Ted Poe

Mr. POE

Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, judicial injustice has struck again. That is what has happened in Ohio. After 6 years of waiting to face the man who raped her and tell her horror at his hands so he would be off the streets, a teen saw her chances for justice smashed with one swoop of a rogue judge's gavel. It was nothing the victim did; it wasn't even anything the defendant did. Judge Eileen Gallagher dismissed the girl's case, get this, because the prosecutor was late to court. Furious he hadn't been on time when she herself was 45 minutes late to her own court, Judge Gallagher called the prosecutor unprofessional, so she took it out on the victim. Judge Gallagher suffers from ``black robe disease,'' an incurable ailment, arrogant, hypocritical incompetence some judges get. Mr. Speaker, when I was a judge in Texas for 22 years, and a lawyer was late to court, hold the lawyer in contempt, put him in jail. Don't let the defendant out of jail. Don't punish the victim. The teen victim was raped by the defendant, then raped by her right to justice by Judge Gallagher. Hopefully the people of Ohio will hold this judge in contempt and dismiss her from the bench. That's just the way it is.

Mr. POE

Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, a hypocrite always practices what he preaches against. And while Vicente Fox took a whirlwind tour of the United States acting like an old-fashioned revival preacher preaching open borders, trying to intimidate Americans into allowing the illegal invasion of his people down Mexico City way, the gospel of truth comes out. Mexico, it seems, wants its southern border locked down. The Mexican Government says too many illegals are sneaking into Mexico, especially those Guatemalans. The Mexican Government says that illegals are taking jobs from Mexican citizens. Sound familiar? While Mexico is demanding open doors into the rest of North America, they have got their own dead bolt on the door to the rest of the world. Preacher Fox, practice what you preach. Your immigration laws are even tougher than America's. Why don't you open up your southern border to illegals? And meanwhile, preach to your own people that illegally entering the United States is just wrong. Quit trying to be self- righteous and telling America what to do. The words of hypocrites are seldom heard, especially the words from preachers. And that's just the way it is.

Mr. POE

Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, they were called the Screaming Eagles of World War II. They jumped into Normandy into the wet darkness of the night before sunrise on D-Day, June 6, 1944. They held off the Germans in the dead of winter in the Battle of the Bulge in a small Belgian town called Bastogne. Even though completely surrounded, they replied to the demands of the Germans to surrender with that famous statement of their commander, ``Nuts.'' They are the 101st Airborne of the United States Army. They are the Band of Brothers. The 101st is still on duty, and their legacy now continues in the blistering heat of Iraq. They are once again fighting the forces of tyranny and terrorism. Recently, at an outpost near Baghdad, American volunteers of the 101st found themselves surrounded and attacked by the enemy. One soldier, Specialist David Babineau, was killed in the skirmish. Private First Class Kristian Menchaca and Private First Class Thomas Tucker were kidnapped, captured, and later, apparently, murdered. Twenty-three-year-old Kristian Menchaca was from my hometown of Houston, Texas. The Army turned Kristian Menchaca's life around. It gave him a greater purpose, a higher calling. He leaves behind a wife, a family, and lots of grateful Americans. The terrorists that America fights in Iraq and Afghanistan, they take no prisoners. They have no POW camps. While the media here is bemoaning some alleged improper events in Guantanamo Bay prison about some captured terrorist that got their feelings hurt while in custody, they would do better to point out terrorists execute their prisoners. Terrorists kill everybody because terrorists hate everybody that believes in freedom. They kill children, the elderly, the weak, the innocent, and they even murder captured American soldiers. This enemy we fight in the desert sands of Iraq and Afghanistan are evil villains who oppose our righteous and just cause to proclaim freedom throughout the world. News reports claim the attackers of the outpost all wore masks to cover their faces. Mr. Speaker, outlaws and bandits of the Old West wore masks to disguise who they were because they, like these terrorists, covered up their wicked intentions of destruction of everything that is good and right. But like the outlaws of yesteryear, each of these criminals will be hunted, tracked and brought to a speedy end, because the 101st Airborne is on patrol in the hot hills of Iraq. These terrorists have messed with the wrong people. These American soldiers fear no enemy. You see, they are brothers. They are the Band of Brothers, and while three of them have given their lives for liberty, it will be the wrath of the remaining brothers that these terrorists will experience. The terrorists will be introduced to judgment day. Shakespeare said of the brothers in Henry V how they will be regarded. He said, ``From this day to the ending of the world, but we in it shall be remembered; we few, we happy few, we band of brothers; for he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.'' Tonight, we remember the strongest of those unyielding warriors against terror, three members of the 101st Airborne, these Band of Brothers. And that's just the way it is.

