Transcripts For CSPAN Senate Homeland Security Hearing On The Southern Border 20240714

This hearing will come to order. I would like to welcome our witnesses. Hearing, thethis unprecedented migration at the u. S. Southern border, subtitle, what is required to improve conditions . I think that is incredibly important that we concentrate on what can we do to improve conditions, Continuous Improvement . I have a manufacturing background. That is what we seek to do. Thatl say at the onset nobody, nobody is satisfied with conditions on the border. Nobody is. This is unprecedented what is happening on the border. It is overwhelming. It is out of control. I was talking to the commissioner, the acting commissioner before the hearing, and mentioned how former dhs secretary jeh johnson was on msnbc couple months ago i talked about how when he came to the office, if apprehensions for the day were under i thousand, it was not too bad a day. If there was over 1000, he knew he would have a really bad day. The fact of the matter is in may, the average daily number of apprehensions on people presenting themselves at port of entry without proper documentation, claiming asylum, 4. 6 times a thousand a day. 3476. E, it dropped to for a number of reasons, i think that was the commissioner getting into that but currently we are at 3000 a day but close to 3000 a day. Everybody has seen my chart. We continue to update it. That chart formally shows unaccompanied children and people coming in as a family unit. You can see how it has exploded in fiscal year 2019. As of june, first nine months of this fiscal year, 4400 95,000 children and family units have come to this country. If the pace continues, we will be over 700,000. Primarily, people coming in as family with one adult, one child. 8700tal, through june, cross the border illegally or presented themselves without proper documentation, claiming asylum. If juns pace continues, we will be at 1. 1 million. Those of the numbers we will have to deal with. That is what order patrol has to deal with on a daily basis. I asked my colleagues, anybody criticizing the conditions down there, how would you handle it . 6 under 52 people a day 4652 people a day. And it does not stop at 5 00 at night. It continues 24 7. It is overwhelming. I had an earlier interview with the reporter from washington post, a real good interview, interested in the full complexity of this problem, asked me my evaluation of acting thery micah linton acting secretary. My response was, if you are looking to get criticism, i will not criticize any acting secretary of Homeland Security. It is an overwhelming task. We are not just talking about the border. We are talking about natural disasters and fema. First of all, im just grateful anybody would take the position. Commissioner, i am grateful you have stepped up to plate in your capacity, and im particularly grateful to the men and women of dhs and Border Patrol that had kind of rally to try and deal with this overwhelming situation. There may be some instances. They may be a few bad apples, but the men and women i talked with thei see dealing humanitarian crisis that the border doing everything they can to treat these individuals with care and compassion, but they are overwhelmed by the situation. Again, i just want everybody to keep in mind the reality of the situation. Ask yourself, how would you handle it . How would you manage this . What i would suggest is the solution, which is what we have suggested all along is in this case, with this hearing now, lets address the root cause, this uncontrolled flow of individuals. I would argue that the goal of our policy, the first goal, and we have so many different problems of the illegal flow, but the first goal of our policy should be to reduce that flow, is why the letter we sent to dhs, working with them to design a private program called Operation Safe return, whose goal would be to rapidly and more accurately determine those individuals that clearly dont have a legal claim to stay in this country and safely return them to their whole country or state regions of Central America, and there are six regions in Central America. That is important to point out. Again, the folks on this Committee Hearing, what can we do at this overwhelming situation to improve conditions . We all want to do that. Im not interested in placing blame. Im interested in what can we do to address this overwhelming and outofcontrol system . I asked my written statement be in the record and i turn it over to mr. Peters. At the end of may, we were together visiting the u. S. Mexican border, and on that trip, we saw firsthand the tremendous challenges of the department of Homeland Security, personnel, and local communities are facing at the southern border. It is clear our infrastructure and personnel are overwhelmed. Resources are stretched thin and are being shifted away from priorities like the northern border. I capacity to address the needs of children and families is overboard and overburdened. Despite those difficulties, we witnessed hardworking public officers, public servants, volunteers, and Civic Leaders doing their best to manage a difficult situation. At the same time, it is impossible to ignore the reports and images that have emerged regarding substandard conditions and unacceptable treatment and tragic deaths with some customs and Border Protection locations. We are regarding from a small number of Border Patrol agents, unacceptable behavior. The position on our border is incredibly challenging. It is clear it is not equipped to care for the unprecedented number of children and family seeking asylum at the border. Some of the images we have seen and stories we have heard i believe do not reflect the overall efforts of the customs and Border Protection folks. The hardworking men and women who secure our borders. They certainly do not reflect the values of this great nation. But it is clear that there are significant challenges on the ground, and to some extent, problems within the agencys culture that must be swiftly and adequately addressed. In recent weeks, have seen a decline in the number of migrants arriving along the southern border. The pressure seems to be decreasing temporarily. The drop has eased overcrowding at many border facilities. Billions of dollars in supplemental funding has enabled dhs to improve their response to these challenges. Today, i hope this committee will hear specifics on how those additional taxpayer dollars are being used. However, as members of this committee know, much of that migration that occurs from mexico and the northern triangle countries is seasonal. This fall, we can expect to see the number of rivals rise again arrivals rise again. We have an opportunity to examine where we have failed and where we have succeeded and put lessons into practice. We need innovative ideas to improve migrant processing to relieve the strain on our Frontline Border Security Professionals and other agencies that have provided support services in recent months and to keep our borders secure and our country safe. The few issues we face are as complex as this one, but today, i hope we can find common ground, identify Bipartisan Solutions and deliver real copperheads of results for the american people. I would like to thank our witnesses for being here today, and i look forward to your testimony and responding to our questions. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Our dutyjohnson it is to swearing witnesses, so if you would both stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear the testimony will give before this testimony will be the truth, the whole truth, so help you god . Our first witness acting commissioner mark morgan. Mr. Morgan began serving his country as u. S. Marine and a local Law Enforcement. After completing a 20 year career in the fbi, he Began Service in the department of Homeland Security as acting commissioner of internal affairs before being appointed as president obama as chief youve u. S. Border patrol and told 2017. As actingd to dhs director of immigration and Customs Enforcement in may of ons year and began his role july 7. And members of the committee, thank you for this opportunity to appear before you today. I would like to begin with a story. Patrol agentsder from the del rio sector saw a group of undocumented migrants crossing the rio grande in texas. The smugglers watched a paraplegic man take you to the river and callously thrown in. The paraplegic man immediately began to drown fighting the strong river currents. Agents reached the drowning victim and safely brought him to shore. Had agents not been there, he would have been added to the 170 two deaths discovered along the southwest border and desolate locations and members, address regarding from the disregard for human life at the hands of smugglers. This is one of more than 4000 rescues performed by cvp this year with Border Patrol leading the way. Who the men and women of the United States Border Protection are. They risk their lives every day to help and protect whomever is in distress. Do not ask the persons nationality or whether they are trying to illegally enter the country. They see a human being needing help and that is what they provide them. The men and women of cdp are not running concentration camps, making those in our custody drink from toilets, nor denying them access to toothbrushes. That is simply not true. This is the kind of irresponsible rhetoric that they have to endure from the media and even some of our own congressional leaders. It is unjust and has nothing to bring us closer to resolving one of the most evasive issues we face in our country. Of people died across the rio grande and dying in the desert goes unreported. The demonizing of Law Enforcement professionals must stop. These false, misinformed, and overheated attacks are demoralizing and served to further deteriorate the publics understanding and perception of what their true issues are and what needs to be done to end this crisis. We should be coming together to focus our efforts on the real enemy, the cartels and smugglers, who make billions of dollars at the expense of an extremely vulnerable population exporting loopholes in our immigration framework to facilitate their operation. Over the past year, Homeland Security leadership has told congress and the press we have an emergency on our hands. We provide statistics about the alarming and unprecedented increase in apprehension. That number is over 800,000 yeartodate. We explain how the mass migration is unlike previous arrivals on how families and children from Central America present different challenges with regard to their care and processing. Over 450,000 of these apprehensions are family units and over 80,000 were unaccompanied children. Combined, that is over 300,000 children who have entered our custody since october 1, the last year. These numbers are staggering, unprecedented, and have