Transcripts For CSPAN3 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20240622

Enforcement service for immigrants, or been shown to increase the likelyhood more people will report crimes. They destroy the trust of the community at large that the laws will be enforced to preserve the quality of life for all. Despite the widespread public outrage at the San Franciscos sheriffs policies that caused the release of the man who went on to kill kate steinle. It is clear some jurisdictions will not budge from the policy and to make matters worse the Obama Administration new priority enforcement project explicitly allows jurisdictions to avoid ice and establishes the entire country as a sanctuary by restricting the ability of i. C. E to remove illegal aliens. Congress needs to stb that local Law Enforcement agencies will have cooperation in good faith and sanctions for those jurditions for those that continue to cooperate and by reversing the Obamas Administration nonenforcement policy. Thank you very much. Thank you ms. Vaughn. Chief dill . Chairman gowdy, Ranking Member and members of the committee, i am richard beal and have been serving in my position since january of 2008. Further, i spent the last 35 years working to improve safety in urban areas. I know that effective Public Safety even when grounded in evidencebased practices depends upon Community Engagement and support. First, i would like to express my sympathy to the steinle family for their loss and sheriff jones for the loss of his officer last year. Sadly i attended the funeral of Cincinnati Police officer sunny kim less than a month of go. Killed in the line of duty was my ninth in my career. Having to read a proverb a couple days ago, our passion is the wings that propes the vessel and the reason is the wind that steers her. Without a vessel she would not move. Without a pilot she would be lost. I know we are hear to talk about sanctuary cities and the role of safety. We think about how the best protect residents and keep the Community Safe and it is crucial we dont undermine policing practices. First, i would like to explain the date and file with regarding cooperation with federal immigration efforts. Our policy states that Dayton Police department shall not stop or arrest a person solely because of immigration status. This approach has served the community well. During the time the policy has been in place, we have experienced significant reduction in crime. I want to convey this important point to you. As chief of police my primary concern for all residents and we have seen a reduction of crime. Our immigration Law Enforcement approach allows us to focus on true threats and insuring immigrants and their community remain trust in talking to the department. I am concerned that legislation like hr3009 would coherce the Law Enforcement agencies. Many are facing challenges in terms of staff. Making all local Police Department will only make it more challenging. I see the positive of policing in my city. Dayton is only 4 foreign born and given the demographics it makes it an unlikely place for immigration to be a concern. But in my time as chief, i witness how significant the issue is to i agree we should deport serious violent offenders. No one wants Violent Crime in their community. Once we get beyond violent offenderred some locality disagree with federal Immigration Enforcement officials. I support the new Priority Program as the u. S. Department of Homeland Security described it. That allows local injures ricks to work with i. C. E. Concerning crimes that negatively impact Public Safety anywhere communes. I believe local Law Enforcement should comply with detainers as long as the detainer does not require jurisdictions to exceed their Legal Authority to hold persons beyond their current sentence and local charges. It would ask the local Law Enforcement to violate the constitution. Before Congress Tries to impose legislative solutions i believe it should first allow this to be implemented. Everyone wants a safe community, and and she would shoo not punish localities trying to establish trust in the community. Collaboration needs to be tailored to the communities. A longterm solution requires congress to come up with or fix our broken immigration system, and until that time local communal leaders will imemployment Practical Solutions in our communities. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. Im happy to answer any question you hey have. Thank you chief and thank all of witnesses. The chair recognizes the gentleman from idaho for his questions. Thank you all for being here. Sheriff jones in your written testimony you provide some suggestions for fixing our immediate problems between i. C. E. And local Law Enforcement, including making detainers mandatory in local jails and having i. C. E. Share resources localities to assure effective enforcement in your view clinching the status to of i. C. E. What can we done to come prell i. C. E. To provide these resources to state and localities. Thank you for the question. Its important to remember that until a couple of years ago i. C. E. Detainers were mandatory. Theres nothing equivocal. It says local jails shall not may, or in their discretion, but shall hold folks for no more than 48 hours. Its only through policy of this administration that that has softened up. About three years ago they were man towards, and the federal government would refuse to answer whether they were mandatory or a mere request and now they have thrown up their hands say aguess thats federal law. Thats not in the ware of system of jurisprudence works. Can you explain that to the American People . One judge in one jurisdiction makes the law not even a judge. A imagine straight. Theyre judges. I guess. They still have a longer appointment than i do. So one magistrate its applicable in that district no where else, and so the federal government could have done something minimally such as challenging it they dont. They allow that to extrapolate to make Public Policy and the aclu seized on that. Its not like detainers have been mandatory and that was the success of the secure communities problem. What can we down now . Well a number of things, relative detainers they have to be termed to be mandatory. The fact you cant hold someone based on anything less than a warrant or coward or the is lewd rouse. We arrest indian this country based we detain then only reasonable suspicion and arrest them on probable cause. They dont see a judge for 48 hours or two or three days so suggest because youre undocumented you have greater Constitutional Rights is ludicrous. Thank you very much. Chief, beall, thank you for the work you do in your community. I have some questions. Your testimony discusses the need for comprehensive Immigration Reform to help Law Enforcement know who is present in the community. But isnt it true that kate type les killer was previously in the custody of San Francisco Law Enforcement officials and was already known by the San Francisco Law Enforcement . That is a fact. You written testimony contains a quote from an email you received regarding alleged racial profiling in dayton. Were any of the allegations in the email substantiate. They werent substantiated through investigation elm will say they in terms of arrest data there was clearly a surge of arrests of hispanic latinos that occurred one year prior to my arrival that was substantial. Whether the actual basis of those allegations were any of these arrests taken out because there was insufficient data about the criminality. Im sorry . Were any of these dismissed or not prosecutors esey, number of them d. Because of available propiling. No not because of racial profiling. A number wore dismissed to. But not because of racial profiling. No you sure testimony note yours departments focus on serious, chronic, and highrate offender wouldnt it make sense to protect resident bid working with federal immigration authorities to enforce laws so aliens never have the opportunity to commit so many crimes to to be considered serious, chronic and high rate offender. We work fifth federal immigration authorities and we have partnerships with the federal bureau of investigation, the Drug Enforcement the United States marshal, department of Homeland Security, including individuals who have Homeland Security investigation credentials. Human Traffic Steering Committee and secret service. So we have partnerships