Floor Statements

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I want to commend Chairman Conyers and Ranking Member Smith for so quickly sponsoring this resolution and bringing it to the House floor.

I support House Resolution 1271, and this resolution honors the life and achievements of Dr. Benjamin Lawson Hooks for his commitment to justice and his work with the NAACP to eliminate barriers to civil rights and his leadership in promoting equal opportunity for everybody.

He was born in Memphis in 1925. His family inspired him to study diligently in school and go to college, from which he graduated in 1944. After service in the United States Army, he went to law school at DePaul University. He graduated in 1948 and went back home to Memphis, Tennessee.

From 1949 to 1965 he was one of a handful of African Americans practicing law in Memphis. In his law practice, Dr. Hooks was determined to combat segregation. Days before the United States Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, Dr. Hooks joined Thurgood Marshall and other attorneys at a roundtable to consider litigation strategies to challenge Jim Crow laws. Dr. Hooks was a pioneer in restaurant sit-ins and other boycotts sponsored by the NAACP. Throughout the 1960s he worked with the NAACP on several civil rights protests and marches throughout the United States.

Throughout this time period, however, Dr. Hooks fulfilled a long desire and he entered the Christian ministry. In 1956, he was an ordained Baptist minister and preached regularly and contributed in many ways to churches which he served. It was his ministry and his law degree working together that gave him the deep conviction to fight for civil rights.

This deeper yearning surely influenced the power and scope of all of his civil rights work. He ran unsuccessfully for the State legislature in 1954; and as a juvenile court judge in 1959 and 1963, he became well-known in Tennessee politics and the Governor tapped him to fill a vacancy in Shelby County criminal court, and in 1965 he became the first African American in criminal court as a criminal court judge in the State of Tennessee.

When President Nixon appointed him to the Federal Communications Commission in 1972 through 1977, he was also the first African American appointed to the FCC. And from 1972 to 1992, 20 years, he served as executive director for and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Then in 2007, in recognition of his life's work and commitment to the ideal that all people are created equal, Dr. Hooks received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleague and friend from California (Mr. Costa) as original cosponsors of this resolution to recognize and support the mission and goals of National Crime Victims' Rights Week.

I want to thank Mr. Costa for his work on the Victims' Rights Caucus. California, from where he comes, is the State that started the victims rights movement. While Mr. Costa was in the California legislature, he presented and sponsored the Three Strikes law and also victim notification in that State. He and I are co-chairs of the Victims' Rights Caucus, and this caucus is comprised of 62 members from both sides of the aisle who are dedicated to protecting the interests and needs of crime victims in our Nation. Crime issues are not partisan issues, they are people issues. They don't recognize borders or district boundaries. They affect everybody in this country.

National Crime Victims' Rights Week began in 1980, when President Reagan first called for a national observance to recognize and honor the millions of crime victims and survivors in our country. Victims' Rights Week also pays tribute to the thousands of victim service providers and professionals who provide critical support to victims throughout our country every day. The theme of this year's National Crime Victims' Rights Week is ``Crime Victims' Rights: Fairness. Dignity. Respect.''

Mr. Speaker, crime touches all of us and all of our friends and all of our neighbors. It happens in every State and every district. It has many forms. In 2008, 21 million crimes were committed in the United States. Of these, 5 million were violent crimes, 16 million were property crimes, and there were over 11,000 alcohol-impaired driving fatalities in 2006. In 2008, the incidence of identity fraud rose for the first time in nearly 5 years to 10 million victims here in the United States.

Crime victims are not just statistics, they are real people, real men, women and children, their families, their loved ones. What are we doing to help them? Well, we are raising awareness and highlighting issues important to victims. We are also protecting critical programs that are already in existence. Many of these programs were created by the landmark bill passed in 1984 called the Victims of Crime Act, or VOCA. This law created the VOCA fund. It's a novel concept where criminals who are convicted and sent to our Federal penitentiaries donate into a fund. That fund then is used for crime victims and crime- victim-related organizations throughout the United States.

This fund requires criminals to pay for the crimes they have committed. This money then pays for the rent on the courthouse, so to speak, pays for medical expenses of the victim, and sometimes it covers the victims' funeral costs. This is money that is funded solely by criminals, it is not taxpayer money, and the money should be always used for victims of crime.