Mr. POE

Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, news from the front: the battle for the border continues. The news is disturbing. The enemy is among us. There are invaders here from other nations that were smuggled here, and they live in the shadow of crime. They prey on our families. Some are thieves; some are killers. According to the Government Accountability Office, 25 homicides a day are committed in this country by people that are illegally here. That is 10 times more Americans killed in Iraq since 2003. Americans pay for the prison cost to lock these outlaws up. Then when our government tries to deport them, eight nations refuse to take back their own people. So since we cannot detain these individuals indefinitely, our government lets them go, lets them go into the heartland of America, thereby letting these illegals free to roam our streets with a permanent get-out-of-jail-free card, and a permanent stay-in-America-forever card. Mr. Speaker, this ought not to be. Eight countries turn a blind eye, a deaf ear on their illegals in America. Many of them are criminals. They have committed crimes and gone to our prisons, and these countries will not even take their own people back, even though they have lawfully been deported. How many people are we talking about? In 1 year alone, these eight countries left more than 130,000 people ordered to be deported back to their homeland, and they refused to take these individuals. Many of these people were thieves and bandits, and they are left on our soil. The detention cost to Americans was $83 million. Mr. Speaker, Americans pay. They always pay for illegal entry. That is $10 million more than the people in my district got after their lives were ripped apart by Hurricane Rita. And despite all that money spent, we are forced to turn these immigrant inmates out on our streets, many to prey on our families, many to strike again, many to steal again. We foot the bill for their prison stay, then their countries won't take them back. This isn't a matter of illegals ignoring a deportation order and disappearing into the night. It is about eight countries who ignore their obligations. Some of these countries accept foreign aid from the United States. Who are these eight countries? They include China, Iran, India, Jamaica, Vietnam, Ethiopia. These countries put up immigration obstacles impossible for our government to hurdle, but these same nations gladly take our foreign aid. They gladly take that free American money, but won't take back their own people. Also, America allows 123,000 legal visas each year to be issued to these nations. So, Mr. Speaker, these nations cannot have it both ways. Take our money and take your illegals back, or no more American money. We should deny foreign aid to nations that refuse to accept their lawfully deported illegals. We should deny American visas to those nations who refuse to take back their lawfully deported citizens. America cannot allow this nonsense to continue. Mr. Speaker, the war for the border continues, but we will not let ourselves become bogged down by the demands and expectations of the leaders of these obstinate eight, these nations who expect money from our pockets, but won't take back their criminals who have picked our pockets. That's just the way it is.

Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take the time of the gentleman from North Carolina.

Mr. POE

Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, news from the front: The battle for the border continues. The cost to Americans for the government's failure to prevent the invasion onto our shores increases. Last year in my hometown of Houston, citizens spent $125 million on treating 57,000 illegals in local hospitals, a 77 percent increase from the previous year. This nonsense that illegals are not a drain on the American taxpayer is a myth perpetrated by the admiral of the fleet of invaders, Vicente Fox. America cannot continue to be the lifeboat for the sinking ships of states south of the border. What happens when our lifeboat overflows because of America's compassion? In fact, Americans are paying for hospital costs for illegals and cannot afford to pay for their own health care. So until our shores are secure, and since we choose not to deny illegals health care, every time an illegal is treated at our hospital, deduct an equal amount of foreign aid from those ships of state who send their citizens here. Make Admiral Fox pay instead of the American citizens. And that's just the way it is.

Mr. POE

Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, a self-claimed sadistic pervert, Jerry Inman, is branded with tattoos of skulls, daggers, bats and the pentagram, the symbol of hell. The two-time convicted sex offender, after serving time in two southern States for several rapes, kidnappings and robberies, has been released and has struck again. He recreated hell for 20-year-old Clemson University student Tiffany Souers. He stalked her, and in the shroud of darkness of the night, he broke into her apartment, strangled her, raped her and then murdered her. This devil of the South should not even have been in South Carolina, but the good behavior got him released from another State prison. Mr. Speaker, rapists try to steal the very souls of their victims. Then they steal their lives. And as we fight the global war on terror, we need to fight the street terrorists in America. Repeat rapists are never cured. We cannot say they are misunderstood or need therapy or counseling, because some are just evil, and if we do not lock them up indefinitely, then it seems that outlaws like Inman are wasting good air breathing. And that's just the way it is.

