FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date: July 28, 2005

Contact: Tony Essalih (202) 225-2571

**Culberson Introduces Border Protection Corps Act of 2005**

Today, U.S. Representative John Culberson and 47 original cosponsors
introduced H.R. 3622 to create the Border Protection Corps made up of
citizen volunteers working as sworn law enforcement officers under the
command of the Governors of the border States and working "in
cooperation with State and local law enforcement officials...and the
United States Border Patrol."

Border Protection Corps operations and the costs of detaining, housing
and transporting foreign nationals taken into custody by the Corps or by
state and local law enforcement would be paid for using the \$6.8
billion in Homeland Security first responder funds that have been
sitting unspent and untouched in the U. S. Treasury for over two years.

The Border Protection Corps Act invokes Congress's power under Article
I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution to "provide for calling
forth...organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia... to execute
the Laws of the Union," which H.R. 3622 defines as "patrolling and
defending the international border" of the United States "in order to
prevent individuals from crossing the international border...at any
location other than an authorized port of entry."

Congressman Culberson said, "H.R. 3622 is necessary because federal
authorities do not have the manpower or the resources to protect
America\'s international borders, and we now have sworn testimony by top
federal law enforcement officials that potential terrorists from
countries with known Al Qaeda connections are entering the United States
in significant numbers by assuming false Hispanic identities and hiding
among the flood of illegal immigrants pouring across our southern
border.

"Extremely violent and dangerous criminal gangs like MS-13 and drug
smugglers are also crossing our southern borders in growing numbers, and
lawlessness in the area around Nuevo Laredo has grown so severe their
Chief of Police was shot dead.

"9/11 deputized all Americans, but not all Americans can serve in our
military or join the FBI or Homeland Security and fight the war on
terror in the front lines. H.R. 3622 enables law-abiding American
citizens to help defend our country as a member of a lawful militia
force organized into a modern neighborhood watch border patrol program
under the direct control of the State\'s governor and working in close
cooperation with State and Federal law enforcement authorities.

"America\'s best defense against terrorists trying to sneak into our
country is to trust the good hearts and the good sense of American
citizens who have stepped up over and over again since the days of
Lexington and Concord to protect their neighborhoods and their country
by filling every breach in our national security as members of the
militia until federal authorities could come forward to relieve them."

H.R. 3622 states that Border Protection Corps members "shall include
only United States citizens with no criminal history and no history of
mental illness." Corps members must "take an oath to uphold the laws and
Constitution of the United States and of the State... and shall have the
right to keep and bear arms... \[and can\] use any means and any force
authorized by state law to prevent individuals from unlawfully entering
United States \[or\] to take into custody individuals who have so
entered the United States."

H.R. 3622 would only take effect in those border States whose Governors
call for volunteers to serve, and eligible citizens from any State in
the Union can serve in the Border Protection Corps of that State. The
Governor who called for volunteers to serve must follow State law "to
equip, train, discipline, and otherwise control the operation of such
militia forces in defense of the international borders of the United
States..."

Foreign nationals entering the United States illegally who are taken
into custody by the Border Protection Corps or by State or local law
enforcement authorities must be "promptly delivered to a federal law
enforcement authority." The foreign national cannot be released in the
United States but must be removed to the country from which they entered
the U.S., but "only after federal law enforcement authorities are fully
satisfied that each individual so removed is not a violent or dangerous
criminal, a terrorist or a potential terrorist, in which case that
individual shall be prosecuted in the United States to the fullest
extent provided by law."

**Original Cosponsors:** Todd Akin, Roscoe Bartlett, Henry Bonilla,
Henry Brown, Michael Burgess, Dan Burton, John Carter, Barbara Cubin, Jo
Ann Davis, Nathan Deal, John Doolittle, John Duncan, Louie Gohmert,
Virgil Goode, Gil Gutknecht, Ralph Hall, JD Hayworth, Wally Herger,
Ernest Istook, Sam Johnson, Walter Jones, Ron Lewis, Michael McCaul,
Patrick McHenry, Kenny Marchant, John Mica, Jeff Miller, Sue Myrick,
Charlie Norwood, Butch Otter, Mike Pence, Joe Pitts, Ted Poe, Tom Price,
Mike Rogers (AL), Dana Rohrabacher, Ed Royce, Joe Schwarz, Mike Simpson,
Lamar Smith, John Sullivan, Tom Tancredo, Zach Wamp, Lynn Westmoreland,
Joe Wilson, Don Young\</P\>

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