VOCA is the only Federal fund that caters to the needs of victims. Each year, over 4,400 agencies, 10,000 victim assistance programs, and about 4 million victims receive support and financial compensation from this fund whose coffers are filled by criminals who are sent to our penitentiaries.

The Office of Management and Budget estimates that the Crime Victims Fund in 2011 will have $4.3 billion, with an additional $1 billion to be deposited during the year of 2011. This money is solely for the victims of crime, funded with money paid by criminals who cause criminal conduct. We should make sure that this money stays with the victims and is not taken by our Federal bureaucrats and used for other pet projects.

Mr. Speaker, crime victims are real people who have survived sometimes gruesome acts of violence. Their voices must not be excluded from our criminal justice system. The criminal justice system should be justice not only for defendants of crime, but victims of crime as well.

As we take the opportunity to honor victims and their courage and their memories, we renew our commitment to protect the rights of crime victims and provide them with effective assistance programs. We also commend the countless professionals and volunteers who have dedicated their lives to help crime victims and survivors of crime.

I urge support of this resolution, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Royce), who also, being from California, helped sponsor and did sponsor the stalking awareness law in the State of California and has brought that concept to Congress as well.

I yield the gentleman 1 additional minute.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, during this debate, on which we agree this legislation should be passed, we have talked a lot about victims. The victims that we have talked about are more than statistics. They are real people.

Before I came to Congress, I spent over 20 years on the criminal court bench in Houston, Texas. I saw about 25,000 people come to the courthouse who were charged with the most serious crimes in our society. Along with those defendants came other people who didn't want to be at the courthouse either, but they were there because they were chosen by defendants to be prey, in many cases, and those were victims of crime. They came to the courthouse. They were all races, all ages, of both sexes, and of all philosophies, but crime does not discriminate against who the victim may be.

Before I became a judge, I was a prosecutor in Houston, Texas. I spent my last year prosecuting capital cases. In my office across the street, I have a lot of photographs of my kids, of my four kids and of my eight grandkids, but I also have two other photographs that have been in my office ever since I was at the courthouse in Houston, first as a prosecutor and then as a judge.

This is a photograph of Kevin Wanstrath. He was born the same year as my son Kurt, but Kevin didn't have the fortune of living very long. This photograph was taken just a few days before he was murdered.

Kevin didn't have a lot going for him when he was born. He was born in Biloxi, Mississippi. His mother didn't want him, so she threw him in a Dempsey Dumpster. A homeless guy found him, turned him over to Catholic charities, and he was taken care of in that orphanage. A couple in Houston, Texas, by the name of John and Diana Wanstrath, a married couple, couldn't have children. They found Kevin. They adopted him, and they made Kevin Wanstrath their child.

Unbeknownst to them, there was a relative who was plotting to kill John and Diana Wanstrath. Under Texas law, if the parents die, the child gets everything. On a summer night in Houston, Texas, two individuals posing as real estate agents came to the front door of John and Diana Wanstrath. They first shot John in the head and then shot Diana in the head. Then while Kevin Wanstrath was asleep in his baby bed and was curled up to his favorite little teddy bear--he had blue terry cloth pajamas on--he was shot in the back of the head. He was assassinated on the altar of greed.

There were four henchmen involved in that murder. It turned out that, during the trial, we proved that there was another homicide, that Diana Wanstrath's mother was also murdered by these henchmen.

That was a long time ago. Two of the killers received the death penalty. Two others went to prison for a long time. But I've always wondered what Kevin Wanstrath would turn out to be. He was 14 months old in this photograph. He didn't get to live very long, but he was a victim.

Today, we've talked about victims of crime, but they were and they are, Mr. Speaker, real people, people who just wanted to live, to grow up, to play in their backyards with their dads--things that never happened for Kevin, for a lot of other kids in our culture and for a lot of adults, too.

We as a Nation must understand that violence against people in this country has to end and that people who commit crimes against children and others, violent crimes, must be held accountable under our laws for the choices that they make. We as a society and we as a culture are not judged by the way we treat the rich, the famous, the powerful, the important, the politicians. We are judged by the way we treat the weak, the elderly, the children. That is how we are judged.