Mr. POE

Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, news from the front: the war on the border continues. More disturbing news, this time from the forgotten front. We have just voted to finish successfully the war on the first front, Iraq and Afghanistan. Our second front is the fight against armed illegals, human smugglers, drug runners and possible terrorists not just wanting to penetrate our homeland border with Mexico and Canada, but the forgotten front, Puerto Rico. Mr. Speaker, here I have a map of the Caribbean islands. Puerto Rico is a part of the United States, the location: in the Caribbean islands next to the Dominican Republic, southeast of Cuba, east of Jamaica. It has earned a reputation among border patrol agents as America's biggest threat. This is not a photo, the second one here, of Americans storming the beach at Iwo Jima or Normandy. Mr. Speaker, this is a photograph of 100 illegal immigrants with landing craft storming the American beaches in a yola, a homemade wooden boat. The boat is from the Caribbean islands. Its cargo, Dominicans, Middle Easterners and others from the islands. The Border Patrol says when people storm the American beaches here in Puerto Rico, they capture maybe one out of 10. And here we have a Blackhawk helicopter, at this particular time, having to view this firsthand. One U.S. Border Patrol agent says he interviews the survivors of these ill fated trips, and they say they are coming to America for that free amnesty. Once they get to Puerto Rico, they can go anywhere in the United States with only a birth certificate or an easily forgeable photographic ID, if the one Border Patrol agent at the San Juan airport happens to ask for that identification. We must remember that one of the 9/11 hijackers made his way into the United States through the Virgin Islands. Then he took flight lessons at San Juan, Puerto Rico. More than 2,600 illegals have been found entering the country just this way in Puerto Rico the past year. How many more weren't caught at all? And just where are they going and what are they taking with them? Most of them, we must remember, are not from south of the border or north of the border; but they come from all over the world. Since we don't require passports to legally enter the United States from Mexico, Canada or the Caribbean islands, people can easily get to Puerto Rico pretending to be from these countries. Even people illegally getting into Puerto Rico then board a plane anywhere in the United States with some fake document that is mistaken for a valid American identification. We have 22 border patrol agents in Puerto Rico, but only four of them are on duty at any one given time. They are doing the best they can, but they need help. The border war must be won. We do it by first requiring all people in the Western Hemisphere to have a passport to get into the United States legally. Our 9/11 Commission recommends it. It is a national security issue of the United States. And then we give the resources to our border agents to make sure they can keep people from landing on our beaches and invading our country. It is a border security issue. We must win the war on this second front and prevent the unlawful invasion into America. Keep these landing craft from invading our beaches. Mr. Speaker, lawlessness on our border breeds more lawlessness in the heartland of America. Mr. Speaker, that is today's news from the front. And that's just the way it is.

Mr. POE

Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, the costs of Hurricane Katrina and Rita are far more than dollar amounts. For days, thousands of people fought for survival among the rising flood waters, lack of food and water, and outlaws victimizing the weak and helpless. In an attempt to lead the smallest victims of the hurricanes to safety, desperate, yet well- meaning parents sent their children with family and evacuation workers fleeing for safety. Their hope was to reunite after the storm; however, full panic soon engulfed Louisiana and Texas. Many parents found it impossible to locate these children once the storms had passed. Terrified parents made heart wrenching pleas to anyone who would listen. They spent countless hours praying for news of their kids. Mr. Speaker, one organization heard their prayers and responded with the will and manpower to find these children. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children would undertake the tremendous task of locating 5,172 missing children. Mr. Speaker, after the winds stopped and the flood waters receded, all 5,172 children were found. It was only through the unwavering and relentless dedication that these children were found, and returned to the safe arms of their parents. I now pay tribute to those tireless children crusaders. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, NCMEC, was established in 1984 by John and Reve Walsh in response to the kidnapping and disappearance of their son, Adam, in 1981. The center makes it their mission to locate, and successfully bring home, missing children across the United States. When Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit Louisiana and Texas, the U.S. Department of Justice requested NCMEC's help in locating the displaced children of the hurricanes' victims. NCMEC responded with lightning speed, establishing a Katrina Missing Persons Hotline, with 30 telephones and 160 highly trained Project ALERT and Project ADAM volunteers to man the hotlines. Over the next few days, they would report thousands of missing child sightings. These child crusaders spent long days and nights looking throughout America for these missing children. Photographs were used to help identify these children. The center tracked down leads, handled phone calls, and in the end, reunited families. They did not perform these tasks all on their own, however. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, USPIS, American Airlines, and thousands of nameless, silent volunteers aided the NCMEC in the successful recovery of all 5,172 missing children. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service responded to the prayers for help much like the NCMEC. These highly dedicated lawmen and women used the U.S. Postal Service's change of address information system to reunite these families. Safety precautions were taken by the USPIS to ensure no misuse of the information system occurred. Members of the highly trained Project ALERT and Project ADAM teams, as well as the NCMEC case analysts, worked in cooperation with the special Hurricanes Katrina and Rita change of address operation in Tennessee, reunited children with parents. American Airlines became the angels in the sky for the NCMEC, donating numerous airline tickets, which successfully led to 89 children being brought home safe. I was present when First Lady Laura Bush held a reception on Monday, June 12, at the White House to show appreciation to all those wonderful people. She invited these heroes to join her, along with six Members of Congress, and several of the reunited families. Everyone extended heart-felt gratitude for the tireless efforts achieved by these individuals. Rebecca Gonzales, wife of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and John and Reve Walsh were present as well. The First Lady praised the collaborative efforts of these organizations and individuals, expressing her gratitude for the heroes who relentlessly crusaded for the most helpless victims of the hurricanes--the children. It is my honor to pay tribute to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, as well as the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, American Airlines, and thousands of volunteers for answering the prayers of the despondent hurricane parents. Today, 5,172 children have been led back to their families, another example of Americans helping Americans when the tidewaters of trouble have risen.

