Transcripts For CSPAN House Homeland Hearing On Military Deployed To Southern Border 20240714

Good morning, id like to start by welcoming our witnesses who appear today to provide information on the support that the department of defense is lending to the department of Homeland Security at the u. S. Mexico border. The d. O. D. s presence on the border is not new. Their support of d. H. S. Operations has indeed evolved over the past year. Right now, it would appear that this administration is testing the limits of that relationship. Since the first large group of migrants began traveling north from Central America in late april of last year, fleeing violence, persecution in their home country the president and d. H. S. Relied heavily on d. O. D. To support their Border Security operations. It is important to note here that the april, 2018, caravan the president caravan, the president s principal reason for deploying the National Guard, shrunk from 1,500 migrants to approximately 300. Nefrl, the president issued a memorandum at that time directing the second retear of defense to deploy as many as 4,000 National Guard troops to the southern border. Today, approximately 23rks00 National Guard troops remain deployed in texas and arizona to support more than 16,000 Border Patrol agents who are also currently assigned to border region. In early october, 2018, there were more reports of another caravan originating in Central America. Despite advanced warning and ample time to plan and scale their response, c. B. P. Seemingly did not repair for the surge in irivals nor did the Department Ask congress to increase its capacity to more effectively process migrant families. In fact no such request was made of congress until earlier this year. Instead the president prefered a show of force and requested the deployment of 5,200 active duty military personnel to the southern border a week before the 2018 midterm elections. Most of these personnel were tasked with hardening port os entry, providing aerial surveillance between ports of entry, as well as providing medical care, transportation, and other services to support Border Patrol. By december, 2018, there wasnt much more for the troops to do and their days were largely destroyed of meaningful duties. Recently, congress was notified of similar deemployment of d. O. D. Personnel to paint one mile of border barrier in california. Its difficult to believe the administration is doing everything in its power to resolve the humanitarian crisis at our southern border when congress received notifications such as this one. In february, the president declared a National Emergency after a 35day Government Shutdown which was caused over fundamental disagrement over the necessity of a border wall. After congress denied this funding request, the president sought to divert bolves dollars in previously appropriated defense funds to build this wall. And now it seems the administration is planning a multiyear deployment of active duty soldiers to the southern border. Taken together, these actions point to a steep escalation in the d. O. D. s role at our southern border. These policy decisions will have consequences and longterm effects. Broad kes broad questions remain about whether the actions this administration has taken are an appropriate use of d. O. D. And d. H. S. Resources. Continued reliance by d. H. S. On the d. O. D. For handling the southern border will likely have ramifications on both departments ability to carry out their respective missions. Both departments are accountable to the American People through congress both departments are accountable to the American People through congress. I ask that both d. H. S. And d. O. D. Leadership commit to transparency by sharing any and all requested information with this committee and the other oversight committees moving forward. I thank our witnesses were joining us for this discussion today and i now recognize the rank meck of the subcommittee the gentleman from louisiana, mr. Higgins. Mr. High fwins thank you, madam chair. Thank you, gentlemen and madam, for your service to our country. The situation at the southwest boarder is beyond a crisis. Even the liberal New York Times editorial board, the wall street journal editorial board, the Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer are calling on House Democrats to act. Unfortunately, our majority has denied the house multiple opportunities to fund the needed supplemental humanitarian assistance thats been called for. 17 times. 17 times House Democrats have rejected immediate humanitarian border aid. Increasing numbers of migrants bringing children on the dangerous journey to our border more than ever before with the most significant inflection weakened the immigration laws caused by the flores settlement to families. There are more than 17,000 migrants in customs and Border Protection custody along our southwest board for the facilities designed to hold 4,000. My colleagues are quick to point out that people are died. But the majority has repeatedly rejected our efforts to provide immediate humanitarian support. Customs and Border Protection have been forced to release more than 77,000 people who have entered our country illegally on. Notice to appear, a summons this fuels the Cartel Propaganda that if you step foot on u. S. Soil you can stay. Were seeing an increase in apprehensions and migrants originating outside the western hemisphere including africa, underscoring that this crisis has a tpwhreble security scope. More than 40 of Law Enforcement officers tasked with securing our border are tied up doing administrative and processing tasks. Theyve been pull aid way from their primary security mission. Further, six Border Patrol interior check points which capture significant percent of hard markets brought into our country have been closed. To redirect agent agents to process migrants. Hundreds of department of home lan security employees are now at the boarder to assist with processing which diminishes the readiness of all the components to carry out their mission. Worsening this crisising, my colleagues across the aisle have zeroed out funding for additional Border Patrol agents, refusing to provide backup for the men and women on the front lines. This hearing is well timed. Today we have the opportunity to hear more about the National Security aspect of this crisis at the border. There have been documented media reports that terrorist groups have terrorist groups are calling on followers to blend in with my grants to enter the United States. We know from d. H. S. Intel sources that cartels are openly chartering bustos drop hundreds of people at a time in remote areas of the border and cartels run large drug loads through occupy ency agents the my grant group. Criminal age agents are charging up to 7,000 per american to smuggle human beings across the border. Its incredible. More than 144,000 migrants were encountered by customs and Border Protection mat may time frame at the border. More than 1 billion last month alen, potentially flowing to criminal cartels. Im encouraged by the d. O. D. Presence at the border. To bolster customs and Border Protection efforts and help return agents to the line. Such a deployment is not a new concept. C. B. P. And the National Guard have a longstanding working relationship on the Counterdrug Task forces as well as past operational deployments to the border under president Obamas Administration and president george w. Bush. National guard personnel are assisting with logistical and administrative support operating sensor and imaging direction systems, providing mobile communication, augments Border Intelligence efforts and many other functions. Separately a response to nearly 8,000 person caravan approaching the border in november, 2018, President Trump sent troops from the army corps of engineers, military police, command and control teams and aviation, engineering and medical and pilots to fly helicopters to drop Border Patrol agents is areas where border breach had occurred. The army corps is efficiently constructed and has enhanced physical barriers in some polices along the board wrer it is need. We need more. D. O. D. Personnel are also manning c. B. P. Sensors and surveillance equipment to alert field agents of ill list activity. Id like to thank the witnesses before us here today and ask that they speak to the situation on the ground and the current threat environment. The resource constraints youre operating under. And the longterm strategy for the mission. Your service is to be noted. Youre deeply appreciated, madam chair, i yield back. Miss rice thank you, mr. Higgins. I recognize the chairman of the full committee, mr. Thompson, for an Opening Statement. Mr. Thompson thank you, chairwoman rice and Ranking Member higgins for holding todays hearing. Using d. O. D. Resources for Border Security is not new but i support congressional oversight of the evolving use of these resources by the trump swradmrgs for what ea peers to be an immigrationbased agenda. I dont