Republican congressmen see body floating in Rio Grande

WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- Rep. Leonard Lance, R-N.J., says he and two colleagues spotted a body floating in the Rio Grande while on a fact-finding tour of the U.S.-Mexican border.

Lance told the Washington publication Roll Call Thursday he and Reps. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and Kevin Yoder, R-Kan., were riding on patrol boats on the final day of their three-day tour last week. The New Jersey congressman said he initially believed the man was killed trying to reach the United States but was later told he was a Honduran who may have been killed in drug violence.

"I've never seen a dead body in a violent situation," Lance said. "It shocked me."

McCaul, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, has sponsored a bill setting benchmarks for securing the border. Lance said seeing the body strengthened his conviction that the bill should be passed quickly, but he said there is another side to the Mexican drug wars.

"These drug cartels are despicable," Lance said. "We have to look ourselves in the mirror because it's the American people, some of whom are the demand side of this 'supply and demand' problem."