Your perseverance and service to this nation, both the past, present and in the future too. Things arent getting a whole lot better any time soon, i fear. I would ask consent that my written Opening Statement be entered into the record. As a hearing on the border we havent had one for quite a few months, so i obviously need to use a chart. Thats really what i want to talk about in my opening comments. Weve held i think close to 40 hearings on some aspect of the issues on the border and with our broken immigration system, began keeping this chart on unaccompanied children but then as the whole issue with people coming across and exploiting our asylum laws coming as families, the problem just exploded in late 2018 and into 2019, and the main reason i want to show this chart, youll see the gold colored bars are single adults, down slightly, pretty persistent, pretty stable for the, you know, eight years this chart represents. What you do see, though, in red is unaccompanied children, blue are the family units. You can see the explosion of the family units drawn by the incentives of our broken gration system where they crescendoed in may of 2019. Im not going to put the chart up, but you all have a little spreadsheet here where weve been keeping track of monthly average. In may of 2019, we were averaging 4,651 individuals either crossing illegally between the ports of entry or showing up at the ports claiming asylum. 4,651 People Per Day. The most recent months where we have consolidated figures, that number is down to about 745 People Per Day. When it comes to an approximate number of children its down to about 50 a day, 49 a day. We have made a huge level of progress and i did want to point out, particularly with this chart, its not just because of covid. I think that is definitely reduced the numbers, but we had made dramatic reduckions prior to that because of some of the programs that cbp has implemented. I know some of them not everybody afwrees with, but from my standpoint its important we enforce our laws. Thats what mr. Morgan agrees with as well. Again, i think this has been some tremendous progress in my own mind im thinking what would it have been like if covid hit at may of 2019 numbers. Close to 4,651 People Per Day showing up at the border with cbp personnel having to deal with that. It would have been completely overwhelming. It was overwhelming back then, but throw covid on top of that. Again, congratulations very good work at bringing the numbers down before this crisis hit and, you know, we obviously extend our condolences to the family members of the cbp officers who lost their life because they contracted covid and others as well. Youre still dealing with enormous challenges. Im certainly looking forward to hearing your testimony in terms of how youve handled it, trying to deal with it today, and again, thank you for your service. With that i turn it over to senator peters. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, commissioner morgan, thank you for being here today. Its always good to see you. Mr. Chairman, before i make my statement i have three statements, one from human rights first, one from kids in need of defense, and a testimony from the u. S. Conference of catholic bishops i would like to enter into the record by unanimous consent. Without objection. Customs and Border Protection has played a vital role on the front lines of our nations efforts to limit the spread of covid19 and as always to keep americans safe, even in the face of this deadly virus that has affected millions around the globe and killed more than 120,000 americans, the men and women of the cbp continue to do their essential jobs and protect our National Security in very difficult situations. However, cbp service has not been without sacrifice and i want to acknowledge the losses that your agency has suffered during this pandemic. The lives of officers is a terrible, terrible price to pay and i think i speak for all members of this committee when i express my grief and condolences to the families and to everyone at cbp. In order to prevent more tragedy at the agency, we must ensure that frontline agents and customs and Border Protection officers have access to the personal protective equipment necessary to defend themselves against covid19. We count on these officers to keeps us safe, but we cannot do so effectively if they cant do it effectively if they themselves are left unprotected. Even in normal times the agency plays an Important Role in my home state of michigan and we are aware these are far from normal times. In the face of the coronavirus, cbp has been tasked with limiting unnecessary travel between canada and the United States. While continuing to support trade and essential Services Including the vital medical professionals who cross the border to support detroits efforts to combat covid19. As the nation looks to reopen crossborder communities in states like michigan will rely on clear and well communicated information about plans for loosening restrictions at the border, we must avoid confusion and uncertainties that occurred as these restrictions were announced and were implemented. As we continue reopening more trade and travelers will be returning to our nations ports of entry, especially at airports and land crossings, we must be diligent in applying the Lessons Learned over the past few months to ensure that cbp is ready to safely meet these very challenging circumstances. As we continue to move forward, we must strive to both implement strong safety and security measures and uphold our nations longheld values for the families and children who continue to seek asylum at our southern border. Cbps priorities are often difficult to balance, but the agency cannot abandon one part of their mission because things get tough. Congress and the Administration MustWork Together to support effective trade, travel, migration, and security operations, particularly in this time of pandemic. Again, mr. Morgan, thank you for taking the time to be with us here today. I look forward to your testimony and hearing what we can do to assist you in facing these extensive challenges. Thank you. Thank you, senator peters. It is the tradition of this committee to swear in witnesses. If you will please stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear that the testimony you will give before this committee will be truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god . I do. Please be seated. Mr. Mark morgan is the chief operating officer and senior official performing the duties at the u. S. Customs and Border Protection. He began serving his country as a u. S. Marine in his community in local Law Enforcement. After completing a 20year career in the fbi he started at the department of Homeland Security as the acting commissioner for internal affairs before being appointed by president obama as chief of the u. S. Border patrol. He served as chief until january 2017 and returned to dhs as the acting director of immigration and Customs Enforcement and has been leading u. S. Customs and Border Protection since july 2019. Mr. Morgan. Chairman johnson, Ranking Member peters, and members of the committee thank you for giving me the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the many challenges facing the United States customs and Border Protection. Of course, topping the list of those challenges is the global covid19 pandemic. Infectious diseases as we know, they dont know borders. It serves as another example of why Border Security is so important. Today and every day, individuals arriving at our borders with or without covid symptoms pose potential Public Health risks to the american people, our frontline personnel, our Health Care Workers and our community. As weve discussed before, cbp encounters travelers and illegal aliens from more than 130 countries in a given year, most of which are also currently facing significant covid19 outbreaks. Thankfully several early president ial proct kamations suspended the entry of travelers from certain countries. As mentioned cbp, along with other usg personnel were on the frontlines enforcing those critical and essential containment and mitigation strategies. These actions no doubt saved american lives early on, and im proud of the cbp worker force for their efforts. Ic5qi qh issr march 20th of this year finding the introduction of persons who would likely be held in settings in ports of entry and Border Patrol stations increases the risk to Public Health. The cdc order has been an important tool in the fight against this Public Health crisis. It allows cbp to prevent the introduction and further spread of this virus in an effort to protect the american people, our workforce and the immigrants themselves. Lets be clear, this order is not about immigration enforcement. Its about taking immediate and decisive actions to address the Public Health threat that still continues today. Early on, after that order, we saw those trying to illegally enter our country drop by more than 50 from our precovid numbers. Rather than introduce the illegal aliens into our facilities increasing the exposure risk to our workforce and country, cbp, because of this order is returning approximately 95 of those that we encounter expeditiously to their country