think its any secret that i disagree with many of the Trump Administrations policies affecting the border. Some of these policies directly contradict shared goals of addressing the ongoing humanitarian crisis on the southern border. For example, last summer, the administration moved to drastically limit or meter the number of Asylum Seekers processed through land ports of entry along the southern border, at the same time d. H. S. Secretary asserted that ongoing that going through ports was he only legal pathway to claim asylum. The thensecretary nielsen and the department called this queueing or queue management, i call it a violation of laws. Our law dont place a limit on the number of people who can apply for asylum. A d. H. S. Request for assistance to the d. O. D. From december, 2018, confirms that d. H. S. Was seeking to deter people by stating that the successful deterrent at the ports of entry has resulted in attempted entry between the ports of entry. This is stated as a reason why d. H. S. Would neat would need d. O. D. Support on our southern border. This begs the following question. Why has the Trump Administration actively aggravated the challenges on our southern border . Military resources truly necessary to handle these challenges . I specifically would like to hear from my d. H. S. Witness on this matter. In early march of this year, thencommissioner stated the Border Patrol is on track to apprehend hend more than a Million People this year. This is not new feat as Border Patrol has fleshed this 19 times over the last 40 years with less agents, technology, and other tools than what congress has provided other the past decade. Huffer, the committee acknowledges that the democrat grsks of people presenting at the border, namely families and unaccompanied children, present a unique and difficult set of challenges for the Border Patrol. We need to reach a mutually agreeable solution to these immediate challenges in short order to truly begin addressing the crisis. But despite seeing this growing trend over the past five years, the only solutions the Trump Administration continue to implement are ones that prevent people from reaching the United States instead of solutions to manage the reality at hand. The most wasteful of all the president s continued obsessions is building a big, beautiful border wall. The president has resorted to testing the bounds of his authority by diverting money from the department of deft defense in order to build this wall faster. As he stated in february of this year. His efforts to claim a National Emergency to use previously appropriated defense funds to build the wall having encountered multiple lawsuits. These machinations continued at the same time d. O. D. s manputter and other resources are being deployed through the u. S. Mexican border. Im eager to hear from todays witnesses about the work and coordinated efforts being undertaken by the National Guard and d. O. D. With d. H. S. At the border. Id also like to learn more about the cost, both literally and figuratively, of having an extended presence of military personnel in our border communities. What we discuss today will help the committee address the issue at the board for the a productive manner. I thank our witnesses for informing our efforts in this by joining us today. I yield back, madam cheer. Miss rice thank you, mr. Chairman. Other members of the committee are remined that under Committee Rules, Opening Statements may be submitted for the record. Without objection, members not sitting on this esubcommittee will be permitted to participate in todays hearing. I welcome our panel of witnesses. Our first witness, chief carla provost, leads the u. S. Border patrol. Chief provost began her career with the Border Patrol in the tucson sector. Since then shes served in the ewe mark el paso and other sectors until becoming deputy chief of the u. S. Border patrol in 2016. Prior to joining the barder patrol she served as a Police Officer in manhattan, kansas. Our second witness is mr. Robert salesses, secretary of defense for defense integration and defense support of civil authority. In this position hes response initial development of National Homeland defense an Security Policy and overseas oversees d. O. D. s response to National Emergency operations in support of civilian entities. Mr. Salesses has a long history of service to the federal government, including time spent as a deputy special assistant for the Homeland Security task force. Thank you, madam chairman. Major d to welcome general mcguire who served as director of the department of emergency and military ea fares. Hes responsible for managing the daytoday activities of arizonas army and air National Guard programs in the division of emergency management. He leads an 8,000member department of which 2,400 are fulltime frl military and civilian personnel in 6 and 600 are fulltime state employees. General mcguire received his commission from the United States air force academy in 1987. He attended undergraduate Pilot Training at Shepherd Air Force base, texas, followed by several operational combat and training assignments in the f16 fighting falcons. He joined the arizona air National Guards 162nd fighter wing, due San International airport in 2001 as an f16 instructor pilot. In 2010, commanded the 214th recondition sauns at the air force base in arizona where he flew the mq1b predator and led the yuvente in combat operations in support of overseas contingencies. Prior to assuming his current duties he served as commander, 162nd fighter wing, general mcguire is a Fighter Weapons School Graduate and command pilot with more than 4,000 flying hours and 250 combat and combatsupport flying hours. Im proud to welcome our very own arizonan who has served our country well and continues to serb our country and state. Thank you, sir, for being here. Miss rice thank you, ms. Lesko. The witnesses full statements will be inserted in the record. I now ask each witness to summarize their statement in five minutes. We begin with chief provost. Ms. Provost thank you. I couldnt be more proud to represent the men and women of the u. S. Border patrol and to speak to the critical support our d. O. D. Partners are providing us each and every day. In the Border Patrol, we know what it takes to secure the border. What we call operational control, also known as opcon. Opcon requires the right combination of technology, physical barriers and manpower to identify, impede, and respond to illegal crossborder activity. As you are all aware, ive had i have been forced to divert 40 to 60 of Border Patrols manpower away from the border as we process and care for nearly 435,000 families and children that have flood aid cross our southern board sore far this year. As the chief of the Border Patrol, i know that every agent that i am forced to pull away from Border Security directly harms our ability to achieve opcon. People often ask why we need to secure the border when so many families are turning themselves in. Think about the number of agents who must abandon their post to assist when a group of over 1,000 illegal aliens walked into the u. S. At 4 00 in the morning. This happened just last month. And it set a record for the Largest Group in the 95year history of the Border Patrol. With 193 of these large groups so far this yearing our operations are now being overwhelmed on a daily basis. At the same time, our Border Security mission has not gone away. Many illegal aliens and smugglers are trying to evade law ens forment. We have apprehended more than 224,000 single adult aliens on the southern border, a 28 increase compared to last year. Weve arrested more than 6,800 criminal aliens and gang member. We are seeing more high volume drug seizure, a sign that smugglers are becoming more brazen. In just one incident at the rio brand valley, we seized more than 700 pounds of cocaine crossing the river. Just last week, agents and r. G. V. Again seized a large load of methamphetamine with a value of over 5. 