Calling the committee to order of the budget cycle we are pleased to be joined by acting secretary chad wolf. Named after acting secretary november 132019 before taking on the challenging task he developed coordinated strategies and policies for the Homeland Security mission protected the public through his leadership role through strategy and policy as a recipient of the secretary distinguished Service Medal for International Terrorism and throughout the duration of his career. Thank you for that. We are continuing to consider the budget request 2021 and look for further insight from you. Some of the fiscal year 2021 enacted december 20th 2019. And then 50. 46 billion of tidiscretionary funding with those investments to protect the homeland for years to come millions of dollars for Border Security including funding for border wall system humanitarian care requirements and those all add existing Border Patrol facilities. Grant programs to provide additional funding from terrorism prevention to combat the emerging threat. Funding the deployment of Aviation Security equipment which i actually saw myself at tsa headquarters designed to enhance global Threat Detection capabilities for travelers including billions of dollars to ensure men and women of the Us Coast Guard have the operational capacity to carry out domestic and overseas missions. Funding for Election Security is critical to provide funding for a greater cyberthreat analysis with federal state local tribal Infrastructure Networks to provide millions of dollars to develop a system for Small Nuclear material narcotics and explosives also grant support for missing and exploited children investigations. One of the things im most proud of in the 2020 bill is that continuing efforts of the department of the methamphetamine crisis to be acutely affected by this challenge to promise to see the investment made of the first bill of 2019 and 2020 have a tangible impact of some of these previous investments of the Law Enforcement personnel at ports of entry and then to investigate the drug trade on the dark web and funding in appalachia of other regions of the drug crisis these are Real Investments we plan to continue to work with you to make sure they are put to good use. We spent the majority of our time discussing a humanitarian crisis this was a great deal of attention and rightly so after billions of dollars of investment for supplemental appropriation fy 2020 bill i can say the intensity of the situation has diminished challenges remain with the tens of thousands apprehensions every month excuse me seizures or can we help to provide what was needed at the same time we as a subcommittee did not lose sight of many other Critical Missions throughout the duration of the crisis. Counterterrorism, trade enforcement, human trafficking, maritime security, opioid and drug interdiction president ial protection, Cybersecurity Infrastructure protection, Emergency Management continuity of government, Law Enforcement training, weapons of mass distraction, state and local information sharing and most recently to contain the coronavirus just to name a few Going Forward we will remember the role the subcommittee played to enable and scrutinize all of the missions of the department as we discuss the Department Missions i would like to note the Budget Proposal to shift the secret service out of the department of Homeland Security as you know and as i feel secret service is a critical component of the department and i look forward to better understanding this proposal given all the critical needs i support many parts of this budget request are not grounded in reality including assuming the appropriate committees of congress would authorize new revenue and assuming the appropriate committees of congress would restructure fema grants in the Appropriations Committee would agree to cut these grants by three force or 1 billion and number three to fail to look at the bipartisan security related activities funded fy 20. These gaps allow the department to spend money that it does not have putting a massive bill on her lap to make our job harder congress is not afforded the luxury to ignore reality to push a think tank on the Appropriations Bills while the practice of ditching one digging budgetary holes making Congress Fill them prevents the department for making tough choices it actually reduces the departments influence with the final outcome acting secretary will thank you for appearing today we will make sure you and your team keep us up to date on what resources you need to continue the good work you are doing i turned to Ranking Member senator tester from montana. Thank you for having this hearing thank you acting secretary wolf for the fiscal 2021 budget request i would be remiss and to nominate and confirm with those employees of dhs that work to keep us safe at home and secure. It is a Broad Mission including terrorism and with response and recovery and to secure our borders i look forward to look hearing from you that there are a country faces and then with an emphasis on the affected border wall with the new deportation officers. Chemical security Aviation Security and this is an alarming trend. Congress has appropriated four four. 5 billion and taking another ten. 1 billion from Treasury Forfeiture Fund and to put all those numbers togethe together, it is almost 20 billion and now we are not one time is as been paid for by mexico all these have been paid for by the american taxpayer to take hundreds of miles from of property and then cost nearly 25 million on average with those Technology Solutions could be deployed at a much lower cost. I will also tell you several people have contact me on this wall on the southern border to impact agriculture. I am forwarding an email sent to me from a trump supporter on the southern border whos had the ranch literally cut in half if the wall goes up we still dont have a plan the last border wall plan submitted is out of date gao criticizes incomplete in several key areas and further two weeks ago fbi director testified before congress to say we face a diverse terrorism threat and it is unrelenting mentioning the concern of domestic terrorism carried out by violent extremists in the growing sophistication of cyberintrusions and statesponsored espionage against economy and elections the border wall addresses not the concern fbi director raise has addressed for our homeland and Border Security the actions taken by this administration with the partisan divide does not make a safer but make us exceptionally difficult to make things done here in congress the special border Operation Forces to the interior of the country in the recent decision to deny residents the dhs trusted Traveler Programs are recent examples where the resources are used to protect the country or make political points the bottom line is Ranking Member to ensure we are investing harder and taxpayer dollars and programs to address the most serious threats to country nonempty campaign promises. Finally mentioning security on the northern