Mr. POE

Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, I went to Iraq in 2005. I was one of two Members of this Congress to view the first free elections in their history, and I watched in awe and admiration as more than 8 million people went to the polls and elected a government. Men and women, young and old, courageously cast their ballots in the face of the violent terrorists. I spoke to many Iraqis and they showed great defiance against those outlaws that wished to disrupt those elections. Despite facing 300 attacks across the nation that day, more than 60 percent of the Iraqis went out to vote. Not even 44 murders by the terrorists could remove the resolve of those people. Men and women waited in line to cast their vote. They took the historic ballots, entered a cardboard booth and made their choice. With that simple but noble action, they pushed tyrants and terrorists aside and set Iraq on a path to freedom. Then they marched down the street holding their ink stained finger up high in defiance of those terrorists. I talked to Iraqis. And I talked to a woman who came up to me with tears in her eyes after she voted and said how grateful she and her family were for the America that we live in, for giving their sons for her family's freedom. She went on to relate to me how her husband and her brother had been murdered by the devil of the desert, Saddam Hussein. There have been more successful elections since the first, and the skeptics and the critics get it wrong with each new free and successful election. Democracy is the enemy of terrorists. They hate democracies as much as they hate the human life of the innocents that they murder. We cannot give in to these madmen. The insurgents have discovered that the United States and her allies cannot be defeated on the battlefield. They have also found that the steely resolve of the Iraqi people to create a free and fair and inclusive government cannot be broken. Liberty and freedom are overcoming treachery and tyranny and violence. We will not fear nor flee nor flinch in this absolute resolve. And our mission statement was stated 40 years ago by President John F. Kennedy when he said, ``Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we will pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe in order to assure the survival and success of liberty.'' And that's just the way it is.

Mr. POE

Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, down on the Rio Grande where the sage brush and mesquite trees line the lawless border of the riverbank is the home of generations of Texas ranchers. Their homes, feet from the porous border, they wake up to human smugglers, drug runners and thieves that have trespassed on their soil. On the border I met crusty rancher, C.E. Cunningham of Quemado, Texas. He has lived on the land for seven decades, and he now writes me about the southern border invasion into America: ``We have had our livestock, wildlife killed, vehicles, tools, equipment stolen. I had to move my mother out of her own home when three illegals stole and robbed her. I have taken weapons away from thieves. I have seen the Mexican Army camped out on the riverbank, and I have seen their tracks on our side. I have tried to get the Mexican Government to help with the thieves, but they told me it was best they stole over here instead of Mexico. It seems to me the Mexican government sanctions these crimes against us.'' Mr. Speaker, Americans like C.E. Cunningham want their lives back, their land back, and their security back. We have to stop letting the Mexican Army and Generalissimo Fox invade the United States by encouraging illegal entry into our country. And that's just the way it is.

