Immigration

Floor Speech

Mr. CARTER. Mr. Speaker, I've been appearing on the floor of this House now for quite a while talking about regulations, but information has come to my attention from a report that was prepared by a group of people in the Texas government about problems that are way beyond anything that many people are perceiving concerning what's going on on the border between Texas and Mexico in this ongoing immigration crisis that we have in America. And quite honestly, it's so concerning that tonight we're going to talk about--I'm going to talk about it, and I hope we will be joined by some of my colleagues--the actual crisis that is going on with the criminal element that has gathered across the border from Texas with the drug cartels in Mexico.

I'm going to have some posters here in a few minutes to talk about some of these things. But I think that everybody is well aware of the fact that we have an issue that is going to have to be addressed by this Congress. And that issue is not only that legal immigration needs to be worked on and fixed so that we can have an immigration policy that actually works in this country, rather than one that seems to be haphazard and in many ways subject to the whims of people's personal opinions rather than the laws that should be established under the rule of immigration law for our country, but this whole issue of illegal immigration is compounded and geometrically compounded by the fact that massive illegal drug cartels have gathered on our border. Mr. CARTER. Reclaiming the time, thank you, Judge. I also have a bill, and I'm a cosponsor of your bill.

I also believe that we need the National Guard on the border. As this report indicates, you fight wars tactically and strategically. Strategically are big, big issue plans. Tactically is how you do the fighting. Well, they seem to have a plan that has been worked out strategically to seize the Texas border, as much of it as they can get; and then tactically, how to go about doing this with all sorts of criminal activity so they control some of these very rural, very large rural counties. But I'm sure they're even going to try for some of those urban and quasi-urban counties that are along the border with a whole intent that it would enhance their ability to move their products.

There's an anecdote in this bill, and I think I need to read it. This is what one rancher observed: ``But the Border Patrol, I can tell you that their hands are tied about a lot of stuff. They have to call Washington. Even if they're having a gunfight down at the river, they're on the phone. They have to call Washington. The Border Patrol have boats on the river. They patrol the river, but they are not allowed to pick up anybody that is in the water unless they are dead.

``If the drug guys are loading drugs, all they have to do is wade out into the water, and the Border Patrol can't touch them. They are not allowed to go into the water. They can't do anything about it.''

If that's the policy of the country and if that's what's going on, then they're looking at ways to avoid law enforcement--this is what this plan goes on to say--on both sides of the border. If the Texas authorities are chasing a carload of drugs in Texas, then drive out into the river, and they can't come after you. If the Mexicans are chasing you, then drive out into the river on the Mexican side. It gives them a getaway to get into that international zone.

I'm not sure of the legal ramifications of that policy. It has always been my understanding that the State of Texas owns to the middle of the river; but there seems to be some policy that says, once you're in the water, you can't make an arrest of these people unless you get your hands on them without going into the water. I don't know how you do that. If that's the policy, then that's a getaway zone on both sides of the river. They can run right back in.

If they get this control of law enforcement and other things--and I'm not in any way besmirching these guys who are working nights, weekends and holidays down there who are trying to stop this invasion; but look what they've done to law enforcement across the border. I mean, I think the life expectancy of a chief of police in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, is about 6 hours before they either kill you or behead you, set you on fire, burn up your family or do something to you.

These are evil people; and the Zetas, they're the worst of the gathering of the evil people over there. They do it for money. They'll do anything for money. Almost anything. Obviously, they didn't do this, but it's only by the grace of God and good intelligence and, quite honestly, good law enforcement work down there that we prevented this. It's almost, arguably, that we got lucky, because there are so many people they could have contacted; and then we wouldn't have known about this. It's kind of frightening.

Another comment by another person who lives on the border: ``We see a lot of things, but we keep our mouths shut about it. We just don't want to be on anybody's hit list. I keep to myself. The people who are doing what they're doing; they keep to themselves. If I see something, I ignore it--I look the other way--but there is a problem. It's really bad. Here on the river, you see a lot of stuff, and you don't pay attention to it. You walk away, and you try to stay in an area where they don't see you, so if somebody gets caught they don't say, 'Well, somebody called.' So you try to blend in and not create any waves.'' This is a citizen.