of last transit. As the chairman said, can you at what we would be going through right now if we were going through this pandemic, this same time last year, when our southwest border facilities were overwhelmed and overcrowded with families and children. At one point we had more than 20,000 individuals in our custody introducing a single covid migrant into these conditions would have been catastrophic and i hope we must Work Together to prevent those conditions from ever happening again. Now, were averaging about 150 to 200 people in our custody at any given time and weve seen a 70 reduction in unaccompanied minors. As the chairman said, it is important to note that cbp and dhs as a whole were already better positioned to deal with this Global Pandemic because of the success of the administrations network of immigration policies and initiatives that had been in place ten months prior to covid. These initiatives as well as our partnership with the government of mexico and Central American countries had already reduced the flow of illegal migration by 76 from the hype in may of 2019. Our custody numbers went from 20,000 to just over 3400 and the driving force behind the crisis, families from the northern triangle country have been reduced by 94 . We had all but ended catch and release. Even as cbp shifted our resources to mitigate the spread of this deadly virus, we maintained and continued our efforts against a vast complex and challenge array of threats. This year, fiscal year to date, we received over seized over 500,000 pounds of drugs, an increase from the same time last year, although the cartels had to i a just their tactics because of covid theyre alive and well and adjusted quickly. In fact, just after the first few months of this year, we saw a little bit of a downward departure in the beginning, but then soon after that, last may, they began to skyrocket back up. We saw a significant increase this past may. Methamphetamine seizures alone jumped 66 . This is why Border Security is National Security. This is why borders matter and importantly why the wall matters as well. Lastly, why many in our country are selfquarantining or working from home, the majority of the cbp workforce does not have that option. They get up every day, they say goodbye to their loved ones and go to work protecting this nation. They are our frontline defenders as we just said already. They are good, descent, h honorable people who carry out cbps Broad Mission day after day despite the risk to their own health and safety. I personally want to thank you. Chairman, Ranking Member peters, for your acknowledgement of the seven cbp personnel weve lost this year. Thats personal. I sincerely appreciate you knowing that, understanding that, and acknowledging that. That means a lot that we can be united in acknowledging their sacrifices and the dedication to this country and the citizens they protect. I personally thank you for that and looking forward today to answering your questions. Thank you, mr. Morgan. Now without a doubt, the men and women of cbp, i mean from my standpoint theyre heros. We are witnessing now an assault against Law Enforcement. I dont know why, you know, how that could even possibly be a solution and the same thing is true in terms of enforcing and securing our borders as well. Again, think of the situation we would have been in. My first question has to do moving forward, anticipating what were going to be dealing with lets say august, september, october of this year, this is far different from the position we were in may of 2019 when americas Unemployment Rate was at record lows across all demographic lines and those opportunities that only america is really known for was a huge draw, combined with our broken system that could be exploited. Now were going to have, i would anticipate, unemployment levels in excess of 10 . Were going to have americans out of work. But weres also going to have Economic Hardship in countries south of our border as well. How are you going to cope with that . Just talk a little bit about what your plans are and what you think the challenges are going to be . Yes, sir. First of all, i think youre spot on. Right now, what were going through right now with the cdc order as mincentioned is from a Public Health perspective, at some point we are going to get on the other side of covid, my concern, i share your concern, what we are seeing right now is that while our economy is struggling, it is by far worse in mexico, northern triangle countries and in the western hemisphere. What im concerned is, were going to see the same pull factors we have historically, but its going to be magnified because what we like to say the accelerant of covid is that were going to see these countries, their Economic Conditions are going to be far worse than ours and we anticipate that were going to see an increase another surge of migration due to the Economic Conditions and the economic pull factor coming forward. It is a significant concern for us. So for years ive been saying, as we face this crisis at our border, that the first goal is to reduce the flow of people coming in, exploiting our system, breaking our laws. Describe some of those programs that, again, i realize not everybody agrees with them, but its hard to disagree with the results. Its weve reduced the flow. Talk about those programs, what was most effective and will they remain effective . Yes, sir. Are they going to be challenged . Yes, sir. Ill take the latter first. Yes, theyre challenged. Theyve always been challenged and theyre going to continue to be challenged. As you said, although we may philosophically disagree, as the acting commissioner of cbp from our perspective, theyve been effective with the goal of reducing the flow of ilLegal Immigration. Youre spot on. We have a multitude of programs that were working with the northern triangle countries. Most people are familiar with the aca, asylum cooperative agreement. That is where those that come through a country and come to our border, for example, we send them to guatemala where they can go through the asylum process the in guatemala. Its been effective. Another program i know everyone here is familiar with is, the mpp, migrant protection protocol. That has been an unbelievably effective program. Probably the most Successful Program that we have. And it has absolutely within a few months of its application, we started seeing a significant decrease in those that were trying to illegally enter the country because of that. Theres a couple other programs, pacer and harp. I think you know them well because they mirrored what you started, Operation Safe return, i believe last year and other members of this committee that joined you of how we can still give them the due process according to give them the due process according to our laws they deserve. Basically in a nutshell that means were just bringing the whole government approach to the border and doing it more efficiently, and weve done that. So as were anticipating the increase thesis programs are going to be absolutely essential to continue to stem the flow. Do you have any doubt youve initiated those programs, implemented them, carry them out we would be in excess of 4,000 People Per Day . Theres no doubt in my mind without those programs we would still be in the middle of a crisis seeing thousands of folks illegally entering every day. So i know Something Else that is not agreed on or appreciated is the border fencing. I know you were just down with the president url earlier this talking about how many miles weve implemented. Can you talk about what we have done in terms of new fence, what you anticipate to be completed by the end of the year, your evaluation of the effectiveness of that fencing now its in place. First of all, and i think this is something i try to hit every time. This is not the president s wall. This is the wall system for the United States customs and Border Protection, for the american people. This is something when this administration came into being they asked what do you need, and they said we need a border wall symptoms. Its very important. So far 220 miles of wall system have been built, and people ask me, well, how many new miles have been built, and i say 220 miles of new wall system because its just a metal thrown into the ground. It has integrated lighting, technology, access roads. Every mile thats built is a new mile of capability that did not exist before, so it is a new mile of wall when it goes in the ground. So far 220 miles. And as we have anticipated, we planned we believe in this year were going to have completed 450 miles of wall system. And heres a fact again, this is not a political statement. This is a factually based statement that i can open the checkbook and show everybody. Everywhere that a wall system has been built as part of a multilayer strategy, infrastructure, technology and personnel, all the stats you can imagine go in the right direction. Less people enter in that area. Less drugs come across that area, less criminals come across that area, less gang members come across that area. Its just a fact, and we can prove it, and its effective. And every Border Patrol agent on the lines will tell you that. Thank you, mr. Morgan. Senator peters. Thank