overwhelmed every aspect of our border and Immigration Enforcement system. Last week, i met with the minister of security from the northern triangle countries, who all, all of them, express their collective frustration that the future of their countries are leaving for america. And they want their children back. Comfortingwe are inference. We are taking the sick to the hospital, averaging over 800 per day. We are expanding our medical care, ensuring children are provided edible screenings. We are building soft sided facilities to provide an adequate environment for families and children, costing tens of millions of dollars a month to operate. We are providing food, clothing, and other basic necessities. We have pulled agents from the Border Security mission to process a massive volume of migrants. In some sectors, up to 50 of agents are pulled off the line to support the extraordinary humanitarian effort along our southwest border. We have pulled agents from our northern and coastal duty stations and pulled more than 700 officers away from ports. We have called for volunteers from across the government to help us manage surge of humanity. The recent supplemental helped, but as we have been saying, this is merely treating the symptoms, it does not cure the cause. It looks like i have run out of time. If i could have a few more seconds. Chairman johnson take your time, finish her statement. Mr. Morgan smugglers openly advertise a safe and legal journey to the United States. They tell migrants, and their families that there is a policy in the United States that anyone who arrives with the child will not be deported. We have stats and facts to show that is what is being communicated, and our laws support that perception. If there is not up specif and if there is not a specific and significant change in our laws, our personnel will continue to be diverted from their primary missions to safeguard this country with legitimate trade and travel continuing to suffer. Dangerousy to prevent narcotics and criminals illegally entering our country will continue to be greatly diminished, and smugglers, like the ones who through the paraplegic man in the rio grande , they will continue to profit. Although we are seeing the numbers across demographics decrease doing large parts to the effort of the Current Administration working with the government of mexico, as well as our northern countries to address this as a true regional crisis of concern, this is not a durable longterm solution concerning the National Security and humanitarian crises we are facing. Congress must acknowledge this is a crisis and pass meaningful legislation to address the loopholes in our current Legal Framework. Thank you for your time. I look forward to answering your questions. Chairman johnson thank you, commissioner. Our next witness is miss jennifer costello, now the deputy special general for the department of Homeland Security prior to thursday when we did get confirmed. We appreciate your service from that standpoint. Miss costello has been the department of homeland 2017. Prior to her experiences at dhs, she spent over 13 years as assistant director and forensic expression special investigation unit. We talked a little bit how we can help get the metrics on safe return on operations in return. Costello thank you for inviting me here today to work atdhs oigs recent the Holding Facilities in the southern border. My testimony today will focus on our two cent management alerts regarding the dangerous overcrowding and prolonged detention observed by oig inspectors at the el paso el norte Processing Center in may of this year, and facilities in the Rio Grande Valley in june. We issue these alerts because the conditions we observed posed a serious and imminent threat to the health and safety of dhs personnel and detainees. Dhs oig conducts unannounced inspections of cvp facilities to escorte it with their detention and search standards, known as the ted standards. Ted governed cvp interactions with detaineess, providing guidance on things like duration of the detention, and access to food, water and hygiene. Proposees us to appropriate corrective action to the department. In doing so, we seek to drive transparency and accountability at the Homeland Security. Although cvp has struggled at times to achieve full compliance with the tension standards, our recent unannounced inspections serious more situation. For instance, when our team arrived at the El Paso Del Norte Processing Center, they found that the facility, with a Maximum Capacity of 125 detainees, had more than 750 detainees on site. The following day, that number increased to 900. The bordery, at all patrol facilities we visited in the Rio Grande Valley, we observed serious overcrowding with unaccompanied minor children. We found individuals, including children, were detained well beyond the 72 hours permitted under ted standards. For instance, at the centralized Processing Center mcallen, texas, many children have been in custody longer than a week, and some uacss under the age of seven had been in custody for more than two weeks. The cvp has struggled to comply with ted standards. Although all facilities we visited had infant formula, diapers, baby formula and snacks for children, two had not provided children hot meals until the week we arrived. Additionally, children at three of the five facilities had no access to showers, limited access to a change of clothing and no access to laundry facilities. Space limitations also affect single adults. The lack of space has restricted cvps ability to separate two people with Infectious Diseases from each other and the general population. They also affect the health of Border Patrol agents who experience high incidence of illness. Further, there is a concern the overcrowding and prolonged detention may contribute to rising tension among detainees. A senior manager at one facility called the situation a ticking time bomb. Despite these immense challenges, we observed cvp staff interacting in a respectful manner and attempting to comply with manners to the extent possible. Notwithstanding these efforts, Border Patrol requires immediate assistance to manage the overcrowding and its facilities. Cvp is not responsible for providing longterm retention and facilities like the ones we visited are not designed to hold individuals for lengthy amounts of time. However, we have limited the bed Space Available in ice facilities and dhhs facilities nationwide. Detainees are left until a place that can be found. In its response to our recent management alerts, dhs described the situation on the southern border as an acute and worsening crisis. Our observations comport with that characterization, which is why we have called on the department to take immediate action to remedy the situation. Dhs oig will monitor and report on the situation at the border. In the meantime, the departments leadership must establish a coordinated approach that will allow to make good on its commitment to ensure the safety, security, and care of those in its custody. Mr. Chairman, this concludes my statement. Im happy to answer questions the committee has. Chairman johnson thank you. I want to throw couple numbers out. Some of these issues have been raised. Talked about the capacity at border stations. First of all, generally, except for the mcallen, texas, facilities and temporary facilities, these are basically police stations, correct . Theyre not designed to house any volume of people. Cash no, not ms. Costello no, not at all, and that is the problem in the overcrowding. They are not able to house the capacity they have at this time. Chairman johnson the basic capacity of the hardsided facilities is what . 4000 . Mr. Morgan yes, sir, that is correct. During this time the reviews were done by the oig, which we appreciate, welcome, and enjoy the partnership, at that time, we reached the highest number in may, and at that time, our detention capacity of those in reache 19000 andd our capacity was 4000. Chairman johnson ive got 19,699 on june 3. Even at that 4000 capacity, is that fire code capacity or just how many we can generally talk in one facility . Mr. Morgan that is all across the southwest border, including sectors at approximately 70 stations. 4000 4500 we referred to as a manageable population. Senator petersn made the comment and asked how the dollars have been spent. It was unfortunate it took two months to that emergency funding request to be passed, but my information i received from you and others is prior to funding, we had 2700 unaccompanied children in custody, Border Patrol, beyond 72 hours, up to as many as 10 days and beyond. Within a couple of weeks, we were down to a little more than a day. Take about 300 with the average day. Is that accurate . Today, we are averaging 200 to 350 with less than 20 over 72 hours, and several of those are due to medical conditions. And the reasonn you were backlogged as there was not the bed space open in hhs until the funding . Mr. Morgan that is correct. Again, i think she represented it well. We have interdependencies when it comes to uacs. We rely on them to take the children, and then for single adults and families, we rely on ice to remove them from our custody. Chairman johnson so Border Patrol had no option than just to hold those children until bed space opened up. You cannot just let them into the communities. You are responsible for them and you had to keep them in your custody and it was in crowded conditions because you have 4000, capacity 4000 with more than 18,000 people in custody . Mr. Morgan yes, sir. That is correct. Our gv to this day is two of the sectors getting inundated the most. El paso, im sure we have heard, one single large group of over one thousand of which 90 were families and kids hit the el paso sector in a single day. Chairman johnson ms. Costello, i appreciate your comments that the Border Patrol personnel that your inspectors talk to were professional, but they were doing every thing they could to take care of these children and family members in their custody. That they have been basically even the responsibility to take care of, is that accurate . Ms. Costello that is a fair assessment. Obviously, oig would never discount anothers perspective, but we have always encountered professional staff. Chairman johnson it has been my experience when i encounter them at the borders, i talked to Border Patrol personnel. They are trying to cope with the situation with as much humanity and compassion that they can muster. Again, there may be a few outliers and instances. Whatever. Text or those are obviously unacceptable and regrettable, but the vast majority of the men and women with dhs and Border Patrol are trying to cope with this. I am concerned. In your testimony, you talk about Border Patrol agents becoming ill, and that the illnesses coming across the border. We have a long list of them. Im concerned about drug resistant