across you think thats a good thing. Absolutely. Do you comply with i. C. E. Detainers. They are enclosed with in my county. Excellent. Would you have complied with the i. C. E. Detainer in the case of sanchez . Absolutely. Your recent opposition to allowing state and local Law Enforcement i dont know that immigration laws are any more complexion than eye criminal laws. Why are your officers not able to work for immigration enforce. My understanding for individuals to be credentials required three weeks of training. Thats a substantial mittment commitment for training of Police Officers. Cant thing of any agency that coot spend that amount of time with personnel in train. The training requirements now being proposed through the state of ohio, theres a number of task forces established that president ial task force that are once again emphasizing the need for additional training for Law Enforcement i can tell you training time is an absolute premium, particularly for specifically as it relates to critical Staffing Levels holm do we spend time Training Police officers and i just talking to those who are in this area. The law is constantly changing. So three weeks of training is only valuable as long as the laws dont change. Thank you, i yield back my time. The gentle lady from california. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, first i appreciated hearing from all the witnesses. Sheriff jones you mentioned that no sheriff would come and take the position of chief beall. Id like to ask unanimous consent to put into the record a letter from the Law Enforcement Immigration Task force opposing 3009 signed by a number of Law Enforcement officials including sheriff mark curen from illinois. Sheriff tony estrada from arizona, sheriff from south carolina. Shares William Mccarthy from iowa sheriff margaret from fresno and sheriff lucy valdez from texas. Without objection. Also, id like to ask unanimous consent to place into the record a letter from the Major County Sheriffs Association opposing the idea of removing Grant Funding as a mechanism to enforce anything. Without objection. You know, i as we seek efforts to make our Community Safer, we dont want to make it more dangerous and chief beall your testimony was very interesting. In your oped you said that crime in dayton dropped by nearly 22 after you engaged your knew Community Policing effort and the serious property crime dropped almost 159 . 15 . Why do you think this happened in terms of Community Trust and have these favorable Crime Reduction figures continued or not . Thank you congresswoman. In fact they are a direct outgrowth of ininnovative policing it has been crucial in reducing crime in date tan and have dayton. Again, theres ban lot of discussion about detention and whether or not that is constitutional in citing one case however there are number of cases and i can go into all of them here. I would ask unanimous con sent to place a summary of a series of cases federal cases that you cant hold somebody without on a civil matter, at the request of i. C. E. , absent a warrant for something else. Now, i think thats why sheriffs across the United States, whether or not their communities say theyre sanctuary cities, have been reluctant to do this and thats why the administration has gone to this Priority Enforcement Program but it doesnt violate anybodys Constitutional Rights if you ask to be notified before you release somebody, and what we have heard from i. C. E. Is that you got a serious character like this guy in San Francisco they will get there and will pick him up. And they will take him away. Which is what should have happened in this case. Should never have been sent to San Francisco in the first place. Im wondering whether you have any objections, chief beall or whether your community would have any objection to the Priority Enforcement Program that requires notification so that i. C. E. Can come and remove people who are priorities for enforcement, who are serious criminals . Im not aware of any objections from my community with that program at all. None have been expressed to me. Ive been involved in the many conversations, the Task Force Conversations for the development of some of the mechanisms of notification and also for basically being involved in the rollout just literally being rolled out as we speak. Just met with the local Field Office Director last week, to actually give me a pact describing the program. So this is just being implemented. I would note also, and see my time is almost expiring that when someone is booked into a jail, their fingerprints are taken and those fingerprints i mean, of everyone. Correct. Immigrants, undocumented, legal, american citizens, those fingerprints are shared with the federal government, some made part of the database and that has not been changed at all has it sheriff . No . I dont think theres any confusion that interferes with Community Policing, or Building Trust with the community. Have you heard that . Not at all. Mr. Chairman, i am hopeful that we can home in on the need to make sure that the ability to remove dangerous criminals by i. C. E. Is enhanced and we dont get diverted by disagreements over overall immigration policy because i believe that we can have the ability to come together to reach consensus and in a way that would be a very positive outcome and with that my time is expired and i yield back. Sure, thank you. The gentleman recognizes him for his questions. Let me just say that there are 5,000 i. C. E. Agents in the country responsible for enforcing immigration laws, which we know there are 350,000 convicted criminal illegal aliens on the streets right now. There are 11 million or more people who are unlawfully present in the United States, and that when you have over 900,000 local Law Enforcement officers, some communities may want to participate some may not. We dont require them to enforce our immigration laws, but the people who are unlawfully present in the United States, and cause various problems, including committing crimes, are a concern to not just the national government, to local governments as well. The first step is to see orr our laws are enforced by the federal government. I dont believe they are. And by state and local governments, and i think that beyond that, legislation is needed to address many aspects of our immigration policy. Let me ask mr. Steinly and then sheriff jones to talk more about the personal experiences that they have. Mr. Steinly, do you believe that San Francisco should have been required to honor i. C. E. Detainers . Well, absolutely. Do you agree that u. S. Immigration and own forcement policy should not be to the detriment of u. S. Citizens and legal, lawful residents immigrants . Yes. So, wouldnt it be best to remove unlawful aliens before they commit crimes as opposed to simply trusting and hoping they wont commit serious crimes . The case of mr. Lopez sanchez he had committed some drug offenses and he had committed the offense of illegally entering the United States. He had not committed murder, but this whole debate about how serious a crime you have to commit before you can be subject to the enforce. Of the laws which apply to everybody, gets to be problematic, doesnt it . Well, mr. Chairman, if i may our intent was kates law is to get rid of or do something with the violent felon. The way i understand the law is, if any undocumented person comes into the United States and subsequently is deported, then comes back into the United States theyre a felon. Thats correct. And they we dont have to have committed any other time. Theyre a felon. Theyre a felon. Would impose a mandatory minimum sentence. Where i see that we have to home in on is a felon is not a felon is a felon. Were talking about violent felons that come in here, into the United States. If we try to arrest every felon the jails would be full and the officers here would be extremely busy. Think we need to differentiate somehow or another the levels of felonies. Thats another can of worms i understand but i you have cooperation between local Law Enforcement and the federal government, with limited resources they have to set priorities but theyll set the priorities based on the best information, not based upon individual localities trying to set their own immigration policies. Sure. I understand. Sheriff jones would you tell us about deputy danny oliver, his life and what kind of person deputy he was and