6 million. This is why the support we receive from d. O. D. Is invaluable. With fewer agents available to maintain Situational Awareness, d. O. D. Camera operators contributed to more than 1,600 ap rementions and the seizure of 2,00 pounds of marijuana and currency. It helps keep the limbed number of ages we have on the border safe and aware of illegal activity. So far we have observed more than 00,000 people who have successfully evaded arrest. A fiveyear high in what we call gotaways. And these are just the ones that we know about. Even with d. O. D. s support, i fear that we are missing far many others. Not only does this show the value of Situational Awareness, but that its only effective when combined with timely law enforce. Response. Additionally, the National Guard, through operation guardian support is assisting our operations in a range of areas, including air support, radio communication, maintenance and brush clearing. In fiscal year 2019 to date, the National Guard has provided more than 5,00 air hour and contributed to more than 98,000 apprehensions and the seizure of more than 24,000 pounds of marijuana, 231 pounds of methamphetamine and 700,000 in currency. Like the hundreds of ages i have redeplied to the southern boarder from other locations, i know the sacrifice our d. O. D. Brothers and sisters are making to support us. To all the men and women out there on the border out there every day,ky not thank you enough for the sacrifices you are making. Many of you are away from your family, working long hours in harsh border environments and facing overwhelming challenges. I wish i could tell you when our operations will return to normal but as long as we face this crisis, i will continue to act with d. O. D. Support. Encourage this flow. If w smugglers falsely advertise a safe journey to the border, misleading families that anyone arriving with a child will not be deported under current u. S. Policies. While smugglers primarily target the northern triangle, family units from 52 countries have illegally crossed the southern board sore far this year. This year. In just two weeks more than 740 individuals from african nations premiere of a family units have been apprehended in delery a sector alone compared to only 108 because the southern border in the first eight months of fiscal year. Families from countries like brazil, nicaragua, romania and vietnam are taking the same pathways to take advantage of the gaps in the systems. We are now entering the hot summer months increasing the risk to migrants and placing more demands on our agents. I dont know when i will be able to refocus the agents to the Border Security mission or toe the dod that their existence is no longer needed. What i do know is without a doubt, dod support has made a difference in borders ability to carry out the mission. Thank you and i look forward to your questions. Thank you, chief provost and i now recognize you to summarize a statement for five minutes. Good morning, chairwoman, chairman thompson, Ranking Member higgins, distinguished members of the subcommittee thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today under the support for the department of Homeland Security in securing the southern border with the United States. As pointed out, they had a longg history of supporting the efforts. Since the early 90s activeduty National Guard personnel supported federal, state and counter drug activities with monitoring, Transportation Communications and engineering support. More recently theyve been called upon to support the customs and Border Protection and the department of services to include in 2006 to 2008 operation jump start nearly 6,000 National Guard personnel deployed to the southwest border. From 2010 to 2017, the cbp operation failings the National Guard personnel again employed to the southwest border. Between 2012 and 2017, the dod provided shelter for approximately 16,000 unaccompanied children for hhs on the dod installation. Since april, dod support has evolved the border crisis continued. On april 4, the president is prt affected that they support the dhs and securing the southern border. Responding to the evolving challenges of the border, and marked in the approximately 36,000 migrants per month, the dod serves an oldline Border Patrol sectors and all for southwest border states in support of the cbp operation guardian support. The National Guard personnel have been supporting the aviation engineering communications, vehicle maintenance planning and other labond Law Enforcement missions. This support provides facts to the border by freeing the agents to execute their Law Enforcement duties enhancing Situational Awareness along the southern border of the United States. As of today this 1900 National Guard personnel supporting the cbp operation guardian support. In october of 2018, this is reasonable migrants to the fans deployed a violent dangerous tactics towards guatemala and mexican authorities approaching the u. S. Southern order ports of entry. At the request of cbp and in response to the magnitude of these caravans, coupled with the unprecedented simultaneous influx of 60,000 Illegal Migrants per month in the dod surged the Operation Secure line of activeduty personnel to enhance security at u. S. Ports of entry. The kerry engineers replaced over 200 finals and the obstacles in and around 33 ports of entry in california, arizona and texas. They provide the support to expedite movement of the agents between the ports of entry and provided military Police Force Protection to the cbp agents informing the federal functions. In february, 2019, and other secured the transportation arriving at the port of entry in texas within days, not weeks. Following this incident, they requested the dod make available the contingency Crisis Response forcforce including engineers, medical force protection for support and assist along the southwest border and as of today is 2600 activeduty military personnel for supporting the operation in the multiple caravans the expanded the support from hardening the ports of entry to enhancing the security between the ports of entry, principally providing additional detection and monitoring capability. The dod was asked to provide military personnel to name a hundred 46 global surveillance camera systems between the ports of entry at the southwest border state. In may of 2019, cbp capacity to process the migrants was exceeded by the approximate 100,000 migrants entering the United States per month. The deal with the challenge of the Border Patrol station and the dod is assisting the cbp by providing military drivers to transport migrants to cbp vehicles and military personnel to distribute meals have conduct welfare checks if the Border Patrol stations. Dhs has also requested the dod assistance in establishing a temporary dependent facilities to house 7500 single adult migrants and six designated locations in texas and arizona. Youre being asked to provide support services at these locations. The department of health and Human Services has also set it at a request for facilities to accommodate up to 5,000 unaccompanied children on the tenth of june the acting secretary defense approved use of the facilities at Oklahoma Court hhs the shelter approximately 1400 children. Since early 2000, the u. S. Army corps of engineers worked regularly with dhs and cb had cn the various projects. In february of 2019 as a result of the increasing flow of illicit drugs across the southern border, dhs requested that the dod used its authority in section 284, title x, u. S. Code to block the drug smuggling acting secretary defense approved this request specifically by directing the transfer of 2. 5 billion into the defense drug interdiction and account for the construction of 129 miles of border fencing which would block in california, arizona and texas for the militarmilitary conscription enn support of the president s declaration of National Emergency on the southern border. In a summary o by the department of defense continued to adapt and support the dhs and cbp as it responds to this evolving crisis of the border. I visited the border on several occasions had witnessed a tremendous effort of our military personnel supporting and working with the dhs and cbp counterparts. Distinguished members of the committee, thank you for your continued support of the department of defense and the men and wometo themen and womend forces. I look forward to your questions. Thank you very much. I now recognize general mcguire to summarize his statements. Chairman thompson, Ranking Member higgins, thanks to all the distinguished members of the committee for allowing me to come here today to testify on the arizona National Guard. As you know the National Guard today dates back to 1634 in the modernday militia funded by congress under the title 32 authorities since 1903. The National Guard clearly is the first choice for the Homeland Defense missions and we are deployed in 3300 communities and 2700 different installation into the territories and the district of columbias. Each are serving the unique status as. First and foremost, they called the members of the arizona National Guard a state active duty. Support state requirements. Second, you can collaborate with the federal government who called the Authority Estates status which is federally funded just simply what is happening in the fourth iteration this time of operation guardian support or she can call us forward under the authority to separate the Contingency Operations overseas as we have for nearly 12,000 man years since 9 11. Since 9 11, 7800 soldiers and airmen of the arizona National Guard deployed for 12,000 man years. That means that each of us are continuously sincis continuousle would have spent one year in four months overseas. And four months overseas. We proudly support this mission. The governor came to me and i would like to get some specifics, since we are talking about the guardian support about how he got into the position we are in today. In 2018, th the president direcd the dod to support the