The committee will be in order. Well welcome everyone to todays hearing of our nations Immigration Laws. The chair recognizes himself for an Opening Statement. It is fitting that todays hearing is calling a restore of the Immigration Laws. The past eight years of president obama delivering under our Immigration Laws. Every level of government and the federal and state and local Law Enforcement officers who attempt to enforce our Immigration Laws. Our Immigration Laws are an expression of or natiur nation sovereignty. For the past eight years, they were north. The Obama Administration abandoned the rule of law of discretion has devastating consequences through the coldblooded murder of kate steinle, the death by dwi and sar sarah rhule and of San Bernardino and exceptional assault against the rock field teenager. The Obama Administrations policies released the sky high credible fear and grant encourages to make the dangerous ill elicit journey to the United States. Aliens over ran our border and of fear. Ice removal from the interior drop to 238,000 in 2009, only 65,002,016. The Trump Administration inherited a shell of immigration that must now rebuild. I am pleased that well hear today from witnesses who can fully explain the benefits of local cooperation and of the detriment effect of the sanctions. The communities have decided to make a political statement out of lawlessness. The government must discouraged not encourage sanctuary policy and practices. Under departmental guidance, it was permitted to apprehend to seek to remove. Additional guidance ending the successful Security Community further constricted these parameters. This was solely of t going afy worse of the worse. The number of aliens removed from the interior fell almost from 87,000 in fiscal 2014 to approximately 63,500 following two fiscal years. Under president obama was widely understood of a sylem officer F Administration policies work to encourage many aliens to seek a xylem. The new administration are taking steps to correct this. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses on the best addresses to address this xylem. Thank you, mr. Chairman. The title of todays republican our Immigration Laws went unenforced and nothing can be further from the truth. The past administration deported more immigrants than any other Previous Administration. The president , president obama earned the infamous nick name deporter in chief. This massive deportation. These alternative facts were used time and again to avoid solving the real problems of our immigration system. Today, republicans control all level of the federal governments. Among other things, of the president s threaten to shame and federal funds that resisted in the administration. The constitution of the 10th amendment protects state rights in a prohibit federal reactions. When it comes to immigration, these principles somehow seems to be over looked. Recently i was at a meeting where the mayor of san jose says, you know, we dont send out the San Jose Police department to enforce security and exchange laws, the federal tax laws and the maritime laws or the Immigration Laws. Thats the job of the federal government. Theyre well known constitutional limits on the ability of the federal government to withhold funds to the state. State and local officials know their community and know how to keep them safe better than the federal government. The constitutions long standing principle is apparently either ignored or seen as an impediment by some people. In the recent executive order on interior enforcement. President trump abolished the Prior Administration of enforcement priorities to go after all 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States just as candidate trump promised he would do. While this enforcement agenda may satisfy the most extreme elements in our country, it is not smart. It does not make our country safer and stronger. It has created a culture of fear. There is videos of parents taken from u. S. Citizen children by armed ice officers. There are stories of mothers who have lived in this country for decades being reported after dually checking into ice appointments. The fear caused by these acts is persuasive and paralyzing communities across our country. Now some mercedes misexampl s examples we should dismiss the devastating economic consequences policy. It is time to start thinking of ways to fix our broken information system. I stand ready to work with my colleagues across the isle to reform our Immigration Laws from top to bottom. With that, mr. Chairman, i will yield back. That would be the National Immigration Justice Center, the chief of police of marshal town iowa, the retired chief of garden city kansas. The Fair Immigration Reform Movement and the sexual and Domestic Violence. The massachusetts immigrated refugees. The president executive orde orders the gentleman from virginia is in the senate. I wish him well of whatever hes talking about there. We always wish our mere house members will have to ask the voters every two year to send this back with the senators. I would recognize the Ranking Member mr. Connors from michigan for his Opening Statement for five minutes. Mr. Chairman, it was a unanimous consent request. Consent request will be granted. Thank you. Thank you mr. Chairman. Congratulations again on your extension to the chairmanship of this morimportant committee. Members of the committee, i want you all to know that we welcome all of our witnesses and look forward to their testimony and i just would like to remind you and i dont quote formal president reagan. He once said our nation is a nation of immigrants more than any other countries. Our strengths come from our own immigrant heritage and our xm capacity to welcome those from other lands. That quote was uncontroversial among many i republican friends and colleagues. Affirmation of the moral and social work of immigrant is not a partisan position. It is simply american as we began todays hearing. I urge my colleagues to us this forum to examine sensible, effective measures rooted in fact in practice. 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 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 secured than ever. Apprehension rates at the serve borders have plummeted in the 1980s. Apprehensions of mexicans specifically reached their lowest point in nearly half a century. This helps explain why most americans dont want the trump border wall which would cause upwards staggering 20 billion a bill and 750 million annually to maintain this estimate. With these facts and others, the Current Administration continues attack the communities that have decided not to script their Law Enforcement into a mass Deportation Force. In fact, yesterday, attorney general sessions threatened to withhold federal funds from jurisdictions. Let me be clear, attorney sessions should not substitute his who knows what is best to keep their communities safe. Attorney general reports to place as high priority on fighting crimes but threatens to withhold much needed Justice Department funding from the have agencies that are on the front line in protecting all of us. Over 600 counties and cities made the decision to resist the Administration Efforts to conscript their local officials to a mass Deportation Force because of experience and data shows that local enforcement of federal and Immigration Law often makes communities less safe. Discrimination and distress. Immigrant victims and witnesses stop reporting crimes to authorities and criminals grow embolden. These cities are actually safer and prosperous than its counter part. We already witnessed donald trump and his administration followed through on decisive, Campaign Rhetoric actions that threatened our core American Values and 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 strong arm, local inju jurisdiction enforcing federal law. Under mind the Fourth Amendment by pressuring cities into detaining immigrants without probable cause and finally add, conducting in discriminate on immigrant families in their homes or places of work and their schools. Such immigrant measures, not only raise serious constitutional concerns but theyre contrary to our proud history of a nation of immigrants. I thank the chairman, welcome again, witnesses of testimonies today. And that, i yield back. Thank you, other members Opening Statements will be made part of the record. We have a distinguished panel today and i will begin to softwaswear in the witnesses before introducing them. If you would , all rise. Let the record that all the witnesses answered in the affirmative. I will begin by introducing the witnesses. Sheriff thomas m. Hodgson was an elected official and the chief Law Enforcement officer of bristle county massachusetts. Sheriff hodgson originally appointed in 1997 by governor william weld has subsequently been reelected to several six year terms under his watch the Sheriffs Office has established a warrant apprehension unit, a drug task force, gang unit and works regularly with federal partners including i. C. E. His department participates in the 287 g program that he along with other sheriffs has called for the Immigration Reform with the emphasized on Border Security and security enforcement. He previously testified before the massachusetts General Court regarding sanctuary policies. Miss Jessica Vaughan serves as the director of policy studies with the center for immigration studies. In that role she studies numerous facets of immigration policy, including immigration Law Enforcement. Prior to this role 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 similar hearing in 2015. Ms. Shawen has a masters degree from jorjt university and earned her bachelors degree in International Studies at Washington College at maryland. Mr. Andrew arthur is the former staff director for the government reform and oversight committee. National security subcommittee. Prior to serving as staff director he was an immigration judge for the United States department of justice, executive office for immigration review of new york, pennsylvania immigration court. He is also a fellow colleague of the House Judiciary Committee subcommittee on immigration where he served as a counsel for five years. Advicing the chairman, me, on matters relating to the enforcement of Immigration Laws and immigration policy. He has received his b. A. From the university of virginia and his law degree from the George Washington University School of law. Ms. Archi pety serves as the chief of policy and pragmatics it to it tureaa Justice Center she spear heads National Program initiatives overseeing direct services to immigrant women and forging and mobilizing diverse bipartisan coalishitions to press your laws regulations and policies to better protect from vienlts. Before joernl tarea miss pyati was the director of the grimgts project of the sanctuary for famililess in new york. She is a graduate of Brown University and received her law degree from the university of michigan law school. Without objection each of the witnesses written statements will be entered into the record in their entirety. I ask that each witness summarize his 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 hodgson, why dont you lead off. Bres are press the button on the mic. Thank you mr. Chafrm chairman in my members of the zurt, security guards and metal detecters scansers greet the me as i walked in in morning these measures are in place to protect the safety of everyone inside. Most people are cleared pretty quickly and go about business. Its the others who we who intend to do us harm those who are no respect more laws we have to worry about. Its those the Capitol Police must deny entry. We owe the same level of protection and safes to legal residents we must all the tools in our tell books shaver share intelligence and truly restore enforcement of Immigration Laws for the safety and security of our citizens. Public safety is my number one priority. Public safety is your number one priority. Public safety is any governments any government officials number one priority. Public safety is what brings me here today. There is arguably no bigger threat to Public Safety than illegal grimgts. Mr. Chairman