you, mr. Chairman, commissioner morgan. The border restrictions at land ports of entry as you know have been extended three times and are going to remain in place until least july 21st. These restricts while very important and i understand the importance of them also have real world impacts on states like michigan. For example, hospitals in the detroit area rely on canadian doctors and especially nurses, a very large number of nurses across the border daily to work in those hospitals in detroit. So my question to you, sir, is what factors is cbp considering when determining the need for additional extensions . Are there any particularly metrics or criteria before reopening . First of all i completely agree with what you just said. Were seeing the same thing on the northern border and southwest border as well. And even goes beyond those heroes in the medical profession coming to the United States to provide a service. Their economies on the mexican side as well as the United States side that thrive and are dependent on each other especially in the border cities. Thats important. And so we have been involved in those discussions. They have sought our input with respect to each time that theyve made the decision to first implement the travel restrict and to implement them additionally, to renew them. We are an ipt grl pantegral par ive had conversations on the southwest border from baja to brownsville of leaders all across the border not just Law Enforcement but local leaders as well to listen to them and get a better understanding exactly what theyre experiencing. When we look at this it cannot just be done from a Public Health perspective. Its got to be a balance of the Public Health risk and the economy. And i feel very confident, at least what ive been involved with in cbp, that were trying to do just that. So when can we expect details from cbp what the reopening of the border is going to look like, and specifically get a better sense how you engage with our partners like the Canada Border Services agency. There was some confusion between the u. S. And canada as youre well aware. Want to make sure we have proper guidance and we dont have that kind of confusion as youre starting to reopen. Tell me a bit about your work with the canadian government . I completely agree. We had and did and continue to work with our counter parts there to make sure that were addressing those issues, to make sure were implementing these restrictions better. Obviously at cbp we dont make those decisions when the restrictions will be made or notified. We work of our partners what that will look like. We anticipate on the land border when the travel restrictions are lifted we anticipate its going to get back to normal pretty quick. Right now when you look at the pedestrian people traffic those are down 50 and 60 respectively. We certainly saw some confusion at the beginning stages of the crisis including detroit with travel restrictions, lack of screening protocols and some of those shortfalls have created some dangerous situations with folks waiting in very long lines to get through the process and often not having any kind of protection and now months later after looking at infections total around the globe theyre actually very high and continue to be high. Yet were also seeing travel starting to pick up at the same time. My question to you is what lessons did cbp learning from securing our bord in the early days of covid19, and what practices would you resume in continuing resurgence abroad particularly folks coming from china . Ill give you an example, contact tracing. I think its one of those areas where we had some challenges when we implemented that at the start, we learned. Theres another example in chicago, same thing where lines were lengthy. Were trying to look at our system. We have a couple of other systems that we use that were able to collect the data the cdc needs but its cumbersome, its manually and not efficient. So early on thats where you saw us trying to collect this information the cdc needs for this very important contact tracing. Were working with cdc, hhs, industry stakeholders. For example in the air environment ive personally been on a couple of calls and weve had those discussions on what can be do to get better to collect that information . That is what were trying to work towards in the future. When i say pretty quickly probably by september we need to have an interim solution. Kind of the 3 meter target, if you will is weve changed how weve done that. We kind of do what we call preprimary really right after they deboard from the plane and we have our dhs Contract Personnel there collecting that information, doing the medical screening and asking the questions they should while cbp personnel are there. That has helped tremendously, but we still need to get better on that. Reports indicate like the u. S. , cbp is going to face some funding shortfalls as a result of covid19 decrease in the user fees folks pay. Im concerned the impact the shortfall will have the on work force as well as the security at the ports of entry. First question, will you have to furlough officers based on the reports were seeing . Right now, no. Im not anticipating that right now. But, sir, youre absolutely right. Its an issue. Right now i think you know better than most is about 40 of the work force are funded through user fees and most of those are through international travel. Were seeing a significant reduction. Were looking at a 6 to 700 million shortfall in user fees. So its definitely a challenge. Well work with dhs, omb, work with appropriators to try and find a solution. Do you expect youre going to be requesting insupplementisomeg funding to get through this . What that help is going to look like i think were going to work through but we will definitely need some assistance. Senator langford. We cant hear you. Still cant you hear, james. So if you dont mind lets go to senator harper and come back to you once you get your audio fixed. Sorry about that. I want to join my colleagues in expressing our appreciation and our affection to the men and women. Its true when the travel bans used effectively and imposed in a timely manner could help delay the arrival of a highly contagious virus to our shores, but were reminded just earlier this week by dr. Julie gerbirding, a former cdc director who appeared before our committee yesterday. She said back in february ill quote her. She said once you see sustained Community Transmission the horse is out of the barn. And ron klain who was the ebola czar back a couple of years ago and quite a successful effort as youll recall and said in february of the president s order blocking travel from chinese, he said we dont have a travel ban. He says we have a travel bandaid right now. First before it was imposed 300,000 people came here from china in the previous month, so the horse is out of the barn. This week seven states reported their highest ever hospitalizations from covid. Three months and 121,000 deaths later unfortunately were still not prepared. I have a friend ask him how hes doing and he always says compared to what. I want to share with you some numbers i shared with my colleagues a couple of weeks ago compared taiwan has about 25 million, seven deaths. South korea has over 50 Million People and suffered 274 deaths. Singapore about 6 Million People, 25 deaths. New zealand, 22 deaths. Australia, 102 deaths. Japan with 126 Million People, 916 deaths. China with 1. 4 billion people theyre reporting about 4,600 deaths. Lets say theyre telling the truth and say its twice that much, its still under 10,000. Germany, 83 Million People, 9,000 deaths. Canada our neighbor to the north 38 Million People, 7,800 deaths. Mexico our neighbors to the south 128 Million People, 14,000 deaths. In the United States were 328 Million People, now were up to 121,000 deaths. Back in february, february 28th the president said the virus is going to disappear. One day its like akp r miracle will just disappear. On march 6th he said anybody that wants a test can get a test. Thats what the bottom line is. March 10, 2020 he said this was unexpected and were prepared and were doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm, it will go away. March 24th he said weve never closed down the country for the flu, so you say to yourself what is this flu all about. May 20 on the u. S. Cases have the most cases in the world at 1. 