Reyes, Silvestre, 1944-

REYES, Silvestre, a Representative from Texas; born in Canutillo, El Paso County, Tex., November 10, 1944; graduated from Canutillo High School, Canutillo, Tex., 1964; associate degree, El Paso Community College, El Paso, Tex., 1976; attended University of Texas, Austin, Tex., 1964-1965; attended University of Texas, El Paso, Tex., 1965-1966; United States Army, 1966-1968; Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1969-1995; member of the Canutillo, Tex., school board, 1968-1969; elected as a Democrat to the One Hundred Fifth and to the seven succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1997-January 3, 2013); chair, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (One Hundred Tenth and One Hundred Eleventh Congresses); unsuccessful candidate for nomination to the One Hundred Thirteenth Congress in 2012.

<p>Silvestre "Silver" Reyes (born November 10, 1944) is an American politician who was the U.S. Representative for Texas's 16th congressional district, serving from 1997 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he was Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence between 2007 and 2011. In the Democratic Primary election on May 29, 2012, Reyes lost by a margin wide enough to avert a runoff election to former El Paso city councilman Beto O'Rourke.</p>

<p>In 2008 Reyes served as the Southwest Co-Chairman for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign along with Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. Then U.S. Senator Clinton praised Reyes saying he was "one of our wisest and most experienced leaders on national security and the particular issues that affect Americans living along the border and throughout the Southwest. I am proud to have his support and grateful for his advice."</p>

<p>Reyes was born in Canutillo, an unincorporated suburban community west of El Paso, and is the oldest of 10 children. He graduated from Canutillo High School and received his associate degree from El Paso Community College. He attended the University of Texas at Austin before serving in the United States Army in 1966. In 1967, Reyes served as a helicopter crew chief in the Vietnam War. In 1968, Reyes suffered complete hearing loss to his right ear when mortar landed near his foxhole during combat.</p>

<p>Representative Silvestre Reyes went from the cotton fields of West Texas to popular Border Patrol chief before heading to Congress and becoming the first Hispanic chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Throughout his U.S. House career, Reyes advocated for border security and a strong national defense. “Imagining that I would one day be in politics and Congress never occurred to me,” Reyes once said. “All my life, I’ve focused on the tasks in front of me.”</p>

<p>The oldest of 10 children, Silvestre Reyes was born on November 10, 1944, to Rafael and Estela Reyes in Canutillo, Texas. He was raised in a farming community and did not learn English until age six. Reyes graduated from Canutillo High School in 1964 and attended the University of Texas at Austin on a debate scholarship. He interrupted his studies in 1965 to help take care of the family farm, but soon enrolled at Texas Western College (now the University of Texas at El Paso). Reyes again returned to help run the family farm but was 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. He married Carolina Gaytan in 1968, and they raised three children.</p>

<p>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 1993 he implemented “Operation Hold the Line,” which increased the Border Patrol’s presence in West Texas and lowered the crime rate there. In 1995 he ended his 26½-year career in the Border Patrol to run for Congress.</p>