and members of this committee i want to thank you for inviting me to testify this morning on what is perhaps the most dangerous threat to National Security and the safety of all americans. Good thoughtful Immigration Law exists as enactedly leathers like you decades ago. However is if a law is not its useless verbiage protecting no one and accomplishing nothing. As a sheriff for 20 years and a Police Officer six more ive spent my career enforcing laws. I have a sworn duty to uphold the constitution of the United States and enforce all laws whether i agree or disagree. Just as you took the oath of office to faithfully and zmarj the office which you entered. The law is what you and the courts say it is but unfortunately due to years of liberal policies tailored to nonenforcement cigarettes has to hold hearings how to enforce laws that have been on the books for decade. Most of my Law Enforcement colleagues will agree that Severe Damage has been done to National Security by lax days kal enforcement and the only thing we can do now is move forward and discuss how we can fix it. The fact is our nation would be better off and citizens would be safer if we never stopped enforcing grimes law and if we never formed or turned a blind eye toward sanctuary cities. Local counties state and federal Law Enforcement all working together to keep the public safe. Sharing resources and intelligence as much as possible. Working together as one team with the simple goal of keeping the public safe. Our Law Enforcement team has an opposing team that consists of local officials ob elected or appointed who have created and advocated sanctuary cities, states, communities and even colleges. These officials pledge not to work with, cooperate or even communicate with federal Immigration Enforcement. As a result, these safe zones have become mag nets for illegal aliens some have violent criminal record. At best sanctuary cities are a direct violation of trust between the legal residents and the elected officials who took an oath to protect them at all costs. At the worst, its careless where illegal and extremely dangerous. If these sanctuary cities are going to harbor and conceal criminal illegal aliens from i. C. E. Which is in direct vials of title 8 of the u. S. Code federal arrest warrants should be issued for officials. At a time when officials are plenling not towork with federal Law Enforcement ive doubled down with my kmilt to boost Public Safety by becoming the Second Organization in new england to enter into 287 gf if there is one thing our country learned from 9 11 its all branches of Law Enforcement have to Work Together and share rourtsz. Under the 287 g program Correctional Officers in my department will come with the training the fact that i. C. E. Eighths will be able to perform all immigration legalitied action attention our officers will be able to identify process detain and assist in deports deportation of a criminal illegal aliens they get access to the i. C. E. Database instead of waiting toitis agents to drive to our facility for immigration screening at which time the suspect may be bailed out our officers with check the databases interview the suspect appear electronically communicate with i. C. E. To keep dangerous criminals illegal aliens off the streets and out of our neighborhoods. Department of Homeland Security estimates more than 400 thousand immigrants were identified for deportation in 287 g programs between 2006 and 2015. About 13 thousand foreign born individuals were processed at our the facilities in the past five years. This program can result in one dangerous criminal illegal ail dwren not being able to commit another crime in the u. S. Deportation or or detentionen pen a tremendous tool. And no brainer in terms of Public Safety. I want to just inform the committee of something just reported this morning i think completely underscores my point about Immigration Laws being undermined in the United States. We have a state representative in the plymouth 10th Plymouth District in machlts was just reported this morning who learned that i. C. E. May be coming to the city of brokten in plymouth county. Sent a message all alert message out on facebook telling everyone that i. C. E. Is coming and make sure you dont answer your doors and make sure that you stay out of sight. This is the most outrageous, outrageous thing that i think or example of what is going on across the United States thats undermining my job and every other Law Enforcement officer in the United States to keep our Community Safe. And that elected official is responsible for protecting the welfare of the people of their communities. Please understand that they could be protecting someone who the i. C. E. Is looking for that may be possibly connected to terrorism, trns National Gangs or some other horrific criminal history theyve had. Thank you for time limit mr. Charm thank you member of the committee np thank you ms. Vaughan. Thank you for the opportunity to testify on this very timely topic restoring enforcement of nations Immigration Laws. President obamas policies left Immigration Enforcement in a state of collapse. This has been bad news for the country. But the good news is there is no where to go up but up now the osh claimed thats achieved record levels of formalitiations but navgt the total number of deportations by all enforcement agencies which is what the dhs office he always reported has plummeted actually deportations were half of level of the bush andth clinton administrations. Interior dporlt deportationed by i. C. E. Dropped. 70 mp the Obama Administration inflated i. C. E. s anonymous by counting cases of people arrested by Border Patrol that had never been counted before as former secretary of dhs johnson admitted in testimony before congress. The Obama Administration claimed that they were doing smarter and more effective Immigration Enforcement. But in fact they operated a ma massive catch and release program both at border and interior. About 40 of the people caught by the Border Patrol trying to cross into the country illegally in 2014 and 50 were allowed to enter and still here in 2016. Just this morning i was on a Conference Call with an i. C. E. Field office director. And some local Law Enforcement agencies in her area. This i. C. E. Official said that they have seen an increase of 20 to 25 of in their case load as a result of new illegal immigration at the southwest border. Not only are the illegal Border Crossers still here so are about 950 thousand other illegal aliens have have who have completed a final dp and received final order of removal but still here in country. And the smarter more effective the enforcement in interior included releasing more than 86 thousand convicted criminal aliens in three years. More than 100 of these individuals were arrested for homicide. One man killed a man in mesa arizona in 2015. 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 i. C. E. To identify more criminal aliens than before. The previous energies claimed they were simply exercising what they called prosecute oral eggs discretion but in fantastic they were gichg ou grimes benefits literally millions of work permits to illegal aliens and oerps otherwise not eligible to stay. The Obama Administration claimed the vetting of these applicants but was rig rouse but then released a report saying more than 500 thousand visitors oversay stayed in 2015. The vetting for work permits was no better hundreds have been issued to gang members and other criminals. Just last week it was revealed that a man who had been arrested for killing his 15yearold stepdaughter in texas had been issued a work permanent. He had arrests on his record for smuggling, assault and theft and i. C. E. Was trying to deport him but instead he was issued a work permit under the Previous Administrations policies. I dont i dont dismiss the disappointment of families have have been allowed to live her illegally all the years but gotten away with but the lack of enforcement has imposed enormous costs on american communities. These costs include lost Job Opportunities and stagnant wages for native workers, higher tax bills to covered increased outlays for social services and benefits, compromised National Security and increased Public Safety threats. The Trump Administration has already taken steps to reverse this state of affairs and also to god effect. Theyve ended the catch and release policies at the berd, discarded the strict prioritization schemes that exempted so many aliens from deportation, taking steps to rebuild partnering with local Law Enforcement agencies expanding sfanding the successful 287 g program, planning to use accelerated forms of dp so as to and prevent clawing up the immigration courts even further. Reviefrg task forces focused on smuggling document fraud gangs and other transnational crime. The entire 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 have built how many at that are hired and how much more rig rouse or vetting system becomes as long as employers they can get away with hiring illegal workers they will keep doing it, as longs as someone will keep hiring them people in other countries will come here illegally. We need congress to phased in universal e verify requirement to help turn off the job magnet that motivates. We invaded the davis oliver act to shore up weak sfeets in immigration and nationality act we need to to address the problem of sanctuaries which interfere with i. C. E. Finally Congress Must lds opportunities for executive abuse of authority on work permits parole deferred action and other gimmicks that have been used by president s in the past to make an end run around the laws crafted by congress. Thank you. S. Thank you. Mr. Arthur. Mr. Chairman westbrook Ranking Member members of the subcommittee i thank you and i thank you chairman good lat for the opportunity to testify to testify. Ive been involved in immigration for more than two decades. When i started, the act was in its fifth year of implementation. Tl turn 31 on november the 6th with you the premises of this legislation remain sound today. That immigration is essentially to well being of the country, that our Immigration Laws must enforced to be effective, and that employment is a magnet that draws immigrants to the United States. Unfortunately, the 86 act has never been fully enforced. The employer sanctions provisions have never been complemented effectively and the document fraud provisions are all but a dead letter. As a result, the jobs magnet has not been shut off and the population of aliens in the United States illegally today dwarves that confronting with the 99th congress. I credit this committee was returning the issue of kblimgs enforcement at the beginning of 115th congress and am hopeful your efforts and oversight will result in immigration system that both addresses the needs of our country and protects the wages and working conditions of all americans. Both citizens and lawful permanent residents. Much has changed in immigration since november 1986 but the primary change has been expansion of the focus of enforcement on National Security. The main reason that i left the ins where i had been acting chief of the National Security law division in july of 2001 to come 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 needed to address that threat. And im grateful for their leadership. But i believe more needs to be done. For eight years i served as an immigration judge in york, pennsylvania. As a judge in a court my docket consisted of lawfully admitted aliens who had committed removable offenses and aliens unlawfully present in the United States who had been apprehended in the interior along the border. I will focus on this latter group today. Much attention has been placed recently on the vetting of refugees. I could speak to that matter but i think its important for the members to also focus on a separate but Similar Group of aliens, those in expedited removal proceedings have claimed a credible fear. Unlike refugees claiming credible freer have not been screened before coming to the United States for reasons i detail in my written statement are generally not screened effectively after they enter