Mr. POE

Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, lawlessness on the border breeds more lawlessness in the United States, and failure to protect our borders is a national security issue. And I come to you tonight with some disturbing news. The threat is even more serious than many Americans know. Tucson, Arizona is 65 miles from Mexico. I have it here on the map. It is shown by the red dot. It is the route to two interstates, one going north and south and one going east and west. Just southeast of Tucson, Arizona is the University of Arizona Technology Park. On that park, which is surrounded by an old-fashioned chain link fence, is a technology firm called Raytheon. Raytheon is a defense contractor that makes Tomahawk cruise missiles. Well, neighbors in Tucson, Arizona have sent me some pictures of what appears to be illegal entry into the perimeter of this plant. Here we have the chain link fence. This photograph is taken inside the perimeter. On these premises, 400 acres, is the Raytheon plant. It is true there is another fence around Raytheon that is a fence that is a cable type fence that keeps trucks from coming through. But someone, of course, could crawl underneath or over that particular fence. And you see, Mr. Speaker, there is all types of litter inside the fence. And the question occurs, where does this come from? These are trails that are similar to what you see along the Texas border where I am from, but border towns down in Southeast Texas don't have a plant that makes Tomahawk cruise missiles. Tucson neighbors say these trails are filled with trash, backpacks, water bottles and clothes. And why is that? Well, it seems that the illegals that come from Mexico sneak under this fence and hide on these 400 acres until the human smugglers come back later and pick them up and transport them throughout the United States. Raytheon public relations officials have said well, they hadn't heard anything about it from the security. And they have strict security procedures to enter that facility. But a supervisor at Raytheon security said yes, illegals have been known to come through the grounds, but they were just passing through. And some illegals have been found working at the Raytheon plant by subcontractors, but they were ordered off the premises. I would like to show you some more disturbing photographs that the Tucson neighbors have sent me. This is a photograph taken inside the perimeter of the chain link fence. And you see numerous backpacks where illegals have come in to the perimeter, have hidden on the premises. When the human smugglers come to pick them up and take them into the heartland of America, they bring with them the backpacks that allow them to change clothes. It is somewhat disturbing to me, Mr. Speaker, that we have this contractor that makes Tomahawk missiles that allows this to occur on their premises because, you see, lawlessness on the border breeds more lawlessness in the United States. And you would think that a company that has submitted a border security plan for the Department of Homeland Security just 2 weeks ago would be concerned about their border too. After all, it is a national security issue. I have one more photograph to show you, taken on the same premises, but on the other end of the perimeter. A similar photograph of backpacks, water bottles left by the people that illegally entered the United States. How ironic that it is that they hide on the premises of a place and an institution that is trying to protect the national security of the United States. Mr. Speaker, the Raytheon problems are our problems because the U.S.- Mexico border is not secure. We have to stop the illegal entry at the border between the United States and Mexico. Otherwise, we will continue to see these backpacks throughout the United States. And some may have clothes, but some may also bring in to the United States property and explosives that could damage the United States. It is a national security issue. It is a border security issue. Mr. Speaker, we have an obligation to the American people and have to have the moral will to protect the borders and the dignity of the United States. And that's just the way it is.

Mr. POE

Mr. POE. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Minnesota for yielding. Likewise, I have great respect for Chairman Mica, but in this particular situation, this is a national security issue, and you cannot separate national security and security of an airline industry with daily operating procedure. We cannot allow some foreign airline to control the operating procedure of American airline companies, especially in time of war. In time of war, American airlines have always been able to mobilize the American fleet during Iraqi I and Iraqi II; 5,872 missions were flown by American airline companies. Ninety-eight percent of those were my American pilots. If our airline industry is controlled by a foreign country, what makes us think that country will cooperate with us in time of war? This is certainly a national security issue, and we should not outsource our national security to the European Union.

Mr. POE

Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, when hurricane disaster hit Louisiana and Texas, many people suffered, and many people profited on this misfortune. To the rescue was FEMA. But the phrase itself brings fear and trepidation into the hearts and souls of those affected by this disaster. Why? Many people that needed help never got it and never will. But some people did get help, and they profited on this disaster, and FEMA paid for it. The GAO says FEMA wasted $1.6 billion of taxpayer money, or 16 percent of all funding. Thieves used unlawful money to get season football tickets, vacation at Hawaiian resorts for 2\1/2\ months, paid for a divorce lawyer, go to topless clubs, and, get this, even pay for a sex change operation. FEMA even sent money to prison inmates pretending to be hurricane victims. Mr. Speaker, this ought not to be. FEMA should only be responsible for passing out toothbrushes to these thieves, because that is all they will need when they go to prison. If employees at FEMA are accomplices they should go to jail too. Hurricane season is back. But do not expect FEMA to help in the next disaster, they are the disaster. And that's just the way it is.

Mr. POE

Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, the ladies of the gulf, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, battered Louisiana and Texas, shattering families, scattering 5,172 children across the country. In the darkness of the night, children disappeared from their families. Searchers only hoped and prayed that they would be found. Frantic parents upon arrival in safe harbors panicked because they were separated from their kids. While the hurricanes were a bad dream, losing their kids was a nightmare. This is when the child crusaders came together, without hesitation, launching into action, combing 50 States, searching among thousands of people. In the end, all 5,172 children were brought home. After hundreds of hours of manpower, success occurred because of the dogged determination of the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children. Through the tenacious work of peace officers and the tireless efforts of the U.S. Postal Service and thousands of nameless citizen volunteers, children were united with their parents. Yesterday, I was with the President at the White House when the First Lady honored these valid heroes, demonstrating the face of tragedy is best met by strong hearts and iron wills, and people just taking care of people. And that's just the way it is.

