Ted Poe

Mr. POE of Texas

Mr. POE of Texas. I thank the gentlelady for yielding. Mr. Speaker, Iran is the world threat. They along with North Korea are working together to plot and build nuclear weapons to threaten the rest of the world. Ahmadinejad, the little fellow from the desert, has already said that when he gets nuclear weapons, his first target is Tel Aviv in Israel. He has made it clear to the world that he wants to destroy Israel and he wants nuclear weapons; he wants missiles from North Korea to do that. But his threat is not just to the Israelis. It is to the entire region, and even to the United States. He continues to rant about how he wants the destruction of the West. He helps Hezbollah in the north and he helps Hamas in the south both to engage and cause terror in Israel. Our answer has been, Well, let's talk to them; let's tell the Iranians that they're not playing nice, that they are going to cause problems in the world. Mr. Speaker, we cannot adopt the Neville Chamberlain philosophy and fool ourselves that the Iranians will honestly negotiate with the world. They lie to the world and the United States so they can buy time to build their nuclear weapons. More talking will not bring peace in our time. It will only allow them to build nuclear weapons. So this sanction must work. It must be enforced. Prevent companies from dealing with our enemy government, the Iranian Government, and do not allow Iran to receive refined gasoline. We must mean it and we must enforce this. The long-term solution with Iran is that there is a regime change. We hope the good people of Iran change their rogue government, a government that doesn't even represent the people, a government that had fraudulent elections last year and that took over control again. Our government, our country, our people must be vocal about our support of this resistance movement. Iranians will, hopefully, remove their government by themselves and will peaceably set up a government that represents to the world that it will bring peace to the world. That is the great hope for Iran. That is the great hope for the world--a peaceable regime change in Iran. Right now, we need sanctions, and we need to let them know we mean it because we are not going to continue to talk forever and to hope that they will negotiate and play nice. And that's just the way it is.

Mr. POE of Texas

Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, Federal Judge Barbara Crabb sided with some atheists last week and wrongly ruled the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. The first amendment to the Constitution states, ``Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.'' The judge obviously forgot the ``free exercise'' part. Our Founding Fathers jealously guarded the right to free exercise of religious conscience. Thanksgiving was started in 1789 by President George Washington so the Nation could, ``Thank and pray to the Almighty for blessing America.'' We start each day of Congress with a prayer. Heaven knows we need it. We have a long history of honoring the religious foundation of America's liberty. The National Day of Prayer does not seek to establish a government religion. Quite to the contrary, we specifically recognize one day each year the right of Americans to freely exercise their religion, free from anyone's interference, including atheists and Federal judges. What's next, Judge Crabb? You going to ban Thanksgiving and Christmas as national holidays? And that's just the way it is.

Mr. POE of Texas

Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, there are rules and procedures for coming into the United States legally. You have to sign the guest book at the point of entry so we know who you are. We have a right to know why someone wants to visit our country--and we have the right to tell them when it's time for them to go home. But right now, America's hardworking taxpayers foot the bill for anyone who sneaks across our borders unabated. American taxpayers are expected to pay for the world's problems. We have enough problems of our own right here. Let me mention some of our border issues and some of those issues that we have on the Texas-Mexico border. Criminal aliens are a part of that problem. There is a crime wave taking place in our border regions. There are 14 Texas counties that border Mexico. And recently, I called the 14 county sheriffs and asked them this question, ``How many people do you have in your county jail that are foreign nationals charged with crimes other than immigration violations like misdemeanors and felony offenses?'' And they told me that 37 percent of the people in the border county jails in Texas are foreign nationals charged with those crimes. These are not rich counties. These are poor counties. And yet they're expected to take the brunt of the crime problem on the border. They don't have the money to prosecute or even house these individuals. You see, Mexico's problems have become our problems. Further, the violence in Mexico has escalated. Just yesterday, a Holiday Inn in Monterrey, Mexico, was attacked by narcoterrorists. The assault was done by 50 gunmen who seized cars to block streets to slow down police response. At least three people were kidnapped in the attack by the drug cartels. Violence at our southern border with Mexico has escalated as well, and it not only affects Mexican nationals on the northern part of Mexico, but Americans on the southern border as well. Murders, kidnappings, Old West shootouts, Mexican military helicopter intrusions into the United States, and reports of criminal cartels cloning border patrol vehicles to smuggle drugs have all occurred. An Arizona rancher was murdered at the border recently on his ranch. A California border agent was assassinated just a few months ago. In El Paso, Texas, our border patrol agents are reportedly being targeted by the Azteca hit men. These outlaws work and protect drug shipments for the Juarez drug cartel. Arizona has just passed a new law giving local law enforcement the ability to check immigration status and detain those in the United States illegally. The bill also puts an end to sanctuary cities in Arizona. It requires law enforcement agents to make reasonable efforts to determine a person's legal status if there is a reasonable expectation they're in the United States illegally. Arizona and other States are desperate so they are trying to do the job that Washington will not do. This bill is waiting for the Governor's signature in Arizona, and most Arizona citizens support this law. Border States have been asking for help for securing the border against the escalating violence for years. States have to protect their citizens because the Federal Government refuses to act to adequately secure the border. It is the primary purpose of the Federal Government to keep American citizens safe. When the Federal Government refuses to act, the border States are left to deal with the problem on their own. Governor Rick Perry in Texas has been asking for National Guard troops for over a year, but the Department of Homeland Security has ignored these requests. There seems to be blissful silence in D.C. about the border war. Why do we wait for more tragedy before more boots are put on the ground? Our law enforcement agents need help. Doesn't Washington know the border has become a war zone? National Guard troops should be deployed to the border immediately to protect us from the narcoterrorists. Border patrol and local sheriffs in Texas and other States are outmanned, outgunned, and outfinanced. The United States guards the borders of other nations, but yet we refuse to guard our own border. Why do we do that? Mr. Speaker, we fail to act at our own peril. And that's just the way it is.

