Conveying the sympathy of Congress to the families of the young women murdered in the State of Chihuahua, Mexico, and encouraging increased United States involvement in bringing an end to these crimes.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to extend my great thanks and honor to Congressman Lantos and Congressman Engel and also to Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen for her support.

Mr. Speaker, we are strongly in support of this resolution to support the families of women who have been murdered in Ciudad Juarez and in the city of Chihuahua in Mexico. I have always believed that attacks on women are attacks on women everywhere.

This came to my attention some 4 years ago, and I was very proud to help lead a delegation for the first time, a House delegation to Ciudad Juarez, which is 5 minutes from our border, our frontier there. And what I found was a horrific, horrific problem, brutal murders of women, as was already stated by our colleagues. And to hear that over the past 13 years this had been allowed to continue without any involvement on the part of our government and Mexico, I felt compelled as a woman, as a Latina, as someone who felt very strongly that, if we are going to stand up for women's rights in other continents of the world and the Middle East to defend the Afghani women who are being tortured by the Taliban, why not then also come forward and support the women of Ciudad, Juarez?

We know that there are well over 400 victims that have been brutally murdered; and recently just this past year we found that a young girl, 7 years old, was kidnapped, raped, and brutally murdered. Another girl just 10 years was raped, killed, and set on fire in her home. These children were taken away from us too soon, and the anguished families will never be the same.

When I took a delegation to Ciudad Juarez, we had the opportunity, along with other members of the House, to meet with the families, to meet with the mothers of the victims, and what they asked for was nothing more than respect and acknowledgement and hopefully the force of our offices to get both sides, the Mexican government as well as the U.S. government, to come to an agreement to recognize that these atrocities must stop, to recognize the valor and respect of these families, and help to provide some closure; and through this resolution I hope that we can begin to do that.

This poster here illustrates an area that we actually visited very close to a grave site where eight bodies were thrown. It was almost as though there was a message being sent to authorities in Mexico that this is how we treat people in Ciudad, Juarez, and very little regard for the value of human life. As you can see in the picture, we had several individuals that went with us to visit there. We had Congressman Reyes, we had at that time Congressman Ciro Rodriguez, Congressman Luis Gutierrez, and we also had a good friend of mine who is depicted in the photograph, Dolores Huerta, who joined me.

But the value of that trip was to really meet and speak to the families, to speak to the mothers, to speak to the fathers who had recited their individual accounts of how they found their daughters and in what state they found their daughters or corpses. Yet we find today that we still have many remains that have not been identified, not because there is not a willingness to do it but because perhaps someone did not collect appropriate DNA information and tampered with perhaps evidence at the time so that you could not then retrace who was actually involved in these criminal atrocities.

That, I hope, will come to an end with the passage of this resolution, that we can begin to work in all honesty to identify the remains that are still left unclaimed by the families and provide some resolution.

I am very, very pleased that I had the support of our caucuses and outside community groups that helped to support us in this effort. It has been a long journey, and I want to personally thank various groups that helped us along this way. I want to thank in particular our committee staff, Paul Oostburg, for helping us, the Washington Office on Latin America, the Latin America Working Group, and Amnesty International, and many others across the country who helped us to lay out the foundation for the final passage of this legislation that I hope we will find later this afternoon.

I would ask that the House join us in support of this resolution, and I look forward to seeing our friends and colleagues in the Senate also assist us with passage of their similar resolution that also outlines the same provisions in this resolution.

Today I rise to voice my strong support for the families of women who have been murdered in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua City, Mexico.

I have always believed that attacks of women anywhere are attacks on women everywhere. That is why three years ago I introduced House Concurrent Resolution 90, a resolution to raise awareness, express concern and propose a set of actions to address the murders and disappearances of young women in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua City, Mexico.

I was horrified by the brutal murders of women just five minutes beyond our border. Over the past 12 years, more than 400 women have been brutally assaulted and murdered in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua City, and few of the perpetrators of this violence have been prosecuted or even found.

