Jaime Zapata Border Enforcement Security Task Force Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. CUELLAR. I want to thank the ranking member for yielding this time to me.
I'm pleased that the House is considering H.R. 915, the Jaime Zapata Border Enforcement Security Task Force, or BEST Act, a bipartisan bill by myself and Congressman Michael McCaul from Texas. I would like to thank my friend, Chairman King; my good friend, Ranking Member Thompson; and also Subcommittee Chairwoman Miller for their support of this bill, as this bill was unanimously reported out of the House Homeland Security Committee.
As many of you know, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, Homeland Security Investigations, in partnership with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, as well as other Federal, State, local, and foreign law enforcement counterparts created the BEST initiative--in fact, my hometown of Laredo is the first one--which is a comprehensive approach to identifying, disrupting, and dismantling criminal organizations posing significant threats to border and maritime security.
H.R. 915 would codify the BEST program by authorizing the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting through the director of ICE, to establish the BEST units to make sure that everybody works together and coordinates and communicates together to make sure that we fight crime.
This bill authorizes $10 million per year for the program. And this bill, as the chairman said a few minutes ago, is named in the memory of Jaime Zapata, a Homeland Security Investigations special agent and BEST unit member who was killed in the line of duty in Mexico in February of 2011. We are grateful for Special Agent Zapata's service to our Nation and for the exemplary work of his colleagues in support of homeland security.
Currently, the BEST units are comprised of 750 members, representing over 100 law enforcement agencies working together. These BEST units are building an impressive record of success. And I'm asking now that we all support this particular bill.
Again, I want to thank the chairman, the ranking member of the subcommittee, my friend Michael McCaul, and urge all Members to support this important bipartisan bill.
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