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24–608 PDF 2006

WEAK BILATERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT PRESENCE

AT THE U.S.-MEXICO BORDER: TERRITORIAL

INTEGRITY AND SAFETY ISSUES FOR AMERICAN

CITIZENS

JOINT HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME, TERRORISM, 

AND HOMELAND SECURITY

AND THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON IMMIGRATION, 

BORDER SECURITY, AND CLAIMS

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

NOVEMBER 17, 2005

Serial No. 109–90

Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://judiciary.house.gov 

(II)

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY 

F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR., Wisconsin, Chairman 

HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois 

HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina 

LAMAR SMITH, Texas 

ELTON GALLEGLY, California 

BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia 

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio 

DANIEL E. LUNGREN, California 

WILLIAM L. JENKINS, Tennessee 

CHRIS CANNON, Utah 

SPENCER BACHUS, Alabama 

BOB INGLIS, South Carolina 

JOHN N. HOSTETTLER, Indiana 

MARK GREEN, Wisconsin 

RIC KELLER, Florida 

DARRELL ISSA, California 

JEFF FLAKE, Arizona 

MIKE PENCE, Indiana 

J. RANDY FORBES, Virginia 

STEVE KING, Iowa 

TOM FEENEY, Florida 

TRENT FRANKS, Arizona 

LOUIE GOHMERT, Texas 

JOHN CONYERS, JR., Michigan 

HOWARD L. BERMAN, California 

RICK BOUCHER, Virginia 

JERROLD NADLER, New York 

ROBERT C. SCOTT, Virginia 

MELVIN L. WATT, North Carolina 

ZOE LOFGREN, California 

SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas 

MAXINE WATERS, California 

MARTIN T. MEEHAN, Massachusetts 

WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts 

ROBERT WEXLER, Florida 

ANTHONY D. WEINER, New York 

ADAM B. SCHIFF, California 

LINDA T. SA ́ NCHEZ, California 

CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland 

DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Florida

PHILIP G. KIKO, General Counsel-Chief of Staff 

PERRY H. APELBAUM, Minority Chief Counsel 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME, TERRORISM, AND HOMELAND SECURITY

HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina, Chairman

DANIEL E. LUNGREN, California 

MARK GREEN, Wisconsin 

TOM FEENEY, Florida 

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio 

RIC KELLER, Florida 

JEFF FLAKE, Arizona 

MIKE PENCE, Indiana 

J. RANDY FORBES, Virginia 

LOUIE GOHMERT, Texas 

ROBERT C. SCOTT, Virginia 

SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas 

MAXINE WATERS, California 

MARTIN T. MEEHAN, Massachusetts 

WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts 

ANTHONY D. WEINER, New York

MICHAEL VOLKOV, Acting Chief Counsel 

ELIZABETH SOKUL, Special Counsel for Intelligence 

and Homeland Security 

JASON CERVENAK, Full Committee Counsel 

BOBBY VASSAR, Minority Counsel 

(III)

SUBCOMMITTEE ON IMMIGRATION, BORDER SECURITY, AND CLAIMS

JOHN N. HOSTETTLER, Indiana, Chairman

STEVE KING, Iowa 

LOUIE GOHMERT, Texas 

LAMAR SMITH, Texas 

ELTON GALLEGLY, California 

BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia 

DANIEL E. LUNGREN, California 

JEFF FLAKE, Arizona 

BOB INGLIS, South Carolina 

DARRELL ISSA, California 

SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas 

HOWARD L. BERMAN, California 

ZOE LOFGREN, California 

LINDA T. SA ́ NCHEZ, California 

MAXINE WATERS, California 

MARTIN T. MEEHAN, Massachusetts

GEORGE FISHMAN, Chief Counsel 

ART ARTHUR, Counsel 

ALLISON BEACH, Counsel 

LUKE BELLOCCHI, Full Committee Counsel 

CINDY BLACKSTON, Professional Staff 

NOLAN RAPPAPORT, Minority Counsel 

(V)

C O N T E N T S 

NOVEMBER 17, 2005

OPENING STATEMENT 

Page 

The Honorable Howard Coble, a Representative in Congress from the State 

of North Carolina, and Chairman, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and 

Homeland Security ............................................................................................... 1

The Honorable John N. Hostettler, a Representative in Congress from the 

State of Indiana, and Chairman, Subcommittee on Immigration, Border 

Security, and Claims ............................................................................................ 2

The Honorable Robert C. Scott, a Representative in Congress from the State 

of Virginia, and Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, 

and Homeland Security ....................................................................................... 3

The Honorable Darrell Issa, a Representative in Congress from the State 

of California, and Member, Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, 

and Claims ............................................................................................................ 4

The Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, a Representative in Congress from the 

State of Texas, and Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims, and Member, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, 

and Homeland Security ....................................................................................... 32

WITNESSES 

Mr. Chris Swecker, Assistant Director, Criminal Investigative Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation 

Oral Testimony ..................................................................................................... 6

Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 8

Mr. William Reid, Acting Assistant Director, Office of Investigations, U.S. 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Department of Homeland Security 

Oral Testimony ..................................................................................................... 10

Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 13

Mr. Reynaldo Garza, Deputy Chief Patrol Agent, Office of Border Patrol, 

Rio Grande Valley Sector, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Department of Homeland Security 

Oral Testimony ..................................................................................................... 20

Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 21

Mr. T.J. Bonner, President, National Border Patrol Council, American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO 

Oral Testimony ..................................................................................................... 23

Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 25

LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING 

Prepared Statement of the Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, a Representative 

in Congress from the State of Texas, Member of Subcommittee on Crime, 

Terrorism, and Homeland Security .................................................................... 32

Article submitted by the Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee: ‘‘8 People Accused 

of Smuggling Girls for Prostitution,’’ Houston Chronicle (November 15, 

2005) ...................................................................................................................... 034

Page

VI

APPENDIX 

MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING RECORD

Reponses to questions for the Record from Chris Swecker, Assistant Director, 

Federal Bureau of Investigation ......................................................................... 50

Responses to questions for the Record from Ray Garza, Deputy Chief Patrol 

Agent, U.S. Customs and Border Protection ...................................................... 55

Responses to questions for the Record from William Reid, Acting Assistant 

Director, Office of Investigations, U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement ...................................................................................................................... 56

(1)

WEAK BILATERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT PRESENCE AT THE U.S.-MEXICO BORDER: TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY AND SAFETY ISSUES 

FOR AMERICAN CITIZENS 

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2005

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME, TERRORISM, AND HOMELAND SECURITY

AND

SUBCOMMITTEE ON IMMIGRATION,

BORDER SECURITY, AND CLAIMS, 

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, 

Washington, DC.

The Subcommittees met, pursuant to notice, at 10:02 a.m., in 

Room 2141, Rayburn House Office Building, the Honorable Howard 

Coble and the Honorable John Hostettler (Chairmen of the Subcommittees] presiding. 

Mr. COBLE. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Today the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security and the 

Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims convene a very important oversight hearing of the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to examine the security and safety of 

the United States citizens living along and traveling between the 

Mexican/United States border. Recently, there have been numerous 

reports outlining the increase of violence in the region surrounding 

Laredo, Texas, and the city across the Mexican border, Nuevo Laredo. Most of the violence is attributed to the drug-trafficking activities in this region and specifically to a group known as ‘‘The 

Zetas.’’ The Zetas are an enforcement arm of Gulf Cartel, one of the 

largest drug cartels in Mexico. This panel is concerned about these 

reports and looks forward to hearing the Departments’ response to 

these accounts and the efforts being utilized to combat the crime 

and violence in that region. 

The Zetas were originally recruited from a group of Mexican Special Forces trained to locate and apprehend drug traffickers. However, in 1998, they were recruited by the Gulf Cartel to aid in their 

illegal operations, specifically to kidnap and kill rival drug traffickers. Additionally, they are now responsible for the safe passage 

of illegal narcotics moving through the region and eventually into 

the United States. According to the Mexican Attorney General’s office, there were originally 31 deserters that comprised the core 

2

group of the Zetas but have since recruited more, and their ranks 

are estimated to be as large as 200. 

The Zetas have successfully cultivated an atmosphere of fear 

along the border region around Laredo. Since last year, at least 170 

people have gone missing throughout the region, 43 of whom are 

Americans from Laredo, Texas. Additionally, there have been more 

than 105 executions in Nuevo Laredo this year as a result of the 

drug violence. 

An article in the February 20, 2005, issue of the Dallas Morning 

News reported that some members of the Zetas are operating in 

North Texas and had hired gang members and other criminals to 

conduct contract killings. The article claimed that the Zetas were 

responsible for three murders in Dallas in 2004 and were responsible for numerous murders along the U.S.-Mexican border. Finally, 

the article claims that the Zetas would be willing to use violence 

against law enforcement officials who stand in their way. In fact, 

numerous police officers in Nuevo Laredo have been shot and killed 

during recent attacks attributed to the Zetas. A telling example of 

the ruthlessness and audacity exemplified by the Zetas is the assassination of Nuevo Laredo police chief Alejandro Dominguez who 

was gunned down a mere 6 hours after being sworn into office. 

The situation became so tenuous that in August of this year, 

United States Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza closed the United 

States Consulate in Nuevo Laredo due to escalating violence. While 

the State Department did not issue an official travel warning to 

U.S. citizens traveling to this region, this panel is deeply concerned 

for the safety and well-being of our citizens who do frequent the region, many on a daily basis. In order to successfully stem this tide 

of violence, our Federal law enforcement agencies must not only cooperate with one another, but must actively involve the State and 

local law enforcement as well. Additionally, Federal law enforcement agencies need to be willing and able to cooperate and collaborate with their Mexican counterparts. While I recognize that there 

were problems of corruption facing the Nuevo Laredo police department, there certainly must be Mexican Federal agencies with 

whom we can work cooperatively together, it seems to me. We need 

to be addressing this assault on the American safety on the other 

side of the border before it spills into the United States. A very 

dangerous criminal element is at our doorstep and knocking. What 

are we going to do to turn them away? 

I am now pleased to recognize the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims, the distinguished gentleman from Indiana, Mr. Hostettler, and he will be 

followed by the distinguished gentleman from Virginia, Bobby 

Scott, the Ranking Member on our Subcommittee, and Ms. Jackson 

Lee, who I think is en route. Other Members, without objection, 

will be able to have their opening statements made a part of the 

record. 

The gentleman from Indiana. 

Mr. HOSTETTLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I want to 

thank you for this opportunity for a joint hearing between our Subcommittee and the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security. And I am glad that we are having this joint hearing 

now as we are holding a series of hearings, including one at 2 p.m. 

3

later today on the impact of illegal aliens on Members’ constituencies. 

A number of Representatives from the border region testified at 

these hearings about crime rates in their district. We discussed evidence of higher crime rates in the counties along the border, as 

well as the inverse relationship between more Border Patrol enforcement and the number of property and violent crimes in those 

regions. In fact, I hope that one Member from California will testify 

on that this afternoon as part of that continuing series. 

If crime in the border counties decreases with better Border Patrol enforcement, and there is a high rate of very violent crime 

along the border, as this hearing will expose. It should be a nobrainer that increasing law enforcement presence in the region is 

a ‘‘must do’’ if we are to stop those violent elements from settling 

in the United States. 

We owe it to the Americans who live in that area who suffer the 

onslaught of lawlessness across the border every day. When every 

new police chief of Nuevo Laredo is assassinated within days of 

taking office, how can Americans living in Laredo sleep at night? 

In fact, knowing how porous the Southwest border is, and the free 

flow of illegal aliens into this country from those very violent regions, it is a wonder any of us get much sleep. 

I am also very glad that we are holding a joint hearing with the 

Crime Subcommittee. This is an area of mutual interest. As I just 

mentioned, we need more law enforcement presence in the region. 

That means all kinds of law enforcement. So I am glad to see here 

the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Customs and Border Protection. 

Each of these agencies plays a pivotal role in guarding against 

the entry of illegal narcotics, weapons, illegal aliens, criminals, and 

violent elements from coming into the United States. That is why 

I am happy to hear that joint task forces, such as ‘‘Operation Black 

Jack,’’ let by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Laredo, are 

bringing different law enforcement agencies together for the same 

overall mission. Cooperation among agencies down there is optimal 

under this program, and I can only see it continuing. 

Nevertheless, they need our support, both in getting the word out 

on their good deeds and the need for better resources. My esteemed 

colleague Mr. Smith of Texas sent out a ‘‘Dear Colleague’’ letter 

earlier this month titled ‘‘Number of Assaults on Border Patrol 

Agents Nearly Doubles.’’ According to the Los Angeles Times, Border Patrol agents are increasingly assaulted with rocks, Molotov 

cocktails, and gunfire. There have been nearly 700 incidents in the 

past fiscal year. In June, Border Patrol agents were injured by gunfire in a shootout with drug thugs along the border. 

If these things do not demonstrate the need for more resources 

to be committed for law enforcement to stem the ‘‘quiet invasion of 

violence’’ from the Southwest border, I really do not know what 

will. I look forward to the Government’s presentation and yield 

back the balance of my time. 

Mr. COBLE. I thank the gentleman from Indiana. 

The distinguished gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Bobby Scott. 

Mr. SCOTT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank you and 

Chairman Hostettler and the gentlelady from Texas, Ms. Jackson 

4

Lee, for holding this joint oversight hearing on ‘‘Weak Bilateral 

Law Enforcement Presence at the U.S.-Mexico Border Area: Territorial Integrity and Safe Issues—Safety Issues for American Citizens.’’ Obviously, just from the title of the hearing, we have a serious issue to consider, so I want to thank you for bringing this Committee together. 

I’d also like to thank the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Cuellar, for 

effectively working on this issue and bringing a lot of information 

to us. I want to thank him for his hard work and dedication. 

Mr. Chairman, recent reports of sensational crime and violence 

on the Southwest border in the Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, 

Mexico, area are shocking. Attacks on law enforcement, 

kidnappings on both the Mexican and American side of the border 

for ransom or worse, drug and human smuggling by drug cartels, 

and international gangs and more all sound like something out of 

an over-dramatized movie. While much of it occurs on the Mexican 

side of the border, a great deal involves American citizens, and 

some occurring on the American side of the border. 

The temporary closing of the American consulate office in Nuevo 

Laredo following a series of State Department warnings to Americans is an indication that something needs to be done. 

So, Mr. Chairman, I look forward to the testimony of our witnesses on what needs to be done by Congress to get a handle on 

these disturbing developments, and I would yield the balance of my 

time to the gentleman from California, Mr. Issa, who has also been 

very active on this issue. 

Mr. COBLE. The gentleman is recognized. 

Mr. ISSA. Thank you, and I’ll be very brief. 

I’ve looked at the testimony, and I look forward to hearing both 

the testimony and your comments and response to questions. But 

I hope that we can include in the tone of today’s hearing not the 

success or failure of law enforcement when it comes to the officers 

at the border, the interior enforcement, but the failure to deal with 

what is done after the criminals leave you. Criminal aliens are, in 

fact, being returned without prosecution in San Diego and all along 

the border. Gangs in our cities, including Los Angeles and other 

major cities, operate with known illegals who are not sought out for 

that purpose and simply allowed to be treated like any other 

‘‘American gang member,’’ waiting until they’ve committed a violent felony before anything is done. Coyotes—I appreciate the fact 

that if a Coyote tries to run over a Border Patrol agent, Carol Lam, 

the U.S. Attorney in San Diego, will prosecute. But short of that, 

Coyotes are ignored and returned time after time after time and 

released. 

So my sympathy goes out to the four of you here because I believe that all of you are involved in trying to deal with the point 

of contact. But if we do not change what we do in the way of once 

you’ve apprehended or identified somebody and turning it into an 

effective prosecution and incarceration, to be honest—and I hope to 

hear more in your responses—I think that we are kidding ourselves 

that catch and release is simply not going to work. Catch and release says that if somebody doesn’t do something violently, we are 

going to simply release them back and obviously allow them to continue to be operating illegally in this country. 

5

So I hope you will comment on that, and I thank the gentleman 

for yielding time. 

Mr. COBLE. I thank the gentleman from California. 

We have also been joined by the distinguished gentleman from 

Florida, Mr. Feeney, and, as has been mentioned, Mr. Cuellar. 

Henry, good to have you here. Mr. Cuellar represents the Laredo 

area in his congressional district, and he does not sit as a Member 

of the Judiciary Committee, but it is good to have you here, Henry. 

Gentlemen, it is the practice of the Subcommittee to swear in all 

witnesses appearing before it, so if you would please stand and 

raise your right hands. 

[Witnesses sworn.] 

