Transcripts For CSPAN House Judiciary Hearing On Immigration Laws 20170329

President obamas delivered undermining of our Immigration Laws, the growth of antiimmigration policies at every level of government and the vilification of state and local officers who attempt to enforce our nations duly enacted Immigration Laws. Our Immigration Laws are an expression of our immigration countrys sovereignty. Were the past eight years they were largely ignored in the example with that from the top. The of them administration the Obama Administration abandoned the rule of law under the prosecutorial discretion. It had devastating consequences. A coldblooded murder. Death by dui and terrorist attacks ranging from to the san bernardino. And the death of a rockville teenager. The time has come and gone for the laws to be truly restored. The rule of law is truly restored. The Obama Administrations policy of catch and release and of rubberstamping credible fear claims at the border and its outright prohibition on ice officers at from carrying out the Critical Mission have let this nation and increasingly at risk. The skyhigh credible fear of asylum grant rates make the dangerous illicit journey to the United States. The aliens overran our border. Fear and asylum claims increased tenfold. Simultaneously, the internal number dropped to only 265000 65,000 in 2016. The Trump Administration inherited a shell of Immigration Enforcement that it must now rebuild. I am pleased that we will hear from witnesses who can fully explain the benefits of federal, state, local cooperation and the detrimental effects of obstruction. These sanctuary communities have decided to make it a political statement out of lawlessness. They declined the report that ice will now regularly issues to prove itself a useful tool of continually identifying these jurisdictions in the criminals they allow all onto our streets. The government must discourage, not encourage, sanctuary policies and practices. Under dhss november 14, 2014, departmental guidance, ice was given stringent parameters on removing these aliens to remove. Traditional guidance ending the successful secure communities programs further constricted these parameters. This was sold to the American People is prioritizing ices limited resources to go after only the worst of the worst. Yet the number of criminal aliens removed from the interior fell from almost 87000 and fiscal two 2014 to approximately and a under president obama was widely understood that tolum officers should get yes on credible fear determinations by any man necessary by any means necessary. Policies like this did nothing to advance those goals. Instead, the Obama Administration policies encourage many aliens to see asylum. We have fraudulent boilerplate stories. The new administration is taking steps to correct this and already the flow of illegal aliens across the border has significantly slowed. This problem is endemic and i look forward to hearing from our witnesses on the best practices to address a silent fraud. A silent fraud. It is now my pleasure to recognize the Ranking Member on immigration of Border Security for an Opening Statement. Thank you mr. Chairman. Restoring enforcement of our nations Immigration Laws implies that up until recently our Immigration Laws went on enforced. Nothing could be further from the truth. The past administration deported more immigrants than any other Previous Administration. President obama even earned the infamous nickname d porter in chief. This massive increase in deportation never satisfied many republicans who repeatedly kept citing this supposed lack of enforcement. These alternative facts were used over and again to avoid fixing our broken immigration system. Today, republicans control all levels of the government and instead of finally attacking the pervasive problems affecting our immigration system, they are focused on attacking Community Governments with Community Trust policies. President trumps executive orders threaten to shame and withhold federal funds from jurisdictions that resist, in the administrations opinion, the federal government request to cooperate with Immigration Enforcement. The constitution, specifically the 10th amendment, protects state rights and prohibits federal actions that commandeer state and local officials. When it comes to immigration, these principles somehow seem to be overlooked. Recently i was at a meeting where the mayor of san jose said, we do not send out the San Jose Police department to enforce the security and exchange laws, the federal tax laws, the maritime laws, or the Immigration Laws. That is the job of the federal government. Their wellknown constitutional limits on the ability of the federal government to withhold fund to the states. State and local officials know their communities and how to keep them safe better than the federal government. The constitutions longstanding principles apparently are either ignored or seen as an impediment by some people. In the recent executive order on interior enforcement, President Trump a polished the prior administrations and force of priorities to go after all 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, just as President Trump promised he would do. And while this may satisfy most extreme elements in our country, it is not smart. It does not make our country safer. It does not make our country stronger. It has created a culture of fear. There are videos of parents taken from their u. S. Citizen children by armed ice officers wearing the word police on their best. There are stories of mothers living in this country for decades being deported after dutifully checking into ice appointments and threats by the department of Homeland Security, the secretary himself, to separate mothers from their children for deterrence purposes. The fear caused by these acts is pervasive and paralyzing communities across our country. Some may dismiss the heartbreak of many families across the country, but we should not dismiss how it is making communities less safe. We have seen reports of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault drop dramatically among latinos and loss angeles. We should also not dismiss the devastating economic consequences im sure well have. It is time to stop the posturing and start thinking about ways to fix our broken immigration system. I stand ready to work with my colleagues across the aisle to reform our Immigration Laws from top to bottom. With that mr. Chairman i yield back the balance. If i could, mr. Chairman, would also like unanimous consent to enter into the record statements from the following individuals and organizations expressing concerns about President Trumps Immigration Enforcement policies and that would be the National Immigration Justice Center, the chiefs of police of marshalltown, iowa, the retired to simply set of arden city, kansas, the fear of Immigration Reform movement, the National Task force on domestic and central violence, the messages within 10 Refugee Advocacy Coalition as well as a letter from 292 law professors and scholars saying that the resident posix i can afford or is unconstitutional. Saying that the president s effort is unconstitutional. Mr. Goodlatte is in the senate, and i wish him well in the senate with whatever he is talking about there. As house members will have to ask the voters every two years to send us back to deal with the senators. I would know recognize the Ranking Member of michigan for his Opening Statement for five minutes. Mr. Chairman, with the unanimous request. Without objection. The unanimous consent request will be granted. Senator. Congratulations again on your ascension to the chairmanship of this important committee. Members of the committee, i want you all to know that we i welcome all of our witnesses and look forward to their testimony and i would just like to remind you i do not frequently quote former president ronald reagan, but he once said our nation is a nation of immigrants, more than any other country our strength comes from our own immigrant heritage and our capacity to welcome those from other lands. That quote was on controversy all among my republican that quote was not controversial among all of my republican friends and it should not be so now. At the location of the moral and social work of immigrants is not a artisan position. It is simply american. As we begin todays hearing, i urge my colleagues to use this forum to examine sensible, effective measures rooted in fact and practice for enforcing our laws and keeping our communities safe. One fact we must consider is that studies have repeatedly shown that immigrants in the United States are less likely than nativeborn americans to engage in crime. The vast majority of immigrants in the United States are peaceful, lawabiding individuals who support their families and communities. Another fact is that the southern border is more secure than ever. Apprehension rates at the southern border have plummeted since the 1980s and apprehensions of mexicans specifically have reached their lowest point in nearly half a century. This helps explain why most americans do not want the trump border wall, which would cost upwards of a staggering 20 billion of a bill and 750 million annually to maintain, it is estimated. Notwithstanding these facts, and others, the Current Administration continues to vilify immigrants and attacked the communities that have decided not to conscript their Law Enforcement into a mass deportation port. In fact, yesterday a journey general attorney general sessions threaten to with hold federal funding from such jurisdictions. Let me be clear, attorney general sessions should not substitute his judgment for that of Law Enforcement and local jurisdictions. It is best to keep the Community Safe by the local jurisdictions. The attorney general to place a high priority on fighting crime, but threatens to withhold muchneeded Justice Department funding from the very agencies that are on the front lines in protecting all of us. Over 600 counties and cities have made the decision to resist the Administration Efforts to conscript their local officials into a mass Deportation Force because experience and data show that local enforcement of federal Immigration Law often makes communities less safe. It breeds profiling. Discrimination. Distressed. Immigrants stop reporting crimes to authorities and criminals grow emboldened. In fact, studies have shown that the sanctuary cities are actually safer in and more prosperous than their nonsanctuary counterparts under the guise of reporting the laws, we have already witnessed donald trump and his administration followed through on Divisive Campaign rhetoric with actions that threaten our core American Values and will do nothing to make us safer. To cite a few examples in less than 90 days, this administration has already threatened and unconstitutional use of federal Spending Authority to strongarm local jurisdictions into enforcing local jurisdiction federal Immigration Law. It undermines the Fourth Amendment pressure and cities into detaining immigrants without probable cause. And conducting indiscriminate raids on peaceful immigrant families in their homes and places of works and even schools. Such antiimmigrant measures not not only mean serious constitutional concerns but it threatens our nation as an immigrants. I yield back. Thank you. Without objection, other members Opening Statements will be made part of the record. We have a very distinguished panel. I will begin by swearing in our witnesses by introducing them. If you would, please all rise. Do solemnly swear the testimony you give before this committee will be the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help you not . Let the record show that all witnesses answered in the affirmative. First, sheriff hodgson. In bristol county, massachusetts. He was appointed in 1997 by william weld. Under his watch, the Sheriffs Office has established a worn warrant apprehension unit, a drug force test unit. His department in a program that he along with other sheriffs has called for the Immigration Reform with the emphasis on Border Security and interior enforcement. He previously testified before the massachusetts General Court regarding sanctuary policies. Ms. Jessica vaughan serves as the director of policy studies with the center for Immigration Studies and in that role, she studies numerous facets of immigration policy including immigration Law Enforcement. Prior to this, she served as a Foreign Service officer with the state department and has testified before this committee on numerous immigration related matters including at a simile hearing in 2015. She has a masters degree from Georgetown University and earned her bachelors degree in International Study at Washington College in maryland. Mr. Andrew arthur is the former staff director for the government reform and oversight committee. Prior to serving as a staff director, he was an immigration judge for the United States department of justice, executive office for immigration review of new yorkpennsylvania immigration court. He is also a fellow of a judiciary committee, immigration and served as counsel for five years advising the chairman, me, on matters relating to the enforcement