Mr. POE of Texas

Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close. I want to once again voice my support of this resolution. Dr. Height died at 98. The most important influential person in my life was my grandmother, who lived to her late 90s as well. Chairman Conyers would like to know, of course, that she was a Roosevelt Democrat, never forgave me for being a Republican, but once we got past that, she made a lot of comments that influenced me and made a lot of statements that were true then and are true now. She said that ``there is nothing more powerful than a woman who has made up her mind.'' I think that definition fits Dr. Dorothy Height. She made up her mind about two issues: civil rights and the equality of women in our society. So today we honor her. I support this resolution and I urge its adoption. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert).

Mr. POE of Texas. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. POE of Texas. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. POE of Texas. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. POE of Texas. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. POE of Texas. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. POE of Texas. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. POE of Texas. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. POE of Texas. I continue to reserve my time.

Mr. POE of Texas. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. POE of Texas. I yield myself as much time as I may consume. I want to thank the chairman of the Judiciary Committee for bringing this to the floor as quickly as possible. I support this resolution, H. Res. 1281, which commemorates the life of the late Dorothy Height, as the chairman said, who died just yesterday. She was one of the key civil rights leaders who fought for racial and gender equality in the 20th century. She helped bring about school desegregation. She brought about, in her own way, the movement for an advocation of voting rights and employment equality. She was born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1912 and moved to Pennsylvania at an early age. In 1929, she was admitted to Barnard College, but she was denied admission when she showed up to register. The school had a policy of accepting only two black students. So she went to New York University and graduated in 1932. She received her master's degree in educational psychology the very next year, and after her studies Mrs. Height served as a caseworker in New York City welfare department. At the age of only 25, she joined the National Council of Negro Women, beginning her career as a civil rights activist on behalf of African Americans and all women. In 1944, she joined the YWCA and served as the national president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, from 1946 to 1957. Then from 1957 to 1997, she was President of the National Council of Negro Women, and during the 1960s, she established ``Wednesdays in Mississippi'' to join black and white women from the North and South to engage in a dialogue as a means toward social integration. Many American leaders respected Mrs. Height. She lobbied First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to help civil rights efforts in the 1940s. In later years she encouraged President Dwight Eisenhower and President Lyndon Baines Johnson to desegregate schools and appoint black women in positions of government. Mrs. Height herself served on the President's Committee on the Status of Women, and she was a consultant on African affairs to the Secretary of State. Mrs. Height was on the platform with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., when he gave his famous ``I Have a Dream'' speech in 1963. As Chairman Conyers has mentioned, he was at that event in 1963. For Mrs. Height's six decades of selfless work on behalf of civil rights and for her dedication, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2004. Yesterday, at the age of 98, Dorothy Height passed away at Howard University Hospital here in Washington, D.C. I urge all my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. POE of Texas. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve.

Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield to Mr. Conyers an additional 10 minutes and ask unanimous consent that he be allowed to control that time.

