Bob Filner: “I rise to honor 43 courageous U.S. Customs and Immigration and Naturalization Service inspectors who were killed in the…”

“I rise to honor 43 courageous U.S. Customs and Immigration and Naturalization Service inspectors who were killed in the line of duty, and honoring at the same time the inspectors who currently perform the same dangerous work the others died doing. The most recent of these brave officers to fall are Customs Inspectors James Buczel and Timothy Cal McCaghren, and INS inspectors Reynaldo DeLaGarza and Tammy Aamodt. The inspectors' names are engraved in the wall of the National Law Enforcement Memorial here in Washington, DC. Yes, I said the National Law Enforcement Memorial. Yet, as my colleague stated, while they lived and while they did their job, they were not considered law enforcement officers. Only when they died did they get that honor. My bill, H.R. 1215, will finally grant the same status to U.S. INS and Customs inspectors as all other Federal law enforcement officers and firefighters. These inspectors are the country's first line of defense against terrorism and the smuggling of drugs through our borders and our large international airports.”