Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, administration officials are criticizing Arizona's new illegal immigration enforcement law, and they haven't read the bill. The Attorney General hasn't read it. The Secretary of Homeland Security hasn't read it. Some State Department radical compared the Arizona law to human rights violations in China, but he hadn't read the bill either. But that hasn't stopped them all from criticizing the Arizona law they know nothing about.

Mexico President Calderon spoke here today and lectured us on our illegal immigration laws. He said the Arizona law opens the door to racial profiling. If the President had read the law he would know it does nothing of the sort. In fact, in four places the law prohibits any profiling.

I wonder if President Calderon has read the law he has been criticizing. It doesn't appear he has read his own country's tough illegal immigration laws either, but he takes the time to arrogantly denounce our laws. All of these critics don't want the truth of the law to get in the way of their indignant demagoguery and political agenda.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, heavily armed Mexican pirates have been shaking down U.S. boaters on Falcon Lake in Texas. It's a reservoir and a bass fishing haven that straddles the Rio Grande River in Texas--between Texas and Mexico. It's the international boundary between Zapata County, Texas, and Mexico.

According to recent San Antonio news reports, several such incidents have been reported with pirates on Falcon Lake since April 30, the latest being this past Sunday. According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, which issued warnings Tuesday, the robberies are linked to northern Mexico's increasing lawlessness. According to the descriptions of the incidents, the pirates in at least one case posed as Mexican federal law enforcement officers. They searched fishermen's boats for guns and drugs and then demanded cash at gunpoint. According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, the robbers are believed to be members of a drug trafficking organization or members of an enforcer group linked to a drug trafficking organization. They use AK-47s or AR- 15 rifles to threaten their victims. They appear to be using local Mexican fishermen to operate the boats to rob the American fishermen.

It was unclear why sport fishermen were targeted, but the warning comes only a few weeks before bass fishing tournaments that are among the south Texas border region's biggest tourist draws. DPS spokesman Tom Vinger said the warning was issued, in part, because of the upcoming bass tournaments. Zapata County Sheriff Sigi Gonzalez said he would be reviewing protective measures with the DPS Border Security Operations Center and the region's Fusion Center, which is a Federal information clearinghouse for terrorism prevention.

Reported victims included, one, five people in two boats who were approached by four men on April 30, claiming to be federales near the church at Old Guerrero. That is now a submerged town in the bottom of the lake. The men boarded the boats, demanded cash, and wanted to know

where the drugs were. They then robbed the Americans.

A second incident. Three fishermen were approached on May 6 by a boat containing two men pointing AR-15s. Those are assault rifles, Mr. Speaker. One boarded the fishing boat, searched for drugs, cash and guns, chambered a round in the rifle and told the fishermen he would shoot them if they did not give him the money. In another pirate raid, fishermen were robbed of their money and boat and clothes and left naked on the Mexican side of the lake. Yet in a fourth incident, boaters on the U.S. side of the lake were approached by a boat containing five armed men. It's still unclear what else happened because this just happened 2 days ago.

Falcon Lake is approximately 60 miles long. It's a reservoir on the Rio Grande, fronting Starr and Zapata Counties in Texas, and it is shared between the United States and Mexico. It was formed by a dam in 1953 to conserve water for agriculture and control downstream flooding.

Mr. Speaker, piracy is a centuries-old problem that many nations have had to deal with. In the 1800s, Thomas Jefferson sent the United States Navy to the Mediterranean Sea, where pirates roamed at will and robbed American ships. That President fought piracy on the high seas. But the difference now is our administration would rather criticize people in States like Arizona that demand more border security rather than do anything about illegal border crossers, including the pirates of Falcon Lake.

Meanwhile, today, President Calderon of Mexico arrogantly lectured us in a joint session of Congress, chastising the United States-- especially Arizona--for passing legislation trying to prevent people from illegally coming into the United States. Mr. Speaker, when 65 percent of the American people support Arizona's new law regarding illegal immigration, his comments were disingenuous and disrespectful to our Nation.

I commend President Calderon for fighting the international drug cartels in his Nation, but the President of Mexico should deal with his own issues and solve Mexico's economic problems, human rights problems, organized crime problems, violence problems, government corruption problems, and illegal immigration problems before President Calderon lectures anybody about anything.

And that's just the way it is.

Regarding the Attorney General not reading the bill, he is a knowledgeable lawyer. Any knowledgeable lawyer who read the Arizona statute would know what he was saying was incorrect. That is why I asked him the question because I believed he hadn't read the law.

The law states in four places that racial profiling is prohibited under the statute. In four different places it says that. To make it very clear to everybody in Arizona and the world that will read the law, that racial profiling is prohibited under Arizona's new illegal immigration law that they have passed which, as you have said, is a mirror copy of U.S. immigration laws, and because the Federal Government does all kinds of things except protect the border, they are desperate in Arizona to protect their citizens; and, therefore, they passed that legislation.

