Francisco "Quico" Canseco

I thank my friend and colleague and fellow Texan, Chairman Smith, for yielding.

Today, I honor a great man, a great Texan, a great American, Ralph Hall. As he makes history today for being the most experienced Member-- in lifelong years--of this Chamber to cast a vote, I am proud, as a member of the Texas delegation, to call him a friend and a colleague.

Ralph Hall embodies so many of the virtues we celebrate as Americans. He is a man who is forever devoted to his family. He is a patriot who served his country during World War II. He is a public servant who has dedicated his life to serving the people of Texas and the United States. He is an example to all Americans not just for his service to family and country but in the graceful manner in which he goes about his tasks and the joy that he inspires in all of us.

This Chamber will always be grateful for the service that Ralph Hall has given to the House of Representatives and to the Nation.

We all enjoy his good humor, his dedication, and his love of country that he brings to his job each and every day.

Tonight, as we pay tribute to Ralph Hall and wish him many more years of service to the people of Texas and the United States, I thank him for the privilege of serving by his side as a friend and a colleague in the House of Representatives of the United States Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise today to recognize and honor the centennial celebration of the founding of Natalia, Texas.

Natalia, which is located approximately 30 miles southwest of downtown San Antonio, was founded in 1912 by the Medina Irrigation Company. The town was named after Natalie Pearson, daughter of Fred Stark Pearson, who oversaw the irrigation company and building of the Medina Dam. During the town's application process for a post office the following year, Natalie's name was misspelled and the town became known as Natalia.

After the deaths of Pearson and his wife, who were passengers on the ill-fated Lusitania which was sunk by German forces in 1915, the Medina Irrigation Company went bankrupt and was subsequently reorganized under the name of Medina Irrigated Farms in 1931. Despite the tough economic environment in the U.S. during that time, Charles F. C. Ladd was successful in selling bonds in the amount of $2.5 million to pay for the Medina valley irrigation and to create a new loan fund for prospective land purchasers. As a result, the town prospered and increased its population from 150 in 1933 to 400 in 1939.

Today, Natalia is home to more than 1,400 people and is a vibrant community that is home to many families and businesses. Its centennial celebration will be marked with proud and exciting festivities that symbolize Natalia's wonderful history. I am proud to recognize this special event and have the opportunity to represent Natalia in the United States House of Representatives.

I want to thank my friend and colleague and fellow San Antonian--the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Mr. Smith--as well as his diligent and hardworking staff, for their help on this very important matter.

I come to the floor today, Madam Speaker, in support of my legislation, H.R. 6368, the Border Security Information Improvement Act.

As the Representative of a district with nearly 800 miles of U.S.- Mexico border, I know firsthand how important the security of our citizens along our shared border with Mexico is. As I visit with the people of the 23rd District of Texas, I hear time and time again from Americans living along the border that they do not feel safe or secure. They talk of living in fear. They tell me that Washington is not paying attention as drugs, weapons, and humans are smuggled through their communities. Washington is not listening as they ask for help as violence from Mexican drug cartels spills into their communities and cities and towns.

Many of the statistics and information used to make claims about the security of our southwest border are based on information from sources, such as the Uniform Crime Report, that are not intended to measure security along our border.

Administration officials have claimed that the border is safe and secure. Yet, while attending a Homeland Security Committee hearing last May, I learned that the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice do not have a working, uniform definition of ``spillover violence.'' Yet witnesses at the hearing--

high-ranking officials from Justice and Homeland Security--stated that there is no cross-border violence.

This is completely unacceptable. If the Federal Government cannot even define what endangers border citizens, we cannot ensure their safety. H.R. 6368 is simple. It is straightforward. It is a bill that will address this very problem.

It directs the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security to submit a report to Congress on their ability to define, to track, to investigate, and to quantify cross-border, or spillover, violence.

The Departments of Justice and Homeland Security will furthermore report what information and statistics are available and that are at their disposal in order to understand the amount of violence spilling into the United States. The ability to correctly monitor the level of spillover violence occurring across our Nation's borders will allow us to assess the success of our border security policies and to ensure that we have the correct policies in place in order to stop violence, stop drugs and contraband from spilling into the United States.

Lastly, the Departments will recommend to Congress what additional resources are necessary in order to track, quantify, and report on cross-border violence so that Congress can do its part and ensure that our Federal law enforcement agencies have the tools and the data that they need to do their jobs. Congress must be a willing and able partner in the fight against the ruthless Mexican cartels and the violence that they bring into our American communities.

Madam Speaker, the American people deserve to know the capability of their government to address cross-border violence. This bill does not seek to prove that one party is right or that one party is wrong. It simply seeks to find out the ability of the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to define, to track, and to understand the amount of violence spilling into the United States from Mexico. In order to achieve a secure border, we must be able to correctly gauge the amount of violence that is spilling into the United States, and I believe that this bill is an important first step in that direction.