strains of tuberculosis, those types of things. Im concerned about Border Patrol nutrition. Is that something you are looking at in your inspections . The basic morale of Border Patrol personnel trying to cope with this. Ms. Costello morale in and of itself is not a specific focus of our work, what we are looking into the drivers b behind that detention. Chairman johnson the commissioner talked about the i dont thinkand the Human Trafficking element is reported enough on. We had a witness youre talking about a child that sulfur 84. Will we are at the border, threeyearold boy was left in the field. His name and phone number written on his shoe. Are findingt we these families and staff being beaten, and it is being videotaped and sent to Central America demanding ransom, the involuntary servitude with an investigation a couple years ago on unaccompanied children showing up involuntary servitude at a farm. Are you looking at that aspect . Ms. Costello no, not at this time. We would have to be careful about jurisdictional issues related to some of that. Having said that, we are open to considering all sorts of issues on the table. What we actually have authority and purview over is one of the first questions we ask. Chairman johnson commissioner morgan, in terms of your concerns of basic nutrition . I dont think anybody would want to spend the night in those facilities. Mr. Morgan i am highly concerned. I went down there, and you can forthe Holding Space scabies, chickenpox on the flu. I would be concerned about Border Patrol personnel giving up and trying to take the position elsewhere, even the federal government and the private sector. Can you talk to your general assessment . Mr. Morgan yes, sir. I think the igs report captures it well. BorderBorder Patrol, patrol, all those entities help us. Their mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters. The overcrowding you see, we have all said that we have to do better. That children and families should not be held in police stations for a long amount of time. We all agree with that, so it affects them every single day. I worry about their health, their morale, and i think it is impacted, along with the frustrations. They also know congress could do some things that they could Work Together to pass meaningful legislation. That is equally frustrating. Right now, the hiring numbers for us are ok. They are not going in the downward departure, but im concerned about the future. Chairman johnson i have run out of time but i do want to talk about the solution in terms of reducing that flow. We will save that later. Senator peters . Office hasers my received a statement from World Services and i would like it to be entered into the hearing record. Mr. Morgan, it is clear we are confronted with the significant problem on the southern border and the challenges are wideranging and require significant coordination from a number of federal agencies coming together. That means federal, state, and local. The whole government approach is necessary. Could you describe how cdp is correlating with other dhs components, including uscis, . Ce, and cdp and hhs and oir mr. Morgan yes, sir, the coordination with uscis and ice is really done on a daily basis. Theexample, we talked about interdependency we have specifically with the respect i sprayed one of the larger challenges of single adults. Ice does not have adequate bed space, so it is a constant struggle with the number of apprehensions we have to be able to ensure and get them out of our custody as far as possible as fast as possible with ice. We coordinate with ice on a daily basis with how we can get those single adults out of our custody and into ice. With, obviously we work them on a daily basis. They are the ones that actually determined and adjudicate the claim as a go through the process. Themtations work with constantly. Dhs, again, this is not just a cdp or ice issue. It really is a dhs issue and outside of it. Right now, we have hundreds of volunteers from across dhs that have been deployed to the southwest border to help us specifically with the humanitarian crisis. Chairman johnson you talk about daily coordination, but is there an inner agency Group Coordinating this on a regular basis or is this ad hoc as you talk to agencies . Mr. Morgan it is both. We have working groups at the local level and each field, so each field has their own entity that they work with, and then at dhs, there is also a working group led by dhs with a lot of subgroups and subcommittees. We are doing it on a formal basis. Chairman johnson that is important. When we think about how we coordinate these activities, which will require, i am always frustrated to learn who was actually responsible for making all of these pieces are working together and i never seem to get a real good answer about that. That has me concerned. Ist leaves the question, anybody at the white house facilitating the coordination of these activities . Mr. Morgan they are involved in every aspect. Chairman johnson who is doing that at the white house . Mr. Morgan different entities. Chairman johnson is there one entity really responsible for coordinating all this. Corning all this . Coordinating all of this . Mr. Morgan it depends on the conditions you are talking about. We could talk about media. That could be held by a different individual. If you are talking about the current Legal Framework to stem the flow of migration, and we would be talking to different people within the white house. Chairman johnson is there someone in charge of correlating state and local governments and ngos, which are critical components . Mr. Morgan yes, sir. Dhs has a local state and partner for nader. Chairman johnson that person is in charge and we could ask, how is that going . Mr. Morgan yes, sir. Senator peters cdp has been awarded a supplemental that included money for medical care and consumables. Given the number of children who are arriving at our southern border, how much has the f i19 in supplemental funding been spent on pediatric medical professionals . Mr. Morgan someone specific pediatric care, i dont have those numbers in front of me, 63we are looking to act million for highrisk support across the southwest border that was contained in the supplemental moving forward. Senator we want to know how it is being spent, how many folks are involved. We are to make sure providing medical services to folks who need it, and we are accountable to the taxpayers for that money and how it is spent, so i would like to do a deeper dive with you to have a better sense of that. Mr. Morgan mr. Morgan i have that data and will be able to provide it. Senator and where they are being signs, shortfalls, challenges, all that will be imported. Important. Mr. Morgan we have all that data. Senator the recent management alert is the main point of discussion today. It is my concern that this is part of a much larger oversight related to the cvp and is detention facilities. It is important for the committee to hear you to describe what other reviews are in process and more importantly, when you expect the reports to be released. Ms. Costello senator, we have a lot in this space. Following on the management alerts, i think in my written testimony, you may have seen this is part of the larger series of unannounced inspections we did along the southern border, so these two alerts were issued because of the serious nature that we found, but we will issue a capping report to identify the findings and facilities. We are also looking at how we are going to audit, how that aid is being spent. The medicalt but access, the consumables, things of that nature. We are looking at southern Asylum Seekers at the border, separating families at ports of entry, whether or not families were given the opportunity to be removed with their children, things of that nature. Underlyinging at the causes of prolonged detention, so why are we going beyond the 72 hours . And between hhs, cvp, and some other folks in play, what are the factors in driving that . Audite the Data Analysis underway looking specifically at the tracking of children during zerotolerance. We are also looking at ices ability to quickly and easily remove criminal aliens. It is a lot of work in this space. The first job that will be issued is the data trafficking work. We will follow shortly with the capping report on all of these inspections and perhaps asylumseekers this fall. Senator when did you say, this fall . Ms. Costello you are going to pin me down, arent you . I think they will come out september and roll out towards the end of the year. Senator that is great. We talked about in my office on other occasions, transparency is critically important. I would hope we have your commitment to ensure the oig ascertained access to unannounced facility visit and anything else necessary to conduct oversight, which is absolute critical to maintaining transparency. Mr. Morgan absolutely. There is an old saying, i think great agencies remain great because they believe they can get better. I believe with the oig, it is one significant step in how we maintain that. Senator thank you. Chairman johnson before i turn it over, because you raise the issue of pediatricians, commissioner morgan, i have spoke with you about representatives from the American Academy and Nurse Practitioners who are offering individuals who want to go and help. You said you would do everything to facilitate that. Did you want to make that public commitment . Mr. Morgan yes, sir, absolutely. There are some challenges with that, but anybody who wants to come and assist us with our expanding medical care is absolutely, i would be more than welcome to work with them. And we have done a lot. We are hiring four pediatric divisors, and it bases Safety Officer at this time. Biased for cvpre to move forward with their own medical officer and expanded our contract to a little under 300 medical professionals that were centered out across seven sectors and 20 stations, and we are expanding more every day. Senator i dont want people just showing up at the border, so i would suggest if you go to meet with the same representatives, we can hash out a coordinated technique or method for those individuals to help out. Mr. Morgan mr. Morgan yes, sir, and we have two physicians coordinating the overall southwest border medical initiatives. We have one that is detailed to cvp. I think it would be good to have meaningful dialogue on how we can get better. Chairman johnson we will try to facilitate that. Senator portman . Senator thank you. Thank you for being here today. And we a tough issue, have been trying to look at it from an objective point of view and get Bipartisan Solutions, particularly on the root causes. It has been hard we dont have consensus yet and that is a is when we and that had the opportunity to go to several facilities and processing facilities at the border of texas. You know, it is a bad situation. There