Reyes, Silvestre

Silvestre "Silver" Reyes (born November 10, 1944) is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the U.S. Representative for Texas's 16th congressional district from 1997 to 2013.

Born in Canutillo, Texas, he graduated from Canutillo High School before attending the University of Texas at Austin and West Texas College (now the University of Texas at El Paso) before being drafted by the U.S. Army in 1966. For more than a year, he served as a helicopter crew chief in Vietnam, returning to Canutillo after his father died. In 1969 Reyes became a United States Border Patrol agent in Del Rio, Texas. He earned an associate’s degree in criminal justice from El Paso Community College in 1976, and eight years later he became the country’s first Hispanic sector chief in the Border Patrol. Reyes achieved national recognition for clamping down on illegal immigration and related crime near El Paso. In 1995, he ended his 26½-year career in the Border Patrol to run for Congress from Texas's 16th district, winning the Democratic primary in a runoff and easily dispatching his Republican opponent in the general election.

During his first term, in the 105th Congress (1997–1999), Reyes served on the National Security and Veterans’ Affairs Committees. He worked to keep Fort Bliss, located outside El Paso, from planned military cuts and advocated for increased immigration security, sponsoring a bill to make the Border Patrol a stand-alone agency in the Department of Justice. In the 107th Congress (2001–2003), Reyes was appointed to the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in addition to his assignments on Armed Services and Veterans’ Affairs. He also assumed the chairmanship of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC). Reyes was an outspoken critic of the Iraq War and helped organize the CHC’s unanimous opposition to the use of force there. After Democrats won the House majority in the 110th Congress (2007–2009), Reyes became chairman of the Intelligence Committee; he was the first Hispanic to serve in that role and the seventh to chair a full House committee. In 2010 Reyes shepherded into law the first intelligence reauthorization bill in six years, expanding what spy agencies are required to disclose to Congress. When Democrats returned to the minority in the 112th Congress (2011–2013), Reyes gave up his seat on the Intelligence Committee but continued to serve on Armed Services and rejoined Veterans’ Affairs.

In 2012, Reyes lost the Democratic primary to former El Paso City Council member Beto O'Rourke, taking 44.4 percent of the vote. He retired from the House at the conclusion of the 112th Congress in January 2013.