That's why this resolution and other resolutions which talk about victims are important, so I urge all of my colleagues to support this resolution and to remember that victims are people, too. And that's just the way it is.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

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.

Will the gentleman yield?

Yes, in the western part of Texas, near El Paso, the Juarez drug cartel operates bringing drugs into the United States. They have hitmen that are called the Azteca gang. And they have been specifically hired to target our Border Patrol agents, a $250,000 bounty on their head for kidnapping or murdering of them; that is correct.

Law enforcement is aware of the situation. All the law enforcement is aware.

I don't know. They are amazing people, the law enforcement, all of them, the Federal agents, the State agents, the sheriffs, local law enforcement. They are amazing people who work on the border because they are outgunned, outmanned, and outfinanced by the drug cartels.

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.

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

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

Be glad to work with you. Appreciate it. Be glad to work with you on that.

Madam Speaker, as you know, thousands of Americans were affected by Hurricane Rita. Many lost their homes and the cherished memories inside them. While devastation tore throughout much of the coast of Texas, there were some brave, hard-working citizens who tirelessly helped their neighbors.

Jefferson County Habitat for Humanity organized more than 3,000 volunteers over the course of three years. They built 50 houses during this time, which is an increased rate of four times the number of houses they typically are capable of building.

Habitat 2010 Board President Rev. Curtis B. Alexander of Beaumont, Texas and Executive Director Uliana Trylowsky worked with many volunteers, including faith-based organizations, prison partnerships, and others in the community that wished to put their hands to good use.

On January 22, 2010 these two selfless individuals represented Jefferson County Habitat for Humanity in receiving the Audrey Nelson Community Development Achievement Award from the National Community Development Association at their winter meeting in Washington D.C.

We applaud the leadership of Rev. Alexander and Ms. Trylowsky in organizing volunteers to build houses for their neighbors in Jefferson County after Hurricane Rita. The efforts of the countless Americans that volunteered their time after this disaster have been noticed. We praise and thank the generosity of those who have labored for their fellow neighbors.

Mr. Speaker, for as long as I can remember, America has reached for the stars. Nothing has gotten more kids to do their math and science homework than the dream of being an astronaut. All of America stood still, huddled at their black-and-white TV sets, when Neil Armstrong stepped out on the moon.

America put a man on the moon, setting the imaginations of our children on fire, feeding that good old American desire to be the best, to achieve, to dream of things not yet done. But the administration says they are canceling NASA's Project Constellation and America's return to the moon. America is surrendering our superiority in space technology to the Russians.

Unilateral space abandonment is nonsense. So next time our astronauts want to go into space, they will have to hitchhike with the Chinese or the Russians. And if we need to repair a defense satellite, I am sure our buddies, the Chinese, will be glad to give us a lift. Yeah, right. Our children, our future will suffer for this incompetent decision. This ought not to be.

But that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, Evelyn Mezzich is 32 years of age. She has a husband, a 2-year-old son, and she has a college degree she earned in the United States.

Evelyn Mezzich is also a charged killer and an absconder from the law. In a gross miscarriage of justice, she has been allowed to live out her luxurious life in her native country of Peru. She has never had to face the justice system for her crimes in the United States. She didn't have to face the consequences of her reckless conduct while living in America.

You see, in 1996, Evelyn Mezzich was driving drunk in Texas. She fell asleep at the wheel and had a head-on collision with a telephone poll. Mezzich had minor injuries, but in the collision she killed her 18- year-old roommate, Lindsay Brashier, and permanently paralyzed a third passenger.

Mezzich was indicted for intoxication manslaughter in Texas. What that means is she was charged with a felony of drinking, driving, and killing somebody.

After posting bail, she and her parents snuck out of town, and they headed back to their home country of Peru. Mezzich continues to live an unapologetic lifestyle in Peru without remorse or without reform. A few years ago, she put up a MySpace page on the Internet. She posted pictures of herself drinking and partying with friends. She had a wild bachelorette party, also drinking and partying with her girlfriends, complete with a male stripper. She listed her favorite song as Nelly Furtado's ``Promiscuous Girl.''