Women and young girls from all parts of Mexico moved to Ciudad Juarez in hopes of finding work, including jobs at American-owned maquiladoras.

These jobs involve late hours, forcing women to travel home in the dark, alone, leaving them vulnerable to attack.

Many of their bodies have been found in abandoned or desolate areas, showing signs of rape, torture and mutilation.

These acts are more than just crimes; they are horrific violations of women's rights and human rights.

Today, these crimes are not decreasing in frequency or brutality.

As an example, in 2005, a 7 year-old girl was kidnapped, raped and brutally murdered. Another girl, just 10 years old, was raped, killed and set on fire in her own home. These children were taken from us too soon, and their anguished families will never be the same.

While the men who murdered these particular children were caught, most of the victim's killers remain free and investigations of their cases have been minimal.

In 2001, the so-called ``cotton field'' murder victims were discovered in a Ciudad Juarez cotton field. Eight women were found raped, mutilated, and killed.

This case exemplifies the brutality of violence in Ciudad Juarez.

Mexican officials tortured two men into confessing to the cotton field murders. Their convictions were later overturned. One of the men who was wrongly accused died in prison and the lawyers in the case were gunned down. And this horrific case remains unsolved.

This pattern of torturing innocent men into confessing has touched the community I represent.

In 2003, Neyra Cervantes disappeared near Chihuahua City, Mexico, and her cousin, David Mesa, lived in the Congressional District I represent.

Mesa traveled to Juarez to help investigate his cousin's disappearance. He was incarcerated for criticizing the efforts of local authorities and allegedly tortured into confessing to the murder of his cousin. David is still in prison for the murder of his cousin--a murder he did not commit.

We must end the violence against women in Ciudad Juarez and catch the real criminals who are murdering women, not make more victims by torturing innocent people into confessing. The women and families in Ciudad Juarez are living their daily lives in fear. We must bring more attention to these crimes and help end the violence.

House Concurrent Resolution 90, the resolution we will vote on today, expresses concern about the continuing injustices that are killing young women and affecting American families in our border cities.

This resolution urges the U.S. government to take action and commit to working with the Mexican government to end these tragedies.

It is important that we, in Congress, continue to push the United States to work with Mexico to not only protect women in Juarez, but also to thoroughly investigate these crimes and bring an end to the murders. These atrocities have real affects on victims' families.

In 2003 and 2004 I organized Congressional Delegation trips to Ciudad Juarez to meet with families of victims, Mexican government officials, and human rights groups.

The mothers of victims and their families are suffering at the loss of their family members and continue to suffer because of inaction of the Mexican government. It was on these trips that my dedication to helping the women of Juarez was solidified. I would like to thank the Members of Congress and activists who have traveled to Ciudad Juarez with me, including Congressman Luis Gutierrez, Congressman Silvestre Reyes, our former colleague, Congressman Ciro Rodriguez, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, and my friend, Dolores Huerta, cofounder of VFW.

I have hosted briefings to educate others about this issue, sent letters to the State Department and President Bush and even to Mexico's President Vicente Fox urging action to end the murders of women and give peace to their families.

Last year I was joined by Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, in securing $200,000 from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to help fund a team of independent forensic experts from Argentina to work in Juarez identifying the unknown victims' remains and provide closure to their families.

These murders have caused incredible pain for the families of victims, compounded by the

lack of response from their police and local government.

For the first time, families of the missing will receive dependable, legitimate identifications of their daughters.

While changes have been made in local and state government and some answers are coming to light, we must continue to pressure Mexican authorities to investigate crimes and do more to end the violence.

As we move forward, we must push for thorough investigations, so the families have closure and so the streets are safer for all women and children.

We also need to ensure safer conditions for the women of Juarez, in their homes, communities and workplaces.

We must remember that no matter where it takes place, on either side of our border, a murder of any woman is a terrible tragedy.

As one, unified voice against violence and one, unified voice for justice, our strength is in our solidarity to find peace for the families of Juarez.