either. A few of these individuals have actually bypassed the refugee screening process all together leaching trujee camps and making their way to the southern border of the United States where they are apprehended or turn themselves in to u. S. Immigration authorities. Unlike the orderly system that the United States government has in place abroad for refugee admission, the system for screening those entering illegally is overburdened. And lacks the necessary resource sos effectively separate those who may pose a danger to the United States from those in legitimate need of protection. Rl rumors abroad failed in part by failure of the United States to nfrts Immigration Laws have encouraged men women and children to trust their lives to traffickers and smug letter pb the the kaity debased nature of those who prey on the desperate and who stock in trade is human misery. Enforcing Immigration Laws will quell those rumors and undercut the ability of smug letters to peddle their trade tp it has been argue that some seeking to sbrer the sbuns illegally have be told by smug letters or friends that there is no cost to entering illegally if they avoid apprehension at the border they will never be rermd. But if apprehended at the border they can still stay by making fraudulent asylum claim its been said. This is undoubtedly in some cases. Many say sue column craniums do not hold up to scrutiny are internal inconsistent or contradicted by the records a whole. The ability of government officials border pral ice attorneys and Immigration Judges to identify fraud in the credible fear process is crucial to squelching rumors and to prevention of that misery before it begins. S it it is also essential if we are protect to American People from the criminals and National Security risks that would take advantage of our humanitarian system to do harm to communities. More resources better directed and better system for verifying claim are needed to address this problem. Legal immigration including the frujee process visa issuance and admission to port is the front door of america and it must be secure. It is equally important however that threats to country immigration system are not able to abuse our laws by sneaking in through the back door. I that thank each of you look forward to questions. Thank you very much. Miss pyati. Thank you chairman sensen brenner and distinguished members of the subcontract mp the Justice Center is a nonpartisan national envy nonprofit has provided level legal sieves to immigrants viers of Human Trafficking Sexual Assault and the Domestic Violence. At as an advocate for victims i am honored to be nfrted to comment on importance of protecting Public Safety whie enforcing federal grijs laws. Over the years i have heard hundreds of women and girls tell me stories of exploitation and abuse by men who viciously capitalized on kparts in economic and social status to establish power and control over victims. Among the most vulnerable to this immigrant women and girls face a number of challenges to accessing help including language bar barriers, limited resources, inability to work legally, lack of access to Public Benefits and fear of deportation. Many abusers use a womans lack of immigration status as a potent tool by threatening that the victims could be deported away from their children. This is an all too familiar nar i have my organizations clients many have been armedpy u. S. Citizen men. Congress recognized this when in 1994 with robust bipartisan support is passed the violence against women act and created in 2000 the uns vis an programs to i quote strengthen the ability of Law Enforcement agencies to detect, investigate and prosecute cases of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and trafficking. These laws encourage victims to report and cooperate with Law Enforcement to help get violent criminals off our streets and make all of us safer. These critical protections and the Public Policy goals of Community Safety they serve are now being significantly undermined because of misguided Immigration Enforcement policies. Secure communities 287 g agreements and the like rely on a false narrative. There is no data to suggest that localitities with Community Trust policies have more criminal activity than others. On the other hand there is data to suggest that localities with Community Trust policies have actually achieved a reduction in crime. I heard just a few weeks ago a very compelling story by one 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 him. She attempted im sure was a victim of Domestic Violence she was attempting to escape the car. He dragged her back in slammed the door and shot her at the nourj a. M. In the broad daylight. The gentleman kicked her out of the car and sped away. There were only two eye witnesses to the men two day labors standing outside a door nearby. When police came to try 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 wouldnt be deported when the police gave them that this reassurance they were able to identify the ail sailant and able to apprehend him and prosecute him and bring him to justice. More than 60 oh jurisdictions nationalwood have enenacted policiesing strategies to enhance this goal of Public Safety. A recent study concluded ts there are on average 35. 5 few ertz crimes committed in socalled sanctuary counties than in nonsangt other counties for this reason major policing groups including the Major Cities Chiefs Association have opposed efforts to defund socalled sanctuary jurisdictions. The policies of the january 25 executive order on interior enforcement are already having a devastatesing Chilling Effect on reporting of criminal activity. In denver, city corn kristin bronze reported that four Domestic Violence victims informed her office they no longer wish to pursue charges against abusers out of fear of deportation np in Los Angeles Police chief char beck said reports of Sexual Assault have dropped by 25 and Domestic Violence by 10 among the latino population since the beginning of the year. Less than three weeks after the president issued the executive order i. C. E. Arrest agented a the. She had gone to seek an order of protection from her abuser. The result, fear of reporting spread like wildfires. Domestic violence shelter in highly diverse areas reported a large drop in the number of women coming in for services indicating that undocumented victims arent taking the steps to escape abusers such as pressing charges or moving to shelters one of our clientsia years ago called the police and after being beaten by her husband while pregnant recently said i needed help. And at that time it was not like now. He believed the police were there help you not that they could come and deport you. Now i would think they would come and deport me because that is what my husband was selling me and that is what we are hearing everywhere. That is what we are seeing. Even though i did not commit any crime. I applaud this commit for taking so seriously issues such as trafficking Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence. I hope your concern spreads to all victims, including immigrants and those victimized by United States citizens. I trust you will direct your outrage toward strengthen laws and pursuing policies that will actually protect our societies most vulnerable individuals. The difficult trulgt is policies like secure communities appear 287 g will not effectively prevent crime. Instead they leave perpetrators on the streets. I urge congress to avoid crafting policies that seem like they could enhance safety but that will in fact have exactly the opposite impact. Thank you. Thank you very much. I see the chairman of the full committee is here and without objection i will recognize him for ten minutes for Opening Statement and questioning. Without objection. The gentleman from virginia is recognized for ten minutes. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman, for your forbearance and i want to thank you all the witnesses for their testimony today. When the Obama Administration sailed off, it left in its wake a systemically dismantled Immigration Enforcement infrastructure whose socalled priorities defined by the president , not congress, the administration dramatically scaled back Immigration Enforcement and allowed millions of unlawful and criminal aliens to remain in the country free of consequence. By terminating successful programs, including secure communities, the administration permitted if not encouraged sanctuary city practices and policies. This left us with an immigration system more broken, more dysfunctional and far friendlier to those that flagrantly disregard our nations gripgs laws, especially criminal aliens. The effects of eight years of not so benignflect of Immigration Enforcement will be felt for many years. Earlier this month two students on the Rockville High School in rockville maryland brultsly rained and attacked a fellow students fmt reports bakt the perpetrators of this crime entered the country as unaccompanied alien myrens from Central America likely drawn by obama policy of releasing such aliens to they are relatives in the United States often illegally present themselves. This was a double tragedy because both of its impact on a young girls life and because it could have been prevented by sensible Immigration Enforcement. School districts around the country are facing a gang epidemic, partly fueled by the Obama Administration policies. As this case and the countless others demonstrate, illegal immigration is not a victimless crime. Fool hardy jurisdictions continue to pass legislation and pass policies aimed as sometimying immigration and enforcement officers. The same week as tragedy in rockville a Baltimore City Council Members calling on i. C. E. To only arrest those posing serious risk np in discussing this initiative the Council Member likened i. C. E. Officers to nazis several times such retire ris is reprehensible creating a moral equivalent jean jean side a nation exercise attention a fundamental right and obligation of sovereignty tps it it is especiallily ironic given that the United States has had the most generous immigration system in the world mp in a deeply troubling move San Francisco even announced it would no longer participate in the joint Terrorism Task force because of concerns that the traffic forces duties may coincide with Immigration Enforcement. Sanctuary slss often focus on i. C. E. Detainers noticed issues by i. C. E. To lou to take custody of aliens in Law Enforcement custody in order to initiate removal proceedings. These err responsible sanctuary policies have led to sharp drop in i. C. E. s intake of aliens fl facilities which forces i. C. E. Agents to engage in the far more time consuming and dangerous task of picking them up on the streets. The Trump Administration is issues a weekly report oh of declined detainers nationwood. During the first week of the administration 206 detainers were not honored nationwood leading to the release of alien arrested for or convicted of sex assaults, aggravated assaults, arson, robbery and many other serious overs. The new administration only two months old has already started to right the ship on jan 25th the president signed two executive orders aimed at securing the nations borders and strengthening interior enforcement of our Immigration Laws. These executive order nudge the rudder of this massive ship in the right direction. I am encourage that the new dmfrmt ace enforcement priorities include all ail yeps threats to Public Safety and National Security and restores the security Communities Program. Just yesterday attorney general sessions announced that sanctuary city be will be ineligible or Justice Department grants n progress at the border has been dramatic the number of illegal ail greens decreased by 40 in the first month of the new administrative by over 60 in the second month. Yet 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 and asylum claims have been being rubber stamped 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 i am encouraged by what the new administration is doing within the current statutory framework, it also desperately needs new statutory tool to enforce the