I can tell you that one of our citizens owns land on the border, and he has told stories of 50-caliber machine gun-armed, mounted Toyota pickups--I don't mean to besmirch Toyota, but that's what they are--that drive all loaded up, with the cartel members telling deer hunters to get off the ranch because they're hunting there that day, which means they're bringing a big load of drugs across the river. There is anecdote after anecdote from the citizens of Texas.

One of the things, I think, that's very important that we explain to people and to everybody who might be paying attention to this is that there is one big difference between Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, which is: in Texas, we retained our public lands when we came into the United States under treaty.

So the land that they cross the river onto is not Federal land. It's individual human beings' land. People water their cattle in the Rio Grande off of their ranches, and that Rio Grande is one border of their ranches. They own the land right up to the river. It's different in Arizona, and it's different in California. In most instances, they butt up against federally owned land because, in the other States, all land not owned by the individuals is owned by the Federal Government as part of Federal lands. In our State, we have no Federal lands. We have only State-owned lands and lands owned by individuals. So it's actually State-owned land or it's individual land with the exception of Big Bend National Park. That's the only exception that we have.

First, remember--and I think all people that have dealt with criminology anywhere, anytime will tell you that when you create a criminal environment, you have to expect that environment to grow. At some point in time in the recent past, the cartels that deliver drugs to basically the entire Western World decided to move their operation from South America right to the border of the United States, across the border in Mexico. And these cartels have been battling each other in literally warfare to determine what cartels will dominate the illegal importation of drugs and people into this country--and those people brought in, in many instances, for illicit purposes, such as prostitution.

The most recent count that I have heard is approximately 44,000 Mexicans across the border have lost their lives in this war that's going on in Mexico. That is a number that, when you look at the 10 years of warfare our country has been involved in in other places around the world, is astronomical. And to think that that's happening.

I live in Round Rock, Texas, which is approximately close to 200 miles from the Mexican border. And to think that there's a war going on in an area where most Texans have, when there was peace upon the border, most Texans visited that area many times during their lifetime because those were our friends across that border. Now they're no longer our friends, they're our enemies, and not only the enemies of all law-abiding people, but they're enemies of mankind because they are bringing poison into our Nation in every form and fashion; and they're killing each other for the right to do so.

One of the things that has concerned members of our Texas delegation and members of other delegations in this Congress has been, will that lawlessness spill over into the United States of America.

The report that was done by Todd Staples and the Texas Department of Public Safety and others in Texas tells us that not only will it spill over into our country, but it has spilled over into our country, and that there is an evil plan by these cartels to actually come in and try to seize control of every border county in Texas that borders on the Rio Grande. Now, that's a big project that they are--and, actually, I would say it is a plan for the invasion of the United States of America.

This is something we honestly have to address in a serious manner. We have a lot of legislation pending. One of the bills that I have that connects to this talk today is a bill that will add further assistance to the border sheriffs in their war against the illegal element on the border.

Our Border Patrol has grown to an enormous body, and they are involved in this war on the border. Currently, the Texas Rangers have a task force on the border. They are the elite law enforcement officers of Texas, and they have a task force which is working up a, hopefully, a counter-plan to stand up to this plan that's coming out of Mexico to start to infiltrate our counties along the border and ultimately, through intimidation, kidnapping, beheading, murdering and bribing and all other types of illegal activity, they are going to try to both buy and intimidate their way into a position of control of these counties.

Some of these counties have large populations, but some of these counties have very small populations and a lot of land mass along the Texas border. And it is a real concern when you're talking about 1,200 miles of border between the United States and Mexico, that someone would have a plan to invade our country and take control of those border counties that are bordering on Mexico.

The first question you would say is, with them fighting to establish their base in Mexico, why would they cross the border?

The report that was given, and when I get that report I'll talk to you about some of the people that were involved in it, but I don't have it in front of me. It was done with the aid of two former United States military generals who looked at it from the standpoint of strategic and tactical planning that you would have in the case of any other kind of military invasion, to look at what countermeasures we would take in this country and others.

One of the countermeasures that would fall upon the peo Mr. CARTER. Reclaiming the time, thank you, Judge. I also have a bill, and I'm a cosponsor of your bill.