Mr. COBLE. Let the record show that each of the witnesses answered in the affirmative, and you may be seated. 

Ladies and gentlemen, we have four distinguished witnesses 

with us today. Our first witness is Chris Swecker, Assistant Director of the Criminal Investigative Division of the Federal Bureau of 

Investigation. Prior to this assignment, Mr. Swecker served in various positions, including special agent in charge of the Charlotte, 

North Carolina, Field Office and as inspector in the Inspection Division. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Appalachian State 

University and his J.D. from Wake Forest School of Law. 

Mr. Swecker, I know Appalachian State very well and very favorably, and it’s good to have a Mountaineer on the panel. 

Our second witness today, Mr. William Reid, the Acting Assistant Director of Investigations for the United States Immigration 

and Customs Enforcement. Previously, Mr. Reid served as the special agent in charge for ICE in Philadelphia, where he oversaw all 

criminal investigations of violations of immigration and customs 

laws in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and West Virginia. He holds an 

undergraduate degree from George Washington University and a 

law degree from George Mason University. 

Our third witness is Mr. Reynaldo Garza, Deputy Chief Patrol 

Agent of the Rio Grande Valley Sector of the U.S. Customs and 

Border Protection. Prior to this position, Mr. Garza served as Assistant Chief Patrol Agent and as Deputy Assistant Regional Director for the Central Region Headquarters in Dallas. Mr. Garza started his career with the Border Patrol at the Laredo station in 1975 

and is a graduate of Texas A&M University at Laredo. 

Our final witness today is Mr. T.J. Bonner, President of the National Border Patrol Council, an organization representing about 

10,000 U.S. Border Patrol employees. Mr. Bonner joined the Border 

Patrol in 1978 and was subsequently promoted to senior Border Patrol agent in 1987. As a 27-year veteran Border Patrol agent, Mr. 

Bonner has the experience to discuss with firsthand knowledge the 

major issues affecting immigration and border security policy 

today. He is a graduate of the Los Angeles Valley College. 

Gentlemen, we operate here on the 5-minute rule. Now, you will 

not be keel-hauled if you violate that rule, but when you see that 

red light appear before you on the panel in front of you, that is 

your warning. When the amber light appears, you will have 1 

minute to go, so at that point if you could wrap up. We have examined your written testimony, and it will be re-examined. 

6

I don’t know, Bobby and John, of any issue that has come before 

us that is probably any more vital than what we are discussing 

today. And we are delighted to have you all with us. And, Mr. 

Swecker, incidentally, I have another meeting at 11:30, so when I 

abruptly depart, if we are not through, don’t think that’s an indication of lack of interest in this subject, because it’s not. But I will 

surrender the podium to the gentleman from Indiana at that time. 

Mr. Swecker, why don’t you start us off. 

TESTIMONY OF CHRIS SWECKER, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, 

CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE DIVISION, FEDERAL BUREAU OF 

INVESTIGATION 

Mr. SWECKER. Good morning, Chairman Coble and Chairman 

Hostettler and Ranking Members and Members of the Committee. 

We appreciate the opportunity to be here today. As you know, the 

bloody drama that is taking place in the South Texas border region 

in the area between Del Rio and Brownsville revolves around the 

Gulf Cartel drug-trafficking organization which dominates the region and commands smuggling operations along this stretch of the 

Southwest border, American Southwest. One of their enforcement 

groups, known as Los Zetas, bears primary responsibility for the violence. They have been fighting a turf war on behalf of the Gulf 

Cartel against rival drug-trafficking organizations. Because the Bureau focuses on large-scale criminal enterprise investigations which 

target the command and control structures of criminal groups, we 

think we are well positioned to help dismantle these trafficking organizations. 

One of the most significant ramifications of the unrest along the 

border has been a string of kidnappings involving U.S. citizens. Between May of 2004 and May of 2005, there have been 35 reported 

abductions of U.S. citizens in this region. Thirty-four occurred in 

Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and involved U.S. citizens who had crossed 

the border. Twenty-three victims were released by their captors, 

nine victims remain missing, and two are confirmed dead. These 

numbers likely represent only a fraction of the actual occurrences, 

because many kidnappings of U.S. citizens go unreported. Two reasons exist for the underreporting of these abductions. First, victims 

and their families fear reprisals from the kidnappers; and, second, 

many of the victims are alleged to be involved in drug trafficking. 

The San Antonio Division of the FBI has 26 pending kidnapping 

cases. We have offered all available resources to assist Mexican law 

enforcement and have followed every domestic lead to locate these 

kidnapping victims. 

The Laredo Resident Agency received complaints from families of 

U.S. citizens Janet Martinez and Brenda Yadira Cisneros after 

they disappeared in September of 2004 in Nuevo Laredo. They remain missing. Investigation revealed that alleged members of Los 

Zetas kidnapped those two individuals. Mexican authorities have 

cooperated, and we’re working and reviewing the evidence with 

them in this matter. 

The San Antonio Division of the FBI has over 50 OCDETF—Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force—investigations. 

These are joint investigations by definition. These target Mexican 

drug-trafficking organizations and related activities, including 

7

money laundering and gang violence. One of the investigations, Operation Cazadores, led to the indictment of Gulf Cartel leader Osiel 

Cardenas-Guillen. The investigation continues to pursue fugitive 

Gulf Cartel leaders indicted along with Guillen. Other pending investigations in Laredo, Houston, and Dallas focus on the leadership 

of these organizations. 

These Mexican drug cartels responsible for border violence have 

also cemented ties to street and prison gangs on the U.S. side. U.S. 

gangs retail drugs purchased from Mexican traffickers and often 

work as cartel surrogates or enforces on U.S. soil. Intelligence suggests Los Zetas have hired members of various gangs at different 

times, including the Mexican Mafia, Texas Syndicate, MS-13, and 

Hermanos Pistoleros Latinos, to further their criminal endeavors. 

The FBI is well equipped to deal with these groups. In conjunction 

with our law enforcement partners, we have established a National 

Gang Intelligence Center at FBI Headquarters. In addition, we 

have established task forces throughout the country to disrupt the 

gang activity. The San Antonio Division currently operates two 

Safe Street-Gang task forces addressing border violence in San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley. 

The FBI continues to collect and share intelligence with other 

Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies. Through Safe 

Streets task forces, we are collecting the intelligence and exploring 

the connections between the cartels and the gangs. We are participating in ‘‘Operation Black Jack,’’ an interagency endeavor led by 

ICE in conjunction with Mexican authorities. Through this program we have exchanged vital targeting intelligence on Los Zetas 

and the Gulf Cartel with our law enforcement colleagues, including 

ATF, DEA, ICE, and other appropriate elements of DHS. More 

broadly, at the core of our intelligence-gathering effort lies the 

FBI’s McAllen Intelligence Center, the MIC. It is comprised of representatives from all of those agencies just mentioned. It is a central repository for border violence-related intelligence. It collects 

and analyzes criminal intelligence from all law enforcement agencies along the border. The center routinely shares that intelligence 

with Mexican officials and over 300 law enforcement agencies in 

South Texas. This includes materials involving Mexican officials, 

gang activities along the border, and drug trafficking. 

We have had several operational successes along the border. 

Some of the information that has been disseminated by the MIC 

has led to the raiding and search of two Zeta safe houses where 

44 kidnapping victims were rescued. We have met with our Mexican counterparts and discussed the location of several suspected 

Zeta-owned ranches. Based on information furnished by the FBI, 

Mexican authorities conducted surveillance of the locations and 

provided us with the intelligence. 

The FBI is taking proactive measures to assess and confront this 

heightened threat to public safety on both sides of the border, including participation in multiple bilateral, multiagency meetings 

and working groups to hone strategies to address the problem. Our 

intelligence provide windows into these organizations and their operations while our investigative efforts strive to disrupt and dismantle these criminal organizations and reduce violence in the regions. 

8

1Much larger numbers of Mexican citizens have been abducted along the border. From January to mid August 2005, 202 kidnappings occurred in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, the Gulf 

Cartel’s operational center which includes the cities of Matamoros, Nuevo Laredo, and Reynosa. 

Paramilitary groups such as Los Zetas and Los Negros, which is 

the group that supports Chapo Guzman and what is known as the 

Federation, which is in opposition to the Gulf Cartel and has resulted in most of the violence down in that region, work for, these 

paramilitary groups work for the cartels as enforcers and are a serious threat to public safety on both sides of the border. We have 

documented kidnappings and forays that go across the border into 

the U.S. part, where in one case they have even attempted to kill— kidnap and kill a U.S. law enforcement officer, a Laredo police officer. They are well financed and well equipped. Their willingness to 

shoot and kill law enforcement officers on both sides of the border 

make these paramilitary groups among the most dangerous criminal enterprises in North America. Working with our local and Federal partners and the Government of Mexico, we continue to investigate these cartels and their paramilitary enforces, gathering evidence for prosecution where U.S. jurisdiction exists. 

Thank you for the opportunity to be here again. I am happy to 

answer any questions. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Swecker follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF CHRIS SWECKER

Good afternoon Mr. Chairmen, Ranking Members, and Members of the Subcommittees. I appreciate this opportunity to discuss the FBI’s efforts to combat recent violence along the South Texas border with Mexico. The region between the 

Texas cities of Del Rio and Brownsville has experienced high levels of drug-related 

turmoil since 2003. The focal point of much of this activity is Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, 

a border city situated directly across the Rio Grande River from Laredo, Texas. 

Drug traffickers have exacted an especially bloody toll in Nuevo Laredo and neighboring Mexican towns. Significant levels of violence and drug-related criminal activity also plague Laredo. As you know, this bloody drama revolves around the Gulf 

Cartel drug trafficking organization which dominates the region and commands 

smuggling operations along this stretch of the American southwest. One of their enforcement groups, known as Los Zetas bears primary responsibility for the violence. 

They have been fighting a turf war on behalf of the Gulf Cartel against rival drug 

trafficking organizations. Because the Bureau focuses on large-scale enterprise investigations which target the command and control structures of criminal groups, 

we are well suited to help dismantle these trafficking organizations. 

KIDNAPPINGS

One of the most significant ramifications of the unrest along the border has been 

a string of kidnappings involving US citizens. Between May 2004 and May 2005, 

there have been 35 reported abductions of US citizens in this region.1 Thirty-four 

of these abductions occurred in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and involved US citizens who 

had crossed the border. Twenty-three victims were released by their captors, nine 

victims remain missing, and two are confirmed dead. These numbers likely represent only a fraction of the actual occurrences, because many kidnappings of US 

citizens go unreported. There are two reasons for the underreporting of abductions 

along the border. First, victims and their families fear reprisal from kidnappers. 

Second, since many victims are alleged to be involved in drug trafficking, they and 

their families are reluctant to cooperate with law enforcement. The San Antonio Division has 26 pending kidnapping cases. We have offered all available resources to 

assist Mexican law enforcement and have followed every domestic lead to locate the 

US kidnapping victims. 

The Laredo Resident Agency received complaints from the families of US citizens 

Janet Yvette Martinez and Brenda Yadira Cisneros after they disappeared on September 17, 2004 in Nuevo Laredo. They remain missing. Investigation revealed that 

alleged members of Los Zetas kidnapped Martinez and Cisneros. Mexican authorities have cooperated and we are working with them to review evidence in this case. 

9

The FBI has interviewed all cooperative kidnapping victims subsequent to their 

release. In cases where the victim remains missing, we have tried to obtain DNA 

samples to identify any human remains, if recovered. In the one case where the kidnapping occurred within the United States (Laredo), the FBI helped rescue the victim before he was transported to Mexico. This investigation is pending and the Assistant United States Attorneys in Laredo and Houston are pursuing charges. 

INVESTIGATIONS TARGETING CARTEL ACTIVITY

The San Antonio Division has over 50 Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task 

Force (OCDETF) investigations. These target Mexican drug trafficking organizations 

and related activities including money laundering and gang violence. One of the investigations, Operation Cazadores, led to the indictment of Gulf Cartel leader Osiel 

Cardenas-Guillen. The investigation continues to pursue fugitive Gulf Cartel leaders 

indicted along with Cardenas-Guillen. Other pending investigations in Laredo, 

Houston, and Dallas, Texas focus on the leadership of organizations affiliated with 

Cardenas-Guillen. 

GANG ACTIVITY 

Mexican drug cartels responsible for recent border violence have also cemented 

ties to street and prison gangs on the US side. US gangs retail drugs purchased 

from Mexican traffickers and often work as cartel surrogates or enforcers on US soil. 

Intelligence suggests Los Zetas have hired members of various gangs at different 

times including the Mexican Mafia, Texas Syndicate, MS-13, and Hermanos 

Pistoleros Latinos to further their criminal endeavors. The FBI is well-equipped to 

deal with these groups. The Bureau, in conjunction with our law enforcement partners has established a National Gang Intelligence Center at FBI Headquarters. In 

addition, we have established task forces throughout the country to disrupt gang activity. The FBI’s San Antonio Division currently operates two Safe Street/Gang task 

forces addressing border violence in San Antonio, and the Rio Grand Valley. These 

FBI-led task forces include FBI Special Agents, other Federal Agents and local law 

enforcement officers.

• The San Antonio Safe Streets/Gang Task Force is comprised of nine FBI Special Agents and 13 task force officers.

• The Rio Grande Valley Safe Streets/Gang Task Force is comprised of eight 

FBI Special Agents and five task force officers. 

INTELLIGENCE GATHERING

The FBI continues to collect and share intelligence with other federal, state, and 

local law enforcement agencies. Through Safe Streets task forces, we are collecting 

intelligence and exploring the connections between Mexican cartels and gangs along 

the border. We are participating in Operation Blackjack, an interagency endeavor 

in conjunction with Mexican authorities. Through this program we have exchanged 

vital targeting intelligence on Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel with our law enforcement colleagues including DEA, ATF, and appropriate elements of DHS. More 

broadly, at the core of our intelligence-gathering effort lies the FBI’s McAllen Intelligence Center. The MIC, as it is commonly known, is comprised of representatives 

from various local, state, and federal agencies in Texas. This is the central repository for border violence-related intelligence. The MIC collects and analyzes criminal 

intelligence from state, local, and federal investigations along the Texas/Mexico border. The center routinely shares intelligence with Mexican officials and over 300 law 

enforcement agencies in South Texas. This includes material regarding corrupt 

Mexican officials, gang activity along the border, and drug trafficking. The McAllen 

Intelligence Center also maintains a comprehensive database of Zetas, their associates, and members of both the Gulf Cartel and its rivals. 

We have had several operational successes based on intelligence we have gathered 

and passed on to Mexican officials. Some of the information the FBI provided to 

Mexican officials helped Mexican federal and military authorities locate two Zeta 

safe houses in Nuevo Laredo in June 2005 where they rescued 44 kidnapping victims. FBI officials recently met with their Mexican counterparts and discussed the 

location of several suspected Zeta-owned ranches. Based on information furnished 

by the FBI, Mexican authorities conducted surveillance of the locations and provided 

us with the resulting intelligence. 

Eight FBI Special Agents in our Resolution 6 program cover five major cities in 

Mexico working in DEA offices which affords complete coordination with DEA resources and investigations. These agents develop intelligence regarding the activities of Mexican criminal enterprises to support US investigations. All of this work 

is coordinated with representatives from key DEA offices and Mexican officials. ReVerDate 0ct 09 2002 13:18 Apr 25, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 G:\WORK\CRIME\111705\24608.000 HJUD2 PsN: 24608
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cently Mexican authorities used FBI Resolution 6 intelligence to conduct several 

drug seizures including seven tons of marijuana attributed to Joaquin GuzmanLoera, arch rival of the Gulf Cartel. In September 2005, FBI Headquarters deployed 

analytical resources to Monterrey, Mexico, to provide case support. 

The FBI continues to aggressively pursue the major organizations and violent 

criminals responsible for lawlessness along the border. The FBI along with our colleagues at the Department of Homeland Security and Department of State are 

working with the Mexican Attorney General’s Office and the US Consulate in 

Monterrey to identify Los Zetas members and their associates in order to revoke 

their immigration documents. This measure will make it more difficult for them to 

enter and operate in the United States. We are also cooperating with other US law 

enforcement agencies in investigations targeting Los Zetas, the Gulf Cartel and 

their enemies. 

On October 13, 2005 the Attorney General announced the creation of an ATF-led 

Violent Crime Impact Team (VCIT) in Laredo, Texas. In combination with the 

VCITs already established in Los Angeles, Tucson, Albuquerque and Houston, the 

Laredo VCIT will address cross-border violence. The VCIT model combines local police resources with ATF investigative and technical expertise and the resources of 

ICE, CBP, and other federal law enforcement partners to reduce the violence that 

plagues our most crime-ridden communities. We look forward to working with our 

colleagues from ATF in combating gang violence and other violent crime along the 

border with Mexico. 