5 million, to that date despite testing shortages he said when you say we lead in cases thats because we have more testing than anybody else. We dont look at that as a bad thing. Thats a badge of honor. A badge of honor to have 121,000 people die from this pandemic. I want to ask you a couple of questions if i may, commissioner. And one of those let me just ask you to just react to what i just shared. Just react to what i just shared. Well, sir, i think i guess my initial thought is im not a medical professional, and as an acting commissioner of cbp when we were called upon to implement and provide our guidance and our knowledge with respect to what would be the most appropriate way to implement travel restrictions both in air environment, sea environment and land environment thats what we did. And i think the men and women of the cbp have done an incredible job doing that. There are areas where individual agencies like the cdc are needing certain types of information and cbp have done the work to improve those processes to get the work they need to be able to safeguard this country. What i can say from a Public Health perspective in our role at cbp i think weve done an incredible job. I think the efforts weve taken both in the air, sea, and land environment have saved countless i couldnt even guess how many thousands of american lives have been saved im going to reclaim my time. Could you imagine had you not done a great job how much worse it would be . Weve got less than 5 of the worlds population, weve over 25 of the worlds deaths and can you imagine how much worse it would be if cbp hadnt been doing a sterling job. Let me ask you another question if i can, and last summer the president passed and congress signed into law a supplementing appropriations bill. Of that funding 1. 7 billion went to cbp. It will be used to ease severe overcrowding at cbp stations and i. C. E. Detention facilities. Lack of administrative capacity to support cbp agents and officers. Congress provided the funding with strict sfrukinstructions h should be used and not be used. Violating the statutory provisio provisions that governed their use. Among the items purchased to assure the safety of migrants and cbp custody were such items as dirt bikes, allterrain vehicles and surveillance equipment. Cbp has recommended or the gao has recommended cbp either adjust its expenditures to account for these i dont have any time left but a yes or no answer, do you commit to following gaos recommendations . Absolutely. Thats one way to save a technological problem. Physical presence does make a difference. Apparently they could hear me online, but it does make it harder for you to answer the questions, mark. Mark, thanks for your work and service. Please pass on the condolences to the families of the seven we have lost on cbp and a lot of folks that live every day with the threat coming at them. As every person coming across the border they dont get the privilege of social distancing and theyre not Wearing Masks when they come across. For those folks please tell them thank you for the work they continue to do. I know cbp has been very engaged in seizing fake testing kits and fake medications, fake n95 masks. Whats the status on that, and what are you seeing . Every time theres a crisis perspective the first thing we get together collectively is we setup a task force because we know that criminals are going to take advantage of it. Weve really gotten together as a usg. Weve gotten together with a host of investigative agencies to really focus on this. And hundreds of thousands of, you know, face masks have been recovered, countless covid tests have been recovered that really could have done serious harm to the American Consumer had it gotten into their hands. And this is something as were trying to implement the travel restricts and stop covid from coming into our country were still as equally committed to this. You also made a comment earlier the number of individuals illegally crossing the border has decreased and the apprehensions obviously have been along those same lines as well. The amount of drugs coming into the country has increased per pound. Are you seeing changes in amounts, more meth, more fentanyl, more cocaine . Are there trends youre seeing as well. What im looking for is types of drugs as well. Absolutely. Theyre increasing and especially from this time last year. I think i said in my opening methamphetamine mean for example from this time last year its up 20 , 30 from this time last year. What were seeing is the cartels do what they do best. They change their tactics and techniques quicker than anything ive ever seen in the history of Law Enforcement. So the number of vehicles coming across have dropped by 65 . And so their normal mode was to smaller loads and vehicles to get them through the masses and it was fairly affected. And now the number of vehicles drastically reduced thats not working anymore. Now theyre going to the cargo environment and theyre actually putting larger loads in the cargo to get them through. So theyre shifty. But now were seeing them take greater risk. Theyre using pedestrians more, body carries, and weve seen them continue to shift, and theyre effective. We know the cartels make a significant amount of money transporting families and children across the border especially single adults as the cartels are a major income source among with drugs to be able to move people. Obviously with the significant drop in people is it your assumption were seeing an increase in drugs because theyre wanting to keep their same income source . I think youre spot on. Theyll throw anything to them for a profit and if anything is being hit theyre going to shift to another entity to make profit. As i said from this time last year overall precovid 76 reduction. Thats taken billions of dollars out of their pocket, so theyre absolutely shifting. Thats why i think were going to continue to see an increase of drugs come into this country. Theyre going into the sea more and doing mixed loads now, both drugs and smuggling humans as well, and so theyre really branching out. Were seeing them use air more, tunnels more. Theyre expanding as much as they can. Title 2 authorities dealing with Health Emergencies and Communicable Disease overseas theres a significant amount of authorities it that are there. Walk me through how those are actually applied and what you think the difference is and the enforcement and the number of people trying to cross. Because obviously theres still a lot of people that want to be able to come to the United States. What difference do you think those title ii authorities make squhut a and what are they . Prior to covid and prior to title 42 because Administration Admission of policies wed already made a significant decrease in the flow. Again, 76 . We went from 25,000 in custody to 3,400 in custody. What we saw initially march 21st within the first probably 2, 3 weeks we saw a 50 decline from those trying to attempt to illegally enter. That was significant. It really shows the individual listened to the medical experts, selfquarantining and not taking the risk from a Public Health perspective and it was working. Were seeing the numbers start to increase a little bit especially mexican nationals. Do you think the count of mexican nationals is increasing or the percentage is increasing . The percentage is increasing. But you think the count is close that folks other than mexican has declined that much . If you look this time last year it was almost that with the percentage increase. What were concerned about, though, is that as we get on the other side of covid mexicos economy we think thats going to create an additional pull fac r factor. About 276,000 people had been apprehended that are inadmissible. Does that number seem about right . Yes, it does. So around a quarter million at this point that we pecked up during that time period. Thats a significant decrease from what weve seen in the past but thats a very large number. I went back to look at the number of people that were given naturalization last year, to be able to look at the last year we have a full year of naturalization. 883,000 people legally went through the process and were naturalized. Thats an 11year high. So one of the things i want to be able to mention to you is this administration is going to continue to accelerate into Legal Immigration and naturalization with an 11year high for the number of people who legally went through the process to be naturalized but have been focused on declining illegalads missions inadmission country. Tell your folks thank you and continue to enforce the law and protect your people. Thank you for that, and i thanked the chairman and Ranking Member, too, and i will take that back and i can tell you the men and women out there when they hear that from their elected leaders it means something. So i will take that back, sir. Thank you. Well try senator scott. Try talking and see if we can hear you. Hi, can you hear me . Yes, i think we can. Turn it up. I want to thank everyone for what youre doing. Earlier this year i had the opportunity to visit we can barely hear you. Were trying to boost the volume. Do you have volume control on yours . I cant hear at all. Is this better . Can you hear me now . A little bit better, yeah. Okay. Do you want me to go ahead and go or go to someone else first . Actually we can hear pretty good. Wheres the speakers at, sir . Im still having a hard time hearing. All right, so can you hear me . Its tough, sir. Its not going to be good if the witness cant hear, so i think we have to say if you want to come down and ask questions youre going to have to come down to the hearing or come up to hearing room. Can you hear me now . Mark, youll have to answer that. I can, but its not great. We can try it. Okay, give it a shot. First off i want to thank you for what everyone does. I had the opportunity to visit the one down in miami, and one of the concerns ive got which i think a lot of us have is the amount of counterfeit goods coming in from communist china, and i want to compliment you what youre doing all the time and if you can