I also believe that we need the National Guard on the border. As this report indicates, you fight wars tactically and strategically. Strategically are big, big issue plans. Tactically is how you do the fighting. Well, they seem to have a plan that has been worked out strategically to seize the Texas border, as much of it as they can get; and then tactically, how to go about doing this with all sorts of criminal activity so they control some of these very rural, very large rural counties. But I'm sure they're even going to try for some of those urban and quasi-urban counties that are along the border with a whole intent that it would enhance their ability to move their products.

There's an anecdote in this bill, and I think I need to read it. This is what one rancher observed: ``But the Border Patrol, I can tell you that their hands are tied about a lot of stuff. They have to call Washington. Even if they're having a gunfight down at the river, they're on the phone. They have to call Washington. The Border Patrol have boats on the river. They patrol the river, but they are not allowed to pick up anybody that is in the water unless they are dead.

``If the drug guys are loading drugs, all they have to do is wade out into the water, and the Border Patrol can't touch them. They are not allowed to go into the water. They can't do anything about it.''

If that's the policy of the country and if that's what's going on, then they're looking at ways to avoid law enforcement--this is what this plan goes on to say--on both sides of the border. If the Texas authorities are chasing a carload of drugs in Texas, then drive out into the river, and they can't come after you. If the Mexicans are chasing you, then drive out into the river on the Mexican side. It gives them a getaway to get into that international zone.

I'm not sure of the legal ramifications of that policy. It has always been my understanding that the State of Texas owns to the middle of the river; but there seems to be some policy that says, once you're in the water, you can't make an arrest of these people unless you get your hands on them without going into the water. I don't know how you do that. If that's the policy, then that's a getaway zone on both sides of the river. They can run right back in.

If they get this control of law enforcement and other things--and I'm not in any way besmirching these guys who are working nights, weekends and holidays down there who are trying to stop this invasion; but look what they've done to law enforcement across the border. I mean, I think the life expectancy of a chief of police in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, is about 6 hours before they either kill you or behead you, set you on fire, burn up your family or do something to you.

These are evil people; and the Zetas, they're the worst of the gathering of the evil people over there. They do it for money. They'll do anything for money. Almost anything. Obviously, they didn't do this, but it's only by the grace of God and good intelligence and, quite honestly, good law enforcement work down there that we prevented this. It's almost, arguably, that we got lucky, because there are so many people they could have contacted; and then we wouldn't have known about this. It's kind of frightening.

Another comment by another person who lives on the border: ``We see a lot of things, but we keep our mouths shut about it. We just don't want to be on anybody's hit list. I keep to myself. The people who are doing what they're doing; they keep to themselves. If I see something, I ignore it--I look the other way--but there is a problem. It's really bad. Here on the river, you see a lot of stuff, and you don't pay attention to it. You walk away, and you try to stay in an area where they don't see you, so if somebody gets caught they don't say, 'Well, somebody called.' So you try to blend in and not create any waves.'' This is a citizen.

I can tell you that one of our citizens owns land on the border, and he has told stories of 50-caliber machine gun-armed, mounted Toyota pickups--I don't mean to besmirch Toyota, but that's what they are--that drive all loaded up, with the cartel members telling deer hunters to get off the ranch because they're hunting there that day, which means they're bringing a big load of drugs across the river. There is anecdote after anecdote from the citizens of Texas.

One of the things, I think, that's very important that we explain to people and to everybody who might be paying attention to this is that there is one big difference between Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, which is: in Texas, we retained our public lands when we came into the United States under treaty.

So the land that they cross the river onto is not Federal land. It's individual human beings' land. People water their cattle in the Rio Grande off of their ranches, and that Rio Grande is one border of their ranches. They own the land right up to the river. It's different in Arizona, and it's different in California. In most instances, they butt up against federally owned land because, in the other States, all land not owned by the individuals is owned by the Federal Government as part of Federal lands. In our State, we have no Federal lands. We have only State-owned lands and lands owned by individuals. So it's actually State-owned land or it's individual land with the exception of Big Bend National Park. That's the only exception that we have. ple of Texas would be that we would need to be using every law enforcement officer we could to their maximum benefit; and therefore we have done things to enhance border sheriffs in the past. We're going to do things to enhance border sheriffs in the future; but we have a bill that will add to that enhancement, and I would think that's just the tip of the spear of what's going to be needed if these people get serious about trying to come across the border and create criminal counties along the Texas/Mexican border on the Texas side of the border.