The FBI is taking pro-active measures to assess and confront this heightened 

threat to public safety on both sides of the US/Mexico border, including participation 

in multiple bi-lateral multi-agency meetings and working groups to hone strategies 

to address the problem. Our intelligence gathering activities provide windows into 

these organizations and their operations while our investigative efforts strive to disrupt and dismantle these criminal organizations and reduce the violence in the region. 

Para-military groups such as the Zetas, Los Negros, Los Numeros, and others who 

work for Mexican drug cartels as enforcers are a serious threat to public safety on 

both sides of the entire U.S./Mexico border. They are well financed and well 

equipped. Their willingness to shoot and kill law enforcement officers on both sides 

of the border make these para-military groups among the most dangerous criminal 

enterprises in North America. Working with our federal, state, and local partners, 

and the Government of Mexico, the FBI continues to investigate these cartels and 

their para-military enforcers, gathering evidence for prosecution where U.S. jurisdiction exists. 

Thank you again for the opportunity to be here today. I would be happy to answer 

any questions.

Mr. COBLE. I thank you, Mr. Swecker. 

In the sense of fairness, Mr. Swecker had 6 minutes, so you all 

will be allowed 6 minutes as well. Mr. Reid. 

TESTIMONY OF WILLIAM REID, ACTING ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, 

OFFICE OF INVESTIGATIONS, U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY 

Mr. REID. Good morning, Chairmen Coble and Hostettler, Ranking Member Scott, and Subcommittee Members. Thank you for the 

opportunity to speak with you today about U.S. Immigration and 

Customs Enforcement and our ongoing efforts to improve the security situation along the Mexican/United States border, specifically 

in the Laredo and Nuevo Laredo areas. ICE is working closely with 

a number of agencies and organizations in both the United States 

and Mexico regarding ‘‘Operation Black Jack,’’ an ICE-coordinated 

initiative. ICE brings to bear all of its law enforcement and investigative powers in ‘‘Operation Black Jack’’ to make the border safer 

by attacking the smuggling organizations that operate on both 

sides of the border. 

ICE’s mission is to protect the American people by using our law 

enforcement and investigative authorities to prevent acts of terVerDate 0ct 09 2002 13:18 Apr 25, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 G:\WORK\CRIME\111705\24608.000 HJUD2 PsN: 24608
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rorism by targeting the people, money, and materials that support 

terrorist and criminal activity. In Laredo and elsewhere, that 

means targeting and dismantling criminal networks, syndicates, 

and organizations that seek to exploit our borders for criminal purposes. While we agree that the criminal activity we have seen in 

Laredo and elsewhere along the border in itself demands a strong 

law enforcement response, there is an additional, compelling strategic reason why we must continue to respond forcefully. Intelligence reporting shows that terrorists have indicated an interest 

and a desire to exploit vulnerabilities along the border as a means 

of entering the United States. By aggressively targeting and defeating the criminal networks—specifically, their leadership—that exploit our borders, we simultaneously make it more difficult for potential terrorists to insert themselves, their supporters, or their 

weapons into this country through traditional human- or drugsmuggling networks and routes. 

Our Laredo office is staffed with 72 criminal investigators and 26 

personnel from the Office of Detention and Removal. In addition, 

there are agents and officers from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. CBP is the primary, front-line interdictors of aliens and drugs 

seized at and between the ports of entry. While CBP focuses on the 

physical border, ICE targets and takes down the organizational 

muscle and the leadership that drives and sustains this flow of illegal activity. 

The Southwest border situation: As we assess the smuggling 

threats, there is no location in the United States that has greater 

operational tempo and varied smuggling threat than the Southwest 

border of the United States. While no one should minimize its significance, violence between smuggling organizations is not a new 

phenomenon along the Southwest border. Competition between 

smuggling organizations for control of smuggling routes has been 

a source of violence on both sides of the border for generations. 

However, smuggling organizations also know that violence brings 

unwanted attention from law enforcement, particularly when innocent victims get caught in the crossfire. 

While violence has traditionally been associated with cross-border violent activity, the current level of violence in the Nuevo Laredo area dramatically exceeds historical norms. The violence in 

the Nuevo Laredo area is caused by intense competition between 

the remnants of the Gulf Cartel and the members of the Federation 

that is attempting to take control of the important plaza. Each of 

these competing cartels has established relationships with very violent criminal gangs that act as enforcers and sow violence in support of their cartels. The Gulf Cartel is supported by Los Zetas and 

other criminal gangs, the Texas Syndicate, and Hermandad De 

Pistoleros Latinos. Los Negros, including individual members of the 

Mexican Mafia and MS-13, support the Federation. The competition between these two cartels and the criminal gangs that support 

them provides the fuel for the increase in violence that we have 

seen in the last few years. 

While ICE focuses on the violence occurring in Nuevo Laredo and 

Laredo, we also remain committed to targeting the people and organizations who support, organize, and profit from sophisticated 

human-smuggling operations, a number of which are responsible 

12

for tragic deaths of many who perish while being smuggled into the 

United States. I brought a chart with me today—which would be 

my first slide—that depicts the deaths—the concentration of deaths 

in the Hebbronville, Texas, area in the last year and that we are 

actively investigating under ‘‘Operation Black Jack,’’ and this slide 

is presently visible. ‘‘Operation Black Jack.’’ In response to the smuggling organizations and networks responsible for this violence, in 2005, ICE and 

our Federal law enforcement, State, and local law enforcement 

agencies created ‘‘Operation Black Jack.’’ ‘‘Operation Black Jack’’ has two strategic goals: to gather information on criminal activity 

in this area and to share it among the Federal agencies—Federal, 

State, and local agencies and make the tie between that intelligence in the criminal activity and the cartels, and attack the 

human- and drug-smuggling organizations that provide the fuel for 

the violence. Through ‘‘Operation Black Jack,’’ ICE works with the 

Mexican law enforcement authorities to target organized criminal 

activity, drug smuggling, money laundering, alien smuggling, arms 

and human trafficking, public corruption activities that result in 

the border violence on both sides. 

An important first step in the establishment of ‘‘Operation Black 

Jack’’ was the development of an agreed-upon threat assessment 

that identifies the most violent and prolific human and drug-smuggling organizations and cells. We prioritized a list of targets for dismantling these organizations. The threat assessment and the 

prioritized list was prepared by a collocated intelligence unit, the 

Laredo Intelligence Center, which is a HIDTA-funded initiative, 

with participation from ICE, CBP, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Texas National Guard, the Union Pacific Railroad Police, and the Laredo Police Department. This unit has a well-established relationship with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 

McAllen Intelligence Center, the El Paso Intelligence Center, and 

the U.S. Border Patrol intelligence unit in Laredo. 

The threat assessment and the target list of organizations were 

provided to two blended enforcement groups: one that focuses on 

the investigation of drug and money-laundering groups identified 

in the assessment; and another is attacking the most violent 

human-smuggling and human-trafficking organizations. 

A couple of successes from ‘‘Operation Black Jack’’ that I’d like 

to highlight. 

On October 11, 2005, U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to 

Black Jack received information about a residence where a homicide suspect might be located. The information was shared with the 

Laredo Police Department who investigated. The next day the Laredo Police Department contacted ‘‘Operation Black Jack’’ when the 

investigation revealed that the homicide suspect was not there, but 

$342,880 in currency and 10 automatic weapons had been discovered. ICE agents, Border Patrol agents, and ATF agents, all assigned to Black Jack, responded. The investigation revealed that 

the occupant at the residence, an illegal alien, was guarding the 

weapons and currency prior to export from the United States into 

Mexico or smuggling into Mexico. The individual worked for a cell, 

the Joaquin ‘‘Chapo’’ Guzman organization. ICE agents seized the 

money, ATF agents seized the assault rifles, and arrested the indiVerDate 0ct 09 2002 13:18 Apr 25, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 G:\WORK\CRIME\111705\24608.000 HJUD2 PsN: 24608
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vidual for alien in possession of a firearm. That would be my second photograph, the currency and the automatic weapons. 

And then the next example I would like to highlight—— Mr. COBLE. Mr. Reid, if you could wrap up. Your time is about 

up. 

Mr. REID. Okay. The second example was information that was 

received about individuals operating away from Laredo in a suburb 

of Rockwall, Texas. The agents went up and did a search of the residence and arrested a couple of individuals for entry without inspection. One was a subject of a 2003 murder in Laredo, one was 

a fugitive from the United States Marshals Service. 

Since its inception, Black Jack has seized more than $1 million, 

300 pounds of marijuana, 300 pounds of cocaine, and assorted 

weapons. 

Operation Black is truly a collaborative operation with CBP, 

ATF, DEA, the FBI, the Laredo Police Department, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Marshals Service, the Texas National Guard, and support from the United States Attorney’s Office. 

It is a model that we would like to replicate—that we intend to 

replicate in other parts of the United States on the Southwest border because of the effectiveness that we have seen in this operation. 

Thank you very much, and I would be glad to take questions. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Reid follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF WILLIAM REID

CHAIRMEN COBLE AND HOSTETTLER, RANKING MEMBERS SCOTT AND 

JACKSON LEE, AND MEMBERS OF THE SUBCOMMITTEES: Thank you for the 

opportunity to speak with you today about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and our ongoing efforts to improve the security situation along the Mexican/United States border, specifically in the Laredo and Nuevo Laredo areas. ICE 

is working closely with a number of agencies and organizations in both the United 

States and Mexico regarding Operation Black Jack, an ICE-coordinated initiative. 

ICE brings to bear all of its law enforcement and investigative powers in Operation 

Black Jack to make the border safer by attacking the smuggling organizations that 

operate on both sides of the border. 

As the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) largest investigative agency 

and with critical responsibilities both along our borders and within the interior, ICE 

can provide Congress with a comprehensive assessment of the border-related threats 

to the American people, including those we see today in Laredo. Our assessment is 

derived from our presence, operations, intelligence collection and investigations at 

the Ports of Entry, between them and throughout the Nation’s interior. 

ICE’s mission is to protect the American people by using our law enforcement and 

investigative authorities to prevent acts of terrorism by targeting the people, money 

and materials that support terrorist and criminal activities. In Laredo and elsewhere, that means targeting and dismantling criminal networks, syndicates and organizations that seek to exploit our borders for criminal purposes. While we agree 

that the criminal activity we have seen in the Laredo area and elsewhere along the 

border, in itself, demands a strong law enforcement response, there is an additional, 

compelling strategic reason why we must continue to respond forcefully. Intelligence 

reporting shows that terrorists have expressed an interest and a desire to exploit 

the existing vulnerabilities in our border security to enter or attack the United 

States. By aggressively targeting and defeating the criminal networks—specifically, 

their leadership—that exploit our borders, we simultaneously make it more difficult 

for potential terrorists to insert themselves, their supporters or their weapons into 

this country through traditional human or drug smuggling networks and routes. 

ICE has the combined authorities for enforcing both customs and immigration 

laws, which makes our approach to fighting organized criminal activity and border 

violence very effective. By combining immigration enforcement authorities with expertise in financial investigations, we have an additional tool to hit these criminal 

organizations where it hurts—by going after their money. This combination of auVerDate 0ct 09 2002 13:18 Apr 25, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 G:\WORK\CRIME\111705\24608.000 HJUD2 PsN: 24608
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thorities is a powerful tool because suspects frequently commit overlapping or related Title 8 and Title 19 violations. ICE has tools in its toolbox with which we can 

pursue alleged violators. 

That is what we are doing in Laredo. 

There we have 72 criminal investigators and 26 personnel from our Office of Detention and Removal. In addition, there are agents and officers from U.S. Customs 

and Border Protection. CBP is the primary, front-line interdictors of aliens and 

drugs seized at and between the Ports of Entry. While CBP focuses on the physical 

border, ICE targets and takes down the organizational muscle and leadership that 

drives and sustains this flow of illegal activity. 

THE SOUTHWEST BORDER SECURITY SITUATION

As we assess the smuggling threats, there is no location with a greater operational tempo and varied smuggling threat than the Southwest border of the United 

States. While no one should minimize its significance, violence between smuggling 

organizations is not a new phenomenon along the Southwest border. Competition 

between smuggling organizations for control of smuggling routes has been a source 

of violence on both sides of the border for generations. However, smuggling organizations also know that violence brings unwanted attention from law enforcement, 

particularly when innocent victims get caught in the crossfire. 

While violence has traditionally been associated with cross-border criminal activity, the current level of violence in the Nuevo Laredo area dramatically exceeds historical norms. The violence in the Nuevo Laredo area is caused by intense competition between the remnants of the Gulf Cartel, which continues to be supervised by 

Osiel Cardenas Guillen despite his arrest in 2003, and Joaquin ‘‘Chapo’’ Guzman 

Loera and Arturo Beltran Leyva, who are members of the ‘‘Federation’’ that is attempting to take control of this important ‘‘Plaza.’’ Each of these competing cartels 

has established relationships with very violent criminal gangs that act as enforcers 

and sow violence in support of their cartels. The Gulf Cartel is supported by Los 

Zetas and two other criminal gangs, the Texas Syndicate and Hermandad De 

Pistoleros Latinos (The Brotherhood of Latin Pistoleros). Los Negros, including individual members of the Mexican Mafia and Mara Salvatrucha (‘‘MS-13’’) support the 

Federation. The competition between these two cartels and the criminal gangs that 

support them provides the fuel for the increase in violence that we have seen in the 

last several years. 

The phrase ‘‘Plaza’’ is used to describe the corridor that extends from Southern 

Mexico up to the Nuevo Laredo area. Control of this corridor translates into control 

of all smuggling, both of humans and drugs, in the area and any organization that 

wants to smuggle in this area has to pay a tax to the cartel that controls the 

‘‘Plaza.’’ This area is also important because of the infrastructure on the U.S. side 

of the border. First, the Laredo Port of Entry is the busiest land Port of Entry on 

the Southwest border, handling approximately 6,000 commercial vehicles a day. 

U.S. Interstate Highway 35 starts in Laredo, Texas and provides ready access to 

both San Antonio and Dallas, where both drugs and aliens can be staged prior to 

movement to other parts of the United States. 

However, there are aspects of the violence we are seeing that is distinguished 

from other periods of instability between competing cartels. For instance, the murder of public officials, particularly the public execution of the Chief of Police of 

Nuevo Laredo within hours of his appointment, is a sign of the lengths to which 

the cartels are going to attack anyone who seeks to thwart their efforts to gain control of the ‘‘Plaza.’’

As a point of reference, so far in 2005 the Laredo Police Department has responded to 20 homicides, of which 13 have been identified as drug related. Reports 

indicate there have been 157 reported homicides in Nuevo Laredo in 2005. Also in 

2005, the Laredo Police Department has received 10 reports of kidnappings, but 6 

of these victims have been recovered or returned. Reports from Nuevo Laredo indicate that there have been 63 reported kidnappings this year. By comparison, in 

2004 there were 15 homicides reported in Laredo, Texas, and 68 in Nuevo Laredo. 

In 2004 there were 9 kidnappings reported in Laredo, Texas, and 46 reported in 

Nuevo Laredo. 

While ICE focuses on the violence occurring in Nuevo Laredo and Laredo, we also 

are targeting the people and organizations who support, organize and profit from 

sophisticated human smuggling operations, a number of which are responsible for 

the tragic deaths of many who perish while being smuggled into the United States 

from Mexico. For example, in fiscal 2005, 49 aliens died while seeking entry. The 

previous year, 22 died. Because of the willingness of smugglers to subject aliens to 

the extreme dangers of walking for days in the vast areas between the Ports of 

15

Entry, more and more aliens are dying a horrible and painful death due to dehydration and exhaustion. These smugglers are also paying the cartels that control the 

‘‘Plaza’’ for the privilege of smuggling in this area. 

The Department has been working closely with its counterparts from the Government of Mexico in several areas, including securing our common border, facilitating 

the safe, flow of people and goods across the border, and ramping up law enforcement efforts on both sides of the border. ICE, in collaboration with the Government 

of Mexico, has established the first Binational Alien Protection Unit (BAPU) to address human alien smuggling matters within the San Antonio region. BAPU has developed, received and analyzed information that has prevented violators, criminals 

and contraband from penetrating the borders of the United States. 