grimgts laws over the past two congresss this committee has approved such measures to provide such tools to the administration, including providing that unaccompanied myrens are safely and expeditiously returned home that the federal government would work with local jurisdictions wanting to provide assistance in enforcing Immigration Laws, that sanctuary cities will lose federal funds, curtailing fraud in the asylum process and to allow for the detension of dangerous aliens. Sheriff hodgson, welcome. I appreciate your testimony. I wonder if you could tell us what value do you see in involving local Law Enforcement in Immigration Enforcement. Thank you, congressman. S it employer active that we participate in local Law Enforcement. One of the things that President Trump made very clear in one of his recent speeches was that to the sheriffs was, look, we recognize that you all have your boots on the ground. You have the information, the intimate relationships with the gang activities within the things that are going on, the intelligence we get through the prisons. These are very important aspects of us working with our federal partners. If we didnt learn anything after 9 11, by the fact that we needed to strengthen our relationships with our federal partners to prevent the citizens of our communities from being victimized westbrook look we just had a woman dsh 19yearold woman whose father had been deported twice, came over the day before fathers day she got out of her the car, shot and killed her at her home. These things are happening all over the country. We need to be able. Let me interrupt because ive got limited time. Im sorry. The chairman has been status. Do you consider state and local enforcement to be ke to stz i see. Absolutely i think the Davies Oliver should be passed giving us the authority to add more tools. Let me turn to ms. Lawen the last week the department of Homeland Security security released final outcome report. One we can period jan 28, february 23rd rush 206stoneses of rts detainers not honor what does this say about concerns for Public Safety in the jurisdictions and other than releasing a weekly report, what else can either the administration or congress do to discourage sanctuary policies. Well i think that report validates the concerns that people have had about sanctuary policies and that the beneficiaries of sanctuary policies are the criminal aliens who get sent back to the community. And i hope that the public will hold their leaders accountable for the policies now that they have that information. In addition to denying funding, i think that in some cases theyre going to be die hard sanctuary jurisdictions that want to keep the policies anyway zmiet the lack of funding they want to be marters. For the sake of Safety Department of justice is going to have to take legal actions against the jirngs, potentially seeking injunction. There may be cases it may be appropriate to prosecute local officials who deliberately and knowingly harbor an illegal alien from detection and deportation. Thank you. Mr. Arthur your written testimony discuss as regulation regarding confidentiality of asylum information and limiting Third Party Disclosure does in limitation to investigates looking into fraud or National Security concerns . What can either the administration or congress do to aid i. C. E. Or another Government Agency in attempt to verify pertinent information with a home government. It does. It prevents any disclosure of information that is provided in an asylum application to anyone outside the government. There are strict limbs limits one of the main things it does it it prevents the information thats 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 biographical information allegations with respect to arrests can be verified with the home country. But the fact the home rid is has applied for asylum cannot. That would be the pest way. Miss pyati in your testimony i notice you referred to localities that have Community Trust policies. Would you say that montelongo county maryland with your Rockville High School is located and is a sanctuary jurisdiction, whether that countys Community Trust policy protected that 14yearold girl. First i want to start bir saying that of course what happened to the 14yearold girl is a tragedy none of us would have ever expected that to happen and feel horribly sorry for her what she experience sfwlood wouldnt have been better if those two boys had never arrived in montelongo county maryland. Imprisoning theyre two different questions if i may your first question whether Community Trust policies were a part of it at all and the answer is no. The boys had no criminal record what so far before, had never been picked up by Law Enforcement and therefore Community Trust policy had nothing to do with what happened that day in that school. Secondarily. Im sorry, but its a violation of the law to to cross our border so wrn they illegally present in the United States is this . They did violate the law. Were thnts turned by the previous energies by one case a parent and another case an uncle . I know the father of the one boy was also illegally present in the United States. What happened at the border when they entered is very different than what happened in rockville maryland. What were your question to me was in rockville, maryland could the community could a defunded sanctuary policy for example have perceptived the rape and the answer is no to that. I think what happened was there. You i think the enforcement of laws would have prefrted the rape. When this came to the border. My time is expired. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you very much the chair recognize are enss himself for five minutes. Let me begin by making a statement. You know the whole issue of antingary stae cities is something very disturbing. Because it is an attempt by those jurisdictions to nullify federal law. And togs the federal law does not apply to the sanctuary city. Now this country suffered probably the worst trauma in its history when certain states over 150 years ago decided that they had the power to nullify federal law. And there were over half a Million People killed during the civil war. And i think that the horror of that has been forgotten. Secondly, you know im very disturbed by saying that there are certain types of federal laws that state and local Law Enforcement do not enforce. You know, i guess i can say that robbing a bank is a federal offense. And i dont think that state and local Law Enforcement wait for 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. Now, 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 activities. Would you favor a change to make shows offenses removable so that it is very clear that Gang Activity and being convicted of a dui would be removable offense . Absolutely. Of course anyone who is in the country illegally is potentially subject to deportation whether theyve been driving drunk or not. But i do think that immigration officers and agents need better tools within the ina to make it easier to accelerate the removal of those individuals and to protect the communities. I know in my dwrikt theres been one major tragedy where a van of families going to church ended up being hit by a drunk driver. And some but not all of them were killed. You know which was a family tragedy that could have been prevented. How about Gang Activity . You know we have a lot of people who have been claiming that theyre fleeing groups like ms 13 as they arrive at the border. Do any of the witnesses know if there are any people who have made such a claim for asylum that have ended up rejoining ms 13 once they get across the border. From what i understand and have been told by some local Law Enforcement agencies, there have been instances that theyve learned from gang members now incarcerated that of course not all of the youths have have been crossing illegally from Central America are from gangs. But the gangs here know that the policy is so lenient that if someone who is minor makes it to our border that they will be allowed to resettle in the degree with very few questions asked. They have deliberateright 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. That is definitely happening. Thank you my time is running out. Miss pyati, in your written testimony, page 1, you say that your center advocates for laws and policies that help immigrants survivors of violence, including sexual and Domestic Violence. You advocate for victims such as the rockville teen. Absolutely i do. Okay thats good to know. How do you do that. How do we do that . When we do have offices in a number of countries, a number of cities around the country with four different he cities, opening a fifth our work is to meet with victims, understand their situation, hear their stories, know if they have 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 then offer them free Legal Assistance in order to be able to enter their claim in into the adjudication system. So you dont do, you know, any of the type of counseling that is needed by anyone who is a victim of a Sexual Assault . You turn that over to somebody else. We do. Our Center Offers who holistic sfrpss we have both social workers and lawyers on our staff. Weld offer that kind of counsel to somebody who came to us. So you arent proactive in seeking out and offering those types of services. The victim in the victims family have to come to you rather than you going to them . We conduct outreach in the community to be sure that individuals know that we are there where we where our offices are, what kinds of services we provide and to make sure that folks know they can come to us. The majorities of the people who seek our services have heard about us through word of mouth as well as through outreach efforts. Thank you very much. The gentle woman from california lofgren. Thank you mr. Chairman. Just a just a couple of observations. I think its a mistake to use the tragedy on 9 11, i mean, where 19 saudis during the Bush Administration entered legally the United States with visas and brutally attacked and americans with reason to deport nannies and farm workers in 2007. The two do not compute np. Just in terms of the sanctuary city issue, you know theres no definition really what a sanctuaries socalled sanctuary city is. But eight usc 1373, which really originated out of this committee before it became law, does not require localities to hold people whose who are otherwise to be released to detain them. More does it require states and localities to collect information. That would be beyond the authority of the federal government to command ear states and localities to do that. Im wondering, miss pyati, the detainers that were outlined in the detainer outcome report, in jurisdictions where controlling federal court ruling such as the Fourth Circuit have said compliance with those detainers is an unconstitutional violation of the Fourth Amendment. What what exposure would a locality have if they did what the attorney general said in a jurisdiction where the circuit has said that violates the Fourth Amendment. Thank you for your question, congress william, certainly the local juries has complete exposure. The federal courts have ruled that detainers that hold individuals after they have been released or could be released by the criminal system for civil law infraksz such as Immigration Law infraction its a seizure goes well beyond the 48 hours often thats constitutes a violation under the Fourth Amendment that is the local zwrirks on the hook for that they would have full and complete exposure there. Just a couple of other observations. And then you know maybe a question. Clearly i mean the Police Chiefs and the Police Officers who i know in the district i represent are against criminals. I mean thats why theyre in police work. I mean thats why they are called to do that. In sanitia cruz recently there was an effort the sheriff sent his officers out with i. C. E. Agents because they were going to do an antiGang Activity. And what he found out at least kwla the Law Enforcement officials said hell never deal with i. C. E. Again. Because of doing antiGang Activity they just did general Immigration Enforcement. Now they cant get immigrants to call in to report crimes. They cant get people to be witnesses. 