the circumstances of his murder . Yes. Thank you. He was not unlike any cop in the country who has answered the call whose Law Enforcement is a calling north a job and to help people and a life of service elf the was assigned to the problem oriented policing unit, or pop officers. I call the quality of life police. Their job is to address quality of life issues, not answer calls for service. Its what he was doing on that date with a particular Problem Motel in our jurisdiction, already made contact with someone in the front and was on to the back of the hotel when he came in contact with two people in a car and i believe the last words he ever spoke was how is your day going today . And then he was shot a single time in the forehead, killing him almost instantly. Are there changes to Immigration Enforcement that could have prevented Deputy Oliver and investigator davis murders . Was booked under an alias. We didnt know his true identity. Secondly we realized he had a differs license issued from one thereof states that issues them, california does. Had suffered 11 different misdemeanor traffic related con offensive hitandrun dui was able to rieux new his drivers license and he had been removed from the country four times. The first time with a deportation, second time, released back across the border, the very same day he was captured. Three days later back in the country, released across the border the analysis. Day, and then the next year came into this country ill leally, arrested on felony warrants for local crime was deported again three days later so not only escaping consequences for deportations or prior illegal entry but in the last case, escaped any consequences for hit hiss local criminality because it was easier to dough port them. Esteem thereafter he entered the country illegally and fast afford to the vents last year. One last question. Miss vaughn, what are your thoughts when you hear sanctuary city proponents state that unlawful aliens are no more likely to commit crimes than native born individuals. I reviewed a lot of the literature or then and there is no evidence that immigrants are any more or less likely to commit crimes than anyone else. Thats not the relevant question. The question is, what do we do with that fraction of the immigrant population that is committing crimes, that have committed crimes can how do we happen that . That where i. C. E. Knees the cooperation of local law. Agencies because its the local agencies who know who those problem individuals are. Thank you. Chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois for his questions. Thank you mr. Chairman. I want to start off by expressing my deep e sympathies to the family of kate steinle. He death is a senseless tragedy. I have two daughters and as a father i cant begin to imagine the pain her parents are going through. Im very sorry for your loss. Im offer criticized by my supporters because i dont have a soft spot for immigrant criminals, no matter how small or how old their violations. Many argue that old convictions on drink driving should be determined when derryl can whether shoup be deported. They have already served the time. I am not one of those people who argue for leniency for criminal immigrants. If you have searens criminal activity on your record you have inup your u. S. A. Privileges and i will not spend time or energy fighting for you. There are too many immigrants in the country who have never done anything wrong or never committed crime and they are part of what enriches america and what benefits all americans. The tragedy in San Francisco has generated an important dialogue regarding our communities. The Police Officers we have entrusted to protect us and our broken immigration system. The fact is he should have never been released. To be on our streets again. Deported five times. Seems to me they caught him and deported him and he should have been deported once again. But there are serious questions about just hough it is the local police should go about. Nearly 300 jurisdictions have decide they will not comply with the detainer from Homeland Security. The fact is the courts have said that they dont have to comply with those detainers. So what we need to figure out is a way to fix the broken immigration system we have. We spend a lot of time talk about mr. Lopez we dont spend a lot of time talking about people who her the best country through other bored jfk lax and commit crimes in this country from all over the world. So were truly going to protect our nation, then we need to have holistic approach to our broken immigration system. It break mist break mist heart because could i have been walking on that pier with both of my daughters, and i want to make sure it doesnt happen again, and will continue to work with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to fix our system. Not in pieces and bits, but in totality so we can protect everybody in america. Because indeed there are many people who want to fix our broken immigration system. We need to do it in a holistic way. Had we done it, we would have more secure communities verification of employment so many other means. Wed have the ability to flush out the bad people because we let the good people come forward so they can not hide. I would like to take a moment, mr. Chairman to go back just for one moment. I know it might seem a little just i dont know unnecessary, but id like to go back to a transcript at the end of the dhs hearing which you presided over, mr. Gowdy on july 14, 2015. I said, this is the record. A transcript of the record of the july 14th hearing. Which i stayed for the whole hearing. All three hour. Yes sir you did. First, thank you mr. Gowdy forrure he can end presiding over these hearings. I just want to just for the record because i think it is very important, listen to this i want to say to you mr. Gowdy, i share with you the same anguish and pain as i know the secretary does and every american should at the death of that woman. That nobody has come here to look for excuses or anything else. I mean this is a career criminal we have on our hands so i think we should just figure out a way. This man is not an immigrant. Immigrants come here to work hard sweat and toil. We should be warm in receiving. This man is a foreigner who has come to cause damage. Lets fix our broken immigration system. That is my statement. Id just like to put it in the record once again because apparently mrs. Vaughn didnt read it or take the time to read it. Secondly, for the record, on the floor of the house of representatives on july 9th quote this is in the record and id like to put it in the record again because apparent live mrs. Vaughn doesnt read what is said in the english language. Quote, now the antiimmigration wing of the Republican Party is saying trump may have a point. The innocent woman was shot last week. Why wasnt he deported . Why want he held in jail the last time . Why is it . And you actually hear this on fox news. Why is president obama letting mexicans kill beautiful Young American women . As a father of two daughters about the age of kate steinle the young woman who was shot and killed i pray every night nat to no one of ethnic background does any harm. When he have felons federal custody or state or local custody, waynes waynes for drug times this congress has not done its law. Leaving on immigration criminal justice and a range of issues. I have no sympathy for the man accused of this crime. Murders so rot in hell. End quote. Apparently people have decided to besmirch peoples reputation and take their word, and exploit the death of a beautiful Young American woman and i will not simply stand here and remain silent while that happens. You may not believe that we should have, mrs. Vaughn fixing of our broken immigration system but dont exploit a young womans death in order to receive a paycheck to put food on your table. You should find a more decent and practical way to go about earning your living. Mrs. Steinle i am so sorry about the death of your daughter. I have a 36yearold and a 27yearold and i love them dearly. I can never imagine losing them. And i will work to make sure that we fix the immigration system and the situations like the one you suffered never happen again. That has been my record in the past and working with members of the minority and the majority in this house, and i take great offense at anybody suggesting otherwise. Thank you so