More popular than the agency that brings in the most which is the i. R. S. The acting commissioner has had a long and distinguished career in Law Enforcement, including, he was named to his present post in june of this year. And prior to taking the job of acting commissioner, hes been chief of Border Patrol. Hes been the agent in charge of paso,i office in el plenty of border experience. Hes had roles in counterterrorism, violent crime, gang suppression, a lot of things that relate directly to his job today. And hes been a Deputy Sheriff and a Los Angeles Police officer. Not only that, he has an engineering degree and a law degree. So its my great pleasure to welcome acting commissioner mark morgan. Thank you for being here. Mark and former marine. I had to get that in there. Jessica i had that on my list. Semper fi. Thanks for coming. I want to let everyone know that commissioner morgan will be in the hot seat for a while with my questions but if you have questions that you would like to have asked, please fill out the index cards that we are providing and im going to go for maybe a halfhour or 35 minutes and then well take some questions from the audience. I think im going to jump right in with the topic i think Everyone Wants to know about the most, can you give us an update on whats happening at the southwest border . Mark sure. I think when we talk about the southwest border we have to put it in two pockets. One is the crisis with respect to immigration and the other is what i call the National Security crisis. I think as of late, for understandable reasons, we are talking about the Immigration Crisis. Let me start with that. The drivers really that the focus over the last yearplus has really been the migration flow from the northern tribal the northern triangle countries, specifically the families. The reason why thats been the focus is something ive talked a lot about, thats our broken Legal Framework right now. Specifically the forced Settlement Agreement which had a significant loophole that said if you come to our country with a child we can only hold you 20 , days. That wasnt enough to get through the immigration process. That was the genesis of catch and release. We would apprehend families entering illegally and release them here in the United States oftentimes in days. We had to fix that. The last six months this president , this administration, c. B. P. , along with our other partner agencies, i. C. E. And others, we really instituted a network of initiatives and policies and rules and regulations that really have given us the tools to close those loopholes. Ill give you an example. The height of may, we had 144,000 apprehensions in may alone. Six months later, 42,000 apprehensions. We really, again, targeted that demographic, the northern triangle country family units specifically. Jessica how do you know thats not just seasonal . Mark the numbers will tell you. It is ironic that in october, seasonally, the number goes up, believe it or not. Right now in october and november, october time frame, seasonally in some demographics the numbers go up. We have seen it decrease. For the past six months, weve seen a steady decline. Even with the seasonal times where we have seen an increase in previous years. What weve seen too, from the height of may to the end of last month, six months, we saw an 85 reduction in families. So on that front, we made tremendous strides. Close those loopholes. What we are seeing though is a change in demographics. You and i talked about this. What happens often, its not a surprise to us. The cartels, Human Smuggling Organizations change their t. T. P. s, tactics, techniques, and procedure. They saw we were making progress stemming the flow from northern triangle country, taking billion taking billions of dollars out of their pockets and they shift. They shift toward supporting additional migration from extra continental country as well as Mexican Nationals. Jessica far away, not just Central Americans or latin america . Mark correct. Indians africans, haitians, brazilians the list goes on and on and on. Thats what we refer to as extracontinental. Other than northern triangle countries. Jessica do you have numbers on the extra continental . Mark were seeing thousands of each of those groups and were seeing from this time last year, we are seeing an increase, sometimes 200 to 300 of what we saw last year. Overall the numbers are relatively are fairly manageable but when you start combining it and then again you start seeing it as an increased issue, we need to get out in front of it. Mexican nationals specifically families, Human Smuggling Organizations are going to families and telling them hey, the initiatives they have they dont apply to Mexican Nationals. You grab a kid and it will be your passport to the United States. I can assure you, were taking this same process with initiatives that we use to counter the flow from northern triangle countries and applying it to the extra continental countries. We are applying it to Mexican Nationals. This week we started i. R. I. , interior repay pais tration, were flying Mexican National ints the interior of mexico to other locations. So overall, what i refer to, right now where were at, we have all but ended catch and release specifically for the northern triangle countries. For the northern triangle countries. Jessica its been reported its been remain in mexico or migrant protection protocol policies of having people who apply for asylum wait in mexico for their proceedings. Its been reported that thats been applied to about 55,000, is that individuals . Household heads . Mark all demographics. Individuals, households. Around 55,000 we have found immutable for that program. Waiting in mexico as they go through the due process immigration proceedings here in the United States. Jessica but there have been hundreds of thousands of arrives of arrivals who are family units from the northern triangle countries and elsewhere. What happened to the rest . I would estimate, what, 400,000 family units i think . Mark yeah, again, you go to the height of may, 144,000. 