Congressional Hearing to Talk Border Security

Monday, Sep 19, 2011 | Updated 8:35 AM CDT

The widow of a man presumably killed by Mexican pirates last year while riding a Jet Ski on a border-straddling lake is scheduled to testify at a security forum in Brownsville.

Tiffany Hartley will attend Republican U.S. Rep. Ted Poe's hearing at the University of Texas at Brownsville on Monday. Members of the House Committee on the Judiciary will also hear testimony from law enforcement officials.

Hartley told authorities that she and her husband were sightseeing when he was shot last Sept. 30 by gunmen who ambushed them on the Mexican side of Falcon Lake.

In the past year, local officials have often been at odds with state and congressional officials who depict the area as lawless. Poe's district stretches east and north of Houston.