talk about what theyre die trying to do to stop the amount of counterfeit goods coming in from communist china. The counterfeit goods coming in, a considerable amount from china absolutely across the spectrum. If its made its being counterfeited. And many of these items go directly to impact the Public Health of the consumers here in this country. So we are continuing to work with all of the appropriate partners in usg to come up with new not only new policies to address and better position us but also new techniques and new processes which will increase our ability to actually identify, detect and seize and stop those coming into this country. Do you have the resources to be able to do it . So thats always the question. Depends on what the scale is. And if you look at the amount of volume especially on the ecommerce, especially on the deminmist, which i know youre familiar with the numbers are astronomical that come in. Were doing some operations, operation megaflex for example where were surging resources. Were working with the United StatesPostal Service as well where were surging resources to impact capacity to seize and stop those counterfeit goods. To say we have both the technology and boots on the ground, if you will, to be able to adequately look at everything coming across right now the answer is no. The trade deal that we signed with communist china did it do anything to require them to try to crack down on either the counterfeit or the substandard products they ship over to the United States . Yes, in fact, you know, ive had several conversations with Peter Navarro and were working together, and thats exactly something theyre trying to drive. Thats really a driving factor outside of cbp, but were fully supportive of that because thats important. If theres not some sort of accountability then were not going to see a significant shift. And the last Strategic Plan we put out last year had provisions in there where we will as a usg be able to hold china more accountable with respect to counterfeit goods. Are they complying . Are they actually trying to be helpful at all . My concern is china never complies with anything. Theyll say theyll do something and of course they never do it. Theyve never complied with any agreement ive ever signed that ive found. Those dialogues and negotiations are continuing, and were continuing to look at the are there things that customs and Border Protection is doing now to deal with our airports and how we can make them safer as a result of the covid mainly when it comes to a Global Pandemic were mainly going to implement what the medical experts decide. In this case cdc our medical professionals within dhs as well as the medical professionals we have the cbp, theyre engaged. Theyre talking to each other and theyre trying to come up new solutions how we can make that environment safer for passengers that are coming in. I think a key important element to that is also the stakeholders, the airlines. So we are working with the airlines. In fact, last week i participated personally in a couple of trade conversations when we talked to the airlines and we specifically had conversations about this. How can we do that . Because part of this is, you know, balancing that Public Health risk but also increasing consumer, you know, awareness and their comfortableness with flying again. Thats critical, so weve got to balance that, both of those needs. Its pretty important to the florida economy to be able to get individuals comfortable flying again. I think theres things that, of course, government can do but a lot of it has to be done at the Airline Level to get people comfortable. I just want to finish by thanking you for what you do. Customs and Border Protection for what they do every cay to try to keep americans safe and make sure American Products that come in here are not counterfoot, theyre not things that are bad for us. So i want to thank if youll thank everybody on behalf of me from the state of florida im very appreciative of what yall do. Absolutely. Thank you. Senator rosen. Thank you, senator johnson, Ranking Member peters for having this important oversight hearing today and of course acting commissioner morgan appreciate you being with us here in person today as well. I want to talk a bit about the entry restrictions for children. March 21, 2020, cdc and dhs suspended certain admission for immigrants regardless of their country of origin purportedly under concerns of covid19. Instead of transferring them as required by federal antitrafficking law. The trafficking victims protection reauthorization act or tbpra because its a lots easier to say that, this really places children at risk of trafficking, persecution and other grave harm. So is cbp transferring unaccompanied children arrive agate the u. S. Southern border to oor custody and screening them as required by law . So the answer is yes and no. So title 42, and i think this is important and im being obvious here. But as were in the midst of this Global Pandemic the priority must be to contain and mitigate the spread of this virus to keep it from being further introduced in the u. S. But, maam, i can assure you that cbp through implementing the cdc c drder its consiste with law, policy including our nonrefilement obligations. Do you know how many unaccompanied children youve removed since march 21st . Yes, i have those numbers. And then while youre looking for those do you have the number of how many werent screened for trafficking or protection concerns because thats what were concerned about. Yes, maam, ill have this down. But approximately under title 42 of the cdc order about 2,000 were processed under title 42, and just shy of 300 were processed under title 8, and they would go through the normal procedure. So only 300 were screened out of the 2,000 . No, maam, so they were all screened. 100 of these kids were screened for trafficking and protection. Yes, maam. That doesnt change. If we see anybody, any signs someones trafficked theyre going to fall out of title 42 and be treated regardless of seeing the signs the regulation all unaccompanied minors are screened. Youre screening all unaccompanied minors. Is that what im understanding . Yes, maam. Were complying with our nonrefilement requirements under the law, yes, maam. I want to move on now to a little bit of transparency and oversight as this is a Commission Hearing on oversight. And so nevada of course we are home to thousands of immigrant families. They make up part of the diverse fabric of our state and country. And too often unfortunately i hear concerns from our states immigrant community and advocates about dhs overnight when it comes to investigating abuse by i. C. E. And cbp personnel including sometimes racist remarks made by Border Patrol agents at the southern border. You please give us a little insight into what Accountability Measures are in place for cbp agents and the officers that engage in verbal abuse or other forms of misconduct directed at immigrants . Its handled like any allegation of misconduct. We have a robust and internal affairs of office of responsibility could you describe the grievance process then . The immigrant has to make the claim, another officer makes the claim . Can you speak to that a little bit please . Well, it depends on the circumstance but if an immigrant feels that they have been mistreated in any form or fashion, yes so what is their process . If im an immigrant, im in custody at the border, ive been a victim of some form of abuse or comment, how do i go about talking about that. Theres a variety of options. Ill give you one. They could report it to a supervisory cbpo or Border Patrol agent. Where is the oversight in there they have some way to get their claim heard . Right, so then the process is then that claim like for this example if its reported to a supervisor, Border Patrol agent or cbpo then that allegation will immediately go to our joint intake center. And have you conducted an independent review of this process . Yes, we actually have a caw dr cadre of hundreds of special agents. Have you produced reports of this independent review . Is there something we can look at and see . Every year, in fact the 2018 report recently came out. Well, its 2020 so can we see that . Can you please direct that to us so we can see the process . Yes, maam. I guess i have about a little minute left so how about we talk about the remain in mexico program, the migrant protection protocols, mpp. You know, two months ago dhs and office of immigration review announced theyre going to be rescheduling all those hearings during covid19. Theyre forced to travel for their destination only to find that their date theyve traveled unnecessarily to find their date has been changed, to receive notice they have a new hearing date. And so i think this is a shortsighted policy, and how do we be sure that people arent traveling just to find out that they cant get there . So can you tell me how many immigrants waiting in mexico for their scheduled court date were required to make the journey back just to receive notice of the postponed court dates . H that maam. My understanding is we communicated that out. Id like to see some numbers on that if i could. We can get better at that. But what i can assure you the decision