of Immigration Laws in immigration policy. He has received his ba from the university of virginia and the law degree from the George Washington University School of law. The next serves as chief of policy and programs that the Justice Center. She spearheads national and local policy programmatic initiative, overseeing direct services to immigrant women and forging and mobilizing divers bipartisan coalitions to press for laws, regulations, and policies to better protect them from violence. Before joining this, she was the Deputy Director of the intervention project of the sanctuary for families in new york. She is a graduate of Brown University in two received her law degree from the university of michigan loss goal. Without objection, each of the witnesses written statements will be entered into the record in there and tired he. I ask that each witness summarizes or her testimony in five minutes or less and to help you stay with that time limit, there are lights in front of you and you all know what they mean. So, sheriff, why do you lead off. Press the button on your microphone. Thank you mr. Chairman. Security guards and metal scanners greeted me this morning as i walked into the office building. These measures were in place to protect everyone inside. Most people are cleared pretty quickly and go about their business. It is the others who attempt to do us harm, those who have no respect for our laws, who we have to worry about. It is those the Capitol Police must deny entry. We had the same level of protection and safety to our legal residence. We must you all the tools in our toolbox is to truly restore enforcement of our nations Immigration Laws for the safety and security of our citizens. Public safety is my number one priority. Public safety is your number one party. Public safety is anyones government officials number one priority. Public safety brings me here today. There is arguably no bigger threat to Public Safety that illegal immigration. Mr. Chairman and distinct members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to testify on what is perhaps the most dangerous threat to National Security. The safety of all americans. Good, thoughtful Immigration Law exists because of people like you decades ago. But its for a beach now is protecting no one and accomplishing nothing. As a sheriff and Police Officer, i spent my career and forcing law. I have a sworn duty to uphold the constitution of the United States and enforce all laws whether i disagree or agree with them. Just as you took the office to faithfully discharge the office on which you entered. The law is what you would in the courts say it is but unfortunately, through years of liberal policies tailored towards nonenforcement, congress now has to hold hearings on how to enforce laws that have been on the books for decades. My Law Enforcement colleagues will agree Severe Damage has been done by lackadaisical enforcement and the only thing we can do now is move forward to discuss how we can fix it. The fact is, our nation would be better off and our citizens would be safer if we never stopped enforcing Immigration Law and if we turned a blind eye toward sanctuary cities. Local county, federal, and state laws Work Together to keep the public safe, sharing resources and intelligence as much as possible. Working with the goal of keeping the public safe. Our Law Enforcement team is in opposing team that consists of local officials, elected or appointed, who have created and advocated century cities, sanctuary cities states, communities, and even colleges. These officials pledge not to work with, cooperate with, or even communicate with federal Immigration Enforcement. As a result, these safe zones have become magnets for illegal aliens, some of which have violent criminal records. At best, sanctuary cities are direct violation of trust and twin legal residents and the elected officials who took an oath to take them at all costs. At the worst it is illegal and extremely dangerous. If the sanctuary cities are going to harbor and conceal criminal aliens from ice which is in a direct violation of the code, criminal arrest warrants should be issued for their elected officials. I would double the amount my commitment to partner with federal authorities to boost Public Safety by becoming the Second Agency to enter into 287g. There is one thing we learn from 9 11 and that is all branches of Law Enforcement have to Work Together and share resources as much as possible. Under the two ag program, the fact that agents will be able to perform all immigration related actions. We will be able to identify process, detain, and assistant deportation of illegal aliens. They also get access to the ice database to identify criminal illegal and a price. Instead of waiting for an agent to drive hours to our facility for a screening, we can check the databases come interview the suspect, and electronically communicate with ice to keep illegal aliens and dangerous criminals off the streets and out of our neighborhoods. The department of Homeland Securitys estimates more than 400,000 immigrants were identified for deportation between 2006 and 2014. About 13,000 more work assessed at our facilities in the past five years. One dangerous criminal illegal alien not being able to commit another crime would justify this program. It is a tremendous toll in our toe box and a nobrain are in terms of Public Safety. It is a tremendous tool in our toolbox and a no brain are in terms of Public Safety. In terms of laws being undermined in the United States, we have a stable representative in massachusetts who just reported this morning who learned that ice may be coming to plymouth county. He sent a message, and allalert message out on facebook telling everyone that ice will be coming. Make sure you do not answer your doors and make sure you stay out of sight. This is the most outrageous thing that i think of an example of what is going on across United States undermining my job and every other Law Enforcement officer job in the United States to keep our communities safe. That elected official is responsible for protecting the welfare of the people of their communities, needs to understand they could be protecting someone ice is looking for who may be possibly connected to terrorism, international gangs, or some other horrific criminal history they have. Thank you for your time mr. Chairman and members of the committee. Thank you. Thank you and thank you for allowing the opportunity to testify. President obamas policies left Immigration Enforcement in a state of collapse. This is bad news for the country but the good news is theres nowhere to go but up now. The Obama Administration claimed they achieved record levels of deportation but affect the total number of deportations by all enforcement agencies, which is what the dhs office has always reported, actually deportations were half the level of the bush and clinton administration. Interior deportations drop by 70 since 2011. Illustrated by my written statement. The Obama Administration inflated numbers by counting people arrested by the Border Patrol who i never been counted before, as former secretary of Dhs Jeh Johnson admitted in testimony before august. Best before congress. The Obama Administration claimed they were doing smarter enforcement but instead they operated a massive catch and release program at the border in the interior. About 40 of the people caught trying to cross illegally in 2014 and 2015 were allowed to enter and were still here in 2016. This morning i was on a Conference Call with an Ice Field Office director and some local enforcement agencies in her area and the official said that they have seen an increase of 2025 in their caseload as a result of new illegal immigration at the southwest border. Not only are the illegal border cross are still here, so are about 950,000 other illegal aliens that have completed their due process and received a final order of removal but who are still here in this country. The smarter and more effective enforcement in the interior included releasing more than it more than 86,000 convicted criminals in three years. More than 100 of them were arrested for homicide after their release including one who killed a 21yearold in mesa, arizona, after being released. The Previous Administration claimed they were focused on felons, not families but in fact deportations of criminal aliens declined by 60 since 2011 even as they implemented the secure communities program, allowing ice to identify more criminal illegal aliens than ever before. They claimed they were simply exercising what they called prosecutorial discretion, but in fact they were giving out immigration benefits with millions of work permits to Illegal Immigrants and others otherwise not authorized to stay. They claimed the vetting of these applicants were with rigor but then release a report saying more than 500,000 foreign visitors over stayed in 2015. The vetting for work permits was no better. Hundreds have been issued to gang members and other criminals. Last week it was revealed a man who had been arrested for killing his 15yearold stepdaughter in texas had been issued a work permit. He had an arrest on his record for smuggling, assault, at that, and ice was trying to deport him but instead he was issued a work permit under the Previous Administrations policies. I do not dismiss the disappointment of families who have been allowed to live here illegally for all these years and gotten away with it, but this lack of enforcement has imposed enormous cost on american communities. These costs include lost Job Opportunities and stagnant wages for native workers, higher tax bills to cover increased outlays for social service than benefits, compromised National Security and public threats. The Trump Administration has taken steps to reverse this and to good effect. They have discarded the strict prioritization scheme that exempted some money from deportation. Theyre taking steps to build partnerships with local Law Enforcement including expanding 287g program as well as accelerate the process so as not to duplicate and clog up the courts further. They are reviving taskforces focused on smuggling, document gangs, and other transnational crimes. The infrastructure that supports illegal immigration. This is making a difference but some things can be done only by congress. No matter how many miles of barriers are built, how many ice agents are employed, as long as employers think they can get away with employing illegal workers they will keep doing it and as long as there is someone who will hire them, people in other countries will keep trying to come here illegally. We need congress to and a phasedin universal requirement to turn off the job magnet that motivates so many. We need to shore up the weak spots in the immigration and nationality act and we need to address the problem with sanctuaries. They get to stay here and have the opportunity to reoffend and create new victims. Congress must reduce opportunities for executive abuse of authority on work permits, and deferrals and other gimmicks that have been used by president s to make an and run around the laws crafted to congress. Thank you mr. Author. Imbers of the subcommittee, think you and chairman goodlad for the opportunity to test i on this important topic. Ive been involved in immigration for more than two decades. When i started, the simpson act was only inexpensive year. Premises of this legislation remained some today. Immigration is essential to the wellbeing of the country, immigrations laws must be enforced to be effective in that Employment Opportunity as the magnet that draws people to the United States. The act has never been fully enforced. The employer sanctions provisions were never implemented effectively and the document fraud positions were all but dead letter. Magnet has not been shut off in the population of aliens in the United States illegally today dorsett which confronted the next night congress. Im hopeful your efforts and oversight will result in the immigration system that addresses the needs of our country and protects the wages and working conditions of all americans, both citizens and lawful permanent resident. Much has changed since november 1986 but the primary change has been an expansion on the focus of enforcement on National Security. The main reason i left the ins where i had been the acting chief of the department of law division to come to this committee was because i did not believe we were doing enough to address the terrorist threat from abroad. I was in this room when the chairman and Ranking Member conyers took steps to address that threat and i am grateful to their leadership. I believe more still needs to be done. For eight years, served as an immigration judge in new york, pennsylvania. My docket consisted of lawfully admitted aliens who had committed removable offenses. Residents unlawfully in the states who had been apprehended on the border. I will focus on this latter group today. Much attention has been placed on the vetting of refugees. I can speak to that further but i think it is important for the members to also focus on a separate but Similar Group of aliens. Those in expedited removal proceedings who have claimed credible