"That is why Chairman King and I introduced H.R. 1270 designating the Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations."
"We need to increase southbound checkpoints or our best teams to confiscate weapons and cash, and then use the cash to help pay for border security operations."
"I would like to commend President Calderon for taking on the drug cartels that are overtaking his country. Mexico is losing this war."
"Many officials who are directly in the line of fire, such as Captain Bob Bullock of the Texas Rangers, disagree with the Secretary."
"It is my commitment and my sincere hope we can work together in a bipartisan fashion."
"But it seems to me, if you are going to record crime statistics, you ought to be recording the things that they do best."
"I just want an accurate assessment of what is the level of crime."
"I think Mr. Cuellar and I have talked about enhancing the best team operations to confiscate the southbound flow."
"I would certainly like to see a large percentage... goes back into, to pay for these border security operations."
"My intent is to help Mexico."
"Clearly, the numbers I submitted in my written testimony are accurate--18.9 percent referral rate for drug felonies, and we have 9.4 percent of the population in our border region."
"We are not happy with the fact that our border is not secure, because we know it can be secure, if the Federal Government commits sufficient resources to do it."