is obviously a huge influx of individuals, but what is really tough the influx of families and kids. That is unprecedented. There has been no previous time in our nations history that we have had this many people coming who are inborder family units and asked to be taken care of differently. Things that was interesting, it is a dining process and its ability, and the families i talked to, and i spoke to five or six families, my spanish is good enough to get by, and i asked why are you here, so long a pleasure to be here, i also talked to customs and Border Protection. The honest answer is they expected to be released into the United States, and the customs and Border Protection people expected to release them within a few days. In fact, for some of them, it was a couple of days i was told. That is the understanding on both sides. The reason is that they cannot be processed during the time they have a or if minor child with them. It is pretty common sense. Unless we fix those laws, change the laws, we are not going to be able to keep people in any kind of detention facility or processing facility long enough to assess whether it is appropriate for them to come into the United States illegally. We are releasing them into the community. The nonprofits are helping to ensure people have what they need when they leave the processing facility and get them on the buses and airplanes, and take them to communities around the country. These people have been processed and been shown told to come up to a Court Hearing on some do and some dont. Years,s a couple of between two years and three years for the first hearing and five years or six areas before the case is resolved. In that time, a lot of folks tend to stay in United States and show up at those hearings. Those numbers are hard to get in terms of how many show up. I dont know if either one of you have numbers on that today. Fewer than half show up for the final hearing to be able to determine their status. Is that accurate . That is accurate. Ms. Costello that would be adjusted. Senator today we are focused on conditions at the border, but i guess my point is this will continue. We will not be able to resolve it unless we come up with some Common Sense Solutions to an obvious problem, which is families ingoing Central America and say, if you pay as 5,000 to 10,000 and come with us, we can get you into the country. We dont have to do anything other than leave you at the border. You walk cross the bridge or river and explain yourself and you can come into america. When you can make 20 times 30 times more in america than in your home country, it makes sense. You and i would do the same probably we were given the opportunity to help our families. But we have a Legal Immigration system and there are people waiting for months and years shows tubular come legally. I dont think the problem is really that hard to understand. The asylum issue on top of it obviously adds some complexity. , iterms of the overcrowding saw overcrowding in the mensa facility at the customs and Border Protection processing facility, and the analogy that the Borders Protection people tell me as this is more like the police nation, were you process people but it is not a detention facility. The detention facility ice runs, and congress and the four points explain dollars that we have sent down to the border, which i think was absolutely necessary, and im glad it is there, and it is being used to help with the humanitarian crisis on the border, but congress said, no, we will not fund these ice foods, so i saw the report from the inspector general. The oig finding from your trip to the border. Beds, borderge of patrol has had to hold detainees more than 72 hours. That was one of your findings . Ms. Costello that is accurate. Senator it is not that complicated. If we are not willing to fund ice beds and you cannot hold people from within 20 days, and you cannot process people during that time, it leads to a bad situation. Is everything perfect on the border . No, it is not. There is overcrowding. I will say at the donna facility, we did not see the overcrowding. My understanding is you have a new facility for adult males. Mr. Morgan it should be and in the next 10 days. Senator in mcallen . Mr. Morgan yes, sir. Senator so i think that has got a pretty obvious choice, which is, one, how to deal with the media crisis, provide ice beds, judges, expedite the processes as much as you can, take away further ability for traffickers to walk in and say, if you walk in, you get in, otherwise this continues, and secondly, look at the root causes. That includes our asylum a system our asylum system. Some are having people interested in processing people in their own country. It is done all of the world and they have four or five. They have one in mexico, and thats and makes a lot of sense. It is the same criteria. And then with the germans stacked about in terms of expediting the processing, her Operation Safe return, Operation Safe return, and providing aid to these countries per we have spent a lot of tax dollars in these countries and the result has not been impressive in terms of the socioeconomic conditions and the great poverty. There is no question. We could do a better job. Thate cannot ask to expect problem. Have a system in place that allows them to come into our country, on the silent front, people have an incredible fear, but when you get to the end of that process after the four years to five years, only 15 of those migrants are granted asylum. That can be determined much earlier in the process and preferably earlier in the process of their own to make the dangerous journey north, which so many traffickers exploit families taking the journey. Thank you for your service both of you. Chairman johnson senator aston . Senator thank you for this hearing and thank you to our witnesses for being here today. I also want to take a minute to thank the men and women of the Border Patrol for their hard work, and to think so many of them, who i know help to save lives on the border everyday. I want to note we can absolutely address the root causes of this crisis, which are multiple. Forto improve conditions migrants and secure our border without taking up controversial issues like the floors decision. Abps chief of Law Enforcement operations director, brian hastings, about the conditions at the clint, texas facility, following it report by lawyers who were sent to inspect the facility. Repeatedlys dismissed the report is not true , and here imply that the lawyers were exaggerating to advance the case of their clients. Only six days later miss costello issued a report about facilities in the Rio Grande Valley depicting some of the same troubling conditions as reported that inspected the clint facility. Mr. Morgan, ive have been to the border twice, and i get that the war patrol is overwhelmed, and its agents feel like they are under fire. However, our job and congress is to conduct extensive oversight to use as a way to help drive our coming decisions and uphold our values. When senior officials from the Border Patrol refused to be transparent or seek to Mislead Congress, it does serious damage to the credibility of the entire Border Patrol. It exacerbates agents feelings as if they are under fire. Most importantly, it undermines the humanitarian that we are all grappling with. It keeps us from addressing the root causes in a way we need to. Yes or no end, answer to the following will you commit to giving Congress Full visibility into Border Patrol, its detention practices, treatment of all migrants, and any critical allegations made by detainees . Mr. Morgan yes. Senator do you have the support of your superiors, mainly the acting Homeland Security secretary and the president could be fully transparent with congress as you do this . Unquestionably i do. Mr. Morgan unquestionably i do. Senator would you take action if any order patrol agent seeks to Mislead Congress or the American Public . Mr. Morgan yes. Senator thank you. Mr. Morgan, there really are two different crises occurring at our border facilities. The first is the lack of supplies and space driven by the huge surgeon migrants. Congress has passed and aid package to address it with our own surge of resources. More needs to be done, and it will be. However, the second goes much deeper. Allegations of cruel and the illegal treatment of migrants and Border Patrols custody has placed has plagued the agency. It includes the Sexual Assault of an underaged migrants, the attempt to humiliate a migrant by forcing him to wear a sign and says i like men, intentional deprivation of basic necessities of migrants, including children as a way to punish them. Mr. Morgan, this troubling pattern of the Border Patrols culture, and i know it is not everybody in Border Patrol, has to be addressed immediately. What steps are you taking out to change the culture . Mr. Morgan first of all, i think we have to be cautious about when there have been allegations that have not been fully adjudicated to refer to this as a pattern or part of a culture. I dont believe that, maam. I served as chief of the United States Border Patrol, and i would not say what you described is a culture within the Border Patrol or pattern. But what i will say, and i promise to commit to you, is that any allegation will be thorley and completely invest thoroughly and completely investigated and any man or woman in the Border Patrol or cdp that violates their oath and violates with what they swore to uphold. I assure you they will be held accountable and properly disciplined. Senator i thank you for that. I will note that the revelation about the Facebook Page and the number of people participating in that tends to give credence a the notion that there is troubling culture at least among some of the officers. What im trying to get at is what you are doing to make sure are disrupting that culture and improving it. Mr. Morgan yes, maam, and on the facebook theme, i would be more than happy to come to your office and divide you an extensive brief what we are doing in that matter, as well. One ofl say it is those posts that we all know about was horrendous. Absolutely, hands down. But i can assure you that overall, this is a very small group of Border Patrol agents. Senator ms. Costello, do you think cbp is doing enough in terms of addressing the issues and culture that i just outlined . We dont really have any information on what they are doing in the culture, but i can tell you that we are also looking into that facebook issue. Not so much the conduct of the pacific specific agents but we are looking into the allegations that leadership knew and was using the site for information, so who knew what, when, and was appropriate action taken when it was needed . I think perhaps in the course of that review, some information about the culture will be elicited. Mr. Morgan if i could add, maam, we are working with the ig every