fear. Those who have claimed credible fear have not been screened before coming to the United States and for reasons i detailed are generally not screened effectively after, either. A view of these individuals actually bypass the refugees quitting process altogether, leaving refugee camps and making their way to the southern border of the United States where there are apprehended or turn themselves into u. S. Immigration authorities. Unlike the orderly system that the u. S. Government has in place for refugee admission, the system for screening those entering illegally is overburdened and lacks the necessary resources to effectively separate those who make was a danger to the United States from those who are in need of protection. Room is abroad, filled in part by a failure within the United States to enforce Immigration Laws, have also encouraged men, women, and children to trust their lives to traffickers. The coyote and snake head do not accurately describe the savage and debased nature of those who prey on the desperate and whose stock in trade is human misery. Enforcing our Immigration Laws will quell those rumors and undercut the ability of smugglers to peddle their trade. It is been argued that some of those seeking to enter have been told there is no real cost of entering illegally. If they avoid apprehension at the border they will never be removed. If they were apprehended at the border they can still stay by making fraudulent asylum claims, so it has been said. This is undoubtedly in some cases true. Many claims to not hold up to scrutiny. They are contradicted by the record as a whole. The ability of government agents, asylumer officers and Immigration Judges to identify fraud is crucial to rumors and thee prevention of misery before it begins. It is essential if we are to protect the American People who would take advantage of our humanitarian system and do harm to our communities. More resources, better directed, are needed to better address this problem. The refugee process, visa issuance to admission to court is the front door of america and it must be secure. It is equally important that threats to our country or immigration system are not able to abuse our laws by sneaking in through the back door. I think each of you and i look forward to your questions. Thank you. Thank you distinguished members. The Justice Center is a nonpartisan National Nonprofit that for over 20 years has provided Legal Services to immigrants survivors of human trafficking, Sexual Assault, and Domestic Violence. As an advocate for victims i am honored to be invited to comment today on the importance of protecting Public Safety while enforcing our federal Immigration Laws. Over the years ive heard hundreds of women and girls tell me stories of exploitation and abuse by men who viciously capitalize on disparities in economic and social status to establish control over their victims. Immigrant women and girls, face a number of challenges to accessing help including language barriers, limited resources, and ability to work legally, lack of access to public events, and fear of deportation. Many abusers use a womans lack of immigration status by threatening the victim could be imported away from their children. This is in alltofamiliar narrative from my organizations clients, many of whom have been harmed by american u. S. Citizen men. Congress recognized this when in 1994, with robust and partisan and bipartisan support coming it passed the violence against women act to strengthen the lawenforcement agencies to prosecute victims of domestic abuse, Sexual Assault and trafficking. These laws encourage victims to cooperate with Law Enforcement to help get violent criminals off of our streets and make all of us safer. These goals are now being significantly undermined because of misguided Immigration Enforcement policies. Secure community 287 g agreements and the like rely on a false narrative. There is no data to suggest that localities of Community Trust policy have more conductivity criminal activity than others. On the other hand, there is data that localities with Community Trust policies have achieved a reduction in crime. I heard just a few weeks ago a compelling story by a police chief who told me that one morning there was a gentleman driving his car with his domestic partner, his girlfriend in the car with them. I am sure she was the victim of Domestic Violence. She was attempting to escape. He dragged her back in, and shot her at 9 00 a. M. In the morning in broad daylight. Then he kicked her out of the car and sped away. There were only two eyewitnesses to the crime, two undocumented men who were day laborers standing outside of a store nearby. When police came to investigate the crime and find the man who murdered this woman, they questioned the witnesses. The witnesses said they would be happy to cooperate but asked for reassurance they would not be deported. When the police gave them that reassurance, they were able to identify the assailants and were able to apprehend and bring him to justice. More than 600 jurisdictions nationwide have enacted strategies to enhance Public Safety. A report concluded there are on average 35. 5 fewer crimes committed per 10,000 people in socalled sanctuary counties than there are in nonsanctuary counties. Includingcing groups the major cities chief association have oppose efforts to defund socalled sanctuary jurisdictions. The policies of the jenrette 25th executive order on enforcement are already having a Chilling Effect on reporting of criminal activities. In denver, an attorney reported that four Domestic Violence victims informed her office they no longer wish to press charges because fear of doing so would put them at risk for deportation. In los angeles, the police chief said reports of Sexual Assault have dropped by 25 and of Domestic Violence by 10 since the beginning of the year. Outside a courthouse where she had gone to seek an order of protection from her abuser. The result . Fear of reporting spread like wildfire. Domestic violence shelters reported a large drop in the number of women coming in for clients who of our who washe Police Pregnant said she needed help. Now i would think they would just come to deport me because that was what my husband was telling me and that is what we are hearing everywhere. That is what we are seeing now even though i did not commit any crime. The committee for taking seriously such issues as trafficking and Domestic Violence. I hope your concern spreads to all victims, including immigrants victimized by United States citizens. I trust you will direct your outrage toward strengthening laws and pursuing policies that will actually protect our societys most vulnerable individuals. The difficult truth is that 287 effectively prevent crime. Instead, perpetrators will be on the street. Policymakers to not pass policies that seem like they will have a good impact on impact will have an opposite impact. I see the chairman is here. Without objection, i will recognize him for 10 minutes for his Opening Statement without. Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for 10 minutes. The gentleman from virginia. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman, for your forbearance and i want to thank all of the witnesses for their testimony today. When the Obama Administration sailed off, it left in its wake a systematically dismantled Immigration Enforcement and allowed millions of unlawful aliens in the country without by terminating successful programs, including secure communities, the administration permitted if not incurred sanctuary cities and practices. This left us with an immigration system more broken, more dysfunctional, and far friendlier to those that frequently disregarded our nations Immigration Laws. Especially criminal aliens. The effects of eight years of not so benign neglect on Immigration Enforcement will be felt for many years. Earlier this month, two students at Rockville High School in rockville, maryland, brutally raped and attacked a fellow students. Reports indicate the perpetrators of this horrendous crime had entered this country as unaccompanied alien minors from Central America, likely drawn here by the Obama Administrations policy of releasing such individuals to their relatives in the United States, often illegally hear here themselves. This was a double tragedy because of the impact on a young girls life and because it could have been prevented by sensible immigration reinforcement. School districts around the country are facing a gang get epidemic, partly fueled by the Obama Administrations policies. Illegal immigration is not a victimless crime. Full hearty jurisdictions continue to pass legislation and implement policies aimed at stymieing immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers from enforcing the law. The same week as the tragedy in rockville, a Baltimore City Council Members reduced a resolution calling on i. C. E. To only arrest those posting a serious risk. They likened i. C. E. Officers to nazis several times. That is reprehensible. It is especially ironic given that the United States has long had the most generous immigration system in the world. Move,ickling troubling San Francisco even announced it would no longer to state in the joint Terrorism Task force because of concerns that the duties may coincide with Immigration Enforcement training. These irresponsible sanctuary policies have led to a sharp drop of illegal aliens from facilities, which leads to forcing i. C. E. Agents to engage in the far more timeconsuming and dangerous task of picking them up on the streets. The Trump Administration is issuing a weekly report of declinebased detainers nationwide. During the first week of the administration, 260 detainers were not honored nationwide, leading to the release of aliens who were arrested for or convicted of sex assaults, aggravated assault, arson, robbery, and many other serious offenses. The new administration, only two months old, has already started to right the ship. The president signed two executive orders aimed at securing our nations borders and strengthening interior enforcement of our Immigration Laws. These executive orders nudged the rudder of this massive ship in the right direction. I am encouraged the new administrations enforcement policies include all aliens who are a threat to Public Safety and National Security and restores the secure communities program. Just yesterday, attorney general sessions announced sanctuary cities will be ineligible for Justice Department grant. S. Progress at the border has been dramatic. The number of illegal aliens apprehended decreased by over 40 in the first month of the new administration, by over 60 in the second month. While this is encouraging, many thousands still make the dangerous trek across the border in order to turn themselves in and game our asylum system. It is no secret that credible fear in asylum claims have been rubberstamped with claimants released with Work Authorization as they await their hearings. Some now scheduled for 2021. I applaud the president for addressing bogus, credible claims in the executive order. As much as im impressed what the new administration is doing within the statutory framework, it also desperately needs new statutory tools to enforce Immigration Laws. Over the past two congresses, this committee has approved measures to provide tools, including providing that unaccompanied minors are safely and expeditiously returned home. That the federal government will work with local jurisdictions that want to provide assistance. That sanctuary cities will lose funds and to allow for the detention of dangerous aliens. Sheriffhar hodgsons, welcome. I appreciate your testimony. What value do you see in involving local Law Enforcement in immigration Law Enforcement . Thank you, congressmen. An. It is imperative that we participate. One of the things President Trump made very clear in one of his recent speeches was that, look, we recognize that you will have your boots on the ground. You had the intimate relationships with the Gang Activity and things going on. The intelligence we get from the prisons. These are very important aspects of us working with our federal partners. If we did not learn anything after 9 11 but the fact that we need to strengthen our relationships with our federal partners to prevent the citizens of our communities from being victimized. We just had a 19yearold woman whose father had been deported twice, came over the day before fathers day, she got out of her car. He shot and killed her right there at her home. These things are happening all over the country. We need to be able let me interrupt you because i have a limited amount of time , and the chairman has been very generous. Do you believe state and local to be competent in the enforcement . Sheriff hodgson absolutely. we need more tools for our toolbox. Goodlatte let me turn to the other. A report demonstrated that in a one week. There were detainees deportations not honored. What this is safer safety and these jurisdiction and other than releasing a weekly to report, what else can be done to discourage sanctuary policies . Vaughan that report validates concerns people have had about sanctuary policies and that