a fourth generation rancher. I am reading from an email that she sent to me in June, just an incident that she had on her ranch east of Douglas. A couple of days ago, I was driving from the Malpai Ranch to Douglas on Geronimo Trail. At mile marker 11, I could see motion ahead of me in the road; and as I approached, 13 men formed a barricade with their bodies across the road. I slowed and tried to pass on the right. They moved right. I had locked my doors as I approached and my windows were up. Knowing that I had to either run over several of them, I stopped. They immediately surrounded my truck. Two fellows stood in front of my truck with their hands on the hood, holding me in place. Several guys started to climb onto the running boards and into the back. One was rummaging around my tools. I was thinking that if he proceeded to break a window that I would possibly use my pistol. I was not sure if I was being hijacked or what. Think about it. This is a woman alone in her truck, with 13 men stopping her in her tracks. I put my window down a couple inches and told them to get back. They started talking English. They were frantic to have me take them to the ``police.'' They stated they were from India. I talked them out of my truck and back onto the side of the road, promised them I would, no doubt, call Border Patrol, and they let me leave. Yep, scared me for a few minutes. Let me tell you, Kelly Glenn Kimbro is a tough woman. She is a rancher. She is a mountain lion hunter. She is cool under pressure. How would you behave in that circumstance? The challenge that she has--and she has got an 18-year-old daughter who often drives home alone. They are having to make life-and-death decisions. How did she know that they were not armed? How did she know what their intentions were? And if she decided to hit the gas and did harm them, then they would be questioning her actions because they were, in fact, unarmed. This is just the type of circumstances that these people are dealing with, just living in their own homes, just going in and out of their own community, just traveling to the store and going about their business. There are a couple of other stories. Gary Thrasher is a rancher and veterinarian who has worked and practiced in Cochise County since 1984. Over the past 30 years, he has seen how border security issues have led to dramatic changes in the county's way of life. Gary lives about 3 miles from the border. Over the past 4 years, 11 of his ranch family clients have sold out, and that has had a big economic impact on his practice as well. They have just decided to give up. They can't afford to ranch in the area under this danger anymore. Many of those families have just said that they can't deal with the threats and the anxieties of life along the U.S.-Mexico border; and for the ranchers who remain, it has become increasingly hard to find people who want to work on their ranch near a border that is constantly crossed with these transnational criminal organizations. Another rancher shared, anonymously, that he has got a couple of houses, one 2 miles and one 40 miles from the border, and he has got far more trouble at the house 40 miles from the border. He has had, according to him, 15 to 16 break-ins, home invasions, and one of them was just 3 weeks ago. One last story from another rancher. He and his son, they said they left the ranch. Someone broke in, stole food, and then they left. The next day, they saw individuals moving north. The son pursued them, and the Border Patrol then captured them. It turned out, according to this rancher, that, after breaking into his ranch, they broke into a hunter's property and stole a weapon. The pistol was ditched before they were caught but connected back to them. Who knows what their intentions were. This is the challenge that these people have. The rancher talked with the migrant criminal. And he said he admitted to being a lifetime criminal and a repeat offender. He is just used by these traffickers going back and forth. He was detained for 2 days, and he wasn't charged with weapons charges or multiple entries, and he was sent back to Mexico, again, to probably be used by these transnational criminal organizations. This is very real to southern Arizona. The transnational criminal organizations are daily trafficking. There is another photo I have right here, and you can see on the other side of the photo, a number of individuals that are just mules. They are packing drugs, and they are just going through their property. There are other photos I have here related to some of the ranchers who--there is just no fence. Again, as we talked about earlier, the fence is not the only solution, but fencing will at least delay the activity. This is just one of the rancher's pictures of just a barbed wire fence that is easy to be cut through on foot or with a vehicle. So I am urging my colleagues to pass this border security bill. I am urging those who are listening to please contact your Members of Congress in the House and the Senate. Let's not play politics with securing our border. Now is the time. These ranchers have put up with this for decades. They have cooperated with Border Patrol. Border Patrol is doing the best they can, but we have got to change the strategy, and we have got to address this issue. It should be a bipartisan issue and something that unites us. Let's get the job done so we can protect the people of southern Arizona, the people of Texas, the people living in other border communities, and our Nation. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. McSALLY

Ms. McSALLY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge Lieutenant Colonel Earl Devine and to congratulate him on his recently awarded title of Greater Sierra Vista Veteran of the Year for 2015. Earl graduated from Highland High School in New York in 1953. He went on to receive a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Oklahoma State University in 1958. That same year, Earl was commissioned in the Army and rose to the rank of Captain in Air Defense Artillery, where he commanded a Nike Hercules missile battery. Earl was then assigned to the US Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MAC-V), serving as an intelligence staff officer and member of the MAC-V defense force during the Tet Offensive. He was then selected to be a test director for the newly activated Modern Army Selected Systems Test, Evaluation, and Review Activity. Earl was selected as the Operations Officer for the Current Intelligence and Indications Center, North American Air Defense Command and was responsible for threat assessment of foreign missile launches and mission determination of foreign space launches. He completed his active duty as director of administration and logistics for an intelligence organization at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. After military retirement, Earl spent 19 years with the US Army Communications Command and successor organizations receiving numerous sustained superior performance and special act awards. Mr. Devine has been a member of the Sierra Vista Municipal Property Corporation for over 12 years and served as president for the last four. He is a member of the Southern Arizona Veterans' Memorial Cemetery Foundation, American Veterans (AMVETS), the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the USA Lodge #2065, the Coronado Chapter of MOAA, where he served as Deputy Director for the past 19 years, and the election committee of Post 52 of the American Legion for the past ten years. The people of Southern Arizona owe him a great deal of gratitude for all he has done for Sierra Vista and the veteran community. Earl's continued efforts to honor the brave men and women who served our country, often in times of its greatest need, are exemplary. He truly embodies the meaning of the word ``service'' and will have a lasting impact on the community for generations to come. Through Mr. Devine's efforts to honor those who served, he continues to go above and beyond the call of duty. For that, he has unquestionably earned the title of Greater Sierra Vista Veteran of the Year for 2015. Mr. Speaker, please join me in honoring Colonel Devine for being awarded the Sierra Vista Veteran of the Year and thanking him for his years of exemplary service to our country and Southern Arizona.