It's almost beyond our belief. And here's the man with my materials. Bring them over here.

That's almost beyond our conception of what will truly happen. But this is a copy of the plan. You want to hand one up there to Judge Poe and let him, he's read it, but he might want to have it as a reference. It's ``Texas Border Security Strategic Military Assessment,'' prepared in September of 2011. And some of the funds were provided by Todd Staples, the commissioner of the Texas Department of Agriculture, assisted by the Texas Department of Public Safety, and four star Retired General Barry McCaffrey and Retired Army Major General Robert Scales, both of whom looked at this from a unique and strategic assessment as they would do with a military project.

General McCaffrey is the former director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy under President Bill Clinton and a former commander of all U.S. troops in Central and South America. Major General Robert Scales is a former commander, United States Army War College.

These two gentlemen have taken the intelligence that has been gathered by the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Border Patrol, special group called the Texas Rangers, and others, to discuss this criminal element on the border.

Now, why would we do this today? Well, it's because of what's on this poster right here. We have had an event in our country where these blatant criminals from the cartels have at least attempted to be--they have been solicited by enemies of our country from Iran to commit an assassination bombing here in Washington, D.C. on behalf of Iran. And they tried to hire Mexican cartel members to do this heinous event here to attack the Saudi Arabian--and I believe potentially the Israeli embassies here in Washington, D.C. in an attempt to kill those ambassadors from those countries.

Now, I have a particular interest in this, above the interest I would have anyway, having dealt with law enforcement for many, many years now, in that one of these guys that tried to make the deal has a home in my hometown of Round Rock, Texas. This has just come out recently. I haven't seen what neighborhood it's in yet because I haven't seen it on television. But I'm going to call my son as soon as I get through talking here, and he knows everything that goes on in Round Rock because he's the coach, and he'll know where it is.

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Mr. CARTER. Reclaiming the time, thank you, Judge. I also have a bill, and I'm a cosponsor of your bill.

I also believe that we need the National Guard on the border. As this report indicates, you fight wars tactically and strategically. Strategically are big, big issue plans. Tactically is how you do the fighting. Well, they seem to have a plan that has been worked out strategically to seize the Texas border, as much of it as they can get; and then tactically, how to go about doing this with all sorts of criminal activity so they control some of these very rural, very large rural counties. But I'm sure they're even going to try for some of those urban and quasi-urban counties that are along the border with a whole intent that it would enhance their ability to move their products.

There's an anecdote in this bill, and I think I need to read it. This is what one rancher observed: ``But the Border Patrol, I can tell you that their hands are tied about a lot of stuff. They have to call Washington. Even if they're having a gunfight down at the river, they're on the phone. They have to call Washington. The Border Patrol have boats on the river. They patrol the river, but they are not allowed to pick up anybody that is in the water unless they are dead.

``If the drug guys are loading drugs, all they have to do is wade out into the water, and the Border Patrol can't touch them. They are not allowed to go into the water. They can't do anything about it.''

If that's the policy of the country and if that's what's going on, then they're looking at ways to avoid law enforcement--this is what this plan goes on to say--on both sides of the border. If the Texas authorities are chasing a carload of drugs in Texas, then drive out into the river, and they can't come after you. If the Mexicans are chasing you, then drive out into the river on the Mexican side. It gives them a getaway to get into that international zone.

I'm not sure of the legal ramifications of that policy. It has always been my understanding that the State of Texas owns to the middle of the river; but there seems to be some policy that says, once you're in the water, you can't make an arrest of these people unless you get your hands on them without going into the water. I don't know how you do that. If that's the policy, then that's a getaway zone on both sides of the river. They can run right back in.

If they get this control of law enforcement and other things--and I'm not in any way besmirching these guys who are working nights, weekends and holidays down there who are trying to stop this invasion; but look what they've done to law enforcement across the border. I mean, I think the life expectancy of a chief of police in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, is about 6 hours before they either kill you or behead you, set you on fire, burn up your family or do something to you.