u. S. Department of Homeland Security. The secretary defense then directed the National Guard to deploy up to 4,000 soldiers and airmen to meet Mission Requirements to provide Aviation Reconnaissance Situational Awareness for the southwest border region. This directive didnt have a formal named operation that was named operation guardian support by the Homeland Security. The governor complied with and agreed to do this under title 32 authority and on april 6, 2018 dot Arizona Joint Task force for the planning so. Three days later we did with the 225 soldiers and airmen all of them organic to the arizona National Guard to be in support of the support command in this case the Border Protection and the chief as the operational element subordinate to the chief provost. Today, we have to fight hundred 46 supporting 17 missions has requested through the dhs. The missions include under the category of support radio communications, border transport maintenance, transport operations, safety officers, equipment 50 operators, administrative and clerical support, information and analysis under the category of surveillance support, the operations of imagery and sensor maintenance, unmanned aerial sensor operators and in the area of support, light and medium lift capacity and fixed wing reconnaissance capacity. The relationship between the arizona nationa National Guard e dhs is not new. For 30 years, the National Guard has collaborated with the Border Protection agents have served primarily in our border counties, four of them on the 389 miles of border between arizona and mexico. So there is no misunderstanding, arizona National Guard. Fullstop act in a Law Enforcement capacity. Nor do our citizen soldiers, none of our citizen soldiers are placed in a position to come in contact with migrants and our barthere for the purpose of providing support to do their enforcement duties. Although not constrained by the act under title 32, Law Enforcement is not a direct mission and the agreement between the governed and the president has stood since april, 2018. I yield back the balance of my time, and i look forward to the questions of the committee. Thank you. Think you major general. I think all of the witnesses for their testimony and remind each member that he or she will have five minutes to question and i will now recognize myself for questions. Chief provost, we at the subcommittee in planning the hearing invited the military advisor to the secretary of Homeland Security to testify about these efforts, but we were informed that he would not be ready to do so because he was newly reassigned to the position and didnt feel he could get up to speed even with two weeks time. Is that u. S. Border patrol this whole entity that is coordinating these joint efforts with the department of defense at this time . Thank you for the question, maam. We are not the sole ones. We work very closely with dod. We do have players that are embedded with them cause the majority of the support is supported by men and women between the ports of entry as we discussed earlier in life work has been done within the cbp as well at the ports of entry. Here are the main receivers of the support from the Border Patrol site of th side of the h. My question is when you are in need of something and reaching out to dod, are you art correctly . We have players with them and create from the Border Patrol and cbp we do create the request in conjunction and then we work with our partners at the dod so that is being handled by some of my personnel. Before you make any requests, are you running tha that up the chaithe chainthrough the dhs le . Do you have conversations with anyone in the administration outside of the dhs . Knono i do not. Okay. I just want to continue with you because you spent some time during your testimony talking about the seizure of drugs that we no know have been that our border. My question to you is as dhs conducted any assessment on the impact the dod planned or proposed for the areas between ports of entry might have on the volume of illegal narcotics . When it comes to the illegal narcotics, there are two types. Theres what we know, meaning what we have seized power and defend what we dont know and i know the congress has asked numerous times on that cover the area of the 2,000 miles on the border with mexico is a very vast and expansive area. As i stated in my Opening Statement, my concerns are that is getting across that i do not know about. The cartels are taking advantage of the humanitarian crisis. I dont mean to interrupt, but i have a limited year ago of time. Prior to going ahead with the actual barriers at the border, did dhs conduct a study to see if they were building in the right areas and what impact that would have on the drugs that are coming across the border . They have identified where we needed a barrier through a field driven process where i field of leadership in each of those respective areas identifies them through the Border Security Improvement Plan. We identified those miles where we have high traffic whether its narcotics, illegal but that he. Can we see that assessment . The Border Security Improvement Plan . Any updates to that that are driving where they are doing their work. I will ensure that you have the Border Security Improvement Plan. In may of this year both acting secretaries of dhs and dod announced their intent to continue joint efforts of the southern border. The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff later confirmed by announcing the pentagon is working to develop what they call a multiyear plan for the border suggesting that they will deploy personnel to the southern border for at least the remainder of the current administration. My question to you, you mentioned previous instances where there was a collaboration it seems primarily on a temporary basis. When you use the word multiyear, that doesnt sound like we are trying to address the crisis happening right now. That seems more like you were planning on individuals within the long haul. So, my question is what is the status of this planning effort and what are the objectives . It is actually a joint venture. To work with the dhs and cbp to develop a longerterm plan we know that the crisis continues but we want to know what the future looks like and to plan for that so there is a team that has been put together and they are developing to make sure we understand where all the deficiencies are and where all the gaps are not just that the southern order but within a the whole immigration system starting from what happened in Central America and with what happened in the integration process i know im out of time, but chief provost from and to you, mr. Salesses, it seems the reason why they havent come in is because you and cbp and higher up the chain of dhs decided you are going to take trained Border Patrol agents away from the jobs that they are were trained to do and have been doing Different Things that independent contractors could be hired to do so that you wouldnt create the crisis and need the dod to intervene. So i just want to sort that out because it seems to me if you take them away from what they are trained to do and have been doing activities that can be done by hiring independent contractors which you have been given the money to do, it seems a little shortsighted. I dont have time for any more questions so just wanted to comment on that. I now recognize the gentleman from louisiana for questions. Thin thank you, madam chairwoman. Chief provost, you mentioned that the decisions made regarding enhanced physical barriers, the specific models of those requested barriers and some that are under construction what you clarify based upon the data provided by actual boots on the ground knowledge of where the physical barrier is needed, can you clarify that please . 