Transcripts For CSPAN3 Senate Homeland Security Hearing On Migrant Smuggling 20240714

The issues were dealing with here are challenging to say the least. I was at the Opening Ceremony opening up st. Elizabeths. And comment i made there is its pretty easy from the dais here to take pot shots, to detail out what problems arent being addressed as perfectly as wed like to see. But im convinced from all the contact ive had, quite honestly working with the men and women of dhs, im convinced the men and women are showing a great deal of integrity, dedication, digit, and courage in trying to deal with this horrific situation. And well talk a little bit more about that. I would ask that my written Opening Statement be entered in the record. This hearing really started a couple years ago holding a hearing through his subcommittee on example of servitude. More recent news stories after the robert kraft massage parlor scandal, New York Times wrote a really good investigative story just laying out the reality of these massage parlors. And often asian women that had been smuggled, trafficked into this nation. They come into this country with 30,000 debt owed to their human traffickers. And of course they pay it off through prostitution. Disgusting reality. But thats the reality. My most recent trip to mcallen i made in the last couple of months, there are a couple things that got my antenna definitely switching. First of all we were briefed and told about the detection of fraudulent families. We really dont know how large that is. Ive seen different things, 25 , 33 . We just really dont know. We were told about a 3yearold boy left in a hot corn field with just a nonworking telephone number and his name supplied. Written out you know, telephone numbers written on his hand. We saw a picture of that. Senator haas and i when we went through the facility saw an 18monthold little girl trying to get away from a 40 or 50yearold man. I dont know the truth there. But it didnt look like that was the daughter of that man. I could be wrong, but i couldnt help but wonder what was going to happen to that 18monthold girl if that wasnt her father. At the border the last few trips ive made, i talked to the people just crossed, women, men with tender age children. None of them are admitting to paying their human traffickers any money. Which is a concern for me when you also talk on the evidence that were seeing evidence of these family units showing up at stash houses. The process is again completely out of control, overwhelmed. Border patrol is overwhelmed in their facilities. 19,000 people held at Border Patrol facilities that according to the now former director of cbp or Border Patrol, the capacity is only 4,000. But trying to process a thousand people coming through el paso. And trying to process them, turn them over to i. C. E. Theres a backlog there because i. C. E. Doesnt have enough facility to hold them. And turning unaccompanied children over to hhs where theres not enough capacity. Or into organizations to find Family Members, help them buy tickets to get dispersed all over america. Youd think theyd be all dispersed all over america. Instead some of them are showing up to these stash houses. And well hear stories of those people about to be put into servitude. Videos sent back down to their home countries demanding payment. Once we were back from that trip, a story broke in wisconsin. Im going to read you a story from milwaukee. Five people were indicted in late may in a georgia based Human Trafficking scheme that Authorities Say illegally brought dozens of mexican workers to work on wisconsin farms. The defendants through two companies they operated received department of labor approval to bring the mexican nationals to work on Georgia Farms through a program that allows to hire seasonal foreign work feer worky cant find local workers. Thus they were in legally. But they brought them to work on wisconsin farms, gave them false ids and took away their passports so they couldnt leave. The workers faced threats and made to believe they would suffer serious harm if they left. All identified as victims saying they had to pay recruiting fees 200 to 600 to be placed on a list to come work in the u. S. Some also had to turn over titles to their property or homes in mexico to get the job. They were left without medical attention when they were sick and not allowed to take breaks other than lunch. Some workers said they werent always provided water even on hot days. They were told not to talk with anyone outside the company, not to leave their Wisconsin Hotel without supervision or permission. Two workers were threatened with deportation if they left. Fearing never to be able to return legally in the u. S. If he was deported. Again, this is the exploitation of workers in the country legally. I have no idea i was hoping this hearing would give us some sense of how prevalent this is. I dont think were going to get that. I think well hear some other examples. Maybe its not a huge problem. I just is have a sense its a huge problem. I think we should get our chart up here. Youve all seen this. Ive had to turn the piece of paper the long way. Through eight months of this fiscal year, more than 400,000 unaccompanied children or people coming in as families generally one adult, one child, cross the border illegally and been apprehended and prosed and dispersed. If were to maintain mays rate, that would exceed 800,000 in four months. I think weve seen a slight decline in the weekly numbers. Its getting hot. Mexico seems to be doing more. Hopefully we wont hit that 800,000 number. But i dont see how anybody can look at this and not realize this is a huge problem that must be address ed and were simply not addressing. Not effectively. I didnt have time to have a picture blown up. Weve all seen it. Of Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez and his 23monthold daughter valeria. I realize tragedies occur all over this country, all over the world. I dont want to see another picture like that on the u. S. Border. I hope that picture alone will catalyze this congress, this senate, this committee to do somethi something. I called up senator peters earlier this morning. I said i have half a mind of canceling this hearing and just have a discussion between what i believe are u. S. Senators of good faith that have sat through 30 more hearings of this problem on the border. And start coming to some conclusions. What can we agree on to start improving the situation . What i have found here in 8 1 2 years in the senate, theres not Something Like that for the big problems. This committee has a good capacity for solving smaller problems on a nonpartisan basis rb frankly. We should be proud proud of that. Last week we addressed the problem of Government Shutdowns. Senator langford, senator porte, senator paul had other bills. But we passed a bill to end Government Shutdown. Hopefully the rest of the senate will pick that up and we wont have to have another shutdown again. This is a much more difficult problem were dealing with here. So what i propose to senator peters and again i appreciate the senators we have here on the dais. Im also talking to the staffs. Im dead serious about this. I want to set up our table down there but its not going to be a markup and in an organized process, an organized fashion, i want to go through a problem solving process. Thats what weve been doing with all these hearings. Weve been gathering a lot of information. We still need more information. But i want to have an open and honest and genuine discussion about the scope of the problem, the root causes of this problem, and what we can do to start solving it. Continuous improvement. Were not going to solve this overnight. But we can make some improvement in the situation. We have to start doing something. Congress, the men and women of dhs are doing what you can do with limited resources. Congress has to act. And it has to start with an honest and open discussion and conversation will go back and forth. I dont know that it ends up in an overall piece of legislation or elements that can be tacked onto a piece of legislation that would be under other committees jurisdicti jurisdiction. But we need to start doing something. It is well past time. And that picture that all americans woke up this morning looking at, again, should be used as a catalyst for that kind of action. So again, one thing that were going to try and do. Senator peters has been working great on this. Sign a letter in support of Operation Safe return. And a Pilot Program. Very small in scope. But a program that is designed to rapidly and more accurately determine those families that clearly dont have the valid asylum claim and safely return them to their home country as a message to people in Central America. Dont indebt yourself to these human traffickers. Dont mortgage your home. Dont pay them a years worth of salary. Because on a bipartisan basis, were not going to let the human traffickers exploit our broken system. And the next step would be to actually start fixing that system. I think the beauty of the Pilot Program, Operation Safe return, is while its being implemented, were going to be track iing it effectiveness. Well be giving them interpreters. They will have access to counsel. And thats something on a bipartisan basis we can send a strong signal message that we want to fix this problem. Again, ive yammered on longer than i normally do in Opening Statement. But if there was ever a moment where requires that the nonpartisan effort of the members of this committee, i would say its now. Thats what im asking for for every senator, every staff member of this committee. Lets have these discussions. These will be multiple meetings, a number of hours. But im asking for full involvement in an open discussion. For w that, mr. Peters. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I assure you all of us on this side of the aisle also want to work on this issue. Its an important issue. And i think we can hopefully come together and have some solutions to what is a very vexing problem impacting our country and people right now. But i also want to thank you for convening this particular hearing today. I look forward to discussing with our witnesses how we can combat Human Trafficking. Its a horrific criminal enterprise that exploits a number of people all across the country. Desperation drives people into the hands of human traffickers. And that same desperation on families to attempt a journey to the north on their own. Like the chairman and i think everybody on this committee, i speak for all of us. We were devastated by the photo of oscar Martinez Ramirez and valeria who drowned clinged together as they attempted across rio grande for asylum in the United States. No one is more vulnerable than a child. And like most americans, im heartbroken that Migrant Children in u. S. Custody including toddlers and infants have been subjected to unsafe conditions and sometimes denied basic necessities. It is unconscionable that they would argue in according to it should not be required to provide soap and a toothbrush for a child in its custody. Even prisoners of war are provided with soap under the geneva conventions. Those in custody deserve basic meals, access to medical care. We must prioritize keeping Families Together and keeping children safe and healthy. Ive made inquiries into to the customs and Border Protection, immigrations Customs Enforcement, and the office of Refugee Resettlement to learn more about these reports and the conditions experienced by children in u. S. Custody. And i will continue working with my colleagues to ensure that they are treated with dignity and receive appropriate care. We cannot fully address this situation on our southern border and keep children safe without disrupting Smuggling Networks. And combatting the scourge of Human Trafficking. Human trafficking is the Fastest Growing criminal enterprise in the world. And it is a serious issue along the northern as well as the southern borders. My home state of michigan has the sixth highest number of reported cases of Human Trafficking in the country. And despite the scope of this problem, theres a lot we dont know about the illicit business of Human Trafficking. We need a better understanding of how Transnational Criminal Organizations operate, finance, and profit from these smuggling rings. We need to work with mexico and the