the beneficiaries of sanctuary policies are the criminals that get sent back into our communities. I hope citizens will hold their leaders accountable for those policies now that they had the information. In addition to denying funding, think that in some cases there will be diehard sanctuary jurisdictions that want to give their policies anyway despite the lack of funding. They want to be martyrs over it. For the sake of Public Safety, the department of justice will have to take legal action against those jurisdictions, potentially legal injections. Maybe even to prosecute legal local officials who deliberately and knowingly harbor an illegal alien from detection and deportation. Rep. Goodlatte thank you. Mr. Arthur, your written testimony discusses a regulation regarding confidentiality and are medically limiting thirdparty disclosure. Does this is extent investigators looking into fraud or National Security concerns . Or can either the administration what can the administration or congress do to aid i. C. E. Or other Government Agencies and an attempt to verify pertinent information with a home government. Mr. Arthur it does. It prevents any disclosure of information provided in an asylum application to anyone outside the government. There are very strict limits. One of the many things it does is it prevents the information provided in the asylum application from being verified with the home country. There are ways to probably the best thing to do would be to amend the regulation to make it clear that allegations with respect to arrest can be verified with the home country, but the fact that the individual has actually applied for asylum cannot. So that would be the best way to deal with it. Rep. Goodlatte thank you. Ms. Pyati, you referred to localities that have Community Trust policies. Would you say that montgomery county, maryland, where Rockville High School is located, is a sanctuary jurisdiction . Whether that countys Community Trust policy protected that 14yearold girl . Saypyati first, i want to of course what happened to the 14yearold girl is a tragedy. No one would ever expect that to happen and feel horribly sorry for her and her expense. Rep. Goodlatte wouldnt it have been better if those two boys had never arrived in montgomery county, maryland . Ms. Pyati those are two different questions. The boys had no criminal record whatsoever before. Had never been picked up by Law Enforcement. And therefore a Community Trust policy had nothing to do with what happened that day in that school. Secondarily, whether they could rep. Goodlatte im sorry, but it is a violation of the law to cross our border. So werent they illegally present in the United States . Ms. Pyati they did violate the law by causing the border. Rep. Goodlatte were they turned over to the law, by a parent and by a relative. I know the father of one of the boys was also present the United States. Happened athat the border is very different than what happened in rockville, maryland. Your question was, in rockville, maryland, could a defunded policy have prevented the rate and the answer is no. I think would happen there was rep. Goodlatte enforcement of our laws wouldve prevented the rape, would it not . Ms. Pyati well rep. Goodlatte time has expired. The chair recognizes himself for five minutes. There is a whole issue of sanctuary cities, very disturbing. An attempt by those jurisdictions to nullify federal law and say federal law does not apply in a century city. This country has suffered probably the worst time in its history when certain states over 150 years ago decided they had the power to nullify federal law , and there were over half a Million People killed during the civil war. I think the horror of that has been forgotten. Secondly, i am very disturbed by saying there are certain types of federal laws that state and local Law Enforcement do not enforce. I guess i can say that robbing the bank is a federal offense, and i do not think that state and local Law Enforcement would wait with the fbi to come to respond to the bank and try to catch the people who are committing a federal felony in the process of trying to clean out the banks till. Having said that statement, let me ask you, ms. Vaughan, under current Immigration Law, drunk driving is typically not a removable offense and neither is most Gang Activity. Would you favor a change to make those offenses removable so that it is very clear that Gang Activity and being convicted of a dui would be a removable offense . Ms. Vaughan absolutely. Of course, anyone in this country illegally is subject to deportation whether they have been driving drunk or not. But i do think they need better tools within the ina to make it easier to accelerate the removal of those individuals and to protect the community. Chair sensenbrenner i know in my district there is been at least one real major tragedy where a van of families going to church ended up being hit by a drunk driver and some, if not all, of them were killed. Which was, you know, a family tragedy that could have been prevented. How about Gang Activity . We have a lot of people that have been claiming that they are fleeing groups like ms13 as they arrive at the border. Do any of the witnesses know if there any people of made such a claim for a asylum that have ended up rejoining ms13 once they get across the border . Ms. Vaughan from what i understand and have been told by some local Law Enforcement agencies, there have been instances that they have learned from gang members now incarcerated that of course not all of the youths crossing illegally from Central America are involved with gangs but the gangs here know that the policy is so lenient that if someone who is a minor makes it to our border, that they will be allowed to resettle in the country with very few questions asked. So they have deliberately taken advantage of that policy and used it in order to boost their ranks of clicks here in the United States in order to benefit the gang as a whole. So that is definitely happening. Chair sensenbrenner thank you. My time is running out. Ms. Pyati, in your written testimony in page one, you say your center advocates for laws and policies that help immigrant survivors of violence, including sexual and Domestic Violence. You advocate for victims such as the rockville teen . Archi pyati absolutely, pyati absolutely, i do. Chair sensenbrenner that is good to know. How do you do that . Do we do that . We have offices in a number of cities around the country. Four different cities. We are opening a fifth. We meet with victims, understand their story, know if they are eligible for any form of immigration remedy in this country. Interview them extensively to find out if they in fact have a credible claim and one that might survive under the law and if so, offer them free Legal Assistance in order to be able to enter their claims into the adjudication system. Chair sensenbrenner ok. So you do not do any type of the counseling that is needed by anyone who is a victim of a Sexual Assault . You turned that over someone else . Ms. Pyati we do. Our Center Offers holistic purposes, so we have both social workers and lawyers on our stuff staff, so we would definitely offer that kind of counsel to somebody who came to us. Chair sensenbrenner so you are proactive in seeking out and offering those types of services. The victims and the victims families have to come to you rather than you go to them. Ms. Pyati we conduct outreach to be sure individuals know we are there. Where our offices are. What kind of services we provide. To make sure folks know they can come to us. The majority of folks who seek our services have heard of us from wordofmouth as well as our outreach efforts. Chair sensenbrenner thank you very much. The gentlewoman from california. Ms. Locklin. Rep. Locklin thank you, mr. Chairman. A couple of observations. You know, i think it is a mistake to use the tragedy on 9 11, where 19 saudis during the Bush Administration entered legally the United States with visas, then literally attacked and killed americans with a reason to deport nannies and farmworkers in 2017. The two do not compute. In terms of the sanctuary city issue, there is no definition, really, of what a sanctuary city is. But, eight usc 1373, which originated this committee before it came law, does not require localities to hold people whose who are otherwise to to be released, to retain them. Nor does it require for states and localities to collect information. That would be beyond the authority of the federal government to commandeer state and local authorities to do that. I am wondering, ms. Pyati, the detainers that were outlined in these detainer outcome reports, in jurisdictions where the controlling federal court ruling , such as the fourth circuit, was an unconstitutional violation of the Fourth Amendment. What exposure with a locality have if they did with the attorney general said in a jurisdiction where the circuit has said that violation of the Fourth Amendment . Ms. Pyati thank you. The federal courts have rolled ruled detainers that hold individuals after they have been released or could be released by the criminal system for civil law infractions such as Immigration Law and fractions it is a seizure that goes well beyond the 48 hours often and that constitutes a violation. That is a local jurisdiction on the hook for that, and so they would absolutely have full and complete exposure there. Rep. Lofgren just a couple other observations and then maybe a question. Clearly, i mean, the Police Chiefs the Police Officers who i know in my district i represent are against criminals. I mean, that is why they are in police work. I mean, that is why they are called to do that. In santa cruz recently, there was an effort. The sheriff actually sent his officers out with i. C. E. Agents because they were going to do in antiGang Activity. What he found out, at least what the Law Enforcement official said, was he would never deal with i. C. E. Again because instead of doing and antiGang Activity, they did just general Immigration Enforcement. Now they cant get immigrants to call in and report crimes. They cant get people to be witnesses. So i do think the distinction between federal and state obligations is an important one, even though we often use i mean, for example, dui was an enforcement priority under the Obama Administration. If you had a dui, you would be deported under the Obama Administration. Guess the question is what is that distinction . I have had complaints out of california that i. C. E. Agents are putting the word police on their jackets even though they are not police. And the police are greatly concerned about this because it muddies up who is doing what. When we talked to the secretary of Homeland Security about this issue and explained that sheriff in los angeles and the Police Departments all over california i mean, that is where i am from are complaining about this, he just said he did not care. What are your thoughts on that, ms. Pyati . Do we have an opportunity, do you think, to remedy this . Would this be a problem with ice i. C. E. Agents having police on their jackets when it comes to Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault cases . Ms. Pyati i appreciate your question. Anytime we comingle local Law Enforcement with the Immigration Enforcement, we are in a dangerous game. There are definitely officers wearing vests that say police and it does not make it clear that there are Immigration Police wandering around in the street. Weve seen it in the Obama Administration, and we see it in this administration, when people are in a community in a home and afraid im not going to pick up the phone and call 911 if i am not sure who will show up at my door. When i want to make sure of is that when my child is watching me be hurt, that when i call 911 that my child and i will find safety and protection and the gentleman hurting me whether he is a has been a Family Member, could be armed, could be dangerous, could be intoxicated, could be a danger to others in the community, and that person is actually going to get justice. If i am too scared to call 911 because im too scared about where im from, who i am come orhat my National Status is, the color of my skin, i am not going to get fair treatment from my local police, then all of us are less safe. Rep. Lofgren mr. Chairman, my time has expired, and i yield back. Chair sensenbrenner the gentleman from texas, mr. Smith. Rep. Smith thank you. Mr. Chairman, members of congress, members of the media often say immigrants are no more likely to commit crime than other individuals but that, in my view, is a misleading statement because they do not distinguish between Illegal Immigrants and legal immigrants. When you look at the crimes by committed by Illegal Immigrants, you find out that, for example, 35 of the individuals who are sentenced for federal crimes are Illegal Immigrants. 35 . Well, Illegal Immigrants are 3. 5 of the population, that means they are 10 times more likely to be sentenced for a federal crime than other residents. 