I just wanted to mention, part of the problem with the Border Patrol in Arizona and other places along the Texas border, and why States like Arizona have decided they must enforce immigration laws is because of what is occurring.

Here is a chart of the assaults that have occurred against our Border Patrol agents. Border Patrol agents, as you know, the gentleman from Iowa, patrol the border within 25-30 miles of our southern border.

In the year 2004, there were about 380 assaults on our Border Patrol agents. I think that is a lot.

Then in 2005, there were 687.

In 2006, there were 752.

And then in the last 3 years, 2007, 2008 and 2009, there have been almost a thousand assaults on border agents. And those are folks that protect the dignity of the U.S. These assaults primarily come from people crossing the border illegally and they assault our Border Patrol agents who are just trying to protect the dignity and sovereignty of the United States. People are not supposed to come here unless they have permission. They are supposed to come here legally.

It has gotten so bad down at the border, they have improvised--and being in the construction business, Mr. King, you would appreciate this--they call these Border Patrol vehicles ``war wagons.'' And the reason they call them war wagons is because these patrol right up next to the Texas-Mexico border and also the Arizona-Mexico border. And people crossing into the United States illegally pelt the Border Patrol with rocks, heavy rocks.

So they have put all of these meshed wire contraptions on their vehicles to protect the windows and protect themselves from bodily harm from the rock throwers who are arrogantly coming into the United States illegally. They see the Border Patrol, they start throwing rocks, and they come into the United States anyway.

So that is just one example of why the State of Arizona and other States are in dire straits. They want to protect the dignity and sovereignty of their State. They want to protect it from people coming in, from everybody, the good, the bad, and the ugly. And right now we are getting everybody, the good, the bad, and the ugly; a lot of bad and a lot of ugly.

It just seems to me that our government, rather than criticizing the State of Arizona, ought to be supporting Arizona, ought to enforce the rule of law on the border. If our government, the Federal Government, enforced the rule of law on the border, we wouldn't be having any of these discussions, but it doesn't. It is unfortunate that our Attorney General, and also the Secretary of Homeland Security, talked about this legislation and neither one of them before they made all of these statements about how bad the law was had read the legislation.

I yield back to the gentleman from Iowa.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

A couple of points. One thing that President Calderon said today that I totally agree with is that the rule of law is important. He said he believed in the rule of law. So do I. But I think the rule of law ought to be enforced not only in Mexico, but ought to be enforced in the United States.

And as the gentleman from Iowa has mentioned, the United States is the

most generous country on Earth when it comes to legal immigration. It is a policy of this country to allow people to come here. And if you travel around the world, everybody wants to come to the United States, and that's a good thing. And they want to come for a lot of reasons. As the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Fleming) says, opportunity is one of those reasons. But they want to come also for other reasons, including the word ``liberty'' that we don't talk about too much.

But, in any event, we allow people to come here the right way. And when people come here the right way, they appreciate being here, especially those who have gone through that long process of becoming citizens. They make fine American citizens because they are Americans after they take that oath to uphold the Constitution.

But the rule of law should also apply in the areas where people want to come here illegally. People who cross our borders illegally disrespect the rule of law. They disrespect our rule of law. They should come here the right way. They should get in line the right way. And they should not disrespect not only Americans, but those who do it the right way.

You know, one of the things we do in our office, as both of you do in your offices, we help people come to the United States legally. We probably do more case work on immigration issues than everything else put together except maybe veterans and military issues. We help people come here all the time. We get those calls, and people want to come to the United States to visit, to work, to be a tourist, to go to school, or to become citizens. And we do everything we can to help those people come the right way.

I too, like I think most Members of the House, are for legal immigration. But people should not sidestep that process and ignore the rule of law, as President Calderon says he is for the rule of law, and come around that process and just come in the United States any way they can and then take the benefits of being in the United States without being here legally.

So I think when it comes to legislation, we hear about comprehensive immigration reform. What that means is, really that's disguise for the word amnesty. I think what we ought to start doing right now is before we start with more legislation, why don't we just enforce the laws we already have? We have plenty of laws already that talk about the rule of law and securing the border and making sure people don't come in here. We just don't enforce those laws. I think those laws are not enforced for political reasons. That's my opinion.

But I will yield back to the gentleman from Iowa because I can tell you want to say something.

I agree to the comment that we all should speak the same language. Now, being from Iowa, you would probably think those of us in Texas and Louisiana don't speak the same language you do even though it is a version of English, they tell us.

I'd like to make one more comment about how difficult it is to live on the border.

Everybody in this House needs to go down to the southern border and just travel the border and just observe what's taking place. The border, as a local Texas Ranger tells me, he says after dark, the border gets western. And what he means by that is it gets violent on both sides. Good people in Mexico and in the United States live in fear if they live close to the border, primarily the drug cartels. But it's also the international gangs that operate freely back and forth across the border.

