Ted Poe: “I spent 22 years as a judge in Texas trying criminal cases, felonies; 22,000 felony cases came through my court. They…”

“I spent 22 years as a judge in Texas trying criminal cases, felonies; 22,000 felony cases came through my court. They dealt with everything from major theft to capital murder cases. And a lot of those cases were gang cases. And the people in this country who believe and think that gangs are not a problem are sorely mistaken. It was the action operative of the gangs in the Houston area to use juveniles to commit serious crimes, violent crimes, because those very juveniles and these gang leaders knew that juveniles would be treated differently, as they were. These gangs would almost laugh at the criminal justice system because the juveniles would not face the same type of punishment as adults. This portion of the bill that treats juveniles in some cases the same as adults is a good idea, because, in our country, victims continue to be discriminated against based on the age of offenders. Those days need to end, especially with gang members. This is an important issue. I, too, like the previous speakers are concerned about whether this is a States' rights issue or not. But gangs cross State lines. No longer are they just a local terrorist community. And they are terrorists, Madam Chairman. We, at this time, are engaged in a war against international terrorists. We need to be concerned about the street terrorists who roam our neighborhoods and commit violent crimes in the name of some type of gang. A specific powerful enemy to the United States is the MS-13 gang.…”