It is important to note that when the violence wrought by these two warring cartels spreads into the United States, state and local law enforcement are the first 

responders. This is why the sharing of intelligence between ICE, U.S. Customs and 

Border Protection (CBP), our other federal partners at Operation Black Jack and 

the State and local officers who are the first to respond to these incidents is so important. It provides a mechanism to enhance the free flow of information between 

the federal agencies responsible for Border Security and the agencies that respond 

to crimes driven by border related violence. We also coordinate information sharing 

with various federal agencies in Mexico; this ensures bilateral mechanisms are 

closely coordinated. 

OPERATION BLACK JACK

In response to the smuggling organizations and networks responsible for this violence, in July 2005, ICE and our partners in Federal, state and local law enforcement created Operation Black Jack. Operation Black Jack has two strategic goals. 

1) Increase the flow of information between the federal agencies that are responsible 

for or contribute to border security and State and local law enforcement so that 

crimes of violence can be tied to the cartels that are responsible. 2) Attack the 

human and drug smuggling organizations that provide the ‘‘fuel’’ for this violence. 

Through Operation Black Jack, ICE works with Mexican law enforcement to target 

organized criminal activity; drug smuggling, money laundering, alien smuggling, 

arms and human trafficking, public corruption activities and the resulting border 

violence. Based upon the real-time exchange of tactical law enforcement information 

between the United States and Mexico, Operation Black Jack has successfully targeted numerous individuals involved in the drug cartel-related violence in the 

Nuevo-Laredo region. 

An important first step in the establishment of Operation Black Jack was the development of an agreed-upon threat assessment that identifies the most violent and 

prolific human and drug smuggling organizations and cells. We then prioritized this 

list of targets for dismantling. The threat assessment and the prioritized target list 

was prepared by a co-located intelligence unit, the Laredo Intelligence Center (a 

HIDTA funded initiative), with participation from ICE, CBP, the Drug Enforcement 

Administration (DEA), the Texas National Guard, the Union Pacific Railroad Police 

and the Laredo Police Department. The unit also has a well-established relationship 

with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)’s McAllen Intelligence Center, the 

El Paso Intelligence Center and the U.S. Border Patrol intelligence unit in Laredo. 

The threat assessment and the target list of organizations were provided to two 

blended enforcement groups—one that is focused on investigating the drug and 

money laundering groups identified in the assessment; another that is focused on 

attacking the most violent human smuggling and trafficking organizations. 

RECENT OPERATIONAL SUCCESSES

I want to describe for the Subcommittees a few of the recent enforcement successes that highlight the collaborative working environment of Operation Black Jack 

and the contributions we are making to disrupt and dismantle the organizations 

that cause the violence on both sides of the border. 

On October 11, 2005, U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to Operation Black Jack 

received information about a residence where a homicide suspect might be located. 

The information was shared with the Laredo Police Department who investigated. 

The next day the Laredo Police Department contacted Operation Black Jack when 

the investigation revealed that the homicide suspect was not located there, but 

$342,880 in currency and 10 automatic weapons had been discovered. ICE agents, 

Border Patrol agents and agents from ATF, all assigned to Operation Black Jack, 

responded to the scene. The investigation has revealed that the occupant at the residence, an illegal alien, was guarding the weapons and currency prior to them being 

smuggled to Mexico and was working for a cell that operates on behalf of Joaquin 

16

‘‘Chapo’’ Guzman. ICE agents seized the money as drug proceeds while ATF agents 

seized the assault rifles and arrested the subject for being an alien in possession 

of firearms. This kind of combined enforcement operation in which each agency 

brings its expertise and experience to the table is exactly how Operation Black Jack 

is operating daily. 

On October 27, 2005, Operation Black Jack team members, including the Laredo 

Police Department, traveled to Rockwall, Texas, after receiving information that two 

subjects wanted for murder in Laredo lived there. A search of the residence resulted 

in the arrest of the two subjects wanted for drug related murders that occurred as 

far back as 2003. During the warrant execution at the residence, agents also encountered four additional subjects that were arrested for various crimes. Two subjects were arrested by ICE for Entry Without Inspection. One was also a person of 

interest in a 2003 murder in Laredo. One subject was a fugitive from the U.S. Marshals Service. Another, the occupant of the residence, was arrested for possession 

of cocaine and marijuana. The execution of the search warrant also resulted in the 

seizure by the Rockwall Police Department of $132,991, a handgun, money counter, 

scales and other evidence of drug distribution. These arrests illustrate the value of 

pursuing information regarding subjects wanted for crimes of violence, even when 

it means traveling outside Laredo. It also demonstrates how federal resources and 

authorities can contribute to taking violent individuals off the street. 

Since its inception in July 2005, Operation Black Jack has resulted in the seizure 

of more than $1 million, 300 pounds of marijuana, 300 pounds of cocaine, 18 assault 

rifles, 2 handguns, 3 vehicles and the arrest of 20 subjects. 

In summary, Operation Black is a collaborative project that wouldn’t be possible 

without the active involvement of CBP, ATF, the DEA, the FBI, the Laredo Police 

Department, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the U.S. Marshals Service, the 

Texas National Guard and the United States Attorney’s Office, which has devoted 

resources to prosecute Operation Black Jack cases. 

Chairmen Coble and Hostettler, this concludes my statement. I will be pleased to 

answer any questions that you or Members of the Committee may have.

17

ATTACHMENT


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Mr. COBLE. I thank the gentleman. 

We have been joined by the distinguished gentleman from Texas, 

Mr. Lamar Smith, and the distinguished gentleman from Iowa, Mr. 

King. 

Mr. Garza. 

STATEMENT OF REYNALDO GARZA, DEPUTY CHIEF PATROL 

AGENT, OFFICE OF BORDER PATROL, RIO GRANDE VALLEY 

SECTOR, U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY 

Mr. GARZA. Good morning, Chairman Coble, Chairman 

Hostettler, Ranking Members, and distinguished Committee Members. I am honored to appear on behalf of the Office of Border Patrol as we share your interest in the safety of our U.S. citizens, as 

well as our dedicated agents that serve along the border. I am 

pleased to discuss the successes and challenges in reducing violence 

along the U.S.-Mexico border and how they affect border security, 

as demonstrated by the operations and law enforcement initiatives 

of the Office of Border Patrol, a component of the U.S. Customs 

and Border Protection. I would like to begin by giving you a brief 

overview of our agency and mission. 

CBP, as the guardian of the Nation’s borders, safeguards the 

homeland—foremost by protecting the American public against terrorists and the instruments of terrorism, while at the same time 

enforcing the laws of the United States and fostering the Nation’s 

economic security through lawful trade and travel. Contributing to 

all this is the Border Patrol’s time-honored duty of interdicting illegal aliens and drugs and those who attempt to smuggle them 

across our borders between the ports of entry. We are concerned 

that terrorists may conduct attacks and violent criminals will prey 

on our homeland by exploiting smuggling routes while illegally entering the United States. Reducing illegal migration across our borders may help in disrupting possible attempts by terrorists or violent criminals to enter our country. 

CBP Border Patrol’s National Strategy has made a centralized 

chain of command a priority and has increased the effectiveness of 

our agents by using intelligence-driven operations to deploy our resources. The strategy recognizes that border awareness and cooperation with our law enforcement partners is critical in disseminating information and tactical intelligence that assists in the 

quick and nimble response which is essential to mission success. 

The Office of Border Patrol is the first line of defense in DHS’

multi-agency effort to dismantle the violent smuggling organizations that threaten American quality of life, especially in South 

Texas. This line of defense comes at a price: Border Patrol agents 

were assaulted on 548 occasions in fiscal year 2005, 513 in fiscal 

year 2004, a drastic increase from 200 assaults in fiscal year 2003. 

If they assault law enforcement officers, we know they will assault 

the citizens of our country. 

Recognizing that we cannot control our borders by merely enforcing at the immediate border, our strategy incorporates a ‘‘defense 

in depth’’ component, including transportation checks on the U.S. 

side of the physical border. These checkpoints are critical to our patrol efforts, for they deny major routes of egress from the borders 

21

to smugglers intent on delivering people, drugs, and other contraband into the interior of the United States. Permanent checkpoints 

allow CBP Border Patrol to establish an important second layer of 

defense and help deter illegal entries through improved enforcement. This tiered enforcement approach in the State of Texas contributed to the seizure of over 252,000 pounds of marijuana and 

9,100 pounds of cocaine in South Texas. The 9,100 pounds represents 73 percent of the cocaine seized nationwide by the Office 

of Border Patrol. 

Another example is the partnership between DHS and the Department of Justice to develop the IDENT/IAFIS integrated 

workstation for identity checks. With immediate access to IAFIS 

nationwide, Border Patrol agents have identified thousands of egregious offenders in fiscal year 2005, including 444 homicide suspects, 598 sex crime suspects, 149 kidnapping suspects, and 11,844 

suspects involved in dangerous drugs or trafficking, which otherwise may have gone undetected. The 31,000 major crime hits and 

over 120,000 IAFIS hits through fiscal year 2005 has demonstrated 

significant steps toward improving national security and greatly 

enhancing our ability to secure our Nation’s borders. 

CBP Border Patrol’s objective is nothing less than a border under 

operational control. We recognize the challenges that lie ahead and 

the need for a comprehensive enforcement approach. Our national 

strategy gives us the means by which to achieve our ambitious 

goal. We face these challenges every day with vigilance, dedication 

to service, and integrity as we work to strengthen national security 

and protect America and its citizens. I would like to thank you for 

the opportunity to present this testimony today and for your support of CBP and DHS. I would be pleased to respond to any questions you may have at this time. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Garza follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF REYNALDO GARZA

CHAIRMAN COBLE, CHAIRMAN HOSTETTLER, RANKING MEMBERS 

SCOTT AND JACKSON LEE, AND DISTINGUISHED COMMITTEE MEMBERS: My name is Reynaldo Garza, and I am the Deputy Chief Patrol Agent of 

the Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley Sector. I am honored to appear on behalf of 

the Office of Border Patrol as we share your interest in the safety of U.S. citizens, 

as well as our dedicated agents that serve along the border. I am pleased to discuss 

the successes and challenges in reducing violence along the U.S./Mexico border and 

how they affect border security, as demonstrated by the operations and law enforcement initiatives of the Office of Border Patrol, a component of U.S. Customs and 

Border Protection (CBP). I would like to begin by giving you a brief overview of our 

agency and mission. 

CBP, as the guardian of the Nation’s borders, safeguards the homeland—foremost, 

by protecting the American public against terrorists and the instruments of terrorism; while at the same time, enforcing the laws of the United States and fostering the Nation’s economic security through lawful travel and trade. Contributing 

to all this is the Border Patrol’s time-honored duty of interdicting illegal aliens and 

drugs and those who attempt to smuggle them across our borders between the Ports 

of Entry. We are concerned that terrorists and violent criminals may exploit smuggling routes to illegally enter the United States. Reducing illegal migration across 

our borders will help mitigate the danger of possible attempts by terrorists or violent criminals to enter our country. 

As the Secretary noted in his June 9 statement before the Government Reform 

Committee, DHS has a cross-cutting initiative to protect the southwest border. It 

encompasses the efforts of several DHS agencies, and each agency plays an integral 

role. The operations themselves involve patrolling the border, generating information, and taking enforcement actions. The uniqueness of the Department of HomeVerDate 0ct 09 2002 13:18 Apr 25, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00027 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 G:\WORK\CRIME\111705\24608.000 HJUD2 PsN: 24608
22

land Security is that it has the capability within one department to do all of these 

things. 

With regard to CBP, the Border Patrol’s National Strategy has made a centralized 

chain of command a priority and has increased the effectiveness of our agents by 

using intelligence-driven operations to deploy our resources. The Strategy recognizes 

that border awareness and cooperation with our law enforcement partners is critical. Partnerships with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department 

of the Interior, DEA, FBI, Department of Transportation, as well as other interagency partners, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies and state Homeland Security offices play a vital role in having and disseminating information and 

tactical intelligence that assists in a quick and nimble response, which is essential 

to mission success. 

Operation Black Jack is an example of DHS efforts in the state of Texas. Operation Black Jack has two strategic goals. 1) Increase the flow of information between the federal agencies that are responsible for or contribute to border security 

and State and local law enforcement so that crimes of violence can be tied to the 

cartels that are responsible. 2) Attack the human and drug smuggling organizations 

that provide the ‘‘fuel’’ for this violence. Since July 2005, Operation Black Jack has 

resulted in the seizure of over 1 million dollars, 18 assault rifles, 2 handguns, and 

the arrest of 20 subjects. 

The Office of Border Patrol (OBP) is the first line of defense in DHS’ multi-agency 

effort to dismantle the violent smuggling organizations that threaten American 

quality of life, especially in South Texas. This line of defense comes at a price: Border Patrol Agents were assaulted on 548 occasions in FY 2005 and 523 in FY 2004, 

a drastic increase from 220 in FY 2003. 

The Office of Border Patrol’s Laredo Sector has been recognized as an expert in 

South Texas in combating alien gangs. Earlier this year, representatives from OBP 

in Laredo were invited to conduct gang presentations in San Antonio, Beeville, El 

Paso, Houston, and Victoria. We are pleased to convey that Border Patrol trained 

over 500 law enforcement and correctional personnel, as well as offered presentations on gangs to numerous local organizations. 

To highlight our gang enforcement activity, the Office of Border Patrol has arrested 132 Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang members. One hundred of these arrests 

occurred in South Texas. However, MS-13 members have been arrested on all borders, including Northern and Coastal, which reflects the national scope of this problem. 

The Laredo Sector Prosecutions Program participated in a pilot program for electronic filing of criminal complaints and prosecuted 8,447 individuals, including 2,151 

felony complaints. The Del Rio Sector has instituted a Fugitive Removal Program 

that carries out operations by assigning Border Patrol agents to the Mexican Liaison 

Unit (MLU) to work with the U.S. Marshal Service’s Mexican Investigative Liaison 

(MIL) Program. Law enforcement authorities approached Del Rio Sector MLU 

Agents from Coahuila, Mexico, concerning the possibility of repatriating Mexican 

citizens who had committed serious crimes in Mexico and who were seeking refuge 

in the United States. We have experienced great success in working this reciprocal 

program with Mexico in the MIL. In 2005, eight fugitives, including four murder 

suspects and one kidnapper, were turned over to the U.S. Marshal Service by the 

Mexican authorities. The kidnap victim was safely returned. All of this was accomplished as a direct result of coordinated efforts provided by the Del Rio Sector MLU 

in the MIL. 

Recognizing that we cannot control our borders by merely enforcing at the immediate border, our strategy incorporates a ‘‘defense in depth’’ component, including 

transportation checks on the U.S. side of the physical border. These checkpoints are 

critical to our patrol efforts, for they deny major routes of egress from the borders 

to smugglers intent on delivering people, drugs, and other contraband into the interior of the United States. Permanent checkpoints allow CBP Border Patrol to establish an important second layer of defense and help deter illegal entries through improved enforcement. This tiered enforcement approach in the state of Texas contributed in the seizure of over 252,799 LBS of marijuana and 9122 LBS of cocaine in 

the Laredo, Rio Grande Valley, Del Rio, and Marfa Sectors. The 9122 LBS represents 73% of the cocaine seized nationwide by the Office of Border Patrol. 

DHS will continue to assess, develop, and deploy the appropriate mix of technology, personnel, and information sources to gain, maintain, and expand coverage 

of the border in an effort to use our resources in the most efficient fashion. As an 

example, the use of technology, including the expansion of camera systems, biometrics, sensors, air assets, and improving communications systems can provide the 

force multiplier that CBP Border Patrol needs to be more effective. 

23

An example is the partnership between DHS and the Department of Justice to 

develop the IDENT/IAFIS integrated workstation, which captures a single set of fingerprints and submits them simultaneously to DHS’ Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) and DOJ’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) for identity checks. With immediate access to IAFIS nationwide, Border Patrol agents have identified thousands of egregious offenders in FY 

2005, including 444 homicide suspects, 598 sex crime suspects, 149 kidnapping suspects, and 11,844 suspects involved in dangerous drugs or trafficking, which otherwise may have gone undetected. With 31,414 major crime hits and 120,268 total 

IAFIS hits through fiscal year 2005, we have made significant strides towards improving national security and greatly enhancing our ability to secure our Nation’s borders. 

The United States continues to experience a rising influx of nationals other than 

Mexicans (OTMs) illegally entering the country. OTM apprehensions totaled 165,175 

for FY05 over FY 04’s record number of OTM apprehensions of 75,389. The 219% 

increase in the apprehension of OTM illegal entrant aliens has created additional 

challenges in bringing a level of operational control to the border. In response, DHS 

expanded the use of Expedited Removal (ER) proceedings for OTMs throughout the 

Southwest border. ER proceedings, unlike section 240 removal hearings between apprehension and removal, shorten the duration of time between apprehension and removal. In September 2005, Secretary Chertoff announced the expansion of ER 

across the southwest border. A significant increase in bed space was allocated to 

support this expansion. Brazilian nationals were the initial focus for the ER program, and the influx of Brazilian nationals across the southwest border has been 

significantly reduced. ER has proven to be an effective enforcement tool for the 

southwest border. 