much. The gentleman from illinois yields back. The chair will out in recognize the gentleman from texas the past chairman of this committee mr. Smith. Thank you mr. Chairman. Mr. Steinle, thank you for your testimony. It is sad that we need to be here today. The tragic murder of a beautiful young woman your daughter, i think, could have been prevented. There are also thousands of other victims that did not need to be victims and would not have been victims if this administration had enforced immigration laws. I thank the chairman and the Ranking Member and i add again is a know all members have done, sympathy to you and your family. The sound of the violent act against your daughter penetrated around the nation and beyond. I would also indicate, chief jones, that anytime we lose someone in the line of duty we feel that pain, and frankly we should try to find the slugses solutions we need to fine. Let me offer a few thoughts in the instance of the facts in San Francisco, but i think it is important to join in my colleague from texas and say that the laws that are on the books, that are legal, should be enforced as they relate to immigration issues in this country. Nose of us who support comprehensive immigration refor in no way rue view that reforms coddling criminals. They stand aside from the population of family of students, of workers who have come in this country to do good and not to do harm. And i think that when we get into a process of dealing one group of wanting not to abide by the immigration laws and a another group as it is a misrepresentation of many of the American People who support our perspective. And i might just add one thought, when you have deferred ajude addiction that is actually adjudication that is actually a legal use that can be utilized under the term, prosecutorial discretion, which i. C. E. Has and a number of other agencies have. In this instance i think that discretion played out in any way. It did when we speak of the young dreamers that have been allowed to stay and go to school. To be a sanctuary city. Let me just not being one however, an overall position you dont perceive that anyone is trying to protect anyone that is a criminal or a established with established criminal record, you would not perceive that to be the case. The chi . The gentle laddie is out of time put youens answer he query. I than think of anyone in Law Enforcement that would adopt a policy concerning a sanctuary city. I thank the chairman for allowing him to answer and have a number of statements from Law Enforcement that oppose hr3009, mr. Chairman and the National League of cities the National Conference of mayors, the major Sheriffs Association fraternal order of police and that statement be put into the record. Without objection. Chairman now recognizes the gentleman from iowa, mr. King. Thank you mr. Chairman. I think the witness your testimony today and im coining to be amatessed at the come post sure your able to bring to this issue, mr. Steinle. I wanted to inform you that some of us have been doing some things to try to move this congress and this country in the right direction. I look back on testimony at this same table about the first year i came here in congress, which is around 2003 or 4. The witnessed were testifying then that of the number of people who died trying to get across the arizona desert. I ask a witness who was seated in your seat, chief beall dehad an answer. Do you know how Many Americans died at the hands of those who did make into it the United States . And his answer to me, in september 11th was appreciator in our mines than today he said i dont know the number but i can tell you it would be in multiples of the victims of september 11th. That point i began the effort 0 get a gao study which miss lofgren cooperated on. We got a study that wasnt quite apples to apples because we dont keep records well enough to haste exactly apples to apples. Refresh that study again in march of 2011. I continued to bring amendments that cut off funding to sanctuary cities, and never believed there she about a separation between the levels of Law Enforcement in this country. I grew up in a Law Enforcement family and i understand the inner relationships part of the testimony we have heard here today. I wrote an oped last year, dated august 26th its in the national review, the aclu versus the rule of law. In it i objected to the i. C. E. Detainers decision, what been missing here is that then acting director of i. C. E. , dan ragsdale issued a statement a letter to jurisdictions in september 2014 that said i. C. E. Detainers are not mandatory as matter of law. And so this is initiated not by i. C. E. Reacting to the aclus threat of lawsuits. That letter from i. C. E. , i believe, contributed to this tragedy that we have before us and changed the word shall to now its a suggestion. The last sevens in the oped i we bow to the outrageous demand of he aclu and ignore tee takenner orders the price will bell paid by thousands of crime victims who whoa woo have been outside protected by law. We have heard the effect of that and heard it from expert testimony, very painful experiences. Mr. Steinle, i on the day i saw the news of your daughters death, long before i knew it would be a National Story i sent out a tweet dated july 3rd and it says. It is also the sense that there is decreased enforcement as a result of the changes in administration policy. There is undoubtedly less enforcement and certainly detain her as a result. That is what you hear anecdotally from the people that you deal with. I wanted to mention something also. I really appreciate you trying the distinction into something that i have noticed. Chiefs are appointed by mayors or City Councils or administrators who work for mayors and City Councils in areas that tend to be more liberal and they tend to have more liberal policies. Sheriffs run for election, they deal with individuals, they have a sense of the community that far exceeds that of a police chief. We have had so many times in the legislature, bills that have been supported and opposed two very different spokesman or spokeswomen and i appreciate you trying to action. And id like to ask you quickly if you have a task force for example with the dea do you deal with drug cases . Absolutely. Do you gather it intelligence and share that intelligence . We are actually on the dea task force. The same is true if you share information with atf. That is correct. As the father of two daughters i cannot begin to comprehend the grief to have endured over the last three weeks and have a bite to join all of my colleagues in expressing my deepest condolences to you and your entire family. Can i ask is the president has expressed his condolences to you . No. I am sorry to hear that. Considering there are other deaths like freddie grey and trayvon margin of president has expressed his condolences i would expect him to do that here but he had a lot to say about those circumstances that could be tied into policies of guncontrol and alleged police profiling but yet when one of his policies with respect to Immigration Enforcement of is that the roots of the problem today that we dont hear anything from him that is incredibly disheartening and troubling because i believe sedatives unacceptable that it was entirely preventable if the laws were in forced. This administration frankly has refused to up hope to uphold the law into a golden cities like San Francisco to a ignore or actually obstruct enforcement of immigration laws and we know the status quo is not working says the administration will not Congress Passed to act. To data house is expected to vote on the bill to devise several funds to sanctuary cities i think that is the good first up step and we have to do more to have the courage ted conviction to do what is right to so let me ask you a question. Is in your testimony even though the containers were used for decades and lawenforcement as is mandatory rather than an optional condom common in your opinion what is the route to of this dramatic departure from prior interpretation . I believe this whole series of events was set off by the policy change to suddenly declare that the containers were optional that was referred to to declare that they were not mandatory with no Legal Foundation whatsoever that has ever been made public to whether legal reasoning they had to change that policy. But once that was done it provided legal cover