Political Quotes

“I want to thank the ranking member for yielding this time to me. I'm pleased that the House is considering H.R. 915, the Jaime Zapata Border Enforcement Security Task Force, or BEST Act, a bipartisan bill by myself and Congressman Michael McCaul from Texas. I would like to thank my friend, Chairman King; my good friend, Ranking Member Thompson; and also Subcommittee Chairwoman Miller for their support of this bill, as this bill was unanimously reported out of the House Homeland Security Committee. As many of you know, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, Homeland Security Investigations, in partnership with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, as well as other Federal, State, local, and foreign law enforcement counterparts created the BEST initiative--in fact, my hometown of Laredo is the first one--which is a comprehensive approach to identifying, disrupting, and dismantling criminal organizations posing significant threats to border and maritime security. H.R. 915 would codify the BEST program by authorizing the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting through the director of ICE, to establish the BEST units to make sure that everybody works together and coordinates and communicates together to make sure that we fight crime. This bill authorizes $10 million per year for the program.…”