Here's a photograph that she placed on the Internet with some of her friends; and, of course, she is the one with the drink, partying, having a good time, all the while escaping justice in Texas for the crime that she had committed. She actually listed on her MySpace page that drinking and partying with friends was one of her favorite activities. She listed her motto: ``Life's too short; so live it up.'' Obviously, she has not changed her attitude or lifestyle.

Madam Speaker, Evelyn Mezzich knows better than anyone how short life is. She is responsible for tragically cutting short the life of another person, Lindsay Brashier, an 18-year-old honor student who was just beginning in the prime of her life.

This is a photograph of Lindsay taken shortly before the homicide in Texas. She wanted to be a surgeon; and, thanks to Evelyn, Lindsay never had that chance.

After Evelyn Mezzich jumped bail in Texas, a warrant was issued for her arrest. In 2001, the FBI found Mezzich, who was, ironically, having a good time on her honeymoon. But a bizarre loophole in the U.S. and Peruvian extradition laws meant that Mezzich would remain free. Since 2001, that loophole has been fixed, but Mezzich's not about to come back to America to stand trial. She's having too much fun in Peru.

Madam Speaker, it's time for Evelyn Mezzich to be brought back to Texas and to stand trial for the homicide of this person, Lindsay Brashier, a homicide that occurred 14 years ago. But Peru refuses to allow the criminal to be extradited. You see, it seems that Evelyn Mezzich's father is a big shot in Peru and apparently is using his influence to keep his drunk little girl from facing the music in the United States. It's a flagrant disregard for the provisions of the extradition treaty between Peru and our country. Daddy's reputation as a prominent doctor appears to be shielding his daughter from criminal extradition for homicide.

This intolerable behavior by the Peruvian Government is nonsense. By allowing Evelyn Mezzich to live in comfort and security, they are committing a grave injustice against the family of Lindsay Brashier and against Lindsay's memory.

During this month and during next week, we honor crime victims like Lindsay. Lindsay's mother, Marilyn Datz, has dedicated these past 14 years to get justice for her daughter; yet no justice has occurred.

So I urge the Department of Justice and the State Department to press Peru to overturn Peru's refusal to extradite and bring Evelyn Mezzich back to Texas to face the music. Let a jury decide what to do with this fugitive from justice. Because, Madam Speaker, justice is what we do in the United States, and it's about time there was some justice for Lindsay Brashier.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, the violence at our southern border with Mexico has escalated, resulting in murders, kidnappings, old west shootouts, Mexican military helicopter intrusions into the U.S., and criminal cartels cloning Border Patrol vehicles to smuggle the drugs.

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 being targeted by the Azteca hit men. These outlaws protect shipments of dope for the Juarez drug cartel.

Now these Mexican criminal cartels have put a $250,000 bounty on our Border Patrol agents. In response, our Border Patrol agents have been told to wear bulletproof vests. 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 that the border has become a violent war zone? National Guard troops should be deployed to the border immediately to protect us from the narcoterrorists.

And that's just the way it is.

I thank the ranking member for yielding.

Madam Speaker, I also rise today to join all my colleagues in mourning the death of President Lech Kaczynski and many others who died in that plane crash on April 10, 2010. Poland lost some of its most famous political figures. They were heroes among the Polish people. The 95 people that died that day included the President, a very pro-U.S. and anti-Soviet individual, and his wife and numerous other political government officials.

It's interesting to note why so many officials were going to Russia, why they were on that particular plane headed to a specific event. Well, that Polish delegation was traveling to Russia to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre.

On September 17, 1939, the Red Army invaded the territory of Poland from the east. They captured hundreds of thousands of Poles and deported them to prisoner of war camps in the western Soviet Union.

Once at the camps, the Poles were subjected to lengthy interrogations; and if the prisoners could not be induced to adopt a pro-Soviet attitude, they were declared ``hardened and uncompromising enemies of Soviet authority.''

So on March 5, 1940, Joseph Stalin and three of his henchmen signed an order to execute over 20,000 prisoners, all Poles, to weaken any future Polish military. In the Katyn forest, Soviet secret police executed more than 20,000 Polish nationals who were mainly officers in the Polish military.

