Madam Speaker, on October 26 of this year, this country lost a great public servant and defender of its borders, former Border Patrol Chief Gustavo De La Vina.

Known as ''the Chief'' to the people that he worked with, Chief De La Vina passed away this Monday while on assignment in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

He was born and raised in Edinburg, Texas. He lived on the border and worked on the border all of his life. Entering the Border Patrol as an agent in 1970, he rose through the ranks and 27 years later was appointed our Chief of the Border Patrol. This was in 1997. And upon his retirement in 2004, we called upon the Chief again to serve, and he became an adviser to the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program within the Department of Justice.

My condolences go to his family and to the men and women who had the honor to serve with him in the uniform of green, who served with him for the last 34 years.