65 to 70 of those were family units, families coming from northern triangle countries. Over the last six months because of initiatives we reduced the flow by 85 . Theyre just not coming anymore. This is a really important part. This one thing ive been trying to say, for those individuals, stop listening to the cartels. Stop listening to the Human Smuggling Organizations. Theyre lying to you. Theyre exploiting you. Theyre getting rich off your backs by exploiting vulnerable migrants. And now, because of where were at. Because of the initiatives and tools we have, no longer is a child your immediate passport into the interior United States. We have all but shut that down. So im trying to tell families do, not listen to cartels. Theyre lying to you. Its working. 85 reduction. Jessica so today if a family arrives, are they all asking for asylum . Mark no. Thats a good point too traditionally they havent all asked for asylum. One because of our broken system they didnt have. They did not have to. The forced Settlement Agreement said we could not retain you longer than 20 days regardless of whether you claim aid asylum or not that still holds now. Congress, and i said, ill continue to say it, were doing all this, the president , the administration, c. B. P. Is executing these initiatives and congress has failed to pass a single piece of meaningful legislation that would address this. They know what to do. They know what to do. It would take them 15 minutes. They could take a single piece of paper and end 90 , 95 of the Immigration Crisis. Jessica what would that paper say . Mark it would say three things. It would address the forced Settlement Agreement, and say we could detain them longer than 20 days, we could detain them during their proceedings, which is usually 50 to 60 days. In addition, it would say we can send children back to their families from where they came. In their home country. Jessica some of the families are here. Mark some of the families are here, some are there. Mexico or canada, if youre an unaccompanied child from mexico or canada, we can send you back to your families. If youre from the northern triangle country, we cant. We have to keep you. That should be addressed by congress. The last thing is the credible fear standard. There is no standard. Theyre coached what to say. They know what to say. In the end the majority of those credible fears are found not credible. Id probably throw in there, give i. C. E. More bed space and about 95 of the Immigration Crisis will be fixed. Jessica which i. C. E. Did not get in the latest spending bill. What did c. B. P. Get . Mark one positive factor we got in the spending bill was 1. 375 for the wall. Thatll be significant for us. Were going to be able to use that current funding to continue to build a wall. Thats significant for us. One of the tools that im sure well talk about that in a minute. Jessica i want to come back to one thing with respect to the application of this network of policies. Since we were talking about the migrant protection protocols, stick with that for a minute. I want to reiterate. This is going to apply to family units from the northern triangle, its going to apply to a family unit that arrives from mexico . Mark no. Right now its not applying to mexico. But we are in negotiations with mexico to expand that. Because again, as i started to explain, although weve addressed greatly, again, that illegal migration for northern triangle countries, were seeing increase in extra continentals and in Mexican Nationals, single adults and families. Of which those initiatives to work with mexico arent being applied. Were working with mexico to expand that were also working with the government of guatemala and honduras on the a. C. A. , the Asylum Cooperative Agreement so theyll receive Mexican Nationals as well. Were working with the countries. The ironic thing is right now, we have other countries that are stepping up, seeing its a regional crisis, addressing it as a regional congress, and are doing more to help us than our own congress is jessica thats an important statement. Mark it is. Jessica what about one last thing on the migrant protection protocols, what about the extra continental families, people coming from africa, middle east, so on . Are those are they waiting in mexico as well . Mark right now, what the current agreement with mexico is Spanish Speaking countries. But were in consultation with mexico as the smuggling organizations change their t. P. P. , were giving them the information and asking for assistance to expand that to accept extra continental countries. Were confident theyll agree to that. As well, well have the same conversation, we are work the government of guatemala, honduras, and el salvador where we have a. C. A. s for them to accept other demographics as well. Jessica so theyll be detained in an appropriate custodial and from there possibly released if it cant be done in 20 days. Mark correct, for families, yes, maam. Jessica it was reported today by, i believe it was a. P. , or no, excuse me, reuters reported today that this announcement about interior repatriation that has been done often in the past and is now being launched again, that some of theres potential