And beginning on April 3, the killings were methodical. After a condemned person's information was checked, that individual was handcuffed and led to a secret cell that was insulated with felt to make sure that no noise could come from that cell. The sounds were also masked by the operation of loud machines that were working in the factories. And after being taken to the cell, the victim was immediately shot in the back of the head. His body was taken out through the opposite door in the cell and laid in one of the five or six waiting trucks, whereupon the next condemned Pole was taken inside and the same procedure was methodically followed again.

This occurred over 20,000 times; and the procedure went on every day, every night, except, ironically, for the May Day celebration. In the end, those 20,000 POWs and prisoners were executed without a trial, just a summary judgment.

Those who died at the Katyn include an admiral, two generals, 24 colonels, 79 lieutenant colonels, 258 Polish majors, 654 captains, 17 naval captains, over 3,000 noncommissioned officers. It included even seven chaplains, three landowners, a prince, 43 public officials, 85 privates, and 131 other refugees.

Also among the dead were 20 university professors, 300 doctors, several hundred lawyers, engineers, teachers, and more than 100 writers and journalists, as well as about 200 pilots, all

leaders in the Polish community. The effort of the Soviet Union was to destroy those leaders and destroy Poland as well. These were all Poles, all victims of the terror of communism.

For over half a century, Moscow even denied this ever occurred. The Soviet government had suppressed all the information about the shootings and blamed it on the Nazis. In 1992, Russia finally released the documents showing that the entire Politburo, including Joseph Stalin, signed an order dated March, 1940, to kill these Polish officers.

Poland had a rough history in the last century. They were invaded by the Nazis, and many of the Poles were taken to Germany and died in concentration camps. And then the Soviets invaded the same country trying to drive out the Nazis; and they, too, took many Poles and put them in concentration camps, where many of them died.

In the United States, we celebrate the end of World War II in 1945, but the Poles, they don't celebrate the end of World War II in 1945. They celebrate it in 1989, when the wall finally fell and the Soviets left town. It was a long war for our friends in Poland.

So now, Madam Speaker, we know the rest of the story and why President Kaczynski and so many Poles were on that plane that crashed in Russia. Now they, too, ironically, have died on the same land where thousands of other Poles died over 70 years ago.

It is appropriate today that we pay homage to all of those Poles who have lived and died in a quest for Polish liberty, those Poles who have always been an ally of the United States, and we grieve while they grieve in Poland.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve.

I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, we sometimes forget how great an ally Poland is to the United States. They have not only had a quest for freedom for their own people, but they have been an ally to this Nation. As the United States and other NATO countries are engaged in the battle against terrorism in Afghanistan, there are over 2,000 members of the Polish military who are there as well, side by side with the United States and with other NATO forces, the freedom fighters that they are, helping to seek freedom and liberty in Afghanistan and against those international terrorists who do us all harm.

I think Mr. Pascrell, the gentleman from New Jersey, said it well today. ``We are all Poles,'' and we honor them, and we suffer their loss and their grief at this time because of the tragedy that occurred not only on Saturday but at the massacre that occurred in that forest in the Soviet Union many, many years ago.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, today I commemorate the life and service of Doris Marie Thompson, a tireless victims' rights advocate from San Antonio, Texas, who passed away on March 18, 2010.

Doris began her life of service to the cause of victims' rights following the murder of her 26-year-old daughter, J'Anna Marie Tebbs. Over the course of two decades, Doris spent countless hours counseling fellow parents and using her own tragedy to discourage other violent crimes.

In 1999, Doris worked with Raven Kazen Hauge to establish the first Victim Services Division in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The division allows a victim's family and friends to be notified of the offender's parole hearings and to directly petition parole board members. Doris was also heavily involved with a branch of the division known as the Victim Impact Panel. There, she would retell the story of her daughter's murder to groups of probationers in hopes that hearing it would dissuade them from committing violent crimes.

Doris Marie Thompson dedicated her life to pursuing justice and care for victims. These are the values that the Victims' Rights Caucus seeks to emulate and celebrate. I thank Doris for her work and honor her life as a shining example of tireless advocacy for victims.

Madam Speaker, the States are fighting back and saying ``no'' to the government's oppressive takeover of health care. Eighteen States, including Texas, have joined in suing the government. Never before in American history have so many States banded together to claim a Federal law is unconstitutional.