These are evil people; and the Zetas, they're the worst of the gathering of the evil people over there. They do it for money. They'll do anything for money. Almost anything. Obviously, they didn't do this, but it's only by the grace of God and good intelligence and, quite honestly, good law enforcement work down there that we prevented this. It's almost, arguably, that we got lucky, because there are so many people they could have contacted; and then we wouldn't have known about this. It's kind of frightening.

Another comment by another person who lives on the border: ``We see a lot of things, but we keep our mouths shut about it. We just don't want to be on anybody's hit list. I keep to myself. The people who are doing what they're doing; they keep to themselves. If I see something, I ignore it--I look the other way--but there is a problem. It's really bad. Here on the river, you see a lot of stuff, and you don't pay attention to it. You walk away, and you try to stay in an area where they don't see you, so if somebody gets caught they don't say, 'Well, somebody called.' So you try to blend in and not create any waves.'' This is a citizen.

I can tell you that one of our citizens owns land on the border, and he has told stories of 50-caliber machine gun-armed, mounted Toyota pickups--I don't mean to besmirch Toyota, but that's what they are--that drive all loaded up, with the cartel members telling deer hunters to get off the ranch because they're hunting there that day, which means they're bringing a big load of drugs across the river. There is anecdote after anecdote from the citizens of Texas.

One of the things, I think, that's very important that we explain to people and to everybody who might be paying attention to this is that there is one big difference between Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, which is: in Texas, we retained our public lands when we came into the United States under treaty.

So the land that they cross the river onto is not Federal land. It's individual human beings' land. People water their cattle in the Rio Grande off of their ranches, and that Rio Grande is one border of their ranches. They own the land right up to the river. It's different in Arizona, and it's different in California. In most instances, they butt up against federally owned land because, in the other States, all land not owned by the individuals is owned by the Federal Government as part of Federal lands. In our State, we have no Federal lands. We have only State-owned lands and lands owned by individuals. So it's actually State-owned land or it's individual land with the exception of Big Bend National Park. That's the only exception that we have.

But this is serious business when you start realizing that there are people trying to set up assassination plots that live in your hometown. And we are one of the most law-abiding--I would argue we are the most law-abiding county in the State of Texas and one of the most law-abiding counties in the entire Nation. And to think that someone would be stupid enough to choose Williamson County as a place for operations for terrorist behavior is almost beyond my belief. But it seems to be, from the indications that are being reported in the news, at least one of these people owned a home in Williamson County.

It shocks me to come up here on the floor and admit that about my hometown; but I can promise you, if we can find anything we can do to him in Williamson County, we'll take care of the boy. I can give you my assurance of that. But that's another story.

But look at these characters and realize we live 200 miles from the Mexican border, and yet operations are being planned by people from a foreign country, Iran, an enemy of our Nation, part of the axis of evil that former President Bush talked about. These guys are trying to make a deal with this criminal element across the border.

So that, coupled with this Texas Border Security Act, is a huge eye-opener, that this issue that we have talked about now for the entire almost 10 years I have been here in Congress is a lot more serious issue, from a national security standpoint, than anything we ever imagined; and I think that's something we really need to start thinking about.

I am joined by another very law-and-order former judge from the State of Texas, my good friend, Ted Poe. Judge Poe and I both served on the bench. We both did our best to put bad guys where they belong, and I think we did more than our share.

I will just yield to Congressman Poe whatever time he may wish to consume to discuss this matter.

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Mr. CARTER. Quite honestly, if they have a plan to seize American soil, I think that's as close to an invasion plan as I can think of, and that concerns me greatly. If it's going to happen in Texas, it's going to happen in other States.

I've had the pleasure twice now to go to the border of the great State of Arizona. To be very honest, at least we've got a river between us and them. With the exception of some of the fences being built in Arizona--and I've seen the old fence. It was a two-strand, barbed wire fence that a young heifer calf could walk through without any problem at all.

Tonight, we're joined by Congressman Franks from Arizona. He wants to tell us a little bit about his view of this serious problem on our border with our cartels from the standpoint of our friends in Arizona. I yield to the gentleman whatever time he may wish to use here tonight.