for having mexicans go actually to guatemala. Can you explain that . Mark the a. C. A. , the genesis of that, i think this is important. If someone has an asylum claim what were trying to encourage is a couple of things. One is reach out and get assistance. If you have a legitimate asylum claim, you should be reaching out and trying to get relief in the first country you come. Logical. Dont give your life savings to the cartel. Dont listen to the cartels that are lying to you. Dont listen to the cartels and smuggling organizations that are going to abuse you and treat you no better than a piece of trash, a commodity. Just the other day we apprehended a tractor trailer load of immigrants trying to illegally enter. Each one had a tshirt on with a letter spray painted on it, they had the letter on their hand, they were marked like cattle. What im trying to do is dont listen to those organizations that are going to treat you like cattle. If you have a legitimate asylum claim get relief in the first country. Thats the genesis behind the a. C. A. We have the ability to apply the a. C. A. To Mexican Nationals as well. Were having discussions with guatemala to expand that, to again share in this as a regional crisis. America is not the only country that borders mexico. We should share the Immigration Crisis as regional partners and thats what guatemala, honduras and el salvador are stepping up to do. Jessica do you think these other countries are well equipped to handle those that might be bona fide asylum claims . Mark we are working with them every single day to improve capacity. We released funding back to the northern triangle countries, millions of dollars specifically designed to improve their asylum capacity as well as their interior enforcement ability to go after cartels and smuggle organizations. Keep in mind in the height of the crisis, the United States of america, we were overwhelmed. Theres no single country in the world that can handle the level and volume and the height of the crisis. Not even the United States. Thats why we have to Work Together with the northern triangle countries, mexico and other countries to address this as the regional crisis that it is. Jessica the fact that we had policies in place that enabled and encouraged this flow of people and had the effect of enriching criminal cartels, thats an important issue with huge implications for mexico as well. Its in their interest to try to address this. Because its not just human smuggling. Theres the threat, the criminal threat of the cartels. They dont just smuggle humans they also smuggle drugs. Gang members are taking advantage of this. I think i read on your website where your officers are apprehending Something Like are apprehending Something Like 400 some ms13 members a year, one a day, and thats just one of the transnational gangs that has exploited this opportunity to take advantage of our policies to get here. Mark youre right. That dovetails with the second part we dont talk about, the National Security crisis. When we talk about the crisis, its not just the immigration and humanitarian crisis, its dual, theres the security crisis. One aspect is gang members. We apprehended over 1,000 gang members, 23 different gangs. And thats just who we apprehended. Theyre using the humanitarian effort to draw Border Patrol agents off the line during the height over 50 of Border Patrol agents were taken off the line to care for kids an families. What do you think the Human Smuggling Organizations were doing . They were exploiting that. They were doing it by design. They would send large caravans in one area so the Border Police would go and address that. Meanwhile and be distracted. Over 1,000 gang members, drug last year, c. B. P. Seized over 800,000 pounds of drugs. Think about that stat. 800,000 pounds. Air and Marine Branch contributed with other partners the hard markets, heroin, meth, fentanyl, cocaine, went up last year. Fentanyl, one sector out of nine sectors seized 11 pounds, enough to kill two Million People in the United States. Last year alone, 68,000 individuals in this country died because of direct result of overdose of ill list markets. Illicit narcotics. 68,000 people. More people tied than the entire all thats more people entireed then in the vietnam conflict. Theres another thing i say. Every town, city, an state in this country is a border town city and state. Mark my words. If you have a meth overdose in for example, mark my words that meth came from a southwest came from the southwest border. What mexico is doing, theyre able to produce meth, for example which is skyrocketed up faster, cheaper, and its more potent. So a lot of times meth was manufactured in the United States. Thats going down. Mexico is creating super labs. Jessica we have laws to discourage that. Mark so when we talk about the crisis at the border, when we talk about the need for a wall, its not just about stemming the flow of illegal immigration, its stopping the drugs pouring into this country that killed 68,000 people last year. Jessica this affects every community in our country as well. And its an issue for mexico as well in terms of corruption and the money the cartels have. Mark absolutely. Jessica how much of a threat are the cartels to the United States . A lot of people make the claim that theres little risk of Cartel Activity overflowing into the United States because theyre afraid of u. S. Law enforcement or, you know, a number of other reasons they give. Do you agree with that . Mark depends on how you shake that out. If you talk about violence, thats one thing. But if you talk about Cartel Activity impacting this country, heck