And the brunt of that, of course, occurs in the border counties, all the way from Brownville, Texas, to San Diego, California. So there are 14 counties in Texas that are close to the border or border the northern border of Mexico. And periodically I will call the Texas sheriffs and I ask them this question. Pick the same day every month, and I call them and say, How many people are in your jail today that are foreign nationals? Don't distinguish between legal or illegal or where they're from. But how many are foreign nationals?

So the most recent call that I made--called all 14 sheriffs on the same day--

and they told me how many people, percentage-wise, were in their jail. It goes all the way from Terrell County, where a hundred percent of the people in the jail are foreign nationals. True, small county, small jail. But the average across all of the southern counties in Texas on the day certain about 3 weeks ago, 4 weeks ago, was 37 percent. Thirty- seven percent of the people, Texas border county jails, are foreign nationals. Now, that's expensive to take care of these people.

Now, these aren't people charged with immigration violations. These are people charged with felonies and misdemeanors committed in the United States. These are poor counties. They can't afford to prosecute these folks.

And so that is just one of the problems that occurs in the southern portion of the United States when the Federal Government does not enforce the rule of law on the border. Secure the border so that people come here with permission or they don't come. And that includes folks who come over here--not all, by any means--but those who come over here illegally to commit crimes.

And because the border is porous, many of these people in the county jails down there, when they make bond, they head back south, commit crimes back and forth across the border on both sides of the border. If they commit a crime in Mexico, they hide in the United States. If they commit a crime in the United States, they run back to Mexico.

So this, I think, is a phenomenal statistic. Thirty-seven percent of the people, border county jails, on this one day were foreign nationals.

So I think the obligation of the Federal Government is to quit talking about this, get rid of the politics, and do what governments are supposed to do: protect the people, especially the people of the United States, not just the ones on the border but all of the people in the United States from those who wish to come over here illegally, primarily the criminal gangs and drug cartels.

With that, I'll yield back to the gentleman from Iowa.

Thank you, gentlemen, for yielding briefly.

I want to comment about our border protectors.

The Border Patrol, the sheriffs all along the border do everything they can to secure the sovereignty to protect us from those who come into the United States illegally. The Border Patrol has asked, and we have asked--myself and others--have asked the President to grant the request of the Texas Governor to send the National Guard to the border. We need more boots on the ground. The National Guard can do that. The President has not answered that request, a yes or no or we're looking at your letter.

So I would hope that the National Guard could work together with the Border Patrol, the sheriffs, secure the border. Let's mean it when we say we want border security and protect the people of the United States.

I'll yield back the remaining time to the gentleman from Iowa.

Mr. Speaker, Falcon Lake in Zapata County, Texas, is one of the best bass fishing spots in the United States. The lake is an international boundary between Texas and Mexico. That piece of paradise has been intruded on this month by the lawlessness seeping over from the Mexican border. In two separate incidents, U.S. fishermen have been robbed at gunpoint on Falcon Lake by Mexican pirates who held AR-15 rifles to their heads. In one holdup, an American fisherman was robbed of all of his money. In the other pirate raid, fishermen were robbed of their boat, their money and left naked on the Mexican shore. The pirates were in a commercial fishing boat, dressed in black paramilitary garb carrying automatic weapons.

What are these pirates doing on Falcon Lake? Are they moving drugs or people or worse across the water? We don't know. In the 1800s, Thomas Jefferson sent the Navy to protect Americans from pirates in the Mediterranean. This administration is blissfully silent about the pirates on Falcon Lake. Meanwhile, the border war continues.

And that's just the way it is.

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

I rise in support of H.R. 5139.

The Office of High Representative in Bosnia and the International Civilian Office in Kosovo were established to help promote stable, multiethnic democratic governance in those countries in the aftermath of the vicious warfare they suffered throughout the 1990s.

The United States has supported these missions and assigned American diplomats to help them with critical expert advice. Regrettably, these American diplomats could now face costly, politically motivated nuisance lawsuits based on their actions in the course of their official duties while helping those organizations and those nations.

For other international organizations in which the United States participates by treaty or by an act of this Congress, the President may freely extend immunity from such lawsuits to officers and employees under the International Organization Immunities Act. However, due to the ad hoc nature of their establishment, these two offices are not automatically covered by this law. This brief bill seeks to rectify the issue by allowing the President to extend those privileges and immunities to those organizations and their employees.

Congress has similarly amended the IOIA to extend immunities to other organizations falling in similar gray areas, such as the European Space Agency, the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, among just a few.

These immunities are not nearly as broad as the personal immunity enjoyed by foreign diplomats in the United States, but will insulate our officers from suit only for their official actions as employees of those organizations, and may be revoked by the President at any time. I'm pleased to support the passage of this measure, which represents a bipartisan text that was worked out with the Department of State and with our Senate colleagues.