behind continuing to foes pone this i really support. Really in the western hemisphere brazil has become the epicenter. Latin america has become higher than the European Countries as far as the number of cases. So if youre going to change the court date and youre going to require someone to come in person to receive that notice or however that notice is can you modify that policy to let them know so they dont have to make this trip unnecessarily just to find out that they cant be there in. My understanding that wasnt happening, but if that was, yes, maam, we can get better at that. I appreciate that. I look forward to hearing those numbers. Thank you. Yes, maam. So i dont see senator holly. Dont think hes coming in so go next to senator romney, then senator hassen and senator portman. Can you hear me . We actually can, yes. Good, thank you. Talk as loud as you can, though. Okay, ive got a big voice and ill do my very best. First i want to express appreciation to your entire team for the work that you do helping keep our country safe from products that are coming in that citizen. Products also coming in that are not adu adulterated or cause harm. One of the things i learned on my trip to the border in san diego as i met with Border Patrol agents and in fact with the ed of the Border Patrol agent union he said to me something interesting. He said, you know, one of the problems we have is that the magnet is so strong people are going to find a way to get here whether we like it or not. And i said what magnet are you talking about, and he said the magnet im talking about is the job magnet. Which is if people can earn 1 1 an hour on one side of the border and 1 an hour on the other side of the border theyre going to come to america for the opportunity for a better paying job and also a Better Future for their kids. And his point was, yes, its important to have a wall built to make it more difficult for people to cross into our country illegally. But if we really want to stop the amount of ilLegal Immigration that comes in and takes american jobs were going to have an effective way to prevent people from getting american jobs if theyre here illegally and thats why our nation has the everify system. This is not mandatory. Businesses of all kind is not using the system to determine if someone is here legally or illegally. What is your perspective and the perspective of the people you work with on what we need to do not just to build a wall, which is important and i support, but also to change the conditions in our country so that we reduce the incentive for people to come here illegally . Yes, sir, so you are spot on. The job magnet statement i completely agree with. Thats what we see. That is absolutely without a doubt the overwhelming majority of the poull factor is theyre coming here for economic reasons. Its not hyperbole but a fact. Weve got to pass meaningful legislation to address those factors. Job incentives we need to continue to hold employers accountable that continue to hire people in this country illegally. No matter how bad our economy is in this country its worse elsewhere, and thats what were seeing right now with covid. If not they wouldnt keep coming. Just a little bit of common sense. So youre absolutely right on that. And theres more incentives than just the jobs, i mean incentives once they get here they know theyre going to be able to stay here and remain. We have so many loopholes in our system and thats why with all due respect we still need congress to step up to pass meaningful legislation to address this crisis and actually address the incentives. I will say, though, the wall is still a very important thing because it helps us with drugs and criminals and a lot of other bad stuff coming in as well. We need to do it all including the wall. Yeah, thank you. I do agree. Im one of those pushing for mandatory everify and penalizing companies, penalizing employers who do not use everify. Penalizing them just like we do if they dont pay their taxes, they get in trouble. Id have the same kind of penalties associated with not using everify and hiring people that are here illegally. I welcome as senator lankford indicated Legal Immigration. The fact thats been enhanced is good news, but ilLegal Immigration is not fair to the millions of people who would like to come here ultimately and want to do so legally. Of course, the other issue relates to drugs coming into our country. And i dont know that you have any recommendations in that regard. Of course as long as theres demand, as long as theres people here willing to spend a lot of money to buy drugs the drugs are going to find a way to get into this country either through the mail systemp . Kb or tunnels people dig or in the ocean or aircraft. Thatll fi they will find a way. Do you or any of your colleagues have a way to reduce the demand pull that has been a scourge for so long on our country, a health scourge but also a real challenge im sure for you and your agents as you seek to try and close off as many avenues as possible. I think youre spot on. I say often were not going to seize our way out of this drug problem. Thats not going to happen. This really does take a whole government approach to this as well. As were looking at the criminal element, as were targeting the tcos, we also have to address that very real demand side in this country. If were going to saufb the probl problem it has to be simultaneously attacking that. You name it theyre using every technique they can. But attorney general barr is spearheading a usg collective approach how we can get better to target the cartels and smuggling operations. Cbp is an integral part of that, and were making some headway and continue to improve our strategies. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you senator romney. Thank you mr. Chair and Ranking Member for holding this hearing and thank you, mr. Morgan, for coming before the commitsy a committee and i mourn with my colleagues in the officers weve lost. I want to follow up a bit in the questions senator langford and romney have warned you about the drugs trafficking uhuh cross our border but i want to focus on fentanyl. As you know my state and many states continue to grapple with the effect of opioid abuse. Our latest numbers in new hampshire, unfortunately, indicate Overdose Deaths are keeping pace with recent years in the midst of this pandemic if not being slightly higher. Can you please provide me with an update on fentanyl and other drug seizures at the southern border and all other points of entry during the pandemic . So for the most part it hasnt slowed down. We saw, you know, early on this year at the height of covid we saw drugs across dip down a little bit, but i was saying in the last 30 days in may they went back up to include meth and fentanyl both. In fact, border seizures between the points of entry have gone up. So its still there and stel coming and its still a problem. Are they still using the same essential strategies on fentanyl yes. Have we seen any changes in patterns since the start of the pandemic . Yes, we have and we worked with china and got them to schedule certain drugs. So china was working with us, but that was dramatic. In the mail environment we saw drugs coming in from china specifically go down dramatically, and this has really been precovid. Were working with the United States inspector service. Were doing up aeration megaflex specifically targeting the mail environment and weve seen that go down. But the cartels just have the precursor chemicals sent right to mexico and have their own chemists. A Government AccountabilityOffice Review of emergency Border Security aid expenditures appropriated by congress reveal cbp spent funds for migrant care and aid on cbp border equipment like motorcycles, allterrain vehicles and boats. After the release of this audit your agency has conceded the gao report was accurate and cbp was at fault for spending these funds incorrectly. I really appreciate that fort rightness and mission but i want to know specific lee how much was misspent on equipment . 