northern triangle countries to address corruption, lawlessness, and other root causes of immigration. We need strong, stable Border Security policies. Traffickers thrive on chaos and leverage american threats of future crackdowns to induce families to quickly embark on this dangerous journey. We need less chaos. We can all agree that the status quo is unacceptable and unsustainable. We all share the goal of protecting Vulnerable People from human traffickers. Fed bipartisan support is reflected in the bill the senate will soon be considering. This legislation was approved last week by the Appropriations Committee by a vote of 301. It includes Critical Resources to help homeland securities investigations root out Smuggling Networks. We must provide the right resources in addressing the challenges we face at our southern border. And we need to full understanding of the facts on the ground to properly align efforts. Chairman johnson and i share an appreciation for data driven discussions. We need to improve the department of Homeland Securitys Data Analytics in order to better combat Transnational Criminal Organizations, disrupt Human Trafficking, and deliver longterm solutions to secure our borders our protect to protect vulnerable populations. I want to thank our witnesses for being here today. I look forward to your testimony and hearing more about how we can stamp out Human Trafficking. Thanks, senator peters. It is the tradition of this committee to swear in witnesses. If you all stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear the testimony you give in front of this committee is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you god . You may be seated. Previously he was the chief patrol agent of the buffalo Sector Office in new york. Mr. Hastings . Thank you, chairman johnson. It is my honor to represent the Border Patrol before you here today. Intersecting illegal aliens, drugs, cash at the border is a key component of our security. Cartels and other Transnational Criminal Organizations or tcos are a threat that requires comprehensive strategy in an aggressive approach across government. Im sorry to report the Border Patrols contribution to this whole government effort is currently strained as were forced to devote 40 to 60 of our man power to the humanitarian flow that serves as a lucrative business for smuggling organizations. Were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of apprehensions and cannot conduct in depth interviews on smuggling and trafficking networks. While agents are distracted with the groups apprehended this year, drug traffickers are using this to smuggle narcotics and aliens. Simply put, the humanitarian crisis has forced under the circumstances to put Border Security and National Security at risk. Tcos conduct their oerngss without regard to human life. Smugglers control where and how aliens control or how aliens cross our border putting lives at risk. In the del rio sector alone, rescues from went from 44 individuals all of last year to over 400 so far this year. Smugglers are putting children on toy rafts to cross the rio grande river. They have pushed adults and children out of these rafts while the smugglers swam back to mexico to evade arrest. So far this fiscal year, agents have rescued more than 3400 people in distress along the border and saved nearly 2500 people crammed into tractortrailers. Earlier this month agents freed 14 people from a locked and unventilated trailer compartment that measured is 124 degrees. All these people paid smugglers to bring them into this country and nearly paid with their lives. Others were not so fortunate. This past weekend in the rio grande valley, an extensive search effort when subjects reported they left several children who died just north of the border. Sadly, on sunday night, agents recovered the bodies of three children and one adult in the thick brush. Unfortunately i know that these will not be the last tragic deaths that we encounter. Summer temperatures are increasing and we continue to see high volume of families and children cross the border. Bord Border Patrol has apprehended 664,000 aliens so far on our borders this year. A nearly 140 increase compared to the same time frame last year. While june is beginning to show signs of seasonal decline we expect, were still setting record highs. Just three weeks into the month we have already surpassed the apprehension level for every june since 2007. The flow continues to overwhelm the immigration system. Border patrol has made significant investments on humanitarian care including consumables soft sided facilities, medical support, and transportation. Weve asked additional funds for this purpose as well. Weve been forced to direct manpower away from the Border Security mission to alien processing simply to keep pace with the high level of apprehensions. Weve detailed agents. Weve shut down check points, canceled leave, canceled training to address this crisis. Since we began direct releasing nonprocessed criminal family units on march 19th, we have significantly reduced the time families spend in our custody after processing. With more than 96,000 Family Members released so far, this currently represents over 60 of the apprehensions but only about 25 of those in custody. Together with our partners, we have reduced the number of people in Border Patrol custody from the peak of 19,000 in may to 12,000 to 13,000 today. Of significant concern are the single adults and unaccompanied children who are spending extended time in custody. Our facilities simply were not designed for longterm care and custody. I cannot stress enough this Immediate Impact that funding for i. C. E. And bed space would have on the Border Patrols incustody population. Both for numbers and the duration. We need supplemental funds. But it will only do so much without a longterm fix. We have repeatedly requested to stop the draw of uac and families. I thank you for your time and look forward to your questions. Thank you, chief hastings. Our next witness is mr. Randy howe. Mr. Howe is the executive director of operations for u. S. Customs and Border Protection. In this role he oversees 30 field offices. Mr. Howe . Good morning. Chairman johnson, Ranking Member peters, and members of the committee, its an honor to appear before you today. When i last appeared before you before this committee in april, i described the challenging conditions at our ports of entry. I mentioned long wait times for cargo processing and ballooning passenger wait times. And i asked that you consider legislation action that would help address this crisis. I wish i could say the conditions of the ports of entry have improved or our Border Patrol colleagues no longer required additional man power. I also wish i could say that at our ports of entry were able to dedicate all of its energies towards our priority missions. National security, narcotics, economic facility, and trade and travel. But the fact is the conditions at our ports of entry have not improved. Almost every statistic is higher. More migrants at our southwest ports of entry, long wait times, detainees in custody. And more officers from our points of entry have been assisted for Border Patrol. The variables driving this crisis are the same. Unprecedented numbers of family units and unaccompaniied units. Many in large groups and nearly all of them seek asylum and with no proper doujs. With spikes in migration like the one on the southwest border can both conceal Human Trafficking. The Labor Organization estimates there are over 40 million victims of Human Trafficking globally in terms of population thats more than the state of california. 75 of them are female and a quarter are children. Due to our unique position at our ports of entry, cbp officers play a pivotal role. Cbp officers and i. C. E. Homeland security agents arrested nasan garcia, the leader of an International Organization at Los Angeles International airport. He was charged with Human Trafficking, production of child pornography and Forcible Rape of a minor among other felonies. Because our officers are among the first people travelers encounter in the United States, we are trained to detect the signs of Human Trafficking. In addition, our interviews are crucial in identifying Human Trafficking. It determines the purpose of their travel. For example in 2017, officers at Dulles Airport interviewed a woman from spain who arrived from paris with her minor child. The woman stated she was a victim of Human Trafficking and that a russian criminal organization was forcing her to work as a maid and have sex with men to pay off debt. She added they had grown impatient at the rate of which the debt was being paid off. Alerted, we were able to take the woman and child to a shelter for further processing and interviews. Not every trafficking situation is so straightforward. Thats why education is important. In 2013 cbp launched the initiative about trafficking in the airline industry. The blue lightning initiatives provides training on how to recognize indicators of trafficking and how to report the suspected trafficking to Law Enforcement. We do everything we can to recognize it and intercept human traffickers and hopefully rescue the victims. We cant do it alone. We work closely with and in collaboration with i. C. E. And other Law Enforcement officers. I thank you for your time and look forward to your questions. Thank you, mr. Howe. Our final is mr. Gregory nevano. He previously served as chief of staff to the Deputy Director of immigration enforcement. Good morning, chairman johnson, Ranking Member peters, and distinguished members of the committee. Im honored to represent the brave men and women from Customs Enforcement to provide an update on our efforts to combat Human Trafficking and smuggling in the humanitarian crisis at our southern border. Throughout my nearly threedecade career, i have witnessed first hand the perils individuals are willing to endure to seek a better life in the United States. Theres no better illustration of this than in june of 1994 when i encountered 11 stowaways hidden in a container in boston, massachusetts. The stowaways spent two weeks in the container with limited food and water and only a small hole cut in the side for them to breathe. As a young officer, this incident made me appreciate the freedoms we often take for granted as well as to treat every person i encountered in the line of duty with dignity and respect. Human smuggling and Human Trafficking are thought of as the same crime. I would like to explain the differences between them. A service or a fee, typically transportation to an individual who seeks to enter a foreign country illegally. In fiscal year 2008, hsi initiated 471 cases, made 4,081 criminal arrests for human smuggling. Human trafficking, however, is a crime involving the exploitation of someone for the purposes of compelled labor or a commercial sex act. Either a minor or through the use of fraud, force, or coercion. Often a dream for a better life in the United States starts off as a human smuggling event. Where the person is complicit to the act but turns quickly into a Human Trafficking event. In fy2008, hsi initiated 849 cases, made 1588 criminal arrests, and rescued 308 victims of Human Trafficking. Our intelligence indicates desperate migrants pay smugglers upwards of 8,000 to be smuggled from the northern triangle countries and over 70,000 from an eastern hemisphere country on their illegal journey. To put this in perspective, consider a kilogram of cocaine is estimated at just about 30,000 u. S. And therefore it is more lucrative for a Transnational Criminal Organization to smuggle a person than it is narcotics. A key component to combat Human Trafficking is the Victim Program whereby equal value is placed on the rescue, stabilization, and under deterrents investigation and prosecution of the trafficker. Id like to thank congress for appropriating to hsi in 2019. This will help by hiring nearly 60 employees. These employees will sick cantly hsi in dealing with the crisis along the southern border. In response to this crisis, beginning in april of 2019, hsi dedicated over 400 personnel to assist cbp in combatting this issue. Hsi interviewed persons suspected of entry by fraud. To date, hsi has identified 316 fraudulent families, 599 fraudulent documents. In furtherance of this, hsi initiated a dna rapid progress. Family units were dna tested after