Action Needed Now At Our Southern Border

Floor Speech

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Madam Speaker, Mr. Poe of Texas comes down here quite frequently and talks about the problems along the border between the United States and Mexico. Yesterday I received an email that I would like to read to my colleagues. The subject is ``The Wild Southern Border.'' And it starts off, and it says, ``A lesson: Don't leave your weapons in the car, don't turn your back on strangers who are somewhere they don't belong, use your cell phone with your off hand, not your strong hand.'' And the reason they start off with that lesson is because of what is said in this email, and I would like to read it to you.

"As you know, one of the local ranchers was murdered in Douglas, Arizona, 2 weeks ago. I received three messages similar to the one below from different officers within the Rangers and law enforcement. Yesterday afternoon, I talked to another rancher near us who is a friend of ours and whose great grandfather started their ranch here in 1880. These are good people. He told me what really happened out at the Krentz ranch and what you won't read in the papers. The Border Patrol is afraid of starting a small war between civilians here and the drug cartels in Mexico.

"Bob Krentz was checking his water like he does every evening and came upon an illegal alien who was lying on the ground, telling him he was sick. Bob called the Border Patrol and asked for a medical helicopter to evacuate the gentleman. As he turned to go back to his ATV, he was shot in the side. The round came from down and angled up, so they know the shooter was on the ground. Bob's firearm was in the ATV, so he had no chance. Wounded, he called the Cochise County Sheriff and asked for help. Bleeding in the lungs, he called his brother, but the line was bad. So he called his wife, but again the line was bad. Several ranchers heard the radio call and drove to his location. Bob was dead by this time. The ranchers tracked the shooter 8 miles back towards Mexico and cornered him in a brushy draw. This was all at night.

"The sheriff and Border Patrol arrived and told him not to go down and engage the murderer. They went around to the back side, and if you can believe it, the assassin managed to get by a B.P. helicopter and a sheriff's posse and back into Mexico. So much for professional help when you need it.''

And I would like to say that I think the Border Patrol and the sheriffs do a great job with what they have down there. Nevertheless, this is what he says in his email. "One week before the murder, Bob and his brother Phil, who I shoot with, hauled a huge quantity of drugs off the ranch that they found in trucks. One week before that, a rancher near Naco did the same thing. Two nights later, gangs broke into his ranch house and beat him and his wife and told them that if they ever touched any drugs they found, they would come back and kill them.

"The ranchers here deal with cut fences and haul drug deliveries off their ranches all the time. What ranchers think is that the drug cartels beat the one rancher and shot Bob because they wanted to send a message. Bob always gave food and water to illegals, and so they think they sent the assassin to pose as an illegal who was hungry and thirsty, knowing it would catch Bob off-guard. What is going on down here is not being reported. You need to tell the people how bad it is along the border. Texas is worse. Near El Paso, it's in a state of war; 5,000 people were killed in Ciudad Juarez last year, and it's over 2,000 so far this year. Gun sales down here are through the roof, and I get emails from people wanting firearms training. Something has to be done, but I don't hold out much hope. These gangs have groups in almost every city in the United States. Please read below. This is serious business. The Barrio Azteca and their subgangs are like Mexican corporations and organized extremely well. If this doesn't get dealt with down here, you guys''--meaning us up north-- "will deal with it on your streets.'' And it's signed Bud.

All I can say is that Mr. Poe and others have come down here day after day, week after week, month after month, talking about the horrible problems on the border, and this government, the Federal Government, is not doing anything about it. They're not approaching this as it should be approached. We need to send the National Guard down there. We need to continue with the border fencing and stop the illegal aliens from coming across, number one, and stop the drug traffic and the terrorists who are coming across. This is a war down there. We're fighting wars in other parts of the world. This is our border, and we need to address this problem.

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