89 sectors aligned to beat go a long southwest border and in each of the sectors i have Border Patrol agents that are involved in the process of identifying where the barrier is needed and that goes all the way through the respective chief of the sector and they identify in the areas of the responsibility where they believe the barrier makes sense in supporting the mission. Are you talking about 17 miles from 15 miles bear there, 10 mis the next place, etc. . Is dependent upon the traffic we look at when we talk about operational control we talk about the need for Situational Awareness which often comes through technology or personnel and the denial which is what that barrier brings. Youve also mentioned youve clarified they talk about putting a 30foot wall on top of a cliff or a 200foot wall. It would be an example of the natural barriers. You mentioned the layers of security in your Opening Statement you mentioned technology to detect incoming illegal crossings, and you mentioned physical barriers to detour i believe was your language. And you mentioned enhanced capacity to respond. This is generally the layered security that we have referred to in this subcommittee. Would you concur that is the kind of security we needed that these elements Work Together . In my 25 years now that im coming up on the border, ive seen the benefits of a mixture of these resources. Resources. And that mixture varies on location, but it is a mixture of not one or the other. We need some or all of this. I would like to give an opportunity to address the status and spiri the spirit of n and women as they face unending stress and crisis everyday. I commend you into the american men and women that serve the country on the border. I just cannot imagine how they can continue day after day after day. Would you please address the plight might refebut imight refn crisis growing within our own forces . Certainly. Thank you for that question. First and foremost, our men and women are the ones doing the job and im honored to have the opportunity to represent them. The time that its taken away from their families this is like no other that ive seen in my career when it comes to the humanitarian side of the house. It is certainly draining on my men and women when i go out and see them im extremely pressed with their resiliency, but they are working long hours and many of them are detailed away from home supporting the overtime hours and Border Patrols already working 50 hour week and then asking them to work even more to be able to deal with the crisis, so it certainly puts a strain on them personally that has an impact on their families because they are away from home as well not to mention the thing is that they are seeing. That is to be commended and given a great honor for the service. Do you think that it would do well for the spirit of your men and women to know that congress was going to provide resources for a long time and has badly needed . To address the military readiness and deployment has impacted. They are ready to do all of their Readiness Training in support of Border Protection. Got up on step in the new helicopter much more than if they had been home throughout the entire year. Submission iso this mission y in your opinion, enhanced military readiness and prepared us we assigned soldiers based on their military specialties and to expand skills that can be adapted back. The biggest risk is the ability to make sure in states like arizona and texas providing the majority of the force that is in support that they have the opportunity to do the Mission Command task back at the units. So they have the opportunity to trained the Company Level readiness for those formations on the weekend. Thank you for the clarification. Thank you mr. Higgins. I will recognize others for questions they may ask the witnesses in accordance with the Committee Rules i will recognize members who are present at the start of the hearing is on seniority and committee alternating between authority and minority of those members coming in later will be recognized in the order of their arrival. The chair now recognizes for five minutes, the gentleman from mississippi, mr. Thompson. Thank you, madam chair. Will you provide the committee how you are measuring the effectiveness of the joint deployment with the dod, what are your matrix . Thank you, cheering. There are numerous metrics that we track when it comes to the benefits that whether its my men and women or the dod that are bringing and that has to do with Border Security and operational control. We track the interdiction effectiveness rate and i spoke to the ottaways earlier and that is one of the things we track as well as the apprehension seizures in all the state of things we are tracking the specific numbers as i stated the dod has specifically helped us with over 100,000 apprehension as well as drug seizures and marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine. That support as my agents are being pulled away to deal with the humanitarian crisis do you have any resources at this point based on the personal subcommittees comments to contract or handle the services weve taken the agents away . We have numerous contracts although i will use for medical for example weve expanded the contracts when it comes to transportation we do have contracts that its just not sufficient to keep up with the amount of transportation. Part of that has to do with the contractors ability to get through to get enough individuals into the areas. Is a matter that you dont have money for the contracts were the contract you are using just as you said doesnt have the ability to find people . Its both. When it comes to the amount of money we have been spending on the humanitarian, we had more funding to support those contracts. At the same time, working in remote locations was difficult to get personnel into those locations at times. There are necessarily not just individuals with the correct background to be able to work in the positions we need them in. What i would like to provide for the committee is your efforts to extend the contracts for services that you presently contract for that you are now deploying your agent to do. Can you provide the mixer to me. We have the information to include the transport and im looking for the efforts to expand those contracts of medical or any other contract. Thank you. Mr. Salesses, at this point, how much can you provide the committee in terms of the cost of the deployment up to this point . The estimated cost for the military supporters about 400 million. Are you familiar with section 28 related . Yes, sir. Have we accessed any of those to build a border wall . There is no decision made at that point. The department continues. Do you have any idea when the assessment will be complete . Weve had a number of reviews and analysis of the border barrier and that decision is pending in the next couple of weeks. The reason i ask is that deployment was predicated on the National Emergency and weve been at this a good while soap if it is a National Emergency, you know, if either is or it is not and if it is this emergency is that the decision of the dod or a decision of the white house . Its the secretary of defense to support the use of the armed forces is that the authority says what he is working with the chair man anchairman and otherss the proper use of that. I understand that we have all been told that we need to be able to build a big beautiful border wall and thats an issue. Do you think that its appropriate to use the dod assets to paint a border wall . The reason its being paint painted, its indicated people try to scale the wall and that makes it difficult so this is a test of onemile to see how effective it is going to be. So, you are saying that its fine. To support this effort with everything going on it seems reasonable. Can you tell why we didnt contract for the painting of the wall . I cannot comment on the funding aspect of it. Who determines to paint the wall with these . They ask for our assistance to do that. We are using engineers to do that for the same debate with thbut they putthe water on top. We asked for that i want to say seven i believe. Can you provide the committee with whatever direction that request to paint the wall by the military went to . Certainly. The chair recognizes for five minutes the gentlewoman. Im going to start by reading an article that was published six days ago the body was found about 70 miles west in a remote desert area u. S. Customs and Border Protection said. Officials believe the child was from india trained across from mexico into the United States with a group from that country according to the agency. They dropped the group near the Mexican Border where they were told to cross into arizona alone the agency said they searched north of the border and the remote terrain and eventually found the little girls body after a few hours. The remote area where she was found in the rugged desert wilderness with few resources to area has a High Temperature around 108 degrees wednesday. They continued to search for the other people that have been traveling with her. They sent out aircraft and helicopters to search the area and i am not going to read the rest of it because i only have three minutes and 40 seconds left, but the point of reading g this is that we have a crisis at the border. We have had a crisis of the border. I live in arizona and ive been to the border. And so, it wasnt that long ago that Speaker Pelosi and senator schumer said this is a manufactured crisis, so im happy to hear today from both the chai chairman and the commie chairman that they are actually acknowledging that there is a crisis now so i really hope that we will Work Together as i said before to try to change some of these policies, because as you can tell from the story the smugglers could give a darn about these migrants. If they are making money off these people so instead of blaming President Trump i wish we could put it where it belongs with the cartels and the people abusing the migrants and also with us quite frankly because we are not changing our policies. Last year we had two pieces of wood decision that i know of where we could have changed our policies to help stop this flow of exploiting migrants. Thats not one of my democratic colleagues voted yes. Now fortunately, we have in the senate some type of potential agreement from the humanitarian crisis which has been rejected i think 17 times by my democratic colleagues im not trying to be disparaging but i do have a question how would the funding for the humanitarian crisis a 4. 