providing consent. About half were identified prior to dna testing when they recountered their claim of a familia had relation. One contested he was not the father of the infant child he initially claimed to be his son and purchased the child for 84. In addition to dna testing in may 2019, they started identifying migrants accompanying children as alleged family units along the southern border. However, the children have departed the United States with unrelated adults via commercial airlines to the northern triangle. Hsi is investigating these incidents to determine if these children are being used and recycled by adult migrants for the purposes of defrauding the United States. Hsi is committed to augmenting the southern border to ensure the safety of children and to prevent them from being utilized. However, without additional congressional support, we will be unable to sustain this effort. I thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. And i look forward to answering your questions. Thank you, mr. Nevano. Normally id throw questions out to our Committee Members right away, but ive got a couple i want to go over quickly. Mr. Hastings, you talked about current levels 12,000 to 13,000 being held in cbp custody. John sanders quoted in the newspaper today said the capacity of Border Patrol stations is about 4,000. Is that pretty accurate . Yes, sir, that is accurate. And thats across the entire southwest border. So 4,000 is a healthy number. Even though weve brought those levels from 19,000 in may as i talked about earlier, were still sitting at 12,000 to 13,000 every day. Which is well above the capacity level. And again, thats capacity of the standard stations, correct . Youve put up things like tents, we saw those. Other types of military tents. The types used by military in iraq, is that correct . Is that how youve expanded capacity . It is. You would see in multiple areas particularly in el paso where we have enforced move bodies out, transport them out. Because were over capacity in that location. Weve transported them to either del rio sector or laredo sector to process. To your point, we have stood up additional soft sided facilities. We stood up two at donna and one in el paso as well to assist. And theres one currently being stood up at yuma to assist. Talk about the road block. Border patrol, youre trying to process them as quickly as possible and then turn them over to ooii. C. E. , correct . You apprehend them, screen them for medical conditions, take them to hospitals, do everything you can to, you know, treat them with as much compassion as possible. But your job is really to turn them over to i. C. E. As quickly as possible. Correct . So two things. One, yes, we are we process the family units and the single adults as quickly as possible and the job is to turn them over to ero i. C. E. The uac unaccompanied alien children are first to be processed to get them turned over to hhs. Whats the road block in terms of why youre so over capacity . One is sheer volume. The system is overwhelmed. So just sheer volume alone. If you look back historically, demographicicly, 70 of who we arrested we could repatriate back to mexico immediately. Today were seeing 82 of those we arrest are from other than mexico. And that population is very difficult to repatriate under the current laws that we have going. So one of the complaints i heard on the border from Border Patrol is i. C. E. Doesnt have the capacity. So Border Patrol saying i. C. E. Take these individuals and i. C. E. Saying we dont have the capacity. Is that and then of course i. C. E. Very particularly with children go to hhs. We dont have the capacity either. Is that its just kind of backing right up to Border Patrol, right . It is. So i think everyone in the entire system is overwhelmed right now. It is absolutely correct. We are holding these individuals longer than we want to. We do not want to be holding these individuals for longer than 72 hours. If we could get rid of them quicker than that, that would be great as well. We dont want to be holding kids in detention facilities, our detention facilities which were not designed for that for if we had zero in custody, that would be great. Again, theres no theres no incentive. Youre not trying to hold children longer than 72 hours. Youd like them turned over as quick as possible. Its just not possible right now. As i understand it, hhs is at max capacity as is i. C. E. Ero. And they need additional funding for bed spaces. Mr. Nevano, you talk about a case where a child was purchased for 84. You also listed a number of different stats in terms of how many people have been apprehended with fraudulent families, fraudulent documents, that type of thing. In the scheme of things, youre looking at over 400,000 unaccompanied children primarily people coming in as family units. One of the things i was trying to get a sense of in this hearing is how prevalent the Human Trafficking element, the sex trafficking, the involuntary servitude is within this process. You obviously have limited resource in terms of how many things you can investigate. Ive heard statistics on how many crimes are actually ever prosecuted. Had is your microphone on . Senator, keep in mind that a lot of times you dont need a border nexus to have Human Trafficking. A lot of times its difficult for our cbp counterparts at the board tore actually identify a Human Trafficking element or crime. Usually the Human Trafficking element occurs once they make it into the United States. Thats when were seeing more of the Human Trafficking element. So a smuggling event starts off at the border. But once the person gets into the interior as you mentioned in your opening comments, it often turns into a situation of exploitation where that migrant is held against their will, families are exploited back home to pay more money to pay off their smuggling debt. So lets go back to the process. Border patrol apprehends, turns over to i. C. E. When i was in el paso, i. C. E. Turns them over to a house that helps allocate them to other churches to further care for individuals. But trying to identify Family Members or relatives, some place where they can be sent to. People buy plane tickets, buy bus tickets. And these individuals are sent all over the country. Is that basically whats happening . Again, as rapidly as possible. Thats occurring within seven, eight, nine days in general. Yes, sir. Thats occurring very quickly. In march we begin releasing noncriminal process families. Because we were at 19,000. So we begin releasing them working closely with our ngo partners to provide service for them after release. Now, when you say you began releasing, Border Patrol began releasing them bypassing the step with i. C. E. Right into nongovernment organizations. Thats correct, sir. Our capacity level is at 19,000 and climbing. For the safety of our agents and officers and those detained, were i think in part of that process processesing, the migrants give you an address where they think theyre going to go, correct . Yes, sir. Once you turn them over, you have no idea where they go . Thats correct. Theyre ploided with a change of address form in case they go enter else. But where they ultimately go, we dont control how they go or where they go. A lot of people come in during the Central American wars from the 80s. So there are a lot of people they know. And they got social media. Yet we are still finding families in stash houses. Thats correct, yes, sir. Senator peters . Thank you, mr. Chairman. I know two of our members have a markup so i would defer my questioning and defer to senator hassan. Thank you for the courtesy. Thank you for this hearing. Thank you to all of our witnesses for being here to testify as well as for your service to our country. And please thank all the men and women you work with on our behalf as well. We all want to make sure that those of you on the front lines have the resources you need. We also want to make sure you are doing your jobs consistent with american values. I think thats something we all share. Mr. Howe, i wanted to start with a question to you. It would be great if we could have a brief update on drug seizures along the u. S. mexico border. Have we seen an increase over any particular narcotic in the past six months . Thank you for the question. And thank you for visiting in may. Our narcotics seizures are on track for our to match our numbers from last year. Year to date weve seized more than 39,000 pounds of methamphetamine which is tracking higher than normal. 38,000 pounds of cocaine. And nearly 2,000 pounds of fentanyl. Thank you. In particular, have fentanyl seizures increased or decreased over the past six months and what does that tell you about the drug cartels plans for the trade of fentanyl . I think were seeing less through our mail facilities. Right. And of course while the size of the seizures of fentanyl sound smaller than the other drugs. 2,000 pounds of fentanyl is an awful lot given it lethality. Thats right. How do the numbers compare to the cbp numbers at points of entry . Thank you for the question. We have noticed the heart narcotics trending up. What i mean specifically cocaine seizures are up. Me methamphetamine seizures are up. Between the ports of entry, about 9800 pounds of methamphetamine seized between the ports of entry. Heroin, 448 pounds of heroin seized so far. Marijuana is slightly down at about 200,000 pounds. Fentanyl although down a little bit obviously still very highly concerned. Thank you for the information. Mr. Hastings, i want to turn to another topic. Int i understand very clearly from my visits to the border, the ones i just did and the one i did last year that we are facing a humanitarian and security crisis along the southwestern border. And i agree with you that we need comprehensive Immigration Reform in order to help relieve some of the flow of migrants into the United States. However, there is absolutely no excuse for the reported conditions at Border Patrol facilities that house Child Migrants. Outside lawyers recently visited a Border Patrol facility in clint, texas, where they reported widespread issues of children living in equal lar, being denied the ability to shower for weeks at a time. Caring for infants a few years younger than themselves. Similar reports of gross mismanagement and horrible conditions have come to light at the Border Patrol facilities at mcallen and el paso as well as a private facility t in homestead, florida. I truly understand how overBorder Patrol is. I certainly saw a great deal of it last month. I also understand that cbp needs funding for this crisis. Hopefully we can get an Energy Aid Package in the coming days. However, in deals with children, your first and foremost priority is to ensure the children in the federal governments custody are treated with the same kind of care, dignity we would want and expect for any child. To that end mr. Hastings, i would like a clear answer on these questions. First, does cbp have an obligation to provide toothpaste and soap to children in your custody . Yes or no . Were providing that in el paso. In clint station. The news reports say otherwise, but you now say you do have an obligation to do that . We have been at the clint station and generally all of our stations throughout the southwest border are provided with a variety of hygiene products. Even though our facilities were not constructed for the demographic i understand that. And my time is limited so i im going to i do understand that youre dealing with difficult facilities. I do understand theres a backup with hhs which i think hhs could do more to solve. But what im hearing you see is thi which is a different passion than what the administration has been saying in court. We are providing those things now. We have been and will continue to. Do you have an obligation to feed, clothe, and clean the children in your custody . We provide three meals, hot meals a day and snacks are unlimited to those in our custody. You do understand that that is in direct contractidiction w the news reports and those interviewing these children are telling us . I would ask you understand that those are the plaintiffs attorneys who have a case against the government. And you should understand that im a member of the bar in massachusetts and New Hampshire and i hold attorneys to high standards and i doubt very strongly any attorney would be fabricating this