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Mr. CARTER. You paint a pretty severe picture, which I agree with. Think about this. Part of the contract they were trying to make with the Zetas was to bring into this country explosives, supposedly to set a plant, a bomb, in a favorite eating place here in Washington, D.C. and blow up that place in order to kill the ambassador.

Now, just let's assume for the sake of argument that something like C-4 that was smuggled in here, if they can smuggle C-4 across the border in from Mexico and transport it across the country to Washington, D.C., once they develop a tactical nuclear weapon in Iran, what's to prevent them from smuggling a tactical nuclear weapon into the United States. I would argue, nothing.

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Mr. CARTER. I think that what we will hear is this, as what we have heard before in the past, this is a law enforcement matter being handled by the FBI and law enforcement, and it will be handled accordingly. That's what I think we will hear from the administration.

But this is a threat to the national sovereignty of this country, potentially the national sovereignty of our friends from Israel and our friends from Saudi Arabia. This could have been the major incident that set off a chain reaction that could have done who knows what to the future of mankind, and these crazy people would do that using a criminal element that is smuggling horrible drugs and people for illicit purposes into our country every day.

And you're talking about the marijuana loads. They pack hundreds of backpacks across the border loaded with marijuana almost daily, and they march right on into Texas and Arizona. In your case, they go off into the Federal lands, into the reservations and up to the highway and off to the east coast and the west coast. In our case, they come across the border, off the ranches, get up to the highway, east coast and west coast.

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Mr. CARTER. I agree. And that's the purpose for us being here tonight. There is no reason to scare people. They can make them draw their own conclusions.

But if you're hiring, if you're contracting, this guy who represents Iran is contracting with this creep, who represents the Zetas, that's frightening to think lawlessness being directed by a nation-state to attack innocent people in our country. And when you blow up an area in Washington, D.C., how many Americans are going to get killed besides the Israelis or the Saudi Arabians that are attacked? We don't know.

And then we thought of nuclear, nuclear elements. It's frightening.

We are the major dispersal route for all this illegal and illicit poison that they're selling, and that's who they would hire to deliver a blow against two of our allies. That's frightening, what could have occurred.

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Mr. CARTER. I agree. And that's the purpose for us being here tonight. There is no reason to scare people. They can make them draw their own conclusions.

But if you're hiring, if you're contracting, this guy who represents Iran is contracting with this creep, who represents the Zetas, that's frightening to think lawlessness being directed by a nation-state to attack innocent people in our country. And when you blow up an area in Washington, D.C., how many Americans are going to get killed besides the Israelis or the Saudi Arabians that are attacked? We don't know.

And then we thought of nuclear, nuclear elements. It's frightening.

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Mr. CARTER. Reclaiming my time, in fact if that happened, I would argue that we would have the same kind of mental strain that the people of Israel have been living with since the creation of their country. That any day, any minute of any day could be the day a rocket lands in your house, or when a terrorist blows your house up or shoots you. We'd have the same feeling in this country. You think we have economy problems now, who's out there to pick us up? We picked up countries around the world after wars and put them back on their feet for no other reason than because it made good sense. But there is no country that will pick us up and put us on our feet, so it's a crisis.

I don't know if you're aware of this, but there has been a study made, a Texas border security study, a strategic military assessment, and here's an executive summary of the 150 pages. It is much more detailed, but just to read this very quickly: During the past 2 years, the State of Texas has become increasingly threatened by the spread of Mexican cartel organized crime. The threat reflects the change in the strategic intent of the cartels to move their operation into the United States. In effect, the cartels seek to create a sanitary zone inside the Texas border one county deep that will provide sanctuary from Mexican law enforcement, at the same time allow the Mexican cartels to transform the Texas border counties into narcotics transshipment points for continued transport and distribution into the continental United States. To achieve their objective, the cartels are relying increasingly on organized gangs to provide expendable and unaccountable manpower to do their dirty work. These gangs are recruited on the streets of Texas cities and inside Texas prisons by top-tier gangs who work in conjunction with these cartels.

