mr. speaker , i rise in strong support of this rule and the underlying legislation . 
i want to congratulate my colleagues , the gentleman from georgia ( mr. gingrey ) xz4001510 , for his management of this rule ; and the gentleman from virginia ( mr. forbes ) xz4001370 for the hard work that he has put into this effort . 
it is amazing , as we listened to those numbers that the gentleman from virginia ( mr. forbes ) xz4001370 used , talking about the fact that this would be the sixth largest army on the face of the earth , between three-quarters of a million and 850 , 000 gang members , 21 , 500 gangs out there ; the fact that it has become such an international entity . 
it is clear that we need to do everything that we can to take action . 
mr. speaker , i believe that this rule will provide us with an opportunity to do just that . 
at the close of his statement , the gentleman from massachusetts ( mr. mcgovern ) xz4002630 bemoaned the fact that we do not have enough amendments to be made in order by democrats . 
the fact of the matter is the gentlewoman who just spoke , my very good friend from dallas ( ms. eddie bernice johnson ) xz4002040 , is going to have an amendment made in order under this rule . 
the gentleman from texas ( mr. cuellar ) xz4006570 is going to have an amendment made in order under this rule . 
the gentlewoman from california ( ms. watson ) xz4004230 is going to have two amendments made in order under this rule . 
the gentleman from virginia ( mr. scott ) xz4003641 who is sitting here on the floor along with the gentlewoman from california ( ms. waters ) xz4004220 is going to have an amendment made in order under this rule . 
the fact is six of the 10 amendments that are going to be made in order under this rule are being offered by members of the minority , creating an opportunity for us to consider a wide range of alternatives in dealing with what everyone acknowledges is an extraordinarily serious problem . 
i want to take a moment to talk about three other amendments that are made in order under this rule that are very important , and i urge support for those amendments . 
they are being offered by the gentleman from virginia ( mr. goodlatte ) xz4001540 and the gentleman from georgia ( mr. norwood ) xz4002960 . 
the fact is many of the problems that are gang-related stem from an issue which we have just begun to deal with by passing the real id act and that has to do with the problem of illegal immigration . 
we know when we look at the number of gang-related homicides that have taken place in southern california in the last 5 years , in the county where i live , los angeles , we have had 307 gang-related homicides . 
and now the number of those murders is spilling over into san bernardino county . 
one of the things that we found , tragically , is that much of this is directly related to the problem of illegal immigration . 
an overwhelming majority of the people who come into this country illegally , mr. speaker , come here for one reason and one reason only and that is to feed their families , to make sure that they can make a better life for their families . 
but of the remaining 2 percent who come in , tragically many of them have been perpetrating crime and tragically they are attracted to gangs . 
as was said earlier by the gentleman from virginia ( mr. forbes ) xz4001370 , many of these gangs are managed from inside of prisons , outside of prisons , boards of directors , and there is an international component to this which must be addressed . 
so i will say that the amendment of the gentleman from virginia ( mr. goodlatte ) xz4001540 , which i think is a very good one , will actually call for an additional 5 years of incarceration if , in fact , the gang member , the criminal , is found to be here illegally . 
one of the things we need to make sure that we do , mr. speaker , is that as we increase that level of incarceration for that illegal immigrant felon , it is essential that we make sure the federal government provide the resources for that incarceration . 
that is something that must be done . 
it is done under the state criminal alien assistance program , the scaap program ; and we have to make sure that we provide those resources there , but it is correct and very important for us to do what we can to ensure that those people who are here illegally and perpetrate crimes against our fellow citizens are penalized for that . 
i believe we have a very good piece of legislation here . 
it will help us turn the corner on what is a very serious problem . 
we also need to do everything that we can to , as has been pointed out by a number of people , train and provide incentive and create opportunity for young people so they are not attracted to the gang life and a life of crime . 
mr. speaker , i urge my colleagues ' support of this very fair and balanced rule and , as i said , urge support for the underlying measure and urge support for the goodlatte amendment and the two norwood amendments . 