With that, Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

I rise in support of this resolution addressing the tragic earthquake which took over 2,000 lives and left over 10,000 injured when it struck on April 14, 2010. I would, however, like to mention an omission in the official American response to this tragedy--one that is only partially rectified in the wording of this resolution. The epicenter of the earthquake struck on the Tibetan plateau and the vast majority of victims were from Tibet. Yet the message of condolence issued in the name of the Secretary of State on April 15, while ``offering thoughts and prayers for the people of China on this difficult day,'' made no mention of the thousands of Tibetans who lost their lives, their homes, and their places of worship. Madam Speaker, political correctness has no place when addressing human tragedy, no matter where it occurs in the world.

While we mourn the death of both Tibetans and the Chinese migrant workers who were in the area, we should not ignore the fact that this was one more blow to the Tibetan heartland. The damage to Tibetan monasteries caused by this earthquake is only the latest event in the sad chapter of the devastation of this culture over the past half century.

The war waged against Tibetan culture began with the Chinese People's Liberation Army invasion of the Tibetan plateau in 1959. It continued in the frenzy of fanatic young Red Guards smashing statues of Buddha and assaulting monks and nuns during the infamous ``Cultural Revolution.'' It continued right up until 2 years ago, when Beijing cracked down once again on dissent by rounding up Tibetan political prisoners and in closing the monasteries. It has been the United States' stated policy since the passage almost a decade ago of our late colleague, Tom Lantos' Tibetan Policy Act, to work to protect the Tibetan culture, language, and their religion. Yet the administration was noticeably silent regarding this latest blow to Tibetan culture and regarding the massive loss of their lives. The Dalai Lama, recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal, addressed this tragic earthquake with these words of appeals. He said, ``To fulfill the wishes of many of the people there, I am eager to go there myself to offer them comfort.''

I submit for the Record the brief remarks the Dalai Lama made on April 14 and April 17, 2010.

[From dalailama.com, Apr. 14, 2010]

His Holiness Offers His Condolences to the Victims of the Earthquake in

Kyigudo

I am deeply saddened by the loss of life and property as a

result of the earthquake that struck Kyigudo (Chinese--Yushu)

this morning.

We pray for those who have lost their lives in this tragedy

and their families and others who have been affected. A

special prayer service is being held at the main temple

(Tsuglagkhang) here at Dharamsala on their behalf.

It is my hope that all possible assistance and relief work

will reach these people. I am also exploring how I, too, can

contribute to these efforts.

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

Iraqi Kurds have been willing partners with the United States since the beginning of the transition to democracy in Iraq in 2003. They personally endured the brutal persecution and murder, including the use of chemical weapons, that characterized the tyranny of Saddam Hussein's regime over Iraq. Their determination to prevent the recurrence of such persecution underlies their partnership with us in battling against terrorists, insurgents, and other militant extremists who seek to undermine the progress made in Iraq. They have committed themselves to a future within a Federal Republic of Iraq, a future of stability, of prosperity and democracy, of freedom and human rights. This is their vision, and this is our vision. Indeed, the future of United States cooperation with the Republic of Iraq in general, including the Kurdistan region, contains great opportunity for us.

As we responsibly redeploy from Iraq in accordance with our Status of Forces Agreement with the Republic of Iraq, we are continuing to normalize our bilateral relations at many different levels, as we should. One way to do so is to establish U.S. consulates in appropriate regions of Iraq, including in the Kurdistan region. Currently, United States citizens living in or visiting the Kurdistan Region of Iraq must travel 200 miles away to our embassy in Baghdad to receive consular services. Increased U.S. Government civilian representation throughout Iraq will serve American interests during this period of transition, increasing opportunities for travel, governmental and nongovernmental missions, people-to-people exchanges between our two nations, and for attracting greater U.S. business and investment in Iraq. And in this respect, establishing a consulate in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq will help ensure that the region continues to serve as a gateway for American businesses and investment to other regions of Iraq. Establishing U.S. consulates will also advance continued dialogue between the United States and the Republic of Iraq, including dialogue with the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Finally, U.S. consulates in Iraq will hopefully help to ensure that stability, security, prosperity, human rights and freedom in Iraq, including in the Kurdistan Region, are protected and strengthened in the days and months and years ahead. Already, 15 countries, including leading European countries, have consular representation in the capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Therefore, I strongly support House Resolution 873, which calls for the establishment of U.S. consulates in appropriate regions of Iraq, including Kurdistan.

I thank the distinguished ranking member of the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight, Mr. Rohrabacher from California, for sponsoring this resolution.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher), the ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight and the author of this legislation.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

One of the foundations of America's national security policy is and must remain our deep alliance and our friendship with the democratic, Jewish State of Israel. We not only share our deepest values with Israel, but we also enjoy close, mutually beneficial, bilateral cooperation in many fields, including defense, intelligence, homeland security, science, technology and education. And as many have noted, Israel is a stabilizing force, and our alliance with Israel is a force multiplier in a region of great strategic importance to not only Israel but the United States.