CBP is also working with the Government of Mexico on various initiatives including:

• Information Sharing—Border Patrol Liaison Program units share information related to terrorist threats and special interest aliens with the Government of Mexico. This effort has resulted in 468 arrests of non-Mexicans in violation of Mexican immigration laws. Mexican authorities have identified 

many criminal organizations and issued multiple arrest warrants for alien 

smuggling.

• Border Security Initiative—As this hearing is about both safety and security, I would like to mention the Border Patrol’s ‘‘Border Safety Initiative or 

BSI. In Fiscal Year 2005, southwest border deaths increased by 41% (464 in 

FY05 vs. 330 in FY04) and southwest border rescues have increased by 91% 

(2570 in FY05 vs. 1347 in FY04). These statistics indicate that a secure border will not only have an important law enforcement component, but also 

yield the humanitarian benefit of saving lives. Security and safety and inextricably linked.

CBP Border Patrol’s objective is nothing less than securing operational control of 

the border. We recognize the challenges that lie ahead and the need for a comprehensive enforcement approach. Our national strategy gives us the means by 

which to achieve our ambitious goal. We face these challenges every day with vigilance, dedication to service, and integrity as we work to strengthen national security 

and protect America and its citizens. I would like to thank you for the opportunity 

to present this testimony today and for your support of CBP and DHS. I would be 

pleased to respond to any questions that you might have at this time.

Mr. COBLE. Thank you, Mr. Garza. 

Mr. Bonner. 

TESTIMONY OF T.J. BONNER, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL BORDER 

PATROL COUNCIL, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO 

Mr. BONNER. Thank you, Chairman Coble, Chairman Hostettler, 

other distinguished Members of the Subcommittees. The National 

Border Patrol Council represents about 10,000 Border Patrol employees, and we have a slightly different take on the reasons for 

this increase in violence. It is the law of unintended consequences. 

When we began the crackdown at the border back in the mid1990’s, very few people anticipated that what we would do would 

24

be to line the pockets of the smugglers. The cost of smuggling has 

increased tenfold since that time, from $200 to $300 per person, to 

$2,000 to $3,000 per person, and we are just talking about people 

coming from Mexico to the United States. The farther away from 

the United States you get, the more the profit margin rises. This 

has led to a squeezing out of the small-time operators and a taking 

over of these operations by the drug cartels and other organized 

criminals. And now what we are seeing is a power struggle between these organized criminal elements battling for control over 

the very lucrative human smuggling component. 

Obviously, the drug-smuggling component remains lucrative, but 

the human-smuggling element ranks right up there at the present 

time. This is very troubling, and it is something that can be easily 

prevented by recognizing why all of these people are coming to the 

United States. 

Back in the 1992 Presidential campaign, Democratic political 

strategist James Carville had a sign over his desk, which read, ‘‘It’s 

the Economy, Stupid,’’ reminding him that that was the issue. 

I would suggest that Secretary Chertoff and every member of 

this Administration who has anything to do with immigration enforcement needs to put a sign over their desk saying, ‘‘It’s the Jobs, 

Stupid.’’ That’s why people are coming to this country. And as long 

as we pretend that we can stop people at the border from seeking 

a better way of life, people who are making on average $2 to $4 

a day and can come up here and make 15 to 50 times more working in the United States in an unskilled job, they will come. And 

we are not enforcing the laws at the work site now, and we need 

to start doing that. 

The laws that we have are somewhat flawed, I admit that. What 

we need to do is simplify it so that an employer has one document 

to scan through a reader, call an 800 number, and get an answer 

in very short order telling that employer, yes, this person is authorized to work here, or, no, this is person is not authorized to work 

here. 

Turning off the jobs magnet will eliminate 98 percent of the people coming across the border, allowing Federal law enforcement 

and State and local law enforcement agencies to focus on those 

drug smugglers and other criminals who operate within impunity 

right now at the border. We are not being very effective in stopping 

anything, either people coming across or drugs. If you look at the 

street price of drugs now, it is lower than it has been for some period of time, indicating that the supply it outpacing the demand. 

On the other hand, the supply of people coming across is—there’s 

a great demand in the United States for people coming to work 

here illegally, as evidenced by the fact that the illegal population 

continues to grow. The latest low-end estimate is 11 million people, 

and it could be as high as 15 or 20 million people in this country 

illegally. And they’re primarily here for one purpose—to get jobs. 

Now, I’m not saying that we don’t need additional resources to 

fight against the terrorists and the criminals. We clearly do, and 

legislation that was introduced by Congresswoman Jackson Lee addresses many of those concerns. It would provide the Border Patrol 

and other border law enforcement agencies with necessary resources to carry out the fight against criminals and terrorists crossVerDate 0ct 09 2002 13:18 Apr 25, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00030 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 G:\WORK\CRIME\111705\24608.000 HJUD2 PsN: 24608
25

ing our borders. But until we address the underlying cause of people coming across the border, we should not be surprised when people come across by the millions every year, and we should not be 

surprised that violence is escalating because we have contributed 

to this perfect storm. We have set the stage for this to become a 

very lucrative industry for organized crime. 

I thank you for your attention and look forward to your questions. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Bonner follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF T.J. BONNER

The National Border Patrol Council thanks the Subcommittees for the opportunity 

to present the views and concerns of the 10,000 front-line Border Patrol employees 

that it represents regarding the growing problem of violence along the southwest 

border of the United States. 

Although violence along the border between the United States and Mexico is by 

no means new, the frequency and ferocity of the latest surge are cause for alarm 

on both sides of the border. In the past year, for example:

• More than 150 people have been murdered in the town of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, just south of the U.S. border town of Laredo, Texas, many of them as a 

result of the struggle between the rival Gulf and Sinaloa cartels for control 

of the highly profitable smuggling corridor leading into the United States. 

This caused the U.S. Department of State to issue a travel advisory earlier 

this year warning tourists of the potential dangers associated with that region.

• The number of assaults against Border Patrol agents nearly doubled, increasing from 354 in Fiscal Year 2004 to 687 in Fiscal Year 2005.

In order to curb these disturbing trends, it is first necessary to understand their causes: In the early 1990’s, the Federal Government embarked on an ambitious project 

designed to secure our borders. Over a dozen years later, although that goal remains 

as elusive as ever, a few lessons are emerging. Predictably, in those areas where 

significant resources were allocated, illegal cross-border traffic was significantly reduced. The Border Patrol’s ‘‘strategy of deterrence,’’ which emphasizes high-visibility 

positioning of vehicles within a few yards of the international border, has made 

agents vulnerable targets for an increasing number of attacks. These include handthrown rocks and Molotov cocktails, various projectiles launched by slingshots, as 

well as bullets fired from guns. Although most of these attacks are carried out as 

diversions intended to facilitate smuggling operations, their consequences are no 

less dangerous to Border Patrol agents. 

Despite significant budgetary and personnel increases for the agencies charged 

with securing our borders, the overall volume of traffic did not decline; it merely 

shifted to different areas. Upon reflection, the reasons for this are fairly obvious: 

The standard of living in developing nations has not improved significantly, and the 

disparity between unskilled wages in the United States and in those countries remains high. This, coupled with the nearly complete lack of worksite enforcement in 

the United States, continues to lure millions of people annually in search of employment. As long as illegal aliens are able to find work and settle in the United States 

without fear of detection and removal, they will continue to cross our borders illegally in large numbers. 

Long before the current crackdown at the border began, drug cartels also engaged 

in a limited amount of alien smuggling to facilitate their primary illicit operations. 

As the difficulty of being smuggled into the United States increased, the cost of 

being smuggled into the United States also began to rise, and small-time smugglers 

were squeezed out of the picture. The current cost of passage into the United States 

is about ten times greater than it was before the crackdown began. Gangs such as 

Mara Salvatrucha, commonly known as MS-13, have also entered the smuggling 

arena. All of these factors have resulted in violent struggles for control of these lucrative smuggling operations. Although most of this violence is directed at rival organizations, there is an inevitable spillover that touches innocent civilians and law 

enforcement officials on both sides of the border. 

The United States and Mexico share the blame for this deplorable situation. Both 

countries have largely turned a blind eye to illegal immigration, vainly hoping that 

borders which are essentially wide-open to millions of laborers desirous of crossing 

26

can somehow be sealed off against terrorists and other criminals. Because of this 

hypocritical policy, traditional law enforcement responses to the problem of violence 

along the border will do little to reduce it. The only meaningful solution lies in effectively addressing the underlying cause of illegal immigration. 

Until the employment magnet is dramatically weakened or eliminated, millions 

of impoverished people will continue to attempt to enter the United States illegally 

every year. Their desperation will cause them to do whatever it takes, including 

paying whatever price is asked, to be smuggled across our borders. This is problematic for two reasons. First, it perpetuates an extremely profitable illicit trade that 

engenders violent rivalries among cartels and gangs. Second, the massive volume 

of this influx makes it nearly impossible for law enforcement agencies to focus on 

vital anti-terrorism efforts or effectively prevent other criminals from illegally entering the United States. 

The Illegal Immigration Enforcement and Social Security Protection Act of 2005 

(H.R. 98) would provide powerful disincentives to those seeking to cross our borders 

illegally in search of employment, as no employer would hire them unless they possessed a valid counterfeit-proof Social Security card. For this reason, the National 

Border Patrol Council strongly supports that legislation. 

This would effectively put an end to the lucrative human smuggling trade, and 

allow the Border Patrol and other law enforcement agencies to focus their limited 

resources on preventing terrorists and other criminals from entering the United 

States. In order to achieve this goal, these agencies need adequate and suitable resources, policies, and support. The Rapid Response Border Protection Act of 2005 

(H.R. 4044) would provide many of these much-needed measures, and is also strongly endorsed by the National Border Patrol Council. 

In summary, the growing problem of violence along our borders is largely attributable to failed government policies that have resulted in the disintegration of the 

enforcement of our immigration laws. Until the underlying cause of the problem is 

addressed, it is unrealistic to expect that the symptoms will miraculously disappear.

Mr. COBLE. Thank you, Mr. Bonner, and I want to thank each 

of the witnesses for the role that you all perform each day. It’s very 

vital, and I appreciate it very much. 

Mr. Cuellar, even though you don’t sit on the Judiciary Committee, you do represent Laredo, very vital to this hearing. We 

would be happy for you to come to the podium if you would like 

to sit up here. 

Mr. CUELLAR. No, thank you. I will just listen. 

Mr. COBLE. Gentlemen, we impose—incidentally, we have been 

joined by the distinguished lady from—gentlelady from Texas, Ms. 

Jackson Lee, and the distinguished gentleman from South Carolina, Mr. Inglis. 

Gentlemen, we impose the 5-minute rule against ourselves as 

well, so if you all could be terse with your answers, that way we 

can move along. 

Mr. Swecker, Mexico has become a major source of heroin as well 

as a principal transit and distribution point for cocaine being transported from Mexico to U.S. markets. In fact, I have been advised 

that Mexican cartels may well be displacing Colombian traffickers 

to this end. 

What measures is the FBI taking, Mr. Swecker, to circumvent 

Mexican drug cartels and dismantle their organizational structure 

and drug-trafficking network? 

Mr. SWECKER. Chairman Coble, we have liaison officers in five 

different cities along the border. They work directly with our Mexican counterparts, and we have, as I mentioned, over 50 OCDETF 

investigations. What’s significant about that is that we have designated certain drug-trafficking organizations through the 

OCDETF process as consolidated priority targets. That means evVerDate 0ct 09 2002 13:18 Apr 25, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00032 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 G:\WORK\CRIME\111705\24608.000 HJUD2 PsN: 24608
27

erybody is going after them at the same time with all of their resources. 

I think one of the reasons that we’re experiencing all of this violence just across the border is because we have, in fact, indicted 

both leaders of the Gulf Cartel: Juan Garcia Abrego, who is in jail, 

an American jail now; Osiel Guillen took over from him. He’s also 

indicted, is in a Mexican jail at this point. 

So we’re a little bit a victim of our own success because that 

splintered the—and we’ve had several cartels now go after the Gulf 

Cartel because they’re perceived to be in a weakened state, and 

that is why they’re moving into their territory. That’s the primary 

cause of the violence. But we continue to go after the leadership 

of both sides of these two—there’s another group, as I mentioned, 

called the Federation. We’re going to after all of their leaders as 

well. 

All the agencies along the border are working this. 

Mr. COBLE. Thank you, sir. 

Mr. Garza, with four bridge crossings and millions of pedestrians 

and vehicular traffic crossing between Laredo and Nuevo Laredo 

each year, the task facing CBP, Customs and Border Protection, obviously is daunting, particularly considering that many criminals 

cross the border without contraband, yet having the intent to commit crime on the U.S. side of the border. 

What training and intelligence do your agents receive in order to 

ensure that individuals crossing into the United States are not 

members of a gang or cartel and are not crossing specifically to 

commit a crime? 

Mr. GARZA. Chairman, beyond the basic academy, both the CBP 

officers at the ports of entry who actually work at the international 

bridges and the U.S. Border Patrol agents, we have the on-the-job 

training, the senior patrol agent training dealing with 

antiterrorism. Gang-related information and intelligence is shared 

with each of the officers that are working at both the ports of entry 

and speaking specifically about Border Patrol agents and what 

training we get nationwide, has to do with mandated CBP and Office of Border Patrol National Headquarters training that we receive, each agent receives regarding not only how to deal with them 

but how to recognize them. And then each intelligence office, which 

is established in every sector and at every port of entry—well, I 

can’t say every port of entry, but the office in charge in the case 

of Laredo would be one office over three or four of the bridges. 

Each one of those offices receives information and direction from 

headquarters to have this training, and it is periodic. We do it 

within our office semiannually. 

Specifically, the intelligence offices in each one of those sector offices and the ports of entry offices are responsible for getting this 

training to each one of the officers. It is name recognition. It is face 

recognition. It is actual on-the-job type work and training. 

Mr. COBLE. Thank you, sir. 

Mr. Bonner, how effective do you believe is the level of cooperation between Federal law enforcement agencies with one another, 

and between Federal law enforcement agencies and State and local 

agencies? 

28

Mr. BONNER. There is definitely room for improvement in all of 

those areas, sir. One of the issues that’s being debated now is 

whether CBP and ICE should remain as separate entities or be 

merged together. One of the problems from that division was the 

lack of communication between those two entities, and that has 

hampered the cooperation that is necessary to address some of 

these very severe problems. And I would just like to comment on 

the earlier question about the training. 

The training and the systems that we have in place I believe are 

pretty much adequate for identifying people coming in to do us 

harm, except for terrorists who have no record and there’s no way 

of making that recognition. The problem is we’re only catching 25 

to 33 percent of the people who are crossing the border, so the ones 

who get by you, you don’t have any inkling of who they are and 

what they might want to do once they get by us. 

Mr. COBLE. I thank you. My time has expired. 

The gentleman from Indiana, the Chairman of the Immigration 

Subcommittee. 

Mr. HOSTETTLER. I thank the Chairman. 

At the outset, Mr. Bonner, you touched on an issue of tremendous concern to me and put it in a context for this hearing that 

I think is important to understand. Let me ask you a question. You 

talked about the jobs magnet and that if we turned off the jobs 

magnet, we would—I think you said that we would take care of 98 

percent of the illegal crossings. Is that correct? 

Mr. BONNER. Right. 

Mr. HOSTETTLER. So let me ask you this: In the context of violence, cross-border violence and violence committed by illegal aliens 

in the country in general, if the jobs magnet does not fuel violence 

as a result of what you are talking about, does it give oxygen to 

the fire of violence that is sweeping across our country, and especially in the border regions? 

Mr. BONNER. I think it does because you have criminal enterprises that are taking advantage of the desperation of people who 

are willing to pay whatever price it takes to get into the United 

States. You know, when you have people from China paying 

$50,000 to be smuggled into the United States—and these are 

peasants who can’t afford that—they sell themselves into indentured servitude for 7 to 10 years to pay that bill. It shows the level 

of desperation of people, and what we have here is a situation 

wherein the criminals are taking advantage of that desperation, 

charging high rates, and now we have that power struggle because 

it has become such a lucrative industry. 

Mr. HOSTETTLER. It also seemed in your testimony that it’s growing at such a rate that it’s, if not more lucrative, growing more lucrative than even the drug trade. 

