Ted Poe: “Having lived in Texas all my life, I, like many other Texans, have been to the Texas border numerous times. I have been…”

“Having lived in Texas all my life, I, like many other Texans, have been to the Texas border numerous times. I have been to the border from San Diego to Brownsville while I have been in Congress, the entire length of the border. Some things are working on the border, and one of those things that is working is a wall in the big cities. One of my friends from El Paso likes to talk about how El Paso is the safest city in America. Well, one reason is El Paso has multiple fencing, a canal, and a river between the U.S., Texas, and Mexico. The sheriff of El Paso told me after that fencing was created, cross- border crime is almost nonexistent. That is one reason--not the only reason--why El Paso is the safest city in America is because they have a wall, a fence, the Rio Grande River--a barrier. Let's use that term. Sure, not everybody from Mexico is coming to commit crimes, of course not, but a wall works. It also works where they have fencing in San Diego. It also works where they have fencing in Brownsville, Texas, between Brownsville and Mexico. It stops and reduces the cross-border individuals coming in without permission. So a partial fence will work. This bill, let's make it clear, is not a complete border wall of the whole border. It is only 74 miles. And we need to do everything. We need to have that 74 miles. We need to have aerostats in the air. We need to have more Border Patrol on the ground.…”