day. Facebook, for example, right away we dealt with the ig and continue to work with them. Senator i appreciate this. I just do want to point out that it is going to be very important that you all are transparent about what you do and do not know as you investigate allegations. You have to be transparent with us and American Public so we can improve because these kinds of reports and these kinds of behaviors that are reported, and the conditions, are really hampering our capacity to address a security humanitarian crisis at our border, and that is something we need to do together. Mr. Morgan you have my absolute commitment to full transparency. Senator thank you. I have one other issue, and im going to touch on it briefly because im just about out of time. But it has come to my attention, mr. Morgan, that a subcontractor of the Border Patrol was a victim of a Cyber Security breach. Hackers stole tens and thousands of photos of travelers faces and license plates, collected by the u. S. Mexico border from the subcontractors network and then leaked the images publicly. This has serious implications, not only in cyberspace but also for the security of our borders. It is my understanding that this data was not supposed to be present on the subcontractors network to begin with and that cbp has since terminated the contract. However, it begs the bigger question about the vulnerability because its contractor seemed to not be taking subcontractors seem to not be taking cybersecurity seriously. I realize my time is about up over. What i would like to do is work with you and follow up with questions about this to ensure that the contractors and subcontractors adhere to the highest set of security standards. Mr. Morgan absolutely. Senator thank you. Thank you, mr. Chair. Thank you for your work. I spent this weekend that five different facilities in the Rio Grande Valley area and i spent much of the night riding along with members of the Border Patrol as they did not patrols to get a feel for what is really going on on the ground. I went into each facility and asked to be able to see the supply room, to see the food, water, hygiene products, diapers, clothing, toothbrushes and every facility that i went into. All of those supplies were there and in ample supply. I also found in some of the facilities a couple of pieces of used equipment, like car seats, and i asked about that and said, where do they come from . They say some of the children have to be moved to different places so borders have brought theirown car seats from own kids here to make sure these kids had car seats when they move from facility to facility. What i found was a tremendous number of professional people trying to be able to find a way to be able to manage a problem when in the mcallen station, they have 1500, 2000 people a day coming across the border illegally. When i asked agents, what would help most . The First Response was, allow ice to detain people. That is what they do. Not what we do. On, abolishedment ice or defund ice came about, the push to not allow them to get more funding and the pushback we have had for additional funding, it is backing up thousands of individuals into facilities to be able to held while awaiting for a place for them to go. Facility,s in ice 40,000 in Customs Border control. When you have thousands a day coming at them with nowhere to go, youre not going to sit on the street, that is not the obligation to release people. That is to process and to figure out who is a risk and not a risk and figure out how to transition them . Are your facilities designed and set up to hold thousands of people . Is that the mission of customs and Border Patrol. Mr. Morgan , absolutely not senator. We have stated that again and again. Senator i have heard through so much of our conversation, what we will do to get them in a better position to hold more people, ignoring the obvious question why are we not adding additional funding to ice . That is what they do. They have the facilities, contracts, oversight to allow more people to be held, to be able to process them. I am frustrated our conversation seems to be what can we do to dictatingbe better to. Days,rgan in the past 60 we have done so much. I could keep going on modular systems, on and on. Tens of millions of dollars a month, we are spending on this. Cdp toto do more, for get more for temporary facilities, when you just outlined the answer. We fund ice. We asked for supplement. It was denied. Then we are questioned why we are overcrowded. Ice does not have the funding to have the bed space as the system is designed. We are independent, interdependent. It was not being properly funded. Senator no it is not. That is part of our challenge. It is wasteful to the taxpayer and not fair to those men and women serving customs and Border Patrol to do something they were not first set up and trained to do, rather than to have a better facility. Aboutlots of questions the settlement. It is not the issue. What i heard at the border was , when there is a 20 day ticking clock at that point, are we able to get criminal records from countries outside the United States, from other countries, within 20 days, of who this adult is, traveling with this child . Mr. Morgan not efficiently. Senator some countries can, some cannot. Mr. Morgan correct. Senator do you have situations where you had to release adult because of this timing, traveling with a child and later discovered that adult is a felon from that country . Mr. Morgan i dont have those statistics. Senator i will tell you what i heard this weekend from Border Patrol folks i talked to on the border. They gave me specific examples recently. They released an adult and found out after they were released, with a child, and found out two weeks later that adult had a murder warrant in their home country and they just released them into the country and they could do nothing about it. I also found out, they had released an adult traveling with a child and found out after they were released, when they got criminal records in from the home country, that was a convicted pedophile from that country now traveling with a child somewhere in our country. Because we could not detain them for longer than 20 days and get the criminal records, they were released in the country and they are traveling with a child. The other thing that was interesting was, it was children that were maybe seven to 10 years old, traveling with adult males but when i got to the facility last week, it was almost all infants and Young Children. They said we were able to pull people out, separate the child and the adult, interview the child, and the child could often tell us, that is not my dad. With infants, you cannot do that. Have the cartels changed method . Mr. Morgan absolutely. There are multibilliondollar organizations. They change in profit. Identified. Milies they have discovered hundreds of fake families. The stories are happening every day. And it is clear they know, grab a kid, that is her passport into the u. S. Because of the forced settlement agreement. That has to be changed. It will take a legislative fix. If that does not happen, all this other stuff, the care, it does nothing to stem the flow. If we dont address the settlement agreement, they will keep coming. Senator i yield back. Excellent. Quick followup. Where are we in terms of dna testing . 200 pere pilot tests, dna tests. Are we doing more of those . Mr. Morgan ice is in charge of that program. They did a Pilot Program, it was successful. They asked for additional funding, and the supplementals they were granted. They will expand the program. Right now i do not know the specific details of where and when. I would defer to ice. Ice,or cbp bypassing wont Border Patrol have to do the dna test to get a handle on the families . Mr. Morgan right now, ice is deploying agents to the southwest border to do that. Senator senator rosen. Senator thank you. Thank you chairman johnson and Ranking Member peters for considering my request to hold the hearing on conditions of Migrant Children in cbp facilities today. It is vital we Work Together to ensure safety, wellbeing of children. I want to thank you commissioner morgan, Deputy Inspector general. For your testimony, your work and your commitment to doing the right thing. Month for three needed requests. They are slightly better than what was reported weeks prior. Those facilities are still no place for children to stay for prolonged periods of time or any amount of time. I have been advised by Child Welfare advocates, through various nonprofit organizations, there are three immediate changes needed at cbp. One. More medical professionals with pediatric experience at cdp facilities. The hiring of trauma informed welfare professionals to ensure the best interests of children are being met. Toee, providing ngo access cbp facilities to assist in humanitarian efforts. Last week i sent a letter outlining these needs. In spite of the urgent situation of the border, i have yet to hear back. I am asking in the interest of time if you would answer these similar questions in yes or no fashion. Whoissioner morgan, currently, this is not a yes or no, who currently screens children for illness or injury after apprehension . Mr. Morgan we have a couple layers. Border patrol agents, when they are first apprehended, do a first layer of screening, whether emt or advanced emt, wan once they get to the Processing Center, they are also screened. Majority of children are screened by a medical professional, a nurse practitioner. Senator are they using standardized tools . Mr. Morgan yes, maam, protocols are developed by a physician at dhs who designed those protocols. Senator they are taking vital signs . Mr. Morgan every single one. They have a range. Do all cbp facilities have adequate working medical equipment for children . Mr. Morgan no, all do not. We are doing it by flow and need. We are expanding that everyday. Seven of nine sectors have. Over 20 of the sections habit. If a child is found to be injured or sick, is there a process for them to receive additional evaluation by a Health Care Professional . Mr. Morgan we work with local ems, local medical facilities as well and based on protocols, if the individual is showing those standards, we transport them to hospital. Senator do medical professionals onsite at facilities walk into cells to look for sick individuals who may be too young to voice needs or unable to ask for help or too afraid to ask for medical attention . Mr. Morgan we do welfare checks, whether each one, they go into the holy facilities, i would need more fidelity on that. There are welfare checks mandated every 15 minutes. Senator approximately how many more medical professionals with pediatric experience and Child Welfare professionals do you intend to hire . Mr. Morgan good question. Anyone to help us come up with that strategy and end game. We welcome any ideas and suggestions. Those