information. Understand, maam. What steps is the Border Patrol taking right now to ensure that the mismanagement of Child Migrants in clint, texas, is not occurring at every other Border Patrol facility along the southern boarder . So all of the allegations that youve mentioned above that were made have all been reported to the office of the Inspector General and will be thoroughly investigated. Theyve also been reported to the office of professional responsibility within cbp. They will be thoroughly investigated. Im pleased they will be investigated. But my question is what are you going to mic sure as you are dealing with an unprecedented number of Migrant Children, that you are ensuring there is enough soap and toothbrushes, that there is enough food and enough time for them to be outside and out of very confined spaces. What im asking is, what are you operationally doing to change the circumstances . We are hearing reports not just from one facility, not just two facilities, not just one source that these children are living in terrible conditions that would violate any standard of any institution that we all would expect in this country. What are you doing to actually make sure that children are getting the care and the sanitary conditions and the food that they need . So we have done a great deal. As i mentioned earlier, we have brought in shower facilities just for this population due to the new demographic and how long were holding them. Weve increased our medical contract across the southwest border for medical assessments and medical care. Weve increased the amount of operational funding that were spending on consume billions. If you walk into many of our locations on the border you will see an area that looks like costco with these supplies that are available. And when agents are providing these supplies theyre documenting what they have. And we are offering and providing those supplies now. I am over time. I thank the chairman for his indulgence. There is a huge disconnect between your testimony and between what we are getting as reports from the facilities. I hope very much that we can just focus on making sure the children are clean, well cared for, safe, and released as quickly as quickly as possible. Thank you. Well work with you to get the answers. One thing i know Border Patrol is doing in el paso. 25 people are caring for children and families. Were taking ofr officers from ports of entry and putting them on the border. And we saw that at the border. My issue is not with how hard the men and women on the front lines are trying. My issue is what we are doing operationally to change the circumstance on the ground so these children are well cared for and safe. Thank you. Senator rosen. Thank you. Thank you for deferring to our committee and thank you for the service and work that you all do. It is difficult, it is challenging, and oftentimes heart breaking. We do appreciate that, and like the chairman said, we all saw that awful and heart breaking photo of the toddler who drowned while clutching her fathers neck. I cant even begin i cant even begin to imagine as a mother what the last moments for that father and daughter were like, and i believe the mother was on the other side of the river, and i do pray like the chairman that this photo and what we talk about today moves this body into action. So lets talk about the remain in mexico policy. According to the state departments trafficking and persons june 2019 report over the past five years, we know that human traffickers have exploited numerous victims in mexico. We know the vulnerable groups women, children. The vast majority of foreign victims are forced into labor, sex trafficking, mostly from countries in the northern triangle. Theyre on their way to the United States. But against this backdrop in january of 2019, dhs issued a new policy guidance on migrant protection protocols known as the remain in mexico policy. Under this policy certain Asylum Seekers including families are sent back to mexico to wait in that country for the entire duration of their u. S. Immigration court proceedings. That could take months. That could take years y. We know theres a challenge in federal court. Im concerned the policy is going to drive more and more people into the arms of those who wish to exploit them, making the problem worse and i can tell you that the state departments own annual report backs me up on this. So my question to you and im hoping that you can provide us the numbers if you dont have them. Do you know how many individuals seeking asylum that dhs has returned to mexico under the Migrant Protocols Program policy . Any of you . Thank you, senator, for the question. I have the numbers for the field of oermss. For the ports of entry. To date weve returned 665 and calexico, 1300 total. How many families were part of arriving as a family unit . Ill have to get back to you on that number. And doo you know the number f unawe companied minors . Theyre not considered for mpp. To your knowledge are there plans to expand the policies beyond the locations currently . We are in ongoing discussions internally and with the mexican authorities on expansion. So you dont have a timeline for when i dont. And you can report back to us when you do . Yes, maam. Thank you. I also want to say that reports have indicated that dhs has returned to mexico Asylum Seekers pregnant or children with neurological disorders. That is despite guidance that clearly states individuals with known medical issues shouldnt be subject to this policy. Have we been investigating these cases . Do you know of any . Im not aware of the allegations, but we generally do not include migrants that have a known physical or mental illness. If theres any criminality, a history of violence what about pregnant women . If a migrant is a long term pregnancy or there are sensitivities to the pregnancy. Theyre all longterm pregnancy. They all have a term. They would not be considered. Thank you. I have a couple minutes. I want to talk about metering at the ports of entry. Again, cbp, theres a practice of metering the ports of entry along the u. S. mexico border for Asylum Seekers required to wait for indefinite periods for the opportunity just to be processed. Can you talk to me about why youre employing the process of metering or q management and is it happening across all ports of entry . Thank you. Yes, it is. Its a discretionary balance used by our port managers to really balance and assess our mission requirements, our counternarcotic and facilitation of trade and travel and the processing of migrants, and in balancing our resources against that. So putting them in all those different areas without focusing them in any one particular area. So how can we help you as congress, how can we help you speed up this process so you dont have to manage this and you can get through . I think its the whole process. Its our facilities that werent designed to house large groups of individuals, and then icro is not in a position to be able to take them. So if we did increase, then we would be holding them longer. And ero would have an increased difficulty in finding bed space. So its a balance that right now with ero and hhss capacity issues is adequate. So we need to have people talking to each other to increase the flow and the capacity of what we can do and of course to senator hassens point, doing knit a humane and kind way. Yes. Can you tell me, too, the numbers quickly before i end here, how many migrants are you are processing at cbp daily . At our ports of entry . Uhhuh. It varies across the southwest border based on that balance as i mentioned, the discretionary balance. Can you give me a rough estimate . 300. And do you know how many are currently in line waiting in mexico, then . Thats difficult to know. The numbers come from the mexican authorities but weve been told in each one of the areas roughly 3,000 to 4,000. And so based on what you know, what do you believe the average time, what do you know to be the average time an Asylum Seeker will have to wait . Its been some time since ive checked with san diego, but what i last heard a few months ago was five to six weeks. Well, i hope that, again, we can do something about this. That we can help. So many more questions well submit for the record about the conditions for children, young families, and we want to be sure that we stop the exploitation, because nothing, nothing in my mind is more heart breaking. I can only imagine when you open that trailer, what it did to you. And the nightmares you probably have remembering that. So i want that to motivate us to do the right things. Thank you. Senator rosen, just because we asked a similar question and got a response to get it in the record, currently as of 6 16 of this year, 11,575 individuals have been returned to mexico. 1,10 the came from the ports of industry. 10,446 came from Border Patrol. 10 come through ports of entry. The rest come through illegally and are returned. Senator peters. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to pick up on the questions of senator rosen and the numbers. Is that the number of individuals under the current metering at the port of entry . If you can give me a number of that. I want to clarify that. How many have been turned away because of the metering process . Thats extremely difficult if not impossible to identify the number that are not crossing the boundary line. And in many cases the ngos are holding them in mexico or caring for them until theres an opportunity for us to take on more migrants. Its a communication between us, the mexican authorities and ngo. So its nearly impossible. Youre saying you cant come across today because of the metering process . Youre saying you dont know that number . We dont. So obviously the tragic situation weve all talked about with the father and his young daughter, the story is that he died after attempting to seek asylum at a port of entry and he waited for over two months in mexico. To both mr. Hasting and mr. Howe, what do you think is the relationship between the moot metering at the points of entry and the increase of families trying to cross between ports of entry . Sir, i just know that weve seen an increase in the volume of family units continue to build month after month. Im not sure what the result is with the management. When were interviewing the individuals, theyre telling us weve heard on social media or we have heard from folks who are already in the country, bring a child and youll be set free. Thats what were hearing. Thats not my question. My question is what is the relationship. Youre metering folks coming across the port of entry. So they cant. We know this gentleman who tragically died with his daughter, was waiting two months and said was turned away from the metering so decided to go not in a port of entry. Were seeing more and more folks. Whats the relationship of people who if they cant come through a port of entry, theyre trying to cross at other places on the boarder . Its difficult for me to speculate what numbers that occur. As i said to senator rosen, its the delicate balance of managing our resources at the different mission sets and processing migrants is important, but if we were to process more migrants, its going to have to come from something. Its not going to come from a counternarcotic mission or a National Security initiative. It would have to come from facilitation. We dont want to have u. S. Citizens waiting longer to return to the United States. That balance is what were trying to strike. Well, were discussing also trafficking and smugglers and the problem related to that. And so does it make sense that if its more difficult to come across a port of entry and just present yourself at a port of entry to the legal process, that you want to go, then, or attempt to get into the country a different way . That might actually increase the business for smugglers and cartels who will say well take care of this situation for you . Just pay us and well get you in some other way . Is there a correlation there . Is there or not . I got to think its difficult to speculate. We have smuggling attempts. We have over 400 a year across the southwest border where migrants are either presenting somebody elses documents or theyre hidden in the vehicle. Its difficult for me to know. Is there anything being done at the Mexican Border to ensure the migrants waiting to cross are not being recruited by smugglers