Mr. POE

Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, there are a select few men and women in this world who know in advance the exact time of their death. The crime victims are not in that group. Without time to prepare, they never get to say goodbye for the last time. They never get to hug their kids goodbye, their parents for the last time. The last person they usually see on earth is the killer, the one who steals their life. One of those victims was Pensacola, Florida, police officer Stephen Taylor. He was handcuffing a bank robber that he had captured when another bandit named Clarence Hill cowardly shot Officer Taylor in the back, killing him. This was in 1982, 24 years ago. Hill was tried and sentenced to death, and his sentence was proper. He was to be executed with a date and time predetermined by law. He knew when he was to meet his maker. When at the very last minute he claimed that lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment, our Supreme Court today agreed that his civil rights might have been violated and stayed the execution indefinitely. The courts have to figure this all out, according to the Supreme Court. Today the Supreme Court's wayward ruling will undo sentences and the sanity of grieving families. Mr. Speaker, has the Supreme Court lost its way? Soon many murderers and child rapists and armed robbers will scurry to have their sentence stopped. They will claim their deaths might be too cruel and unusual. Cruel and unusual they are not. Mr. Speaker, 37 of the 38 States in the United States that use the death penalty use lethal injection, a hardly unusual means of death when most States use it. Note the phrase is cruel and unusual punishment, not cruel or unusual punishment. Lethal injection drugs, those are the same drugs given to surgery patients every day, just in a different dosage. But the people on death row who hope Hill's case will serve their lives have committed crimes more painful than any drug could be, holding someone's head under water, stabbing someone dozens of times till they bleed to death, raping, robbing and bludgeoning their victims until every cry is silenced. Those folks have earned the right to be executed. I spent 22 years as a felony trial judge and 8 years as a felony court prosecutor in Texas. I have probably tried more cases and more death penalty cases than all the Justices on the Supreme Court put together, and I dealt with the Constitution every day, especially the issues of the Bill of Rights. I have been down there in the trial court, down in the mud and the blood and the beer with vicious criminal cases, and I have seen the families of murder victims grieve and pray and hope that justice will occur in their case when some outlaw snuffs out the life of their loved one. The death penalty is proper in proper cases. Some people deserve that punishment. Hill is one of those people. Mr. Speaker, his guilt is not in doubt, just the means of his execution is in doubt, according to the Supreme Court. You know we went from hanging criminals to the electric chair to the gas chamber to the firing squad to this, quote, put them to a quiet peaceful death, the lethal injection. Now those that are more concerned about the way criminals die than they are concerned about the way victims die say this death will be and may be a little painful. This ought not to be. Criminals should not have more rights than victims. This case is 26 years old. That absurd delay in sentencing is cruel and unusual to the family of the victims. Gunning down officer Taylor by shooting him in cold blood is cruel and unusual punishment for him, the victim. Lethal injection for this killer is neither cruel nor unusual, it is just justice. And that's the way it is.