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 an enforcement priority under the Obama Administration. You had a dui youre going to be deported under the Obama Administration. So i guess the question is, what is that distinction . Ive had complaints out of california that i. C. E. Agents are putting the word police on their jackets, even though theyre not police. And the police are greatly concerned about this because it muddies up who is doing what. Do you think that there is when we talk to the secretary of Homeland Security about this issue and explain that the sheriff in los angeles and the Police Departments all over california i mean thats where im from a are complaining about this. He just said well he didnt care. Do we have any what are your thoughts on that miss pietia do we have an opportunity do you think to remedy this would this be a problem with i. C. E. Agents having police on their jackets when it comes to Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault cases. I appreciate your question, congresswoman certainly any time we commingle Law Enforcement enforcement with Immigration Enforcement we are in a dangerous game. There are definitely officers wearing vesting that say police and it dont make clear were talking about Immigration Police warnedering around in the streets. We saw in the Obama Administration. Were seeing in in administration. What we see is when people are in the community, lets say, in a home and afraid, im not going to pick up the phone call 911 if im not sure who is going show up at my door. What i need to be sheer you are when if my child is watching me be hurt when i call 911 my child and i are going to find safety and protection and the gentleman hurting me whether husband or Family Member, could be armed, could be dangerous, could be intoxicated, could be a dangerous to others in the community. That personal is going to meet justice. If im too scared to call 911 because im worried because of who i am where im from, what my National Status is or the color of my skin, im fallout going to get fair treatment safety and protection from my local police then all of us are less safe. Mr. Chairman my time is expired i yield back. Thank you the gentleman from texas mr. Smith. Thank you mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman many members of congress and as far as that goes many members of the media often say that immigrants are no more likely to commit crime than other individuals. But that in my view is a misreading statement because they dont distinguish between Illegal Immigrants and legal immigrants when you look at the crimes committed by Illegal Immigrants you feigned out for example 35 of the individuals who are sentenced for federal crimes are Illegal Immigrants. 35 . Well illegal grents are 3. 5 of the population. That means they are ten times more likely to be sentenced for a federal crime than other legal residents, ten times. And thats why we say rightfully that Illegal Immigrants are ady proportionally dangerous to american citizens and dangerous to communities and dangerous to our neighborhoods. Sheriff hodgson, let me address my first question to you. And thank you for your strong testimony and sanctuary cities. Another figure that i know youre familiar with is about a third ob 30 or more of those released, criminal immigrants released back into communities are rearrested for another crime. And the fact that we have Law Enforcement officials sworn to uphold the law,ing intentionally releasing individuals into our communities really makes me think theyre an accessory to the crimes that these Illegal Immigrants go on and additionally commit. S it just inexcusable. My question is this youve had so many good years of experience. What should the federal government do about the sangary jurisdictions that intentionally release the dangerous individuals back into communities . Thank you. Thank you congressman. What i believe they should do is in those instances we cannot say that elected officials who have taken the same oath we have can decide which laws theyre going to follow or not. They should be held to the same standards of accountability we are. In those instances where theyre intentionally hashering and concealing people they know to be in the country illegally they should have federal arrest warrants issued for them. No ifs andreas or buts. Thank you vfr mr. Arthur welcome back. Thank you sir. A question for you. What programs are most abused by Illegal Immigrants to try to wrongfully stay in the United States . Anecdotally 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 back in 2002 in which they found that nobody could really estimate how much fraud there was. The head of fdns, the fraud detects direct it testified before this committee back in 113th congress i think it was and indicated that a study had been undertaken that had found a fairly significant amount of fraud but that had never been completed for various reasons within cis. So there is marriage fraud. There is there are other forms of fraud. But just based on the number of credibility determinations or adverse credibility determinations and application it would be asylum. Do you think its a major problem or a minor problem, the degree of fraud . I would almost do a credibility determination in every case i did. In every asylum decision i issued whether i granted or denied. And i would probably guess that in the probably in a fairly large number of those cases i made adverse credibility determination that is were sustained by the board of immigration appeals in the third 60 where i sat. Thank you last yes ms. 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 . 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. Also i. C. E. Agents and officers need to be empowered to use detension as the law allows. And i think that we need to take action against the sanctuaries because theyve been releasing a thousand criminal aliens a month for years now. And we know they go on to reoffend and its significant publicly safety. Over 30 arrested for additional crimes. Ive heard higher for periods of time theyre kbrabl to reoffense rates of all criminals. Thank you mr. Chairman. The gentlemen from michigan mr. Conyers. Thank you very much mr. Chairman. I thank the witnesses. Let me turn to the chief of policy and programs at the the Justice Center. Miss pyati, many of the witnesses on this panel have argued that Community Trust policies encourage lawlessness, create an environment where undocumented immigrants are allowed to commit acts of crime, violence and terror. Whats your response to such a claim as that . Thank you, congressman. My response is quite simply that we we talk about socalled sanctuary cities and those communities we have to be very clear that the more than 600 jurisdictions that have adopted these policies have adopted a very wide range. And so it would be really impossible to say that they all are engaging in one type of practice or another. Some of the of the jurisdictions are 100 cooperating but they also offer protections for those who might call 9 1 or come into an emergency room seeking 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 secretary generalizations about could be happening on a level with crimes in all of the jurisdictions and make some sort of statement its making us all less safe. I think thats an unfair characterization one that will in fact leave more criminals on our streets if were not careful. Now with your experience dungs immigrates are more likely to commit crimes in areas with Community Trust policies. I dont know, congressman, honestly that anyone measured whether there is a likelihood of committing crime in a certain area or not. I do think likelihood of catching criminals and keeping communities safety is much higher in a community that has a Community Trust policy. Local Law Enforcement officers know what theyre doing. And they know that when they are trying to keep a Community Safe making sure that when they walk around town, when they go to community events, when they patrol apartment builds when speaking with members of the town, that they are getting real information. When they say who is who is likely to be committing an offense . Who is a criminal in your neighborhood, they need that information from the community in order to be able to make arrests and you know watch for crime and protect 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 dont think we can effectively measure in fact, if i may congressman, how much crime has honestly been prevented by these Community Trust policies. It would be hard to say. Thousands of crimes for example didnt happen, because people called the police and trusted the police. Its much easier to pick out the one or two crimes we have seen across america and really shine the light on those than it is to really weigh the benefit of these Community Trust policies. We can only take our Law Enforcement officerss word for it. Yes thank you. Thank you. The last question is my infamous threeinone question. Three questions in one. Have you worked with Law Enforcement agencies and strategies to combat the 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 ill be happy to repeat any of them if necessary. I dont think youll need that. I did take notes, congressman. Thank you. I do our organization does definitely worng work with local Law Enforcement agencies across the country and i know many other organizations like ours do as well. What we do is we communicate with local Law Enforcement. We provide training on Immigration Law and on how to recognize victims in the community. We also work with them to identify different cultural barriers that might exist between local Law Enforcement officers and members of a community. So that they might break down those barriers and find ways to actually get critical, Vital Information from those in the community. Some of the specific challenges weve learned involve a number of of those that i cited earlier as challenges that the victims fwas. Its a twoway streegt stroo anwar cultural ba cultural barriers. Some come from environments and 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. And so to say to a woman as i have had to honestly these armed and uniformed Police Officers are here to help you takes a lot of courage. I mean, not on my part. It takes a lot of courage for the victim to look at me and believe me and trust me and want to work with local Law Enforcement. So those are the challenges we heard from Law Enforcement officers. We also heard about those who prey on immigrant communities. Weve heard about from local Law Enforcement officers. We heard about notarios. We heard about people that hold themselves out to be either legal representatives or members of the government. Since the Trump Administration has come into power, there are a number the executive orders have actually led to a sense of mistrust and fear. It tloed a number of people standing outside apartment buildings. We are with immigration. So specific challenges Law Enforcement faces involve really policing in a cooperative way in communities that historically have not felt included in Law Enforcement efforts. And the Trump Administration, honestly, the i think coupled the actual executive orders that came in january coupled with rhetoric honestly from the campaign trail together have led to a sense of fear among Community Members. Also a sense of confusion. What are our rights . Where can we go for help . Who can we call . Advocates have been calling us from around the country, thousands, actually, asking us so if a victims tells me shes been raped several times by her husband and hes actively beating her, do i tell her to call the police or not . We dont know. These are strategies that weve been lucky to have in the community. America understands that violence is something we need to prevent. We have laws for that. Call your Police Officer. He or she will help you. We dont know what to say anymore. Thank you. One of our panelists indicated that one or two crimes we shouldnt focus on one or two crimes weve seen across america. And yet one reason 15month period in the largest county in arizona within 3,600 criminally violent illegal ail yents were released back on 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 why the released without being deported. So i appreciate particularly mrs. Vaughn mentioning the grant runavuk case where a 21yearold 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 the county. And thats why introduced grants law here in congress which should pass. It is a nobrainer. It requires the very accelerated due process requirement thats mrs. Vaughn mentioned to deport the criminally violent, illegal aliens from our country within 90 days. I want to talk specifically with regard to you, mrs. Vaughn with the apprehension rates reported. If we were to look at the rates, historically we see that they were consistently over a Million People, sometimes more than 1. 