at the border that are being approached to use their services . Are we are either we or the Mexican Government engaged in attempting to disrupt that kind of business connection . I dont have firsthand knowledge of that, but the mexican authorities would have that responsibility. Would we want to know what the mexican authorities are doing and would we encourage them to do something along those lines . Absolutely. Why hasnt it been done . Im sure its been done at the local level. Can we find out . Absolutely. Id appreciate that. Cbp said that between mid april and june 14th over 18 00 family unites were interviewed who presented indications of fraud with 275 fraudulent families identified based on the data that i have. Chief haste,ings, how many total migrants crossed the border during that time frame. Sir, what was the time frame again . Mid april to june 14th . Two months. April to june, so weve had a high volume, i think, of 132,000 last month. I can tell you for the year that weve had 5100 fraudulent claims so far fraudulent family claims that we know of. What time frame is that . Thats for the fiscal year of 2019. Im looking at a two month period. I dont have that specific information. I think the biggest thing and one of the most important things is you heard the chief testify last time. Its due to the volume that were seeing. Its very difficult to spend time interviewing and getting in depth with these individuals . My question also is what do you consider how do you define a fraudulent family . Is a grandmother and a grandson considered a fraudulent family or an aunt or a nephew, is that an adult sibling of a minor sibling . What is a fraudulent family . By tvpra definition, its a parent or legal guardian or one that is less than 18 years old. A parent or legal guardian. Its not counted as graunt. Theyre not a family unit. They will be in other words you would show a nonfamily unite, a grandmother with her grandson or granddaughter would be considered not a family unit based on your definitions . Yes, sir. Can you give us an example of the indicators you would give to warrant them being interviewed as a possible fraudulent family. Well see the reaction between the child and the adult. The agents will notice that. Theyll start questioning further to try to determine if, indeed, it looks like theres a true familial relationship. We also saw quite a bit of false documentation from honduras and guatemala. Can you describe how the migrants identified the migrants who participated in the double helix . These were not random sample of families. Is that correct . These are folks that agencies suspected to be unlikely to be family before the dna testing . Thank you. We sent a team down to mcallen and el paso. The referrals were given to us after Border Patrol had an opportunity to interview the individuals. If there were individuals they had been suspected of being in a fraudulent family unite, they would refer it to the team that was down there to conduct the dna testing. This was after an interview, review of their documents and as my colleague stated, if the behaviors did not appear to be in a familial relationship where there seems to be distance between them, they use those factors to refer that family unit over for a d na test. Im out of time, but one last question. Do you have an after action report you could share with congress to report the viability of implementing dna testing on a wider scale . We did do an after action report, and well see about allowing you to see that report. Thank you. Id appreciate it if you could get that to me. Thank you, mr. Chairman. The dna test, about 30 million to do dna testing. According to chart, 93 of the families crossed between the ports of entry, 7 , 30,000 have some through the ports of entry. The vast volume really is coming in illegally between the ports of entry because thats the easier ticket in. I understand the point youre making but i think its just so widely known that the way to cross is coming across illegally because within six, seven, eight days youll be set free. Senator scott. Thank you, chief, for being here and thank you for what youre doing. Im disgusted with how congress has handled all of this. I mean, it just you couldnt make this up. We dont want to secure a border. Then we want to then people want to complain youre not doing your job. I think its disgusting what people are doing. Mr. Hastings, what do you need congress to do to allow you to do the job you were hired to do rather than the job you have to do today because congress has not acted . Thank you for the question, sir. So as i said in my opening, i mean, first and foremost short term we need additional funding for the supplemental as do our partners. The volume of what we have in our custody right now of the 13,000 is unaccompanied alien children. In addition to that its single adults rather that we have in custody as well. So hhs and ero need funding for bed space to get them out of Border Patrol custody and into the care for those set up for longterm detention. Thats shortterm. Longterm we need to quit allowing the draw for family units and unaccompanied alien children to come to the United States. We have to stop this draw. All right. Mr. Howe . Thank you, senator. I agree with everything that chief hastings said. In addition to underscore the bed space and hhs so that they can relieve our facilities that were designed for the lockterm detention so were not in this situation. Do either of you believe we need more Border Protection . I mean, so far you talk about supplement supplemental, the decision primarily. What about do we need any funding to secure the border . I mean, this wouldnt be happening if we had a secure border. Well, right now i think we absolutely need more funding for Border Security. But our Biggest Issue now is pulling away from that 40 to 60 of agents that were pulling off the line to deal with the humanitarian crisis, the families, and the uacs. Thats the biggest problem that we have right now. And in the meantime, what were dealing with that demographic, a large number of single adults are trying to evade arrest. A large dynamic of drugs as well, trying to evade. And theyre using these family unites who are trying to cross as a diversionary tactic in a lot of cases to be able to make money on drugs and single adults trying to evade arrest. Thank you for your question. We are the investigative arm of Homeland Security. The concern we would have is the more resources we take away from the conducting the complex criminal investigation targeting the Transnational Criminal Organizations that are actually organizing these smuggling and Human Trafficking, by putting people on the border to augment the need that cbp has takes away potentially from conducting our mission which is protecting of the homeland via investigations and trying to target the Transnational Criminal Organizations. Mr. Hastings, how does it make you feel when you get asked questions to suggest that you dont you or your team doesnt care about these children that youre taking care of . How do you feel every day when you get up and read the papers or see the news where somebody suggests youre not doing your job . Its disgusting to me, and its hurtful to me. Daily, i see our agents doing the opposite. Yesterday i saw our agents jump out of the water, save a 13yearold child who was unconscious, give him cpr, mouth to mouth, and essentially bring him back to life. That happened yesterday on our border. And that happens quite often. Time and time again. Our men and women are out there risking their lives every day to save those migrants that are either put into a bad position by smugglers or put themselves into a bad position. So above and beyond that, our agents go to the maximum to care for these children. Youve seen pictures of our agents holding these children trying to comfort them. So its very hurtful for us, for our agents out there, trying to do the best they can at securing our border and dealing with humanitarian crisis. How does it impact your ability to recruit and retain your team to do this job . So our work force is doing well right now, but they want to see a light at the end of the tunnel, quite frankly, to be able to go back to their primary National Security mission. Were hopeful we go back to a primary National Security mission and we see legislative changes that allow us to do that. That quit the draw for the family units and the unaccompanied alien children. So do you have concerns when you do your job every day that because of how much time youre having to spend because Congress Wont act that we have individuals that are crossing the border that want to harm americans . Im concerned with that. Im concerned with recruiting individuals in this current state that were in right now. Recruiting good agents to do this in the future, and im worried when were diverted by the humanitarian crisis, what is coming through our border. The best example is about two months ago we had a large group come across in rio grande valley. At the same time we had 7100 pounds of cocaine a mile away cross the boarder in broad daylight. That tells me theres very little fear in the minds of the smuggling organizations and the narcotics traffickers because they know were tied up with the humanitarian mission. Anybody else . Senator, ive been around for almost three decades. Ive been used to this, but id like to put it in perspective. Can you imagine a new agent who went out and had a successful day. They seized enough fentanyl to kill hundreds and millions of people. They arrested a potential terrorist suspect or a gang member or they rescued a child from an exemployeeation and they get home and turn on the nightly news and theres information on the news saying apobolish certa agencies . I know when i come home, i dont even want to watch that. Its hurtful as my colleague stated. It is hurtful and the men and women of United States, and others are trying to make this country safe. Its an unnecessary distraction. Over officers want to be mission to cushioned and doing what they were hired to do, enforcing our laws and facilitating legitimate trade and travel. We dont want to be distracted with processing migrants to the degree we are. Im disgusted you watch on the news, people are trying to do their job and get attacked and congress doesnt do their job. Its the most disgusting thing ive seen in my career, my business career, you wouldnt do this in your business career. Thank you. Senator holly. Thank you. Can i disagree with what senator scott said. The behavior of this congress is pathetic. It is just pathetic. People up here should be apologizing to you for the total dereliction of duty. Ive never seen anything like it in my life. This is by my count the sixth full hearing ive sat through in four months on the border. Thats great. The problem is this Congress Never does anything. This congress refuses to do anything. We know what the facts are. Youve outlined them today. Cbp is over capacity, under funded undermanned and hss and i. C. E. Meanwhile, smuggling rings are lying to vulnerable families and exploiting children to turn profits and abuse our broken system. We know what needs to happen. We know we need to reform is asylum system and address the push factors. This Congress Wont be anything. This morning i heard from my colleagues across the aisle ive heard statements like im heart broken. No one is more vulnerable than a child. The status quo is unacceptable but we dont do anything to change it. And theres no will to change it. Children are being exploited. This morning we woke up to the picture of a man and his daughter dead face down in the water. Why . Because they were exploited. Who knows how much that poor gentleman paid to a smuggling ring who told him if he just came to the border and slimed asylum hed get in. That was a lie. Who knows what lies he was told and here he ends up he and his little baby dead and this Congress Still refuses to act. I mean, it is absolutely unconscionable. We know what needs to be done. Nobody will do it. And my view is we can talk and talk and talk but until this congress is willing to take some action, i mean, im sorry for what it is you have to deal with. Im sorry this congress has left you without the resources you need and this congress has not done its duty. Im sorry that this congress has left not only our southern border exposed and vulnerable but has left children exploited day after day after day. And until this wretched congress decides to do something, i dont know why we bother to have these hearings. I dont know why it matters. This congress will not act. This congress refuses to act and its a dereliction of duty. Thank you for your service. Thank you for what youre doing and i just hope i would just say to the president , id encourage the president to take every action he can within the bounds of the law to address this crisis and secure the border. So long as this congress refuses to act, the president needs to act. I would urge him and the administration to do everything within their Lawful Authority to address this crisis. This congress is not going to. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator holly, you missed the opening. When i described a process this committee is going to undertake, and obviously the reason we hold the hearings is in the problem solving process to lay out the reality. What i proposed, and hopefully we can do this in an uninflamed way as possible but sit down at the tables like last week where we passed the Government Shutdown act. A smaller problem, but i think our legislation solved it. Senator lankfords legislation. Start working through the problem in an organized fashion. Have open meetings where we discuss these things and we talk about okay, what do we need to do coming from a manufacturing background, what can we do to start the process . Senator peters is working with me and other members on the letter of support of Operation Safe return. A Pilot Program to gather information and surge resources to im not going to repeat it, but were working on that. But im hoping that youll participate. I hope every member will participate in the process a number of meetings, hours long where we discuss these problems, the different elements of the problem, and start coming up with solutions. And again, i dont know that ends up in a complete piece of legislation, or in those discussions an organized fashion we come up with different elements that can be tacked onto different pieces of legislation. Again, this place doesnt work. It doesnt have much of a problem solving capacity. Thats a problem youre relaying. We all experience it. Were going to do something different. Do a paradigm shifting. Whether we accomplish something or not, at least weve had hopefully thorough discussions. Senator scott . I dont believe any of it. I sit here. I sit here preside this week and i hear people from democrats get up there and all they do is complain about these people. They dont come up and say we have to fix the decision or secure the border. All they do is try to embarrass the individuals. Its disgusting what theyre doing. I watched it yesterday presiding that somebody did it for 15 minutes just sitting there and lambaste them about what theyre doing. I mean, what mr. Hastings, how many people have you ever worked with that says you know, i dont care about children . I want to do the wrong thing today . Just the opposite. I have seen agents on their own go out and purchase toys, bring in for the children to play with. I have personally stopped by and bought meals for those that i arrested. Ive seen agents do the same thing. Ive seen agents give up their lunches so people can eat. Ive seen the human professionalism and outstanding work from our professionals since ive been in the agency and long before that. So senator scott do you know what theyre doing today . The people on the debate are going to the homestead facility just to make news. Not to solve a problem. Theyre not up here to solve a problem. How do i make news. I fully understand it. Im as frustrated as you. Im hoping this process will be different. Engage in it. Lets give everybody a chance. How would you like again lets get around the table like last week and see what we can make of this. Youve got to be a nastenacious. Im saying that photograph ought to cat liez this and we ought to try to solve the problem. Okay . Senator langford. I want to join my colleagues in the frustration of this day. And i think what were experiencing today is some pent up abject total frustration. March 28th of this year at that time secretary of dhs came to this hearing and followed up with a letter and this was the exact quote from her. We now face a systemwide meltdown. Dhs facilities are overflowing. Agents and officers are stretched too thin and the magnitude of arriving and detained aliens as increased the risk of life threatening incidence. She said my greatest concern is for the children who are put at high risk by this emergency arriving sicker than ever before after traveling on the treacherous trek. Instead of actually providing funding during that time period, this Congress Delayed and didnt provide the funding. Didnt engage. Didnt try to solve it. That same secretary over and over and over again said none of this gets better until the florez agreement is settled. Ive had personal discussions with both parties and said at what point do we admit the obvious statement the obama and Trump Administration made that if we dont resolve that settlement, none of it gets better because traffickers will continue to move children across the border but children are currently being used as pawns to try to hurt the Trump Administration. And my democratic colleagues are trying to identify children that are not getting care at the same time slowing down the process of getting humanitarian aid to try to hurt the president ial election. These children are not pawns in the administration. We need additional humanitarian assistance. Heres what happened. Nothing happened after that meeting in march. May the first, hhs sent uz a protracted let tore try to get additional assistance and saying were in a crisis moment. May 17th they said were at a critical moment. Secretary azar from hhs came back and said were at a critical moment. We tried to move a humanitarian relief package with the Disaster Relief package on may 2 2nd, and leader schumer came to the floor and made this statement. The democrats are ready to pass the bipartisan Disaster Relief package thats already been agreed to and written but we should pass disaster agreement as is and return to unrelated issues at a later date. Unrelated issues is this humanitarian issue. To say these unrelated issues are slowing down our Disaster Work so well put the hugh humanitarian humanitarian work off until later and then yesterday senator schumer was back on the floor criticizing the president and criticizing all of these folks and their agencies saying why arent you taking better care of the kids . When this committee has talked about it for months. Yall have asked for it for months. And all weve got to is well get to unrelated issues later. Now, im tired of people calling my office and saying how come you dont care about the kids . Im sure youre tired of reading in the media every day how come you dont care about the kids . If 500 people showed up to your house tomorrow and said im going to stay here for a week, would your house be ready to take 500 people . What would you do if 500 people came to your house tomorrow and said i need to stay here . Yall are having to manage thousands of people showing up at facilities that are not prepared for thousands of people that never have been, and that are certainly not set up for kids, and the whole time we argue about what are we going to do, when everyone knows the issue. Its the florez settlement. Every smuggler uses that, and we wont acknowledge it, and theres been a dramatic slowdowslowdown on trying to get humanitarian aid. Now the senate comes to an agreement finally on humanitarian aid and the house responds with a solely partisan bill . And says no, were going to try to do a partisan bill and then the conversation this week was well, well, we may not get to the humanitarian bill this week if we dont get a certain vote we want on the ndaa as democrats we may hold off the humanitarian bill for two weeks from now. Yet another delay because its an unrelated bill. So i dont know if we get the humanitarian vote again this week because democratic leadership is postponing again while going to the floor and saying why isnt the Trump Administration doing more about this . You cant have it both ways. This is not about hurting the president in this president ial hopes for next year. This is about a group of kids that we need to reduce the incentive for them to be able to come illegally across our border and when he need to take care of the folks already here. This is not that hard. But its become this horrible partisan issue. I think all of us are really frustrated with it. To say this has been discussed to death. Weve got to be able to act on this. So i want to ask just a couple stats. How many folks are coming across as males at this point and claiming to be 17 years old . Is there a disproportionate amount of males crossing the border and saying im 17 . Im sorry. I dont have the exact numbers but i can tell you were seeing a higher number of families with fathers as the primary theyre the primary parent thats coming across. Were seeing an increase in fathers with children. I dont have the exact numbers with me. How many countries have you seen crossing our border with minors . So 140 Different Countries that we have seen apprehensions that we have made from 140 countries. 52 countries for family units. We have family units from 52 Different Countries that have crossed into the u. S. This fiscal year. And that is just this fiscal year . That would be since october 1st of last year . Thats correct, sir. 82 of the people you testified are people that are crossing the border coming from countries other than mexico at this point. Is that correct . Thats correct, sir. Guatemalan authorities i met with this week have stated that dhs has worked very hard with them and the guatemalan authorities are continuing to be able to work because those authorities dont want those kids also making this trek and theyre trying to do what they can to be able to slow down the flow from their side as well. They were very appreciative of the work dhs has done to be able to partner with guatemala, specifically. Im sure if i talk to the honduran authorities salvador, they could say the same thing. The guatemalan government was grateful for the work to protect the kids, and they want their kids back home to be able to be there, and theyre frustrated by this journey as well. As a country, we have put hundreds of millions of dollars into Central America, into the northern triangle to help stiebl az the governments and continue to be able to provide a safe place thats there. So all of this conversation about were doing nothing to be able to help the issues there really is we are doing a lot of things to be able to help the issues in Central America. Whats not being done is dealing with the pull factors here in the florez settlement and also not the humanitarian assistance. Senator portman . Thank you, mr. Chairman. I was here earlier and had the opportunity to hear you, mr. Hastings and hear some of the discussion with my colleagues. Senator johnson in particular on whats going on at the border and also from senator peters. And i think there is now a consensus. I certainly hope so, that were facing an immigration crisis. Its also, by the way, a drug crisis impacting my home state of ohio and every state represented. Crystal meth is now coming in unprecedented numbers as an example. We already knew the heroin was coming in. Crystal meth is coming in entirely from the Mexican Border now were told. Its also a humanitarian crisis. Theres no question about it. And the men and women who you represent are being put in an impossible position, and i hope that every member of this body protects the right of american Law Enforcement to do their job. Its a tough job. I think youre doing it in a professional way and i know its difficult. I would like to focus on solutions. I do think there are some potentially bipartisan solutions. I want to hear from you on it. One, that has always struck me is a reasonable approach that we should be taking which was done during the obama administration. To have people apply from their home country. They would apply technically as refugees from their home country because you claim asylum when you come into the United States. The criteria are the same. The criteria that have to be met are the same that are eventually adjudicated over