for the other jurisdictions to change their policy to stop complying. And also provided an opening for groups like the aclu to threaten its litigation against those two are complying and that is why it is very important to be included in any to protect those agencies that do the right thing so there will not be held responsible tonight that now the policy is not to assist them even if it is the mistake of vice i. C. E. I found your testimony compelling however the right to give you an opportunity talking about the same issue of us decaturs being mandatory i would like to ask you this a question about what caused a the erratic shift. Your out of time you may answer. Obviously as the member pointed out the preferences cave about low before as it was the catalyst to make that a policy shift. Understand the dhs is the former police chief of San Francisco so to not say anything of her competence but that does give you insights into the political will of the administration. I yield back. When now recognize the gentleman from of michigan. Thank you for organizing the hearing today. Also my good friend from texas. To see if the president reached out i decided not to do that the court of course, i thought he has done the. But this is just the beginning. I will support h. R. 3,009 i will vote for that but it has to be the beginning because it targets 300 million but it has to be the first step they arent following the directive of the county commission to go further upstream for sanctuary cities that ignore federal law. We need to have the repercussions of a century city to make it more severe. Can you give suggestions . The language in the davis oliver acted as comprehensive to address the problem. I do agree that money talks. If not it is a lot lawenforcement agencies ask for by elected officials. But many is the way to target them to come up with objective ways and it said the eighth jurisdiction for all types of people that our removable whether they have committed serious crimes or not profess the policies of the Obama Administration and to enable the read jurisdictions and what the i. C. E. Agents can do ought to be given attention. We know that it will not address that to reassert the Constitutional Authority cute commented resource is our fight night and the federal immigration laws at some level are a distraction to balance the different demands as a police officer. Do you agree it that is unique . Director raises the issue of for a rate spend our in force resources always. That is what the administration is doing to try to do everything. We are focused we are strategic the government had the ability to act on that deportation. I have heard that comment much today the ability to take action existed and somehow that is not recognized. You suggested century cities are not afraid to report crimes but sees that differently. I yield to my experience. The president s policy is to seek custody of those convicted of crimes better not charge. The only vehicle for that to happen for i. C. E. To be notified is the detainer process. That is not working we cannot do that so if that is doing time in jail ben i. C. E. Has an idea of when they are getting out to. But for the 58,000 people that i book every year that are out on their own recognizance. That was about no notice or warning they did not have the ability before i have to release them. Then head of amtrak could not find time after the tragedy in philadelphia to call those eight families affected so there is a pattern of practice that people not being considerate of the tragedies that affect our citizens. Mr. Steinle thank you for beautifully capturing the essence of your daughter and who she was. I have Read Everything i can get my hands on and last night i which watched the clips of your Family Member the type of person our country desperately needs thank you for sharing her with us today. I would like to recognize my sister who is hearing grief to support s us and we will carry this forward and hopefully some good will, from her death. Senate that is the perfect segue. Can i suspect to tell them the crime scene photos never leave your head. The crime scene yourself you never get out but the hardest part of her most lawenforcement officers is to talk to the families. Because they have the best questions. Why . Not just lawenforcement but all the way up life altering question so tell the people you work with how grateful we are this is something i am struggling to understand. I had probable causes for mr. Francisco Lopez Sanchez a five time in a legal convicted interest some members on this panel could have won that case in court. That is my understanding. Why a detainer . Why not a warrant . I dont claim to be an insider but there were certain they failures but it is overarching policy level decision to not challenge nor in force contrarian bias that is in part to the suspect. Even in a sanctuary cities would have to honor a federal warrant . Because the bureau of prisons have honored a local warrants. Yes. We had a discussion why dont you just trade the eddy cater process and to probable cause to be previewed by a magistrate but there are 93 federal districts in this country including three territories and if we would supply one additional magistrate i assure they could handle the workload to review the probable cause day cater declarations. It is easily fixable there just has to be the political will to do that. Sam francisco decided to dismiss the warrant . A. Guy would be shocked if it would have gone forward but they could add of dismiss it with one month to go. Correct. They could have dismissed at any point therefore he never would have been returned to the city of San Francisco. That is the fact. Mr. Steinle those are the questions i would be asking. You knew you would dismiss the warrant. You knew that. Hell, i am not even sure that drugs are the goals so you know, the case would not be prosecuted so why did you wait until he was in your custody leading to this result . One other thing. To both Law Enforcement officers had you ever noticed through your careers that will slow start with misdemeanors then work their way up to aggravated misdemeanor than a felony rarely do go from zero at 100 Miles Per Hour and when you do and commit a murder or Sexual Assault or kidnapping you are in jail. If you have a decent prosecutor and a halfway decent case they are already locked up. Says we accept the fact you dont go from zero up at 100 we are missing the boat if we focus on felonies when it comes to background checks for those who want to be in this country. All misdemeanors are not the same. Speeding is a violation and. Property damage george d y or personal injury i get that. But with only felons. And to learn their lesson the future predictor of behavior when you have the consequences to deter the behavior it is only aggravated felonies to escape scrutiny even under the highest priority. I am not of time since this deals with barter issues for the sake of argument there are 11 undocumented people i know no the of a percentage but of that what percentage of felony or what we consider to be a serious misdemeanor . I dont know the exact your answer i. C. E. Estimates 2 million. Just lets cut that in half to say 1 million. To be conservative so what is the administrations plan to remove the 1 million . To wait until they real event a real friend . Does anybody know the plan . I am honestly access asking if the strategy is to wait until the 1 million reoffend somebody will have to apologize to a lot of moms and dads. There is the strategy rather than waiting for the 1 million. Did you cannot place the decatur however small it may be. What is the plan to identify that universe before the real event . Not all at once. Ice i. C. E. Should have an idea with their database and do those individuals are the was a significant risk and they have the ability to take action of the assistance of Law Enforcement is a great question. They have the ability just like any police officer. For a Closing Remarks you may have . I would ask unanimous consent there have been several comments made that our just not correct. The prior days for removal of abies cd and the other witches terrorism are getting this or any felony as well as any aggravated felony or a single deal why or when . But i would just note clearly there was of failure here. No question about that. But fda jurisdiction has a multiplicity that have been issued to