Speech #1140007518

PALMER. I appreciate it. Just to elaborate a little bit on what my colleague was talking about. the challenge we havethe men and women in Border Patrol are doing the best they can. They are my constituents as well. I really appreciate them every day putting on the uniform and doing the job they are doing. But the strategy is not working for those who live in these rural areas near the border. and we need a strategy that pushes our intelligence deeper south of the border. using intelligence -driven operations. so that we can use some of these airborne assets and radars in order to detect the cartel activity. detect the movement. monitor the movement. Then these forward operating bases are critical. The billin consultation with the chairman. they agreed to add in two forward operating bases in Tucson to get the Border Patrol operating right at the border so that we can either prevent the activity or they can very quickly respond to it when they see a breach happening. a challenging response time if they are further inland or in some of the tougher terrain. So some of the things that I added into an amendment to address this issue are related to the fact that right now they are focused on defense in depth. So sometimes we are seeing mules and traffickersand I will show a picture hereoftentimes. 30. 40. 50 miles inland. This is just one example of mules with packs on their backs. So they are trafficking across private property while they are moving into the defense indepth strategy. and that is just not working. So we have got to get the Border Patrol closer to the border. I offered an amendment. I am glad the committee agreed to it. to get the Border Patrol closer to the border. have them patrolling on the south side of John Ladds ranch and not on the north side. Have those forward operating bases manned to the max extent possible and also developing a quick reaction capability. so that when we see the activity happening. they can quickly getespecially in these areas of tough terrainto stop the activity or intercept it as soon as possible when it comes over the border. because this. again. if they are coming through Mr. Ladds ranch and some of the other ranchers. they dont know who it is.