Ni una mas! means ``Not one more!''

I would like to thank the 143 bipartisan cosponsors of House Concurrent Resolution 90.

1 would like to thank Chairman Hyde, Ranking Member Lantos, Subcommittee Chairman Burton, and Subcommittee Ranking Member Engel for their continued support as we work to bring peace to Ciudad Juarez.

I would also like to thank Committee Staff Paul Oostburg for his assistance and advocates from organizations such as the Washington Office on Latin America, the Latin America Working Group and Amnesty International for their passion.

I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of House Concurrent Resolution 90, and demonstrate our strong support for the families of victims in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. And I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the fight for women's rights, human rights and an end to the violence.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this amendment and the effort to bring attention to the murders of more than 400 women and girls over the past 12 years in the border town of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico and Chihuahua City, Mexico. The latest victims of this violence, two 7- and 10-year-old girls, were raped and brutally murdered in May.

As the author of House Concurrent Resolution 90, which has garnered more than 100 bipartisan cosponsors, I know we must do more to help end these murders, bring the true perpetrators to justice, and bring closure to the families of victims who have disappeared but their bodies never identified.

Women and young girls from all parts of Mexico have migrated to Ciudad Juarez, just 5 minutes from the U.S. border, in hopes of finding work, including jobs at American-owned maquiladoras. Women have been kidnapped on their way home from work at the maquiladoras, and many are later found in deserted or abandoned areas--with their bodies showing signs of rape, torture and mutilation.

I have worked closely with my House and Senate colleagues on this resolution and other efforts to encourage the Bush administration to put pressure on the Mexican government to protect the women in Ciudad Juarez and bring their murderers and rapists to justice.

This spring, I worked with Senator Bingaman from New Mexico to ensure USAID funding for independent forensic investigators from Argentina to work in Ciudad Juarez. These independent investigators are working to identify up to 70 victims who up until now have been nameless casualties of horrific violence. The Reyes amendment, as well as my resolution, states the importance of these independent, impartial efforts.

I was also pleased to learn that the United States Ambassador to Mexico, Tony Garza, traveled to Ciudad Juarez yesterday to meet with the independent forensic investigators and the District Attorney for the State of Chihuahua. It is important that the United States continues to work with Mexico not only to identify remains of women already murdered, but also to thoroughly investigate these crimes and bring an end to the murders.

Congress of the United States,

Washington, DC, May 3, 2005.

Mr. Adolfo Franco,

Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Latin American and the

Caribbean, U.S. Agency for International Development,

Washington, DC.

Dear Mr. Franco: As you know, we are very concerned about

the murders and disappearances of women in Ciudad Juarez and

Chihuahua, Mexico. We have visited Ciudad Juarez and have led

Congressional Delegations to Juarez on several occasions, and

we recently introduced Congressional Resolutions (H. Con.

Res. 90 and S. Con. Res. 16) encouraging the U.S. government

to help Mexico resolve this tragedy.

In our visits with the families of missing and murdered

women, they have told us that they are requesting the

services of independent experts to help identify their family

members. There are more than 60 unknown victims in Ciudad

Juarez and Chihuahua that require forensic and DNA testing.

There are also families that are requesting identification

services because they have credible doubts about the results

of prior forensic testing.

It has been our understanding that USAID had been making

progress to assist in this very important forensic effort to

identify all of the unknown victims. However, without any

rationale, we have been informed that USAID will no longer be

able to assist in the effort to secure independent scientists

to conduct exhumations and forensic testing.

We have attempted to call you to find out why these efforts

have been stalled, without success. We, along with our other

congressional colleagues, are committed to alleviating the

anguish and uncertainty of many families of their missing and

murdered family members. Please provide us with a detailed

explanation as to whether or not USAID will be able to fund

independent forensic testing to help identify the remains of

the missing or unknown victims. A timely response would be

appreciated by May 11, 2005.

Sincerely,

Hilda L. Solis,

Member of Congress.