10 times. That is why we say, rightfully, that Illegal Immigrants are disproportionately dangerous to innocent americans in dangerous and dangerous to our communities and neighborhoods. Let me address, my first question to you. Thank you for your strong testimony on sanctuary cities. Another figure i know you are familiar with, 30 or 40 or more of those released back into our communities are arrested again for another crime. The fact we have Law Enforcement officials sworn to uphold the law intentionally releasing these individuals into our communities really make me think the are an accessory to crime these Illegal Immigrants go on and additionally commit. It is just inexcusable. My question is this, and you have had so many good years of experience what should be federal government do about the sanctuary jurisdictions that intentionally release these dangerous individuals back into our communities . Sheriff hodgson thank you, congressman. What i believe they should do is in those instances, we cannot say that elected officials that who have taken the same oath that we have can decide which l aws to follow or not. They should be held to the same standards of accountability that we are. In those instances, where they are intentionally harboring and concealing people they know to be in the country illegally, they should have arrest warrants issued or them. Ands, or buts. thank you, sheriff. Mr. Arthur, welcome back. A question for you. What programs are most abused by Illegal Immigrants to try to run fully stay in the United States . Mr. Arthur it would appear that asylum is probably the number one source of fraud in the system. Part of the problem, mr. Smith, is the fact that there are no hard and fast studies on fraud in the system. Gao did an analysis in 2000 two 2 which they found that nobody , could really estimate how much fraud there was. The previous head of the fraud detection National Security direction or at cas testified in the 113th congress and indicated that a study had been undertaken that had found that a fairly significant amount of fraud had never been completed for various reasons within cas. There is mail fraud, other forms of fraud. And based on the number of credibility determinations or adverse credibility determinations and applications, it would be asylum. Rep. Smith do you think it is a major reminder problem, the degree of fraud . Mr. Arthur i would do a credibility determination in every case i did. Every asylum decision that i issued, whether granted, were denied. And, i would probably guess that probably in a fairly large number of cases, i made adverse credibility determinations that were sustained. Rep. Smith thank you. Vaughan, what are the three policies you feel would be most effective in keeping criminal immigrants off of our streets and out of our neighborhoods . Ms. Vaughan i think the most effective policy would be first of all for i. C. E. To make better use of the accelerated forms of due process. I. C. E. Agents and others also need to be empowered to use detention as the law allows, and i think that we need to take action against the sanctuaries because they have been releasing 1000 criminal aliens a month for years now, and we know they go on to offend again, and it is a significant Public Safety issue. Rep. Smith like i said, over 30 arrested for additional crimes. Ms. Vaughan i have heard even higher. Chair sensenbrenner the gentleman from michigan. Yers. Can rep. Conyers thank you very much, mr. Chairman. I thank the witnesses. Let me turn to the chief of policy and programs at the harvard Justice Center. Many of the witnesses on this panel have argued that these policies encourage lawlessness, create an environment where undocumented immigrants are allowed to commit acts of crime, violence, and terror. What is your response to such a claim as that . Ms. Pyati thank you, congressman. My response is quite simply that when we talk about socalled sanctuary cities in those communities, we have to be very clear that more than 600 jurisdictions that have adopted these kinds of policies have adopted a very wide range. So it would be really impossible to say that they are all engaging in one type of practice or another. Some of the jurisdictions are 100 cooperating, but they also offer a protection for those who might call 911 or come into an emergency room seeking lifesaving emergency services. So the range of policies is really quite dramatic. It would be very difficult for us to try to make any generalizations about what could be happening on a level with crime in all of these jurisdictions and make some kind of statement it is making us all less safe. I think that is an unfair characterization and one that in fact would leave more criminals on our streets if we are not more careful. Rep. Conyers in your experience, do you think that immigrants are more likely to commit crimes in areas with Community Chest policies . Ms. Pyati i dont know, congressman, that anyone has measured whether there is a likelihood of committing crime in a certain area or not traded i think a likelihood of catching criminals in keeping our communities safe is much higher in a community that has a Community Trust policy. Local Law Enforcement officers know what theyre doing, and they know when they are trying to keeping communities safe, making sure that when they walk around town, when they go to community events, when they patrol apartment buildings, when they are speaking with members of their town, that they are getting real information. That they say, who is likely to be committing an offense . Who is a criminal in your neighborhood . They need that information in order to be able to make arrests and watch for crime and the tech protect its citizens and noncitizens in the community. If there is a barrier put up between local Law Enforcement and the community, there is no way for them to do their job effectively. I do not think we can effectively measure how much crime has honestly been prevented by these Community Trust policies. It would be hard to say. Thousands of crimes, for example, did not happen because people called police. It is easier to pick out the one or two crimes he is seen across america and shine the light on them than it is to weigh the benefit of these Community Trust policies. We can only take our officers word for it. Rep. Conyers thank you. The next is my infamous threeinone question. The questions in one. Have you worked with Law Enforcement agencies on strategies to combat Domestic Violence . What specific challenges have these agencies shared as it relates to criminal arrests and prosecution within the immigrant community . And finally, how do you think the Trump Administrations approach to withhold federal funds will impact on these local Law Enforcement efforts . And i will be happy to repeat any of them if necessary. I dont think you will need that. Ms. Pyati i did take notes, congressman thank you. , our Organization Works with local Law Enforcement agencies across the country, and i know many agencies like ours do, as well. What we do is we communicate with local Law Enforcement and provide training on Immigration Law and on how to recognize victims in the community to read. We also work with them to identify different cultural barriers that might exist between local Law Enforcement officers and members of the community, so we might break down the barriers and find ways to get critical, Vital Information from those in the community. Some of the specific challenges , we have learned, involve a number of those i cited earlier as challenges the victims face. It is a twoway street, whether it be language barriers, cultural barriers. Many undocumented immigrants come from environments where in other countries where trusting Law Enforcement is not smart. Where when you talk to a Police Officer as a rape victim, for example, you might yourself be revictimized. To say to a woman, as i have had to, honestly, these Police Officers are here to help you, takes a lot of courage. Not on my part, it takes a lot of courage for the victim to look at me and believe me, to trust me and want to work with local Law Enforcement. Those are the challenges we have heard from Law Enforcement officers. We also heard about those who prey on immigrant communities. We have heard about some local Law Enforcement officers, those who hold themselves out to be legal representatives or members of the government. Since the Trump Administration has come into power, the executive orders have led to a sense of mistrust and fear in the community, but it has also led to a number of people standing outside of apartment buildings, for example, saying this, iommunity i heard have heard this from several, saying, we are with immigration and we are here to ask you questions. We would like to see your papers , and all of a sudden, you have people trying to take information from lawabiding members of the community. Trying to steal identities. Specific challenges Law Enforcement faces involve policing in a cooperative way in communities that historically have not felt included in Law Enforcement efforts. The Trump Administration, honestly, i think coupled with the executive orders in january and coupled with rhetoric honestly from the campaign trail together have led to a sense of fear among Community Members and also a sense of confusion. What are our rights . Where can we go . Advocates have been calling us, thousands of them, saying, if a victim is telling me she has been raped several times by her husband, and he is actively beating her, do i tell her to call the police are not . We dont know. This is a strategy we have been so lucky to have in this country for decades, to be able to say america understands of violence is something we need to prevent. We have laws for that. Call your Police Officer, he or she will help you. We dont have that anymore. Rep. Conyers thank you. Chair sensenbrenner the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from arizona, mr. Biggs. Thank you, mr. Chairman, and thank you for convening the panel. One of our panelists recently indicated that one or two crimes, we should not focus on one or two crimes we have seen across america, yet in Maricopa County recently, more than 3600 criminally violent aliens were released back onto the streets of the states largest county. There are two things to point out about that. We know they were criminally violent because they had been in the system, charged and convicted of crimes, and yet were released without being deported. I was appreciating the mention of the case where a Convenience Store clerk had been brutally shot and killed for failing to deliver a pack of cigarettes to a criminally violent, illegal alien who had been convicted and yet was on the streets of Maricopa County. That is why i introduced grants law here in congress, it should pass, it is a nobrainer. It includes the due process laws aughan has been mentioned, it deports those violent immigrants within 90 days. I want to talk specifically with regard to the apprehension rates reported. If we were to look at the apprehension rates historically, we would see their work consistently over one Million People, sometimes more than 1. 5 Million People actually apprehended at the border, and that began to slow down in 2006 2007 was the first time it reported apprehensions actually began climbing below one million. But all experts talk about apprehension, border apprehensions, and this is the southern border, versus the multiplier, people who cross and remain in the country. Those numbers have been the the lowest number have ever seen reported, opined by u. S. Senators, it was about four times the actual apprehension rate. Last year, 415,000 illegal aliens were apprehended at the southern border. More than half were other than mexican nationals coming into this country. I guess my question for you is, if you would please comment on the multiplying effect and whether the numbers were accurate for the 10year period in the Obama Administration 330,000 in 2015, whether that was accurate in the reporting. Ms. Vaughan unfortunately, Border Patrol does not have Situational Awareness to know who was not apprehended. There was a very credible study that was done, commissioned by dhs, they found that in 2015, the estimated apprehension rate of people trying to cross illegally was only 54 . That suggests there is at least one person succeeding for every one who is caught. There is also a low apprehension rate of people trying to get interillegally at the legal ports of entry, in car trunks or as imposters or whatever. Most concerning, there is the high rate of people who are caught by the Border Patrol but who are allowed to enter anyway, either because of policies or because of the prioritization policy imposed on the Border Patrol in november 2014 where they were told to let people go if they claimed to have been here before january 2014. The head of the national Border Patrol council said at that time, he estimated the agents Border Patrol agents were letting as many as 80 of the people they encountered stay in the country. Rep. Biggs thank you. Sheriff hodgson, thank you for being here, as well. We previously talked about gang junk driving and gang membership being drunk driving and gang being disqualifiers for remaining in the country. I want to relate a story, a Police Officer who is driving in 2014, march of 2014, almost exactly two years ago, when and illegal