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Congressional Record—House H3441 April 17, 2007 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H3441 They claim that they are not pros- THE FARM LABOR RECRUITMENT ploited is a continental sacrilege. The ecuting drug cases because they are SYSTEM problem with NAFTA and NAFTA- prosecuting folks that illegally enter The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a style trade agreements is they fail to the United States. But maybe that is previous order of the House, the gentle- take people into account. not true either. These same memos woman from Ohio (Ms. KAPTUR) is rec- NAFTA and NAFTA-style agree- now reveal that in the State of Texas ognized for 5 minutes. ments serve the interests primarily of an illegal coming into the United Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, on April the money classes. They reduce risks States has to be captured six times be- 9, 2007, 29-year-old Toledoan, Santiago for Wall Street investors while raising fore they are actually prosecuted Raphael Cruz, was found bound, gagged the risk that workers in our heartland criminally for being in the United and beaten to death in Monterrey, will lose their jobs and health care. States. Mexico, in the office of his employer, They are manna for hedge funds, but a What happens is if they are caught the Toledo-based Farm Labor Orga- threat to the economic security of blue the first six times, they are just taken nizing Committee, or FLOC. collar workers. home. Of course, they come right back Mr. Cruz moved from Toledo, Ohio, to b 1930 to the United States. They are not Mexico 3 months ago to legally arrange being prosecuted. In Arizona, some- for Mexican guest laborers to work for They leave people out of the ques- times it is up to 11 times illegals enter a North Carolina pickle plant with tion. Whether it is campesinos in Mex- the United States before they are which FLOC has a contract. FLOC’s ef- ico trying to provide food for their criminally prosecuted for being here il- forts assured guest workers were treat- families and eke out an existence legally. ed humanely, that their papers were taken from them by their own govern- So what is the Federal Government legal, and that the notorious crime-rid- ment in cahoots with ours through doing? Well, we do know they are den labor recruitment system that NAFTA, or auto workers in the Mid- spending a lot of their time pros- characterizes farm labor on this con- west pursuing the American dream of a ecuting border protectors. They are tinent would cease to exist. house, a car, and a better life for their spending a lot of taxpayer money to FLOC, which is part of the AFL–CIO, children, they are the forgotten people make deals, back-room deals with drug is a farm labor union and social move- in our global economy. smugglers so that they can prosecute ment based in our district led by As Mr. Velasquez noted, Mr. Cruz had the likes of border agents Ramos and Baldemar Velasquez. FLOC is perhaps a good heart and was working for the Compean, deputy sheriffs like Gilmer most recently known for achieving a people. Mr. Cruz gave his life in service Hernandez, individuals who are enforc- fair labor contract for guest workers in to the forgotten people. We honor his ing the law. the United States with H2A visas in commitment and we extend our sym- The Federal Government’s duty is to North Carolina. Mr. Velasquez led that pathies to his family, to his friends, protect the dignity of this Nation. It campaign, as well as one to organize and to the entire FLOC community of needs to protect the border from every- pickle workers in Ohio in the 1980s, and which our community is so very proud. body coming into the United States il- has been recognized as a MacArthur His horrific death reminds us how legally, no matter the reason, but espe- Foundation fellow. brutal and unforgiving the NAFTA-in- cially those people who are criminals, In Mexico, FLOC offered a safe, legal duced labor system has become across especially those drug smugglers who alternative to the exploitative prom- our continent. It is time to renegotiate bring drugs into the United States and ises of coyotes and those who charge NAFTA. It is time not to extend it fur- make a profit off of that human weak- exorbitant fees to smuggle Mexicans ther. It is time to require continental ness, and now giving them a pass, be- across the border. The union had been labor standards that uphold the dignity cause they are not bringing in enough burglarized, and the workers harassed of human life, not extinguish it. dope? This is absurd. Not prosecuting for their efforts to protect Mexicans Mr. Speaker, I submit extraneous illegals