Texas Members Call on Feds to Secure the Border

A timely post from http://www.alipac.us/  about the border with Mexico and the Falcon Lake murder. This follows this post about California declining in-state tuition to illegal aliens. This follows this post about the Dream ACT and this post which shows that there are 30,000 openly illegal immigrants in the border town of El Paso. For more interesting stories like this click here to follow this blog.

Texas Members Call on Feds to Secure the Border

Topic: illegal Border crossing immigrants

Poe Legislation Requires Defense Department to Authorize 10,000 National Guard Troops & Pay for Deployment



Washington, Sep 29 -



Today, Congressman Ted Poe (TX-02) was joined by 20 members of Congress to announce the National Guard Border Enforcement Act. This bill will authorize the Secretary of Defense to make 10,000 National Guard troops available upon request from a U.S. Governor. In addition, these troops will be paid for by the federal government and serve under the command of the requesting governor.



In response to the federal government’s failure to answer the repeated requests of Governor Perry and other border state governors to protect our international borders, the National Guard Border Enforcement Act will ensure that border state governors have the needed resources to protect their citizens from the ongoing border related violence...



“The first duty of the federal government is to protect its people,” said Poe. “Texans are tired of the federal government’s failure to secure our borders and enforce our laws, yet at the same time running roughshod over state governments when they try to enforce the law and protect their citizens. The federal government’s ‘not our problem’ attitude is unacceptable and this legislation will require the Defense Department to do what they were created to do – protect the people of this country and the dignity of our borders.”



"This is a tremendous first step in restoring America's ability to secure our border,” said House Republican Conference Secretary John Carter (TX-31). “Congressman Poe's bill addresses the lead recommendation from our southern border field investigations in August."



Currently, the Department of Defense has only allocated 250 National Guard troops for entire 1,254 mile long Texas-Mexico border. Recently, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano indicated that the state of Texas would be forced to pay for any additional troops to enforce existing federal immigration laws along the international border.



“The federal government is directly responsible for enforcing existing laws to secure our borders and ensure the safe and legal movement of people, goods, and commerce across our borders,” said Congressman John Culberson (TX-07). “Unfortunately President Obama has failed in this effort and it is now time for Congress to act. There is a war on our southern border and it is time to put an end to the horrific violence.”



Numerous news accounts have reported on cross border gunfire coming into El Paso, Texas, hitting buildings and passenger vehicles traveling along US highways. In Arizona, the federal government is erecting signs to warn travelers that entire stretches of US highways are no longer safe for US citizens.



Under the National Guard Border Enforcement Act, troops will be authorized to conduct:



· Armed vehicle and foot patrols on the U.S. southern border



· Interdiction of a vehicle, vessel, aircraft or other similar activities



· Search, seizure, and detention of suspects



· Construction of roads, fences, and vehicle barriers



· Search and rescue operations



· Intelligence gathering, surveillance, and reconnaissance



· Aviation support



Additionally, the bill would allow the Secretary of Defense to authorize additional troops should operational control of the U.S. border not be achieved with the first 10,000 deployed.



In addition to the National Guard Border Enforcement Act, Congressman Poe has been a leading advocate in Washington to secure our borders. For a list of sponsored and cosponsored border security legislation, please click

Prior to serving in Congress, Congressman Poe served as a prosecutor and judge in Houston, Texas, for 30 years. Poe regularly travels to the southern border and is recognized by the Border Sheriffs Coalition as a top supporter of law enforcement and border security. Congressman Poe serves on the Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security; a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs; and serves as an Executive Member of the Immigration Reform Caucus.



Original cosponsors of the National Guard Border Enforcement Act include:

Rep. Lamar Smith (TX-21),

Rep. Pete Sessions (TX-32),

Rep. Pete Olson (TX-22),

Rep. Sam Johnson (TX-03),

Rep. John Carter (TX-31),

Rep. Kay Granger (TX-12),

Rep. Kenny Marchant (TX-24),

Rep. Ralph Hall (TX-04),

Rep. Ed Royce (CA-40),

Rep. Joe Barton (TX-06),

Rep. John Culberson (TX-07),

Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX-01),

Rep. Kevin Brady ( TX-08 ),

Rep. Michael McCaul (TX-10),

Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (MD-06),

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (MI-02),

Rep. John Shadegg (AZ-03),

Rep. John Fleming (LA-04),

Rep. Sam Graves (MO-06) and

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (CA-46).