alien, who had been apprehended at least three times, once committing crimes in colorado, had a legal blood alcohol limit over three times the legal limit in arizona, and had driven on a freeway the wrong way for 33 miles when he hit officer mendozas car and killed him tragically. Chair sensenbrenner the time of the gentleman has expired. Will he ask his question . Rep. Biggs yes, thank you. Do you think these local agencies have a Chilling Effect on Community Participation or reporting of crimes . Sheriff hodgson congressman i , dont think so. I believe the crimes that are happening in our communities, if illegals are not going to report this crimes, it is no different than what happens in america with criminals, someone has done something wrong. I dont understand why people have a problem with people being afraid of what theyve done something wrong. If you have done something afraid,ou should feel if you have violated the laws. I will think more than anyone else in our country, if youre done something wrong, there will be people who will not come forward and there will be others who will. The reality is, these people that these things are happening in every community in the United States. Chair sensenbrenner thank you. The gentleman from washington. I call on people on which they appear for the committee. I was here when everybody started. Chair sensenbrenner ok. I know you dont want to hear from you, but i am here. Chair sensenbrenner im always happy to hear from you. Then you need to follow regular order. I was here. I listened to all of the witnesses. I was here for all of the testimony. Chair sensenbrenner i just got a list from the staff. They mustve made a mistake. The gentleman from illinois is recognized for five minutes and would you please reset the clock . Thank you. Chair sensenbrenner so you get it all. I want to make sure. Maybe we should start with the sensenbrenner bill. It was so popular, you dont even want to talk about it. Lets go on to some other stuff. Number one, here we go again. It does not change. Ms. Vaughan is a regular, she is always here. She would be out of a job if we fixed this problem. Sheriff, the kind of rotate the sheriffs, they say what you say. Judge, thank you for the efficacy for the immigrant community. We are not here to solve a problem we are here to say that immigrants are truck drivers, murderers, rapists, and gang members. It does not change. That should not surprise us since we have a president who said all mexicans are murderers, rapists, and drug dealers. Chair sensenbrenner if the gentleman will comply with the rules in referring to the president. Rep. Gutierrez i will call him donald trump, that is ok . Chair sensenbrenner no, it is what you said. Whether it is the president or donald trump. Rep. Gutierrez he did say it chair sensenbrenner the gentleman will not cast aspersions on the president. Rep. Gutierrez we have a president of the United States that said that mexicans are murderers, rapists, and drug dealers. But lets move on. It doesnt really surprise me the conversation were having. It is not looking for a solution, it is looking for a demonization of a community of people to score political points. We can resolve it. We can resolve the problem. But we dont want to resolve this problem, just like we dont want to resolve the Health Care Issue in this country. We dont want to resolve it, we want to make a political point about Health Care Issue in this country. If we wanted to resolve it, we could do it. What we ask here is people and that say how can we expect to restore western civilization with other peoples babies . That is what we have members of congress saying. That is part of what goes on here. It is a demonization. It is other peoples babies. It is this constant, which i have to say, the president is playing a big role in all of it. Because, you see, today there are millions at least 5 million american citizen children who live in fear of their federal government, live in fear of their federal government because people go around calling their moms and dads murderers, rapists, and gang members, drunk drivers. Millions of american children. Shame on us for not responding. You know what those murderers and rapists do every weekend now, under this administration . They go see lawyers so they can prepare for the eventuality they are deported and separated from their american citizen children. That is what they are doing. Theyre filling out guardianship papers, filling out who will get the car, how do you deal with the house, how do you deal with the contingency, what Family Member is going to be there . Shame on us for not resolving this problem and leaving a legacy of abuse against those 5 million Everyone Wants to talk about undocumented, i want illegal i want to talk about those here legally in this country, those american citizen children. That is what we do. So we sit by smugly and talk about 9 11, but we have a muslim ban, and they did not even include saudi arabia in the muslim ban, yet the last time i checked, every last person who attacked this country was from saudi arabia. It is politics. They want to make us afraid of who . The muslims they call mexicans one thing, muslims another thing and then they said, we will leave the gay people alone until they decided transgender children and the Transgender Community is what we will attack. That is what happens here. So we do not resolve the problems. We could resolve this problem. I happen to know for a fact that there are over 60 members of the Republican Caucus who today would vote for a conference of comprehensive Immigration Reform bill. Today. But we are not allowed to vote for that bill. You know what evidence i have . Check last week. Why . Because you have radicals on that side of the aisle that say we will not allow there to be a vote on an issue. They withdrew their own immigration bill. Thats why we cant deal with it. We can deal with it in the senate. We had 68 senators come together in the summer of 2013 to solve this problem. How could we do it . It is quite easy we could do it. What we all know, sheriff, the resources do not exist of the federal government to pick up, jail, and thdeport 11 Million People. You know what they can do . And since on bringing fear to all of those people. Shame on all us. Chair sensenbrenner the time of the gentleman has expired. You can see the clock up there rep. Gutierrez you took at least 15 or 20 seconds. Ifir sensenbrenner no, no, you are listening to me, mr. Gentleman of illinois i asked , that the clock be reset. Rep. Gutierrez you reset it one time, but not during the second interjection. Added to the video of this. Chair sensenbrenner ok, well. Rep. Gutierrez ok what . Chair sensenbrenner now you know why we have difficulty mr. Chairman . Mr. Chairman . Mr. Chairman . I would like to ask that mr. Gutierrez be given an additional minute. I object. Chair sensenbrenner the objection is heard. Mr. King is recognized for one minute. Rep. Gutierrez shame on all of us. He did reset the clock. There was a rebuttal off the mr. Gutierrezs statement on november 8. The American People went to the polls and said, we want our streets safe. I would like to first turn to sheriff hodgson and point out in your testimony that says, the human cost and emotional impact of crimes committed by illegals is beyond measure. Could you speak to that . I know it is a thoughtful statement. Sheriff hodgson congressman, i can tell you, in one community in massachusetts, there were three People Killed by illegals in a small community. Milford. Community of we are seeing these situations happen all over the country. There is nothing wrong with us enforcing the laws on the books. You cannot ask Law Enforcement look, if there are members of the legislature to want to change the laws of massachusetts, come here and lobby congress, but dont tell us we have to violate our oath and allow our citizens to be exposed to greater risks. That is what is going on, congressman. Rep. King thank you, sheriff. And you pointed out also the Facebook Post to give a heads up agents were coming into the community. I opened up the federal code, i want to read this into the record, and i want to ask you and others what you think about prosecuting under this that individual or any individual, in c1324. Is is 8us any person who, i will cut out the irrelevant language, any person who shields from detection or attempts to harbor or shield from detection or any person who encourages or induces an alien to come to and or reside in the United States knowing that coming to or entry of residents will be in violation of law or who engages in any conspiracy to commit any of the preceding acts or who aids and abets the commission of any of the preceding acts is guilty of violation of this statute, and if they did it for financial gain, facing a 10year penalty, if not a financial gain, a fiveyear penalty. Sheriff, you looked at that section, i know. Sheriff hodgson congressman, i have been repeating that section every chance i get. The truth is, the law is the law. It is up to five years for an illegal alien. I have called for the boston mayor and the mayor of somerville, massachusetts, came out and said i will use city hall if i have to to buy late federal law and protect these people, as well as in somerville, where the mayor said, i will offer my home. My answer was, act on title eight, and we will figure out how popular sanctuary cities will be in this country. Rep. King i absolutely agree with you, sheriff. I will turn to ms. Vaughan. You have this section in mind when you major statement . Ms. Vaughan yes. Rep. King do you concur with the sheriff . Ms. Vaughan i do. When a judge takes any illegal alien out a side door to avoid i. C. E. , when Law Enforcement agency receives a dictator that detainer that gives probable cause to hold a criminal alien and they have information on that individuals crime, they are shielding aliens from i. C. E. Rep. King when a judge facilitates that kind of escape from their chambers, you are suggesting this as a means to enforce. Ms. Vaughan yes, there are penalties there. Especially when that individual who was shielded goes on to cause a further harm in the community and potentially creates new victims or does in fact after their release. We know it has happened. These are not isolated cases. Rep. King there is a means where this congress can act on their own without a president ial signature, and what i am thinking of is the impeachment of such judge. What is your advice on that . Ms. Vaughan i dont know the law with respect to the standards for judge impeachment. Rep. King you set the standards according to the constitution. So under those standards . Ms. Vaughan i think it would be an effective deterrent. Arthur . G mr. Mr. Arthur one thing i would say is the job we ask our i. C. E. Officers to do is a difficult one. When it is subverted by individuals to liberally im not familiar with this specific case it just makes the job more difficult. Here is the crucial part of that. If it is a public place and the officer has the opportunity to make an arrest, generally it is a controlled situation. If the officers have to go to the home of the individual, is not a controlled situation. My uncle, my aunt for both lawenforcement officers in the city of baltimore for many years. The worst thing that a lawenforcement family can hear is that their loved one is not coming home. If you put an agent in harms way, i dont understand that. Rep. King thank you, mr. Arthur. My time is i yield back. Ther sensenbrenner gentlemans time has expired. Ms. Jayapal is recognized. Rep. Jayapal i have had a challenge listening today. Ive worked on immigration issues for the last 20 years of my life, i have been on a Domestic Violence agency board, d for many years, and i appreciate ms. Pyati trying to set the record straight on what we have immigration Law Enforcement excuse me, between federal and local Law Enforcement. Theres a specific reason why there are 600 jurisdictions across the country who have actually said the role of local Law Enforcement is to enforce Public Safety, not to get involved in federal immigration Law Enforcement. Some people dont realize this, but i think it is worth saying again for anybody watching this hearing and perhaps some of you who may be on the panel, our federal immigration system is a civil system. It is not a criminal system. It is a civil system. When somebody violates Immigration Laws simply for being here without documented presence, that is a civil offense, it is not a criminal offense. I would like to set the record straight for, i believe it was mr. Smith, who was talking about federal sentencing rates. I want to be clear about something. Federal sentencing rates are not a reliable indicator of criminal offenses because more than half of federal prosecution, 52 in 2016, are for immigrationrelated offenses that include illegal entry, which is a misdemeanor or illegal reentry, which is considered a felony. That has happened over the years as we have criminalized undocumented presence in this country instead of passing Immigration Reform. There is one thing ms. Vaughan said that i agree with, some things can only be done by congress. Yes. Comprehensive Immigration Reform