The Constitution does not permit the Federal Government to force citizens to buy a government-ordained product like health insurance or face a penalty. The unconstitutional law also hires 16,000 more IRS agents to rifle through the financial records of citizens to make sure they are buying that mandated government product. Now, isn't that lovely?

Madam Speaker, the 10th Amendment states, in part, the powers not delegated to the United States are reserved to the States or the people. An objective reading of the Constitution seems to indicate the States have a legitimate complaint. These 18 States should be commended for protecting their citizens from the Federal Government's unlawful, unwarranted intrusion into the private lives of the citizens.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, I bring you news from the third front, and that's the war for this Nation's national security on our southern border with Mexico.

We are engaged in three conflicts, three wars: the one in Afghanistan, the one in Iraq, and the border war on our southern border.

The $40 billion a year illicit drug trade in Mexico has resulted in a vicious wave of violence in northern Mexico. Over 18,000 Mexican nationals have been killed in recent years by the criminal drug cartels, most of those, innocent civilians; but also many of them are the competition among the drug cartels. And they're fighting for control of the routes that lead into the United States where those drug cartels can sell their wares.

Just a few days ago there was a bombing at the United States Embassy in Nuevo Laredo, just on the border. Recently, a pregnant U.S. Embassy employee and her husband were murdered in Juarez, Mexico, right in front of their young daughter and other witnesses.

And in 2008 there were 1,500 murders in Juarez, Mexico alone; and this year, over 500 people have been killed. To put it in perspective, in 2008 there were only 300 murders in all of Houston, a city that dwarfs the size of Juarez, Mexico. And the violence is escalating.

Good people are abandoning the border cities in Mexico and fleeing further into the interior, and some are fleeing to the United States to stay with relatives, all because of the violence on the U.S.-Mexico border.

And people in this country who say that the violence on the border won't come into the United States live in blissful ignorance of reality. It's already here.

In the El Paso sector of the Border Patrol in Texas, our agents are being targeted by the Azteca hitmen for the Juarez drug cartel. The Azteca gang is a group of individuals who work for the drug cartel, the Juarez drug cartel, and their primary mission is to enforce the ability to bring drugs into the United States. And now we understand our Border Patrol agents in the El Paso sector are being targeted to be shot

and kidnapped and murdered by these hitmen. They're after our Border Patrol agents.

And recently, as recently as today, we've learned that there is a $250,000 bounty on our Border Patrol agents for their murder and for their kidnapping. The drug cartels are putting out these hits on our Border Patrol agents because they are enforcing the rule of law and keeping the drug cartels out of this country to the best of their ability.

This is serious. This is violence. And it's being perpetrated by the drug cartels against Americans, both in Mexico, Mexicans in Mexico, and Americans in the United States.

Unfortunately, too many people in Washington, D.C. are closing their eyes to reality. They don't see that the violence has already spread into the United States.

Madam Speaker, there are 14 counties in Texas that border Mexico. And recently I called each of those 14 sheriffs and asked them this question: How many people in your county jail are foreign nationals charged with crimes in the United States, other than immigration violations? How many are charged with felonies, misdemeanors, crimes of violence? And they told me that 37 percent of the people in the border county jails in Texas are foreign nationals charged with crimes, not immigration violations. So we see that the crime in Mexico on the border is coming into the United States and affecting our border counties.

And these counties are not rich, wealthy counties. They don't have the money to try, prosecute and house these individuals.

We shouldn't wait till something tragic happens before we do something about it. There are border incursions every day by these criminal drug cartels, and now there are reports that the drug cartels are cloning Border Patrol vehicles so that they can bring drugs into 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.

So it's important, Madam Speaker, that we do what is necessary to protect the dignity of our Nation. The first duty of government is the national security to protect the people.

The Texas Governor and other Governors asked for the National Guard to go to the border to help secure and protect the dignity of our Nation. I think we should send the National Guard to the border. We need to do what is necessary because it is the duty of government to protect the people. And that protection starts at the border. And it's time we wake up to the reality of the way the world is, that the drug cartels are serious about being violent and about being criminals.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, today I would like to recognize a large group of heroines who played a great role in Texas' history--the strong and brave women who contributed to the successful escape from their hometowns as Santa Anna and his troops barreled forward after conquering the Alamo.