Mr. BONNER. I believe it is. I believe that it has probably 

equaled, perhaps not surpassed, but it has become an extremely lucrative industry for the smugglers. And whereas, before, the drug 

trade would have some human trafficking so that they could have 

people act as mules to bring the drugs across or to serve as diversions, now it’s become their bread and butter. 

Mr. HOSTETTLER. Very good. 

29

Mr. Swecker, do we know how these—in your investigation of 

these gang members, especially gang members but those that are 

not—that are foreign-born that commit significant crime in our 

country, do we know how they cross the border, meaning do they 

cross the border in stealth as gangs, or do they come across the 

border in groups of individuals that we would potentially refer to 

as ‘‘economic refugees,’’ those that are coming to America for a better way of life? Do they meld into those groups of people, or do they 

come here in gangs as gang members when they come here? 

And then to follow on that, are most of these gang members illegally in the country? And how do the gangs recruit? Do they recruit 

from the illegal immigrant population or the legal immigrant population? 

Mr. SWECKER. Okay. As far as how they come in, I think they 

take advantage, of course, of the daily flow of illegal immigrants 

across the border. They obtain false documentation whenever they 

can. I think the answer is all of the above. But you do know also 

that these ports of entry are controlled mostly by the drug traffickers, and in most instances, that’s why the violence is taking 

place there, is to not only controlling the drug-trafficking corridors 

but in some cases—in many cases the illegal migration corridors as 

well. 

As far as how they recruit, you’re absolutely right, they take advantage of the sort of separation and alienation that these youth 

experience when they come into the United States and they don’t 

have that support structure and they don’t have anything to belong 

to, and particularly if they’re young, in their teen years, when 

they’re very vulnerable to recruitment, they catch them when 

they’re 16, 17, 18, and 19, sometimes even younger than that. 

Mr. HOSTETTLER. Are they in the country illegally? Not only are 

they young, but are they in the country illegally? Or are they—do 

they have family members, parents that are in the country illegally? Or is there any correlation there, significant correlation? 

Mr. SWECKER. I don’t have any hard data for you, but I think 

that’s both as well. But I think most of the young members that 

they’re recruiting are here legally. 

Mr. HOSTETTLER. Legally. All right. 

Mr. SWECKER. They’re second generation, third generation. 

Mr. HOSTETTLER. Okay. Thank you. 

I thank the Chairman. 

Mr. COBLE. I thank the gentleman. 

The distinguished gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Scott. 

Mr. SCOTT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. Garza, what ID—if an American goes to Mexico and comes 

back, what kind of ID do you need to cross the border? 

Mr. GARZA. Basic—what kind of ID? 

Mr. SCOTT. Yes. 

Mr. GARZA. That would be—actually, the inspector doesn’t really 

require a U.S. citizen—through discussions with the person who is 

either driving, walking, coming across the port of entry at the 

bridge, will hold a discussion, ask a question, and through their 

training and their law enforcement experience, make a determination about whether they’re telling the truth or not and whether 

30

they are entering the country and are a legal citizen of the United 

States. 

Mr. SCOTT. There’s no formal ID requirement? 

Mr. GARZA. No, sir. If they ask for—the inspector at—whether 

it’s at the inspection lane, vehicular, or in the pedestrian lane, will 

ask the question of the person coming to present themselves, and 

will ask enough questions and probe enough to satisfy that they 

are U.S. citizens, and if they’re not, then they require the documents of that person. 

Mr. SCOTT. Okay. Mr. Swecker, or, I guess, anybody, recently 

they have formed a lot of task forces to try to deal with this issue. 

What kind of operational results can we show to demonstrate that 

these task forces are actually successful? 

Mr. SWECKER. You know, we can talk about arrests, we can talk 

about drug seizures. I guess the real result we’re all looking for is 

the elimination of the violence, and what I would suggest to you, 

sir, is I spent 8 years in South Florida working drugs on the streets 

down there, as did my colleague behind me. When we saturated 

South Florida with law enforcement, that squeezed everything 

down to the Mexican Southwest border. That was a business decision that was made by the drug traffickers and——

Mr. SCOTT. Well, if the goal is to try to reduce drug use in America, squeezing it and changing it, does that help accomplish a goal? 

You spend all that money squeezing and changing, and the drug 

dealer—or the drug user in southern Florida goes to his dealer and 

he still gets the drugs. Is that right? 

Mr. SWECKER. That’s right, as long as there’s a market and a demand in the U.S. for the drugs. What I’m suggesting—— Mr. SCOTT. Wait. So long as there’s a demand and a market for 

drugs, all of this just changes how it gets there. You haven’t reduced the drug use in America with all this Border Patrol and everything else. Is that right? 

Mr. SWECKER. Yes, sir. What I’m suggesting is that how many 

arrests, how many seizures—we’ve been doing that for 25 years. 

That doesn’t—I don’t believe that’s a measure of success necessarily. It’s reducing the demand in the U.S. 

Mr. SCOTT. Okay. I’m not sure who this would be aimed at, but 

some of the people coming across illegally are children. Is that 

right, Mr. Garza? 

Mr. GARZA. Yes, sir. A small percentage are juveniles. 

Mr. SCOTT. What do you do to make sure they are treated humanely? 

Mr. GARZA. Depending on the country that they are from, Congressman, but the majority being from the country of Mexico, we 

have a very close relationship with the Mexican Consul. There are 

several in our area of responsibility, particularly from the Rio 

Grande Valley Sector, Deep South Texas, and there are three offices there. We deal directly with them. Upon the apprehension or 

detention of someone under age, we immediately contact that consul—in this case, the Mexican consul. If they are from another 

country other than Mexico, then we contact the Office of Detention 

and Removal, and they contact that particular consul, whether it 

be Honduran, Guatemalan, wherever they may be from. And then 

they do get special care. They are taken to—if we do not have the 

31

detention space, they’re taken to a place where we have contracted 

with so they can get the proper care there until they can be either 

joined up with their family members or returned to their country. 

Mr. SCOTT. Changing subjects a little bit, I represent a shipping 

port, and one of the challenges is trying to inspect the material 

without gumming up the commerce. When you are trying to get 

stuff, a lot of it trying to deliver in 24 hours, if you’re stuck at the 

port for 3 days, you know, the commerce gets adversely affected. 

How does this work in a land port crossing the Mexican border? 

Can you facilitate commerce and still inspect the cargo? 

Mr. GARZA. Yes, at the ports of entry, they have equipment—

they’re not all equipped, and I don’t believe that all of them are 

adequately equipped—with what they call gamma ray scanners, 

and most of them are now on a rail system which allows for many 

multi-truck lanes to be checked and cargo—a lot at the land ports 

does come by truck, some by railroad. But those—that’s one way 

that they are dealing with the enormous amounts, and Laredo is 

one——

Mr. SCOTT. But you could do more inspections if you had more 

equipment. 

Mr. GARZA. That’s correct. 

Mr. SCOTT. Did anybody request, make a budget request for that 

equipment? 

Mr. GARZA. Yes, sir, we did. 

Mr. SCOTT. And what happened to it? 

Mr. GARZA. I don’t know—because I’m representing the Office of 

Border Patrol, I would not be able to answer that, Congressman 

Scott. It’s the Office of——

Mr. SCOTT. But to the best of your knowledge, the equipment 

hasn’t been purchased. Notwithstanding the fact that you requested the money, you didn’t get the money. Is that right? 

Mr. GARZA. I cannot speak to that, Congressman. 

Mr. SCOTT. Where could we track down what the request was? 

Mr. GARZA. We can get those for you from the office of the district that’s in charge of that. 

Mr. SCOTT. Thank you. 

Mr. COBLE. I thank the gentleman. 

We’ve been joined by the distinguished gentleman from Ohio, Mr. 

Chabot. Good to have you with us, Steve. 

The gentlelady from Texas, Ms. Jackson Lee, who is the Ranking 

Member for the Immigration Subcommittee. 

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. This is 

obviously a hearing long in coming, and I am delighted that we 

have the combined Committees with the Ranking Members and 

other Members of the Subcommittee on Crime and the Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims. 

Allow me, first of all, to ask unanimous consent that my entire 

opening statement may be submitted into the record. 

Mr. COBLE. Without objection. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Jackson Lee follows:]

32

1PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE SHEILA JACKSON LEE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF TEXAS, MEMBER OF SUBCOMMITTE ON

CRIME, TERRORISM, AND HOMELAND SECURITY

Although I am concerned about the violence in Nuevo Laredo, territorial integrity 

is my main concern as the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Immigration, 

Border Security, and Claims. 

On August 12, 2005, New Mexico’s Governor Bill Richardson issued an Executive 

Order declaring a State of Emergency along the New Mexico-Mexico border. Governor Richardson declared that the southern border of New Mexico had been devastated by the ravages and terror of human smuggling, drug smuggling, kidnaping, 

murder, destruction of property, and the death of livestock. 

On August 15, 2005, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano declared a State of 

Emergency along the Arizona-Mexico border. According to Governor Napolitano, illegal border crossings run as high as 3,000,000 a year, and this has resulted in an 

increase in the threat to public health and safety from gangs, coyotes, and others 

engaged in dangerous criminal activities along the Arizona-Mexico border. 

On October 12, 2005, Texas Governor Rick Perry announced a comprehensive security plan for the Texas-Mexico border region. Governor Perry asserted that Al 

Qaeda and other terrorists and criminal organizations view the porous Texas-Mexico 

border as an opportunity to import terror, illegal narcotics, and weapons of mass 

destruction. 

State Governors should not have to resort to such drastic actions. I know, however, that the federal government is working on the border security problems. For 

instance, the administration announced recently that it is abandoning its ‘‘catch and 

release’’ policy, which was being applied to aliens who are from countries other than 

Mexico (known as ‘‘OTMs’’). 

Although Mexican nationals who are caught crossing the border illegally can be 

returned to Mexico, the Mexican government will not accept the return of OTMs. 

Due to the lack of detention facilities, the OTMs have had to be released. More than 

100,000 OTMs have been released already this year. Terrorists can use this situation as an opportunity to enter the country illegally without drawing any attention 

to themselves. It is not possible to thoroughly screen more than 100,000 OTMs a 

year before deciding whether to release them. I am pleased that the administration 

intends to stop the catch and release practice, but I do not know how the administration can detain the OTMs with the available detention facilities. 

Mexico also has cooperated in dealing with the OTM situation. Most of the OTMs 

come from Latin American countries, and Mexico recently restricted access to its 

visa waiver program and established visa requirements for the citizens of most 

Latin American countries, including Brazil and Ecuador. This will make it more difficult for people from Latin American countries to use Mexico as a stepping stone 

to make an illegal entry into the United States. 

The administration, however, has not done enough to secure the border. The Border Patrol needs more agents and more resources. My Rapid Response Border Protection Act, H.R. 4044, would meet these needs by providing critical resources and 

support for the men and women who enforce our immigration, customs, and other 

laws. 

This would include adding 15,000 Border Patrol agents over the next five years, 

increasing the number of agents from 11,000 to 26,000. It would require the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to respond rapidly to border 

crises by deploying up to 1,000 additional Border Patrol agents to a State when a 

border security emergency is declared by the Governor. It would add 100,000 more 

detention beds to ensure that those who are apprehended entering the United 

States unlawfully are sent home instead of being released into our communities. 

And, it would provide critical equipment and infrastructure improvements, including additional helicopters, power boats, police-type vehicles, portable computers, reliable radio communications, hand-held GPS devices, body armor, and night-vision 

equipment. 

We will not have a secure border until we provide the Border Patrol with the 

equipment and resources that it needs. 

Thank you.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. And I will summarize it but also say that my 

tardiness to this meeting was because I was in a Homeland Security meeting voting on the Committee product that would ultimately go to the floor on border security. 

33

To my dismay, of course, some of the vital issues that we’re discussing right now may not have had a full impact, and let me just 

suggest the following: We are very concerned about violence at the 

border, in particular coming from Texas, knowing full well the extent and the range of the needs there on the border, including New 

Mexico, Arizona, and other border States like California also having firsthand experience, watching the Border Patrol and ICE 

agents in place and in operations and standing at border sites 

watching the inspectors work and doing a very good job in detaining and/or detecting fraudulent and false documents. 

But it speaks to the point that, one, we must find the crux of the 

reason for such a flow of undocumented illegal immigrants and illegal immigration, and I think Mr. Bonner has made a very excellent 

point, and for someone who represents Border Patrol agents to be 

so sensitive that we’re dealing with an economic crisis. 

I’m delighted that my colleague, Congressman Cuellar, is here 

and was in the room because he has been a steadfast, if you will, 

advocate for some reasonable response to the crisis in the border. 

But to the two chairmen and Ranking Member, what speaks to 

this crisis is that we have three States—New Mexico, Arizona, and 

Texas—where the Governors have had to themselves take up, if 

you will, arms and issues on the question of border security. I 

maintain that the whole question of the failed policies of the 

United States as it relates to border security have resulted in these 

crisis States. I do believe that we have the capacity, the talent, and 

should have the resources that the security of the border should be 

a Federal responsibility. And to do that, we must provide the funding and the staffing and the resources for those who are entrusted 

with the responsibility. 

The Minutemen of the early Founding Fathers certainly brings 

to us great patriotism, and we certainly welcomed them in that historical perspective. I don’t believe we welcome them as securers of 

the border. It is violent. It is difficult. It is long. It is large. And 

that is not the appropriate way to begin to address the questions 

of border security. 

Let me thank all of the front-line men and women who serve 

every single day, struggling with resources and, of course, needing 

more resources that could make them more effective. We know 

today that as it relates to OTMs that was just mentioned, that 

even today we are having difficulty with Mexico in this situation. 

Although Mexico has cooperated with the various requests on 

OTMs, it is understood that although Mexican nationals who are 

caught crossing the border illegally can be returned to Mexico, at 

this point the Mexican Government will not accept the return of 

OTMs. And due to the lack of facilities, the OTMs have had to be 

released. And more than 100,000 OTMs have been released already 

this year. Terrorists can use this situation as an opportunity to 

enter the country illegally, to address the question of drugs and 

otherwise. 

I offer into the amendment, Mr. Chairman, this following article: 

‘‘Eight people accused of smuggling girls for prostitution.’’ It was 

the second suspected sex ring to be targeted in 2 months, November 15, 2005, the Houston Chronicle. I ask unanimous consent. 

Mr. COBLE. Without objection, it will be received. 

34

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

[The article follows:] 

ARTICLE SUBMITTED BY THE HONORABLE SHEILA JACKSON LEE: ‘‘8 PEOPLE ACCUSED

OF SMUGGLING GIRLS FOR PROSTITUTION,’’ HOUSTON CHRONICLE (NOVEMBER 15, 

2005)


1.eps
35

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Accused eight Houstonians of smuggling girls 

into—girls and young women. The opening paragraph says, ‘‘ ‘The 

promise of legitimate jobs was used to lure girls and young women 

to Houston from Central and South America,’ Federal authorities 

said Monday. But what they got is rape, beatings, and the threat 

of even worse were used to force them into prostitution once they 

were here. The women told the investigators that the customers 

were charged $200 to $500 per night, but that the women were not 

allowed to keep any money. Others said $500 to $600 per week 

selling drinks to male customers but received only $50 a week.’’

Mr. Swecker, let me ask a series of questions. Mr. Swecker, what 

I understand is happening at the border—and, by the way, would 


2.eps
36

you answer whether or not the FBI has been investigating or is involved in helping to investigate the missing Americans that are on 

the border? But what I understand this violence has generated 

around is the whole question of drugs. And I think it’s important 

in this hearing to separate out the violence dealing with drugs and 

the violence dealing with the question of smuggling or illegal immigrants so that when we develop policy initiatives and resources, we 

will understand what the best approach is. 

If my good friend Mr. Garza could answer the question just simply about what our friends at the border need, meaning our Border 

Patrol agents—for example, portable computers, handheld global 

positioning system devices, night vision equipment, body armor, 

weapons, power boats, helicopters, whether this kind of package— and, of course, the collecting of detention beds that might be helpful in some of the detainment issues—would be helpful? And would 

you also comment on your distinguishing between the violence of 

drugs and individuals coming over for economic reasons, though 

they may be undocumented and illegal, how that distinguished in 

your work. Mr. Swecker? 

Mr. SWECKER. Yes, with respect to kidnappings, we’re working 

each one of them—I mean, there are many that are not reported, 

as I mentioned earlier, for fear of reprisals, for fear of the fact that 

some of these individuals may or may not be involved in the drug 

trade. We have 35 open investigations right now. We estimate 

there’s another 40 or so that have not been reported. We can’t get 

the information out of the victims. So we’re working those very, 

very aggressively. Twice now we have passed information to the 

Mexican authorities which resulted in the rescue of about 44 kidnapping victims down there, only one of which was a U.S. citizen, 

and that citizen was wanted in the U.S. for murder. 

