Dem Texas lawmakers support Mexican efforts to find missing

Dem Texas lawmakers support Mexican efforts to find missing man
By Jordy Yager - 10/17/10 02:06 PM ET

Democratic lawmakers from southern Texas are confident that Mexican and U.S. officials are doing everything necessary to find the body of a missing American tourist who was reportedly shot in Mexico two weeks ago, though the state's governor wants pressure kept on our southern neighbor.

The expressed support from Reps. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) and Rubén Hinojosa (D-Texas) comes as Mexican officials temporarily halted their search for the American late last week after the decapitated head of a Mexican police investigator was found in a suitcase.

The search for the missing American, David Hartley, is expected to begin again in several days after Mexican officials reassess the tactics of their investigation.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) and Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) have pushed President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to do more to find the man, who was reportedly shot while Jet-skiing with his wife on the Mexican side of a lake that spans the border. Neither Hartley’s body nor his Jet-ski have been found.

A spokeswoman for Perry told The Hill that he was surprised that Mexican authorities suspended the search for Hartley's body in and around the lake but that he was hopeful the investigation would be successful.

"Gov. Perry expects that the government of Mexico would only take this action once they’d exhausted all their efforts to recover Mr. Hartley’s body in and around Falcon Lake," said Katherine Cesinger, a spokeswoman for Gov. Perry. "However, Gov. Perry also expects the government of Mexico to continue this investigation to identify all involved in this horrific killing of a U.S. citizen and bring them to justice. We hope and pray through this investigation that Mr. Hartley’s body will be recovered and returned to his family."

Clinton has defended the U.S. response to the shooting, saying that the federal government is doing everything possible to assist the Mexican authorities with their investigation.

Citing the $600 million border security initiative that Obama signed in August, Cuellar told The Hill on Friday that the U.S. was doing a good job with the case and chalked Perry’s general comments about the case -- which have included giving Presiden Felipe Calderon 48 hours earlier in the month to return the body -- up to the election campaign that he is engaged in against Democrat Bill White.

“We’ve put $600 million for border security, we’ve doubled the border patrol and lots of other actions, but even when the facts are there, during this time of the year, during election season people will say certain things,â€