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Texan wants Guard troops at states' call

Border governors could get up to 10,000 under GOP measure

By Jerry Seper

-

The Washington Times

8:02 p.m., Sunday, October 3, 2010



A Texas Republican who steadfastly has prodded the federal government to better secure the U.S.-Mexico border has introduced legislation requiring the Defense Department to make National Guard troops available to states on request.



Rep. Ted Poe, in response to what he called the federal governments failure to answer the repeated requests of border state governors to protect the nation's international borders, has offered the National Guard Border Enforcement Act to ensure that border states "have the needed resources to protect their citizens from the ongoing border-related violence."



The bill, endorsed by 20 other Republican members of the House, would authorize the secretary of defense to make 10,000 National Guard troops available on request from a U.S. governor. In addition, the troops would be paid for by the federal government and serve under the command of the requesting governor.



"The first duty of the federal government is to protect its people," Mr. Poe said. "Texans are tired of the federal governments failure to secure our borders and enforce our laws, yet at the same time running roughshod over state governments when they try to enforce the law and protect their citizens.



"The federal governments 'not our problem' attitude is unacceptable and this legislation will require the Defense Department to do what they were created to do — protect the people of this country and the dignity of our borders," he said.



Currently, the Defense Department has allocated only 250 National Guard troops for the entire 1,254-mile Texas-Mexico border and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has said Texas must pay for any additional troops to enforce existing federal immigration laws along the international border.



Rep. John Culberson, Texas Republican and one of the bill's co-sponsors, said the federal government is "directly responsible for enforcing existing laws to secure our borders and ensure the safe and legal movement of people, goods and commerce across our borders."



"Unfortunately, President Obama has failed in this effort, and it is now time for Congress to act," Mr. Culberson said. "There is a war on our southern border, and it is time to put an end to the horrific violence."



More than 28,000 people have been killed in Mexico's ongoing drug war, which U.S. authorities have said has spilled into the United States.



In September, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) posted signs along a major interstate highway in Arizona, warning travelers the area was unsafe because of drug and alien smugglers.



Pinal County, Ariz., Sheriff Paul Babeu, whose county lies at the center of major drug- and alien-smuggling routes to Phoenix and cities east and west, warned last month that Mexican drug cartels now control some parts of the state.



"This is going on here in Arizona," he said. "This is 70 to 80 miles from the border — 30 miles from the fifth-largest city in the United States."



Under the National Guard Border Enforcement Act, troops will be authorized to conduct armed vehicle and foot patrols on the U.S. southern border; interdict vehicles, vessels, aircraft or other, similar activities; search, seize and detain suspects; construct roads, fences and vehicle barriers; conduct search-and-rescue operations; gather intelligence; conduct surveillance and reconnaissance; and rely on aviation support.



Additionally, the bill would allow the secretary of defense to authorize additional troops should operational control of the U.S. border not be achieved with the first 10,000 National Guard troops deployed.



Mr. Poe, a former state judge and prosecutor, has been a longtime advocate of increased border security. Recently, he warned during a speech on the House floor that Americans were being targeted inside the United States, including fisherman on Falcon Lake in Zapata County, Texas, one of the best bass-fishing spots in the United States. The lake is part of the international boundary between Texas and Mexico.



"That piece of paradise has been intruded on this month by the lawlessness seeping over from the Mexican border," he said, noting that in two separate incidents, U.S. fishermen were robbed at gunpoint on the lake by Mexican pirates, who held AR-15 rifles to their heads.



On Thursday, a McAllen, Texas, man was fatally shot after being ambushed by six Mexican pirates in two boats on Falcon Lake. Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez identified the victim as David Michael Hartley, 30, who was riding with his wife on personal watercraft on the lake.



Sheriff Gonzalez told reporters that Mr. Hartley's wife tried circling back to pull him from the water, but she was forced to retreat after being fired at by the gunmen.



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



"Meanwhile, the border war continues," he said. "And that's just the way it is."



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