numbers are being work right now. Now, overall medical coordinator, and other associations. Senator is there a Pediatric Mental Health screening in detention . Mr. Morgan not at this time. I would say that, i understand, but again, i want these children out i agree with you, that is not where kids should be. I want them out of there as fast as possible to a more adequate environment. Senator who is ensuring very Young Children have basic needs met, such as diaper changing or brushing teeth . Mr. Morgan we have coordinators in every facility. Logs that loged someone, when someone is fed, how many times they receive a shower and et cetera. Senator you have expressed just now interest in working with me to make some things happen. Are you developing a policy to provide access for ngos to cbp facilities to assist with efforts . Mr. Morgan those have been ongoing discussions. I am absolutely willing to work with you to come up with a workable solution. Senator we have people willing to come in to help alleviate some of the situation and provide comfort care. Specifically for children. We have had countless numbers of id reports and other access and reviews. We are not shying away. Senator would you like to see ngos have better access to be sure they can evaluate children who oftentimes cannot express concerns or what is happening to them . I would like to be sure we are able to do that and can work with you. I have people ready, willing and able to come to your facilities. Mr. Morgan yes, maam. Senator i have a short time left. I want to be sure we talk about abuse. Can you talk a little about the process for migrants to safely report any abuse and if they are aware of that . Mr. Morgan yes, again, from the start, they have the ability from the moment apprehended to report anything. What we have found is, once they leave Border Patrol custody and childreno facility for that is when the report is being done. Senator they are not reporting their. They are reporting after they leave. Mr. Morgan yes, maam. Senator is there a confidential process for them to report so they do not receive retaliation wherever they go in the future . Mr. Morgan yes, maam. It is hard to have that , or the softty sided facility, but we absolutely take every allegation seriously and do everything we can to make sure, appropriating with the appropriate entity. Senator do you have a specific place where logs are kept once the information, excuse me, once abuse is reported . Do you have a Central Location so that ngos or other places can look and see what is going on . Mr. Morgan yes maam, we have joint information centers. Anytime there is a complaint or alleged complaint, that goes to jic, and that databases cap. Senator if ngos want to represent someone, there will be transparency with these records . Mr. Morgan there are some privacy concerns with respect to ongoing investigations. I would be more than happy to work offline to see where we can reach compromise for transparency. There are privacy concerns. Senator thank you. Senator senator. Senator thank you mr. Chairman and i appreciate the witnesses. I remain concerned about recent allegations regarding treatment of migrants at the yuma station. Im committed to fixing our broken system, finding solutions to the ongoing crisis at an order and ensuring migrants are treated fairly and humanly. Recent reports clearly indicate we need to do better on fronts. I look forward to our witnesses shedding light on how cbp can do better and how congress can help. My first questions are for mr. Morgan. A big part of the problem at yuma seems to be communication between hhs and cbp. The news of the allegation broke because nbc news obtained reports put together by hhs case managers after Migrant Children had left cbp custody. It is unclear to me if the information flowed efficiently and the way cbp could take immediate action to ensure wellbeing of children. What steps is cbp taking or have you already taken to improve response and ability to respond in timely fashion to allegations through hhs . Mr. Morgan senator, you are right. There is definitely an area where we can improve the flow. Theres an old saying, justice delayed is justice denied. I think we can get better that. Once we saw that article, we immediately worked with ig, three separate allegations contained in the article, one of them was already being worked. The other two, we opened up our own investigations and went to hhs, o r, to ask them about the alleged in the article. What we found is, on a consistent basis, oor sends those two crcl, which is good. It is another level of oversight. Some allegations are not specific. Our cell was too cold or too hot, but it still needs to be looked upon. We coordinated with crcl and found out 381 entries had been made byoor with respect to a series of allegations. Triagedned all 381, opr those and we opened up 23 additional investigations. Having said that, the bottom line is what we are trying to do is work with crcl and hhs oor, and what we have asked them to do is as they send it tocrcl, they also send activity reports directly to cbp opr so we can action them right away. Senator youre getting them in real time . Mr. Morgan i cannot speak of today but that is the state and we are working with them. Senator as i understand the saidmation from hhs as he enters dhs through the crcl or the opr. Receives the allegations how do they use that information to prevent additional incidents . What do they do to take action, protecting the alleged victims at the time and prevent that behavior from allegedly occurring to other individuals what mistakes were made in this Overall Communications process you learned from that you can fix and change for the future . It isrgan through opr, not just about the investigation, it is also, once it has been adjudicated, effective discipline handed down, we also look at that and analyze that and take that back to the field to see, are there other areas we can improve upon . It is not just about handing down discipline. It is about taking corrective action to get better at what we do to prevent any other incident from happening in future. Coordination and control, again, as i explained, continuing to hhsoor tocrcl and make sure we have a streamlined system. We have asked them to give that and that goes directly to jic and it gets action immediately. Senator for children who alleged sexual abuse, that is quite different that someone doesnt have a blanket. One you provided blanket. The other, a result may have occurred with trauma. What actions have you taken to provide Mental Health care to children who may have been traumatized by alleged Sexual Assault . Mr. Morgan i would have to refer to hhs oor, once they are released from our custody and that allegation is made, as far as continued care of that child, it is outside our purview. Accordings. Costello, to the news reports and there were 30 allegations of issues from hhs to dhs, did your office get to see these complaints when they were transmitted and from your perspective, how can the information sharing as well as between components of chs be improved . Ms. Costello thank you for the question. We got your letter on this matter. Mr. Morgan has described the process accurately. Your letter and the news reports cause us to take a look at. He is correct. Hhs has given the allegation to the civil rights Civil Liberties office passing them on to cbp and because of our right of first refusal, they are coming to us. We will look at that as a result of your letter. My staff is scheduling a meeting with your office to see if that can be improved. There was such a large number of allegations. I know we knew about some of them. We opened on one of them. It seems to be a more systemic issue, more appropriate for one of our other offices to look at as opposed to individual investigations. We are going to be following up with your staff. To try to get answers to those questions you posed in the letter. Senator thank you. From a personal perspective, what changes need to be made so cbp can more effectively manage overcrowding we were experiencing at these facilities . Do we need a different mix of people working, more training, more social workers, more medical personnel . What is it we need in order to address allegations and prevent them from occurring in future . Mr. Morgan two different things. Allegations of order covering of overcrowding, we need congress to pass meaningful legislation to stem the flow. Specifically, to allegations of misconduct. I will go back. I think allegations are rare although one is more than enough and we are committed to working with crcl, ig, to make sure those cases are investigated thoroughly and the appropriate disciplinary action is taken and that those individuals, to the best of our ability are removed from those areas right away. Senator thank you mr. Chairman. Senator senator. Senator my thanks to you and the Ranking Member for calling this hearing. Thanks to mr. Morgan and ms. Costello for your work and presence. My colleagues to my left of heard me talk about root causes so often i am sure they are sick of it. Perhaps some of the folks in the audience are as well. We are going to be sitting here, asking the same questions 19 years from now unless we address root causes for why hundreds of thousands of people want to get out of their countries and get into our country. Asked people. They say three things. One. Lack of hope and Economic Opportunity in their native country. Number two, crime and violence. Number three, endemic corruption. Until we help them satisfactorily address those causes, they will keep coming. Chairman has heard me say this before, we traveled together in Central America and on the border. It is like home depot. You can do it, we can help. Butannot do this for them we are responsible by virtue of interdiction, we are largely responsible for conditions that force people, compel a lot of people to come to our country. I would say this as predicate. A couple questions for mr. Morgan and ms. Costello. Asylumseekers currently apply for asylum or refugee protection in u. S. Without leaving their home countries . Mr. Morgan no. Senator when you support the program of a processing to allow asylumseekers to avoid making the dangerous journey to our southern border . Mr. Morgan yes. Senator why . Mr. Morgan you talk about, sir, the root cause. Identifying the root cause. We have to stem the flow. Asking someone to either claim asylum, apply for asylum in their home country for the first country they come to outside the country they are allegedly fleeing persecution from, will do just that. It will stem the flow. The overwhelming majority that come to the border that are claiming fear are found to be unsubstantiated. They did not come here with respect to the technical definition of asylum, persecution and fear of persecution based on race, ethnicity and religion. It would absolutely, almost overnight