is one of the things that can only be done by congress. Bipartisan had agreement for comprehensive Immigration Reform in 2013 where 68 senators agreed we should pass an Immigration Reform bill because they understand the hypocrisy of a country, the hypocrisy of a country that utilizes the labor of immigrants if you eat fruits or vegetables, you utilize the labor of immigrants. If you stay in hotels rooms, you utilize the labor of immigrants. There are numerous places across this country we use of the cannot wake up in the morning without utilizing the labor of undocumented immigrants that have been building the country. That would be a solution we should move toward. I want to talk quickly about immigration detainers and then ask ms. Pyati a question about Domestic Violence and victims of crime. The overwhelming number of sanctuary jurisdictions are not violating the law. Let us be very clear. The vast majority of sanctuary policy, if you look at the constitution and usc1373, do not prevent citizenship and immigration status information from being shared. In fact, when we worked on these sanctuary policies in my home state of washington, my prosecutor whom i will quote from in a second, as well as our local police chief have been terrific about understanding that their mission is to promote Community Trust, and they can only do that if they pass policies that ensure equal understand. They are not enforcing Immigration Law, they are trying to protect Public Safety. I wanted to read to you what our association, the major cities chiefs association, stated. Immigration laws are very complex, and the training required to understand them significantly detracts from the core mission of local police to create safe communities. Prosecutor published an oped in the Seattle Times where he said my position as king county prosecutor, i continued these actions have the opposite effect for crime victims. He is talking specifically about all of the immigration executive orders this president has signed. Here is what he said. When victims of crime are afraid to trust police and the court, the only winners are violent people because our top Public Safety. This crackdown is an immediate and serious concern to those of us who work to protect our residents. Ms. Pyati, in your opinion, is local Law Enforcement qualified to act as Immigration Enforcement agents . Chair sensenbrenner the time has expired. Answerti, why dont you her question . , mr. Yati thank you chairman. I will answer quickly. I dont believe they are. Thank you for asking the question. The immigration code is huge. Some compared to the tax code in its complexity and diversity of issues. Just like i would not ask my doctor to fill our my taxes and , i dont want the person in charge of my safety to be spending his time worrying about Immigration Law. Immigration law should be enforced by the federal government, not our local police. Rep. Jayapal thank you. Mr. Chairman, if there is no opposition, i would like to introduce for the record the statement from our Supreme Court justice on this issue in particular as well as an additional statement from our just that statement. Chair sensenbrenner without objection. Rep. Jayapal thank you. Chair sensenbrenner the judgment from iowa. Mr. Labrador. Rep. Labrador thank you, mr. Chairman and to the witnesses. Since being elected in 2010, i have consistently advocated for Immigration Reform. Ive consistently advocated for achieving Immigration Reform by addressing each aspect of our system separately and in order. That makes sense to the American People. I believe that before we can address those who are here illegally or how to best modernize our visa programs, we must be sure Immigration Laws are properly enforced. It must come first. This requires Congress Acting to provide those who enforce Immigration Laws with the tools and support needed to copy their accomplish their mission. Arthur, i want to ask a quick question, i hear this again and again. Is entry into the United States without documentation a crime or not . Mr. Arthur it is a misdemeanor. Rep. Labrador i get tired of hearing it is not a crime. It is a crime. You want to enforce that law. It is a misdemeanor to come into the United States illegally. Ms. Vaughan, why have removals declined so much in several years . Ms. Vaughan because of policies put in place by the Obama Administration to greatly restrict the types of cases that i. C. E. Officers could sue for and thatr deportation, exempted, according to one official, 99 of illegal aliens that were here. Rep. Labrador what message would that send to those who would enter our country illegally or have entered illegally . Ms. Vaughan it sends a message that if you can get here, in all likelihood you will not be subject to deportation. Rep. Labrador we have seen a difference in the last few months at the border . Ms. Vaughan there are some signs, according to the statistics released by cdp, that apprehensions as a measure of attempts have dramatically declined over the last two months and smuggling prices have risen, which is an indicator is harder to do. Mr. Arthur, he testified about the Obama Administration and i. C. E. s ability to carry out its mission. I believe the Congress Needs to act to ensure we not continue to have dramatic shifts in enforcement policies. I dont want one president to do one thing and another president to do something else. What can congress do to ensure that future president s cannot unilaterally halt the dramatic changes in enforcement activity . Mr. Arthur any changes to the immigration and nationality act would limit the ability, would have mandatory language that would limit the ability of any future president to do something other than what it is. With respect to inadmissibility, the secretary of Homeland Security shall take into custody and shall remove any individual, for example. You could put mandatory language in 237 and in 212. You could put in detainer language as well. Rep. Labrador thank you. Ms. Vaughan i am concerned about , the number of visa overstays. Each year. We need a system to track individuals to make sure they leave when the visa expires. What roadblocks have you seen to implementing a functioning tracking system . Ms. Vaughan the lack of will on the part of the federal government to move forward with it. We got the entry part at airports and seaports done very effectively, but there has simply not been enough interesting completing the system. Rep. Labrador thank you. Sheriff, you discussed your 287gcipation in the program. Was the training you received sufficient to assist i. C. E. . Sherriff hodgson were in the process of sending our people, they will be going in a couple of months, but i built a retention facility at our complex in dartmouth. We have been housing illegals. Rep. Labrador do you have suggestions on how the training can be improved . Sherriff hodgson i think the training is critically important. The federal government does cover the cost, and that is the biggest part for any jurisdiction, making sure the costs are covered. We do have in our state some legislators who are attempting to prevent us from even participating, suggesting that our staff work for the state and therefore we should not be doing that, which would be contrary. If we are going to suggest that we cannot work with i. C. E. , we have people that need to be out there every day sharing the information and making sure we put our best foot forward to get the criminals off the street. Rep. Labrador are those task forces making your communities more safe or less safe . Sherriff hodgson more safe. Rep. Labrador thank you. I yield back. Chair sensenbrenner the time of the gentleman has expired. The gentleman from rhode island. Mr. Cellini. Rep. Cellini thank you. Public safety is our most fundamental responsibility. It is because of that the community and policing policies must be protected as they are vital to Public Safety because Law Enforcement rely on trust and cooperation from all Community Members, including immigrants, because they help prevent, solve, and prosecute crimes. Local Law Enforcement agencies are in the best position to decide which policies work best for individual localities, that is why many cities have adopted policies allow immigrants to come forward and seek assistance from the police without fear. As my chief has said, the single most powerful tool of local Police Department has is the trust and confidence of the community. President trumps immigration crackdown, which is strong on local government, has created a climate of fear and uncertainty that is already begun to undermine Public Safety. Attempts to force local police to do the work of i. C. E. Have are making immigrants both documented and undocumented are afraid to leave their homes and send their children to schools, as well as help local Law Enforcement in fighting crime. There are reports that Sexual Assault crime victims are afraid to report the crimes for fear of being apprehended themselves. Some at this hearing have suggested that the immigrant community is disproportionately responsible for crimes, so i would ask unanimous consent, mr. Chairman, to include in the record two reports, one from the sentencing project that found foreignborn residents of the United States commit crimes less often than nativeborn citizens , and another by the Cato Institute comparing incarceration rates by mandatory migratory status the comes to the same conclusion. Chair sensenbrenner without objection, the material will be included in the record. Rep. Cicilline thank you, mr. Chairman. Despite the suggestion that this does not distinguish between illegal and legal immigrants, the report says a few studies using other data sources to differentiate the legal status have supported the conclusion that immigrants, regardless of legal status, do not have higher crime rate than nativeborn citizens and there are three studies to support that. I want to set the record straight. I would also like consent to that that claim is not true. I would also like consent to introduce a letter from february 28 signed by a number of Law Enforcement leaders across the country criticizing the shifting of the burden of federal Immigration Law on to local Law Enforcement agents. Agencie. Chair sensenbrenner without objection that will be included , as well. Rep. Cicilline thank you. Hundreds of Law Enforcement agencies in the United States have adopted Community Trust policies. These communities report that such policies, far from increasing crime, actually reduce it. Recent comprehensive studies have supported these claims statistically, showing that Community Trust jurisdictions are the mostly safer than their are demonstrably safer than their counterparts. Can you help us understand what communities where these trust jurisdictions are actually protecting our constituents and providing safer communities, less crime, why is that happening . Ms. Pyati thank you ray much, congressman. I think you actually said it yourself. You said the former chief in your jurisdiction indicated, it is really the trust between the community and the Police Officers that allows for thorough reporting by victims, that allows for cooperation of witnesses, it allows for investigation into the community, knocking on doors and finding witnesses who can respond and offer what they have seen and heard. There is no way to prosecute and investigate crimes committed by anyone, as citizen or an illegal or undocumented immigrant, there is no way to prosecute crimes without participation of the residents in the community. That trust is the number one thing we are looking for. Rep. Cicilline you made some reference to an example of a case in which there had been someone who was murdered who was without the presence of two witnesses are there other instances you are aware of around the country where individuals have either been unwilling or unable to come forward because of the immigration status, and how do you think the Trump Administration policies are making that more likely or less likely to happen, and what is the impact on the safety of our communities as a result . Ms. Pyati thank you, congressman, yes, i am aware of a number of cases around the country that resonate with what i was saying earlier. One of the things that happens is when a person is afraid to come forward and report crime or share information as a witness, we really, our hands are tied behind our back in terms of investigating. We also dont than have a lot of media reports about those individuals because they are too afraid to come forward. We dont get the splash we might get otherwise in these situations. I do know that in el paso, when there was an i. C. E. Pick up of a woman while she was receiving her protection order, a message was sent loud and clear across the country, especially to survivors of violence, if you use the criminal Justice System to report the crime committed against you by an abuser, if you pursue what our system is here to offer, which is a protection order and safety for you and your family, you could be a victim of an arrest by i. C. E. In that moment and possibly deported. That had a very significant Chilling Effect. Our National Hotlines and advocates, our coalitions across the