After the fall of the Alamo, word began to spread like wildfire across the territory. The horrific tales of the massacre at Goliad had proven that Santa Anna and his army would show no mercy, even for the women and children. While many families had already begun to flee as early as January 1836, the March 6 slaughter prompted widespread terror and the historic Runaway Scrape began.

Families wasted no time in gathering essentials and setting out towards the Sabine River and into the safe haven of Louisiana or Galveston Island. Many families left with food on the table, clothes on the line, and ran for their lives with little more than the clothes on their back. Most of the treacherous journey was led by women with their small children, as only the elderly and boys deemed by their mamas as too young to fight were still at home.

General Sam Houston and his boys were on the eastward move as well. By early April, Washington-on-the Brazos was deserted and as General Sam marched on towards the Sabine, there was rarely a sole left behind him. With these areas unprotected, Texans that stayed behind faced certain death as Santa Anna pressed forward--if the Indians didn't get there first.

The only solace that the runaways had was that General Sam was between them and death. At the last meeting in the Alamo, Travis said: ``If we hold the Alamo, it is a deed well done! If we fall with it, it is still a deed well done! We pledge our lives to give Houston and Fannin time to get between Santa Anna and the settlements!''

A deed well done indeed. But assured as they were that General Sam was bringing up the rear, they were faced with another unforeseen obstacle--the always unpredictable Texas weather. The cold and rainy spring wreaked havoc along the Runaway Scrape. The runways lacked the bare essentials of survival and many, mostly children, succumbed to the cold, disease and hunger.

I often talk about the heroes of our independence, but no finer example of heroics was displayed than on this historic exodus. This was the harshest journey of our fight for independence and it was only made possible by the sheer will and determination of the remarkable women that led the way.

There are countless stories of women who cared for the sick and diseased, sacrificed for the hungry, buried the dead, including their own children, and kept pressing on--never giving up. They were relentless in their mission and just as much a part of our independence as were their counterparts. As my grandmother always said, there is nothing more powerful than a woman that has made up her mind. And these women, these mothers of freedom, had made up their mind.

General Thomas Jefferson Rusk understood Texas women well: ``The men of Texas deserved much credit, but more was due the women. Armed men facing a foe could not but be brave; but the women, with their little children around them, without means of defense or power to resist, faced danger and death with unflinching courage.''

One such story recounts how one mother strapped a feather mattress to the back of a horse, tied her three young children on and led that horse by foot while carrying a baby on her hip. This was a prettier picture than most. As food and supplies were sparse, they also couldn't afford to have anything extra weigh them down. The muddied trails to safety were littered with feathers from mattresses and discarded items too burdensome to carry.

As far as the eye could see, this was the scene along the Runaway Scrape. Most were starving, sick, and barely clothed. Make-shift graves lined the way and areas of high ground offered the only reprieve from the mud-soaked misery.

As General Sam and the boys crossed the San Jacinto, many of the runaways a step ahead faced a rising Trinity River to the east. The flooded waterway and river-bottoms forced them to seek shelter in the Liberty and Dayton settlements. Today, a historical marker along Highway 90 recognizes this historical part of our Texas history.

On the afternoon of April 21, 1836, the runaways taking refuge along the banks of the Trinity heard the faint sounds of cannon fire in the distance. Fearing the worst, the runaways wasted no time in ferrying the river and making their escape. Little did they know at the time, but General Sam and his rag-tag bunch of freedom fighters whipped a vastly larger Mexican army that was caught napping, captured Santa Anna and a new Republic of Texas was won.

Just as terror and panic had raged throughout the land, the news of victory and independence did as well. The cries from the battlefield: ``Remember the Alamo!'' ``Remember Goliad!'' were echoed along the now abandoned Runaway Scrape and met with: ``San Jacinto!'' ``San Jacinto!''

Texas--one and indivisible.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, from its beginning, Israel, the lone free and democratic country in the Middle East, has had to fight for its very existence against enemies on all sides.

Historically, the only language its neighbors spoke was the voice of violence.