yeah. We described the drugs pouring in, 68,000 deaths, Cartel Members dont just operate in mexico, they are here in the United States. They operate houses, have a Network Distributing drugs to every town, city, state in this country. Jessica working with gangs. Mark absolutely. I worked gangs for a long time. Cartels and Human Smuggling Organizations are alive and well in mexico and here. Violence is another issue. Violence has not spilled over. I was special agent in charge in el paso that city was for many years one of the safest cities of its size in america for many years. The violence in mexico, the majority of that is cartel against cartel. And this is what the American People need to understand. Why is there so much violence in mexico . Why are the cartels warring with each other for control over the plaza, control over the smuggling routes . Because its so profitable. Its so profitable. Its a multibillion dollar industry for them every single year. We estimate that the cartels, over 60 billion that they have. Its unbelievable. Thats another reason why were working with the government of mexico to work on operations to try to stop weapons from going in there and also elicit currency from going southbound icit currency from going southbound as well. Cartels are alive and well. Jessica i saw a figure today, i think 4 billion a year in revenue for cartels. Mark i think that is a conservative estimate. Jessica and this is one reason we need a multifaceted approach to this. What do you think has worked . Has it been mostly the changing of our policies . Or the working with other countries . What is mexico doing to address this influx of people and illicit drugs . Mark i think its all of the above. We have to separate a little bit. Human smuggling side, on the illegal migration side, it has been a combination. Its been a combination of this president s strategy this administrations strategy, the ability of c. B. P. , ice an others to execute on those initiatives, as well as cooperation of other countries. Mexico and northern triangle countries. Were working with panama and other countries as well. Mexico has stepped up in unprecedented ways. Established a new national guard. Strengthened their southern border. Apprehensions have doubled last year. They strengthened the u. S. Mexico border and their interior enforcement. In may, we were experiencing 40 or 50 large groups of individuals of 100 or more. Last month i think we had two. Theyre stepping up. Its a huge difference. So it really is all of that. With respect to the illegal migration crisis. On the drug crisis, we still have a ways to go. 800,000. Plus thats just what we seized. We know that volumes, greater than we can probably even fathom are still getting through that border and making its way to every town, city, and state in this country. Jessica obviously barriers help in stopping people. How much wall has been built . Mark so far, 93 miles. And i think this is important. A couple of address a couple of false narratives out there this is something that the experts have asked for. This is something that the Border Patrol agents and the leadership have asked for. This isnt something that the president asked for. This president asked the experts what they needed and he is delivering on what they have asked for. When we talk about the wall, its not just a wall. Its a wall system. Its not just a wall system. Its a part of a multilayer strategy of infrastructure, technology and personnel. Everywhere along the southwest border, where those three approaches have coalesced together effectively in strategic locations, its made an impact both on the illegal flow of migration as well as drugs and bad people. Every single place that that has been implemented. We have the data we can show that. Now jessica it works. Mark it does. And we had the data. Now with the new wall system, its not just a physical barrier. It has integrated lighting, integrated technology, access area roads. All those things the leadership asked for, thats all going into this wall system. And i can say, without hesitation, without doubt, every mile of new wall thats being built, this country is more safe because of it. Because it absolutely increases the Border Patrols operational capacity to do what they need to do. Its about impedance and denial. Will it be impenetrable and not be able to be overcome . No. But it is going to deny and impede. If you have the technology and personnel put all those together and fewer people will come in. Technology is a huge part of this so we need more technology too. Again, at the end of the day, we say it kind of tongue in cheek, technology cant make an arrest. You still need agents. And again, you need jessica fewer. Mark exactly but technology is an important part of that as well. All three of those things are very important. It is not just one or the other. Its all three together in strategic locations. Thats what were doing. Jessica i saw in your recent testimony before a Senate Committee that you mentioned that there were an estimated 150,000 who evaded our security at the border. How did you come up with how do you know . Mark i think thats a conservative estimate. We call them gotaways. Its not super scientific. I will give you an example. A Border Patrol agent may go to an area where there was no wall system or technology, they see footprints in the ground across the border. And they can physically count the foot prins or they see tire tracks. Its not really complicated or scientific. But theyre pretty good at that there are signs. Theyre able to determine by looking at footprints etc. Who and what crossed. So throughout the southwest