Sean Reyes: “I rise this morning to urge my colleagues to support the President's decision to certify Mexico and vote against House…”

“I rise this morning to urge my colleagues to support the President's decision to certify Mexico and vote against House Joint Resolution 58 to decertify Mexico. Mr. Speaker, this is an issue that I know something about. Before being elected to Congress, I spent more than 26 years as a member of the U.S. Border Patrol enforcing this Nation's interdiction laws. I have personally observed Mexico's commitment to stem the tide of drug trafficking and have witnessed its strong cross-border drug interdiction efforts. I have been on the front lines in the so-called war on drugs, and I am here today to tell my colleagues that this resolution to decertify Mexico may be only symbolic to us, but it has with it some serious implications and consequences to those of us that live along the border, and I do not mean just people that live exclusively in Mexico. We have developed a spirit of cooperation with Mexico in many areas: trade, environment, immigration, as well as drug interdiction. Our economies are interdependent along the border. In fact, more than 280 million people passed back and forth between Mexico and the United States during fiscal year 1996. A vote to decertify Mexico would greatly jeopardize the spirit of cooperation we have developed with Mexico.”