Jeff Bingaman,

U.S. Senator.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution and yield myself such time as I might consume.

Mr. Speaker, the resolution before the House introduced by my distinguished California colleague and good friend, Congresswoman Hilda Solis, shines the spotlight on the murders of impoverished young women in Mexico. I applaud my friend and colleague, Chairman Hyde, for recognizing the importance of this resolution and facilitating its consideration both by our committee and the full House.

Mr. Speaker, since 1993, over 400 gruesome killings have plagued Mexico's nearly lawless northern border. In the last 2 years alone, over 56 women in this region have had their lives brutally extinguished.

Although these statistics are shocking at face value, the numbers often hide due to time and distance the very human stories that bleed from the pages of crime reports. In the Ciudad Juarez murders, the tragic tales are about girls and young women in the prime of their lives who, as they are walking home from one of the many sweatshops along the border, are kidnapped, raped, and brutally murdered. Their bodies are then unceremoniously dumped at the fringes of town. Families are left wondering what happened to their daughters or sisters or mothers.

As a result of the combined efforts of honorable individuals like my good friends and colleagues, Congresswoman Solis and Congressman Reyes, as well as organizations such as the Washington Office on Latin America and the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, the Mexican government of President Fox finally took action. Among President Fox's initiatives were the establishment of a commission to coordinate federal and state efforts in Mexico, the appointment of a special prosecutor to review and bring related cases, and a plan to prevent future crimes.

It is not yet clear, Mr. Speaker, that these efforts have slowed the pace by which girls and women are being murdered in Ciudad Juarez or in Chihuahua City. Credible reports indicate that at least as many murders have been committed each year since the Mexican federal and state authorities began implementing their new policies.

It is also not apparent that local authorities are seriously committed to investigating and bringing to justice the criminals who are behind the murders. Suspects have been arrested for only about half of the Ciudad Juarez murders. In a significant number of cases, the defendants claimed that they were tortured into confessing their guilt. Real, impartial, professional investigations and prosecutions are needed to take the killers off the streets and to bring closure to the victims' families.

Mr. Speaker, the resolution before us today takes steps to address these remaining problems. It encourages the administration to include the Ciudad Juarez murders as part of the bilateral agenda between our government and the government of Mexico. It supports ongoing efforts to identify unknown victims through forensic analysis, including DNA testing, and it urges the Mexican authorities to invest in a new sense of urgency and professionalism as part of their continuing work.

These killings, Mr. Speaker, must stop. I urge all of my colleagues to support this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield 2 minutes to my friend, Congressman Engel of New York, the ranking member of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee.

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield 5 minutes to my good friend, the distinguished author of the resolution and co-chair of the Congressional Women's Caucus, Ms. Hilda Solis of California.

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 3 minutes to my good friend and distinguished colleague from Texas, Mr. Silvestre Reyes. His El Paso district is the sister community to Ciudad Juarez. He is Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Task Force on International Relations, and an invaluable colleague.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Con. Res. 90, and I wish to express my respect and admiration for the gentlelady from California, Congresswoman Solis, for her important leadership on this tragic issue.

Since 1993, nearly 440 women have been killed in Ciudad Juarez and the State of Chihuahua, Mexico. Most of the victims are young, poor women. Nearly one-third worked in maquiladora factories that flourish along the U.S.-Mexican border; another third were students; Over 100 of these women were sexually assaulted prior to their murders, and these cases may be related. Other murders appear to be the product of domestic and intimate partner violence.

Regrettably, the Mexican authorities have done little to investigate the murders: According to human rights investigations into these

murders, at least 130 police, prosecutors, and forensic officials were negligent or abusive in their handling of the murder investigations. Frequently, these officers of the law blame the victim for her own violent death. They have ignored, deceived, harassed and even attacked the families of the victims. While a few men have been convicted for some of the sexual murders, several of the victims' families believe these men are scapegoats, while the real perpetrators remain free at- large. As long as the wrong people are in prison, the killers remain unpunished and able to kill again and again.

