John Cornyn: “One thing we cannot lose sight of is that the failure of the Federal Government to deal seriously with border security…”

“One thing we cannot lose sight of is that the failure of the Federal Government to deal seriously with border security leaves all of the border States basically on their own. We have heard a number of people who criticized the State of Arizona for dealing with this issue the best they can. But what are they supposed to do if the Federal Government does not step up and deal with its responsibility, which is a Federal responsibility? We talked about the violence, particularly relating to the cartels, with 23,000 Mexicans killed since 2006 in these drug wars. Right across from El Paso, 1,000 people have been killed in Ciudad Juarez, which is literally across the river, like Virginia is from Washington, DC. We have seen the spillover effect in American citizens being killed and living in fear on this side of the border. We cannot forget there is also an important war on terror issue here as well, something we have not talked about very much but something I was reminded of yesterday when the Department of Homeland Security issued an alert to police and sheriff's deputies in Houston asking them to keep their eyes open for a Somali man believed to be in Mexico preparing to make a crossing into Texas.”