border last year receiving the northern border Implementation Plan to lay out specific requirements across dhs to improve the ability to facilitate safe and secure flow of crossborder traffic and to secure the northern border against threats. I will seek a commitment that sufficient resources are dedicated to execute that plan in a timely manner. Mr. Acting secretary i look forward to your testimony a recent office visit i said im here to work with you and hope we can find a Common Ground the National Security investments that truly does make sense for the American People. Thank you madam chair. Thank you senator tester with that we will go to the testimony of the acting secretary. Distinguish members of the subcommittee its a privilege to appear before you today to discuss the mission to keep the nation safe with the fiscal year 21 budget as acting secretary my priorities are to ensure dhs robust resilience and forward leaning up prepared to address the deficit today the budget is not only a reflection of those priorities but a path to achieving them the subcommittee knows the dhs plan of cyberdomain of 240,000 strong stands watch for the nation 24 hours a day to safeguard United States from terrace and adversaries and others who seek to do us harm and also facilitate unlawful trade and travel to balance security and freedom of movement with care and precision every day and i often say Economic Security is Homeland Security and the department plays a Critical Role in the presence budget ensures that workforce has the resources it needs to execute the critical responsibilities including 49. Eight in that discretionary funding and five. 1 billion for Disaster Relief to support recovery from disasters in the homeland they remain consistent which include securing borders enforcing immigration and cyberset base and Critical Infrastructure into one transportation security in american preparedness. The homeland to be more dynamic than ever before to respond to emerging threats from the nationstates. Dhs is also helping with response to the coronavirus today the risk to americans remains relatively low we will continue to implement measures designed to keep it that way. Including all flights in china to preselected airports for medical screening that was set up in a very rapid fashion using contracts and we continue to provide those at the 11 airports forgot will now highlight a specific handful of priorities of the budget the Department Must continue to grow digital defense is cybersecurity threats grow in scope and severity to have the enhance posture on Election Security to preserve the electoral process against interference of any kind investing one. 7 billion of the Cybersecurity Agency to strengthen cyberand infrastructure Security Mission an increase of 150 million from the president s fy 20 budget request the security of the nations border is a priority for the department the budget includes 3 billion of approximately border wall system as well as technology and staffing securing the borders is the utmost importance requiring we enforce the law as written to make the priority to protect citizens to identify and review and remove criminal aliens from the United States to make sure Law Enforcement officers have the resources they need to execute the law as true today in the wake of 9 11 counterterrorism is a top focus for the department and the president has increased funding for targeted violence and terrorism programs by 500 percent that funding distributed is critical to identify at risk individuals to prevent radicalization of violence and to modernize the fleet for the coast guard provides 550 million for the funding with the construction of the National Interest of the region increasing 564 million for the offshore patrol cutter another critical Capital Investment for the coast guard as well as capabilities and technology are important the greatest asset is the men and women who execute the Mission Every day as the capabilities grow tremendous new talent is needed to execute our mission and for dhs the budget provides funding 500 new cybersecurity employees across the department 750 new Border Patrol agents, 120 support staff in 300 Border Patrol processing coordinators. For i. C. E. 2800 new Law Enforcement officers 400 new attorneys and new support staff and for tsa funding to sustain roughly 47000 transportation Security Officers over the next year. It also provides funding for an overall pay increase including 3 percent increase for the uniformed men and women these are only a few included in the budget have one of the most diverse missions i continue to be amazed by the dedication of the men and women at the department their commitment is beyond reproach we should sleep better at night knowing they are on duty i ask for your support to provide the resources they need to keep us safe and secure through the budget request thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today i look forward to your question. Thank you very much i will begin by going to cybersecurity because i am very concerned in the budget if you mention in your testimony the president s budget request was more than last year but it was 250 million less than what congress enacted of cybersecurity, with your own testimony with the urgency , how do you justify 250 milliondollar cut to the area that so critical quick. One is the process and the timeline of when the budget was created. Obviously was created well before we received the funding last year now were in an Election Year so thank you for that to provide us enough resources looking at 21 the oftion year it fully funds then needs to provide that Election Security resource while called out specifically as a line item a lot of what they do plays out resources and services they provide to election state officials as well as political campaigns. So the 250 milliondollar difference from 2018 quick. Not specifically there was a reduction from the 21 request from what was enacted i can tell you fy 20 we are doing a lot more activities this year as we look at 21 we will sustain that in the budget and those activities will be sustained. You are counseling canceling the program which is part of that reduction as well also because this is the Election Year that doesnt mean election stopped going past november 2020 this will be an ongoing responsibility within the administration. Let me ask about the border while this is a source of interest. Can you tell us 126 miles have been built to date of the money previously provided for what are the new capabilities as a result in what you see as the next 2 billion and how does that affect the border wall system quick. We have 126 completed another 213 miles currently under construction and another 414 under preconstruction. The capabilities are night and day over the existing capabilities not only the physical infrastructure but lights and camera and reader and fiberoptics the denial the new border wall systems provides is night and day to what they previously had. As i talk to the men and women and ask