In short, the United States' support for Israel advances our own security interests. But every day the threat to the democratic, Jewish State of Israel grows and continues to grow. As the Iranian regime draws closer to obtaining the capabilities for nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them, as that same regime sponsors Hezbollah, Hamas and other foreign terrorist organizations, and as the Syrian regime follows in its footsteps in these regards, the goal is very simple: To destroy Israel and the Jewish people, with the United States next.

Madam Speaker, the little fellow from the desert, Ahmadinejad, has denied the Holocaust. He has compared Israel to a ``germ,'' threatened to ``wipe Israel off the map,'' and has spoken of his goal of ``a world without America and Zionism.'' The dictator of Syria has threatened Israel with ``violent resistance.'' Hamas' covenant calls for killing Jews and destroying the nation of Israel. Hezbollah's leader has reportedly stated that ``If the Jews all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide.''

Madam Speaker, we should take these threats from Syria, Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas as serious threats to world stability, and specifically to the nation of Israel. They have backed up these threats with their evil deeds. For the last decade, thousands of rockets and mortars have been fired by Hezbollah from the north and Hamas to the south, sponsored by Iran and Syria with reported aid from the nation of North Korea. Since Israel's defense operations against Hezbollah in 2006, Hezbollah has rapidly rearmed again, thanks to Syria and Iran and North Korea, and reports indicate they now have over 40,000 rockets aimed at Israel.

Recent reports indicate that Syria is providing Hezbollah with long- range missiles that could strike most of Israel, and that some of that weaponry was reportedly manufactured by those folks in North Korea. I would add incidentally that it doesn't help matters when senior administration officials say the United States should build up what they call more moderate elements of Hezbollah. There are no moderate elements of Hezbollah. Hezbollah is not a mainstream political party. They are a blood-thirsty terrorist group. But I digress, Madam Speaker.

To Israel's south, Hamas and other violent militant groups in the Gaza area have fired thousands and thousands of rockets and mortars on civilian targets in southern Israel since 2000, killing, wounding and inflicting deep psychological trauma on Israeli citizens.

Madam Speaker, I doubt if we would long put up with rockets coming from the north of our border and from the south of our border, but the Israelis have to put up with the terror from the north and the south on a constant basis. Since the conclusion of Israel's defensive operation in January 2009, the rockets and mortars have abated, but they have not stopped entirely. In fact, over 200 have been fired in the last 16 months.

To defend the Israeli people, the State of Israel is developing a multi-layered rocket and missile defense system. It is a defense system, not an offensive system. It is called the Iron Dome for short- range threats, the David's Sling for medium- to long-range threats, and the Arrow for long-range ballistic missiles.

But as we know, national security comes at a heavy cost. Israel has a higher ratio of defense spending to gross domestic product and spends more on defense as a percentage of its budget than any developed country. Israel should not bear these costs single-handedly.

Madam Speaker, when Hamas and Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria, threaten Israel, they also are threatening us, and we need to respond accordingly. What we should do is stand with Israel just as Israel stands with us, and we should continue to provide Israel with the support it needs to defend itself by addressing and stopping the comprehensive threat posed not only by Hamas and Hezbollah, but their state sponsors, specifically Iran and Syria.

That is why I strongly support H.R. 5327, the United States-Israel Rocket Missile Defense Cooperation and Support Act, which authorizes the United States to support Israel with the procurement, maintenance, and sustainment of the Iron Dome system.

I would like to thank my distinguished gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Nye) and the ranking member of our Foreign Affairs Committee, the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), and Mr. Turner from Ohio for sponsoring this vital legislation. I urge my colleagues to pass this legislation and make the message clear: the United States will stand with Israel and our other allies, and we will stand against our mutual enemies, no matter the cost.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

I continue to reserve.

I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, the State of Israel, the nation of Israel, is not a big place. It's a little, bitty country. It's smaller than the State of New Jersey. From north to south, at the longest point, it's 200 miles. East to west, it's 75 miles. And ever since their existence, nations all around them have been wanting to destroy the nation of Israel.

Let there be no mistake about it, Madam Speaker. Israel is our ally. Israel has the absolute right of self-defense, to protect the dignity of its country and to protect its citizens. That is the first duty of every government and of every nation. This resolution helps Israel protect itself and its citizens.

Israel has the absolute right to exist. And it should be known to the world that we will stand with Israel to make sure they have the right to exist. Israel is saying to Hezbollah and Hamas, Syria, Iran, and even North Korea, Leave us alone. That is the right that Israel has, to be left alone in that region.

This resolution also says, Madam Speaker, and reaffirms a statement made 50 years ago by President John F. Kennedy when he made the comment in his inaugural address, and I quote, ``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 and oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. This we pledge and much more.''