In the war of independence, Israel fought Lebanon and Syria in the north, Iraq and Jordan in the east, Egypt to the south. Now, over 60 years later, not much has changed. Israel still is the target for annihilation by Hamas in the south and Hezbollah in the north. In the pathway to the east lies Israel's greatest threat, Iran, who celebrates an anti-Israel day every September.

Israel's enemies are bent on the destruction of this nation and her values, such as democracy, freedom, justice, liberty. These are also American values. Those who kill innocent Israeli citizens also seek the murder of the American way of life.

We should make it clear to the world that the beacon of democracy in the Middle East, Israel, is our friend and our ally, and together we two nations are a force to be reckoned with.

And that's just the way it is.

I bring you news from the third front. The first front is in Iraq. The second front is in Afghanistan. And the third front, which we don't talk much about, is the front of the border; the border wars in south Texas on the border between Texas and Mexico.

We have heard a lot about the fact that there is violence on the border, especially the southern border. On the border where Mexico meets the United States, on the Mexican side, the drug cartels are fighting for turf. They are violent. They are vicious, and murder is a way of life against those good Mexican nationals that live just south of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Recently, the Zetas cartel and the Gulf cartel have engaged in violent acts in the town of Guerrero, Mexico. That is over here in the south Texas area on the other side of the Rio Grande River where Falcon Lake is the border between Mexico and Texas. People in that town have taken cover. In fact, the police department of Guerrero, Mexico, has told people of that town of 6,000, Do not come out of your homes because the drug cartels will take your life. They are fighting to take that turf, that entry into the United States, to bring that cancer and to sell it.

But there are those that say that the border war on the southern side of the U.S. border doesn't affect us. Well, of course, those people are wrong. Let's take one example. There are 14 counties on the border of Texas and Mexico. So, yesterday, I called the sheriffs of these counties and I asked them this question: How many people do you have in your county jail who are foreign nationals who have been arrested for a crime in the United States? Most of those sheriffs were quick to tell us. Some of them did not tell me. But, overall, of the 14 counties that border Mexico from Texas, 37 percent of the people in those county jails are foreign nationals charged with crimes in the United States.

Yes, the violence on the border and the failure of the United States Government to secure our southern border affects people who live in those border communities. These are not wealthy counties. These are poor counties where people have day jobs on both sides of the border. These counties are so poor, and I'll give you an example.

Over here in Hudspeth County where 63 percent of the people are foreign nationals in Arvin West's jail, the county commissioners don't even have enough money to give Arvin West, Sheriff West and his deputy sheriffs a motor pool. They have no vehicles. So what do they do to obtain vehicles in the sheriff's department? They have to confiscate drug vehicles that have been captured and turned over to the United States and then turned over to the county. So the sheriff of this county only drives vehicles that he's confiscated from the drug cartels. You see, the sheriffs along the border say that they are outfinanced by the drug cartels, they're outmanned, and they are outgunned by these drug cartels.

The crime that occurs in the United States by foreign nationals crossing our porous border affects counties along the border but also affects counties throughout the United States. I think we would be shocked to find out how many foreign nationals are in county jails throughout the country charged with crimes that they have committed here, both legal and illegals who have come across our border.

Once again, 37 percent of the people in the county jails on the Texas-Mexico border on the Texas side are foreign nationals. It goes all the way from 1 percent--and I don't think that is correct--over in Webb County all the way up to 100 percent in Terrell County. In Terrell County, the sheriff said, Everybody in my county jail is a foreign national charged with a crime in my county.

It is the duty of the Federal Government to secure America's borders. This is the third front, yet we are blissfully ignorant up here in Washington, D.C., about what is taking place on this entire border. There are good people who live on both sides of this international border and there are good people who live in fear on both sides because of the violence that is created by the drug cartels. We need to do whatever is necessary to prevent crime from occurring and coming across our border, and that includes sending the National Guard down to the Texas-Mexico border. The Governor of the State has requested it. We need to do it.

We need to secure the border. It is the first duty of government to protect Americans citizens. And we better get with the program and start protecting these good Americans or these county jails will continue to fill up with foreign nationals who have committed crime in our country.

And that's just the way it is.