6 billion thats being proposed help you to solve the crisis at the border . Those are expensive that are just not there because of the practice coming up over the last year to support all of those efforts for go the care of the individuals in our custody with the humanitarian crisis and then dealing with what we see on a daytoday basis on the border. Thank you very much. General mcguire can you give examples how to impact the National Guard working with the cbp on the border you mentioned the unfortunate incident a few weeks ago. Fortunately the aviation support that is no less than one every time we have done this and it is the fourth generation. We have a continuing relationship and then to pick up the number of 911 calls and to be in support of them. And with those to read apply they were deployed one month ago all for ten months 50 immediately asked to turn around to fill the 200 cap from what we presently half have. 15 percent of the guardsmen serve in a civilian capacity with police and Law Enforcement. That is the number one so they have a strong kinship of Border Protection and along the border. Thank you to all the men and women who work in cbp, department of defense, defense, National Guard you guys are heroes. The chair recognizes for five minutes the woman from new mexico. Thank you as well. And thank you for the service to your country with the second Congressional District that represents the usmexico border with the House Armed Services there is an important issue thank you to your staff. Thank you for that. The fact at issue is with 57 miles of wall allow loan a lot of that is in my district. And with that analysis to make an impact really matters to me. Part of that needs to be everything thats going on in the border with that interdiction sector by sector. The committee has acts one asked for that information. Said you commit to providing that information quick. I will go back to the department to see whether or not. I know we provide national but im not sure specific sector by sector but Border Security Improvement Plan, that is part of the analysis that we do we will be sure you get the plan. Thank you. We have to make sure we are adapting those circumstances i appreciate you provided the el paso sector information so we know it is possible and we deeply appreciate it. And the investment to do the work with the ports of entry when it comes down to transportation and we are excited with that effort and what is necessary for the position quick. And to develop that position and with that training with that new position we have created. And to determine everything with that full analysis and what that comes for all legal aspects of the position. And then to be more than happy to get that to you. In that conversation about support and im pleased to hear your expanding that support. Supplement that support or replace it . I apologize. The supplemental position quick. Those would be helping to process transports and that would support it obviously that will take some time where there ultimately with contract suppor support. It is so strong and to see that an easier. Do you have a hiring target for the support positions quick. I do not have the total number yet. So now switching to military. But how does this have them potential impact or decline of readiness quick. You can imagine from your experience the Service Secretary in the service cheap are to monitor the readiness and with this briefing last week predominantly to be deployed right now. How are they monitoring that quick. It is a different process that we have that the commanders at the higher levels input and the readiness of the unit based on the training. You are talking the continued impact . I yield back. Thank you for yielding and thank you for her convening the most critical and important topic that we have used in Congress Today the unprecedented crisis that we as a nation face on our southern border. 144,000 immigrants attempted to illegally enter between ports of entry along the southwest border in may 2019. 622 percent increase over the same month just to years ago. With in action President Trump had to declare a state of emergency to direct the secretary of defense to deployed National Guard troops to help them deal with a crisis. And it is necessary the reason the National Guard presence at the border as i have learned talking to Border Patrol agents just one month ago but we are currently overwhelmed at Border Patrol because my colleagues across the aisle refused to pick up the necessary legislation to fix the loopholes in the asylum system. Because of the refusals to allocate the necessary four four. 5 billion emergency aid of department of Homeland Security has asked for and families are unaccompanied children. And to block legislation 15 times in the last month alone. The willingness of congress and the pennsylvania delegation and with the pennsylvania National Guard to the southern border. The government called this a stunt, called the crisis hyperbole. So today we want to find out from our experts if that assessment is correct or whether more National Guard troops are needed and could be effective at our border. Chief provost i understand National Guard troops and assets to that Mission Statements indicate there are 546 soldiers and airmen deployed on those that are authorized. So if they offered Additional Forces tomorrow would you be able to make use . Would you be able to secure and protect the southern border quick. As i said in my Opening Statement the support from the garden dod has been invaluable. So dealing with that humanitarian crisis that negatively impacts the ability to secure the border and Border Security is National Security. Additionally, describing the Current Situation is hyperbole do you feel that is correct quick. I would disagree wholeheartedly. And that truly is a crisis and when i testify back then and then to mention that support enter out dhs not just Border Patrol. Because im the only one i the only one that cant say no. When they come in they end up in our custody and our care so also for many other partners and i. C. E. And hhs to do their portion of this through doj. Thank you for addressing this crisis. I yelled back. The chair recognizes for five minutes. Thank you madam chair into the witnesses for being here today. And the secretary of defense thank you very much and all of you for your service to our country. But if we do have a crisis that just in our part of the world but in Central America we have 2 million refugees from Central America and you see violence and be one people doing what they need to do. So this is a challenge for all of us. For President Trump on june the eighth praised for a huge skill of immigration to keep Central America migrants with asylum needs until cases are decided. Tell me how this will affect your job or how we implement the new immigration policy. The program you are discussing congressman our programs we have been working with the government of mexico. Before june 8. Yes sir. Was that a big deal or one that was already on the way quick. Mexico had agreed to expand that operation. How are they expanding it quick. Sending more individuals to wait for a hearing. How many quick. There wasnt a set per se but we started that in california. Im not trying to be argumentative i would love to talk to you at length but as this Program Expands and humanitarian crisis in terms of these refugees are now housed on the mexican side how does that address our resource allocation of the southern border to make sure we do the right thing when it comes to humanitarian crisis quick. We are working closely with mexico. You have statistics. Are you asking for number. How do we implement this. We have correlated with the government of mexico upon one it is dependent upon them taking a number each day we have already expanded that number. It varies from day to day. I have two minutes unfortunately with head of Homeland Security from asking a question talking about Border Security but its about Regional Security meeting with our allies around the world. And you mentioned your issue is the things that you dont know. So are you coordinating with the mexican authorities to identify or maybe columbia on the issues of immigration possible drugs quick. We have been working with mexico for years working very closely and we also have individual. Were not doing this alone. We have individual relationships worldwide specific to immigration issues and with various governments. Im glad to hear you say that because about six months ago i looked at your station there with the border in the names of the individuals they have actually apprehended. After the names were hispanic the other half