So we’re working very aggressively, to answer that question. 

Ms. JACKSON LEE. If you’ll give me a written report, if you 

would, I’d appreciate it. 

Mr. SWECKER. Yes, ma’am. 

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Thank you. 

Mr. SWECKER. And you had a second question about—— Ms. JACKSON LEE. Drugs. 

Mr. SWECKER. Drugs and the violence associated with the drugs. 

As we talked about earlier, there’s been a lot of good enforcement 

activity down on the border on both sides. The resulting violence 

has been the type of situation that results from the leadership of 

these cartels being taken out and other groups perceiving weakness 

and trying to move in on the lucrative corridors. And you have the 

Mexican authorities on the other side who either are thoroughly intimidated or part of the problem in the form of corruption or who 

just can’t do anything about it. They’re not as powerful as the cartels, the cartels having hired essentially their own armies to go at 

it. And they’re going at it with AK-47s and grenades and RPGs and 

that type of thing. I’ve seen some horrendous videos. One instance, 

it was actually a documented video of the battle in the streets for 

30 minutes. 

So it does stem from the drug trade, and as I mentioned earlier, 

there wouldn’t be a drug trade if we didn’t have the high demand 

on this side. 

37

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Thank you. 

Mr. Garza? 

Mr. GARZA. Yes, ma’am, thank you for the question. 

In response to the resources and equipment, most definitely we 

can always use more. We have a lot of territory to cover, in the Rio 

Grande Valley Sector, if I could speak specifically about the sector 

I work in, 313 or so river miles, 250 coastal miles that we’re responsible for in the State of—the lower State of Texas that goes 

down to the mouth of the river at Brownsville, Texas, or Port Isabel, to cover that much territory. 

We know that an increase in resources—that a combination of 

the increase in those resources, not only manpower resources but 

what America’s Shield Initiative is doing now in getting the technology into us, to our area, the infrared cameras. Of course, the 

helicopters with infrared and flare capability are a big, positive 

thing for the type of law enforcement we’re involved in. But it has 

to be a combination of those things in the way of resources. 

As far as illegal drugs and aliens, we have found in our intelligence gathering—and this is working very closely with the Mexican Government, our partners at ICE, FBI, and other agencies, 

Federal agencies and local, is that the smugglers—part of the reason for—another reason for the violence there is that they are trying to move both—trying to move both types of commodities, both 

contrabands, both people and any type of contraband in the drug 

realm through and trying to see who can take control of those particular people. 

As Mr. Bonner gave testimony to earlier about the smuggling 

groups and the type of people that are coming in and how they’re 

trying to come in and the reasons they’re coming in, it’s a combination of those two, using both those type of contrabands to get— rather, I’m sorry, the smuggling organizations fighting over to 

bring in both types. 

We have found that some of the organizations are moving both 

types of contraband, and that’s the reason for the violence and the 

turf wars that they have there. 

Mr. COBLE. The gentlelady’s time has expired. We’ll try to do a 

second round. 

Ms. JACKSON LEE. I thank the distinguished gentleman. 

Mr. COBLE. You bet. We have two more Members. The gentleman 

from Ohio is recognized for 5 minutes. 

Mr. CHABOT. I thank both chairmen for holding this very important hearing. This is a problem that we’ve faced for many years in 

this country, and I want to thank this panel for being here, and 

apologize also for having a conflict in my scheduling and not having been here at the early part of this hearing. So if I ask anything 

that’s already been asked, I apologize for that in advance as well. 

I happen to represent the city of Cincinnati. Could you tell me 

what measures are being taken to capture and detain members or 

connections with the Mexican cartels in U.S. cities? So if they’ve 

made it in here and they have connections where a lot of the drugs 

are going, what involvement do you have with respect to American 

cities? And I’ll throw that open to anybody. 

Mr. REID. I would like to take a stab at answering that. I think 

that when we’re looking at drug-smuggling investigations, genVerDate 0ct 09 2002 13:18 Apr 25, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00043 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 G:\WORK\CRIME\111705\24608.000 HJUD2 PsN: 24608
38

erally speaking, what happens at the border and information that 

we obtain from either the border investigations or information that 

we obtain in Mexico from the Mexican Government or through investigations we have in Mexico is shared throughout the country. 

For example, ICE agents that would be working in Cincinnati 

would have the access and availability to any information that was 

gathered in any drug-smuggling investigation in any office, any 

ICE office in the country. 

In addition to that, I think that, generally speaking, the Federal 

agencies work well in task forces, for example, the OCDETF task 

forces and the HIDTA task forces, in which there is identification 

of the organizations that are—that do the smuggling and the distribution into the United States. 

So among the sharing of information, working jointly on task 

forces, I think that we are attacking the problem anywhere and everywhere that it exists in the United States. 

Mr. CHABOT. Thank you. 

Does anybody else want to take a stab at that? Mr. Swecker? 

Mr. SWECKER. Just briefly, with respect to the OCDETF program 

and cities like Cincinnati, which are what we call the heartland cities, there was a time when we just went after targets of opportunity. Whoever—whatever information you had, you moved on 

that particular drug organization. 

At this point we share intelligence on a national level, and we’ve 

designated certain drug organizations as the top organizations to 

go after collectively. Those are called CPOTs, consolidated priority 

target list organizations. There’s another level down called RPOTs, 

which are regional targets. We go over those as well, and they’re 

approved by a committee. The idea is to have everybody focused at 

the same time at the same targets. A city like Cincinnati would 

have an inventory of those types of cases, and they would have 

both RPOT and CPOT type cases. They’d be working major cartels 

as they related to the node in Cincinnati, and they would be working in conjunction with whoever else had open investigations on 

that CPOT target, but also their own targets, who would be one 

tier down as well. 

I think it’s a good approach because it’s an intelligence-driven 

approach to drug cases. 

Mr. CHABOT. Thank you. 

My second question has to do with—so many times we find out 

that while you all are fighting the battle or your colleagues or associates are fighting the battle, there’s corruption at various levels, 

whether it be officers or sometimes all the way to the top on the 

other side. 

How do you go about determining whether or not we’re all on the 

same team and who the bad apples are and making sure that 

they’re not tipping off or putting your people in even more dangerous situations than they otherwise would be? What is the process that you go through there? And is there any way it could be 

improved? Is there any way we could help, for example? Whoever 

would, again, like to answer that. Mr. Reid? 

Mr. REID. Yes, I think that you’re referring to the notion of corruption in Mexico and the sharing of information. 

Mr. CHABOT. Yes. 

39

Mr. REID. I worked on the Southwest border in the middle part 

of my career in the 1990’s, and at that time we were very reluctant 

to share information with either the Federal or the State or local 

law enforcement agencies within Mexico for the fear of corruption. 

But at that time, even at the Federal level, we were able to get cooperation. In fact, as a case agent on a significant money-laundering case in Tucson, I was able to get records from the Hacienda, 

which is the Mexican version of the Treasury. 

What I observe from the mid-1990’s to 2005 is that the Mexican 

Government seems to have made a concerted effort at cleaning up 

its law enforcement from the Federal Government on down, so that 

we are able to share more closely information with the Mexican 

Government, specifically or particularly at the Federal level, with 

CESIN, their intelligence operation, and with AFI, their version of 

the FBI, that we work very well with them, which translates to 

work we can do at the border, work we can do targeted toward the 

smuggling organizations in Cincinnati in other places. 

So at the Federal level, I think we’re doing okay. When it gets 

down to the Mexican state level and the municipal level I think is 

where we have more problems. And the way I look at it is this: It’s 

that in the Mexican economy, the law enforcement officers at the 

state and local level do not get paid very much, and looking at the 

drug cartels and the significant amount of money that’s generated 

by the trafficking and the smuggling of drugs and by the taxes— taxes, if you will—that they charge the human-smuggling organizations, et cetera, to move through their territory, the wealth that 

they have is significant. 

And when you’re looking at the law enforcement at the state and 

municipal level over there, you look at an officer who may not get 

paid very much in his or her job, and the cartel, which has significant money, and so that there is, you know, some buy-off of the 

state and local officers. 

Mr. COBLE. The gentleman’s time has expired, and do you want 

to wrap up real quickly? 

Mr. REID. If I can make one more. 

Mr. COBLE. All right. 

Mr. REID. In addition to that, there’s the threats of extortion and 

intimidation on the local law enforcement officers, even ones who 

are not—who would not be willing recipients of the bribes from the 

cartels. 

Mr. CHABOT. Thank you. 

Mr. COBLE. I thank the gentleman from Ohio. 

The distinguished gentleman from Arizona is recognized for 5 

minutes. 

Mr. FLAKE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you. I apologize for not having heard the testimony. I’ve looked through some 

of the written testimony. 

Mr. Reid, can you estimate how many of those coming across the 

border, let’s say the Mexican border, into either California, Arizona, or New Mexico or Texas, are coming with criminal activities 

in mind or as drug runners or smugglers? 

Mr. REID. Are you asking how many people—— Mr. FLAKE. Yes, what percentage of the total that are coming 

across. 

40

Mr. REID. That’s a figure that I don’t have and—— Mr. FLAKE. Would anybody venture a guess as a percentage? 

Mr. BONNER. Congressman, when they married the Border Patrol’s fingerprint system with that of the FBI, in the first 4 months 

8 percent of the people had criminal records to some degree. Now, 

obviously, not all of these people were murderers or rapists. A few 

of them were. So I think that that’s—and that’s just the ones that 

we caught, which is perhaps 25 to 33 percent of the total traffic 

coming across. 

Mr. FLAKE. Okay. But most estimates put it around—well, some 

say as many as 99 percent of those coming across are coming 

across for solely economic reasons. But say it’s 95 or so. Mr. Garza, 

if we were to have a legal framework for workers to come and then 

return home through border checkpoints, assuming that if they 

could come for work through a legal channel and then return home, 

how much easier would that make it for the Border Patrol to actually—and for Customs and for our entire enforcement operation, to 

actually target those who are coming for reasons other than work? 

Mr. GARZA. Congressman, there would definitely be—for the people who were involved in the program, there would be—the safety 

issues would—the officer safety issue basically would go away. 

However—and I can’t speak to the investigative side of the house. 

We don’t have that responsibility. But the fraud and all that we’ve 

seen historically in any type of a program that would have some 

sort of a worker program would increase for that agency, whether 

ICE would be involved in that or—more than likely it would be 

ICE. But I believe that enforcement-wise there might be a slight 

decrease in the issue of the violence and so forth because you’re 

going to have some sort of legal mechanism, and as long as it’s for 

the people who are outside of the country making application for 

that type of program; however, if you do it within the country, then 

I don’t believe that that’s going to change any of the issues. And 

the people outside the country will feel like I should have been 

there when that benefit was given and withdraw at that—— Mr. FLAKE. Well, we are talking about a benefit that would in 

some way touch those who are here legally now, but it would also 

provide an avenue for those coming, say, from Mexico or through 

Mexico who are able to secure a legal job or legal presence through 

a temporary worker program. Under the old bracero programs— and nobody’s trying to replicate that—there were a lot of problems 

with it. But it was said that apprehensions at the border went 

down about 95 percent because there was a legal avenue for people 

to come through. 

All I’m trying to suggest—and I want your input and, Mr. 

Bonner, you may want to comment on it. Wouldn’t it be easier to 

actually target those with the resources that we have, even enhanced resources, if some 90 percent, 95 percent are actually coming through legal border checkpoints? Then the resources that we 

have could be better focused on those who are coming to do us 

harm, the criminals that we’re worried about. Mr. Bonner? 

Mr. BONNER. Assuming that you’re willing to close the back door. 

As long as you leave open the possibility that people can come in 

and get work if they’re in the country illegally, why would anyone 

bother to use the front door? 

41

Mr. FLAKE. Right. That’s a very important point, and that’s why 

you’ve got to have the interior enforcement and workplace enforcement that really would make any program like this work. But assuming you could and people knew that the only way that they 

could get here and work is through a legal process, then certainly 

targeting those who are coming for criminal activity would be easier, would it not? Mr. Reid or Mr. Swecker, do you want to comment 

on that? 

Mr. REID. Yes. In our view, from the investigation’s point of view, 

it certainly would be. But I think that you have hit it right, Congressman, that in addition to that, you need to have the effective 

work site enforcement or the interior enforcement program that 

perhaps increases penalties, civil and criminal, for those who knowingly or blindly knowingly—you know, willful blindness, hire illegal 

aliens. I mean, there has to be that part of that—that part of it 

has to be more effective. 

Mr. FLAKE. I couldn’t agree more. Couldn’t agree more. Any 

other comments? Yes. 

Mr. SWECKER. Just briefly, I think the best thing that’s happened 

recently is the marriage of the fingerprint systems, the two fingerprint systems. The only way to know who’s really coming across 

the border is biometrically. Documents can be forged easily, and 

when we finally merged those two systems, I think it was a revelation as to who was coming across. 

Mr. FLAKE. Thank you. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. COBLE. Folks, we have a vote on right now. There’s going to 

be three votes, and I dislike having to inconvenience the panel, but 

I do think this probably warrants, if you all don’t mind, if you all 

will cool your heels, as the old saying goes, then we’ll be back as 

soon as we can. 

Let me start my second question. I think we can get to that before we go. Los Zetas and similar type enforcement arms of the cartels have engaged, obviously, in violent activities, even threatening 

the security of U.S. nationals. Given these factors, do you all think 

it would be appropriate to designate the Zetas as a foreign terrorist 

organization, A? And would such designation aid in your efforts to 

prevent them from further extending their tentacles into our area? 

Whoever wants to handle that. Mr. Swecker? 

Mr. SWECKER. I’m not sure we really—i think we would be mixing apples and oranges and confuse the definition of a terrorist organization. And we define a terrorist organization as an organization that’s trying to effect political change through violent means 

in our country. The Zetas are purely an enforcement arm of a 

criminal organization that’s engaged in the pursuit of profit, 

money. And I think—I don’t think that that would be a viable 

thing to do to mix and match those, but I think we should give 

them special designation of some kind to go after them. 

Mr. COBLE. Mr. Reid, very briefly. 

Mr. REID. Very briefly, I don’t think—also, I don’t think it would 

aid us in any way to designate them as terrorist organizations because the substance of what they do is violent criminal activity, 

and we have the laws—State, Federal, local—to go after that sort 

of violent activity. 

42

Mr. COBLE. Well, let me extend what the gentleman from Ohio 

said. This becomes very delicate territory. He talked to you about 

corruption, and I think it’s commonplace, I have been told, that corruption in sensitive areas in Mexico is, in fact, rampant. 

Conversely, do we have any evidence that such corruption is 

practiced on this side, on our side of the border in sensitive areas— border guards, Customs agency, for example? 

Mr. GARZA. Chairman, while we do have a very small percentage 

of people that we must discipline or terminate within our organization—and we attribute that to the supervision—supervisory levels 

and the supervisory training that we have and the current ratio, 

which we’re trying to get down to a 5:1 ratio of agents. And that 

basically that type of supervision over your employees—and, of 

course, in our uniformed type of operation, it’s easy for us to tell 

who is who. I couldn’t speak for the investigative branch, but I assure you, it’s a very small, small percent. 

Mr. COBLE. Well, I was hoping that would be the answer. 

Yes, Mr. Reid? Again, quickly, because we have got to get to the 

floor. 

Mr. REID. Okay. There is no comparison between the corruption 

that we see in Mexico and what——

Mr. COBLE. I wouldn’t think so. 

Mr. REID. There’s the human nature factor. That’s it. 

Mr. COBLE. Well, when greed rear its ugly head, all of us are vulnerable, I guess. 

Thank you all. If you all will stand in recess—— Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Chairman? 

Mr. COBLE [continuing]. And then—yes, sir? 

Mr. GOHMERT. Would you yield for just a moment on that same 

question? 

Mr. COBLE. Very quickly. 

Mr. GOHMERT. Are you aware of how many complaints there are 

pending against people at the higher levels of ICE and CIS? 

Mr. REID. No, I don’t have those——

Mr. GOHMERT. You don’t have any numbers on that? 

Mr. REID. No, I don’t. 

Mr. COBLE. If you could get numbers, we’d be glad to get those. 

If you all stand in recess, folks, we will—some of us will return. 

Thank you all for your patience. 

[Recess.] 