border, all 2000 miles, we estimated at least 150,000, i think thats conservative. I think its higher. Jessica and we assume those are not families seeking, who are going to these are people who dont want to be entered into our system. Mark thats exactly right. Thats another element we dont talk enough about. The majority of the families who come across and unaccompanied children when they make their way to the border, they sit down and wait for Border Patrol agents. Its not adverse. Its a Safe Exchange and apprehension and processing. Those gotaways are right. Those are the ones running. Why are they running . Those arent the good ones. When were having this discussion we need to be intellectually honest through our discussion. Not every person who tries to you legally enter this country is a good person. Theyre not all bad either. But theyre not all good. Were talking about that, we have to be honest about that. Again, thousands of gang members caught. We also have caught rate this rapists, pedophiles, murderers. A lot of people say, those numbers are small. Well how many is acceptable . How many . How many rapist, how many murderer, how many pedophiles are acceptable . How many gang members, ms13 members are acceptable for us to allow into the country . Thats the question we should be asking. From my perspective, Law Enforcement for a lot of decades trying to safeguard the country, the answer is zero. Thats why we need to strengthen our borders. Thats why we need the wall along with other things. Jessica customs and Border Protection officers, especially Border Patrol, have in recent times been subject to a lot of disparagement, been vilified, been accused of abusing authority. What do you say to those who have said that officers routinely are overzellous, that routinely are overzealous, that their mission is inherently inhumane . Mark i say it is a lie. People who say that have not been down to the border or have actually seen Border Patrol agents and officers do their jobs. I have. Let me give you a couple of facts. Not hyperbole and not a motion although i do get emotional about this because i know they are lying about the men and women. 4,900 rescues last year. 4,900 rescues. Jessica thats huge. Mark not apprehended, but rescues. They saw somebody in need. They didnt stop to say wait a minute, are you trying to enter this country illegally. They didnt ask what is your nationality . They saw a human being in need and they immediately went into action with respect to their training and whats in their d. N. A. To help and protect people and they risked their own lives 4,900 times. Let me give you another stat. Health care, we average between 70 to 80 hospital visits along the southwest border every day, a day. That means we got somebody in and got the medical screen and able to determine right away it exceeded our capability and we immediately took them to the proper e. M. S. Or medical facility. 7080 times a day. 4,900 rescues. Thats who the men and women are. When we have individuals, including our own political leaders lie who say we are running concentration camps and Border Patrol agents are having all drink out of toilets, thats a lie. Come on down. Come on down. These are mothers, brothers, fathers and sisters. I have been there and seen a Border Patrol agent neil down and talk to a little girl holding the hands of her little brother who suffered at the hands of smuggling organizations and kneel down and talking to them in spanish treating those two kids as if they were air own as if they were their own kids. I will question have you been there and really seen it . Jessica we plug our annual border tour and give people the opportunity to go down to see what is going on and understand the issues better. I want to touch on a couple of other things before we open it up to some of the questions. Not all illegal immigration is people entering surreptitiously at the border. Some people come in on visas and overstay. In 1996, congress enacted a requirement that they have entryexit program and took until 2004 to get the first part of that done and d. H. S. Has done it very well. It has been very effective. Called u. S. Visit where we started collecting biometrics and comparing them to the fingerprints. But not much has passed since 2004. And congress has passed this six or eight times. Where are we on establishing a comprehensive entryexit system . We are getting passenger manifests so we know how many people are leaving. Can you update us . Mark there are two good points. One is there is a lot of privacy issues and groups that have been out there that are very negative towards this and this was a mandate thats been out there a long time. I will give you one reason. Not an excuse but a justifiable reason and why the biometrics has been so slow is the tech hasnt been there. The last five years, the Industry Standard has said that the technology has 12 times better than it was just five years ago. I would caution some people that when they are talking about the data, make sure the data isnt six months old. If you are using data longer than that, it is probably bad data. The strides and efficiencies we have made our increasing. For us at c. B. P. , we are continuing to make progress. Lets talk about airports and the exit and entry. We have expanded that 216 airports jessica biometrics . Mark yes. 16 airports. Jessica for all travelers. International . Mark international travelers, at those airports at specific airlines. The airports are doing it not for all airlines. We have an additional 29 apets we have an additional 29 airports that we are working with to improve. And right now, another key element to