here. Were finding about 15 of those who apply for asylum receive asylum. That number may not be entirely accurate going forward, but the point is most people who are applying are not receiving it. Why . Because theyre deemed through our judicial system to be economic refugees, probably. And not meeting the criteria. But what if we set up a system as was done, again, in the obama administration, where people instead of being told by the traffickers youve got to come on this arduous journey and were going to mortgage your house and take your paycheck for the next half year and were going to take your kids because if youre a kid under the florez decision, then you cant be held in detention for more than 20 days. Instead the traffickers said youve got to apply here. Youve got to apply from country. Now, two things would have to happen. One, wed have to raise the cap on refugees which has been lowered during this administration. That should be acknowledged. And it would require specifically a cap to be raised for Central American countries. Wed have to provide the resources, primarily thats done through international bodies, including the u. N. This is something that could be internationalized. Ive talked to a number of my colleagues on the democratic side of the aisle. They havent said no. It certainly makes sense as part of an overall strategy in my view. The pull factor is the fact that you can misuse our asylum system now. Its also the fact that you can get a job in america and make 10 to 20 times more in another country. We would be tempted to do the same thing. It doesnt make it right. So one way to do this is to have people instead of being told youve got to make this journey north is say apply here. Lets ajude case the cases. It reduces the flow in a substantial way. I just wondered if any of you system director nevano, you may have thoughts on this, or mr. Howe or mr. Hastings, if you had thoughts on applying from a home country . Thank you for your question. Im not as versed into in that area, but the argument that you make seems to make sense, and i am familiar back in my younger career, i actually did process refugees, and a lot of vietnamese, russians in the early 90s. It was an effective system. I can see the merits of that system and look forward to working with congress, working with our partners if that is something that is decided to try that out and see if its something that can help stop this crisis. Yeah. And i know youre familiar with this, but the criteria you used to determine if someone was eligible for Refugee Status is the same for the asylum status. Its a difference in the section of law. But the statutes are very similar like you mentioned whether they apply here in the United States or outside of the United States. Theres also a requirement should somebody receive Refugee Status that theres assistance provided. Usually its through a private sector entity. Refugee resettlement. Its a little different process, but it keeps people from coming up to this border. It keeps the numbers we see here, hundreds a day, thousands a week, hundreds of thousands a month from coming up to our border. Instead theyre told if you want to apply for this status, youve got to do it back home. Mr. Howe, mr. Haste,inings any thought of that . I think its probably common sense. I reduces the pull factors. Well let the lawyers work out the details. If it can be done, if its been done before and working with international partners, it makes sense. Mr. Hastings . Thank you, sir. I would welcome anything that allows our Border Patrol agents to get back to the primary mission of securing our borders and reduces the flow. Yeah. Your testimony earlier was striking to me when you talked about the fact that 40 to 60 of your people have been pulled off their jobs essentially to deal with the humanitarian crisis. I understand why theyre doing it and they have to do it. We want to be sure that were providing Emergency Care that so many of these migrants need. But thats not their job. And that leads me to the final question which is about the drug issue. When the Border Patrol is not on the border trying to detect and stop these Illegal Drugs from coming into our country that are killing the people i represent, that creates another whole crisis. Its not on the border. Its in ohio. Its in every state representative here. And maybe mr. Nevano, you can talk about the transnational trafficking groups that are smuggling people but also smuggling drugs at the same time. What can we do better to be able to detect and stop this poison from coming into our country . Crystal meth, back in the day we had meth labs in our states. People made it in their basements or homes and environmental problems with that, obviously, in addition to this poison being made that was harming our communities. You dont see that anymore. Why . Because the crystal meth from mexico is so cheap and powerful. Im told by Law Enforcement in ohio its less expensive to buy marijuana on the streets now and it is killing people. So mr. In a video in a, what can we do to stop some of the drugs from coming in and how are they related to transnational gangs . Well, i had the opportunity to testify before your committee before about the opioid addiction in the United States, and i know you were very well aware we initiated a Border Enforcement Security Team in the state of ohio. I know you were present for it. Thats a recent occurrence were trying to stop the opioids flow into the state of ohio. But our order enforcement security teams, we have 65 across the country. Theyre fushl. It takes resources from state, local, and federal authorities to attack a problem. The more teams we have to tackle the drug problem, i think the better we can identify it. Also to continue our Capacity Building overseas. We have trained what we call transnational criminal investigative units. We have 16 stationed across the country. And all of the world. And those individuals are dedicated eyes and ears overseas to help provide us the intelligence, information, and execute the laws we dont have the authority to do so in the Central America area in mexico and the drug producing countries. We rely heavily on our transnational criminal investigative units. Thank you for your service. Thank you. Mr. Carper. Thank you very much. Normally we just ask questions of our websites. Im going to use this as a chance to have a colloquy with two of my colleagues i have regard and affection for. It seems peculiar to me as i was putting together a congressional delegation earlier this year and we looked at the flow of folks coming here from mexico over the last 20 years. There are more mexicans going back into mexico than coming to the u. S. We looked at illegal immigration numbers through the end of last october. This was about the beginning of this year. We looked at immigration numbers through the end of october, and my recollection was that in the previous 15 years illegal immigration from other countries dropped by actually, illegal immigration across the southern border over the last 15 years through the end of october was down by just a little over 80 . And i was almost ready to declare victory. In the months since then, five, six, months since then. Weve seen this surge, incredible surge of illegal immigration from honduras, guatemala. Whats happened in mexico . Pretty much the same. I mean, and its been pretty much what its been for years. Theyre not surging from mexico. Theyre not coming in theyre still im told more mexicans going back to mexico than mexican americans coming to the u. S. Why is it three countries but not the surge from mexico . They have poverty and crime there. Why arent they coming . And theres a great need for leadership on this issue. And i think it has to come from this committee. And ive heard the chairman say any number of times this committee has a great record of history of bipartisanship. And frankly, i think this committee atacts people who like to get things done and work across the aisle and look to build consensus, and we really see an opportunity here. Very sad situation. We also see an opportunity to fix it. And i would like for us to be the committee that provides that kind of leadership. Im not interested in pointing blame. I could easily say in response to some of our colleagues this administration, point out their sins. Im not going to do that. But lets see what we can do to fix this problem. I want to sign up to do that. I look for the four of us to work this out. If we cant, nobody can. I mean, this is just right for our working on it. Do you all have anything else you want to say with that spirit that ive just tried to kindle here . Anything you want to say in response to that . First, thank you for what you do for your lives. When i was chairman i used to go to the floor and talk about different units of the department of Homeland Security and praise the men and women for the work they do, but and were out there, the chairman and i were out there for the opening of the new department of Homeland Security in st. Louis. It was very exciting. But just in this spirit of what ive just said, id like for you guys to Say Something. Just thank you, senator, for what you said, and your commitment to Work Together to work out legislation or whatever needs to be done to address the crisis. The men and women on the border work hard. Theyre proud of what they do. And lets mission focus them on what they need to do. All right. Thanks. Anybody else want to Say Something . Sir, appreciate it. Again, for the men and women of the Border Patrol, we would ask for to work on the legislative fixes, please, to allow them to get back to doing their primary mission. It reiterate that. Thank you for addressing the issue. Whatever you can do to help us out. We want to focus on Transnational Criminal Organizations and the large criminal networks exploiting the individuals. Whatever you can do to make us get back to that type of work and less dealing with the border crisis, wed appreciate it. Thank you for bringing it up. Ive often said in this room we have to focus on root causes. Pull or push factors. Some of the issues weve seen, if we were living down there, we would want our kids and families out of there too. Somehow its gotten easier, a lot easier. People used to have to walk 1500 miles in bad weather and danger and so forth. And they still do it. But now they can get on a bus. And come up in airconditioned buses and get dropped off at the border. A lot of people are doing it. The folks running the operations are very entep nurepreneurial. They find all ways to make money. We have to figure out how to shut that down. We cant do it by ourselves. The mexicans, if were ever going to get the usmca confirmed, they should work with us to shut down the buses. There are all kinds of things to do. The other thing i would say is weve been working now for about three years on alliance for prosperity, as you know, and its not the whole answer. Its part of the answer. I like to say theres no silver bullet. Theres a lot of silver bbs. Some are bigger than others. I think one of the big bbs is making sure we address the root causes of why people are trying to get up here. Lack of opportunity and hope. Crime and violence. Corruption. And what were trying to do is address all three of those. Sadly when we look at the supplemental thats in the president s cut you have that funding, suspended it. When we look at the legislation, supplemental for folks on the border and illegal immigration, we dont restore it. I think thats a mistake. Weve got to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. Weve got to address the root causes and the pull factors as well. And i sign up for doing that. And i suspect my colleagues, my left would do so as well. Thank you. First, senator carper. I appreciate your willingness to participate in thisporosis pro. Its going to take advantage of the nonpartisan attitude by so many members of the committee. And weve spent more than 30 hearings gathering information, trying to define the many root causes of the problem. I continue to say the primary root problem is the desire for drugs. Having been a manufacturer and solved a lot of problems, theres a process you go through. Thats what i want to see this committee engaged in. Not here, but down there with genuine conversations and doing it in an organized process. Trying to address all the complexities of this, but also then