5 Million People actually april henld apprehended at the border and that began to slow down in 2006 with the first 2007 was the first time reported apprehensions gandbegan declini below one million. They talk about Border Apprehensions versus the multiplier infect of people who actually cross and remain in the country. Those were to be four time the actual apprehension rate. Last year 415,000 illegal aliens were apprehended at the southern border. More than half were other mexican nationals coming into this country. So my question for you is if you would please comment and the multiplying effect and whether the numbers were accurate for that ten year period under the Obama Administration where we saw the apprehension rate dip as low as 330,000 in 2015, whether that was accurate and how that in the reporting, please. Well, unfortunately, the Border Patrol does not have full Situational Awareness to know that important number of who was not apprehended. There was a very credible study done, commissioned by dhs that found that in 2015 the apprehension rate of people trying to cross illegally was only 54 . So, you know, that suggests that there sat least one person succeeding for every one who is caught. This is and theres also a low apprehension rate of people trying to enter illegally at the legal ports of entry. People getting through in car trunks or as imposters or whatever. And most concerning, there is the high rate of people who are caught by the Border Patrol but who were allowed to enter anyway. Either because of policies or because of the prioritization policy imposed in 2014 where they were told, you know, to let people go and they claim to have been here before january 2014. They said that at that time he estimated the Border Patrol agents were letting as many as 80 of the people that they encounters stay in the country. Thank you for being here as well. We previously talked about drunk driving and gang membership being disqualifiers for remaining in this country. In 2014, marge of 2014, years ago when an illegal alien who had been april henprehended thr times, once committing crimes in colorado was had illegal blood alcohol limit over three time the legal limb it in arizona. The car and killed him, tragically. The time of the gentleman has expired. Will he ask his question . Yes, thank you. My question is do you think enforcement of Immigration Laws by local agencies have a Chilling Effect on Community Participation and importing of crimes . Congressman, i dont think so. I believe that the crimes that are happening in our communities, if illegals are not going to report those crimes, its no different than what happens in america with criminals, people have done something wrong. I dont understand why people have a problem with people feeling afraid that they have done something wrong in this country. If you did something wrong, you should feel afraid. And you should be concerned if you violated the laws. So i dont i dont think any more than anyone else in our country if did you something wrong there are going to be people who will come forward. There are others who will. But the realities are these things are happening in every community throughout the United States. Thank you very much. The gentle woman from washington. Sorry, mr. Chairman, im hear. I call everybody in the order where they were here. I yield. Okay. I know you dont want to hear from me. But i was here. I always want to hear from you. I was here. I listened to all four of the witnesses. I was here for all of their testimony. Okay. I just got a list from the staff on who appeared in order. They must have made a mistake. They made a mistachlt. The gentleman from i will sill recognized for five minutes. You would please reset the clock . Thank you. So you get it all. Want to make sure. Question talk about the simpson bill to start. I mean maybe we should start right. There 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. Doesnt change. Ms. Vaughn, she is always here. Shes a regular much shed be out of a job if we fix aid problem and we can fix this problem. Shed be out of a job. Sheriff they rotate the sheriffs. They say what you say all the time. Judge, youre a new experience here. Thank you for the advocacy for our immigrant community. Were not here to solve a problem. Were here to say that immigrants are drunk drivers, murderers, rapists and gang members. It doesnt change. But that shouldnt surprise us since we have a president that said that all mexicans are murderers, drunk drivings, rapists and drug dealers. The gentleman from illinois will comply with the rules and referring to the president. Ill say donald trump. Is that okay . No. Its what you said whether its president or Donald Donald trump p. He did say it. The gentleman will comply with the rules and not cast aspersions on the president because those are rules of the house. Let me just repeat that. Let me just repeat. That we have a president of the United States that said, i can bring the Youtube Video that mexicans are murderers, rapists, and drug dealers. Fact. Good. Lets move on. So it doesnt really surprise me the conversation were having here. So its not looking for a solution. Its looking for a demonization of a community of people to score political points. And not to resolve it. We could resolve it. We can resol of this problem. We dont want to resol of this problem just like we dont want to resolve the Health Care Issue in this country. We want to make a political point about the Health Care Issue in this country. In order to resolve it, we can do it. See, what we have here is people that say how do we expect to restore western civilization with other peoples babies . Thats what we have. Members of congress saying. And thats part of what goes on here. Its a demonization. It sore peopleit is other peopl. And i have to say the president is playing one big role in all of it. Because, you see, today there are millions, at least five 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, killers, drug dealers and drunk drivers. Million of american citizen children. Shame on us for not responding. You know what those murderers and rapist dozen every weekend now under this administration . They go see lawyers so that they can prepare in the eventuality that theyre deported and separated from their american citizen children. Thats what theyre doing. Filling out guardianship papers, filling out whos going to 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 lefaving a legacy of abuse against the five million since everybody wants to talk about the undocumented which you call illegal, right . I want to talk a minute about those that are here legally in this country. Those american citizens. And thats what we do. And so we sit by smugly and talk about 9 11. But we have a muslim ban and they didnt even include saudi arabia in the muslim ban. Yet last time i checked, every last person that attacked this country was from saudi arabia. You know what it is . Its politics. Because also they want to make us afraid of who . Of the muslims. So they have a muslim ban. They call mexicans one thing. Muslim another thing. And then they said oh, were going to left gay people alone until they decided that transgender children and the Transgender Community would be one that were going to attack. Thats what happens here. And so we do not resolve the problem. We can resol of this problem because i happen to know for a fact that there are over 60 members of the Republican Caucus who today would vote for a comprehensive Immigration Reform bill. Today. But were not allowed to vote for that bill. And you know what evidence have i . Check last week. Why . Because you have radical, on that side of the aisle who say well not allow there to be a vote on an issue. So they withdrew their own immigration bills. Thats why we cant do this. We can deal with it in the senate. We had 68 senators come together in the summer of 2013 to help solve this problem. And how can we do it . Its quite easy. We could do it. Because what do you is, see, what we all know, sheriff, heres what we know. The resources do not exist of the federal government to pick up jail and deport 11 Million People. The gentlemen jas time has expired. You know what they can do . Insist on bringing fear to those people. Shame on all of us. The time of the gentleman has expired. He can see the clock up there like all the rest of us. And you took mr. Chairman, you took at least 15, 20 seconds admonishing. If you were listening to me, gentleman from illinois, i asked that the clock be reset. , no you reset it one time. But not during the second intervention. There is a video of this. Okay. Okay what . Now you know why we have difficulty reaching i ask mr. Chairman . Mr. Chairman . Mr. Chairman . Thank you, si ask unanimous extent that he be given an additional minute. Objection. Shame on all of us. I will note that i was watching the clock and did you reset it out of courtesy. I would point out that there was a complete and ut are rebuttal of mr. Gutierrez statement on november 8th. The American People went to the polls and said we want the law enforced and we want our streets safe. And so i want to first turn to sheriff and point out in your testimony on interduction that says the human cost and motional impact of crimes committed by illegals is beyond measure. Could you speak to that . I know its a thoughtful statement. Congress, i can tell you. In one community in massachusetts in millford, massachusetts, there were three People Killed by illegals in the Small Community of milford. Were seeing the situations happening all over the country. And there is nothing wrong with us enforcing the laws that are on the books. You cant ask Law Enforcement. Look, if there are members of the legislature that want to change the laws in massachusetts or whenever, come here and lobby congress. Dont tell us with very to violate our oath and allow our citizens were protecting to be exposed to greater risk. Thank you, sheriff. And you pointed out also the Facebook Post that gave a heads up that ice agents were coming into the community. And i want to so i opened up the federal code here. Usc 1324. I want to read this into the record. I want to ask you and others what you think about prosecuting under this. That individual or any individual. This is usc 1324. Any person who im going to cut out the irrelevant language, any person that conceals, harbors, or sheields from detection or attempts to harbor or shield from detection or any person that encourages or induces an alien to come to, enter, reside in the United States knowing that such coming to or entry or residence is or will be in violation of law or who engages in any conspiracy to commit any kind of the preceding acts or who aids and avets 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 ten year penalty. If it wasnt for financial gain, a fiveyear penalty. Sheriff, you looked at that section, i know. Congressman, ive been repeating that section every chance i get because the struj the law is the law. My answer to that was issue arrest warrants and well figure out how fast how sansanctuary c will be in this country. There may be places we need to prosecute local officials. Did you have there section in mind when you made that statement . Yes, indeed. Do you conquer with the share sniff. Yes, i do. When a judge takes an illegal alien out the side