be dismissed . If of bench warrant was for a rape you would not want that. To sort through with regularity to major and tuesday the system is far from perfected is often the case that individuals who commit an offense and those who lost their president residents over convicted of a crime. Not saying it is perfect but as we move forward have clashes in the opportunity to Work Together with whole safety of the community and thanks for recognizing me. I yield back. With respect to the corridor i do want them and forced especially if eric it is a victim you could try it or dismiss it. The to return it back to the agency or entity you will not release them. Give San Francisco with 30 days. Good luck finding pain of witnesses. But all that could have been done. So in closing with those federal tax forces if you ever tried to unlock the federal case or the state cdu ive lost one dash lot and you are smart enough it is too complex for state and local Law Enforcement but they give for your courage for those of us even if you are not apparent i could not have done that or have the grace but could not do it. Please let the men and women how grateful we are. With that we are richer and adjourned. [inaudible conversations]earing on Immigration Enforcement and socalled sanctuary cities. Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Mcdonald was at marylands National Harbor today, speaking at this years vet court conference. He talked about some of the issues facing todays veterans and what the administration was doing to improve va operations. This is half an hour. [ applause ]. Hi. How are you . Thats great. Thank you. Thank you. Thats beautiful. Thank you very much. Its a thrill for me to be here this morning with you. As the judge said i am the biggest believer in veteran treatments courts that there could ever be. I cant think of any better way to keep veterans out of incarceration, stop veterans homelessness. Im so thankful to all of you here today for the work that you do to help us care for veterans. One of the things that became very clear to me in los angeles as you may have seen in that film, is that we in the va cant do this job by ourselves. We need the help of all layers of government nine government organizations, businesses and others to be a able to care in the right way for veterans. Its important to have collaboration and partnerships. I love this picture of judge russell and myself as were shaking hands across the table at va. Because thats the kind of partnerships that we need to have. Thats the kind of collaboration that we need to have. [ applause ]. Nationally weve got amonmental task. So it has to really be a community effort. We have to Work Community by community, city by city, state by state. Locally, its a huge undertaking. We know that we cant succeed only from the federal government. Weve got to make those collaborative connections. 2016 is fast approaching. And we in the va have made a number of commitments for the end of 2015. Obviously, our goal is to end veterans homelessness. And we have a huge role to play in doing that. But so do you. And were incredibly thankful for your partnership that theres an in explicable link between justice involvement and homelessness. As i was looking at all the studies that i looked at as i came into this role, it was very clear that incarceration is like a oneway ticket to homelessness. So if we could Work Together to end incarceration we have a great chance of ending homelessness. We need to give veterans an offramp from that inextricable link. Two weeks ago, president obama described the United States as a nation of Second Chances. And i deeply believe that. Well nobody deserves a Second Chance more than those who have protected our country. The 1 that is protected the 100 of our country. They gave us the opportunity to prosper. They preserved our liberty and our freedom. And how many of you are veterans here in this room . If you wouldnt mind please stand up and accept all the applause of us here. [ applause ]. Thank you for your service. How many of you are serving through boot camp . Any of you going to mentor boot camp . Good luck to you and thanks for your commitment. A commitment to make everyones lives even better. There is nothing more noble than to live a life of purpose. Wouldnt it be terribly to simply meander through life without direction. But all of you have purpose, and thats represented by you being here. Let me tell you a quick story about an old man and a young man. And the old man is is on a beach. Sit littered with starfish up and down the beach. The tide has gone out. As a result of that these starfish were kind of baking in the sun and vulnerable to lose their lives. The old man walk the beach, pick them up and throw them back into the sea. The young man saw this. Oftentimes when were young, we become cynical iconoclastic. And the young man said old man what are you doing . He said, well im picking up starfish and throwing them back in the sea. And he said, yeah, but look down the beach. You see thousands and thousands and thousands of starfish. There is no way you will be able to pick all the starfish up and throw them back in the sea. So why bother . And the old man picked up another starfish and put it back in the water and he said it makes a difference to just one. And making a difference to just one is really how to measure our lives. Do we make a difference in the life of at least one person every single day. It certainly is a question i ask myself when i leave my office in the evening. Have i made a difference in the life of at least were one veteran that day. Well, im here to thank you for the difference youre making in the lives of so many veterans through the work that youre doing. We in the va think that we have the most highest order calling in the world. And thats to care for those who are born to battle their survivors and their families. Theres no higher calling. We also think we have the best values is in the world integrity, commitment, respect, and excellence. If we live our lives according to that mission and according to those values, theres no question that we can make a difference for all the veterans who have served our country. Serving justice in all veterans is an important part of that. Youre embracing that mission. Youve got your arms around it. And even as you wrap your arms around it, we have many veterans who need us and who need you. Look at the marines in this formation. Which would you imagine are going to become involved in the criminal Justice System . Which would you imagine could potentially be homeless . Well, too many have and more will. But thanks to you, thanks to you theres an offramp. An offramp to a Second Chance. And for that, we thank you deeply. Now, youve heard the testimonials. Charles said veterans courts kept me alive kept me going. Eric said veterans treatments courts offered me the chance of a lifetime. Nick told me this story. He said veterans treatments courts saved my life. Ive heard many of these stories. They start with the criminal Justice System. They start with a peer counselor. They start with the veteran treatments courts. Then the individual goes on. They use their g. I. Bill. They get Community College training. Maybe they get a fouryear degree. Maybe they even go on to law school. Maybe they end up paying it forward like many of you here of working on behalf of other veterans. These are the mission of the v. A. This is the i care values at work. No other group of People Better personify that mission than you do. So i thank you all. And i pray that god will continue to bless you all in your work. Youre helping one of our priorities. Youre helping veterans return or reintegrate with communities and families successfully. Now, you showed us this way. Veteran treatments courts is a huge innovation. And since judge russell kicked things off, we now have 351 veterans courts nationwide. Were working every day to increase that number and to increase the number of counselors we have to work with you. While va leads the way in health care, weve done things like the first liver transplant the first cardiac pace maker the first time that a nurse came up with the idea that use a bar code to connect patients with medicine and medical records. The first Electronic Medical record. We invented the nicotine patch. We also vented the singles vaccine. So a lot of innovations have come from the va. As a result of that, we