what they need to secure the border resources and technology and obviously staffing is the threelegged stool talking about technology the first thing they ask for is the effective border wall system so they can respond in a timely manner and apprehend those looking to get in. The processing agents that we provided for in the last budget was a new concept for the department partly to alleviate what Border Agents were doing and love the frontline job of Law Enforcement may be transportation or healthcare. And also to be part of a recruiting tool to get folks involved so they could advance in different areas of Border Patrol. How many have you hired into that quickset has been a short period of time but youre asking for more in this budget. Thank you for providing that. And those positions are absolutely critical goes toward retention and recruitment and Border Patrol agents are at hospitals certainly what they are not trained to do. I dont have the exact numbe number. To make sure into certain so i will ask one more question. Really want to ask about the soft sided facilities this is a source of great concern for go so many people i am sure as you are Walking Around your respective states people ask how you are doing and are we on top of this. You mentioned there was a briefing this morning that basically told us it will come more broadly to the United States which we all expect but can you tell us how you are working on the coronavirus and those coordinating entities quick. The Task Force Led by hhs we are working hand in hand every day with that task force from the departments perspective in taking the direction to deal with the coronavirus we are implementing measures to support that so in the airport environment and land ports of entry to make sure the measures we put in place are there for the protection of the American People that is what the president has asked us to lean into we have 15 cases to identify so the threat remains low as we continue to expect and it has not it has remained relatively flat between 12 and 14 cases. The department feels very comfortable as the cdc adopts medical strategy. Do you have the resources you need to move forward quick. Looking at a very close basis right now we have them you have to likely move some money around to adjust for that but we will be in contact with you to need additional or supplemental funding. Thank you. Thank you madam chair. I appreciate your Service Holding positions in this administration and those we have seen in the senate my preferred the constitutional checks and balances the president has raised billions from defense projects and money to clean up it could be easy to have a 100dollar cordless saw is the el paso sector those Border Agents that they use more and more the rebar ladders. How many fivedollar ladders have they been used to defeat the law collects. Those defeat the border wall system across the hall that southwest border to find innovative ways. But with a cordless saw that would be any Hardware Store to get a ladder on how many in the tat in the past year Border Patrol will have that. How many tunnels have been discovered. In the Single Digits but we need to continue to invest in technology. And then to be discovered by cbp . And the first accounting of the numbers. We will provide numbers as quickly as possible. And with that drug assessment may keep telling us it is through the port of entry. And with these drivethrough scanners. The approximate percentage thats about those because Passenger Vehicles and then to screen for narcotics. And going from 1 percent to 40 percent but up at 70 percent with the methamphetamine and heroin. So roughly we see the majority of our connex coming to the ports of entry. We would interdict those two thirds of the time when third coming through ports of entry but we have seen and increase of those narcotics to include the wide range between the ports of entry we are concerned about that as well. It you have more detention beds. So the Congress Appropriation decision. That nearly 8000 are asylumseekers with 20 percent cleared of criminal persecution. But roughly what percentage of my last question . My time is up so roughly of these 8000 individuals have committed serious criminal offenses to be a Public Safety risk and how much does it cost to detain those individuals every day quick. I dont have that exact figure but on any given day to continue to prioritize the removal of criminals so 89 percent of those individuals they remove every year there is no final order so we will continue to prioritize removing criminals but they have wide mission they are enforcing Immigration Law and elsewhere. But you dont know how much it cost to detain 8000 asylumseekers. We will take that for the record. Senator kennedy. Thank you mr. Secretary for being here. What about the coronavirus. We have 14 cases with an additional 20 or 30 repatriated back into the us from a number of cruise ships. We do anticipate the number will grow. Is someone borrowing that quick. That is your job to keep us safe to you know how many the experts are predicting quick. We anticipate those to grow thats why we make sure our operations airports and land ports are flexible. But you cannot tell us where your models anticipate quick. Know i would refer you to hhs for that. You can check on that is home of Homeland Security. Yes and Task Force Members we coordinate with them. You are the secretary you ought to know that answer. I understand that. How has the coronavirus transmitted quick. Through a variety of ways. Human to human. We have seen that and we make sure these procedures coming to the us are medically screened. How is it transmitted quick. A variety of different ways. Human to human. How . Same vicinity, physical contact is usually what we see. We have had two or three human to human cases showing up in the us for those that have the human contact. What it is the mortality rate worldwide it is under 2 percent. How much under 2 percent quick. The cdc is monitoring the worldwide mortality rate. But you dont know that quick. It changes daily. It is under 2 percent the numbers are recalculated. Between one and a half and t to. What is the mortality rate for influenza. I dont have that offhand. Are you sure of that quick. Do we have enough respirators quick. To my knowledge we do but to make sure the operators i know hhs is part of the supplemental. What if we dont. We heard testimony that we dont from medical professionals quick. From Homeland Security do we have enough respirators or not quick. For patients quick. For every american that needs one that gets the disease. I would refer you to hhs. Secretary. My budget supports the men and women. You are the secretary of Homeland Security and you cant tell me if we have enough respirators . I would tell you that my budget and operations are focused not only on the men and women of dhs to make sure they are protected to do their jobs we are working with hhs. You dont have an answer. Do we have enough facemasks quick. For the department of Homeland