Mr. POE

Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from Tennessee for allowing me to make some comments on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Tennessee is named the Volunteer State. It was some of those Tennesseeans who volunteered to help my State, Texas, become a free and independent nation back in 1836, another example that to be free it always costs something. We called upon those volunteers to make a difference in freedom, noting that every person serving in Iraq and Afghanistan is a volunteer. Many of them are on their second and third tours of duty, volunteered because they understand the importance of what they do. We just recently learned that the United States Army has met not only its enlistment goals but more enlistments than they had predicted because many Americans, the young of our Nation, understand the importance of what is going on. They know there is a war going on out there, and it is a war against terrorists. It is a war the terrorists started, and terrorism is not something we desire; but it is certainly something we must destroy. We cannot negotiate with terrorists. We cannot sit down at a conference table and say come let us reason together. It is not going to work because you see, terrorists are determined to kill people, not just soldiers, not just sailors or marines, but all people, any people that get in their way. And that includes their own people. That includes military and nonmilitary. It includes civilians, the old, the elderly, women, children. It includes people in hospitals recovering from sickness. Anybody they think will cause terror in the hearts and souls of the world they murder, and they kill throughout the world. That is the way terrorists operate, and the idea that we can even negotiate with them is almost as absurd as the idea that we can appease those individuals. Appeasement comes up every time some nation, like our Nation, has to go to war to fight for our freedoms and liberties. It came up in World War II, and appeasement was talked about even in Washington, D.C., appease the Germans, appease the Japanese, give in, try to ignore. Of course, we saw what happens. Appeasement never works with terrorists because they are determined to become more criminal-like in their activity and promote their desires no matter what it takes. I, like you and many Members of the House, have been to Iraq. I have seen the Iraqi people. I have seen our military and was fortunate to be there last year and when the Iraqi people had their first free elections in the history of their nation. It was quite the honor to be one of two Members of Congress to see that event. Of course, the skeptics and critics say, as the gentlewoman from Tennessee says, the northeastern elites, they said the Iraqis do not understand freedom or democracy, it will never work; and every election starting with that first election and every subsequent election after that proved that Iraqis want freedom. They have tasted it, and they do not want to let it go. And they are fighting for it just as much as our troops are fighting for it. Of course, I visited with our troops. They all say that we are winning the war on terror. And we are winning the war on terror. One thing that an Iraqi woman said to me at the voting booth, she had cast her ballot, had that purple stain on her finger, proudly walking down the street defiant of the terrorists because they said if you vote, the terrorists will kill you, and of course they did kill 57 Iraqis that voted that day. Anyway, she came up to me, she had tears in her eyes. I had an interpreter with me and she said to the interpreter and he told me, she said, We Iraqis are grateful to America for giving their youth to us. What she was saying was she was aware, as the Iraqis are, that Americans die so other people can live and live free. You know, 2,400-plus Americans have died in this war. Eight of those who have died are from my congressional district down in southeast Texas. I have talked to the families of those marines and sailors and airmen and soldiers that have been killed. Those families grieve in their own way, but they say to a family that they were proud of their son and they will be proud of America if America stays the course and finishes the job that their kids started in Iraq and Afghanistan. Finish the war, win the war, Mr. Poe, win the war. I heard that so many times. Win the war that my son died in. And I say to those families and other families that this country will win that war on terror. As has been said here on the House floor, it is going to be a long war. It is not an easy war. It is an unconventional war because we fight by the rules of engagement, the United States. We go after the terrorists. The terrorists, unlike any other war in world history, are determined to kill anybody in their way, including the innocent. But we will not let those that have died and those that will die, die for nothing because they are dying for something. They are dying for two things. They are dying for the welfare of the United States of America. It is in our best interest to take the fight to the enemy, and we are doing that. We are going to track them down wherever they show up in the world, and we are going to eliminate them. They are beginning to believe us that we will track them down. And we also are fighting this war because of that word freedom. It is important that Iraq and Afghanistan be free nations. They have never tasted freedom. They have tasted it now; and as I said, they do not want to let go of it. President Kennedy said it better than I can. He said, you know, this country will bear any burden. We will pay any price. We will support any friend, we will oppose any foe to preserve liberty. That is our mission statement given by President Kennedy over 40 years ago, and that is what our troops are doing. Freedom has always cost. It always will. Good things have cost. It cost us 7 years of hard war against the British. After we gained our independence, gained our freedom, the British did not believe it, and they attacked us again in the War of 1812. They burned this building down, and they burned the White House. They burned every building in Washington, D.C. except for two because they were trying to make sure that America was not a free Nation. So we had to fight them again. Freedom has cost this country, and it has cost other countries; and Iraq is one of them. We do not get freedom by sitting down at a conference table and saying, let us reason together so we can be a free people. There is no substitute for victory. It is the only path to freedom, and I hope that folks in this Nation understand the great job our troops are doing and are as committed as they are to winning the war. Down in southeast Texas, I have the distinction of having the Port of Beaumont. It is the number one military deployment port of cargo going to Iraq. It comes from Fort Hood and Fort Bliss, and it is the place where our troops come home. Most of the troops coming back to my area are National Guard troops. You see, down in southeast Texas when the National Guard comes home, we have parades for them. Schools and businesses close, and everybody turns out on Main Street waving the American flag. We are proud of what our troops are doing. We understand, as most Americans understand, they are doing a good job and they are putting their lives on the line for that simple word that people since the beginning of the world have wanted, and that is freedom. So this country I do not think is ever going to flinch and it is never going to flee and we certainly are never going to fear because we will never fail the war against terrorism, and I hope we will be successful. I appreciate the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn) allowing me to make these comments. I hope we will continue the dialogue and the perseverance to be successful and to spread the word not only in America but to those terrorists who live throughout the world that they can run, but they can certainly never hide because the American fighting man is going to track them down.

Mr. POE

Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, when Generalissimo Fox leaves office this year, the illegal Mexican citizens in America better hope they find someone who cares as much about them as he does. Since the Sly Fox cannot take care of his own people, he makes his problem our problem. He has encouraged their careers by sending them north to the United States so they can have a career; and when they had no ID in our foreign land, his answer, the matricula consular card, a Mexican ID card for illegals in the United States. Then this Fox of Mexico started creating a vast network of American businesses and banks that will accept these cards so his illegals can open up a U.S. bank account and wire money home, that is right, back to Mexico. Ironically, even Mexican banks do not accept this matricula card. But U.S. banks do, and they help illegal immigrants send home more than $12 billion every year, money that the United States Government ought to consider charging a 10 percent fee on, keep some of that money in America. Mr. Speaker, be that as it may, the banks and businesses that do this are doing nothing more than encouraging illegal entry into the United States. The Mexican Government may be controlling the United States immigration policy. In fact, since they are issuing IDs for people in our country from their country and making sure it is accepted, it is just like American Express, the matricula card is everywhere you want to be, without that yearly fee. That's just the way it is.

