Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, over the weekend, a tragic incident took place along our Nation's southern border. On January 20, 2008, Border Patrol Agent Luis Aguilar was attempting to disable the vehicles of two suspected smugglers who entered this country illegally at the Southern California border. Agent Aguilar was struck and killed by one of the vehicles as it fled back to Mexico.

The tragic death of this border agent highlights the need for our government to get serious about defending our borders. As a key step in addressing this need, I recently introduced H.R. 4987, Defense By Date Certain Act. This legislation would mandate and fully fund the completion of a double-layered fence at designated locations on our southern border by June 30, 2009.

The fence alone cannot solve the illegal immigration crises, but it is an important step in securing our borders and regaining control of our Nation's sovereignty. The chaos and violence along our southern border is putting the lives of U.S. citizens and law enforcement officers at risk. Our Nation can no longer allow smugglers to cross our borders illegally, ignore our laws, carry guns, intimidate, and even murder our border agents.

Mr. Speaker, as Members of the House are well aware, two other victims of violence on our southern border have now served more than a year in Federal prison. Agents Ramos and Compean entered Federal prison on January 17, 2007, and are serving 11- and 12-year prison sentences. These agents were convicted in March of 2006 for shooting a Mexican drug smuggler who brought 743 pounds of marijuana across our border into Texas. Ramos and Compean were doing their duty to protect the American people from an illegal alien drug smuggler.

There is bipartisan agreement among Members of Congress that the overzealous prosecution of these agents, and their excessive prison sentences, is a tremendous miscarriage of justice. While our calls for a pardon have gone unanswered, these agents continue to languish in Federal prison away from their families and loved ones.

Again I call on Chairman John Conyers to schedule a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee to fully examine this case. I am hopeful that the committee will review the justification for the indictment of these agents, which I sincerely believe have no justification, and how this U.S. Attorney's Office proceeded in this case.

Mr. Speaker, when those who bravely defend our borders are prosecuted, it sends a terrible message to illegal aliens and drug smugglers. Our southern borders are threatened, and it is time for our government to start defending its citizens from these who will cross our borders illegally and threaten the American people.