Johnson of wisconsin. This meeting will come to order. I want to thank the witnesses for taking time for your thoughtful testimony. I think it will be pretty interesting description of a problem that i think plagues so many inner cities, and, from my standpoint, really one of the contributing factors of this is one of the Top Priorities of this committee is securing our borders. This is what, i think 25th, 25th hearing on some aspect of border security. Now the title of the hearing, border and security, the rise of ms13, other Transnational Criminal Organizations. Reading testimony well focus a lot on ms13 which is obviously in the news today. And what the witnesses tell the stories but it is kind of interesting the history of ms13, originally formed out of immigrants coming from el salavador, the war there, in california, Southern California area and then based on problems, those members being deported to Central America. The organizations grew and thrived in Central America. Now were seeing them come back sometimes in the form of unaccompanied children. I did send a letter yesterday on, as a result of information we received from whistleblower. I sent to mr. Scott lloyd, director of office of refugee and resettlement. Yesterday late, latebreaking news, because of this hearing we did, we were informed by a whistleblower of a customs and Border Protection document from july of 2014 describing an incident. This is right at the height of the surge of unaccompanied children arriving at our border. The documents appear to indicate the cpb apprehended selfidentified ms13 gang members at the border. The cpb significant incident report dated july 5th, 2014, basically stated officers assigned to the ncp. Nogales placement center, identified multiple admitted ms13 gang members. Another document goes on to quote, all identified gang members in Nogales Placement Center have been placed in the appropriate placement senter and are no longer being held at the npc. The 16 identified juvenile gang members were transferred to Placement Centers around the country, including Shenendoah Valley Juvenile Center in virginia, selma carson staff secured in washington, nova staff secure in virginia, the swk mesa staff secure in texas, childrens village, new york and Fort Still Army Training Center in oklahoma. Office of Refugee Resettlement, orr, within the department of health and Human Services was responsible and of uacs apprehended by npc. Why do i point that out . We have a broken system t was in 2002 the authorization of Homeland Security we split out the responsibility where now cpb, apprehends, processes, but turns unaccompanied children over to hhs. And weve gotten very good at apprehending, processing and dispersing. Which from my standpoint has just fueled this rise in unaccompanied children coming to the border. Certainly during the lasted a administration. So i understand what were talking about when we say unaccompanied children, i know immediately people think of little children, you know, seven, eight, nine, 10 years old, you hear the facts out of 188,000 unaccompanied children apprehended from 2012 to 2016, that includes from Central America, as well as mexico, only broken out with that, not just Central America, 68 of those unaccompanied children were 15, 16, or 17. In other words, prime gang age. By the way 68 were also men. Less than 18 were under the age of 12 or under. So the fact of the matter is, so many of the unaccompanied children are literally young men, prime gang age. We have documentation from a whistleblower, cpb apprehended them, knew they were ms13 gang members and they processed and they dispersed them into our communities. So, again, i think the purpose of this committee is to highlight these problems within our government agencies, within our government laws and procedures, to make the public aware, we can actually keep this homeland safe. So, again i appreciate the witnesses coming here to testify. Well describe the danger, the problems with ms13, the barbarity and thats what this committee is all about, holding these hearings to raise the public awareness, lay out a reality so we can actually enact Public Policy to combat it to keep the homeland safe. With that i turn it over to senator mccaskill. Thank you, i want to thank the chairman holding this hearing. There is nothing more important than getting these criminals behind bars, nothing. And if, if we have in fact in any way allowed criminals to come into our country, then there is complete agreement, i believe on every member of this committee we need to do everything we can to apprehend them and catch them. I want to begin by recognizing the three witnesses here today, and such respect for what you do every day. I know firsthand from my time as a prosecutor that people that wear the uniform in Law Enforcement in this country go to work every day not thinking about themselves but thinking about what they can do to protect. What they can do to make sure families are safe in their communities and they take a great deal of risk doing some i know your job is sometimes thankless and easy norfolks to criticize you, but i just want you to know, from the depths of my person, how much i respect what you do every day. Gang violence is certainly a huge problem in this country, and its tearing apart families and taking the lives of way too many. They prey on the weak, they prey on the vulnerable. They provide a sense of family times young people have never had and they do irreparable damage not just to the lives of their victims but also to the communities where they live. Today were here to discuss one gang in particular, ms13. A gang started in st. Louis, in the 80s and excuse me in los angeles in the 80s, and since expanded into Central America. You know, i want to recall the feeling of hopelessness i used to have when i was the prosecutor in kansas city, and we had a huge gang problem. When we would be confronted with horrific violence, it was ganginflicted and we couldnt get anybody to talk. I remember sitting in and crying with victims and explaining that if no one talks, no one goes to prison. And thats why these gangs are so insidious. Not only do they do violence, but they also, by the way they commit violence, they discourage anyone from ever speaking up in ways that can hold them accountable. And thats why im troubled that weve seen a recent trend in some places, even fewer people willing to come forward in communities that are full of people who have come to this country looking for hope from another country. And i certainly want to protect our borders. I certainly want to secure our borders. We also have to be cognizant, what we say and do has impact on peoples willingness to come forward. You exacerbate that they will come forward against gangs, we give you absolutely impossible job, to try to hold these gang members to the standards that we demand and that is, putting them in a prison for long as possibly we could put them in there and in some instances seeking the death penalty. So i, because of my sensitivity about how hard it is to get these guys, i want us to be very careful about documents that are released because sometimes information about individuals is very sensitive, even documents that the committee got ahold of last night. These documents did not come from cpb. They came from a whistleblower which we want to encourage whistleblowers. But we have to be very cautious if there is any Sensitive Information in the documents that they have been fully vetted and Law Enforcement in those communities who may be working investigations as we speak about some of these individuals, that there is nothing that in any way is released that could ever harm any of those investigations. Putting these people in prison is way more important than this hearing and so i have concerns that these documents were released so quickly and that we didnt have a chance to even view the documents on our side of the aisle until they had already been released as now part of the Public Discourse on this issue. So i understand the concern, and i share the concern, but i think weve got to be careful and cautious because at the end of the day we got to make sure were supporting you, and that is the moss important thing that we have to do. So i look forward to your testimony and i look forward to answering, asking questions about the challenges you face in get being these gang members wreaking havoc across so many communities in our country. Thank you, senator mccaskill, it is the tradition of this committee to swear in witnesses. If you will all rise and raise your right hand. Do you square that the testimony you will give before this committee will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god . Please be seated. Our first witness is mr. Timothy sini. Sini. Sorry about that. Police commissioner sini serves as Police Commission for Suffolk County in state of new york. Prior to his appointment as commissioner he served as deputy county executive for Public Safety in the same jurisdiction. Commissioner szini. Thank you, mr. Chairman, i warrant to thank all the members of the committee to provide testimony regarding ms13 in Suffolk County, new york, in ways we can Work Together to effectively eradicate this gang from our communities. Just briefly Suffolk County is new yorks forth large e county, situated 20 miles east of new york city, covering 911 square miles and 1000 miles of coastline on the eastern end of long island. Suffolk is comprised mostly of suburban communities with diverse poplation of approximately 1. 