door of a courthouse to avoid ice, when a jail does not permit ice access to the jail to intervene with inmates, and Law Enforcement agency receives a detainer that gives probable cause to hold a criminal alien and they have information on that individuals crimes, all of those are shielding illegal aliens from ice. Youre suggesting this as a mean to enforce . Yes. There are penalties there. Especially when that individual who was shielded goes on to cause further harm in the community and potentially creates new victims or does, in fact, after their release. As we know has happened. Threes not isolated cases. And there is a means where this congress can act on their own without a president ial signature. And what im thinking of is the impeachment of such judge. What is your advice to us on that . I dont know the law with respect to the standards for judge impeachment. Reset the standards according to the constitution . So under those terms . I think that would be an effective deturnt to terrent. Im not ware of any cause lay that does. That one thing that or that would advise that i dont know of any that wouldnt. But one thung i would say, mr. King, is that the job that we ask our ice officers to do is a difficult one. And when it is subverted by individuals deliberately, i am not familiar with the specific case, it just makes that job more difficult. Heres really the crucial part of that. If its a public place and the officer has the opportunity to make an arrest, generally its controlled situation f the officers have to go to the home of that individual, its not a controlled situation anymore. My uncle, my aunt were both Law Enforcement officers in baltimore for many years. The worst thing that any police stamly can ever hear is that their loved one is not coming home. And if you put if you put an agent in harms way, i dont understand that. The gentlemans time has expired. The jugentle woman from washingn is now recognized. Thank you to our panel for being here. I must say that i have had a challenge listening to our majority witnesses today. I have worked on immigration issues for the last 20 years of my life. Ive been on a Domestic Violence agency board for many years and i appreciate the testimony and really trying to set the record straight about why we have a division between federal Law Enforcement, immigration Law Enforcement and excuse me, between federal Law Enforcement and local Law Enforcement. And there is a very 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 Laws. And some people dont realize. This but i think its worth saying again for nin anybody who might be watching this hearing and perhaps some of you on the panel. But our federal immigration system is a civil system. It is not a criminal system. It is a federal system. It is a civil system. So 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 is talking about federal sentencing rates. I just want to be clear about something. Federal sentencing race are ntet a reliable indicator of criminal offenses. More than half of federal prosecutions, 52 in 2016, are for immigrationrelated offenses this include illegal entry which is a misdemeanor or illegal reentry wh reentry which is considered a felony. Instead of passing comprehensive Immigration Reform. Now there is one thing that ms. Vaughn said that i agree with which is some things can only be done by congress. Yes, comprehensive Immigration Reform is one of the things that can only be done by congress. And in, fact, we had bipartisan agreement for that comprehensive Immigration Reform in 2013 where 68 senators agreed that 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 hotel rooms, you utilize the labor of immigrants. There are numerous places across this country where you simply cannot wake up in the morning without utilizing labor of undocumented immigrants that have been building this country. So that would be a solution that we should really move towards. Now i want to talk about quickly about immigration detainers and then ask you 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 about this. The vast majority of sanctuary policies if you look at the constitution and usc 1373, do not prevent citizenship and immigration status information from being shared. And, in fact, when we worked on the sank wary policies in my home state of washington, my prosecutor who ill quote from in a second as well as our local Police Chiefs have been terrific about understanding that their mission is to promote Community Trust. And that they can only do that if they pass policies that ensure that people understand theyre not enforcing Immigration Law. They are trying to protect Public Safety. And i wanted to read to you what the what our association, the major citys 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 safety communities. And recently our county prosecutor published an oped in the Seattle Times where he said from my position as king county prosecutor this is a prosecutor, i can tell that you these actions have the opposite effect for crime victims and hes talking specifically about the all of the immigration executive orders that this president has signed. And heres what he said. When victims of crime are afraid to trust police and the courts. The only winners are violent people. Because our top mission is Public Safety. This crackdown is an immediate and serious concern to those of us who work to protect our residents. So can you tell me in your opinion, is local Law Enforcement qualified to act as Immigration Enforcement . The time of the gentle woman has expired. Why dont you answer her question. Ill answer quickly. Thank you. I dont believe they are. Thank you, congress wam for aski congresswoman for asking the question. It is huge and some compare it to the tax code and complexity and diversity of issues it tackles. Like i wouldnt ask my dor fill out the taxes, i dont want the person that is in charge of my safety also spending his time worrying about the Immigration Law. Immigration laws should be enforced by the federal government not by our local police. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, in 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. Without objection. Thank you. The gentleman from idaho mr. Labrador. Thank you to each of the witnesses for being here today. Since being elected to congress in 2010, i have consistently advocated for some form of Immigration Reform. And i consistently advocated for achieving Immigration Reform by addressing each aspect of immigration system separately the and in order. That makes sense to the American People. I believe that before we can address those who are currently here illegally or how to best modernize our visa programs, we must act tone sure that our laws are being properly enforced. That must come first. This requires Congress Acting to pro provide those who enforce our Immigration Laws with the tools and support they need to accomplish their mission. I just want to ask you a quick question. I hear this again and again. As a former immigration judge, is entry into the United States without documentation a crime or not . It is a misdemeanor. Okay. So i just get tired of hearing that its not a crime. It is a crime. Whether you should you want to enforce that law, you we can have a discussion here in kovenlgt but it is a misdemeanor to come into the United States illegally. Ms. Vaughn, why havent the interior removals declined so much in the last several years . Because of deliberate policies that were put into place about it Obama Administration to greatly restrict the types of cases that ice officers could pursue for deportation. And that exempted according to one former ice official, 99 of illegal aliens who were here. So what message does this decline sent to those that would enter i will little . It sends the message if can you get here in all likelihood you wont be subject to deportation. So we have seen a difference in the last few months over that the messaging and the results at the boreder . There are some signs according to the statistics that have been released by cdp that apprehensions as a measure of attempts have dramatically declined over the last two months. And that the smuggling prices have risen which is taken as an indicator that it is much harder to do now. Mr. Arthur, you testified about the impact that president obamas actions had on isis ability to carry out the mission. Recently President Trump tried to reverse the damage done by president obamas actions. I believe that Congress Needs to act to ensure that we will 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 are not able to unilaterally alter traumatically change interior enforcement activities . Any amendment to the nationality act would limit the ability, would have language in it, manld torre language that would limit the ability of any future president to do something other than what it is. With respect to admissible built that they should shelter any person if possible. And you can put it in retainer long as well. Im very concerned about the number of visa overstates that are occurring each year. We need have a system to track individuals who come here on a visa and ensure they leave when the visa expires. What roadblocks have you seen to implementing a functioning tracking system . The lafk wick of will on the of the federal government to move forward with it. Got the entry part at airports and sea ports done very effectively but there simply has not been enough interest in completing this system. Thank you. Sheriff . In your testimony you discussed participation in section 287 g program. Was the training your department received sufficient to be able to assist ice . Were in the process of, congressman, of sending our people to theyll be going within a couple of months. But i built the intention facility at my complex in dartmouth. Ive been housing illegals for years. Do you have suggestions on how the training could be improved . Do you have anything that youve gone through the system . Well, i think the training is critically important. The federal government does cover the cost. And thats the biggest part for any jurisdiction is making sure that costs are covered. We do have an in our state some legislators trying to prevent us by legislation from even participating in 287g, suggesting that our staff work for the state and therefore we shouldnt be doing that. Which will be contrary and i think the Community Needs to know. This if were going to suggest we cant work with ice, then what happens to the federal task force . I have people on full time fbi task force, 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. Are the task forces making the community more safe or less safe . More safe. Thank you. I yield back. The time of the gentleman has expired. The gentleman from rhode island. Thank you, mr. Chairman. As sheriff hoj said, Public Safety sour fundamental responsibility. The Community Oriented policing policies must be protected as theyre vital to Public Safety because Law Enforcement rely on trust and cooperation from all their Community Members including immigrants to help prevent, solve and prosecute crimes. Local Law Enforcement agencies are in the best position to decide which Community Trust policies work best for the individual locations. And thats why many cities adopted policies that allow immigrants to come forward and seek the assistance of the police without fear. As my former chief said the single many chiefs said, the single most powerful tool that a Police Department has is the trust and confidence of the community. President trumps immigration crackdown which is strong localing arming government creat created a climate of fear. The administrations large enforce ment operations and attempts to force local police to do the work of ice are making immigrants both documented and undocumented afraid to leave their homes go, to the grocery store, and send their children to school as well as to help local Law Enforcement in fighting crime. There are also reports that Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault crimes are victims are afraid to report the crimes for fear of being apprehended themselves. Manufacture the witnesses in todays hearing have suggested that