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[Texas]Rep. Reyes Has Sharp Responses To GOP Comments on Border Violence
KVIA ^ | May 12, 2011 | Stephanie Valle

Posted on 05/13/2011 4:16:17 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch

EL PASO, Texas -- Rep. Silvestre Reyes has released two strongly worded statements in the last four days that defend the safety reputations of cities along the U.S.-Mexico border.

His first statement came Monday in response to a comment by Speaker of the House John Boehner, in which he said Congress needs to focus on border security and decreasing border violence before turning to immigration policy reform. Rep. Boehner's comments came as President Barack Obama has set his focus on reforming our nation's immigration system.

The U.S. representative for El Paso said, "Speaker Boehner should focus on controlling the level of violence in his own state before tarnishing the image of border communities that remain among the safest places to live in America.

"As his office asserts that Congress cannot consider reforming our broken immigration system until border violence is under control, the fact remains that the six largest cities in Ohio all have higher rates of violence and crime than every major city along the U.S.-Mexico border. In fact, the Speaker's own district in Dayton, Ohio saw more homicides in 2009 and 2010 than Texas' four largest border cities combined, despite the fact that Dayton's population of 141,500 is only about one-tenth of the size by comparison.

"According to the most recent City Crime Rankings Survey by CQ Press, Ohio's cities have higher rates of violence and crime in every category, including murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, and motor vehicle theft than border communities."

Reyes' second statement came out Wednesday. His office said it was released in response to testimony before a House Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing by Steven McCraw, the former Texas Homeland Security Director and Director of Public Safety. Here's a portion of his statement:

"Today’s testimony by Republican Governor Rick Perry’s political appointee Steven McCraw is the lastest example of the statistical trickery that Republicans use to mislead the public on crime and violence along the border.

"In his testimony, McCraw stated that the homicide rate in El Paso, America’s safest large city, has increased a staggering 1,200% percent, and points to this figure as an indication of increased “spill over crime.” What he fails to mention is that El Paso, with a population of 650,000, had one homicide in the first five months of the 2010. In fact, in 2010, El Paso had only five homicides, a number far fewer than Peoria, Illinois, whose population of 115,000 is less than one-fifth of El Paso’s but had 22 murders the same year.

"None of the city's homicides this year have any relation to drug trafficking organizations or spill over violence, yet Republicans continue to distort the facts and manipulate crime statistics to mischaracterize the border as out-of-control.

"These types of gimmicks underscore how Republicans continue to sensationalize crime and violence in border cities to disparage the work of law enforcement professionals and incite fear among the public."

Both Boehner and McCraw have not countered the statements from Reyes.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: Ohio; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: corruption; democrats; elpaso
aka "Silver" Reyes!
1 posted on 05/13/2011 4:16:25 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
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To: SwinneySwitch

Reyes if you check the stats you will find Minorities and Illegals causing the crime spree!


2 posted on 05/13/2011 4:23:40 PM PDT by Cheetahcat ( November 4 2008 ,A date which will live in Infamy.)
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To: SwinneySwitch

Nice try pendejo


3 posted on 05/13/2011 4:25:14 PM PDT by Nachum (The complete Obama list at www.nachumlist.com)
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To: SwinneySwitch

The gangs avoid the cities because Obama gives them free routes through the wide open spaces. Distribution is assured.


4 posted on 05/13/2011 4:26:55 PM PDT by Goreknowshowtocheat
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To: SwinneySwitch

“Ohio’s cities have higher rates of violence and crime in every category”

The illegal alien criminals do not stay in the border areas. They go to places like Ohio and commit crimes there. That is why Los Angeles is more dangerous than places like Bisbee, Arizona.


5 posted on 05/13/2011 4:27:06 PM PDT by forgotten man (forgotten man)
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To: SwinneySwitch
Reyes didn't bother checking the numbers. 23 murders ~ but he's right about one thing, except for rape their violent crime rates are lower than the national rates.

That's because of DOPE ~ free Lithium Carbonate is found in the rocks upstream in the watershed.

Everybody along the Rio Grande gets a dose every day!

Ever-body hoppy. Ever-body sing-ing.

Some analysts say this suggests that the actual incidence of active cases of bi-polar disorder is FAR HIGHER than usually expected and that has a lot to do with violent crime rates elsewhere.

They recommend widespread use of lithium carbonate in public drinking water systems.

Reyes himself used to be quite a normal guy until he moved to DC. Then he became surly ~ and emotionally unstable. He should spend more time in El Paso!

6 posted on 05/13/2011 4:27:37 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: SwinneySwitch
"Speaker Boehner should focus on controlling the level of violence in his own state before tarnishing the image of border communities that remain among the safest places to live in America.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
7 posted on 05/13/2011 4:34:14 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin! (look it up))
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To: muawiyah
If Boner and the GOP were really serious about it, they would be appropriating more money for more border patrol agents, more fencing, and paying for the National Guard to go down there.