country the work on Domestic Violence have been reporting in the last month and a half a very significant dropoff. Rep. Cicilline mr. Chairman, i would just say that chair sensenbrenner the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from louisiana, mr. Johnson. You, mr. Son thank chairman, thank you, everyone. I know it has been a long day. Were almost done. Sheriff, my question is for you. Last year, i was a state legislator in louisiana. I coauthored a bill to prevent legislators from a docking station were a policies in our state. We were gone to take away the ability to borrow money in the federal association in less they complied with federal law. Our democrat governor with the assistance of some Law Enforcement officials in new orleans killed our legislation. They argued that our efforts were political pandering and this was something that should be solely a federal issue. I was curious from your perspective as a long Law Enforcement official on the ground, the top Law Enforcement official in your county, i know your state does not have such a ban, but if a statute was presented in massachusetts or other states, do you think it would be helpful . A state law to ban century cities . Sherriff hodgson yes, absolutely. Look, the bottom line is, and i commend you for filing that in louisiana, the reality is that we are basically suggesting that there are certain laws we can enforce and certain laws we cannot. Law enforcement cannot be put in that position. I think it is important to point out our frontier has changed since 1993 when he First Trade Center was hit in regards to how we police our community. We are seeing a lot more Gang Activity through illegal migration. These Police Chiefs, it is important for them to know, it is important to be mindful of the fact that Police Chiefs are appointed by mayors. Sheriffs are not. I think it is important for the community to keep that in mind when it comes to managing what unfortunately chiefs positions are. , measuring what unfortunately, many of the itions that they have. Rep. Johnson thank you. I wish i had had your testimony in the louisiana. Sheriff hodgson anytime you want me to come down. Rep. Johnson we made the argument that as john adams said, he was establishing our republic from the monarchy in great britain, he said, we are a nation of laws and not men. We follow those laws and it is important to do that on local and regional level just as it is on a national level. Do you believe there is adequate collaboration currently between federal and local Law Enforcement agencies on addressing illegal immigration . More specifically, is there anything we can do to improve the share of intelligence . Sheriff hodgson well, congressman, i think there is always more we could do. There are some things we could do on the internet and so forth that could help in addition to the acceleration of the 287g program. We are the Central Intelligence base. The president pointed that out in a recent speech to the sheriffs. I think most Law Enforcement would agree with me that is critically important to share information back and forth. Andhe extension of 287g acceleration of it would be great. Mr. Johnson on the theme of technology, judge arthur, could you expand on why interviews are agentsand Border Patrol are not electronic . Mr. Arthur absolutely, and it is a very good question. Often what will happen is asylum officers will present what purports to be a statement of the alien, sometimes it is just summarization of what was said. If in court the alien is confronted by the i. C. E. Attorney with a contrary statement to one contained in the application, often they will say, i did not say that. I dont have the asylum officer in front of me and unfortunately, i. C. E. Never provides them. To have an actual electronic statement would allow me to look at that and better identify any true inconsistencies, which would aid in the decision. Mr. Johnson thank you. I think i have 30 seconds left. Ms. Vaughan, you mention how our local on force the agencies have local Law Enforcement agencies have been affected. I was wondering if you could expand on the state criminal alien Assistance Program and what changes to the Reimbursement Program might need to be made. Ms. Vaughan i think it would be a good idea and more effective to have that reimbursement funding tied to specific cooperation, and that is. C. E. Detainers. If a jurisdiction is not honoring i. C. E. Detainers, they become ineligible for funding. I think it would be a simple fix to the program that would be more directly relevant to the situation today. Chair sensenbrenner the time of the gentlemans expired. The gentlewoman from texas, ms. Jackson lee. Ms. Jackson lee let me think the chairman and Ranking Member. Let me ask a question that deals with fixing the Immigration Laws and allowing individuals to come from out of the shadows and distinguishing individuals who are here opposed to criminals and others who happen to be unstatused. Would you support comprehensive Immigration Reform . Yes or no . Sherriff hodgson i have been working on that for many years. Lee thank you. Ms. Vaughan . Ms. Vaughan no, i think it would rep. Jackson lee thank you. Do you support comprehensive Immigration Reform . It takes into account enforcement. If you look at the gang of eight, would you support it . Judge arthur i would have to look at the particulars. Ms. Jackson lee ms. Pyati, would you . Ms. Pyati yes. Rep. Jackson lee all of us were appalled at the killing of kate steinle and others who have suffered, but to equate that with crime of nonstatus people , as republicans have tried to do San Francisco would have a and as ofr rate, 2015, there was no rise in San Franciscos murder rate in the 26 years it has been a sancuary city. It is fallen to its lowest level in decades. I think that is an important point. Another point a yes or no question. Do you think in the context of unstatused that we are trying to deport the bad hombres . That mr. Trump said. Yes or no . Sherriff hodgson yes. Rep. Jackson lee yes or no. Ms. Vaughan according to the national Homeland Security we , shouldnt make them the top of the priority for deportation rep. Jackson lee thank you. Mr. Arthur. Mr. Arthur i would see individuals who have committed Domestic Violence rep. Jackson lee you think the bad elements should be the top priority . The bad hombres. Mr. Arthur unfortunately, those people are removed from my court, and i dont know why. I think we should definitely remove individuals who commit serial drunk driving offenses if the chairman spoke about. Rep. Jackson lee thank you. Ms. Pyati, and your view that . I am only rushing because i want to ask you a lengthier question. Ms. Pyati i think only the serious criminal violations. Rep. Jackson lee thank you very much. I would like to enter this comment a trump supporter thought that the Trump Administration would only deport the bad hombres. She found her husband was going to be deported. Later, her husband languishes in a deportation center. In 1998, he entered the country illegally. I ask for that to be put into the record. Chair sensenbrenner without objection. Rep. Jackson lee thank you. I also ask to be put into the record, the statement of the Travis County sheriffs agency on cooperation with Customs Enforcement to negate any suggestion that the socalled sanctuary cities label is that cities are not cooperating with i. C. E. I ask unanimous consent to put that into the record. Chair sensenbrenner without objection. Rep. Jackson lee i also the statement from the constitutional lawyers that this is unconstitutional, the order by sessions and president of the United States to penalize and deny them their money. I hope one of them will sue. I ask unanimous consent. Chair sensenbrenner preserving the right to object, who are these constitutional lawyers . Rep. Jackson lee i am losing my time. Chair sensenbrenner i would like to find out. Re[. Jackson lee i would like rep. Jackson lee i would like are you going to give me my time . Chair sensenbrenner answer my question. Rep. Jackson lee there is a long list. How many are there . No, there are more than that. They say they are representing 292, and they are from uc irvine, university of San Francisco, denver, and smu, Dedman School of law southern , methodist. 292. I can get those names, they are not attached to the letter. Chair sensenbrenner the Ranking Member says it is already in the record. Will you withdrawal your unanimous consent request . Rep. Jackson lee yes, mr. Chairman. Chair sensenbrenner i ask unanimous consent to give gentlewoman from texas be giving an additional minute. Rep. Jackson lee thank you. I am very familiar with the center, i think you know marty in texas, we have been very close working on it. I think it is very important to reemphasize how lives can be saved when we give the opportunity for individuals who are unstatused to report threats that not only can jeopardize the lives of the significant others, the spouse, the girlfriend, but the children in the home or context. Would you explain the impact you have seen that the women you of helped, the children that have been involved, and how important it is for them chair sensenbrenner the gentlewomans time is expired. Ms. Pyati, you may answer the question. Ms. Pyati thank you. Our texas office, you know we work handed kind with police to help them investigate trafficking in the area. Our work there has been pioneering in attempting to bring trafficking as a crime under some kind of control. Right now, you have asked me to share with you something about a client. We do have a client who spoke at a briefing here in the house a few weeks ago that shared as a woman who met her husband, the u. S. Citizen military husband overseas, he brought her to the United States, and they had a child together. Their son was autistic. Their son was witnessing physical and Emotional Abuse in their home and was struggling significantly. She was afraid to contact Law Enforcement because her husband continued to say to her, i am a citizen, and you dont have status, and if you call the police, you will be deported and our child will be with me and you are out of luck. Very desperately and nervously, she contacted us for help and worked to build up her courage and was able to cooperate eventually was lawenforcement , and her husband was removed from the home, allowing the child to flourish. His autism has significantly improved. We can see not just emotional impact immediately that but certainly even cognitive and Behavioral Changes when abusers are removed from the home and women are able to care for the children in safety. And i think the chairman thank you to the witness. Mr. Chairman . Chair sensenbrenner the gentlewoman from california. I would like to put in the record the record from the chief justice from the california state Supreme Court, appointed by a republican, to the department of Homeland Security asking that enforcement in court in california. Chair sensenbrenner without objection. The gentlewoman from washington. I asked to enter into the record the oped from our king county prosecutor, also a republican. Chair sensenbrenner without objection. Thank you. Chair sensenbrenner i guess this shows that we republicans are not like the rockettes. [laughter] that is right. Chair sensenbrenner this concludes our hearing. Thanks to all of the witnesses for hearing. Without objection, all members will have five legislative days to submit additional materials to the record and without objection, the hearing is adjourned. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] cspans washington journal live every day with policy issues that impact you. Coming up this morning, new jersey congressman bill discusses pascrell President Trumps tax returns fear then Louie Gohmert talks of a the future of the House Freedom caucus. Then internet privacy rules. Be sure to to watch cspans washington journal this morning. Join the discussion. Cspans cities tour, with the help of our Comcast Cable partners, will explore the literary scene and history of chico, california, saturday at noon eastern on book tv. An author tells us about the under of chico in his book john bedwell and california the life and writings of a pioneer, 1841 to 1900. Michael the most important relationship was with the department of the United States agriculture. He was constantly corresponding with officials in the usda and was constantly receiving from them different crops that they wanted tested out in californias soils and climate, and they really used rancho as one of the experimental farms before they actually owned and ran their own. 2 00 p. M. Ay at eastern on American History tv, we visit the California State University farm. It is the number one industry in california yet, and we are the number one state in the nation in terms of agriculture. Of the campuses come only four of them had agriculture. Chico is the northern part of the state, but we draw students from all over california to get experience in agriculture. Will also go inside the chico museum to see the historic temple. Altar from the watch cspans cities tour on onpan2s book tv and American History tv on cspan3, working with our cable affiliates and visiting cities across the country