Security. Im talking for the American People. For the entire American Public quick. I would say no. Probably not. I want to understand that somebody is doing modeling on how many cases we are anticipating. You are asking me a number of medical questions. And you are supposed to keep us safe and you need to know the answer. How far away are we from getting a vaccine . Several months. Thats not what we just heard testimony about. Whos on first whats on second. For the coronavirus response. You are telling me we are months away from having a vaccine that is your testimony. What i have been told from hhs and cdc. Every day we have a task force with those individuals. Those numbers are not the same as cdc. I would refer cdc. You should contact them. We are in contact with them every day. I would refer you to the cdc. You are supposed to keep us safe American People deserve straight answers on the coronavirus. Thats all i have madam chair. Thank you and acting secretary thank you for being here. I would like to push on the coronavirus because we did have a briefing this morning i would like to urge the department and other officials within the government to have some open briefings provided here anything this morning i havent read in the newspaper i think it would be very helpful to the American Public to have a better sense of what is going on with this issue. Also just posting information that could answer questions for the public i met with constituents after that briefing that they dont have the information they would like to have to share with their employees and to do whats right with this medical emergency. I would now like to go to Border Security and the devastating Opioid Epidemic West Virginia has been very hard hit we see some small progress thanks to the bipartisan support with significant increases of technology for drug interdiction and treatment but i am concerned that we need to do to interdict other drugs there are more better ways if you can have the chemical screening for all that is required under the act and also to be on those shipments that were required by the stop act. The departments efforts to address the crisis we are multifaceted on the interdiction side to talk about other technologies we have out there continuing to work with the Postal Service to target shipments and then to screen shipments as well Homeland Security investigation every time we make a seizure we turn those over to investigators and doj will help prosecute as well and then we continue to have money in fy 20 similar request from fy 21 to further enhance with the fentanyl and opioids across the spectrum. With the full implementation when you expect those to be completed quick. Thats a good question. We do have a timeline i dont have full implementation but im sure cbp does who is the lead component on this. And doing costeffective analysis in terms of stopping drugs in the United States is it the interdiction efforts quick. Absolutely. From a holistic view when it is all of the above. I mentioned two thirds of the employees whether an airport or land port of entry funding that congress provided thank you for that for small and medium and Large Technology everything from a handheld to screening a vehicle to make sure we deploy that and rapid fashion. I would like to switch topics to the h1b visa program that has been critical to help Small Businesses for the tour is an industry making those visas available to see the announcement the visa would be increased how soon would those be released because the Summer Season is fast approaching. As of right now with the cap increase i would urge congress to identify how many pieces the Program Needs and to coordinate with the secretary of labor i would encourage congress to pick the overall number. Bipartisan they say you need to increase that cap from when it has been increased i dont think the problem is congress but the administration level. Its not your department that needs to make this decision but who is making that decision because i have a bunch of Small Businesses in New Hampshire that cant do that this summer if they dont have these workers. Its a better fit for congress with predictability they will know each and every year how many they have to work with and plan the business accordingly we will continue to do our work it takes time to make that decision and then we have to publish a rulemaking to do that and then to increase the time six times over the past three or four weeks coming up with a proposal we hope to announce that very shortly we will continue to push that decision. Its not only a number about the fraud and the abuse so if we do reach out you will see a number of process one provisions they get that waste and fraud and abuse that they have expressed concern with as well. I share your sense of urgency. Im pushing as quickly as we can to make a decision and then hopefully announce that decision before any rulemaking is finalized so the industry knows how many visas to work with so they can plan business accordingly. Thank you. Thank you madam chair and secretary thank you for being here we appreciate you and the work that you do. Border security, i will ask this first. With the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles the budget request includes 35 million for science and technology up from fy 20. Tell me how that money will be spent. Primarily on Research Development testing to have limited jurisdiction and with those dhs facilities working with faa transportation and others as well as secret service so try to capitalize on their experience and the s p is building on that with research and development to have capabilities out there in the short term. You are busy on the southern border grand forks have 900 miles all the way from the great lakes to montana. Also a very large uis operation in the northern plains. I have heard of that. We love you to come back. You could come to montana also. Montana is a beautiful city also. We could help you. We believed it was a test site with the university. And late 2018 is when we were there. Became a secretary nielsen. I remember that visit im sorry i dont remember you were with us im glad you have seen it we will continue to make progress. Talk about autonomous surveillance towers. Thats a piece Border Patrol technology to secure the border through technology and physical infrastructure so the autonomous structures have that strategy they are relocatable they run off of self supported power so they provide a capability for Border Patrol to improve upon the towers they have out there. We are very excited about the capabilities. Are you still going through that process quick. It is a continuing discussion but we like those capabilities the towers provided we will continue to deploy them. I went and got my real id if you get those with ongoing but by october 1 folks will have to have it to get on an airplane what happens if somebody shows up and it isnt a real id . Thank you for the question this continues to be an issuing program because in our mind the states of had 