this is, what i like to say we do is facial recognition. Recognition takes on a different kind of term. What cbp is doing is facial comparison. That onetoone. And that is important distinction and we have a data base, a manifest that where we have those photos and we actually compare that onetoone. Jessica like is this the person who is issued a visa in whatever country . Mark correct. You think facial recognition, you think of a Surveillance Program and that is not what were doing. The basic concept is instead of taking the comparison manually to a human being which is failed and flawed. We have done the percentages. We are taking that ability and making it electronic. Its more efficient and a heck of a lot faster and more accurate. We have put millions and millions through this facial 99 arison process at a 98 , accuracy rate. And the technology is improving. Every single year, that tech is exponentially improving. And i think we are going to get to close to 100 . Jessica talked to many in the private sector in this industry, a lot of people think that the technology is there but this is another situation where congress has not come through with the money that the agency needs. Mark thats exactly right, too. And we need to work with airports and airlines to fund that ability as well and we are making progress on this. On the land side, we have instituted that. Mark thats exactly right, too. And we need to work with airports and airlines to fund that ability as well and we are making progress on this. On the land side, we have instituted that. Obviously were looking at the so we piloted it in a couple of areas where in 2020 we will expand it to four areas in the southwest border. We are looking at the flow and so we are instituting that right and just a short time. We call them postures that we do at the airport as well. The state of new york we definitely implemented the most egregious law that not only allows the issuance of drivers licenses to illegal aliens and others for identity but greatly restricts of Immigration Enforcement agency. This is something new i am not occur of the one aware of this but you are aware of the law and the problems can you explain how important this is and how this impacts cbp . It is very important. I cannot have this strong reaction it is reckless and irresponsible i tell the American People that this policy by new york will make this country less safe its not just confined to new york many have a fundamental misunderstanding if you have a car you dont just stay in new york you can travel anywhere in this country so if we come across people now you run the plate you can be southcentral a Police Officer will pull the plate and get nothing back restricted access. Think about this. From a Law Enforcement perspective any time you take a legitimate Law Enforcement to all away from a Law Enforcement entity, think about that do you see their ability to safeguard this country every time you take away a tool. It is irresponsible in the country will be less safe. I have to believe its actually against the law with the nationalization act that the state cannot institute a policy to counter our ability to do our job. Or in any way that would restrict. And specifically it also mentions cbp and i. C. E. I dont think they are restricting the state of new jersey. That is exactly right. What is the federal government going to do . I have been engaged in discussions at a very high level we are looking at all options within dhs and a cbp what are the options we can do to close this loophole and i will push hard to make sure we counteract this horrendous irresponsible and reckless law by the state of new york. Thank you. No shortage of questions. [laughter] now that the numbers of guatemala and mexico are down what are the us expectations for the Us National Guard deployment on that southern border in 2020 . We will just have to continue to watch that if you look over history every single time we have that proverbial gas pedal they take advantage of that we have to make sure we are sharing information and intelligence to maintain a steady state to have a force that is adequate to handle the flow we have addressed specifically initially the families from the northern triangle countries we are still at crisis numbers between 141500 daily secretary johnson said a thousand was a bad day he is right. We are still 1500 we are still at crisis level so we are not done yet we need continue that posture for the foreseeable future. We still need to address some of these problems that you described. Thats part of what this question is going to buy regardless of the problems mexico stepping into the northern triangle country we cannot rely on other countries to fix a broken system. To have a durable solution to fix the league one a Legal Framework congress has to act regardless of mexico the northern triangle countries thats what we need congress to do. But every single time we get funding generally there is some restrictions that they will not impede we already had it identified where it would go and we are on our way to use that one. 375. There was a story this morning to acquire land and so on will that get in the way of getting the 450 miles done next year . That is always a challenging part have to get done first but what is really detrimental is the activism of the lower courts we just got joined by lower court for using dod funding thats what hurts us thats what causes more challenges but i can tell you the new funding that came im confident but i think we will exceed that we will have more miles under contract being built or exceed that by the end of 2020. Its all areas of the southwest border