Mr. POE

Mr. POE. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. POE. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the work that the committee has done on this foreign ops appropriations bill. Mr. Chairman, my amendment resets the spending of this bill, however, to the 2006 foreign ops appropriation bill. Considering the ballooning size of the government, this would seem to be a modest gesture. Some say that $597 million is just a small drop in the bucket. That may seem true to some people who write checks for a living, but I disagree. You tell that to the people down in Sabine Pass, Texas which was leveled during Hurricane Rita, that $597 million is not a lot of money. These good folks are wondering why we are spending money all over the world when 40,000 of them still have blue tarps on their roofs. It would seems to me that charity certainly begins at home before we raise spending to many third world countries. I'm not asking for a massive cut in foreign programs, I am asking that Congress consider aid that we spend all over the world. I receive letters and phone calls every day from people asking us to take care of their money. It is an important to these individuals, especially people who have recently been hurt by Wilma, Rita and Katrina. We can keep asking Americans to trust us with their money as we send it all over the world, but some day, after we have gone well too far, the American people will tell us that they have probably had enough. We cannot continue to be the guns, bread and butter to the world. We must hold the line on money we give away to other nations and take care of our people first. So this amendment reduces overall spending. But because it would be up to the bureaucrats to decide where those actual cuts would be, and that aid that is in the interests of the United States, like aid to Israel, aid that probably ought to be increased, and they may remove that aid and continue wasteful aid that we spend, for example, the $4 million we give to Tibet so that they keep their culture, maybe even aid to Egypt, and that gives them too much discretion, I think it is in the best interest that I withdraw this amendment.

Mr. POE. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw the amendment.

Mr. POE. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. POE. Mr. Chairman, many Americans have joined Congress in the illegal immigration debate over the past several months. Important questions on guest worker programs, detention space, and the so-called catch and release programs have been discussed numerous times. However, one overlooked aspect of illegal immigration is the delay or the refusal of foreign countries that we give aid to to accept the ordered deportation of citizens from the United States. Many of these ordered deported have been convicted of felonies, gone to prison and U.S. penitentiaries, and illegally entered the United States initially. A report issued in April of 2006 by the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General states, that ICE's Office of Detention and Removal is being forced to devote a significant percentage of its funded detention beds, 14 percent, to illegals whose countries are either slow or unwilling to take those people back after they have been ordered deported. The report also states that thousands of these individuals end up then being released in America as our government continues to get stonewalled by so-called friends, but turn out to be uncooperative foreign nations. The cost incurred in fiscal year 2003 by the U.S. due to the delay or refusal of the top eight nations, including India, was $83 million to American taxpayers. In June of 2004, America had 136,241 illegals from those top eight nations with orders to be departed, but those governments refused to take those individuals. So what happened? Of that 136,241 illegals, 98 percent of those were released and are walking free on American streets because we cannot detain them. These costs are sure to increase along with illegal immigration from offending countries. What do illegal immigrants have to lose if they know their own country will not take them back after they have been deported? They make their way to America, they come here illegally, they break our laws, and they know their country will refuse to take them back. The United States should not have to foot the bill for illegal immigrants because their home Nations are constructing roadblocks. It is time we offer a proper incentive to these uncooperative nations, our so called friends. This amendment would require recipients of foreign aid to accept and repatriate nationals who have been deported from this country. Those nations that do not accept the transfer of their nationals would not be eligible to receive American aid. These nations cannot have it both ways. This is not about punishing any particular nation, it is about asking these countries to work with us and accept our assistance, also to respect our sovereignty and sanctity of our borders and take back their lawfully-deported citizens. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. POE. I understand there is a point of order and with that I will withdraw my amendment.

Mr. POE

Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, this morning, freedom has found a victory. Like the days of the Old West, an outlaw has been eliminated and we can take down the wanted posters. We weren't looking for a bank robber, a railroad bandit or even a horse thief. We were tracking a terrorist, a war criminal. High-tech helped find his hideout. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, militant mastermind who planned and ordered hundreds of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings of Iraqis and Americans, is dead. The prince of the forces of evil, the most wanted man in the desert of destruction, died like the outlaw that he was. He wasn't hung at the courthouse square like the days of the Old West, but he was the recipient of a U.S. military air strike, a strike that all but wiped out his desert gang of bad men, cutthroats and outlaws. But like the days of the Old West, there are more outlaws in hideouts in the hot hills of Iraq, and they, too, will be brought to a fitting end. Their reign of terror will be brought to justice. Freedom must always fight to survive, but freedom will prevail when the desert dust settles. And that's just the way it is.