Mr. COBLE. I appreciate your patience and the patience of those 

in the hearing room. I know the gentlelady from Texas has another 

question. I think I’ve exhausted my questions. If we can get Ms. 

Jackson Lee in, we can conclude this. Is she on her way? 

Very well. While we are treading water and stalling for time, I 

just want to thank you all for your appearance here today and for 

your patience. Oftentimes, this—sometimes—I don’t mean this in a 

demeaning way, but sometimes we operate not unlike a circus 

around here, and we never know when that bell’s going to ring, and 

inevitably it oftentimes rings right in the middle of a hearing, as 

was the case this morning. 

So if you all will suspend for the moment, and if anybody wants 

to be heard while we’re waiting for Ms. Jackson Lee, anybody have 

any issues on your mind that we haven’t touched upon? 

43

[No response.] 

Mr. COBLE. Okay. Well, we’ll just rest easy until she gets here 

then. Thank you. 

[Pause.] 

Mr. COBLE. The gentleman from Indiana is here, so we will yield 

to him and recognize him for 5 minutes. Thank you, Mr. Hostettler. 

Mr. HOSTETTLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. Reid, I tend to agree with Agent Bonner with regard to the 

jobs magnet and the part that it plays in the way I look at it being 

creating a haystack, if you will, a huge haystack which law enforcement must deal with the needles in that haystack from time to 

time. And that haystack is created as a result of literally millions 

of people coming into our country every year illegally and wanting 

to better their economic status and get a job in our country. 

That being said, under the former INS, special agents performed 

many tasks that are essential to the enforcement of our Nation’s 

immigration laws, such as employer sanctions audits and jail 

checks for criminal aliens. 

The first question is: Does ICE believe that special agents should 

perform these tasks today? I guess that’s my first question. 

Mr. REID. Okay. We recognize the necessity for those type of 

tasks, but whether they should be for special agents, no. Special 

agents are criminal investigators, as are the FBI special agents or 

DEA, et cetera. And the focus of our criminal investigations needs 

to be organizations, et cetera, organizations that smuggle—that 

participate in human smuggling, facilitate the human smuggling, 

et cetera. So the agents do the criminal investigative work. 

In the 2006 budget, we were fortunate enough to get money to 

hire within Investigations different job classes, which we are working the details out on that right now where we would look at hiring 

auditors who would go out and do the—to work sites and do the 

I-9 audit, that kind of thing. But they would not be special agents. 

They would be auditors in the same—perhaps in the same sense 

that DEA has a compliance unit and ATF would have a compliance 

unit. 

Mr. HOSTETTLER. Okay. So this is not a holdover policy that is 

taking place in ICE as it was in INS. 

Mr. REID. Well, at the present, yes, it is. But we are working toward, you know, creating a different organization. So working—— Mr. HOSTETTLER. So that special agents do——

Mr. REID. Criminal investigation, yes. 

Mr. HOSTETTLER. But in the old INS, they did employer sanctions audits. 

Mr. REID. Employer—now, if we’re talking about work site enforcement, work site enforcement is a very important part of our 

criminal investigation program, and it really has—there are three 

elements to it that we’re looking at. One is that we’re looking for 

the large employers that could potentially hire illegal aliens in certain job markets—retail, agricultural, et cetera—to the largest employers, looking toward those larger to develop cooperative agreements with them in which they would patrol their own police 

forces, in a sense. It’s a compliance concept that is very similar to 

what is conducted by CBP in the trade area, where you create an 

environment in which employers will look at their own workforces 

44

or their own trade goods in the CBP arena to work toward the common goal of keeping, you know, illegal aliens out of the workforce. 

So that’s one part of it. 

A second part of it would be where we look at what we call egregious violators, and that would be the criminal, looking at criminal 

violations with respect to the hiring of illegal aliens. And a part of 

that, as Secretary Chertoff has stated on a number of occasions, 

would be to increase and enhance the civil and criminal penalties 

related to the hiring of illegal aliens. 

And then the third part of the work site enforcement is what we 

call critical infrastructure, the CIP program, where we look at employers who are involved in any sort of critical infrastructure. For 

example, on military bases, contractors on the military bases making sure that their workforces do not include—or create an environment in which the illegal aliens can be part—can be on the base 

and, you know, perhaps in secure areas. 

So work site enforcement is very important, and special agents 

will continue to do that. 

Mr. HOSTETTLER. I appreciate the testimony and the sentiment 

that work site enforcement is very important. I believe it is, too. 

But the problem that we have is convincing our constituents of 

that. For example, the GAO did a study recently that found there 

were three notices of intent to fine that were actually issued in 

2004. When I talk to my constituents about that, the only thing 

that we can collectively gather from that is, according to this Administration, that there were three locations in the United States 

of America that had employed illegal aliens in 2004. 

Most of our folks are not willing to accept that, and I appreciate 

that work site enforcement is important, and I think numbers 

would go a long way to prove that to our constituents. 

Let me move on now so that—my time is limited. Let me ask 

Agent Garza—and, without objection, may I have an additional 

minute? 

Mr. COBLE. An additional minute will be granted. 

Mr. HOSTETTLER. Thank you. 

Agent Garza, we saw some pretty troubling slides with regard to 

the fire power that is available for the people that you and your 

fellow agents have to deal with. Are Border Patrol agents adequately resourced, adequately armed to meet—we heard earlier 

about grenades and RPGs—full auto assault weapons, RPGs, grenades. Are you well armed, adequately armed, adequately 

resourced to meet this onslaught? 

Mr. GARZA. Fortunately, we have recently received resources that 

have brought our firearms capabilities to a much higher level. We, 

of course, all receive a firearm, a sidearm that we carry in our holster on our belt when we leave the academy. All other training for 

long arms—or, rather, issuance of long arms is done at the sector 

headquarters. Each individual sector does that. Each one of the 

sectors has a long arm, an automatic—well, that’s a semiautomatic 

M-4, and shotguns available to each agent for checkout. 

In addition to that, we have our special response teams at each 

sector that also have the fully automatic versions of the—well, different manufacturers make them for us, but we have fully autoVerDate 0ct 09 2002 13:18 Apr 25, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00050 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 G:\WORK\CRIME\111705\24608.000 HJUD2 PsN: 24608
45

matic weapons for a particular corps of special response team members. 

As far as adequate training, we train—our training requirement, 

firearms training requirement, is more than, I think, anyone else, 

I think Federal, and any State and local for sure. We do that quarterly. Every agent must be trained in all weapons that he or she 

is authorized to carry four times a year. 

And so I’ll speak for my sector individually. Everyone there has 

access to one of these types of firearms, especially the sidearm, but 

any other long arm they are entitled to. 

Now, is that—can we combat—with that fully automatic weapon, 

even in the hands of a Border Patrol agent, can you combat things 

and the type of weapons that can be brought upon us by a terrorist? At this point, no, we wouldn’t be prepared for a hand grenade attack or an RPG attack. That’s one thing. And we’re very 

vulnerable. On the river, as we use boats in our sector to actually 

get on the international border, in the Rio Grande River, for more 

than anything else a deterrent effect and gather intelligence—we 

don’t do any interceptions on the river, but you can see that someone—an agent’s there, and the safety issue, officer safety factor, 

where they have a 360 degree—yes, where they can potentially get 

attacked from. But with what we have now and what we do in 

those particular areas that we patrol, we have the best that we can 

acquire at this time. 

Mr. HOSTETTLER. Thank you. 

Mr. GARZA. You’re very welcome. 

Mr. COBLE. The gentleman’s time has expired. I thank the gentleman. 

Ms. Jackson Lee is recognized. 

Ms. JACKSON LEE. I thank the distinguished gentleman. I hope 

that that partnership between the Chairman and Ranking Member 

of the Subcommittee on Crime, that your partnership with Chairman Hostettler and myself, I think we need to have a border security bill out of this Committee. And I would hope that maybe we 

would have one with a lot of the elements that we’ve discovered 

here today. 

Might I start off with Mr. Bonner, and I want to thank him for 

being engaged in law enforcement. And, frankly, every time he has 

an opportunity to speak, he confronts the reality of our immigration system that we will not be able to stop illegal immigration 

without countering it with issues dealing with the economic concerns and dealing with—I think we were also discussing employer 

sanctions as I came in, or those questions were being raised. 

But your point is vital because if we can’t come together around 

some of the larger issues that we have an economic system that is 

broken in Mexico and other parts of South America—I am sure 

there would be some who take issue to my terminology of ‘‘broken,’’ but might I just simply say there are large numbers of individuals 

who come for economic reasons. 

If we’re given that, I think that we should then spend a lot of 

our time in addition to a comprehensive immigration system, and 

as you well know, I’ve written Save America Comprehensive Immigration bill that includes protecting American jobs. But we must 

look at border security realistically, and it disturbs me that there 

46

is a sense of penny-pinching and also that there is a sense that the 

front-line officers may not be doing all that they can do. 

Help me—you mentioned earlier the Rapid Response Border Protection Act of 2005, which was a result of inquiring of a number 

of law enforcement agencies, which include the Border Patrol, also, 

of course, ICE officers and DEA officers, some very front-line individuals. It also covers my going to the border, walking along the 

borders, being there at night, watching, if you will, the lack of 

equipment, but really the lack of personnel. And Mr. Garza said it 

very well—I want him to restate that—when I asked him a question. The miles—I know he said 313 river miles, which really requires helicopters, and then he will recite for me the land miles. 

But let me ask you, if you would, to speak about, Mr. Bonner, 

specifically this approach in legislation and how we can pierce the 

understanding on it. Let me raise these points. 

Speak to what comes out of Border Patrol agents having the ability to deploy 1,000 additional Border Patrol agents to a place of crisis, like Laredo, for example. Speak to the value of having a sufficient number of detention beds. We have supported anywhere from 

40,000 increase to legislation that includes 100,000 beds, and, of 

course, not unrealistically, but gathering together Federal, State, 

and local facilities. Speak to the idea of what additional helicopters 

and powerboats and reliable radio communications, handheld GPS 

devices, and body armor and night vision may do, but also I think 

it’s important to get on the record what it means to have a good 

recruitment process and what it means to be able to have Border 

Patrol agents who feel comfortable in the bargaining process. 

Now, I have never heard of Border Patrol agents striking or 

doing something untoward away from their duty. But it would be 

helpful to know how valuable that is for the men and women on 

the front lines to know that we care enough about them that we 

want to hear their issues, we want to discuss their issues, we want 

to fix their recruitment program, and we want to work on these 

facets. 

Mr. Garza, I’d like you to answer—I’m interested in re-establishing the Border Patrol anti-smuggling unit. I know that it was 

moved, but you have to teach us. And I believe that if you even had 

two and those two segments worked together between ICE and between Border Patrol—and I know that we’re supposed to be coordinated. But I think there was something to the front-line individuals confronting these smugglers right there on the scene and 

being able to track their prosecution. Remember, I’m the State that 

had the tragedy of Victoria. I’m the State that is seeing constantly 

the utilization abuse of women. And so I’d like you to speak forward-like and straightforward-like. Mr. Bonner, would you—I yield 

to you. 

Mr. COBLE. Mr. Bonner, if you’ll suspend, I’m not trying to put 

anybody on an assembly line deal here, but we got to get out of 

here pretty soon, so if you all could be very terse, if it’s okay, in 

response to—— Ms. JACKSON LEE. And we thank the Chairman for his indulgence. 

Mr. COBLE. You are indeed welcome. 

Mr. Bonner? 

47

Mr. BONNER. Picture the illegal flow of whatever—people, 

drugs—as a long, skinny balloon that stretches from one part of the 

border, the Pacific Ocean, to the Gulf of Mexico. You squeeze it in 

one spot, and it’s going to migrate to another spot, which is why 

it’s important to have the ability to rapidly response, because we’ve 

seen it in San Diego. When we put pressure there, it moved over 

to other parts of California, ultimately to Arizona. As we put pressure on Arizona, we are seeing it emerge in New Mexico and in 

Texas, and back in California. That is important. 

Equipment for Border Patrol agents to do their job is also absolutely vital. You can’t just expect agents to go out there with the 

sidearm and a radio that in some parts of the country, many parts 

of the country where we patrol, can’t communicate with other radios because of inadequate infrastructure. 

All of these things are necessary if we expect our Border Patrol 

agents to do the job that they were hired to do. And in the interest 

of time, I’ll yield to Mr. Garza. 

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Thank you. 

Mr. Garza? 

Mr. GARZA. Thank you. In regards to the smuggling unit, even 

prior to us becoming part of DHS and specifically CBP, even under 

INS the anti-smuggling unit were special agents. They were designated as special agents. 

The Border Patrol has never been an investigative branch or had 

an investigative branch within the Border Patrol. These agents—

at that time, anti-smuggling agents were assigned to the sector 

chiefs, and, yes, they were a very valuable tool to us because of the 

immediate intelligence that we could pass on to them, the furtherance of an investigation. It was someone who was within the same 

office. 

However, I believe now—and we’ve gone through the transition 

period. It’s been a couple of years now with ICE and other law enforcement—Federal law enforcement agencies, but specifically ICE 

because they now have the assets that were once ASU, under their 

direction, anti-smuggling unit agent went directly over to the ICE 

office, now working for them, and they do a number of different 

types of investigations, of course, narcotics and alien smuggling. 

Our direct contact with them, because there was a separation of 

an office, anyway, when it was ASU, is really no different. Yes, the 

chief would—no doubt some of the chiefs, and maybe the majority, 

would like to have that under their command as a sector entity organization. However, the fact that they—that ICE still and has 

proceeded to create a smuggling—a human-trafficking unit, they 

have group supervisors in charge of that. We reach out to them, 

and the working relationship—at least I can speak directly for several Texas sectors—is outstanding. Any calls that we have, any intelligence, we pass on to ICE. We have a joint task force where 

Border Patrol agents—again, not investigators—but do work closely with that task force and our members of the task force are there 

with ICE. The information is passed on immediately, and we get 

immediate reaction from the ICE agents in that investigative——

Ms. JACKSON LEE. If I may, the Chairman is getting ready to 

gavel, but I assume if Congress decided they’d like to have the 

48

anti-smuggling unit as it was before, to create that hand-in-glove 

relationship, you all would welcome it. 

Mr. GARZA. Yes, ma’am. 

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Bonner, let me just—you speak to a lot 

of agents on the ground. Would that be a comfortable fit if that was 

to be restored again? Because that investigatory arm would be 

right close up to those who are out on the field. 

Mr. BONNER. Absolutely. It’s something that we sorely miss. And 

not to contradict Mr. Garza too much, but the level of investigations—the number of investigations, rather, has declined, the 

smuggling investigations. We’re simply not putting people out of 

business the way we used to. And, yes, others would rise up and 

take their place, but we miss that, and that’s a tool that we need 

back. 

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Well, let me, Mr. Chairman—and the two 

chairmen, let me thank you all very much. I do want to put something on the record. We worked in a bipartisan manner on these 

two Committees. I want DHS Leg. Affairs to know that when a 

Democrat Ranking Member asks for a witness, it is acceptable for 

that witness to be a witness of a Democrat. We all happen to be 

citizens of the United States committed to promoting the support 

and issues that are important. Let us not have that kind of petty 

party politics in an issue as important as border security and the 

securing of America. 

With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back and thank you for this 

hearing. 

Mr. COBLE. Well, again, I thank Chairman Hostettler and Ranking Member Jackson Lee from—— Ms. JACKSON LEE. Chairmen, plural. 

Mr. COBLE [continuing]. Texas—pardon? 

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Chairmen, plural. 

Mr. COBLE. Oh, yes. And the gentleman from Virginia, who is 

not—I think he’s in another Committee right now. But I thank the 

witnesses as well. The Subcommittee very much appreciates your 

contribution. 

In order to ensure a full record and adequate consideration of 

this very important issue, the record will be left open for additional 

submissions for 7 days. Also, any written questions that a Member 

wants to submit should be submitted within that same 7-day period. 

This concludes the joint oversight hearing on ‘‘Weak Bilateral 

Law Enforcement Presence at the United States-Mexico Border 

Area: Territorial Integrity and Safety Issues for American Citizens.’’ Thank you again for your cooperation, and the Subcommittee 

stands adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 12:49 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.] 

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A P P E N D I X 

MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING RECORD

REPONSES TO QUESTIONS FOR THE RECORD FROM CHRIS SWECKER, ASSISTANT

DIRECTOR, FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

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RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS FOR THE RECORD FROM RAY GARZA, DEPUTY CHIEF

PATROL AGENT, U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION


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RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS FOR THE RECORD FROM WILLIAM REID, ACTING ASSISTANT

DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF INVESTIGATIONS, U.S. IMMIGRATION & CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT


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