Speech #1050060661

I thought it was important to come out and just say a few things about that specifically. First. there is a broken down railway between San Diego and points east that goes mainly and starts out in the district of the gentleman from California . goes mainly through in terms of mileage. through my district going east. but I do not think that is really relevant. whose district it goes through. I think what probably is more relevant is the commentary that was elicited recently from the gentleman from Texas who is one of our esteemed Members of Congress. former Border Patrol chief in El Paso. And if my colleagues walk through this problem with him with respect to border control problems. that is. having a shorttrack rail line that actually goes into Mexico. This is the area in Mexico where we are now having fire fights between border patrolmen and smuggling elements on the other side of the border. goes into Mexico. goes through about 50. 60 miles of rugged country. comes back along a series of precarious canyons. and then comes back into the United States. The gentleman from Texas has made a couple of statements with respect to that railroad that I think should be considered by any Member of Congress before they pass this thing. First. he said that this railroad will be vulnerable to robberies. just like the railroad in El Paso which was robbed 600 times last year. The gentleman from Texas himself in an interview. a television show that I did with him. mentioned he himself was in a gunfight between train robbers on the other side of the border and American Border Patrol agents on our side. In recent weeks we have had a series of fire fights. very brief fire fights. across the border where Border Patrol agents were shot at in some cases: in the first case. actually shot by drug agents on the other or by drug operatives on the other side. forced to return fire. and we have actually had more fire back and forth across the southwest border in the San Diego region than we have had in Bosnia in the same period of time. It is a very dangerous area. I would suggest that the gentleman from Texas should be listened to when he says. "First you should get the guarantee of the government of Mexico that they will. in fact. patrol that area on the Mexican side.