were indian. I say this to you because you are right when you talk about this refugee crisis isnt just regional it is worldwide. Finally in my last 20 seconds the wall street journal two days ago it sees a massive flow of cocaine in philadelphia the largest best on the east coast. You mentioned numbers on drug seizures. Had you compare the drug seizures along the border inland versus those that see quick. I dont want to speak to my partner. I spoke to the coast guard and they told me the seizures off the coast is recordbreaking as well. I would say we are having those everywhere. Thank you very much i yelled back. Now the gentle man from mississippi. Thank you madam chairman. Thank you for your service to our country and for what you are doing taking charge of a difficult situation along the southwest border. So to follow up on the question do we continue to have a drug crisis on the southwest border . And that goes to each witness. Do each agree we have a drug crisis on the southwest border quick. Yes. General you address that in your report written testimony. To state through fy 2019 with National Guard support cbp has over 26000 apprehensions with fenton all and amphetamine and marijuana. Those of the numbers we have for the Counter Drug Task force working with a multitude of Law Enforcement of federal and state and local entities. The flow of illicit narcotics continues on the southwest border in unfortunately that is heavily trafficked theres been quite a bit of violent activity in that area over the last six years. Most recently, with the opioid crisis, a huge increase on the mexican black market that has jumped up over the last two years. Half of the current Immigration Crisis on the southwest border affects your operations. It pulls my manpower away from the ability to deal with the Border Security mission and the smugglers are taking advantage of that. Dealing with a humanitarian crisis we have had examples where they run large groups over 193 groups of 100 people more at a time already this fiscal year. And then while my agents are distracted dealing with that they run narcotics and other areas and this is a tactic that they use. Because of lack of manpower to perform both mission simultaneously the drug cartels are using Human Trafficking and immigration as a way to distract from your manpower and resources and at the same time they use that to smuggle Illegal Drugs into the country. Correct. You say the drug cartels in central and south america are aware of this problem and they are using it as a way to continue to get Illegal Drugs into our country quick. Yes they are. If this differs from the past Immigration Crisis we have seen quick. The demographic shift. We have numbers of 1 million apprehensions previously that demographic has been generally mexican nationals that have been returned in many were. Also the numbers are apples and oranges. I personally would put the same person back three times that is counted as three apprehensions but now they do not have a higher wii apprehension rate because they are brought into the country. The demographics has changed its longer to process individuals than the humanitarian care issues we deal with and the time it takes to deal with that 76 trips to the hospital per day with individuals we are apprehending. So very quickly, if additional funding was appropriated by congress could you use the manpower on the southwest porter to prevent Illegal Drugs from coming into our country quick. Most definitely. If congress would eat on change asylum laws so we did not have the flood of individuals coming into our country seeking asylum where those help you from keeping drugs from coming into america quick. Yes that would. I yelled back. The gentleman from california. Thank you for allowing me to join the subcommittee today. The san diego sector is seen tens of thousands of migrants and children coming in with single adults. The city of counties san diego in california and organizations involved and we are grateful for their dedication and hard work. The relationship particularly visiting with Border Patrol officers and coast guard supports these operations in a seamless way they have been asked to assess the programs to make sure they are being taken care of. I think the concern may have with the federal government is the military enhancement and we were deploying the military and places that did not have appropriate personnel i want to talk about that today. The dod is currently reviewing a request to house additional children. That has been approved. They should start being house there. Tell me how you assign the duties how do you work with cbp or hhs to maintain facilities quick. Hhs is responsible and we work very closely with them we asked to identify facilities and if they use the land. What we have done is stabilize a sector they look at the facilities available and they make an assessment based on location and the ability to provide services needed. Dod does not provide services we just provide the facilities they provide they care to the children. When i visited the border in march, it was made very clear to us do you understand this role they are providing Logistic Support and that was in the scope of their expertise. But the other thing that we heard is the authorized physicians that you could not fill. So i understand there must be some obstacle to get some people hired. Can you tell me what those are quick. There is competition in the lawenforcement world in general right now with hiring so that being said last year was the first year we made progress to hire more than we lost. We are on track to do that again this year i need more resources. We have expanded our Recruitment Program seeing more individuals come in through the pipeline my academy is currently full which is a good sign. The first time in a few years. I am happy to see those numbers coming in but it does take time to higher particularly cbp and to expedite the process and to take several steps in that area as well. I suspect most of my colleagues would like to see the cbp jobs higher so the military can go back to more military functions other than border staffing. Also has a processing coordinator you may have touched on this but are those qualifications going to be different for that position quick. It is a lesser qualification. We are in the process of finalizing and the training involved, that the duties but the position is there to put my agents back to their main job. And the processing coordinator to develop relationships. I cannot say at this time in relation to working with them that they do work very closely. We have run out of time but because of the Trump Administration with that number we can learn a lot from each other. I yelled back. I yield back. Thank you to the chairwoman for her care to see extended and also to the Ranking Member also to the Ranking Member. And primarily marine corps and army folks. I dont have the specific numbers. Ms. Jackson lee there are over 2,000 personnel . I would like to answer that question. Yes, maam. There is 2,700 active military members deployed. And deployed in all four border states as germ mcguire pointed ut and predominance of the National Guard folks, the number are in arizona and small number in california and new mexico. The operational commanders below that in the active come pobet and the individual tags like general mcguire and the tags from texas. Ms. Jackson lee my time is short. I appreciate it. Chief, let me ask you questions, people are appalled and i want to put on the record shouldnt be a republican or democratic matter of the conditions of the border are compounded by the administrations rules and policies and announcements. Tell me, have you gotten a more structure. Lp coast guard were working off of a table as it relates to health care and have you improved conditions women and children are living in . I know there are conditions on the other side of the border what the conditions and the visuals are discxds difficulties tarredly and children shouldnt be treated that way. And the second component, what participation if the president goes again with a thoughtless proposal of deporting a Million People next week. What role will you have . Chief provost the role is ms. Jackson lee they have to cross the border. You are at the border. If they are not flying, they are crossing the border. Chief provost i dont have a role ms. Jackson lee you have not heard from them . Chief provost i have not heard. I have nod hert that. To address the issues and you point out very relevant concerns house these nt to demographics and c. B. P. Does not detention. My goal is to get everybody out of my custody that is why health and Human Services when it comes to unaccompanied children needs the beds to take them into their care and when it comes into single adults. Family units, we are processing them and releasing as quickly. E have added some structures and added schauer trailers. All of the consumeables for humanitarian care which is part of the reason i need funding. On the