5 million people. Suffolk county Police Department is one of the 15 largest Police Departments in the country with 2500 sworn officers and approximately 1000 civilian he will employees. Contrary to stop you. Is your microphone working. Can we turn up the green button is on. Sure. Contrary to recent sentiments in the national media, thanks to the hardworking men and women of the Suffolk County Police Department, suffolk remains one of the safest counties of its size in the United States. Presently crime is lowest since weve been collecting reliable crime statisticses in 1975. Despite these historic reductions in crime we recently experienced a increase in Gang Violence connected to ms13. Specifically since january 1, 2016, of the 45 homicides that occurred in Suffolk County, 17 of those are believed to be linked to ms13, which is 38 of all homicides during that time period. Since 2013, 27 murders in suffolk have been attributed to ms13. Sufficient foiling county has Suffolk County has 415 identified ms13 gang members in cheeks. They have neighboring county, Nassau County and new york city. Active ms13 gang members are predominantly male and range predominantly from the age of 16 to 29. Mead hian age of ms13 recent arrestees is 18. In Suffolk County ms13 engages in a variety of criminal activity such assaults murder, drug dealing, extortion, robbery and burglaries. Intelligence indicates many ms13 gang members hold wagepaying jobs and are not focused on income generating crime of drug dealing differentiating them from the typical street gang. Rather ms13 often engages in violence for the sake of violence, to increase notoriety of the gang and to cause communities to fear the gang and its members. In fact in 2016, the most frequent reported crime committed by ms13 was assault. The signature weapon used by ms13 is the machete. As noted however ms13 members also commit murder, targeting victims they perceive as disrespecting the gang. For example, in september 2016 ms13 gang members brutally beat two young girls to death in a suburban culdesac. Nisa and kala were 15 and 16 years old. They were high school students. Shortly before the murder kala had a schoolyard argument with ms13 gang member. In owe could be race with the long island safe Streets Police force, the Suffolk County sheriff ace Department Arrest murders and theyre being prosecuted by the United States Attorneys Office. Suffolk county launched a gang eradication strategy targeting ms13 which to date resulted in over 200 ms13 arrests of more than 150 individual ms13 gang members. Our strategy is as follows. We collect a tremendous amount of intelligence on the gang with specific objective identifying ms13 gang members and hangouts. They as sign Police Officers to specific gang members and aggressively and relentlessly target members and locations where they frequent. This targeted enforcement suppresses crime, results in the collection of intelligence and generates valuable evidence for federal prosecutions down the road. As we engage in this targeted enforcement were working hand in hand with our federal Law Enforcement partners to select ms13 gang members for federal prosecution under the rico statute which is very effective tool to dismantle gangs such as ms13. We recognize however that targeted enforcement as well as enhanced patrols will not alone lead totter radcation of ms13 from our communities. As Law Enforcement weeds out gang members from you are neighborhoods we need to invest in school based and communitybased programs to reduce gang recruitment and gang enlistment. Ms13 preyses on our most vulnerable young people, if we do not provide the structure ms13 will. To this end we use arsenal of Community Based intervention strategies such as custom notification, callins, youth conflict insertions. We work closely to the school to identify at risk children early on to intervene and effective ways to prevent from joining gangs, to assist them getting out of a fang. One specific segment of our population particularly vulnerable to gang recruitment are the unaccompanied children known as uacs. 4624 uacs were placed in Suffolk County alone making it one of the largest recipients much uacs in the country. While vast majority ever children are good kids looking for better life in the United States, theyre young, unaccompanied, adjusting to new country and language seeking a sense of belonging. Some to do not have the structure or support system in place to help their transition. Due to these circumstances weve seen a small percentage. Ucas fall vick to gang recruitment and gang victimization. Vast majority of uacs live lawabiding lives vulnerability of some of these children creates a source of recruitment for ms 1. We must provide necessary support to these kids or ms13 will. Highlight ways the federal government can further as sis local government on this Public Safety issue i respectfully suggest the following. More federal prosecutors to prosecute rico cases against ms13 gang members. For example, we work with the Long Island Criminal Division of the United States Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of new york. They have only 11 line assistants and four supervisors, despite the fact with districts comparable or smaller populations have significantly more uasas. The Suffolk County Police Department could launch a Pilot Program in collaboration with the fbi and u. S. Attorneys office every ms13 arrest could be screened for possible federal prosecution. This would increase the number of prosecutions of ms13 gang member, taking dangerous individuals off our streets and likely generate significant intelligence due to incentives in the federal system for defendants to cooperate with Law Enforcement. Sick, improved intelligence sharing among Law Enforcement agencies throughout the country perhaps creating a singular database related to identifying ms13 gang members. Could include automatic notifications to local agencies when information is added regarding an individual interest to the agency. Such database would encourage multijurisdictional operations and allow more local Police Departments to target ms13 gang members in our communities. Third, additional federal funding offset patrolling costs associated with hot spot policing and in areas affected by ms13 activity. Fourth, additional federal funding to fund gang prevention programs and tied directly to number of uacs placed in our communities as they are some of the most vulnerable to ms13 recruitment. Lastly improvements to uac program, including but not limited to increased screening, compliance of monitoring of sponsors, increased funding for postplacement services. In closing i want to thank the committee for its time and its commitment to this very important issue as well as the opportunity to appear before it today. I look forward to working with the committee and all its Members Around its staff. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Commissioner. Our next witness is detective scott conley. Detective connelly is the lead investigative for the Police Gang Unit in chelsea, massachusetts. Inspector connelly, has been serving the public for over 22 years including serving as a Task Force Officer in the boston field office. Detective connelly. Chairman johnson, ranking member, mccaskill and distinguished members of the committee, it is my honor to address you today on behalf of the citizens of chelsea, massachusetts. My name is scott connelly. Ive been a member of the chelsea Police Department for over 22 years. To provide context for my testimony today i have included a brief biography. I would highlight i currently serve as a detective with the chess see Police Department gang unit as well as a Task Force Officer for the federal bureau of investigations north Shore Gang Task force which is funded by the federal safe streets initiative. Chelsea is a city in Suffolk County, massachusetts. It is directly across the river of the mystic river. As of 2017 chelsea had an estimated population of 42,828. It is also the second most densely populated city in massachusetts with a total of area covering just 2. 5 square miles. Chelae see is a diverse working class city. It is one of only three massachusetts cities in which the majority of the population identifies as hispanic or latino. Chelseas residents enjoy a large and thriving Central American population. In 2014 our community as well as surrounding cities and towns experienced a significant increase in the number of teenage students entering the schools from Central America. For the most part, a large majority of these students were hardworking in pursuit of the American Dream but there was a second type of student entering our schools as well. The ms13 gang member, straight from el salavador, honduras, guatemala with nothing but malice on his mind, looking to further the influence of his gang and to recruit as many of the abovementioned children into the ms gang as possible. These children were entering our country across the southern border as unaccompanied children. They were coming to community that are strong, Central American population and in an attempt to be reunited with family members. Upon arrival, the metro boston area they found themselves in very vulnerable position. Some of these individuals, some of them being reunited with family members that they have not seen, 14, 15, even 16 years. Some being reunited with mothers and fathers that have moved on, started their own families and didnt welcome the child to be part of it. At worse, some of these unaccompanied children went into a Sponsorship Program with a socalled concerned adult had no interest in the childs well being. As gang investigators we know that this combination of breakdown in Family Structure and individuals wanting to belong and the childs thought that they were in need of protection makes that child a perfect candidate for gang recruitment and in this case, recruitment by ms13. Ive been investigating the ms13 gang in massachusetts for over 15 years. Over the course of those years, i have seen the gangs membership numbers increase and decline. The most recent increase and most significant increase began in 2014. The city of chelsea as well as surrounding cities and towns saw an uptick in street level Violence Associated with ms13 and its rival, 18th street. At first this violence was isolated to mostly armed and unarmed assaults but soon developed and evolved into a coordinated attacks on rifle gang members and students within our schools. Some of these attacks resulted in homicide. Homicide investigators have detailed the most brutal, premeditated horrific crimes committed at the hands of ms13. They are an organization that has no respect for human life, they kill on demand, and without mercy. The often use cutting instruments like machetes, knife, and even box cutters to inflict most damage on victims as possible. This is how they spread their influence. This is how they intimidate, this is how if left unchecked they can take over a community, in the case of el salavador, influence an entire country. In 2016 as a result of a threeyear investigation conducted by the north Shore Gang Task force, hsi, the u. S. Attorneys office charged 61 leaders, members and associates of ms13 in a rico conspiracy involving six murders and 22 attempted murders. We dont view this investigation as a case but rather of our ms13 program. Multiagency approach is critical to any successful ms13 program. That program depends on closelycoordinated investigative measures by a Law Enforcement team consisting of the fbi, specifically in massachusetts, the north Shore Gang Task force, hsi, the fbi tag offices in el salavador, guatemala and honduras, the Massachusetts State Police and various local Police Departments within community containing a strong ms13 presence. This program also requires close coordination with the u. S. Attorneys office and local district Attorneys Office. The multiagency approach is critical to any successful ms13 program. Also critical is an appropriate balance between criminal prosecution and deportation. To really get to the heart of the problem in the metro boston area we needed to investigate and prosecute a high volume of ms13 members including the entire leadership. Along the way we used deportation tactically to remove dangerous individuals who we were unable to prosecute either because of age or inability to gather sufficient evidence. We worked closely with the hsi partner to insure we are targeting the right individuals for deportation and providing hsi with the evidence it needed to insure that the deportation would occur. Now that we have taken out a large portion of the leadership and membership, we continue with threepart strategy consists of developing human sources to continue largescale criminal enterprise investigations and prosecutions. Using the intelligence sources we developed for our prosecutions to assist local district Attorneys Offices and investigators in our case with three or four pending investigations, prosecutions of ms13 murders involving juvenile defendants. And three, using deportation to disrupt ms13 criminal operations. It take as task force approach with the most sophisticated investigative techniques to combat a transnational threat. Each local, state, and federal partner offer as you unique skillset to the team. It is my opinion that it is critical to Mission Success these efforts are supported with sufficient funding and appropriate recognition by the United States government. Thank you. Thank you, detective. Our final witness is chief of Police Thomas manger. Chief mange hears been the chief of police in Montgomery County since 2004. He began his Law Enforcement career in 1997 with the fairfax Police Department. Chief manger. Distinguished members of the committee, my name is tom manger, chief of police in Montgomery County, maryland. 