Border Patrol did a good job to come up with a Border SecurityImplementation Plan to identify the highest priorities but anytime we go to cartels they just go to another area so we constantly reevaluate we are constantly changing the infrastructure and personnel but that 450 miles whereas identified of that smiles and a stretch of what we needed. Is some of that going to the rio grande . And those that identified that flow was increasing in certain areas of the border like arizona and new mexico policies were not in place. Its a very key point because the Human Smuggling Organization they know where we are instituting those initiatives cbp was not initiated in arizona at the time so smuggling organizations were broadcasting this is where you go in and since then we have shut that down we can show you how adept and flexible and resilient they are. And the human smuggling over the drug smuggling prices have gone down. With the core of engineers why does cbp have to use the army corps of engineers to build a wall . Why cant they contract direct . You have to remember some of the dod funding it has to be specifically for military projects. The majority of the funding is cbp belated funding so we use the army corps but the overall contractor but they are subcontracting out with companies throughout the United States just as we would do but to be quite honest they are better at it and they have done this before that is part of what they do thats the core of the cores job. Is it really possible to control the border without fundamental change . That is a good question and my answer is is it just control . We can get into position to have operational capacity to interdict what is coming at the border but the challenge is addressing that by congress if we continue to have a loophole we will have 1 Million People come to the border that doesnt change my need to have that operational control of the border i still want to have that same to apprehend and identify but what we need congress to do so those loopholes drive more to come i want to have Operational Security on the entire border and i Want Congress to do their job to make it a little bit easier. That relates to this question congress was complaining about kids in cages what role did Congress Play in that event . Back when those facilities were built the role that Congress Played back then they were thinking us. Because we had an onslaught of unaccompanied children coming in and the Border Patrol is not designed for children. They had a holding area and an open toilet those are designed for single adults to be held for a short period of time to be processed and removed that is the code of the mission and how we operated to function like that then we saw the influx of kids and everybody including Border Patrol said these are not the conditions these children should be in. So we spent a lot of money to scramble and build these facilities and back then including congress applauded that to say its incredible how fast you can build these facilities that is the role back then thats why im so frustrated now. There is chainlink fence if you look about look at that we have all kinds of demographics all the way up to 17 yearold kid some have a mother or a father. Some of them have a rented mother or father. [laughter] you dont want to put a 14 yearold male in the same area as a sexual female so they scrambled because we could see through to make sure to have adequate protection that is how that happened it was effective and it worked. Do i want to have facilities that do not have a chainlink fence . Yes i absolutely do and that is fair. In your view what is the number one reason protect american workers, competition protect american taxpayers, National Security or with the reentry of criminals . First i would say all of the above with a Law Enforcement professional it is about two things first and foremost about the rule of law we have to enforce the rule of law. If the American People dont like the current laws or dont pick at cbp or i. C. E. Talk to congress and have them change the law. Right now the immigration and naturalization act so the second thing is to maintain integrity of the system if you dont maintain integrity then you have no system at all the third priority to protect American People its not a political statement that from a Law Enforcement perspective that they know they need to have to safeguard the country and thats what this is about. Our last question with the deal with guatemala is it only people from el salvador and honduras . Or agents told to carry out the policy . The initial agreement is to start with honduras and el salvador. It is effective right now guatemala is doing a good job to have an effective system and now we have those demographics specifically to continue on a dialogue but again it goes back to the fact its not just the United States government problem that is all of our problems the issues are global the solutions should be global not just the United States as we look to expand that across the board to as many demographics as we can. Thank you so much. It is very helpful to hear your responses and statements and thank you for coming today. I hope youll watch our website for the next newsmaker event we will have in the new year. Thank you very much. [applause] cspans Live Campaign 2020 coverage continues, saturday at hawaiim. Eastern with gabbard. Oman tulsi former Vice President joe biden in peterrerboro, new hampshire. 2 00 p. M. Eastern, Entrepreneur Andrew Yang in new hampshire. At 11 00 a. M. Eastern, senator Elizabeth Warren in boston wa. Watch the president ial candidates live on cspan, online at cspan. Org, or listen