have three nobel prizes and seven lasker awards. But innovation that didnt come from the va is receipt advance courts. You taught us how to do this. Your partnership model, the model collaboration of a core concept executed federally and locally, tailored to meet every specific needs. Youve taught us this. This is a perfect example of how communities can collaborate in holistic ways. Theres the judge the court staff supervising, va and Community Providers delivering treatments simultaneously. Theres volunteer veteran mentors providing moral support camaraderie and training. This is the best in class kind of collaboration we could possibly have. All of us working together synergistically for the benefit of a veteran. And let me remind you that were also working hard in all of this to help families as well. As part of our homelessness effort we have vouchers. One of my favorite programs is a program that provides support for families so we show were not only caring for the veteran but their family as well. Certainly when a veteran joins the service or when a Service Member joins the service, the family goes with them. And when they deploy the family goes with them as well. So we have to care for families. We need more of that kind of innovation. We need more Creative Solutions that we can use. We in the va are willing to try anything that will work. All were concerned about is getting the numerical outcome at the end, making sure we get the human outcome of a veteran who is better off. Now, were also working on many technological solutions, things like telehealth and also regional veterans courts. Were committed to creative approaches to make these crucial partnerships work. You all here in this room are at the nexus of justice involvement and homelessness. We want to share where we are with any veterans homelessness. As you can see by this chart, veterans homelessness is down 33 from 2010 to 2014. Its down 40 for chronic homeless. This is because of the president s strong support his focus, and the funding that weve received. Funding is important for Supportive Services for permanent and transitional housing, for prevention and treatment, for employment and job training. Since 2008, funding programs benefiting veterans homelessness have increased 170s from 2. 4 billion in 2008 to 6. 5 billion in 2015. But its about a lot more than just money. We have to know how to spend that money. Well, weve learned what works and, importantly, very importantly, we have learned what doesnt work. We settled on evidencebased strategies. And you see them here on this chart. Housing first. Housing first. What a beautiful strategy. I mean, it recognizes the hierarchy of needs. We have to get the lowest level needle out of the way first so we can work on the other needs of the veteran. If we dont get the veteran under a roof, theres no way we can work on their treatment. So temporary housing is the most important thing to do first. And then deal with the other issues that may have caused homelessness. Second, no wrong door. Coordinating the assessment and Entry Systems and providing help no matter where the veteran turns. I love it when i go into a city like los angeles. I visited recently. They have an Access Program where every door you go in leads to the same access, to the treatment and the housing. Outreach and engagement. Seeking Homeless Veterans getting to know them and their needs. Caring and sharing lists with partners. While we in the va are doing a good job trying to hire social workers and counselors there is no substitute for the peer counselor. For the veteran who has been there, the veteran who has been through the need. I was recently in tucson. There were a lot of veterans out in the desert living there homeless. And i met one young man, doug was his name, who literally goes into the desert and comes back and brings those veterans in and gets them under a roof. The fact that doug has been a veteran and hes been homeless and been in the desert that gives him that ability to build trust with veterans to get them out of the desert. That outreach and engagement is so critically important. Justice outreach. Connecting veterans with services. This becomes critically important. Grassroots mobilization. How do we get things mobilized at a local level get the local government together, local landlords landlords. Finding landlords willing to rent at the voucher amount. I go to the cities, get with the mayors. We ask all the landlords to get into a room like this one today and say we would like you to give you a players challenge. We will provide the care for the veterans. But we need that roof. And many and many of the veterans have stood up. In fact, marilee in San Francisco told me that he was so thrilled because the chineseamerican community in San Francisco saw it as their patriotic duty to rent their spaces to veterans for the correct amount. I cant stress enough the importance of the grassroots effort. Only so much can be done nationally. Only so much can be done by a federal agency like the va. We provide the strategy and support. We provide the funding. But ending veterans homelessness has to happen community by community. As i said, its so much more than money. Its people like you who are committed to veterans and evidencebased strategies that work. Another Community Strategy which is working is the mayors challenge. Phoenix, salt lake city, new orleans, have all reached major milestones the past year. In 2014, new orleans of course was the first major city to declare that they had ended veterans homelessness. Houston recently announced that they have created a system that will help end and prevent homelessness now going forward. We expect many more cities to declare their results over the coming months. Let me tell you, nobody has done more to help veterans homelessness than First Lady Michelle Obama and the president. They have been there all along the way, provided the support and the leadership and the enthusiasm to get this done. Partnership is one of our strategies that really works. We use the same principles in these partnerships that are valuable to your efforts working within the Justice System involving veterans. So far we serve, you know we in the va are only allowed to serve those veterans who have honorable discharges. So those veterans who have less than honorable discharges, the 15 of veterans rerely on Community Partnership toss get that done. I was in boston not too long ago. I visited an organization named home base. Historically, va had seen home base as competition. Competition to provide the care for veterans with posttraumatic stress or with traumatic brain injury. Well, i dont think that way. We in the va dont think that way. We embrace all organizations trying to help veterans. We want to partner with them. Because home base not only provides great outcomes for veterans with posttraumatic stress or traumatic brain injury, but they can serve the 15 of veterans that got less than honorable discharges that we in the va cant serve by law. So these Strategic Partnerships are not only critical and not only smart to achieving our strategy but in my mind theyre also about ethics and morals because we need to make sure no veteran is left behind. We also work with Public Housing authorities to set aside section 8 vouchers. Recently i went on a multicity tour with secretary of a labor tom perez. Secretary of Housing Urban Development castro. We wanted to demonstrate that we in the federal government are working collaboratively across our departments and we would like to work collaboratively with the cities and counties that we visited. All of us are adopting a no wrong door philosophy to ensure we can get veterans into care, under roof. And in order to do that we in the va have a strategy called Strategic Partnerships. Were trying to engage local philanthropy, landlords, business community. We want to maximize the total number of Resources Available to all of us this get it done. We want to leverage your political capital. We would get housing authorities committed to providing units. We want to get local veteran Service Organizations and military base to donate and to volunteer their time. We need to continue to work to build paths to these stronger relationships. Bring people to the table, set realistic goals make plans and execute as one team with one dream. Now, we in the va are not only trying to improve your numbers as we go. For example, were working to improve access to medical care. As the judge said, we have had 7 million more completed appointments the last year versus the previous year. 20 of those have been same day appointments. The average wait time nationally is five days for specialty care, four days for primary care, and three days for Mental Health care. 22 of our completed appointments have been in the community. Four and a half million of the 7 million have been in the community. 