Mr. POE of Texas

Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, Jamie Leigh Jones was a 20-year-old and went to Iraq as a civilian contractor. Here is her story: after being in Iraq just a few days, she said she was drugged and gang raped by fellow employees. She was held hostage in a cargo container for 24 hours without food or water. She was assaulted so badly that later she had to have reconstructive surgery. She convinced one of the people guarding her to let her borrow a cell phone. She called her dad. Her dad called my office in Texas. With the help of the State Department, we helped immediately to rescue her, and she was quickly brought back to America. But no one has been held accountable for these crimes. The rape kit and the forensic evidence apparently were compromised by somebody in Iraq. During this Victims' Rights Week, we need to realize that when citizens go to a war zone and serve their country and a crime is committed against them, they should have justice. People like Jamie Leigh Jones deserve the protection of our law. The long arm of the law should reach in lands far away to hold perpetrators accountable for assaulting fellow Americans in time of war because justice is what we do in this country. And that's just the way it is.

Mr. POE of Texas

Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, today is April 21, and when I grew up in Texas April 21 was a holiday. We didn't go to school, and the reason I thought we didn't go to school was because April 21 is my mother's birthday and she always led me to believe that school was out because it was her birthday. Later I learned that wasn't actually correct, that we had celebrated April 21 as a State holiday in Texas because it is one of the most, if not the most important day in Texas history. Because on April 21, 1836, 174 years ago, Texas gained complete independence from Mexico and became a free and independent nation for over 9 years. A little history is due, I think. It all started when Mexico was a republic, a democracy, similar to the United States. Texas belonged to Mexico. But a person by the name of Santa Ana became President of Mexico. When he became President, he abolished the Mexican constitution and became dictator. And once he became dictator, he eliminated civil rights for everybody that lived in Mexico, including what is now Texas. So Texas sought independence, and on March 2, 1836, Texas declared independence from Mexico and cited the reasons, because of the dictator, the tyrant who had denied civil rights to all those living in Texas. At the same time a group of 187 volunteers, of all races from all the States in the Union and many foreign countries, assembled at a beat-up old Spanish church in central Texas called the Alamo. That's right, 187 volunteers stood in defiance of Santa Ana's army, who invaded Texas. Several thousand enemy soldiers came in. We all know the history, that after 13 days of fighting those battles, the Alamo fell and all the defenders were killed. However, that battle allowed for General Sam Houston, who was commander of the Texas army, to build an army to fight back. As William Barrett Travis said at the Alamo, who was the commander, a 26-year-old individual from South Carolina, that victory will cost the enemy more dearly than defeat. And he was right. Because of the massive losses of Santa Ana's forces at the Alamo, he had to regroup. He started then chasing Sam Houston. Sam Houston was moving east. He was headed toward the Sabine-Neches area, the Sabine-Neches River, which is next to the United States. We call that Louisiana. He had yet to fight a battle. Santa Ana's armies had been very successful in defeating the Texas armies in almost every battle. And Sam Houston had yet to fight, but he found himself, on April 21, 1836, between the Buffalo Bayou and the San Jacinto River in a marshy land called San Jacinto. There he stood to fight. Most battles are fought in the morning after sunrise, but on April 21 the Texas army was so eager to fight that at 3 o'clock in the afternoon they decided to march on Santa Ana's forces, which outnumbered the Texans over two to one. The Texas army was an odd-looking bunch. They were volunteers, but they were from, once again, all over the country. They were frontiersmen. They were shopkeepers. They were lawyers and doctors. They were made up of Texans and of Hispanic dissent. We call those Tejanos. They were led by Captain Juan Seguin, and his Tejanos were part of the calvary. So as not to be mistaken for the Mexican army, because the Texans had no uniforms, Juan Seguin's troops wore a playing card in their hat band to make sure that the Texans knew who they were. So the Texans marched on Santa Ana's forces completely by surprise and defeated them, an overwhelming defeat, one of the biggest upsets in military history. Half of Santa Ana's forces were killed; the other half were captured. The battle lasted 18 minutes, and one-third of the land in the United States, which is now the United States, switched hands. This is a map of the way Texas looked after April 21, 1836. Texas claimed all of the land, which is part of Texas, part of Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Kansas. Texas became a free and independent nation that day, stayed a republic for 9 years, and then joined the United States. Texas only got into the United States by one vote when a Louisiana Senator finally changed his mind and allowed Texas to come into the United States. I mention this, April 21, because it's an important day not only for Texas but for all people who believe in freedom. That these freedom fighters, these volunteers in 1836, many of them gave their lives for that word ``liberty.'' A word that we still fight for today. In our history a lot of people fought for that word and died for independence, both for Texas and for the United States. So we honor those brave Texans on this April 21, the anniversary of San Jacinto Day. And that's just the way it is.