This resolution, Madam Speaker, reaffirms that commitment by President Kennedy over 50 years ago.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, Mexican President Felipe Calderon is at the White House today complaining about America. He said Arizona's new law ``opens the door to intolerance, hate, discrimination, and abuse in law enforcement.'' He said he will do everything in his power to protect the rights and dignity of Mexican citizens. He's just not too concerned about human rights abuses of illegals in his own country, however. While he's here falsely accusing officials in Arizona of perhaps maybe one day in the future violating the civil rights of illegals in Arizona, his own Mexican government officials are committing human rights abuses against illegals in Mexico. Just last month, the Associated Press said Amnesty International called the abuse of migrants in Mexico a major human rights crisis. Amnesty accused Mexican officials of turning a blind eye or even participating in the kidnapping, rape, and murder of migrants.

Now, the Mexican Interior Department said that mainly Central American migrants who pass through Mexico on their way to the United States suffer abuses, saying the criminal cartels branch out into kidnapping and extortion of migrants. Amnesty International said failure by authorities to tackle abuses has made their trip through Mexico one of the most dangerous in the world. They have ``virtually no access to justice, fearing reprisals and deportation if they complain of abuses.'' The Amnesty report also says Central American migrants are frequently pulled off of trains in Mexico and are kidnapped en masse and held at gang hideouts. They're forced to call relatives in the United States to pay the ransom to the kidnappers. There are thousands of these migrant kidnappings each year in Mexico, according to Amnesty's report.

The report goes on to say, ``Kidnappings of migrants--mainly for ransom--reached new heights in 2009. The National Human Rights Commission reported nearly 10,000 migrants in Mexico were abducted during a 6-month period.'' Half of the victims said in later interviews that public officials in Mexico were involved in the kidnappings. An estimated six out of 10 migrant women and girls experience sexual violence. Some of the people-smuggling coyotes now demand that women receive contraceptive injections ahead of the journey so they don't become pregnant as a result of rapes they endure in Mexico. Many women are raped, beaten or killed in the process of illegally transporting themselves through the nation of Mexico. Illegals in Mexico can't complain about the abuse to authorities.

According to the report, Article 67 of Mexico's Population Law says, ``Authorities, whether Federal, State or municipal, are required to demand that foreigners prove their legal presence in the country'' of Mexico. Now President Calderon self-righteously criticizes Arizona for enforcing immigration laws, but his own nation requires the states in Mexico to enforce Mexico's immigration laws.

The Amnesty report goes on to say and talk about an example of one of the horror stories of abuses of illegals that are in Mexico. On January 23 of this year, armed police stopped a freight train carrying 100 migrants in Chiapas State in southern Mexico. A girl who we'll call ``Veronica'' said that the federal police--the federal government--the federal police forced her and other illegals in Mexico to leave the train they were riding on. They were forced to lay down on the ground where she says Mexican federal police stole their belongings and threatened to kill

them unless they continued their journey by foot along the railway. After walking for hours, the group was assaulted by armed men who sexually assaulted Veronica and killed at least one of the other illegals in Mexico.

Now, Madam Speaker, it seems to me that President Calderon is here at the White House complaining about America, complaining about imagined and fictitious abuses in Arizona's new illegal immigration enforcement law, while he ignores actual human rights abuses of illegals and migrants in his home nation of Mexico. Perhaps he should clean his own glass house before throwing rocks at America, especially Arizona. President Calderon's nation is in economic turmoil. His economic plan is simple. He tells his citizens, Go to America by any means necessary, and send money back home to Mexico. He cannot take care of his citizens. His country abuses immigrants, and he is out of line criticizing the United States for any reason. His comments are hypocritical and irrelevant.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, U.S. Border Patrol agents have spotted yet another Mexican military helicopter incursion into Texas. That makes three times these helicopters have crossed the border into America this year, that we know of. On Saturday, another Mexican military helicopter was in Texas, hovering near the Roma-Miguel Aleman International Bridge. Two other times this year, Mexican helicopters were photographed in Starr and Zapata Counties in Texas.

These military incursions are becoming routine. What are they doing here? We don't know. Has our government protested this violation of international law? No one is talking. Our own government seems to be blissfully silent about these incursions. That's why I'm asking Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano for some answers.

The Federal Government is MIA on our borders. Our government ought to spend less time protesting States like Arizona, trying to protect their citizens from border violence, and start getting some answers from Mexico about their military helicopters flying into the United States.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, as a former prosecutor and a judge in Texas, and now the founder and cochair, along with my friend Jim Costa from California, of the Congressional Victims' Rights Caucus, I rise in strong support of this resolution which seeks to honor May 25 as National Missing Children's Day.

This day is the anniversary of the disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz. The momentum that began with the disappearance of Etan and many children that followed him ultimately led to the national movement that we now have today.

As my friend from Florida mentioned, the other notorious case was the disappearance of Adam Walsh when he was 6, when he was with his mother at a shopping mall and then kidnapped, and later he was found in the Gulf of Mexico. His father, John Walsh, because of the incident that happened against his son, started the program ``America's Most Wanted'' on television that sought to capture criminals throughout the United States, a program that has been very successful.

