Speech #1090098976

I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. let me begin by thanking the chairman of our Homeland Security Committee for his allowing to move forward on this amendment. and more so for the protection he is now about to provide to many of our Border Patrol agents. I rise today to offer an amendment that would require all the uniforms worn by our Border Patrol agents to be made in America. Imagine yourself a Border Patrol agent who serves in harms way along this vast and violent border who dons the uniform of this Nation which is currently made in Mexico and which could easily fall into the wrong hands. As we speak. uniforms worn by our Border Patrol agents are manufactured in Mexico and could be easily lost or stolen or. worse yet. intentionally produced to undermine our border security efforts. These uniforms represent the law and order on our border. and allowing these uniforms to be made In America would minimize the possibilities that they could be procured by smugglers. terrorists. or others who pose great risk to our agents. In 1941. Congress passed the Berry amendment. which restricts the Department of Defense from procuring some military uniforms for national security purposes outside of them being manufactured in America. For over 60 years Congress has chosen to keep this policy in place. and yet every day on our border our agents are besieged by armed human smugglers and drug traffickers and those who want to use lethal means to target our agents. Just 2 years ago. the Border Patrol confiscated a smugglers vehicle down on the southwest border that was painted like a Border Patrol vehicle. While we may not be able to prevent individuals from painting trucks. we can surely stop them from getting these uniforms and from these uniforms falling into the wrong hands. Our Border Patrol agents need to be able to take pride in the uniforms they wear. They need to be secure in the knowledge that. when they are on the border peering into the darkness at night protecting us and when they are trying to determine whether the individual approaching them is friend or foe. that these uniforms are not being used as a tool against them. When our agents wake up each morning. they need to see the American flag and the "Made in U.S.A." label on their uniforms.