14 years to phase this and. We encourage states to invest in the majority of them have all states are compliant all that you are issuing at the moment. We like them to go faster i think they would like to go faster so we continue to have that dialogue but we see today we have 35 percent of ids in circulation are real id. Its a relatively low number. Minus 35 percent plus one is relatively low with october 2020 we are engaging with the industry we just issued a policy adjustment allowing individuals to submit theres electronically to the dmv that makes it easier. But the original law real id past is very restrictive it was when there was no smart phone it was flip phone so the idea to transmit information securely versus coming in is a real challenge thats where we see a lot of problem at the dmv and the capacities. But what i am suggesting on t you will have a lot of people show up at tsa to get on an aircraft and show their drivers license and they wont have their passport or Something Else and they will say i have to get on my flight you know that will happen. But i am saying. We are certainly planning. They need a contingency. We are also trying to educate the public to have that real id as there are other alternative forms military, passport as well as others we continue to try to educate the traveling public what type of identification they will need the travel associations are pushing out information as well. Do you feel you have adequate screening place for people coming into the country . We do 11 airports are prescreening. D hs we have seen over 50000 individuals that is just at airports we also have lan ports and maritime ports. Is a fair to say . Absolutely have all the information i have from cdc and a digest on a daily basis to make operational decisions to determine if we are keeping the American Public safe and it the threat remains low we will adjust those as we are directed to but as of today i am very satisfied on those measures the department has taken. Thank you i appreciate it. Thank you chairwoman. First i want to talk about the wall 2 million of additional money for construction and quite frankly the last Border Security Improvement Plan was two years ago it was criticized by some of us and the gao we keep hearing and other plan is coming. It is. In the next several months is currently in review and is being finalized. Should we call you if its not here by the first of june . I think thats fair with june i will push personally to get a before that. If you can get it quicker than that but its only 15. 1 billion thats a huge amount of money we need to have a plan and it needs to be a good one. Better than the last one. Last week announcing border wall construction of ten federal procurement laws for where the border law one border wall is planned this will eliminate the full and open competition process allowing contractors to guarantee wage payments with the bid process we are talking about 17 billion if the budget goes through as advertised. How do we protect the american taxpayer . So the concept behind that waiver was to reduce the length of time. I understand but they are there for a reason and by the way this argument could be made the c130 or whatever it could be. What the army corps will get those were qualified app platoons that are on contract or those on a larger. Doesnt that procurement law eliminate any bidding of any protest quick so how do we hold them accountable if they get a sweetheart deal . They have already been prequalified and have determined most of them are already building the border wall system. The idea is to add on to those contracts as property becomes available. These contractors have been vetted. You have a list of contractors. Are they classified as Small Business . Can you give me the list . Set also waives a provision for Small Business and i would love to have that because the procurement yes it is a pain in the neck but is there for a reason we need to make sure we are holding the contractors accountable. I get it you want a bill passed quickly but you still have to do certain things and do it right otherwise after its built and the dollars have been spent if its not the best value then its too late. Yes senator i dont believe it is we continue to work with the army corps of engineers to make sure they are vetted contractors to get the best value for the american taxpayer. So my math 235 miles need to be acquired from private holdings. Have the landowners been contacted . They have. How many have given you permission to Access Property for a wall . Certainly it is a complex procedure. I got it if you come on my land and use Eminent Domain those are fighting words. Yes. We survey before we ever get to that part. We have a number of land owners have allowed us onto survey we continue to work with them the army corps is doing that. Have you exercised any Eminent Domain as of yet . I think the army corps has in a small number of cases. I would love to know where they are at and what transpired. Im not right on the border about 80 miles south but i do have a certain amount of empathy for those folks who have their farm or ranch split in half or even a quarter section peeled off due to this wall. The wall may take i dont know how many feet may be half a mile. There is the exclusion zone. But it could have impacts for a much greater area than that and its my understanding there is a ton of lawsuits from the last time this was done during the Bush Administration how many of those are still outstanding. I dont know. This is important with private property rights. You will get a letter from a lead a lady i just sent it to the chairman that the ranch will be split by a wall and by the way she is republican and supported trump and they are very worried about the effects this will have on their farm i will yield for now. Thath our southern border to the United States. We talked a lot about the technology. Ive met with some companies doing a significant amount of research on handheld devices to be able to help detect fentanyl and other substances coming across the southern border. Theres a lot of dialogue about what they thought they put in place and its always interesting almost everyone i talk to says we are trying to get as good as a dogs nose so let me ask you the audit question whats happening in the ports of entry. How are we doing getting more nose is there as we are trying to work towards getting more technology thats almost as good in this process . Are we increasing the precedence in all of these locations, how are we doing adding technology with that as well . The technology and canine assets as well as we mentioned earlier in the hearing about two thirds of the illicit drugs, defense and al fentanyl and narcotics were coming through the points of entry. Between the points of entry the number is rising so we are concerned about that as well. We have a number that has been made and we will continue to invest in that. When they think that funding will be rolled back facts david kovacs some of the money will continue to