begin to stem the flow. Senator when you approve this message . I know this is not necessarily your expertise. Ms. Costello that is what i was going to respond. The situations outside this country are beyond our jurisdiction. Senator i just thought i would give you a shot. Ms. Costello thank you very much. We cannot comment on the policy decision. We can commit to evaluating the effectiveness of the programs once established. Senator that is good. Mr. Morgan, you served as a director of ice. Icet reasonable to think could detain every undocumented immigrant in this country through their removal proceedings . Are there other programs, like alternatives to detention, that are less costly and could be expanded for noncriminal immigrants . Mr. Morgan i dont think it is reasonable to say every single individual here illegally in u. S. , would ice be able to contain. They need enhanced funding to increase ability to detain a greater population. With respect to other options and innovative ideas, i think we need to continue to to talk and come to the table, to talk about other effective ways beside detention but i will say the stats will show that if they are detained, it is more efficient and effective. The nondetained docket to include alternative detention has not proven to be fruitful. It is quite costly and the end result, we are having people remaining in the country illegally. Senator would you support expanding alternatives to detention in order to reduce strain on cbp resources at the border . Mr. Morgan again, my response is, i would be committed to having a discussion with you about continued alternatives. We are overwhelmed. Ice does not have the appropriate funding. What i would like to have a discussion about his, where can we come to a happy medium, to increase funding to ice, increase bed space immediately so we can get relief but at the same time come up and discuss alternatives to detention. Senator we call that a compromise around here. Mr. Morgan it is hard to see that sometimes, sir. The transportation bill this morning, 210 vote. There is hope in a hopeless world. America, we traveled together, and i look forward to going back again. If you look at the flow of folks coming out of certain countries, guatemala, el salvador, a big part of the problem involve model in guatemala is agriculture related. A lot of people grow coffee in the highlands. They have had drought after drought after drought year after year after year. They are bailing out to try to make a living. They have some opportunities here. At the outflow from el salvador, is not as great as it has been from guatemala and honduras. This is a lesson for them and us. They elected a new president in el salvador, 73 years old. He was mayor of san salvador, a city of 2 Million Peoples for a number of years. He succeeded a 75yearold former guerrilla leader. People feel a sense of hope. Nwhile, in honduras, we are going to leave the hearing. We will return after a pro forma session of the house, if the hearing is still underway. We take you live to the house floor on cspan. The speaker pro tempore the house will be in order. The chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. The clerk the speakers rooms, washington, d. C. July 30, 2019. I hereby appoint the honorable jamie raskin to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. Signed, nancy pelosi, speaker of the house of representatives. The speaker pro tempore the prayer will be offered by the guest chaplain, monsignor stephen j. Rossetti, Catholic University of america, washington, d. C. The chaplain good and gracious god, you are light and wherever you shine you cast out the darkness. We have become so very aware of the darkness which invades this world and causes distrust and discord. Come now into this place and into our hearts. Dispel the darkness. And bring on your kingdom of light. Let peace reign in this place today and always. You make this prayer and the power of your spirit and in your holy name, amen. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to section 5a of House Resolution 509. The journal of the last days proceedings is approved. The chair will now lead the house in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Pursuant to clause 4 of rule 1, the following enrolled bill was signed by the speaker on friday, july 26, 2019. The clerk h. R. 1569, and h. R. 2196. The speaker pro tempore the chair lays before the house a communication. The clerk the honorable the speaker, house of representatives, madam. Pursuant to the permission granted in clause 2h of rule 2 of the rules of the u. S. House of representatives, the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the senate on july 29, 2019, at 10 17 a. M. That the Senate Passed, senate 1275. Sthat Senate Passed 3 an amendment h. R. 504. Signed, sincerely, robert f. Reed, deputy clerk. The speaker pro tempore the chair lays before the house a communication. The clerk the honorable the speaker, house of representatives, madam, pursuant to the permission granted in clause 2h of rule 2 of the rules of the u. S. House of representatives the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the senate on july 30, 2019, at 10 04 a. M. That the Senate Passed, without amendment, h. R. 2695. Signed, sincerely, robert f. Reeves, deputy clerk. Doip the speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentlelady from district of columbia rise . Ms. Norton mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to take from the speakers table the bill h. R. 3253, with the Senate Amendments there to, and concur in the senate amendment. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill and the senate amendment. The clerk h. R. 3253, an act provide for certain extensions ms. Norton i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the reading of the amendment. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the reading is dispensed with. Is there objection to the request of the gentlelady from the district of columbia . Without objection, the amendment is now agreed to and the motion is laid upon the table. Pursuant to section 5b of House Resolution 509, consistent with the fourth clause in section 5 of article 1 of the constitution and notwithstanding section 132 of the legislative reorganization act of 1946, the house stands adjourned until 11 00 a. M. On we take you back now live to coverage on the Senate Homeland Committee Hearing on migration issues in the u. S. Southern border. Actually went there in april and we did not see some of the things reported on later on. Not that they didnt happen but that is a good illustration of how quick things can change. On one day, we had a facility with 125 Maximum Capacity at 750 and the next day it was 900. It is absolutely accurate you can go down and have a different facility, have a different experience than i say. Pinpointing root causes will make it difficult and it is part of the reason this effort has pushs not to look at the pull factors outside the country but initiate work to look at Drivers Behind the 72 hours and why we are not meeting that standard currently. Given this. Morgan, is rapidly changing, can you describe how cbp retains visibility to standards of care across sectors given rapid changes we can sometimes see . Mr. Morgan teds is our guiding factor, just as it was during review. Every facility uses that standard for care and feeding with respect to anyone in custody. Costello, the council of inspectors general on integrity often plans overlook role in collaboration between multiple iags. We have heard in testimony today this has to be a whole of government approach. Have there been changes as to how coordination of Border Security efforts are maintained . Ms. Costello we have a solid relationship. As we have been doing our work on the border, starting last summer we have been in close contact with them. We cannot share specific findings. In terms of how we are doing work, for joint efforts unlike. Senator is there more you can do . Ms. Costello let me think about that and we will get back to you. Right now we have a positive relationship with the other igs and everyone is committed to working together. We can think about that back at the office, if there is any help you could provide. Senator thanks to both of you. Mr. Morgan thank you senator peters. Im happy to close out the meeting, the hearing. Senator i have two lines of questioning. Thent to go back to align senator was talking about, the problems of releasing people r, without border believe knowing who they are. Our laws prevent us from Holding People more than 20 days. Because we cannot get the information, we are releasing them sooner than that in many cases, correct . Mr. Morgan absolutely correct. With respect to family units, as of march of this year, family units have been released directly. In some cases they are being released in under 48 hours into the interior. Senator it doesnt make sense to find facilities instead of Border Patrol turning them over to ice, a clear vetting process and ice releasing them. Mr. Morgan correct. Senator that represents a real danger to not only potentially our country but to those individuals. Mr. Morgan especially with the amount of fake families we are uncovering every day. Senator it is true we dont have time to determine is that the father or the trafficker . Is that his daughter or his victim . Mr. Morgan it is a challenge. Senator our broken laws are creating risk for migrants. We focus on that time in custody. No one would say these are pleasant surroundings. No one would want to spend the night in those conditions. The reason we hold people in custody is we need to take some kind of precaution, in terms of where they are released, and even the precautions we are trying to take, it is overwhelming the system. People are put in danger, correct . Mr. Morgan not only are they actual disease and we need to stem the flow. Kid, that is your passport in the u. S. They know that and they are exploiting that every day. Mind there are three categories of people coming to the country. Border, port of entry, and claiming asylum. Single adult males, that used to be the problem. Then family. Then unaccompanied children. Unaccompanied children. My information shows of the 780,000 people that have come in illegally at the ports of entry, 67,000 are unaccompanied children this year. Mr. Morgan the number is even higher. Senator in the past, the composition of those children, 70 male, 15 or older. Is that holding true . Mr. Morgan the majority of them are between 14 and 17. Male,r more than 15, surely that would be the profile of an individual that could be a gang from Central America . Mr. Morgan correct. Senator or you cannot speak a language in this country, you probably gravitate toward those areas, those pockets of other immigrants that speak your language that would be gravity toward gang activity, correct . Mr. Morgan your vulnerability to being recruited by a gang is exponentially higher under those circumstances. Senator i am reading reports of issues schools are having, it is not just bilingual education, now it is different dialects from some of the regions of guatemala. Is that a problem . Mr. Morgan yes. Senator in terms of family units, the children coming in, and you talked about 300,000 children. 