trying to find the priorities. What are the things we have to fix now . In the hearing now, what are the longerterm solutions as well . Im dedicated to doing this. Its going to be a completely different process than this senates been participating in as long as ive been a senator. Genuine conversation and i think senators with good will recognizing the problem and working toward real solutions. Again, i appreciate that. All you have to do is show up. Were going to be holding multiple meetings and they will go on for quite some time. And im just you know how tenacious i am. Thank you, chairman. You know, our nation faces a crisis along the southern border, and im committed to continuing our bipartisan work to strengthen Border Security. Stop the flow of migrants to our southern border and ensure fair and humane treatment of the migrants that come. The situation on the ground in arizona with our communities, ngos own border work force is not sustainable. I want to make sure were working together to develop common sense solutions. They have to include measures that pushback against the human traffickers and the criminal organizations who prey on migrants. And im pleased were having this hearing and i look forward to our discussion. My first question is for mr. Nevano. According to recent data over 590,000 migrants are crossed the border in the last fiscal year, and from Central America to arizona migrants are targeted by criminal elements. Human traffickers, smugglers, and other criminals who are seeking to hurt the families. Of the migrants coming to our border, approximately how many have had some interaction with a criminal element during their journey of the United States and how many of those migrants received assistance on their journey from smugglers . Senator, thank you for your question. Im not sure that anyone can give you the exact numbers as far as the estimates youre asking for. However, i would say to make that 1500 mile journey, its difficult to do that on your own, and these smuggling organizations are recruiting these individuals, making false promises to them about getting into the United States, making a better lifer, promising them lucrative jobs when they get here, and once they get here, the traffickers take over and put them in totally different circumstances. So i will say that in order to make that journey, a High Percentage of the individuals are paying upwards of 7,000 to 8 8 ,000 for the journey to make it to the border thinking theyre coming for a better life only to be exploited once they pass the border whether its between ports of entry or through a port of entry. And mr. Nevano, regarding the smugglers who are, quote, assisting individuals to come to this country. Do you have any information about how closely linked they are to Transnational Criminal Organizations that work to ship drugs as well as people across the border . Sure. Thats an excellent question. What we term elicit pathways are controlled by the cartels. Theyre used to bring narcotics through the pathways. And they will use them to bring people. The smugglers, the Transnational Criminal Organizations dont care what the product is. Whether its a commodity, whether its a person, they use the same pathways. And the human smugglers may have to pay a fee to the cartels to use the pathways to come up, but theres a direct correlation between the pathways used for smuggling narcotics as there is for smuggling persons. Thank you. My next question is actually for all of the panel. Its clear to me, and to many arizona people that our nation faces a direct threat from the smuggling operations and theyre taking advantage of people in Central America. Id like to hear more about what our National Strategy is to defeat this threat and what are some of the steps that your agencies are taking to counteract the criminal transnational organizations. Thank you. For the Border Patrol, i dont want to sound like a broken hard. I will say its hard to delve have, interview, and follow through with getting the proper intelligence when were just trying to get the throughput. When were overwhelmed by the mass amount of families that are coming into our facilities, its very difficult to take the time to delve into a smuggling case. We try the best of our ability, but we are also are trying to balance that with the humanitarian crisis. Its difficult. Thats why we would again ask for the legislative changes that stop this draw. So we can go back and focus on the focus on the trafficking, focus on the dtos that are bringing thousands of pounds of narcotics into our country through the ports of entry and in between the ports of entry. Similar to thank you, senator. Were in the interdiction phase, so were identifying the smuggling attempt and stopping it. I mentioned earlier on average, about 400 on the border. So were on the front end of it. The back end, the investigation, really is through our i. C. E. Partners to get into the details of the dtos. Senator, the paradigm of effective Border Security starts 1500 miles out with Capacity Building and training, Foreign Police officers to interdict, train them, provide them the equipment. Thats something Homeland Security is doing. To attack the problem foreign. We know that doesnt always work. Our blorothers and sisters at customs and Border Protection are the interdictors. Theres definitely a Border Security at our borders. But interior enforcement is equally part of that threepronged approach to the paradigm of Border Security. Thats taking the magnet away from them, by having an Effective Work site enforcement strategy. Work site enforcement bleeds several other collateral climb. These individuals, once they get here, they know theyre promised a job. Thats why the Human Trafficking, the fraudulent documents, the identity, benefit fraud, thats where all that happens. The false promise of a job. It has to be a threeploronged approach. I appreciate that. Quick followup question. Director hastings, you mentioned changing american lives, which i think we could all agree is difficult in our current Political Climate. What im looking for and really im grateful to be working with the chairman and others on this, is ways to help the administration improve the credible fear process. So thats something were working on to try and figure out how can we do that given the difficult partisan Political Climate were living in. Im also really interested in figuring out how do we disrupt these Smuggling Networks so they no longer see a financial benefit and dont see this as a Smart Business plan, to bring groups to the United States and try to exploit the socalled loophole. So for us, and what we hear in the field, and i said this earlier, but it is from those who we Interview Time and time again, frankly what were told is from social media or a Family Member here or a friend here, ive heard bring a child and bill released within 10, 20 days. Until there is something that can address that flow, allow us to keep that family unit together, and allow us to run them through the proper cycle to allow them to have their due process and due rights, and then return them if theres no credible fear and apply a consequence. If were not applying a consequence, then were going to continue to see this issue. Im glad you mentioned that. Thats the exact issue that were working on, to try and figure out how do we get folks and families im talking about legitimate families, not the illegitimate ones we see how do we help process families in a timely manner to address the issue while also sending a clear message back to those northern countries that this is not an effective strategy to get into the United States of america. Its going to be difficult. I understand. But that is something that were very interested in doing, figuring out how to do well help process families and folks faster to get folks back home if they dont qualify for asylum or for some other legal status of entry to our country. Mr. Chairman, i see my time is expired. Well, first of all, thank you for work and cooperating with me and my staff on Operation Safe return, along with senator peters. Hopefully we can get that letter of support and dhs can implement that. This is just a first step to provide that consequence. With real care and compassion. Thank you for your efforts there. I want to thank, again, the witnesses for just your service to this country. Chief hastings, thank you for providing that example of Border Patrol officer pulling somebody out of the river, applying cpr, saving their life. Thats just an example of, im sure, thousands of examples of compassion, the type of care that Border Patrol, i. C. E. , dhs really provides people. We saw passion today at the hearing, which is you know, thats good. It shows that the members of this committee are deeply concerned and want to get to a solution. So what will be my job is turn that passion into commitment to actually act. So again, i want to thank all of you for your service. I want to thank my colleagues on the committee. Again, my commitment, we will Start Holding these meetings where we will have a genuine and robust discussion in that problemsolving process. And it will result in good ideas, areas of agreement, and possibly a full piece of legislation or if not elements, components that can be added to other legislation that other committees may take up as well. But this committee has led on this issue. I dont think any committee has he held more hearings, gathered more information, sought to understand this problem in all its complexities more than this committee has. Now its time to turn that into action. Again, i think weve got the members of this committee that really will come to that table, right here in this committee room, probably starting the week after we return, and have those robust discussions to come to some agreement and start solving this problem. So again, thank you all. The hearing record will remain open for 15 days until july 11th at 5 00 p. M. For the submission of statements and questions for the record. This hearing is adjourned. The house will be in order. For 40 years, cspan has been providing america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and Public Policy events from washington, d. C. , and around the country so you can make up your own mind. Created by cable in 1979, cspan is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. Cspan, your unfiltered view of government. Later today on cspan3, day two of the faith and freedom coalitions policy conference in washington. This afternoon several republican senators, including majority leader mitch mcconnell, will address the gathering. Thats scheduled for 3 00 p. M. Eastern, and you can see it live here on cspan3. Im a white male, and i am prejudiced. The reason is it isnt something i was taught. I dont like to be forced to like people. I like to be led to like people through example. What can i do to change, you know, to be a better american . That was a remarkable moment. I didnt really realize until i kind of stepped off the set because there were more calls after that, right . We just had to keep rolling. How powerful it was. There was something in his voice that touched me. I mean, you can hear it. Its so authentic, as he searches for the words to Say Something to a National Audience that most of us wont admit in our homes. I am prejudiced. Sunday night on q a, heather mcghee, president of the Public Policy organization, was a guest on cspans washington journal in august of 2016 when gary called. She talks about that interaction and her followup with him. Part of the reason for that is you have to remember this was august. You know, wed had this sort of racially charged summer with Donald Trumps campaign, with black lives matter, and the Police Shootings and then, you know, tragic events all in baton rouge and dallas. It was really a time when people felt like all they were seeing on tv about race was bad news. And here was, first, a white man admitting that he was prejudiced, which for people of color was, you know, we kind of just all said, finally. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern on cspans q a. Robert mueller at the house intelligence and judiciary committees on wednesday, july 17th, to testify in open session about his report into russian interference in the 2016 election. Watch live coverage on cspan3, online at cspan. Org, or listen on the free cspan radio app. U. S. Surgeon general jerome