But they are not serious about it.

8 posted on 05/13/2011 4:50:51 PM PDT by Ben Ficklin
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To: Ben Ficklin
The Senate would table the bill and even if it passed the Democrat majority there, Obama would veto it.

The Democrats want everybody to think it's safe all up and down the border.

They're obviously being bought off by the drug cartels.

9 posted on 05/13/2011 5:15:53 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: SwinneySwitch

It appears that Mr. Reyes, of the Hispanic name, is representing Mexican interests and reputations not the welfare of this entire nation.


10 posted on 05/13/2011 5:33:22 PM PDT by AEMILIUS PAULUS (It is a shame that when these people give a riot)
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To: muawiyah
I was born and raised in El Paso. We lived in a prominent neighborhood on a golf course. One of our neighbors a couple houses down was the Juarez Cheif of Police - you tell me what it means, because I always wondered about it. This was in the early 80's. There also used to be a popular local bumper sticker at this time that read something like, "My other car is being used by the Juarez Police" - because auto theft across the border was rampant.

I really don't think much has changed since I left there 20 years ago. Theft has always been high in El Paso, but brutal murders were virtually unheard of. Juarez always owned that piece of the pie. And unless you're from El Paso - say you just arrived for the first time - one can't differentiate where El Paso stops and Juarez begins. It's all one big city divided by a very narrow sliver of the Rio Grande.

I still travel back there frequently and I've come to the conclusion over the years that El Paso thrives because of the drug cartels. There's no telling who lives there. It's where they come to dump their money and trade. So naturally it's going to stay as "peaceful" as it needs to be in order to maintain the status quo. I often wonder what would happen to this "peace" if we did manage to shut down and secure the borders from Kalifornia to Brownsville.

11 posted on 05/13/2011 5:43:50 PM PDT by 3boysdad (The very elect.)
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To: AEMILIUS PAULUS
I read his newsletters in which he does little more than bash Republicans for everything. It makes me sick. He's supposed to be my representative too. He's a partisan who has no challenger in either party. The elite in El Paso are really proud of the “safest city” award. If stats were to prove the award is bogus, all the banners would have to come down. That, and Mariachi at the airport, are our biggest tourism assets. My ears perked up at Obama’s mention of the moat with alligators. I thought, wow! That may be a great idea for jobs.
12 posted on 05/13/2011 6:11:36 PM PDT by FryingPan101
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To: SwinneySwitch
"Speaker Boehner should focus on controlling the level of violence in his own state before tarnishing the image of border communities that remain among the safest places to live in America."

Somebody either can't read or has been hitting the "happy smoke" pretty hard. My son's father in law is a legal immigrant. He used to go visit his family in Mexico all of the time. Now, he's afraid to go and his family refuses to allow him to go. His wife, a Hispanic born in America won't even think about going into Mexico. Silvestre doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. The boy needs to get out of D.C. a little more often.

13 posted on 05/13/2011 6:16:16 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer ("...that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,..")
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To: muawiyah

We had 3 illegals arrested in my michigan county over the last few days. One was an african named Mohammad and the other two were Mexicans. One was pulled over for speeding in his 2012 VW and the other rolled his car at 3 AM drunk.

Illegal number 3 was covered in gang tattoos.


14 posted on 05/13/2011 6:24:06 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin! (look it up))
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To: FReepers
On FR Everyday?

Feed Your Passion

Donate

15 posted on 05/13/2011 6:32:09 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (America! The wolves are at your door! How will you answer the knock?)
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To: FryingPan101

Actually El Paso has a fountain downtown that used to have a live alligator in it. They are now commissioning a sculpture of the fountain complete with alligator.


16 posted on 05/13/2011 6:32:36 PM PDT by csmusaret (Sarah says "Drill baby drill." Obama says "Drill in Brazil.")
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To: FryingPan101

Even that alligator/moat thing wasn’t original - he’s getting his speech ideas from cartoons. That was in a Maxine cartoon a couple or so years ago - something to do with the alligators in Florida, Katrina, and the border. I think she said dig a moat, use the dirt to augment the levees, and throw the alligators in the moat. Solve three problems at once.


17 posted on 05/13/2011 6:48:33 PM PDT by smalltownslick
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To: smalltownslick

Just consider the source. Reyes is a bank bench rock thrower with nothing good in mind. He’s bankrupt of any reasonable ideas and is just another congressional “slow leak”.


18 posted on 05/13/2011 8:06:35 PM PDT by baiamonte
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To: baiamonte

I was really picking on Obama, but Reyes is OK, too.


19 posted on 05/13/2011 8:24:08 PM PDT by smalltownslick
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