We know that the police have used torture to obtain confessions from several people, even though no physical evidence connected these individuals to the crimes. For example, days after eight women's bodies were found in a field in downtown Juarez, two men were arrested and tortured into confessing to their murders. No physical evidence links them to the crime. Police killed one of their lawyers. One of the men died in prison. The judge presiding over the case ignored the remaining detainee's credible allegations of torture and the lack of evidence against him, and convicted him to 50 years in prison for the murders. The families of the murdered women do not believe he is the person responsible for their daughters' deaths.

Mr. Speaker, the Ciudad Juarez murders are an issue that embraces both sides of the border: U.S. citizens have been arrested for the murders, have been victims of the murders, and have had loved ones lost to murder. U.S. citizen Cynthia Kiecker and her husband, a Mexican national, were arrested and tortured in June 2003, accused of the murder of a young woman in Chihuahua. They were acquitted in December 2004. In another case, one U.S. citizen's daughter disappeared in July 2000.

I believe that the Mexican government will respond to U.S. and international pressure to solve these murders and bring peace of mind to the victims' families, and restore peace and security to the people who live in the State of Chihuahua and Ciudad Juarez, in particular. Already, as a result of international pressure, the federal Mexican government has appointed a special commissioner to prevent violence against women in Juarez, as well as appointing a special prosecutor to find out what went wrong with the previous murder investigations.

But Mexican federal and state authorities have made too many promises, and still there is too little progress in any of these investigations.

Mr. Speaker, H. Con. Res. 90 will clearly tell the families of these women that their voices and their pleas for justice have not gone unheard. They have our sympathy, and they have our support. But passage of this bill will also send a clear message to the Mexican authorities that the United States Congress is concerned about these murders, willing to have our government assist in their investigation, and that we want the perpetrators of these heinous acts arrested and put behind bars.

The lives of all these young women had meaning and promise. Let us remember them now, and solemnly vow to their families that we will work to bring their killers to justice.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 90) conveying the sympathy of Congress to the families of the young women murdered in the State of Chihuahua, Mexico, and encouraging increased United States involvement in bringing an end to these crimes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of House Concurrent Resolution 90, introduced by the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Solis).

The resolution before us respectfully conveys to the families of more than 400 young women who have been murdered in the State of Chihuahua, Mexico, the deepest sympathy of the

United States Congress. It also encourages law enforcement in the United States to seek closer cooperation with Mexican law enforcement authorities to solve these crimes and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Mr. Speaker, the border with Mexico can be a violent place. With drug traffickers, migrant smugglers, and other violent malefactors operating along the border, young women who live and work in the many border communities often fall prey to these violent criminals.

Over the past 12 years, more than 400 murders and disappearances of women have been committed in the cities of Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua City. Fifty-five women have been killed in Juarez and Chihuahua City since 2004 alone. Unfortunately, very few of these cases have been resolved and even fewer perpetrators of this violence have been caught and prosecuted. As a result, the violence continues.

Mr. Speaker, House Concurrent Resolution 90 will hopefully bring much-needed attention to the brutal torture, rapes, and murders committed against women along the U.S.-Mexican border, especially in the State of Chihuahua, and will underscore the need for more cooperative law enforcement in both the United States and Mexico.

Before this resolution was introduced and brought to the floor, too little attention was paid to this important issue. Today, Congress is taking a stand and urging both the United States and Mexico to ensure its people, wherever they may live and work, that they will be secure within their homes and workplaces and that they can live without the fear of violence which is now sweeping our border communities.

Mr. Speaker, it is important that we in Congress continue to encourage our governments to work with Mexico not only to protect the women in Juarez but also to thoroughly investigate these crimes and bring an end to these murders. House Concurrent Resolution 90 would serve as a call to action along the border and would be a constant reminder to both the United States and Mexico that we must do more to protect our citizens against criminal elements and cooperate more on bringing criminals to justice. I urge my colleagues to support this important resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.