be rolled out and that is a couple of years versus one. Its a one Technology Contract so its a significant task. The faster we can roll that out and do better to cut off the flow coming into the United States. There is a conversation ive been on the southern border and youve been on the southern border a lot. The facilities theyve put in place cost a tremendous out of money. How is that going balancing out and cbp having to do more to handle individuals coming across . Obviously we did this last year and thank you for fighting the resources to do that. The numbers have decreased and we are able to take a number offline and again continue to save money. We are taking another three offline in the coming months assuming the numbers continue to hold and there will be a 20 million savings per month. Is there a surge in the facilities . We do need that capacity on the southwest border an southwee would like it to be over time those far more Cost Effective so we will continue as far as i know we do a number of modeling most of which we share with the committee and we continue to see an increase in the number of bits they need over time so it occurred last year we were releasing over 140,000 of individuals into the interior and there is detailed to that and that comes from giving the Law Enforcement mission. We have over 3 million on the docket and a million of those have final orders of removal. So as they pick those up they need the ability to detain those individuals for a short period of time before we deport or repatriate them you can go up to twice as much but youve got to be able to look at the department of labor and the numbers bear it mentioned already Congress Said work with the department of labor and see what we need at this point and you had the opportunity to go up to twice as many. There was a journal out last friday that cited this conversation but there may be up to 45,000 additional to make them online soon but that isnt being released by the team yet. If you have chosen to do that congress has already spoken but if you choose to be able to do that to do that as quickly as possible if it stretches out to june or july before the release comes that its too late for the season so trying to be able to get those done faster is better then slowly piece goes out and if i could mention and beg the indulgence that is this issue about the freedom of restoration act put in place very confused by this because the dhs said we have the authority to do that when they say you cannot waive this unless Congress States its going to be a battle of the lawyers to determine what im trying to figure out is why is there the need to even waive because as far as i can tell theres never been a need so why preemptively say we are going to when we weigh religious freedom and protection to be able to build a wall. The last 12 or 13 that they have signed have not waived so you have my commitment to make sure as we look at any of the weavers coming forward im going to ask a series of questions. We often times they are on the side of caution and i think it is incumbent to ensure wha thate are waving at the impact being built in that specific area and sectors and files so its incumbent upon us but they havent waived. The act has never been waived so i would like to not have the first. Thank you madam chair. Acting secretary, executive order 7521 requires the u. S. Coast guard to conduct icebreaking operations to meet the demand of commerce however the coast guard icebreaking fleet has declined from 14 to nine into the regions economy has consequentially lost billions of dollars in Economic Activity particularly over the past seven years due to inadequate icebreaking resources. To include funding and ability great lakes icebreaker all i heard back is that other coast guard aids are more important. You equate Economic Security and National Security. The coast guard fiscal year 21 request includes no funding for this new icebreaker so im wondering how you can ignore the Economic Injury that is occurring in the upper midwest and in particular obviously the Great Lakes Region in this budget. I talked with a commandant about our icebreaker capability not only in the polar regions of the greatly so i certainly understand the concern you have. They have a number of priority is several of the priority is as i mentioned this to the polar security cutter which would be the second one as well as the offshore control that are which will become the backbone of what the coast guard does it in offshore so those continue to be the priority is for the coast guard and those are high Capital Investments. Investment. I would also say the readiness continues to be an issue as it does with all of our Service Agencies do when we have a limited budget we have to focus resources as i mentioned at the outset the icebreaking capabilities and the great lakes he feels comfortable where they sit today than they have a number of smaller vessels to provide capability as well so we will continue to have that dialogue and there are resources we have to prioritize. I am fully supportive of the polar ice cutter. I would say that it is a very old and the cost to repair and timeout is very significant that the great lake region and indirectly the entire upper midwest is suffering because of the capacity economically and this should be a priority especially given your comments of the leading Economic Security and National Security. I want to switch topics its been more than a year since dhs began implementation of the migrant protection protocol also known as remain in mexico policy which keeps migrants in mexico while they await their immigration hearing. The groups have documented widespread abuse of migrants return to mexico under and including things like kidnapping, extortion and other violence. In december i had an opportunity to travel to tucson to visit dhs and facilities. Service providers told me the migrants returned and are easy targets for criminal organizations in mexico and frankly in the u. S. In part because they are readily identifiable because they mandate they remove shoelaces when they are in custody. I found that sword o that sort d surprising but i heard it over and over again if you see a family none of whom has shoelaces, you know that they are probably folks that have been recently released from custody and probably very vulnerable. Your budget requests 126 million claims that the Program Offers protections for vulnerable populations in light of the many reports and abuse of these individuals what steps to ensure they are safe as they await their day in court . We are taking a number of steps in the program and we had an independent team do a review of the program and these are individuals that have little to do with immigration so they were kind to the system blind and recommended a number of recommendations and some of those we have already consider considered. The governor is a partner with us and up to 22 million of funding to help them build out their shelter capabilities also transportation funding. So