1 3 of whom were not born in this country. Representing the president of major city chiefs association. That is an association of the largest 69 Police Departments in the United States. I want to thank you for this opportunity to address the committee. Senator johnson, chairman johnson pointed out that in his remarks that ms13 has been around in the United States for over 40 years. They started on the west coast. 10 years later they started showing up later on the east coast and since the time they have gotten here, ms13 has evolved into one of the most violent and murderous gangs in the world. It is progressed from a group whose members certainly in my jurisdiction started off committing petty crimes and were initially considered more of a juvenile delinquency issue as opposed to anything else and now they have escalated into acts of extortion, aggravated assaults and murders. As a result, my department and others in the washington, d. C. , region formed a dedicated Investigative Unit that are solely focused on gangs and continue to target ms13 and other gangs. Over the last 20 years my department in partnership with our region, regional and federal Law Enforcement partners i have a long with the u. S. Attorneys office prosecuted numerous cases against ms13 and primary rival, the 18th street gang. With each major prosecution the county experienced a period of relative inactivity from the gangs only to have them reemerge after reconstituting their ranks and reestablishing their criminal enterprises. Beginning in bp two years ago in june of 2015, Montgomery County began to experience a spike in gangrelated homicides. This marked increase correlated with the breakdown of a truce between the gangs and the el salavadorrian government, and a significant increase in their countrys homicide rate. This year, Montgomery County has not experienced, not seen a spike in those homicides by ms13 but this is because we have just completed a major racketeering influence corrupt organization, rico case, that the Task Force Officers from Montgomery County and prince georges count in the d. C. Region own and agents from dea and Homeland Security conducted that netted several indie. S of several marylandbased ms13 leaders. Coincidentally two ms13 gang members were murdered in altercation, unidentified suspect in Shopping Mall got into a confrontation with them and stabbed both of the individuals to death. There was another highlypublicized incident earlier this year where a 15yearold runaway from my county was killed in the neighboring jurisdiction by ms13 gang members and associates. This certainly remind us that while weve seen a bit of a decline in the homicides this year, it reminds us that our work against gangs must continue. It is important to note during this same time frame my jurisdiction experienced seven more homicides that were attributed to two other local gangs or crews. These murders by the neighborhood crews appear to be motivated by illegal drug transactions whereas the ms13 gang murders appear to be based on the victims perceived or actual affiliations with rifle gangs. Furthermore rival gangs. Committing a homicide is means for gang members to elevate the status within the gangs. What also distinguishes the ms13 murders is premeditation, brutality, and callousness in which they were committed. With many of the victims suffering from multiple Blunt Force Trauma and stab wounds and left in shallow graves in isolated wooded areas. In addition to the homicides that i mentioned we have also heard from Community Members that ms13, which historically extorted money from solely illicit businesses such as bordellos and unlicensed cantinas are now collecting rent from legitimate Latino Business owners and resident in certain apartment complexes. In some instances if the victims of these extortions refuse to pay the fee demanded by the gang, the gang members return with detailed information on the intended victims family members still living in Central America. The victims here in the United States know that that threat of violence to their extended family in their native country is a true possibility and that the perpetrators are out of the reach of u. S. Law enforcement. This same coercive tactic is used to get young adults to join gangs or do tasks on their behalf. The unaccompanied minors that come into our country are particularly vulnerable to gang recruitment. The gangs surf the internet, building dossiers on potential recruits, gathering information on their social networks both here and back in their countries of origin. The data from the social media is used to entice or he coerce new prospects. In at least two of the recent ms13related murders committed in my jurisdiction, the victims were identified, targeted, ultimately lured to their deaths after they developed fabricated social media relationships and accepted false invitations to meet with female ms13 associates on the internet with promise of having sex with the unsuspects victims. Technology plays a role in hampering Law Enforcement investigations against gangs and other Transnational Criminal Organizations. In our recent case with the dea and hsi, investigators learned that gang members were using commercially available encrypted apps to plot their criminal activities. These applications and other technologies are part of a growing, larger issue of criminal organizations going dark and exceeding the current abilities of both local and federal Law Enforcement to legally monitor their communications, even with a court order. I want to also mention that my colleagues in corrections have mentioned that there has been a marked and dramatic increase in the number of ms13 gangs in our jails and prisons. This dramatic up tick in that population has impacted the ability for our corrections professionals to keep these individuals segregated. It is impacted staffing, and the safety of corrections officers. Let me just finish by offering two recommendations to the committee to address this growing problem. First i believe that congress can and should fund, federal state and local task forces to focus on gangs. Impossible job. My last recommendation, i urge congress to act to balance Citizens Rights to privacy with Law Enforcement needs to lawfully monitor and intercept Electronic Communications regarding criminal activity and potential deadly plots. Expand issue of going dark must be addressed at the federal level to afford local Law Enforcement and our federal partners, legislation and the tools they need to legally access encrypted communications that are used to coordinate criminal activities. Thank you for holding this hearing, and thank you for the assistance that you provide Law Enforcement throughout our nation. Thank you, chief manger. I apologize for giving it a 5050 shot. Two out of three, i was wrong. Not unusual. Senator lankford asked to leave so i will yield my position to senator lankford. Mr. Chairman, thanks very much. Gentlemen, thank you for being up for the preparation come for this time, but incredibly compelling testimony and the issues you bring and the complexity of what you do everyday. We appreciate your work very much. All three of you mentioned the interaction between ms13 and whats happening in Central America. Several of you mentioned specifically the coordination efforts between Central America and Law Enforcement here both the federal and their Law Enforcement. What can we do to help facilitate greater cooperation, whether that the fingerprint sharing, identity, Background Information between individuals being deported here back there as their kind received gang members back there, but also individuals who are moving in this direction as well. What coordination is missing because ms13 obviously is a strong Central American salvadoran and especially presence there, what can we do . I would just say you touched on a couple things we need to do. First, our ability to remove identified ms13 gang members that have been arrested or of crimes. Oftentimes we have not only in Central America but other nations in our world that will not accept their residence back. We need remove them from our country, and so if we can work on that issue it would be very helpful. Smh and in my testimony, that the truth that was in place between trues gains in el salvador and the government really did impact things in our country. When that truce broken down it had a very, greater a spike in violence in our country. What youre saying is they gang the truce broke and in el salvador and effect of the violence directly here in the United States . Yes, sir. What other resources, what other cooperation do we need from Central American countries . I had the privilege to just returned from el salvador, and with my position with the fbis task force, ive been able to go down there approximate half a dozen times. I just return as recently as saturday. The fbi has in place in el salvador the tag transnational antigang group. This prompted them to have another tag placed in honduras and guatemala. What i believe we are seeing up in the metro boston area is the inability to refer to a database that doesnt just cover local ms13 members, but ms13 members nationally as well as internationally. And i feel like a database that was, the input was from both el salvador and the United States, would assist in the vetting process of the unaccompanied children that are crossing the border. A lot of times in el salvador they have information that the individual may have gained ties, possibly not a member. In return and the United States we have information that the individual has gained ties, whether or not he or she is a member. It would be a great asset if