Mr. POE of Texas

Mr. POE of Texas. I bring you news from the third front, that being the southern border with our neighbor Mexico, the first front being Iraq, the second front being Afghanistan. We are engaged in three conflicts, three wars. And the third front is the conflict on our border, the border war with the drug cartels. The $40 billion-a-year illicit drug trade in Mexico has resulted in a vicious wave of violence in northern Mexico and the United States. President Calderon of Mexico has said in the last few years 23,000 Mexicans have been killed and murdered on the streets of Mexico. To put it in perspective, that is over twice the murder homicide rate in the United States. Recently, there were two incursions by Mexican military helicopters across the Texas-Mexico border into the United States, and their intentions are still unknown. Those incursions were about 3 weeks apart. Some here in Washington questioned whether these astonishing reports of Mexican military helicopters actually were true. Well, here is a photograph, Mr. Speaker, that was taken by some individuals in Zapata County, Texas. That is on the border with Mexico. This is an RV park. And this is one of those Mexican military helicopters. It is a Russian-made, built helicopter. It has the word ``Marine'' on the side, that being the Mexican Navy's helicopter. And this photograph was taken by more than one individual. Photographs of the first incursion were also taken. And the question remains why is the Mexican military helicopter coming into the United States, and why is our government silent about their intention? We do not know. The international criminal drug cartels are just that: they are international. They are connected to terrorist organizations worldwide, and they make money selling drugs to fund their narcoterrorism. Which begs the question, Why are Americans allowing Mexican military helicopters to invade our airspace? I wish we had an answer from our government. Are they protecting drug shipments into the United States? We don't know. Are they doing something else? We don't know. This photograph, by the way, this helicopter is over two miles into the United States. The Texas-Mexico border is not like Arizona and New Mexico and California. There is a river in between. It's hard to miss the river when you fly over it. So it's obviously not a mistake on the part of whoever is flying this helicopter. You know, the primary duty of government is to protect the people. But the Federal Government, our government, has gotten so big and stuck its nose in so many places it doesn't belong it's no longer, in my opinion, performing its primary duty, protecting the people. Congress seems to be a little bit more concerned about steroids in baseball than they are concerned about protecting our border from people who come across without permission. At the El Paso sector of the Border Patrol in Texas, our agents now are being targeted by the Azteca hitmen of the Juarez drug cartel. What that means is this: the Juarez drug cartel is bringing dope into the United States. Our Border Patrol is doing an excellent job, best that we will let them do, of preventing that from occurring. So they have hired their own hitmen, the Azteca hitmen to target our Border Patrol agents. Our Border Patrol agents have a $250,000 bounty on their heads for being Border Patrol agents, for trying to do their job. And they are being targeted for kidnappings or murder. It makes no difference. I think that ought to upset some of us here in Washington, D.C. You know, the Azteca gang works for the Juarez drug cartel. They protect drug shipments that are brought into the United States. It gets bad down in Texas on the Texas-Mexico border. I recently asked a Texas Ranger, I said, What's it like after dark on the Texas-Mexico border? And he made this comment: It gets western. That's right, Mr. Speaker, it gets western. It's like the old West shootouts. You know, we have heard about all the shootings in northern Mexico. And it's only a matter of time before they shoot their way across the border into the United States. This is serious. This is violent. And it's being perpetrated by the drug cartels against Americans both in Mexico and the United States, but it's also being perpetrated against Mexican nationals that live in Mexico. You know, we shouldn't wait until something worse happens before we do something about it. It's important that we protect the dignity of our Nation because it's the first duty of government to protect the people of the United States. We should be sending the National Guard down to the border. This has been talked about before, yet nothing has happened. The Texas Governor and other State Governors have asked that the National Guard be deployed on the border. Why not? It's interesting, Mr. Speaker, we protect the borders of other nations with our military, but we don't protect our own border with the National Guard. The question is, Why not? You know, it's time that we act, otherwise we delay at our own peril, Mr. Speaker. And that's just the way it is.

Mr. POE of Texas

Mr. POE of Texas. Be glad to work with you. Appreciate it. Be glad to work with you on that.

Mr. POE of Texas. Yes, in Arizona a rancher was killed by people crossing the border into the United States, people illegally in the United States.

Mr. POE of Texas. That's correct. The border patrol are on their own working with the local sheriffs.

Mr. POE of Texas. That's right. That helicopter was in Zapata County, into the United States a mile and a half, two miles across the border, the river border, and we are yet to find out why that helicopter was there. Another one was in the United States about 3 weeks prior to this one.