So in addition to this threat from Iran, I mean if you have a plan to seize a part of the United States of America by force, I would call that invasion. And I would argue that if that is a true statement, Texas has already put together a task force under the leadership of the Texas Rangers. They are setting up stations along the border with a goal of setting up an intense communication system to be prepared for what may be coming from across the river. But they are just a small body of very effective law enforcement people. This could be a major, major intrusion on the United States. Add that to their partners, Iran, trying to make a deal with these criminals, the Zetas, it's frightening.

We learned a long time ago in law enforcement that when you create an environment of lawlessness, it breeds more lawlessness. Quite honestly, that theory is what cleaned up New York City under Rudy Giuliani. Using that theory, they said we're going to go into neighborhoods and we're going to take the street lawlessness out of the neighborhoods so that the big lawlessness will move somewhere else, because if they're in a lawless environment, it just enhances lawlessness. And it worked. And they cleaned up the streets of New York, and it's a much safer place for people to go these days than it was 20 years ago. And it's all because of the concept lawlessness breeds lawlessness.

Because we were allowing laws to be violated on our border, from Brownsville all of the way to San Diego, we basically created, by our own efforts by not enforcing immigration laws and the sovereignty of our country, we created a lawlessness area before the cartels got there. So when lawlessness breeds lawlessness, why wouldn't they go there. There are already people not obeying the laws in that area, why not go in and make it official. And they did. It's frightening.

I yield to my friend.

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Mr. CARTER. Reclaiming my time, I agree with everything that you say, and I want to say this further: it's the duty of the President of the United States and the executive branch to enforce the laws of the United States, to protect the borders of the United States against intrusion. It's their duty to protect our Nation from those who would wreak havoc and harm upon our Nation wherever they may be located, Iran being the primary example on the face of the earth today as a threat to our country.

And, quite honestly, jobs are very important in our country, and once we get the government out of the way we'll get some jobs started, but it's time for this administration to do something on the border of this country to protect the citizens on the border. There's no reason why a landowner who lives on the border has to get assassinated like the landowner in Arizona, or has to get run off his land by armed men, as our landowners in Texas are doing, without the protection of the Federal Government. We are the United States of America, and when they attack one State, they attack all of the States of our Union.

When they attack our border, they attack every State in this Union. By the way, there are many Americans who realize that today. I had sheriffs from the State of North Carolina and the State of Maryland and maybe one other State, I don't remember where it was, but those two I know were in my office telling me, Hey, this violence is all the way in Maryland, it's all the way in North Carolina. They showed me pictures of an assassinated cartel member shot in the back of the head found right outside of a town in North Carolina.

So these guys in their terror tactics come from across that border and are all the way up here on the East Coast dealing terror in smaller doses but just as serious for the future of this country. Meanwhile, we've got Iran contracting with this criminal element, which is a ruthless criminal element, and saying, We want you to do our bidding on our behalf, and here's the money. As Judge Poe says, Have gun, will travel. And you'll travel and kill whoever we want you to kill and blow up whoever we want you to blow up in any form or fashion that we see fit. How about a deal? And they were making a deal.

That ought to scare the pants off of everybody, and it ought to wake the Obama administration up that there are serious things being overlooked by their cavalier idea that everything America does is bad and everything other countries do is excusable. That seems to be our policy, to the point where they're willing to let an agency of the United States Government become the biggest gun runner in the history of Mexico in Fast and Furious, which we are investigating right now in the Halls of this Congress. These are things that people ought to wake up and say, My Lord, this is insane. What is wrong with us? Where are those people who stood up for Americans and stood up for freedom and fought for the right ideas? They seem to have disappeared.

I yield to my friend.

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Mr. CARTER. I appreciate you being here, Trent. You're a good friend, and I value your opinions that you have given here tonight.

This is a problem that has risen its head because of this event. We could talk for days about this because it is so serious to the future and welfare of every American citizen. And to think that any enemy of our country is contracting with a criminal element that has a track record thus far of killing 44,000 people, many of whom were just bystanders, just in an ongoing event of driving their illegal operation. If they get involved in international terrorism, heaven help us. I hope that heaven will. And I hope this administration will take a hard look at where they're going to be willing to draw the line and say, We're not taking this any more. And I would argue at least it ought to be at the borders of our country and at those who would develop a nuclear weapon that could devastate mankind.

I thank both of my friends for joining me tonight, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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