that information about its way to a clearinghouse, if it access to internationally and nationally, and even at the local level. All three dimensions something along those lines. Is the fbi the crack depository for that . Trying to set up something you obviously is an additional cost and bureaucracy and everything else. Is there enough of a relationship with the Gang Task Force is locally, with fbi and their Gang Task Force is the fbi should be cast of this database, all local face should have access to, international and national . And the metro boston area which i can speak on with confidence, we speak to the fbi tag and Central America specifically, guatemala and el salvador on a weekly basis. The Massachusetts State Police speaks to the fbi tag in el salvador and guatemala. Maybe even more often than that. It would be my opinion that the fbi already has in place those resources. To expand of those resources would probably be the best course. I agree wholeheartedly as a make him a test way that this database is, Critical Mission to facilitate, facilitating effective cooperation in eradicating these gangs from our communities here. What were seeing for the first time on long island is direct connections with the young gang members to el salvador. So in the past we have seen connections from folks, gang members in Suffolk County in long island to the west coast, now directly to honduras and el salvador. Your question is directed on point. In addition to the database i would just add we work very close with the fbi in Suffolk County for the fbi safe streets task force. However, a broad special Operation Division may also be worth taking a look at your question is that is essentially a multi Agency Organization and that could be a division that could assist in the type of database. Whats very helpful is when we have a number pop in Suffolk County, a phone number, and we share that with our federal partners abroad who have assets in Central America, and the type of analysis and intelligence that they can gain from a single number is both scary when you see all the connections but extremely helpful. What is missing in this database that doesnt already exist . Sounds like the cooperation is there, the relationships are already there. Whats missing . Is it just that it hasnt been launched . Because the information is there. Its my opinion that we have a series of individual databases that dont always connect nationally and internationally. I think would be an asset to be able to connect them internationally, again, because that would assist with us not only knowing who is coming into our community but also assist the governments within the Central America to know at times whos coming back. And from conversation with government officials in el salvador, that was one of the things that they were struggling with, is about as the resources to include the fbis tag address the ms problem locally in el salvador and they may arrest 20, 25 individuals, its just a short time later that i play a rights and 50 more gang members are brought back to the country and they have to go through the process again. Its important to address the problem in el salvador if were going to take a real high look at the problem where experiencing here in the United States. Thank you. Try to just a quick, it on this. This is something that the Appropriations Team is already started on i think yesterday had a hearing on state and foreign appropriations not Central America specifically and some of the investment in the way they were targeting how were spending money in our foreign aid and how many to be able to target this specifically did with violence in those areas because thats an exact connection to whats happening here. I would encourage cooperation between those two committees and whatever we can do with the fbi to be able help them finish at this database. Sounds to be pretty much a common solution so we Work Together with you on that. Senator mccaskill. When you all identify aching member who is in this country illegally, are you getting Immediate Response from ice for deportation . When we arrest them, we typically do. We can identify them. Its not entail that they are arrested, finger printed at the fingerprints ago gay to Homeland Security that they identify them as some of their be interested in, yes. And let me ask about the countries it will not take them back. I mean, and the problem that you just laid out very well with us, when el salvador arrest 25 liters recent and 50 more to take their place, have we had any problem with either guatemala or salvador refusing to take any of the people that we have arrested for Gang Activity here to send back there that are not in this country legally . I wouldnt be the subject Matter Expert to answer that encounter, not being able to get rid of a gang member that youre holding because a country will not receive the back . In massachusetts and specific and task force that i work in, we havent had a problem. We dont know the problem with a country that wouldnt take them back. There have been roadblocks at times when an individual committed a crime and was placed in custody, up for deportation, and the federal judge refused the order of deportation but thats a completely different than the country that taking them back. Right right. Thats a whole other issue. I know you all a document money for Regional Task force is. I think this is one of those areas where to get to be really careful with the budget the president presented because while there putting more money into border security, we cant forget that a lot of the money, a lot of the money, byrne grant money, i mean, you will what these programs are because your departments depend on them, especially for an agency task force. Having firsthand experience at this, this money is not wasted. This is not soft. Visit was giving you the tools. I just want to make that comment because the president s budget was not kind, the skinny budget in the new budget was not always kind of programs like that. Me ask you about prosecuted. You talked about, commissioner sini, about more line use attorneys. I get that we go, has tools that local prosecutors dont have within the rico umbrella. But are you getting cooperation from local prosecutors on these assaults, on the felonies . Is there not enough cooperation from your local das on this . All of these crimes obviously our state crimes, not federal crimes, assault is not even a federal crime. Really murder isnt either. Im just a race what the local cooperation has been. As i mentioned before, part of our strategy is to target these gang members and make street address. I mention we made over 300 ms 13 arrest. The vast of the threats are prosecuted by our local district Attorneys Office. In that regard we get excellent cooperation from the district Attorneys Office. Where i would improve the collaboration among the Police Department can use Attorneys Office and district Attorneys Office is often times you are able to develop probable cause and the ability to arrest individual on local state murder charges masuda then youre able to make a federal merger rico charge. What i would like to see federal merger if the machine running perfectly is once we have pc, once a probable cause to make that state murder charge the person is arrested, prosecuted in the state system. If it turns out that were able to make that into federal rico charge, bring the case over to use Attorneys Office. Its a collaborative effort aircraft have a special assistant District Attorney in use Attorneys Office and a special assistant District Attorney coordinated, yeah. In postplacemen placement servf your recommendations. I certainly am aware of the postplacement services issue. We we had a whole hearing, senator portman and i did, in psi about the incredible problem of hhs not really, i mean, theres been some, put the game issue aside, there has been some horrendous treatment of these children in terms of being forced into child labor and other issues. Including i think thats someplace we need to continue to focus on that. Let me finally just ask you, its my understanding, commissioner and cheap, and neither one of your departments will be participating in 287g, correct . Thats correct. Would you explain briefly why he would not be participating in 287g . Although we believe that it missioncritical to collaborate with the department of Homeland Security to have dangerous gang members our streets, we also sometimes had to create an apartment in which undocumented individuals feel comfortable coming to Law Enforcement with information about crime. So therefore we do not, for example, inquiry into the immigration status of those individuals who are coming to the police as a witness, as a victim or someone merely seeking police assistance. The same vein we believe if we enter into a United States agreement back economize our mission and creating data barbet and could hurt our ability to make cases, encourage witnesses and victims to come forward. With that said whenever we arrest an individual for a crime, misdemeanor or felony, and a person is not illegally, we automatically notify the department of Homeland Security. And chief major computer department, civil to didnt cooperate with them. Obviously what the Commission Just described is the ultimate cooperation. Its hang attention to your Public Safety mission which has to be foremost or to the only one who answers 911 calls. Im not aware of anybody else in the entire criminal Justice System that answers 911 calls besides your department. And so what was the downfall of you being listed as the department who failed to cooperate with i. C. E. And what was the impact on your ability to in fact, put criminals in prison . The biggest challenge that i that is to try and make sure that what a number of our elected officials have said has not been misinterpreted by our federal colleagues. The fact is we are not now nor have we ever than a sanctuary jurisdiction. We have found we believe because as i mentioned, county is onethird immigrant when you look at our population, and i think the commission described it perfectly. We got to find that balance for whats right for Public Safety and our jurisdiction. If people are free to come forward and report crime, afraid to come for to be witnesses to crime, our jurisdiction is less safe. We found that baluster we dont inquire about peoples immigration status. However, if we arrest someone, we cooperate fully with i. C. E. Peopl. We respond to every one or inquiries. The issue where i think many jurisdictions run into the challenge and we have been talking Homeland Security office forever on the issue of the detainers. For i think many people look at the issue of whether we honor again or not. Hold someone be on someone wendy would normally be released as a political decision for it is not. It is a legal decision. We have been instructed the federal circuit, fourth circuit. We have been given instructions by our attorneys that we can hold these folks end of the time when there would be released. At that point we will notify i. C. E. They are being released. If i. C. E. Can come down to get them, they are welcome. We will notify i. C. E. Win, well give the note had a time when youll be released if we had that information. We had a case recently that i. C. E. Took the opportunity to put a press release out on saying that my, county released a dangerous purse back into the community. It was a mistake. We had a detainer. We should have monitored. It was unexpected that a judge is going to release this person and we did notify i. C. E. I say we, our corrections department. And it was a mistake. It was that the next day. The person was taken into custody the next day. That doesnt overcome the press release. It does not. But the fact of the matter is, we are doing the same thing Suffolk County is doing, the same thing about 90 plus of the aching dump Police Department in this country are doing. We found that balance where we do not want to be the Immigration Police only absolutely cooperate and help our federal partners. Make no mistake you guys are handling 95 of the Violent Crime that occurs in this country. Not the federal authorities. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I will take senator lankford question and then it will be senator hassan. On the same line of questioning, is there any federal law that you would want to see changed or modified to help you do your job as relates to this Gang Activity in your daily with i. C. E. , in terms of detainers and Immigration Law . I would love to see, you know, we are bound by case law, and when we are informed that, by our attorneys that we would be liable for false imprisonment if we do not release someone when theyre entitled to be released, thats a problem. And so if they can be a change of the law that gives of those detainers the strength of a warrant. Because if we have a ward we will hold someone. And that is i believe the easiest solution is to get a warrant to hold somebody. That gives us the Legal Authority to do so. You are concerned about your liability or i for the same thing in terms of county sheriffs departments in wisconsin as well. There some civil cases that hold them liable if they detain people. Really getting that Liability Protection as you detain people in this country legally. Thats correct. Believe me theres not a Police Department in this country that doesnt want to hold someone who is a danger to their community. If we can use that person or has already committed a crime, that has gotten them locked up in the first place, if we can use deportation as a tool for that individual, im perfectly happel happy to make that person from my community but i cannot run afoul of the law in doing that. Im going to come back to the strategy of using deportation versus arresting and imprisonment. But i first want to get to something pretty basic. It was interesting being briefed for this. I have not been a prosecutor. I havent been involved in the whole issue of gangs. My assumption going in, is ms13 we had been primary there as drug traffickers. Human traffickers. Kind of splitting this out. The reason people join gangs, we talked about they dont have people here, they dont have family here. This is the type of film but they are also extorted to join the gang as well. Can you just tell me, what is the purpose of ms13 . I mean, from their perspective why are they recruiting, why the extorted . What is the main activity . I will start with you, commissioner. Sure. They recruit to sustain themselves. And they are a criminal organization and then their Main Objective is to exist and to be feared. There is no question that they engage in criminal economic activity. Many of them sell drugs. Many of them commit extortion, robberies, burglaries. If you dont engage, they dont engage in those criminal activities as a primary purpose of existence. Do you understand, thats surprising. To hear that. Their main purpose is used to exist, to be an entity, the people loyal to them, and loyalty extends to me shedding hacking people to death. Just to add, with a look at ms13 in the United States as it evolves. Just like we have to look at ms13 in el salvador as it evolved. On the east coast of the United States ms13 is just getting a foothold. On the west coast of the United States, like senator mccaskill and senator johnson said, they have been there for decades. We actually imported ms13 back to el salvador. But now they have begun to evolve. On the west coast they do control Drug Trafficking markets. They do have connections with other criminal organizations such as the Mexican Mafia and the ma. In el salvador, almost everybody pays. Almost everybody pays some sort of extortion payment to ms13. In some cases it might be as low as one dollar, but when a household in el salvador might only bring in 250, that one doll is pretty significant. So we need to learn from the patterns of ms13 on the west coast and the patterns of the criminal activity of ms13 in el salvador to be prepared for what ms13 is ultimately going to try to put into place on the east coast. So the piggyback with the commissioner said, as of right now they are just maintaining, and they really do just go out and commit the most heinous of violent acts, some a voyage as a 22 year investigator investigator ive never investigated before. To include cutting off of the limbs, the attempt to cut off a victims head with a machete. So at this moment on the east coast and in boston, as the commissioner said, some of them are employed picks some of them go to work at 6 00 in the morning picky to go into certain restaurants in boston, to arrest and ms13 member, sometimes the Business Owner says he was one of my best workers. So right now they are maintaining, theyre getting the numbers up and we can see that from the metro boston area all the way down to charlotte. But they are going to evolve and they are going to attempt to take over trafficking markets of narcotics, just like they have on the west coast and just like they have in Central America. So again, different specialties in el salvador. Its extortion. The west coast it is Drug Trafficking, and we are not quite sure how come you would suspect it would be Drug Trafficking, Human Trafficking . I believe on the east coast theyre still trying to get leadership into the right places to include boston, long island, virginia, the carolinas. I think once they established that leadership base, you will start to see a more sophisticated gain that doesnt just solely commit violent acts but also controls some sort of narcotics market. And possibly even illegal trafficking. Let me ask how they differ and now theyre similar with other major gains. Maybe chief manger can answer that. Our neighborhood accrues what are not ethnicbased, that is, they are more diverse in terms of their membership, they are the ones that typically have come when we have homicide relating to those its usually drugrelated. The homicide went to ms13, its just because, just because we cant and because of will and because what to instill that fear. Its because if you are not my gang, and you are my enemy and i will kill you. The economic support that ms13 was engaged in was very unsophisticated for a long time. It was we are going to rent an apartment in an old Apartment Building and well put a couple of young women in their and get, you know, what he bucks for every guy that wants to come in 20 bucks. This would operate for about a week. It would finally come to our attention, will be able to shut that down. It would just pop up somewhere else. Not very sophisticated. And it was usually, they were extorting money and making money from unlawful operations. Now they are going to latino owned businesses and charging them rent. And theyre using coercion, fear, threats, and threats that the victims know that these people have the ability and willingness to carry out to extort money from legitimate businesses. This is a trend we are seeing more real quick because i just want to ask, you talked about the instance of a couple of individuals lowered through the internet to their deaths. Was that an initiation rite . I mean, why with a lower individuals just to kill them . In one case it was because they believed that individual was part of a rival gang. And another case it was that they had this individual had been approached and have been resistant to joining ms13 pixel basically to teach him a lesson. No more recent than that. Senator hassan. Thank you, mr. Chairman and ranking them for the string. First of all to this review, thank you for your service as Law Enforcement officers and thank your families, too. Im a former governor and i could rape of giving the chief executive over the New Hampshire state police. So im very appreciative of the time, effort, commitment that you all provide to your fellow citizens. And im very grateful for your testimony today. Im very grateful for not only for the information but the suggestions and recommendations. I think it will help all of us as we Work Together to combat this gang and other public health, Public Safety threats. I did want to look at, or delve into a little bit more some of the discussion of what we think the root causes of Gang Violence are. We know we have to ensure that our federalstate and local enforcement officers have the resources necessary to keep our committees safe and i thank you for your condition in that regard. But to touch on something that commissioner sini, you talked a little bit, having a strong Law Enforcement presence of enactment is only one part of the solution to have to ensure that there are social and Education Programs in place and that those are adequately resourced to try to divert young people away from joining gangs in first place. So my state, when it imports social programs that just help us to address you violence was a Mentorship Program between police and students. Its known as parrot cops with the kids in a mentorship to pass you know to help kids grow to make the right choice and become productive members of the Community Among other things they teach kids boxing com, had exercise, how to work out. Its been an important tool to combat gang recruitment and crimes but also to combat drug abuse as well which you know is a particular devastating issue in my state. So want to ask you all about the social and Educational Programs in your communities and how they seek to address some of the root causes of Gang Violence and also just wanted your thoughts on what we saw from the president to budget yesterday, which has limited federal support for key Education Program such as dropout prevention and afterschool support activities. I assume that you think federal dollars for this kind of work is important but i would love to hear your thoughts, and maybe commission come we could start with you. Sure. That is a critical piece to addressing this significant Public Safety issue. In Suffolk County our Police Officers, they do such fantastic work in terms of mentoring our students, our children in the communities