medical, we have expanded the contract. We have a medical contract and expanded that and continuing to expand that further. Green green i would like to echo the premise that this is not about conservatives or liberals, democrats or republicans, its really about people and about our border. And i believe that we have a sponsibility to secure our border and i believe we also have a responsibility to deal ith refugees who are fleeing harms way. And my suspicion is that each of you would concur with the necessity to secure the border as well as follow the law and deal with persons who are fleeing harms way. If someone differs, i would like you to respond. Thank you. I take it you agree with me. A lot of what we are doing in sponding is based upon perceived facts, perceived facts. You are all honorable people and you deal with facts. We do have some pourous borders south of mexico. Is it fair to say el salvador has a pourous border. Would you respond . Chief provost i would say so. Mr. Green they dont have the level of Border Security that we have . Chief provost im not an expert on their security, but i would say that is correct. Mr. Green same thing with honduras and guatemala. I have been reading about these things. And that contributes to some extent to what is happening at ur border. Mr. Green would you concur we have these problems with these countries and their borders . Congressman i have only visited guatemala and cant discuss it all, but yes, i have been briefed that they have similar problems with inability to secure crossborder transnational activity. Reen glean it seems to me that our military was deployed based upon acts that were committed, is that a fair statement in terms of the deployment of the military, conditions on our border, is that a fair statement . Yes, congressman, it is. Mr. Green one of the facts that seem to be in dispute, our border is the weakest in the world. Ur border is not weaker than honduras, el salvador or guatemala. We have a border that we want to secure, but i think we should acknowledge that it is not the weakest in the world. If you think our border is the weakest in the world, please speak up . I take it that you agree it is not the weakest in the world. I mention this not because of your honor or integrity but the chief executive officer of the United States of america known to all of us as the president , thats a statement. He made some of his decisions based upon his belief that our border is the weakest in the world. Ought not deploy our assets this. Upon assets should be deployed based upon certainty and facts. I lived around military people a good deal of my life. All honorable people. This is not a fair statement to be utilized to deploy our assets the weakest in the world. We dont have the weakest border in the world. I do believe there are sore things that we can do, but we ought not fabricate stories to deploy assets. I yield back. Thank you. Going to go into a secondround of questioning. I recognize myself for five minutes. On may 8, 2019, acting secretary shana han issued a memo conveying a new policy for sharing information with congress and the g. A. O. , the depoft accountability office. This policy states that plans to operational orders and executive orders will be limited based on a number of factors and could be used to limit access to Important Information needed to support congressional oversight. Can you tell me what those limitations are . I dont know what those limitations are. I know we are working very closely with the gamplet o. O. To share information on what the Defense Department is doing. We do have a process in place to share a lot of information that has been published by the Defense Department and will continue to do that. I dont know the specifics of the memo in regards to what will be shared and not shared. Were you consulted at all . The memo, no, maam, i wasnt. You cant tell us what the limitations were that acting shana han was talking about. If you could let the committee know. There are farreaching implications if there are limitations put on information sharing for this committee to do our appropriate oversight. I would appreciate that. F response to d. H. S. s april 2019 request for assistance, acting secretary announced that d. O. D. Would make an exception of its practice of prohibiting d. O. D. Personnel that requires interactions with mige grants. What limitations or restrictions remain in place for d. O. D. Personnel who are deployed to the u. S. Mexico border . And what are the d. O. D. Red personnel tive cannot do . As it relates to that request, that was the request for the driver and provide 160 drivers and providing military personnel to hand out meals. We have worked very closely in the conduct of our military personnel specifically on buses. There will be a Border Patrol agent. And handing out the meals of those who are driving the buses. Do you have anything to add . Chief provost that is correct, there are duties that are inherptly Law Enforcement related and we retain those duties and he is correct how that is being carried as to the male prep and assistance. If you could follow up and provide the committee with those limitations ta we spoke of before. I now recognize the Ranking Member, mr. Higgins. Mr. Higgins on april 4, 2018, President Trump launched guardian support to deploy ational guard personnel to support customs and Border Protections. It relieves Border Patrol agents allowing them to focus on Border Security. Would you agree with that assessment . Does that clarify what we are talking about . D. O. D. Support . My colleague mentioned the need to return to i believe the quote was military role rather than border staffing and lets clarify for the American People, you are the Deputy Assistant secretary of defense and defense support of civil authorities for d. O. D. , is that correct . Thats correct. And the d. O. D. Forces that are deployed to assist in operation guardian support are roles. T in a specialty they are providing support to d. H. S. You have pilots flying planes and not vehicle maintenance. There are individuals. Vehicle maintenance. I would like to clarify that. Chief, again, please share with would thoughts on what happen within your forces should congress act and approve the supplemental funding and provide the resources that you have asked for . What would happen with your morale and what would be the response within your ranks . Chief provost we are asking for more manpower as well as retention incentives to support the work that our men and women are doing. But all of the support that is needed. Im using operational funds to deal with the humanitarian crisis and that is taking away from equipment and resources that our men and women need to do their jobs. The funding that is needed for i. C. E. We have to take these single adults. I have 8,000 in custody right now that i cannot release single adults. If i release them, we will lose the border. If we do not have some kind of consequence for violating the w and illegally crossing the boffereders, i dont know what im here for. Would you concur, chief, that the sovereignty of our nation is at stake here . It is and the borders that im concerned with and responsible for are our borders. I appreciate the secondround of questioning. The chair recognizes for five minutes the gentleman from mississippi. I want to follow up on what Ranking Member higgins was just talking about. In your written testimony on page four of the conclusion, you state Border Security is National Security, there is no difference and the crisis on our southwest border puts our National Security at risk. I have asked congress to act to. Ix the broken system without legislative legislations, c. B. P. Expects the need the diversion of resources to the current humanitarian crisis and giving you a platform, chief, what do you believe that we can do as congress to help stem the crisis that we are seeing along our border . Chief provost we need to address the Legal Framework issues as i stated. Specifically, we have to have the ability to hold Families Together and in an appropriate setting through an expedited. Families are flooding in because the word has gotten out, smugglers say, bring a child, we have to have the ability. We need to eliminate the double standard for noncontiguous un accompanied children and we have no ability to return children to their homeland if they are not mexico or canada. E also need to tighten the asylum provides as those who meet the he bar for field do not meet the bar for asylum as wells as the supplemental funding. Let me talk about that, chief. Ask that you respond in riting to those questions. Having no further business. The committee stands adjourned. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2019] captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org erik wasson reports on congress and joins us on spending bills and budget negotiations. Appropriators have approved emergency border funding. Hat are the key details . This is to address and what is making the news,