The Hill News

A Texas congressman called for the U.S. government's involvement in recovering the body of a man allegedly shot and killed by Mexican pirates.

Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) called for the Mexican government to allow U.S. officials to join the search for the body of David Hartley, a vacationer who was allegedly shot and killed by pirates while jet-skiing on a lake connecting the borders of the two countries.

"If we mean business about trying to recover David Hartley's body, we need American involvement, and the Mexican government needs to be relentless in trying to find it," Poe said on CBS's "Early Show."

Hartley's disappearance has fueled a morning news show frenzy over the incident, and some skepticism about the account provided by Tiffany Hartley, David Hartley's widow who relayed the account of the pirate attack to authorities.

Poe said that the lake is controlled by a Mexican drug cartel that's made an investigation into the incident more difficult.

"We need to use the American resources that we have, because that area of the lake is controlled by the Zetas," he said.

The Texas conservative also said that the incident made the case for greater involvement by the federal government in policing the southern border, especially waterways like Falcon Lake, where Hartley's murder is said to have occurred.

"The United States needs to use our resources -- the Coast Guard," he said. "That needs to be operating on the lakes at all times, not just this ! time. We have been very lax, in my opinion, as a nation of pro! tecting the entire southern border of the United States."