•HCON 273 IH 
Whereas in Ciudad Juarez alone, 23 United States citizens 
were killed up from just two in 2007; 
Whereas since January 2008, nearly 5,000 homicides have 
been committed in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, making it one 
of the most violent cities in the world; 
Whereas since the beginning of President Calderon’s declared 
war against the Mexican cartels in 2006, the cartels have 
killed over 17,000 people; 
Whereas the Mexican cartels have been rapidly expanding co-
caine shipments into mainland Europe using Africa as a 
smuggling route, thus exposing the cartels to Al Qaeda 
and other terrorist organizations operating in Africa; 
Whereas the superintendent of the Tornillo school district 
outside El Paso, estimates that about 10 percent of his 
300 students have lost a close family member in Mexico’s 
drug war; 
Whereas, on March 13, 2010, Lesley Enriquez, a United 
States Consulate employee, and her husband, Arthur 
Redelf, a 10-year veteran of the El Paso Police Depart-
ment, were killed when Mexican drug cartel members 
fired a number of rounds at the vehicle they were trav-
eling in as they left a birthday party; 
Whereas, on March 13, 2010, Jorge Alberto Salcido, husband 
of a United States Consulate employee, was killed when 
cartel members shot at his car at a separate location, the 
attack also wounded his two young children; 
Whereas, on March 14, 2010, the Department of State issued 
a travel warning for northern Mexico that stated cartels 
were using automatic weapons and grenades and that 
‘‘large firefights’’ were taking place in towns and cities 
across Mexico; 
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•HCON 273 IH 
Whereas, on March 27, 2010, Robert Krentz, a longtime 
Douglas, Arizona, rancher was found shot dead on his 
34,000-acre ranch not far from the Mexican border; 
Whereas, on April 30, 2010, Pinal County Sheriff’s Deputy 
Louie Puroll was shot while on patrol in a remote stretch 
of desert south of Phoenix, Arizona, known as a corridor 
used by drug smugglers; 
Whereas it is estimated that the drug wars have cost the city 
of El Paso, Texas, over $1,400,000 in security and 
health care; 
Whereas assaults against Border Patrol agents increased 
from 773 incidents in 2005 to 1,073 incidents in 2009; 
Whereas the El Paso Sector Border Intelligence Center has 
recently issued a warning to law enforcement officers in 
west Texas due to the fear of retaliatory killings by a 
Mexican gang; and 
Whereas the El Paso Sector Border Intelligence Center has 
suggested agents change their routes and wear body 
armor while on duty: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) the escalating level of violence on the 
United States-Mexico border is a serious threat to 
the national security of the United States; 
(2) the Administration, as well as State and 
local authorities, should take appropriate steps to 
deal with this growing threat; and 
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•HCON 273 IH 
(3) the Administration should deploy the Na-
tional Guard to the United States-Mexico border as 
has been requested by a number of border State 
Governors and Members of Congress; and 
(4) troops that are deployed should be given 
very clear rules of engagement and should be armed 
and allowed to defend themselves if attacked. 
Æ 
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