In 1983, President Reagan proclaimed May 25 as National Missing Children's Day. This day serves as a reminder to parents to have high- quality photographs of their kids handy, and a reminder to us in Congress that the safety of those children should be a national priority of all Members of Congress.

Every year thousands of children are reported missing. While progress has been made in linking Federal and State law enforcement efforts, these numbers remind us that we must always be vigilant in our efforts to reunite missing children with their families and, of course, to step up our prosecution of those that harm them and to make child protection a national priority.

I am thankful for the work of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. The Center provides a national hub and clearinghouse of information about missing children, and their efforts have been great, leading to the capture and prosecution of hundreds of predators and also the recovery of numerous children.

Mr. Speaker, this resolution in honor of National Missing Children's Day is also a timely one. In 2005, we had a string of notorious kidnappings of children throughout the country that were sexually assaulted and then murdered. One of those young victims was Jessica Lunsford, another child from Florida, who at the age of 9 was asleep in her own bed in her own room, and she was kidnapped in the middle of the night by an individual by the name of John Couey, a sexual predator from the State of Georgia. He committed several crimes against her and eventually buried that young lady alive.

Because of her and other children that year, the Adam Walsh Child Safety Act was passed by this Congress and signed into law, an effort to help track sexual predators when they cross State lines. Just yesterday, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld a provision of the Adam Walsh Child Safety Act when the Supreme Court ruled that sex offenders can be held behind bars indefinitely if officials determine them to be sexually dangerous to the community.

Mr. Speaker, sexual predators are among the most dangerous people on Earth to our children. And by upholding this ruling, the Supreme Court has reinforced the role of the Federal Government in protecting children from those who wish to constantly do them harm.

I want to thank my friend from Florida (Mr. Rooney) for bringing this legislation to the floor, and I urge my colleagues to give it their full-hearted support.

Mr. Speaker, Mexican President Felipe Calderon says he thinks Arizona's new illegal immigration enforcement law will open the door to ``intolerance, hate, discrimination and abuse in law enforcement.'' Calderon's coming to the White House to talk to our President about it tomorrow. I wonder if they'll discuss whether or not Calderon supports his own country's immigration policy.

Mr. Speaker, writer Michelle Malkin recently published some really interesting research on Mexican immigration laws. The Mexican Government bars any foreigner from immigrating to Mexico if they upset ``the equilibrium of the national demographic.'' I wonder if President Calderon thinks that's racial or ethnic profiling. Mexican law further bars immigration unless a person enhances Mexico's ``economic or national interests.'' Immigrants are not welcome in Mexico if they're not ``physically or mentally healthy'' or if they show ``contempt against Mexico's national sovereignty or security.'' Imagine that.

Immigrants to Mexico must have squeaky clean criminal histories. And to apply for Mexican citizenship, immigrants have to show a birth certificate, and they have to provide a bank statement that proves that they are economically independent. In other words, you can't go to Mexico and live off the Mexican Government. And they also have to prove they can pay for their own private health care.

What are the penalties for failure to comply with Mexican immigration laws? Illegal entry into the country is equivalent to a felony punishable by 2 years' imprisonment. Document fraud is subject to fine and imprisonment; so

is alien marriage fraud. Evading deportation is a serious crime in Mexico. Illegal reentry into Mexico after deportation is punishable by 10 years' imprisonment in a Mexican jail. Foreigners may be kicked out of the country without due process; that means without even being given a hearing. Mexico kicks out illegals without a deportation trial.

Law enforcement officials in Mexico at all levels, by national law, must cooperate to enforce Mexico's immigration laws, including illegal alien arrests and deportations. That means Mexican states must enforce federal law, interestingly enough, yet President Calderon is a hypocrite and indignant that the State of Arizona would enforce U.S. immigration law. The Mexican military is also required to assist in immigration enforcement operations. Imagine that. And native born Mexicans--this is interesting to me--are empowered to make citizens' arrests of illegals in that country and turn them over to the government.

In Mexico, get ready to show your papers. Mexico's national Catalog of Foreigners tracks all outside tourists and foreign nationals. A national population registry tracks and verifies the identity of every member of the population who must carry a citizens identity card, and visitors who do not possess the proper documents and identification are subject to arrest as illegals.

All of these provisions are enshrined in Mexico's General Law of the Population and were revealed for the world to see in 2006 in a research paper published by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Security Policy. But there's been no public outrage from the open borders lobby for Mexican ``comprehensive immigration reform.'' You see, pro-illegal alien free speech in Mexico is illegal. Under the Mexican constitution, political free speech by foreigners doesn't happen because it's banned. Noncitizens cannot ``in any way participate in the political affairs of the country.'' They can't march in the streets in protest. Foreigners are barred in Mexico from participating in everything from education to even owning firearms. Foreigners in Mexico have severely limited private property and employment rights, if any.