until the sixth or eleventh wishing to work in our country. material for printing in the RECORD, time because we don’t supposedly have I learned, as I learned more about and I thank my colleague from Wash- the resources is absurd, and it is all be- Mr. Cruz’s brutal murder, I asked my- ington for allowing me to speak. cause we don’t protect the dignity of self whether this horrendous crime [From the toledoblade.com, April 12, 2007] the United States. could have been encouraged by FLOC’s U.S. DEMANDS PROBE OF SLAYING Border control in this country noble efforts to stop the illegal traf- (By Clyde Hughes) doesn’t seem to even exist. Third World ficking and continental labor caused by The U.S. General Consulate Office in Mex- nations protect their borders better NAFTA. I have called upon the govern- ico is pressing for a complete investigation than the United States, and the United ments of the United States and Mexico in the beating death of a Toledo union work- States protects the borders of other na- to fully investigate and bring the per- er found dead early Monday at the union’s tions like Korea. Why don’t we protect petrators of this horrendous crime to office in Monterrey, U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur our own border? justice. These coyotes prey upon des- (D., Toledo) said yesterday. While all of this is going on down perate Mexican workers whose lands Law enforcement officials from the state there on the lawless border of the were taken from them by the Mexican of Nuevo Leon are investigating the death of United States and Mexico, now we hear Santiago Rafael Cruz, 29, a Mexican native Government under NAFTA. NAFTA set who has lived in Toledo since 1998 and had about a new reform package, a com- up conditions in North America for worked for the Farm Labor Organizing Com- prehensive immigration plan that is cruel exploitation of millions of land- mittee as manager of its Monterrey office for supposed to have little border security, less peasants and workers in Mexico. three months, said Baldemar Velasquez, supposed to have a lot of amnesty and Mr. Velasquez and FLOC worked end- longtime president of the union. supposed to have a whole lot more lessly to give people not only legal Mr. Velasquez said he believed Mr. Cruz’s guest workers in the United States. rights but hope for an end to the harsh death is directly related to FLOC’s efforts to That is not going to work. treatment handed to them by the gov- organize workers in the Monterrey area. What we need is the National Guard He said the union’s education efforts made ernments of the United States and of workers there less susceptible to people who on the border. We need to protect the Mexico. The current and often illegal would charge workers large sums of money borders, the dignity of the United labor recruitment system is rife with to enter the United States illegally. States. corruption. It exploits landless peas- FLOC’s program there recruits Mexican And that’s just the way it is. ants through a corrupt bounty system residents interested in going to the United f imposed by unsavory labor recruiters. States as part of a guest-worker program The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a Many times I have said NAFTA fuels through a contract the union has with a previous order of the House, the gen- illegal immigration by creating an exo- North Carolina pickle company, union offi- dus of massive proportion of people cials said. tleman from Maryland (Mr. WYNN) is Mr. Cruz was bound, gagged, and beaten, recognized for 5 minutes. from the Mexican countryside who Miss Kaptur said yesterday. (Mr. WYNN addressed the House. His need something to eat after their live- She said she talked with Edward Heartney, remarks will appear hereafter in the lihoods are taken from them. The man- consul for politics and economic affairs with Extensions of Remarks.) ner in which these people are being ex- the U.S. consulate general in Monterrey, VerDate Aug 31 2005 04:18 Apr 18, 2007 Jkt 059060 PO 00000 Frm 00039 Fmt 7634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\K17AP7.084 H17APPT1 ccoleman on PRODPC74 with HOUSE H3442 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE April 17, 2007 who assured her he’d press the Mexican gov- government charged with deciding More good things may come of it ernment for a thorough investigation and whether to declare war. It wrongly and than anyone can imagine. Consider our offer the assistance of the FBI. unconstitutionally transferred this relationship with Vietnam, now our Miss Kaptur said she also could call for a power to the President, and the Presi- friendly trading partner.
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