67,000 is unaccompanied children. Over 200,000 as part of family units. Those would be children more of a tender age, 12 and under . Mr. Morgan it is changing on a regular basis but we find them to be a little bit younger. We asked about dna testing. The few tests we have show what percentage of people coming in, that we determine our fraudulent family . Do we have any sense of that right now . Mr. Morgan we dont have the overall percentage but we have the numbers. 5800. Identified hundreds since their Pilot Program. I sawr when i was down, a 50yearold man with an 18monthold girl. I know children can be fussy. Having talked about the fraudulent families, i have to admit, i looked at that situation and that is not his daughter. Hsi, a testimony from child being sold for 84 to be used by an adult to get in this country and exploit our laws. Those of the realities. Those are the realities. About, how do we improve the situation, one of the questions you have to ask is what do you design the facilities to hold . What number do you use . Years we go back a couple and have it be a couple hundred thousand . Ms. Costello, what would your advice be on that . We assume this will hold that 1. 1 Million People per year or grow . Ms. Costello i dont think you can assume that. Just looking at past stats over the past years, it fluctuates and we are experiencing a rise in families this year over department statistics. Without being able to weigh in on that concretely, i would say relying on any of these numbers is not a sound idea. Senator commissioner morgan, what numbers are you using looking forward . You are putting up temporary facilities. Those are for temporary facilities. That gives people a fair amount of comfort that Border Patrol is actively working to improve conditions but that is not key. Mr. Morgan we are spending tens of millions of dollars, we are probably on target to spend million, which a lot of that came from the supplement on the soft side of the facilities. If i could, senator peters, he asked me a question about whether the Pilot Program for Border Patrol agents, whether they were uniform or not. I misspoke. My staff told me they are not uniform and they do not carry a gun. Senator i will inform senator peters. Question ino my terms of, how are you designing the system . Are you assuming the 1. 1 million flow . Do you think that is a smart thing to do or do we design a system that can be flexible whereas if the flow is reduced, we can adjust . Mr. Morgan cbp has so many on hhspendencies boatth and ice. It depends on how we come together to address the problem. If we are not going to have meaningful legislative fixes and fund ice for beds, we will need a different solution if you are going to tell me that congressman fund more bed space that congress will fund more bed space, that will be a different proposal. Longtermare not a Holding Facility but we are somewhere in the middle. We are in term custody, we are term or long term but a lot depends on what congress will do. Senator it sounds good but isnt it true an ankle bracelet on someone who doesnt have a permanent address, we dont know where they really came from or where they are going, those are easily cut off and that is basically what people do . Mr. Morgan that is exactly right. I dont want to speak for another agency. Statistics will show alternatives to detention is not productive and costs exponentially more, per removal on nondetained docket, then it does to detain them. Financially it is a challenge. Senator i would call that counterintuitive. You talked about funding. As a fiscal conservative, i was a leading proponent early on of providing Government Agencies with funding they need. On a townhall last week, i realized that was not popular. Very legitimate concerns on people on the call saying, that is 4. 5 billion dollars to close out the fiscal year. How better could we spend that money . People need to understand the cost of apprehending, processing and dispersing this overwhelming outofcontrol flow of immigrants. Mr. Morgan 3. 5 billion of that supplemental field was for children. 300,000 this year. What the supplemental did, it did not address the crisis at all. It did not stem the flow at all. What it did is it improved our ability to more efficiently bring these kids into the interior of the u. S. Senator that is supplemental emergency spending, it will not cover the cost for 2020. It just filled in the gap to address the situation. Very quickly before i go vote, to talk about what the solution used to be. What is the first goal of our policy. I would argue it is to reduce the flow. Would you both agree . Mr. Morgan absolutely. Senator when i was at the border, i talked to patrol and i asked them what was the solution . You get a consistent answer. We have to remove people that do not have a valid claim. To be a consequence, a deterrent, so that others wont in debt themselves to human traffickers, mortgage their homes, pay years of salaries to evil people. Evil people. Amendment,ut the which creates a disparity in how we handle unaccompanied children. We cannot voluntarily return them in the same situation. We cannot do that. Touristsalk about reinterpretation. It really applied to an unaccompanied child, was it jenny florez . Back in 1985. It took a long time to come up with a settlement of how we handle unaccompanied children. 2015, because of a lawsuit in the obama administration, you were probably there, started detaining children with families. They court said, no the florez standards applied to accompanied children as well. If you look at our chart, it is not up now, that is a moment where this part where this sparked. Once people realize you could come in with a family unit, you would get to stay, even though deferred action on child emissions does not apply to people in the future, it was used by coyotes to say we have changed the laws, come on in and you get to stay. That has been the reality. I would argue, the thing we have to address is that gap between, in terms of asylum laws, of credible fear standard, takes them into the adjudication process, i hear different numbers but at least 800,000 backlog cases in immigration courts . Mr. Morgan correct. Senator i was told that we adjudicated last year a little more than 30,000 cases of people coming in as family units from Central America. About 3000 granted asylum. The others were denied. 10 rate. There is a real problem when we let all these people in and only, and no one really knows the number, we really dont know but somewhere, no more than 20 , actually had a valid claim. Change,argue, the law it will require congress to act, the law change has to close that gap. Would you both agree . Mr. Morgan 100 . You get all three major elements that Congress Must do to fix this crisis and stem the flow. We treat kids different from mexico and canada than other countries and the florez agreement that says we have to release unaccompanied minors and children within 20 days. Senator it is true we are releasing 79 of unaccompanied children to a person in the u. S. That is undocumented. Mr. Morgan i dont know the specifics that. That is happening every single day. Senator we are only able to remove 7 of people we dont detain. We do not know where they are. Mr. Morgan sir, that is why, another reason why we want to detain, on the nondetained docket, it is extremely difficult once these individuals have a final order of removal to go and apprehend them. Senator we have to look at the credible fear standard, raise the bar on the initial hurdle, squeeze all the inefficiency out of that initial adjudication process so we can more rapidly, i would argue more accurately and fairly, because, we dont want to deny asylum to people who really qualify. Mr. Morgan sir, i would say that by streamlining this process as you described, that is exactly what we will do. We will be able to more thoseently actually fund that have valid claims and take care of them appropriately. Right now they are getting lost in the system with all the fraudulent claims. Senator if that is the goal of the first step, Operation Safe return, and i do not know what will happen, guatemala has to approve through the legislator, who knows what Court Challenges here any guatemala may occur, Operation Safe return uses existing authorities, we spoke with you and dhs to implement the program, to start it. Rapidly, more accurately turn those individuals who clearly do not, have legal claim to stay and safely return. That is what we will continue to work on. We have bipartisan work for that initiative. I must ask you to do everything you can to work with us on that, implement it, look at is it working . Re able to remove those individuals . To be a deterrent to reduce that flow . Makes how it is working, adjustments and move forward and hopefully, hopefully at some point in time we can get a bike partisan court to change our laws to fix this once and for all. I want to thank both of you for your service. I want to thank the men and women of dhs and Border Patrol and ice trying to cope with this outofcontrol situation. I view them personally as heroes. I hope they stay on the job and continue to do a good job and i truly am grateful. I think this committee is as well. If you will convey that back your components, i appreciate that. Mr. Morgan they absolutely are heroes and i will make sure they know that. Senator i am glad in your testimony you pointed out some of the heroic actions, we have heard of other similar situations as well. The hearing record will remain open for 15 days for questions for the record. This hearing is adjourned. As the hearing wrapped up, we will be showing it tonight in primetime in entirety, 8 p. M. Eastern on cspan. You can watch it anytime online at cspan. Org. Tonight, American History tv focuses on the holocaust. We begin with a look at the u. S. Refugee to the nazi era crisis in the 1930s and 1940s, later stories from holocaust survivors, 8 p. M. Eastern on cspan3. If you want more info on members of congress, order the congressional directory, Available Online at csp anstore. Org. Country where there is no public transportation, no vicinities where i can walk. I cannot leave the house. Car, sheon or drive a needs a man. Sunday night on q a, saudi arabia and womens rights activists talk about the book, about herrive decision to challenge the saudi governments ban on women driving. It is an act of civil disobedience. Women are not supposed to drive. But we need to show we are capable of driving, by doing this act of civil disobedience. Q a. Nday night on cspans