we do a number of things again with colleagues to ensure individuals in the program as they await the Court Proceedings in mexico they are in safe and e and secure shelters every day. Are you aware of the shoelace policy . I am. Ive made a note to take a look at that thank you madam chair man and acting secretary. My home state in mississippi is grateful to the department for the responsiveness following emergencies and natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and mississippi is proud of its storage shipbuilding. We are proud of our support of the u. S. Coast guard strong work ethic and wellestablished excellence shipbuilding on the mississippi gulf coast. Mississippi takes a great pride in their contribution to the department of Homeland Security commission and also the National Security interest and we are proud one of our shipyards is in the new polar security cutter to aid in the arctic theatre and i certainly look forward to ensuring that we provide the other equipment and men and women in uniform that we desperately need. As you highlighted in your testimony the coast guard is a unique component with advanced capabilities and Jurisdictional Authority enabling to carry out both Law Enforcement and National Defense mission. At the coast guard seizes more drugs than almost all other federal agencies combined for example the coast guard cutter recently returned from a twomonth deployment where over 13,000 pounds were seized of narcotics into the past men and women of the coast guard interpreted 2 Million Pounds of pure cocaine more of an estimated value of 26 billion. Please describe the unique capabilities and authorities the coast guard provides for homeland and Border Security. Just to expand on your point about the introduction of drug if you have the ability to visit south and key west it is a facility that is throughout the dod, dhs and a variety focused on the illicit drug traffic coming from south america, Central America into the u. S. I am proud to say its coast guard cutters providing the capability in the caribbean and eastern pacific so its using intelligence we gather from a number of agencies but coast guard men and women on ships come in the air as well as assets providing that introduction coming from south america on a daily basis so they have a la lawenforcement missin as you indicated so they are in National Partner to the assets looking to protect the homeland they not only do that here at home, but they do that again away from the homeland in the eastern pacific and caribbean as well as overseas providing that capability that the dod needs. Switching to the National Security arena, but coast guard cutters were deployed in support of the indo Pacific Commander and department of defense efforts are becoming a very common occurrence. How has the department prioritized the coast guard counter drug border Security Mission demand signal for support of the Combatant Commanders . It is a delicate balance every weekend every month. One of the services they are happy to provide to the dod and to serve a long time we have about 2,000 coast guard men and women in support of the Combatant Commanders you mentioned in the middle east, bahrain and elsewhere when we had issues flare up in iraq and iran at the beginning of the year we had coast guard men and women deployed in support as well. Its a balance they certainly have to do the Maritime Mission here in the states and homeland. The drug interdiction capabilities they have Many Missions that we are happy to support this wouldve alongside the professionals overseas as well. Thank you and its clear that its a balance. Thank you for what you do in addressing that. Thank you madam chair. Weve completed so we will go to ground too. I would like to make a comment on the opioid detection and how important it is with the office of drug control policy. He announced at the graduation because what we are seeing is the drug problem morphing from opioid prescription drugs and synthetic methamphetamine but he announced at the border you interdicted a 432 packages with 18 million worth of methamphetamine 875. One of the agents detected something at the secondary screening picked up on hidden in a bunch of broccoli so congratulations to you and the interactions that you are doing a fair saving lives by that. The technology they announced to find smaller and smaller amounts of opioids so again we work very closely. Senator langford mentioned this is an area that ive been worried about and we want to be smart and visiting these facilities. I know you are closing more than just one and i appreciate that for the responsiveness. As we bring the facilities offline making sure we are still prepared there is a surge to last year and half of that what we saw last year we want to make sure we have the facilities we can process these individuals in and we don dont have to ben showing up spending large amounts of time these are not the right locations so we need to balance that. I think in conjunction its been a great deterrent to having people flowed across the borders youve seen it go down. To make sure those with claims can have their claim heard and adjudicated so we are able to do that for months and not just years and its also deterring fraudulent claims with your seeing as how these individuals but in the program but never show up for their Court Hearings and that is a similar percentage to the interior as well. They do not have a meritorious claim they choose to walk away so its deterring that fraudulent behavior as well restoring back to the immigration system. The last question i want to thank them for helping us recover in 2016 the flood you just recently helped us rebuild four years later so there was some frustration fair but he helped make sure we are acting for the right things and making sure so i appreciate that and helped with that issue as well. Also in the budget request, it seems that the fy 2020 grant on the National Security Resilience Grants Program you were revamping my 23 million. As somebody that is proud they have a healthy life in a state like West Virginia. There is more than our share of natural occurrences where we need help. Is this going to cut back on the applications and when the demand is still a. All of the resources on the appropriate Grant Funding and i think that continues to be a dialogue between the administration and congress so over time they are designed to begin build capabilities that are out there for guarantees that we dont want them to the become to rely on so we want to find new applicants and guarantees and continue to build resiliency and capability for all of the partners in the states and so that is a reflection of what you see in the 21 budget request is to make sure we continue to focus on those areas that need continued funding that we dont continue to trust fund and build out individuals and recipients. Its a balancing act with shared responsibilities not only for the grants there are certain grants weve increased to a threefold and the domestic terrorism