Contact: Tara Setmayer 202-225-2415

Washington, Dec 4 - Upon learning of the tragic death of United States Coast Guard, Chief Petty Officer Terrell Horne III, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (CA-46) released the following letter of condolence to Admiral Robert J. Papp, Commandant of the USCG:

“Please accept this expression of my profound personal sadness upon receiving word that a brave member of the United States Coast Guard, Chief Petty Officer Terrell Horne III, has been killed in action while defending our coastline from the wave of unlawful foreign incursions threatening our way of life. Please also convey the most heartfelt condolences of millions of Americans living on this coastline to Chief Petty Officer Horne’s family, to the Cutter Halibut’s crew and to the USCG community.

“We are keenly aware every day that the courageous men and women of the USCG are on the front line of our national struggle to restore the rule of law in the navigable waters of our nation. As the daily assault on our coastal communities escalates, each and every American living in cities and towns targeted for incursion owes an inestimable debt of gratitude for the valor and sacrifice of USCG members, both on the open seas and along the shorelines where civil order now is under siege.

“This tragic loss of one of American’s finest occurred while USCG personnel were confronting those who violate our border security and threaten our homeland in desperate criminal enterprises, profiting from trafficking in drugs and human beings. There is no threat to our people and communities more insidious than the criminal multiplier effect attributable to the presence of these modern day pirates and slave traders among us.

“Unyielding in our vigilance, we pause today to mourn the loss of a fellow American whose service to our nation humbles us and deepens our resolve to prevail against the perpetrators of violence and crime making landfall on our coast from the sea.”

Rep. Rohrabacher organized a major briefing on shoreline security and the panga invasion for police chiefs, city mayors, and search/rescue elements on April 4th, 2012 in Orange County.