Trey Gowdy: “I want to thank Chairman Goodlatte for his leadership on this and so many other issues of significance on the Judiciary…”

“I want to thank Chairman Goodlatte for his leadership on this and so many other issues of significance on the Judiciary Committee. His steady hand and brilliant legal mind are without equal on our committee. Mr. Speaker, I also want to thank the family of Kate Steinle for the grace that they have shown during this time of unspeakable grief. Burying a child, Mr. Speaker, is what each of us who has ever been called Mom or Dad fears the most. After Trayvon Martin was killed, the President said, ``That could have been my son,'' Mr. Speaker. And when I see a picture of a beautiful Kate Steinle smiling, that could have been any of our daughters. And it still can be, because what happened to her, Mr. Speaker, can and will happen again if we do not get serious about enforcing the law. Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, Mr. Speaker, had a quarter century's worth of lawlessness. Dating back to 1991, he committed local, State, and Federal crimes in five separate States, I hasten to add, Mr. Speaker. He was deported five times, and each time had so little regard for the law of this country that he reentered that border that we are supposed to have functional control over. His procedural history, Mr. Speaker, is every bit as disturbing. In May of 2011, this defendant was convicted and sentenced to 46 months imprisonment for illegal reentry again.…”