and doing outreach to all of our children, but particularly are at risk youth. We do that and a variety of different forms. We do it director with Police Officers that we also launched a new program called change which of the department of probation a notforprofit that specializes in gang prevention. The idea is Early Intervention, trying to identify atrisk children early on to connect into services that they may need whether social work services, psychological counseling, medical services and providing that support so that they can do well in our community. Also involving the family. That is key. The family is going to the biggest impact on this childs life. There needs to be an approach to involve the family in that process. Involving Law Enforcement in the social programs is critical for several reasons. One, Police Officers tend to be very, they are very warm and very intelligent and charismatic individual and the tend to be good at this. By nature coming to this country illegally, not with them at their parents been selling entremed being young, being new to this country and to identify them early on with the key, which is by notification to local governments would be very help well. Yes, i vehemently support federal dollars for community policing. Thank you very much. Detective. I will be brief. I feel like the two chairmen to the right of me can speak on policy better than i can. In massachusetts, my chief brian ties has always said if we are reacting to a crisis, then regard a loss. We need to be proactive and prevent the crisis. In chelsea, we have many programs that address the unaccompanied children, whether it be afterschool programs that involve policing, whether its the Massachusetts General Hospital in the that provide social resources for the children. Commission has said you have to involve the family. You cant take a 15yearold and think that 30 minutes after school playing basketball is going to have a lasting effect. It may help them out relationship, but once the doors open and they need to find out what that individual is going home too. We can spend all day playing basketball, but what is that 15yearold going home too . As Law Enforcement agents come and search out to know whether the 12, 13, 14yearold individualist at home too. We spend a lot of time could have been just as much time fighting games as they do trying to spend time with individuals in chelsea preventing them from joining the gigs in the first place. You have to get the families involved. When it comes to unaccompanied children, its important to help us identify with the crisis phase. A lot of these individuals come across the border mayor to have ptsd setting and. Just the crossing in and of itself. Weve heard Horror Stories about. One of the important thing that i think would greatly help the state of massachusetts and specifically my community of chelsea is if we knew if there was some sort of notification that came to the Police Department are came to the city that unaccompanied minor so that way we can search them to offer resources versus them having to seek us out. Lastly when it comes to ms13, inherently they are not very trusting of the government. A lot of the social programs that we have and shall be to include what is called reaching out to chelsea out of lesson, the ms13 members see that as a government agent v. The social agency. So it does hinder their ability to do reach out work. In closing, the prooctave approach, to reach out work preventing individuals from joining the gang at the recruitment stage is critical. Thank you very chief. Every single one of us were 12, 13 years old can start to mature out of always been under mom and dads on trial. You want to have a sense of belonging to something, a sense of being able to be somewhere that had people that cared about us, friends. For some it was sport, others collect committees, the church. The unaccompanied minors to come here are just a perfect recruitment opportunity for games because they come with none of that, but they all want that. The key i think is to be able to as soon as possible when we identify these folks at it in the Wraparound Services. Im telling you, scott is right on. I wrote down walking home because we can do all we can for these kids, but then theyve got to walk home and that is where they are vulnerable. The Early Intervention programs and intervention programs. With something called called the street up reaching out work where we have counselors who are specially trained, and many former gang members who actually intervene with these kids come out and get out of the game if possible, keeping them from joining in the first place. The challenge i think is to identify these kids and the one place these kids will all end up as you might be able to connect with them is the schools. The problem is that schools are hesitated. And i understand why they are hesitant. They are hesitated to get involved with the gang issue. But that is where you can actually find this kid. But the schools have been reluctant understandably to start getting involved in this game kind of programs. But if we can somehow coordinate a little bit better without running afoul of all the protections that are in place for these young kids, the Early Intervention is the way to go. Thank you. Mr. Chair, thank you for your indulgence. Be safe. I just have to chime in. Already too late, the primary goal should be to stop the flow or drastically reduce it. If we focus on not come your not having to work about dealing with all these unaccompanied children. Its creating all kinds of havoc on us or focus out to be how we stop to dramatically reduce the flow. Chairman thomas attorney general california convened a group of Law Enforcement leaders in our date and other experts over quite some period of time to produce this report gain beyond borders and its an examination of Transnational Criminal Organizations and what we need to do to stop them. But they could submit that to the record. Without objection, appreciate it. I want to thank each of you is a career prosecutor. I prosecuted everything from lowlevel offense to homicide and attorney general california. I cannot thank you each and not for the work you do and critique their local Law Enforcement. Perhaps a bit of my bias, but i do know that local law in worsening disproportionately shoulders the burden in response abilities for dealing with these issues including trent National Criminal organizations. It is too bad that others only talk about then they automatically go to International Bond is made or federal one of fast local one for me it really does carry an extreme burden for dealing with at the local level. I wanted to thank you for the work you did. So if local Law Enforcement, we know that one transNational Criminal organization in the report also certainly involved in the trafficking of guns and drugs in human beings. They also like everyone else in the society have adopted technology in the way they do their work among their many reasons for being the chairman asked that question is one of the highest reason this to make money. But they profit off of illegal act duties that rise to be lethal. They are also involved in money laundering. They are involved in government ought here they are involved in piracy, identity fraud, all of those are pursued of illegal and organized criminal association. As local Law Enforcement, one of the things we know is that one of the best tools that we have is that trust that we have between ourselves and the communities we serve. When there is a break in that trust, it breaks our ability to do the work we need to do, which is to concern themselves with Public Safety. I would like to talk for a moment about the importance of the relationship of trust between local Law Enforcement and the communities you police. You are aware that this administration is looking at a policy of withholding federal funding to local Law Enforcement if you dont cooperate with immigration enforcement. Weve talked about that previously. First, tell me how much do your departments rely on cops funding to do your everyday work . Can we go down the line . We are recipients of the money in excess of a Million Dollars ended helps us to many other critical object is. Of the funding were withheld, what would that mean in terms of your ability to perform everyday duties and responsibilities . Would have to secure funding from another location, which in the case in my county, that would be extremely challenging. Okay, thank you. With the commissioner said, my department relies greatly on that funding nsf funding was taken away it would seriously have the ability to do what we do everyday. Thank you. Data. We typically have around a Million Dollars at any given time that kind of grant money. The programs that we operate is done not by me are absolutely critical to our mission and are doing phenomenal things for the residents of our county. My hope is theres beginning to be calm to the jurisdiction is and what would make jurisdiction and as we get that clarity, my concern is lessening a little bit because nowhere did i see that a place like thoughtful county or Montgomery County would change what we are doing. We do in fact cooperate with federal authorities. But the fact weve elected not to become jurisdictions and do immigration ourselves would not make us ineligible for those grants. Im hopeless to give more clarity that it wont impact the majority of the jurisdictions. Thank you good on your point about her Department Statement to your community that you will not be 287 g city and department. Lets talk a little bit about the relationship of trust as it relates to what we ultimately want to do, which is not just arrest the bad guy, but prosecute them and get a conviction about them. What we want to do is make sure theres going to be serious and swift and severe consequence in particular those who commit Violent Crimes in our committee. As they both know, the only way we get to that goal is that we prove the case in the court of law. The only way we are going to prove the case in the court of law is if we present evidence to a jury or judge, correct . Most of the time, that evidence is not coming to the bad guy himself. It is going to be because we produce witnesses to the crime that will come and testify before a jury, is that correct . Is correct. Would you agree that what has happened over the course of many months because the local Law Enforcement cooperate with i. C. E. There has had a Chilling Effect who are immigrants be they documented or undocumented. Certainly when the executive orders refers issued right after the administration came into office, there is absolutely great fear in our community about just how those executive orders are going to be implemented. You mentioned the head of the police chief. Thank you for that. So chief that has reported that in march he would stay 25 drop in reports of Sexual Assault, 10 drop in reports of Domestic Violence among latinos in los angeles from the same time in 26 t. Similar reports have come from houston, texas and outplayed. Would you agree that when the people of our community is think they will be deported, many victims in fact will adore crimes like Domestic Violence or Sexual Assault rather than being deported and removed from their children or the Community Thing now. I do believe that. When we were very quickly aware of this year in our community. We redoubled our efforts to let the folks in our community now that our policy has not changed and that it had no reason to fear coming forward to report crimes being witnesses. Ill just tell you a very quick story. We had a domestic homicide or a man driving down a busy street had objected to his estranged wife and she tried to jump out of the car. Grabbed her by the car, shot her in the head and pushed her out onto the street. There were two men within the distinct debut and i are away from where this top 10. They heard her scream, heard the shot, so what occurred. Both of these men were day laborers. They were standing in the park and not a Convenience Store waiting to be picked up for work. Neither of them spoke english. I dont know their immigration status, but the people can certainly speculate. As we arrived, these men came forward and spoke to one of my officers about what they saw. Had we not had the relationship with the community and the policies that we have, my guess is both of these men would not have been there when officers arrived to start investigating that case. Thank you over your service. I really appreciated. Senator hays camp. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Again, we are all announced in our street crud on this i too was the attorney general of maine state, like general harris and i had the wonderful opportunity of leading teams in drug and arsenic, which inevitably led to gain enforcement and was very difficult for people in a state like north dakota to understand the games that infiltrated the community. Sometimes one of the challenges we have in states on my california is getting people to admit they actually have a problem. I dont think theres any doubt that ms13 has become a cancer in our society and that it is passe seen in every community of Living Communities in my day, especially native American Communities where its easier to infiltrate. I will tell you like in a cancer we need a whole range of treatments. If you get breast cancer, you cant land surgery. You have chemotherapy, radiation, after treatment. I want to focus as my colleague, senator hassan focus on prevention and senator harris focused on what we need to get out prosecution, i lets talk about deportation. I sure mention set of circumstances, actually spent an hour and a half, two hours in el salvador in prisoners. They relied on those getting leaders to maintain some kind of order within the prison system because otherwise theres no way they could maintain the population. You see ms13 basically embedded throughout the culture and society, Civil Society of these communities. I also went to a religiousbased antigang program for a lot of that was shot training at a lot of it was trying to find opportunities so that future gang members or people just on the cusp of recruitment could not could find an opportunity other than joining the game for economic stability in their lives. With that said, i will tell you the biggest problem i see is extortion. When you deport a gang leader back to the community, they are going to find a family were and they are going to extort and all the great bush is an outrage that are talking about today may not be all that valuable if they think that if they dont join in this country that the grandmother will not be alive the next day. So, the extortion piece is incredibly difficult to get out. We cannot love this problem without thinking about stabilizing the triangle countries especially this country of el salvador. They are still suffering the residuals of a civil war. That created the vacuum in terms of security and safety the kings moved into an theres never been in my opinion a very effective reestablishment of the rule of law and they act in that way. Senator john and i also witnessed collaborations between our institutions and we actually saw a the colombian folks come up and help to establish a rule of love in order in these communities. My question to all of you and then i looked at you take it from here. When you are arresting or dealing with the community, how much of this to you here and if only we could have a program in el salvador if only we could work more collaboratively with our counterparts particularly el salvador we could get a better handle on whats happening here. How much they can have you done about International Collaboration would be my question. To answer that, i want to touch base on what you were asking. In my community, and the majority of the community identifies with hispanic or latino trust Law Enforcement is priority number one. A lot of our community is made up of undocumented residents. So what does that community is priority number one. Weve gone through great links to assure them that yes, more of a presence in our neighborhoods but the chelsea Police Department doesnt assist operations solely for immigration issues. I can appreciate one of the challenges you have within the community writ large where you are. It is going to be hard to convince that kid not to join a gang and act the way they are going to act if they think their parents or grandparents are at risk. How do we solve that . Thats a true statement. We have evidence of individuals being pressured into joining games because of some sort of tie with el salvador. I think you set it up to beginning of your question, which was we need to secure. We need to stabilize those countries. They are fleeing for a reason and when they do, they are coming to this country under the worst possible conditions. So like yourself, ive been to many other tales and prisons and all fall the door and they have resources that are minimal at best. And so there is no reason for that individual to attempt to reform whether in prison. They are looking to get out and go to where they were before they got in. To answer you directly, we need to make an effort to assist the Central American countries, ill solve the daughter and stabilizing. The chiefs up police, how do you see an opportunity to collaborate with your counterparts . It is a challenge. We certainly have partnered with their international partners. Our members are from Police Departments from canada. Associate members from the u. K. The relationship between my enforcement agencies, especially federal partners and the lawenforcement agencies in some of these countries is weve got to build the trust they are. You have to be able to trust the information you are sharing is not going to be misused. There is no question that the premise of your remarks that there is an impact on what goes on here and whats happening there. As a local police chief, im not sure local Law Enforcement has much control or much influence over the issue youre asking about. I think my point with the we are just treating symptoms because we are going to get ahead of this unless we work collaboratively. I completely understand the hesitation to share intelligence or any information back and forth. You dont know who youre talking to. These are all efforts that we are working on to try and improve the professionalism and the honesty and integrity of the police apartment. Weve seen some steps in the right direction. They definitely are not air. I still like senator harris and the like senator hassan, i understand the Critical Role that local Law Enforcement plays. When we make mistakes here in terms of National Policy and National Corporation and utilization of the utilization when we dont do our job internationally, you will continue to be stressed and have this same issue. I want to bring that because a lot of people think deporting people home and fight be sending one of the worst perpetrators who now has the ability to extort any number of additional people to achieve a criminal results right here in the United States. Thank you so much for everything you do. We want to be great partners with you. Thank you so much for your testimony. Senator dean, good timing. Thank you. Precision like the blue angels here. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for testifying today in your service in the line were snake community. You mentioned her go crimes in your testimony. These are hard to stomach. We had a brutal crime in montana last week where we had a Deputy Sheriff that was murdered by a man who is eventually killed by Law Enforcement. We had the funeral yesterday. We need to do everything in our power to put an end to our violence and cut off the flow of resources that fuel it. In montana, we did not have a sizable trend National Criminal organizations presence. We do feel the impacts of their illicit committees. Ms13 has established relationships with Drug Trafficking networks that distribute in montana. All in montana are trafficked from south of the border. We have seen the price drop in half with the influx and now more than 90 of all drug offenses in montana are meth related. Additionally, weve seen a nearly fivefold increase in hair and positive drug test. This impacts our communities from increases in Violent Crime to a disturbing rise in child and enjoyment in foster care case closed. Detective conway at hearings and that detect his tally we discussed the violent and Central America. I understand recently returned from el salvador training their police. From your death, how can we reinforce their lawenforcement efforts . While i was down there, i had an opportunity to speak to a high ranking officials within their line for snake community. What they said over and over again was with dereks. Same in el salvador was the sophistication is a gang member coming back for the United States. Just recently in el salvador they started doing title iii wiretaps. Up until 20 and they didnt have the ability to do that. In el salvador, what they need most in combating ms13 and arrival at 18th street gang is not just the technology, but the personnel that knows how to utilize the technology. Most importantly and i know the department of justice has gone to Great Lengths to provide this. Training for prosecutors. A lot of prosecutors didnt have the adequate training a sophisticated gang. When i was down there not just the most recent time, but a couple years ago we found that homicide is didnt do homicide investigations, but for the most part they responded, rotary court and moved onto the next homicide. Training is what they need. They want to combat again the game. Salvador into living off out the door despise the ms13 game just as much if el salvador in that live in massachusetts. They despise the gang and applaud all efforts to make their area of the gang. To answer your question, training. So followup, what else do you think these countries could be doing to stop the production of matt, to stop other drugs before they