2. 5 million have been within va. We also work to get the backlog of claims down. The claims over 125 days were now down to 117,000 from a peak of 611,000 last march of 2014. But were not going to rest until we get that back and claims down to zero. As i already showed, we are making progress on homelessness. All of that is progress in the right direction. But were not going to get to where we need to be until we transform va for the long term. And were in the midst of that now. We call it the my va transformation. Because its the way we want you to think about va. We want you to think about va as if it were your cell phone. Personalized and customized for you, the veteran. To do that weve got five strategies. Strategy number one is to improve veteran experience. Were working hard to train our organization in what Great Customer service is. We are working with ritzcarlton, disney starbucks and others to learn about how the best customer Service Organizations do it. Strategy two is to improve the employee experience. We know we have no hope of improving the veteran experience until we improve the employee experience. Because its the employees who actually care for veterans. So were working hard to provide the right training, the right leadership, and do all the things that we need to do to empower va employees. Third, we need to improve our support services. Our i. T. Systems are often outdated. The scheduling system that got us into trouble in phoenix dates to 1985. When i was in phoenix, i sat down and worked on it myself. Its like working on a green screen with msdos. And our Financial Management system. Believe it or not, is about 20 years old. Its actually written in a language i last programmed on the mainframe computer at west point in 1973. Number four, we need to establish a culture of continuous improvement. To do that we are training va employees in lean six sigma. Its the way a that employees take charge of the system they work on. Given the tools to change the systems. Like i say to va employees, lets try to be the change we want to see, just like gandhi said. And Strategic Partnerships, which i have already talked about. We cant do this job alone. We know we need you. We appreciate you. We embrace you as our partners. Remember, your work is purposeful. There is no higher calling than the work you do. Your work is monumental. You help veterans. You help families. You make a difference in the lives of others. Theres no higher calling in this worrell. And you, more than anyone else, understands the inextricable link between what we do in the Justice System and ending veterans homelessness. We are committed to ensuring you have all the services you need, all the support you need. Were committed to making sure every veteran has the services they need, including those who are just as involved. Just as involved veterans are welcomed at the va. In fact, theyre the ones were looking for first. We seek them to help them have access to our services. And were trying to make sure that the criminal Justice System, the criminal history probation or pending charge does not affect their eligibility. If theres a va policy or that is somehow getting in the way, please let us know. We will find a way to fix it. My email address is bob. Mcdonald va. Gov. Dont ever settle for status quo or belief that you cant create the change yourself because you can and you will and you are. Well, i just want to close by saying you all inspire me every single day. We will succeed. I know we can. And i know we will. But we will become of all of you. So id like to again say god bless you all. Thank you for letting me spend some of your valuable time with you. And god bless you and what youre doing. Thank you very much. [ applause ]. Va secretary Robert Mcdonald smoke more about Veterans Issues last week at a hearing on capitol hill. He also testified about a 2. 5 billion budget shortfall at the va department. And some of the possible ways to address it. This was held by the house of Veterans Affairs committee. Its just under three hours. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to this hearing. I appreciate your attendance. We are again gathered to discuss vas budget execution for this fiscal year. Less than three weeks ago we gathered to hear testimony regarding a budget shortfall at the department of Veterans Affairs. Im sure everybody may be asking why we are here again on the very same topic. And i intend to explain in just a minute. At the hearing, deputy secretary gibson was asked the following question by ms. Brown. And i quote if congress doesnt act on the fiscal year 2015 budget shortfall, what is going what is it going to look like in the va in july and august and on october 1st. The deputy secretary said we get into dire circumstances the longer we go. But that quote, before we get to the end of august, we are in a situation where we are going to have to start denying care to veterans in the community because we dont have the resources to be able to pay for it. The deputy secretary also testified about ant acquitted systems costs associated with the new hepatitis c drug treatments. You and i both know its a very insidious disease. In the absence of providing the flexibility that va is seeking to plug the shortfall with choice fund money that va hospital operations would shut down in the month of august. And that nonva care authorization would cease at the end of july. This is unprecedented. A true budgetgate if you will, of our time. First, never can i recall or other individuals that ive talked to can recall or any agency other than that matter at va completely exhausting its operational funds prior to the end of the fiscal year with the consequences for the va being cessation of hospital operations. Second, never can i recall an issue of such enormous magnitude evading the direct attention of the president. And until just recently, you and i speaking about it, mr. Secretary. This is not a flying under the radar issue. And i feel that its exactly how the va and the president have treated it for an effort in an effort to avoid responsibility of whats going on. So that everybody understands where im coming from let me start by reviewing how weve arrived at this point. The first real hint of serious Financial Issues came as a result of a briefing for our staffs with the va on june 4th on a very separate topic. At the conclusion of the Briefing Committee staff noted that there appeared to be a two to 3 billion difference between vas projected 10. 1 billion obligation rate for care in the community, compared with the funds that va budgeted for care in the community. Compared with the funds that ba budgeted for care in the community. The va official that was briefing agreed with the discrepancy but stated cryptically that just because va was on pace to spend 10. 1 billion it didnt mean that the money to address the discrepancy was either found or was available. That assertion was repeated upon further questioning, leaving it to staff to read between the lines what was meant. At around the same time during a june 8th visit to the Cincinnati Va Medical Center i myself began to hear rumors of an impending financial issue consistent with the cryptic warning that had been provided by va officials in a staff briefing on the 4th of june. As a result, on the 10th of june i called on either the secretary or the deputy secretary to testify on the state of vas budget. As a consequence of my calling this hearing staff received a prehearing briefing again at our request on june 18th. It was at this briefing that va for the first time publicly revealed a possible 2. 5 billion shortfall in funding. Not with standing this briefing there was no mention of a hospital shutdown. On the 23rd of june we received a letter from the secretary citing the looming shortfall of 2. 5 billion and also requesting of the Appropriations Committee a transfer of funds from the medical facilitys account to the medical services account