95 of the 1 billion supplement there were no errors. What they found there was a chunk of some 112 million there were some issue, and 60 million in is in question. About half of that we believe were due to the some technical errors. We put it in the wrong line and so it was a technical area. 30 million is what we think is left. It still requires some analysis and legal opinion and well work with the gao on gnat. We believe all the charges appear to be valid cbp operating expenses. Youre telling me it may have been as much as 30 million of aid congress appropriated for emergency purposes which was intended to address an overwhelming crisis from last summer. I appreciate again you guys are being forthright, but its important youre fixing this after the garo audit, but why isnt cbt making sure missent aid can be appropriated in a timely manner. Im not saying we actually agree the money was misspent. Again, the 30 million is what we believe what requires further analysis. What we think it was technical errors of which we need to correct and we need to get better and make sure that doesnt actually happen. As i read the summary of the gao report i might differ with that because i think expenditures on certain kinds of vehicles arent connect today the kind of Emergency Care that congress intended that funding to be spent on and i look forward to following up with you on that. One last question. Last fall i traveled to parts of afghanistan to battle opioid production. Unfortunately it appears that opioid farming remains widespread, and we have made far less progress than i would have liked and im sure all of us would have liked on this effort. We also learned the opioid farmed in afghanistan generally supplies europe and canada and rarely makes its way to the United States. However, my state shares its border with canada as many of my Committee Member states. How do you think this will affect our ability to stop opioid production into the u. S. Obviously as you stated that is a problem. That is a problem that has to be addressed, and thats why we and i know we are attacking mis. Were trying to get out there and stop it from coming to our borders. And i thank you for that. One of my concerns is as we continue to attempt to slow Drug Trafficking from our southern border if our northern border is considerably more porous and we know that opium from afghanistan goes to canada that gives traffickers a whole other strategy to pursue. Yes, maam. So, again, i look forward to continuing this conversation with a whole of government approach. Thank you. And you well know most of the drugs coming in come from outside our borders so. Thank you very much. Thank you, mr. Chair. Well, senator porter, well see if we can hear you. Hows that, mr. Chairman . Actually, very good. Thank you for holding the hearing. Thank you for being here. First of all i want to say i think youre in the covid19 period. Your people havent gotten the credit they deserve to be able to keep our Transportation System working well, and having traveled a lot on airplanes the last couple of months i can say people are back. The airports are not entirely full again but planes instead of being 25 full are now 80 full ive been on. And the people you have putting their own health at risk every day are to be commended and i thank you for you that. And please pass along our gratitude to all of those individuals for helping to protect our americans in the midst of concerns about covid. One question i have for you. Ive talked to your people. Ive talked to them about the importance of the masks and hand so sanitizer and ubglovgloves and. Have you had an issue there . So thats a hard one to quantify but overall i would say, yes, clearly. If you look at as well the epicenter for us at cbp its kind of mirrored whats happened in the United States. So our first largest degree of covid related outbreak for our personnel happened in new york a few weeks ago. As were starting to get additional outbreaks in texas and arizona and california, the trend for cbp personnel is following that. What is hard to determine sometimes is whether they got that from Community Spread outside of work or they got that while at work, but, again, i know im stating the obvious here. As you said theyre out there every day especially right now on the southwest border. ~4un everyones given up down there. A lot of these folks are running from them and theyll have close contact, high risk contact we could call it, so definitely exposed. Weve had several hup that hand have tested positive. Thanks for keeping americans saves and your people safe. On the kids i think about 22,000 unaccompanied uacs, kids have come in. And weve done a lot of work on this issue my general point would be im pleased to hear you continue to do the screenings on trafficking. None of us want to see these kids trafficked. And it is in the covid era a different situation. If i could real quick so if you go back to may of this time last year were averaging about 370 children a day. Now its 31. That is just tremendous. And so in those children that under title 42 that we do return we are intensely working with the government were returning to make sure theyre returned in a safe, humane, compassionate manner and make sure those countries were returning them to are working to return them with their families. I mean, this process actually is thats what were trying to do. Were actually trying to reunite the children with their families back in their home country. And thats exactly what we should be doing. I got involved with this egg farm issue in ohio in my home state where you had kids actually return to the traffickers by hhs, and my sense is the reform has been put in place to help on that. With regard to customs and Border Protection and the fentanyl issue you didnt mention the stop act earlier and this committee as you know passed the stop act through congress and what it did was require the Postal Service to require this advanced electronic data so your people can identify the packages coming from china and elsewhere that might have the fentanyl in them. Weve acquired 100 from china, by the way, for good reasons. Can you give us a report on that . My sense is were not quite at 100 , and my sense is this has been very successful. Already the fedexs and the the private care yeriers had to pro this data. You were finding the contraband. Now youre doing it with the post office. As a result, the traffickers have shifted their means of entry into the United States, and more of it is coming across the border now instead of through the mail, but can you give us a sense of how you have been working with the Postal Service in particular and whether you think its working well, whether you think the stop act needs to be improved or whether you think its actually effective in stopping the fentanyl that is coming almost entirely through the mail at one point and then primarily through the mail. Ill have to get back to you sir on the exact stats of percentages were at now, but we can get back to you on that. The work the cbp and the Postal Service, its a great relationship. Its a great partnership. We have been working together for a very long time. I think i mentioned a couple times the operation mega flex that we have done, and because of that work, we have actually went out to the corporate world and we put a statement out there saying, hey, we need some folks to come up with innovative ideas on how we can get better at detecting drugs in the mail environment. And thats being worked on right now. Were continuing to do things to improve our ability to do that, but youre spot on. Like i said earlier, we attack that together, kind of a usd perspective, and we saw a dramatic increase, especially coming from china. But as you said, unfortunately, theyre shipping it now directly to mexico and coming across the land border. Yeah. And by the way, you know, the best we can do it help you is stuff like the stop act which required the post office to do what they refused to do. The interdict act also provided funding for some of the technology to help you do your job. Let us know where we can be helpful. I think the place we can be most hopeful right now is the prevention, treatment, and recovery side, to reduce the demand that drives so much of this with the huge profits you talked about earlier. We were making great progress with regard to opioids in the three years before covid hit, we finally had reductions for the first time ever, and any way you measure it, including number of overdosed and Overdose Deaths. Now i think were back up again, unfortunately, at least in my home state of ohio. Were seeing more Overdose Deaths that last year or the year before, getting back to the high level of 2017. We have to do a better job to help you to reduce that demand because otherwise you have an impossible job of very much the same as we were talking about the importance of the everify system and immigration, that magnet of jobs. Whether its the magnet of the demand for drugs ear or the magnet of the jobs. Let me verify, our big issue has been the identifier. The everify system should be mandatory. I think mitt romney spoke well about that. I agree with him, but the issue with these employees, yeah, i accept the i. D. , a Social Security card and a drivers license that were issued in my state, and seemed valid. But theyre fraudulent. And its been difficult for us to figure out a way without a National Identifier to assure that the person is in fact someone who should be in this country. And is here legally. What are your thoughts about fraudulent documents and identifiers and hi we can address that issue, which is really the bottleneck in having an effective everify system . As you know, its a little everify is outside of cbp. It really is in i. C. E. s purview, so i want to be cautious not to speak on the director of i. C. E. , but its a challenge. But it affects your guys. And women, as theyre trying to do their jobs, unless we can deal with the demand, again, and its magnet, so i hope, you know, if you could weigh in a little bit this morning and my time has expired, but also, just stay engaged in this issue because youre telling them, this helps us to be able to do our job. I think maybe effective in getting us to a better system. Yes, sir, we have those discussions all the time. Even though its outside my purview, trust me, im onboard. Again, we have to get better at holding those companies that are intentionally hiring illegal workers, we have to hold them accountable. But its a complicated, tough matter to investigate. Yeah. I will say theres some new technology, facial Recognition Technology and people talking about, because again, you cant rely on these documents. Many of which are fraudulent, you can buy a Social Security card for 25 on the street. Its fraudulent, but effective sometimes for the purposes. So thank you again. Thank your people. Tell them we appreciate what theyre doing every day. Thank you. I will. Senator harris. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Commissioner morgan, for the past several weeks, as you know, people from all walks of life have been demonstrating in all the 50 states. And theyre protesting the unlawful killing of, in particular, black men and women by police. According to a government document obtained by yahoo news, at least 400 cbp personnel have been deployed to some of these marches. I sent you a letter on june 5th asking, and it was joined by my colleagues, asking you a number of questions that included what identification and equipment your personnel are carrying, what forms of force are they authorized to use, and what surveillance are you conducting during these deployments. I have not received a response. Can you give me a date i can expect to get that response . Ill get with the staff and well get it to you as fast as we can. Good by the end of next week, please. Well do our best to do that, yes, maam. Thank you. Giving your mission to focus on our borders, why are you deploying your folks to these protests . Because we were asked. By whom . By a few different individuals. And its not just that we deployed resources to the National Capital region. We also deployed resources all over this country. Im glad you brought that up. Which states did you deploy them to . I have that nooifr. I think it was 11 or 12 states we deployed, and we got this request from a variety of individuals. We got similar requests from other federal agencies. We also received thosesv vauqa directly from state and local Police Departments that were specifically requested a certain type of assistance. Great. I look forward to the followup. If you could include, as you mentioned, not only where you deployed but the requester. As you know, u. S. Customs and Border Protection is the largest federal Law Enforcement agency in the country and has unfortunately a documented history of abuse and misconduct allegations. And theres a 2014 analysis im familiar with by the American Immigration council of 809 complaints of abuses by Border Patrol agencies from 2009 through 2012. Which found that in 97 of the cases in which an outcome was reported, no action was taken against the officer. The complaints included hitting someones head against a rock, stomping on someones back, touching women inappropriately, kicking a pregnant woman, causing her to miscarry. In a 2017 report, on 2,178 complaints from 2012 to 2015, the percentage of cases with reported outcomes where no action was taken against the officer was 96 . So obviously, the people in the streets are marching because of their concern about those cases where Law Enforcement has abused its power and exercised excessive force. How are you dealing with these cases in your agency . Because obviously, these numbers are troubling when in the high 90 range, theres no action taken on these complaints. Do you believe that that number reflects the actual behaviors that have been reported or do you and are you confident you have conducted the investigations accurately and adequately . So, im not sure what youre implying by that totally, but to answer that question is, yes. I think we have a robust process. Let me just, so i can clarify misconduct is fully investigated. Ill clarify. So where there were 809 complaints, there was no action taken in 97 of the cases. So youre confident that only 3 of those cases were actionable . Im confident, maam, like you said, wee the largest Law Enforcement organization, 61,000. And a single allegation of misconduct is important, but if you look at the numbers, thats very low for a work force of 61,000. What i will say is im confident in the system. Is it a perfect system . I would never say that, but im confident in the system that we have a cadre of individuals in our own agency and outside agencies. These allegations of misconduct are routinely reviewed by the local District Attorneys Office to the civil rights justice department. Im confident in that system. What is your internal mechanism . Is there a Division Within your agency . Yes, maam. What is the name of that division . Office of professional responsibility. Back then, it would have been called internal affairs. We have hundreds and hundreds of special agents that are dedicated, their whole job, 24 7, is to do nothing but investigate allegations of m misconduct. Do you report thesis allegations and misconduct in a report . Yes. What is the name of that report . I dont know the title of the report . So you produced one last year as well . The last one i have seen is 2018, and theyre working on 2019s. When do you expect that to be complete . I dont have that information but i could get that to you. How are you insuring that your personnel who are now being deployed to these demonstrations are complying with your rules ell . So, one, theyre trained. They fully understand what their use of force guidelines are. We have an appropriate leadership and supervision that is there also. And then we, like we always do when theres a special deployment, we have briefings, and the totality of the circumstances are explained to them, what their mission is, and what the expectations are. So do you have in written documents an outline of what are your stages of discipline for your agents when they break the rules or break the law . Absolutely. Its well documented. And its pretty extensive. Can you provide our committee with that . Of course, yes, maam. Thank you. Since march 20th of this year, there was a policy that your agency has implemented that turns away people who come to our border without fully letting them make their case for why they are in danger in their home countries and deserve refuge in the United States. By many accounts, this policy denies these folks due process. And access to our asylum protections. Since implementation of this policy, i understand you have turned away 43,000 people and reportedly at least 2,175 of them are unaccompanied children. Maam, what policy are you referring to . The policy that you initiated on march 20th. Cdc order. 2020, yes. That was actually not a dhs or cbp policy. That was actually a cdc directive and order under title 42. Which you implemented. Yes. Thats what i said. You implemented it. Yes, maam. Okay, so Public Health experts have said this policy, quote, so commissioner morgan, i understand today you testified that you have expelled about 2,000 unaccompanied children. Is that right . We have removed approximately 2,000 children under the cdc title 42 order to insure the Public Health and reduce the introduction of covid19 into this country, yes. And have any of those children suffered violence, trafficking, assault, or any other harm after you turned them away . We work extensively with the governments of the countries that theyre being returned to to make sure that they are returned in a safe, humane, compassionate way, and they are actually reunited with their parents in their home country. Have you received any reports of any of those children that you have turned away having been exposed to any type of abuse . I have notrhi seen any repor. Have you been told of any reports of that . I have not been told of any specific child under the cdc order that we returned to their country of origin who waw a victim of abuse. My last question on this point. How many of those children have been reunified with their parents . We would have to work with the government that we returned them to have that information. We dont track that information. Is there a reason you dont track that information if you are concerned about their safety after you turn them away . Because we rely on the country of origin for them to reunite them with their family. I would ask that you consider putting in place a policy where you do track whether those children are actually reunified with their families once you turn them away. We can look at that. Thank you, i appreciate it. Mr. Morgan, again, thank you. Thank the men and women who work in your agency. Theyre putting their lives on the line, again, tragically lost seven due to covid, but we also had over the years tragically other cbp officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty. Law enforcement is hard. I for one, i think you saw pretty unanimously that this committee, we truly appreciate the level of service and sacrifice. Please pass that along to them as well. Thank you for your testimony and your time. The hearing record will remain open for 15 days until july 10th aff5 00 p. M. For submission statements and questions for the record. This hearing is adjourned. 5 00 statements and questions for the record. This hearing is adjourned. 5 00 statements and questions for the record. This hearing is adjourned. T 5 0 statements and questions for the record. J