are shipped to the u. S. I would be outside of my scope of expertise if i was to answer that. As im sure the same techniques we would use here in the United States, it would require a joint approach, joint effort to totally stop the traffic of narcotics. You discuss the surge of over 413 gang members in your county in just a few years. How in the world did that happen . These are identified members in Suffolk County and a handful of hamlet. These individuals cert they comprised mostly latino coming from countries such as el salvador, guatemala and honduras. Many of them came to the country illegally. A small percentage of them are unaccompanied children and a small percentage are also lawful resident than even american citizens. Stay with me, we are concerned that ms13 is recruiting younger people as we target them, they recruit even younger. As we mentioned earlier, the unaccompanied children are certainly vulnerable and that is why it is so to address that population. So, speaking of gangs, i hail from the state that has a number of indian reservations. I am told by state Law Enforcement that gangs often find indian reservations to be a safe haven. Do you have any thoughts on all open up the panel, do you have any thought on how we can boost collaboration with the tribal communities and Law Enforcement . Suffolk county has reservations in its jurisdiction of a issues involving crime, particularly gang on the reservations. In one instance, weve entered into a memorandum of understanding with the tribe to essentially provide Police Services to the reservation. There honestly very complex issues involving jurisdiction and sovereign territory of the memorandum of understanding exports clear terms upon can find with the reservation to accept Police Services. That document has gone a long way in improving relations between the native americans living on the reservation and the Suffolk County Police Department in being able to collaborate to target those criminals because mru has been in place for several years. Have you seen any results . Are able to work handinhand with the Tribal Council to target problem individuals and locations because theres no arguing that no debating about whos allowed to be there, when are we allowed to be there. It facilitates that collaboration and we have a nextline relationship with the Tribal Council on the reservation with which we have that about you. Just like it would work with the town for a municipality in their Public Safety to target a problem home, these abandoned homes or problem location like a drug spot, we do that with the reservation and its very effective. Thank you. Just to give you a little further inside in your opening line of questions in terms of Law Enforcement, we were down there. One of the biggest problem we have with impunity and corruption. Thats a different term. Then you find out local Law Enforcement has provided not those little threat when they are given a dvd showing their families going to church for the children going to school. That is a pretty brutal reminder of why its pretty choppy and local Law Enforcement Central America. Senator holden, further evidence we are committed to securing our northern border well represented on our community. You rednecks. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I appreciate this important issue. I was start out by asking each of you what are we doing at the border particularly in regard to unaccompanied alien children to make sure that we are trying to prevent the growth, in other words, what cannot keep out who may come across to join ms13 in this country. And what is the average age . The median age of resent i should say at the base on our vast and certainly ranges from the largest age range for active ms13 gang members is 14 to 29 and certainly there are younger ms13 gang members and older, but that is our biggest folk. In terms of what the department of Homeland Security is doing, my understanding is they are transferring responsibility of the department of health and Human Services at an early stage. I will speak for Suffolk County. What we would like to see is more collaboration between local governments in the department of health and Human Services and the office of Refugee Resettlement in terms of the placement of children in our communities come including notification to School Districts and local government so that we can be had in dealing with very vulnerable population. Also, the immigration course because unaccompanied if they are being released into the community, then that does not create a real concern that some of those may get recruited and end up as ms13 gang members . Yes. We have seen some of them off. A small percentage of the population and its a concern to us which is why we think local notification and funding to provide services to this children is so. Were as ms13 drawing ranks from russian market talked about significant roles. Where are they drawing mat . Where is it coming from . They are recruiting young people in our community. Recent immigrants because often times they prey on peoples fears. Recent immigrants may not feel comfortable coming to Law Enforcement. They are adjusting to a new culture in society. They are vulnerable at that point they recruiting very young. There is one in 10point Suffolk County we have gang members recruiting a 10yearold. What is the draw . Its a combination of there is here to there is the draw that you can belong to something come up with the money in your pocket, get high with us. You have a family. Well protect you. Theres a sense of cultural unity as well. The other prayer, by the way people join, youre going to have problems if theres a fear as well, coercion if you will. I guess the questions, the commissioners said i could tell you in my community if you are a 17yearold el salvador in that just arrived in the massachusetts area as au ac, all youve ever known is ms13 and 18th straight back home. From childhood, that is all youve ever known to control complete city blocks, multiple city bought, control multiple cities. A lot of times when a child comes here and they are confronted, we spoke about a few times under the worst possible conditions. We have one individual, to them and even speak about ms13, that child goes back to what he or she knows, which is what ms13 is in el salvador. They know that once a contact has been made, and theyll may have really one choice and that is to join. We have had success with individuals resisting at the beginning of that recruitment process and locally, weve had success with having that individual resists backing recruitment. And actually, the gang at some point kind of leaves them alone because a lot of times true to his looking for individuals that want to be ms13. Under the uac programs and individuals are coming from homes they didnt want them, parent i didnt want them. Sometimes we do not individuals they didnt want to be here, that their grandparents said weve raised you long enough, time for you to go live with your mom. And it the Sponsorship Program where there wasnt anything taking place. We have horrific stories of individuals living in the worst of conditions. Like everyone on the panel has said in her opening briefs, that is the classic 15yearold individual that seeks out the identity of the gang and replace the broken Family Structure. Just one more point. I cant comment on what goes on at the border, but i can tell you from the local Law Enforcement did, the commissioners said if we have some sort of notification that came to the community and im not sure how that notification came when the individual comes here, that they have resources provided to them whether it be through the schools, whether it be through mental health, but the worstcase scenario is the scenario we are living right now, where we get notified from the school that 38 new students just arrived from Central America. Some are driving and some are not. Those are only the ones that we can identify because they are seeking out education with the schools or social services or medical facilities. So it would greatly assist local Law Enforcement if some sort of notification was done, especially talking about 13, 14 okay. My next question is our laws sufficient to deal with the ms13 problem sounds like there is something that would be helpful and that is some type of notification requirement where people come across the border has to address of where you are going about on force that would be one of the entity is at least notified. We have to give some thought how to do it. That would be my question. Are our last sufficient so you can do with this problem. I think our criminal laws are sufficient in terms of dealing with criminal behavior by gangs. Where i think we need help and i dont know whether it is new laws are different laws, but if our help in humans heiresses, they are notified in my jurisdiction. Somehow they are notified when they get these other company said two archers diction. But to do kindly as mentioned aboutoftentimes these kids say im going to my uncles house. This is where my uncle lives. They verify that. What they dont do is get enough information about whether the uncle is even capable of taking this person in. What happens when the uncle says okay, ill take them and two weeks later he says this is not working. We cant do this. Where the Wraparound Services to help that family, to help that child, that individual. We need perhaps better standards in place to make sure that whatever situation we are sending a person to, it is viable and viable for some longer period of time. Thank you. Thanks for your work. Thank you, senator. Thank you for your time in her thoughtful answers or questions, but primarily, thank you or service. We all know the risk you are taking. We all have in our state Police Officers and officials who have given their lives to the line of duty. We understand that and truly, truly appreciate your service in the back of the room record will remain open until june 8th at 5 00 p. M. For submission of statements for the record. This hearing is adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] i had a friend who is dave arrived along with a six man Security Team that i had it together and sent to the airport and it took three weeks to set rate them all. War is not a game. Its not a funny thing. Actually came on the packing iss while we were writing, we found that there were two hacks that were done against one in france and another one again germanys parliament, which were attributed to isis. But we were studying, we learned that the methodologies, the mall where introduced in the place where the servers terminated that were stealing the information. They were what are now known as cozy bear. Cozy bear was the name that the company gave for their interpretation of this smaller package that belongs to Russian Military intelligence. Latest on the u. S. House race in montana. We spoke with a reporter covering the race on this mornings washington journal
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