Mexico has long been doing the job of illegal alien deportation, and it seems to me it's hypocritical of Mexico and President Calderon to criticize the United States or Arizona for enforcing our illegal immigration laws. They are far less severe than Mexico's illegal immigration laws. So when President Calderon comes here tomorrow to complain about America and America's illegal immigration policy, perhaps Calderon would prefer America adopt Mexico's immigration policies.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, the new Supreme Court pick, Elena Kagan, has never been a judge. News reports say she doesn't have trial court experience as a lawyer. As a lawyer, she never questioned a witness or made an argument before a jury. She's never been a trial judge so she never had to make a constitutional ruling in the courtroom in the heat of trial. She's never heard a civil case. She's never heard a criminal case. She's never even heard a traffic case. She's never ruled on the rules of evidence like the exclusionary rule. She's never instructed a jury on reasonable doubt or sentenced a convicted criminal.

Why should Elena Kagan be confirmed to a lifetime appointment to the most powerful court in the world? She'd be judging trial lawyers and trial judges who've been through the mud and the blood and the beer of courtroom trials. A trial--maybe something she's never even seen. She's an academic elitist that's never tried a case. That's like putting someone in charge of the brain surgery unit that's never done an operation.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, how long is Congress going to sit idly by while the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the U.S. dollar? On Friday, May 7, our dollar was worth only one twelve-hundredth of an ounce of gold. That means that the dollar has lost more than three- quarters of its value in just 9 years, since 2001.

Let's not kid ourselves and think the value of our dollars in terms of gold doesn't matter. Where gold prices go, other prices follow. We are either going to see the dollar price of gold fall or we are in for a blast of inflation that will crush the middle class and lead to yet another recession.

If you think that this can't happen, let me remind you that is exactly what happened in the 1970s and the early 1980s. Do we want to go back to the 1970s? Do we want to have double-digit inflation followed by double-digit unemployment? Well, that will happen unless we stabilize the U.S. dollar.

And let's not kid ourselves and think that because the dollar is rising against the euro, all is well in America. The euro and the dollar are both headed off the financial cliff. The euro is just jumping first. Mr. Speaker, how can we expect to have a stable economy or a stable financial market without a stable currency? The dollar is involved in every single transaction we do. If it moves around, it takes everything with it. We have seen in the past 2 years just how high the cost of an unstable dollar can be.

Robert Mundell, the Nobel Prize-winning economist and adviser to President Reagan, says that it was the Federal Reserve that caused the real estate bubble and bust. He says that the Fed is responsible for the economic crisis we are in today. That makes sense. It takes a lot of power to do this much damage, and there is no economic power greater than money.

Here's what happens, and people are not stupid: When the price of gold heads up, people sense that inflation is on the way. The way you protect yourself from inflation is to buy real assets with borrowed money. The longer the inflation goes on, the more leverage builds up and the bigger the ultimate crash. Well, we got the bubble in real assets in 2001 to 2007 and the crash came in 2008. Do we want another one? Isn't 9.9 percent unemployment high enough?

Mr. Speaker, I have right here a pocket Constitution that many Members carry around with them. When all else fails, we ought to read the Constitution. It says in article I, section 8, Congress shall have the power to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures.

What this means is that Congress is supposed to set the value of the dollar. It is the constitutional duty of Congress to regulate the value of our money. But Congress ignores its legal obligation and does not regulate the value of money. What Congress does, it gives the Fed the responsibility to regulate interest rates. But the Constitution does not give the Fed or any other government agency the power to regulate interest rates.

There's a lot of talk about how important it is that the Federal Reserve should be independent. Well, Mr. Speaker, I don't believe that any part of the government should be independent of the Constitution. All the Fed's vaunted independence has produced is two boom-bust cycles in 10 years, the second one worse than the first.

Mr. Speaker, there is wisdom in the Constitution. That is why I have introduced H.R. 835, which is called the Dollar Bill Act. This bill would fulfill Congress' constitutional responsibility to define the value of the dollar. By doing so, we can stabilize the value of the dollar and stabilize the American economy.

Mr. Speaker, we need to hold hearings on this bill. The American people want a stable economy and a stable financial market, so we need a stable dollar. It's time for Congress to buck it up and fulfill its constitutional duty and regulate the value of the dollar.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, the Texas Department of Public Safety has issued a stern safety warning to members of the Texas legislature living near the southern border: Remove your car license plates that say ``State official'' on them. Texas legislators were warned to remove their identifying car license plates because of threats from Mexican drug cartels. Based on intelligence estimates from information they have received, law enforcement cautioned that the drug cartels may target members of the Texas legislature for assaults and kidnappings, especially those living on the border region. Some of the members and their staffs have removed those ``State official'' license plates and some are seeking concealed carry permits. There have been earlier reports of Mexican officials being assaulted and kidnapped by the cartels in Mexico. Now the threats have crossed to our side of the porous border region.

Now it seems to me the National Guard is probably better suited to deal with the violent narco-terrorists than a bunch of legislative staffers with concealed weapons--even in Texas.

And that's just the way it is.