Sheila Jackson Lee: “As a cosponsor, a mother, and a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, I rise in strong support of this…”

“As a cosponsor, a mother, and a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, I rise in strong support of this bipartisan resolution, H. Res. 17, ``Expressing Concern Over the Detention of Austin Tice, and for other purposes.'' In May of 2012, the summer before Austin's final year at Georgetown Law School, he chose to go to Syria as a freelance journalist to cover the country's civil war. Austin felt compelled to tell the story of the horrific and ongoing conflict there as well as its impact on the people of Syria. On August 14, 2012, Austin departed from the town of Darayya, a suburb of Damascus, to travel to Lebanon, but shortly after leaving, he was detained at a Syrian check point. Five weeks later, a 43-second video emerged online with the title, ``Austin Tice is Alive'', showing Austin being held by a group of unidentified men with assault rifles, but there was no other message that accompanied the video. Even still today, no group has claimed responsibility for his capture nor have there been any demands in exchange for his release. Austin Tice was not a combatant. He was simply a young man doing his job, yet he has, without a doubt, had to suffer unimaginable ordeals and face the dangers of conflict, hostile governments, and rapacious bandits while reporting on the Syrian civil war.…”