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Thursday, March 22, 2012

Pierluisi Testifies Before House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies

Seeks funding for the Island’s fight against drug-related violence

WASHINGTON, DC- Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi testified today before the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies about the various requests he had submitted this week to the Subcommittee on issues of importance to Puerto Rico. During his testimony, he urged the Subcommittee to ensure that federal law enforcement agencies within the Department of Justice have the resources necessary to more effectively combat drug-related violence on the Island.

Specifically, Pierluisi asked the Subcommittee to fund the Salaries and Expenses accounts for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) “at levels that will enable them to increase their resources and personnel in the U.S. jurisdictions in the Caribbean—at least on a temporary basis but preferably on an enduring basis.”

The Resident Commissioner also asked the Subcommittee “to direct these agencies to make reduction of violent crime in Puerto Rico and the USVI a national priority, just as we have rightly made reduction of violent crime along our Southwest Border a national priority.”

Finally, Pierluisi urged the Subcommittee to provide robust funding for the critical COPS and Byrne JAG grant programs, which have done much to prevent and fight crime in Puerto Rico, as well as other U.S. jurisdictions.

“Drug trafficking and related violence in Puerto Rico and the neighboring U.S. Virgin Islands is a problem of national, not simply regional, scope. According to briefings provided to my office, 70 to 80 percent of the cocaine that enters Puerto Rico is then transported to the U.S. mainland. Because Puerto Rico is an American jurisdiction, once drugs enter the Island, they are easily delivered to the states, through commercial airlines and container ships, without having to clear customs or otherwise undergo heightened scrutiny. Once in the states, those drugs destroy lives and communities, especially along our nation’s eastern seaboard,” explained Pierluisi.

In his testimony, the Resident Commissioner observed that, in response to questions he posed to Attorney General Eric Holder at a Judiciary Committee hearing last year, the Attorney General called drug-related violence in Puerto Rico and the USVI a “national security issue” that “we must confront.” Pierluisi also noted that Florida Senator Marco Rubio, at a December 15th hearing, stated that if Jacksonville, Florida were experiencing the same level of violent crime as Puerto Rico, “people would be screaming about it right now.” Senator Rubio went on to say that, from the federal government’s perspective, “Puerto Rico is a domestic responsibility of ours. . . . And so I want to make sure that we are giving it the attention it deserves both resource-wise and publicly.”

Pierluisi used the opportunity presented by his testimony to explain his Caribbean Border Initiative.

“I believe that the federal government, working closely with its local partners, must do far more to reduce the supply of drugs that enter American jurisdictions in the Caribbean and to reduce the violence that accompanies those drugs. That is why Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuño (a Republican) and I (a Democrat) have jointly proposed that the Administration establish a Caribbean Border Initiative, modeled on the successful Southwest Border Initiative. This would be a well-coordinated, well-funded, well-executed, government-wide strategy encompassing all federal agencies that have a role in combating drug trafficking and related violence,” he said.

In addition to his public security-related requests, Pierluisi also urged the Subcommittee to provide adequate funding for the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program within the U.S. Department of Commerce. He thanked the Subcommittee for including language in last year’s bill that requires National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to prepare a report—due this month—detailing its capacity to predict tsunamis in the Caribbean and that requires the agency to accelerate its “Tsunami Ready program” in Puerto Rico and the USVI.

In addition, the Resident Commissioner urged the Subcommittee to provide an additional $3 million, above the amount requested by the President, to fund NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program, which is of great importance to Puerto Rico.