prevention weve increased the number in that area so we look at each differently to determine whats needed. In terms of the grant and prepared as an emergency response, this country i think all of us have collectively responded to each individual area if we have to have supplemental funding or expedite the response quicker but i think the best thing for the department and for the states to plan is to make sure we have enough for the baseline response capabilities so we dont have to go to the up and down emergency funding. Thank you madam chair and i also want to say thanks again for being here. Aargh you familiar with the term consultation having meaningful conversations with the tribes . The question is there is a wall being built and the tribe says it is going across tribal land and is a burial site of the tribe says theres been no consultation. Ive had conversations with both on this issue and weve been in constant communication with the tribe and the nation and weve had differences of opinion but its not for a lack of communication. I plan to visit them as early as i can. I appreciate that but the whole idea isnt just, its listening and im not saying that youre not, but when you get pictures like this it appears theyve gone through a burial site and maybe there is more than just somebody unhappy. I know they were concerned about the use of groundwater, so we are no longer using it within a certain mileage. Its critically important and the more that im getting to is not only with tribes, i brought up the Eminent Domain in the last round. These old setup grounds where people come to hate the government and there is nobody i served with in the senate today, certainly that doesnt want to empower you to do the job you need to to keep the country safe. Its the artificial intelligence. Its all of that. If you use technology you get away from the problems. It will be south of and you get rid of all those things and i maintain that its going to be more effective than a wall and you know why because ten or 20 years from now there will be different challenges an and youl byouwill be able to change thato meet the challenges that the wall isnt going to be able to meet. I put that out there we can disagree but mark my word if i live long enough there will be somebody standing in front of the wall that will say tear down this wall because its the prefect of utilizing technology, and its a fact. We continue to request Additional Technology but they also need the denial in the affected system that comes directly from the operators. If you utilize manpower and technology you can be more efficient because you can see further out and that is a question on the northern border and the towers are critically important. We are spending 2. 5 billion on a potential pandemic if the 2 mortality rate i think weve got the intel to back that up as they havent been very forthright with the information they dont want us to know so we are spending 2. 5 billion on a potential pandemic and 17. 5 million we started. Weve got interference in the runup and its no surprise the goal is to undermine the confidence for democracy and electoral system to spread disinformation on social media or other platforms based on the intelligence reports that they were privy to do you agree . As they did in 201 2016 theyl try to influence. We know that theyve tried and they will again in 2020. You are a member of the community. Has that information been shared . Im not saying in favor of anybody. In the budget do you think this properly resources them to be able to attack this problem . And you feel good about the potential making sure the states are onboard so they know you are there to give a backstop . We knew a number of things not only the number of services at no cost to the state to but also Political Parties to offer the same services to the platforms. To determine what foreign interference looks like and they have a role to play as well. This is foundational to the future of the country. They are doing this for less than it costs for a fighter jet. I have one other question if i might do that is theres a proposed secret service move but that isnt the point whether you think its good. The point is has there been an analysis to determine the pros and columns . I believe its been provided to congress and im happy to provide that again to you. I believe it was a number of folks that concluded secret service and other elements. Was it an independent group that had no dog in the fight . They need to be involved from the question and answer aside. I honestly think the secret service should remain where its at because you wouldve a good b editors more benefit to if we keep it where it is. There may be a reason or two but its not a reason to keep it where its at. Thank you for what you were doing. I appreciate your frankness and the information. Id like to thank you as well and id like to tell my friend i agree with him on the secret service but i dont agree they should be moving over treasury they are part of the fabric of the department of Homeland Security so i frown upon that as well and i think its the illusion that may be thought of more resources or attention would be paid to the secret service at the department of treasury i think you do a great job at the department of Homeland Security recognizing that. There is such a Quality Group of individuals. I have one last quick question on the coronavirus screening people this is something we sometimes forget when people are in the workforce into situations they can put themselves at risk that we may overlook that personal risk in the better man for the good of the country Something Like this is a pretty careful and sensitive topic so i am sure you are keeping your eye on those front line workers. Part of my response to make sure the American People are safe and the men and women in the department doing their job every day so we provide a number of resources to the tsa officers to make sure they are aware of the risk and they understand the medical Science Behind it and we provided them equipment they are able to use but will continue to lean forward on that with any discussion about the coronavir coronavirus. My first or second question is about the men and women and how they are protected and are they doing their job every day. We need to make sure that we do that. I would say if you leave a gap of transparency of whats going on and how its transmitted its getting so filled on twitter somebody said they were infected after a 24 day incubation. For i have no idea if that is true or not. I think when you get back to the task force in the morning this is some thing people are starting to get really concerned about so this concludes our hearing i appreciate you and the men and women in the department the hearing record will remain open and senators may submit questions for the record. If you need help im sure either will provide it or we would be happy to provide it in the Chairmans Office so with that we will stand in recess
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