Ms. McSALLY

Ms. McSALLY. Madam Speaker, I would like to thank Chairman Sensenbrenner, Congresswoman Wagner, and all the other Members for their hard work on this important legislation put forward last night and today to combat human trafficking. Human trafficking is a 21st century form of slavery, and it is devastating lives across the country. In Arizona's Second Congressional District, a lack of resources to identify victims, prevent instances of trafficking, and prosecute those who participate leads to many young girls and boys being victimized by these traffickers. I spoke very recently with Jerry Peyton, the founder of an organization called Sold No More, dedicated to ending trafficking in Tucson, Arizona. Jerry experienced the devastation of trafficking firsthand in his own family. His daughter Lisa, who was a high school honors student, ran away from home after the death of her boyfriend, where she quickly was preyed upon by traffickers and forced into smuggling and prostitution. Jerry found his daughter living with five men who ran a drug ring and was able to rescue her, yet the police never apprehended the men who victimized Lisa. The only police record of this innocent reads: ``A juvenile returned to the custody of her parents.'' Jerry's family's experiences highlight the growing need for resources to train law enforcement to identify and respond to instances of trafficking. He told me that in Pima County there is not a single law enforcement officer in any agency dedicated full-time to the trafficking issue. Before 2010, there had not been a single case of sex trafficking in Pima County, despite arrests for prostitution that treat victims like criminals. When they place online ads in back pages for clearly young victims, within 24 hours, there are 100 calls that come in looking to exploit these victims. This is wrong. We can start raising awareness of trafficking by changing the perception of trafficking victims. It is estimated that only about 10 percent of those trafficked in our country have come across the border. The overwhelming majority are runaways and vulnerable children who are preyed upon. These are our neighbors being trafficked in our communities, not some distant far-off place. Under the surface of our communities, sex trafficking is a prevalent and devastating reality. Widely-attended events like the Super Bowl coming up in Glendale, Arizona, or the annual gem show in Tucson act as a magnet for traffickers and, unfortunately, their victims. It is critical that we pass this bill to prosecute all offenders who victimize and participate and advertise, including online, in the trafficking of children. We also must support efforts to raise awareness and educate those who work in law enforcement, health care, child protective services, and elsewhere to prevent all trafficking, give law enforcement the tools they need to be proactive, and care for the victims after they have been rescued. I support this legislation and the 11 other bills put forward to combat human trafficking, and I urge support from my colleagues.

Ms. McSALLY

Ms. McSALLY. Mr. Speaker, four years ago, our community was shaken to its core by an act of senseless violence that took the lives of six of our own and wounded thirteen others. They were our friends, neighbors, and loved ones. Our community still carries the enduring pain of their loss but also the bright recollection of their lives and memories. We remember the victims and what they came to do that day: speak with their elected representative. We remember the selfless acts of bravery and love by those who put themselves in harm's way, even giving their own lives to save others. We remember how the city of Tucson came together, in grief and consolation, to move forward with a spirit of compassion and strength that was felt across the nation. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the families and loved ones of those lost or wounded, who carry the pain of what happened on that quiet Saturday each and every day. We are inspired by their courage; made stronger by their strength. Today, as the bells ring out from the University of Arizona and in the moments of silence that follow, our community, united and strong, proclaims with one voice: we will never forget those we lost. Christina Taylor Green Dorothy Morris John Roll Phyllis Schneck Dorwan Stoddard Gabriel ``Gabe'' Zimmerman

Ms. McSALLY

Ms. McSALLY. Mr. Speaker, 4 years ago, our community was shaken to its core by an act of senseless violence that took the lives of six of our own and wounded 13 others. They were our friends, neighbors, and loved ones. Our community still carries the enduring pain of their loss but also the bright recollection of their lives and memories. We remember the victims and what they came to do that day: speak with their elected Representative. We remember the selfless acts of bravery and love by those who put themselves in harm's way, even giving their own lives to save others. We remember how the city of Tucson came together, in grief and consolation, to move forward with a spirit of compassion and strength that was felt across the Nation. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the families and loved ones of those lost or wounded who carry the pain of what happened on that quiet Saturday each and every day. We are inspired by their courage. We are made stronger by their strength. Today, as the bells rang out from the University of Arizona and during that moment of silence that followed, our community, united and strong, proclaimed with one voice that we will never forget those we lost: Christina-Taylor Green, Dorothy Morris, Judge John Roll, Phyllis Schneck, Dorwan Stoddard, and Gabriel ``Gabe'' Zimmerman.