immigrant community is disproportionately responsible for crimes. I would ask unanimous con sent, mr. Chairman, to include in the record two reports, one from the sentencing project that found foreign born residents of the United States commit crimes less often than native born citizens and another study comparing incarceration rates by migratory status that comes to the same collusion. Without objection the material will be included in the record. Thank you. And despite the suggestion plaintiff smith this doesnt distinguish between illegal and legal immigrants, the report says, and i quote, a few studies using other data sources to differentiate the legal status of supported the conclusion that immigrants, regardless of legal status do, not have higher crime rates than nativeborn stenz and i have three studies to support that. I want to set the record straight. That claim is not true. I also ask unanimous concent to introduce into the record a letter from february 28th, 2017 simd by a number of Law Enforcement lead areas cross the country criticizing the shifting of the burden of federal Immigration Law on to local Law Enforcement agencies. Without objection. That will be included as well. Thank you. And i ask you, hundreds of Law Enforcement agencies throughout the United States have adopted Community Trust policies. These agencies everywhere from michigan to california to ohio report that such policies far from increasing crime actually reduce it. And recent comprehensive studies supported the claims statistically, showing that Community Trust jurisdictions are demonstratebly safer than the counterparts. So why is that . Can you help us understand why communities where this these trust jurisdictions are actually protecting our constituents and providing safer communities, less crime y is that happening . Thank you very much, congressman. I think you actually said it yourself. You said the former chief in your jurisdiction indicated its really that trust between the community and the Police Officers that allows for thorough reporting by victims. It allows for cooperation as witnesses. It allows for investigations into community, you know, knocking on doors and finding the witness whos want to respond and offer what theyve seen, what theyve heard. There is really no way to prosecute and investigate crime. There is really no way to prosecute crime without participation of the of residents in the community. And that trust is the number one thing that were looking for. And is it you made reference to an example of a case in which there had sbn bn someone th in which there had been someone murdered. Are there other instance thats youre aware of around the country and they have been unwilling or unable to come forward because of the immigration status and how do you think the trump policy or the Trump Administrations policies are making that either more likely or less likely to happen . I would say that 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 are our hands are tied behind our back in terms of investigating. We also dont then have a lot of media reports, for example, about those individuals. As stated, they are too afraid to come forward. We dont get the splash that we night get otherwise in these situations. I know in el paso when there was an a pickup of a woman while she was receiving her protection order, a message was sent loud and clear around the country if you use the criminal Justice System to report a the crime committed against you by an abuser, if you pursue what our system is here to offer which a protection order, safety for new your family, you could be a victim of an arrest by ice in that moment and possibly deported. That had a Chilling Effect that our coalitions across the country that work on Domestic Violence have been reporting in the last month and a half or so. A very significant dropoff. Mr. Chairman, i would say that the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from louisiana, mr. Johnson. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I thank all of you for being here. Were almost done. Sheriff, my first question is for you. Last year i was a legislator in louisiana, stay legislator and in 2016 i coauthored a bill to prohibit them from adopting sank wary policies in our stachlt we were going to peeblize them by taking away ability to borrow money for certain projects from our state bond commission. Unless they complied with the federal law. Ultimately what happened down there was quite a saga. Our democrat governor with the assistance of a few local Law Enforcement officials in the new orleans area killed our legislation. They argued that our efforts were political pandering and that this was something that should remain solely a federal issue. So i just was curious from your perspective as a Law Enforcement official on the ground as it were, youre the top Law Enforcement official in your county. I know that your state doesnt have such a ban. But if such a statute was presented in massachusetts or in other states for that matter, do you think that something would be helpful . A state law to ban sank wary cities . State law banning the sanctuary cities . Yes, absolutely. Look, the bottom line is, and i commend you for filing that in louisiana. The reality is were suggesting there are certain laws that we can enforce and certain laws we cant. Law enforcement cant be put in that position. I think its important to point out that our frontier has changed since 93. So were seeing a lot more organic gang activities through illegal immigration. And i note that these Police Chiefs, now its important for this committee to know. Im not going to say all Police Chiefs. But i think its important to be mindful of the fact that Police Chiefs are pinltd by mayors. So woor not beholden in our jobs. Were not relying and supporting our families based on the political pintmentes that we get. So i think its important for the community to keep that in mind when it comes to measuring what unfortunately chiefs manufacture the chiefs position thats they have and have been put into. I appreciate you saying. That i wish i had your testimony in louisiana when i was bat thalg last year. You know, we made the argument that as john adams famously said, he was distinguishing our republic from the monarchy in great britain, what we were fleeing from. He said were a nation of laws not of men. And we have to follow those laws. Its important to do that on a local and regional level just as it is on the federal level or it undermine thats foun dafgs our republic. Another question, do you believe there is adequate collaboration currently between federal and local Law Enforcement agencies on a addressing illegal immigration, more specifically, is there anything that maybe we could do to improve the sharing of intelligence . Well, congressman, i think there is always more we can do. I think there is some cyber things we can do in addition to the program. That is critically important. Within our prisons across this country, we really are the Central Intelligence base. The president pointed that in and out a recent speech to the sheriffs. I think most Law Enforcement people would agree with me. Thats critically important to have that information shared back and forth in an on going basis. So the acceleration of it would be great. On that same theme of technology, this is one is for you. Can you expand on why its more difficult for the court when asylum and border atroll is not trshg . Its very good question. Often what will happen is asylum officers will present a what purports to be the statement of the alien. Sometimes its simply a summary of what the alien said. If in court the alien is con fronted by the ice attorney with the contrary statement to one that is contained in the asylum application, often theyll say i didnt say that. That doesnt accurately reflect it. I dont have the asylum officer in front of me. And unfortunately, ice never provides them. So to have an actual electronic statement would allow me to look at that and to better identify any true inconsistencies which would greatly aid in the decision. Thank you, i have 30 seconds left. You mention how our local Law Enforcement agencies have been affected by incourse rating illegal aliens on local charges. Just wonder if can you expand on the Assistance Program and what changes might need to be made. Well, i think it would be a good idea and more effective to have that reimbursement funding tied to specific cooperation and that is honoring ice detainers. If a jurisdiction is not honoring ice detainers, then they become ineligible for scout funding. I think in a would be a simple fix to the program that is more relevant to the situation today. Time of the gentleman has expired. The gentle woman from texas mrs. Jacksonlee will bat cleanup. Let me thank the chairman and Ranking Member for a very important hearing. Let me ask just a straight forward question that deals with fixing the Immigration Laws and allowing individuals to come from out of the shadows and distinguishing individuals who are hero posed to criminals and others who happen to be on status. Would you support comprehensive Immigration Reform . Yes or no . Congresswoman, ive been working on that for 20 years going back to henry hyde and barney frank. I worked on the first bill. Thank you. I was probably around that time. Good to see you. Ms. Vaughn, you would support this . No. I think it makes much more sense. Thank you. Let me go on to mr. Author. I would probably recommend enforce ment of the Immigration Laws. You support comprehensive Immigration Reform . It takes into account enforcement. If you look at the concept of gang of eight, it takes into enforce ment, you would support it . I would have to look at the particulars. All right. Yes, i would support it. Let me move forward on our questioning. All of us were appalled at the killing of kate steinly and others who suffered. But if we correlate that strategy to high crime work with nonstatus people as republicans have tried to do, San Francisco then would have a high murder rate and as of 2015, there was no rise in San Franciscos murder rate in the 26 years it had a sanctuary city. In fact, the citys murder rate has fallen to the lowest level in decades. Which i think is a very important point. The other point i would ask a yes or no question, do you think in the context of unstatus that were trying to deport the bad people that President Trump said. Is that what your focus would be, the bad hombres . Yes. Ms. Vaughn . Accord together department of yes or no. There are two million in the country and we should make them the top of the priority for deportation, of course, others thank you. Im so sorry. In my court, i would see maybe individuals for a long period of time. I would see individuals who committed serious Domestic Violence so you think that the bad elements should be the top priority . The bad hombres . Unfortunately, i saw them disappear from my court, i dont know why. But yes, i think that we should definitely remove individuals who commit serial drunk driving offenses like the chairman spoke about. All right. Thank you so very much. Your view of that . Yes, thank you, congresswoman. Im only rushing because im going to ask you a lengthier question. Yes or no . Do you think it should be focused on the bad hombres . I think we should focus on those with serious criminal violations. Thank you much. I would like to offer this comment, trump supporter thought president would only deport bad hombres, still her husband is being deported. Months later after she voted, roberta and her husband a successful businessman respected member of the indiana town and father of three american born children languishes in a detention facility with hardened criminals as he awaits deportation back to mexico, a country he left in 1998 when he entered the United States illegally. I ask unanimous con sent for that to be put in the record. Without objection. Thank you. I also ask unanimous consent to be put into the record the statement of the Travis County Sheriffs Office policy on cooperation with the u. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to negate any suggestion that the socalled sank wary cities labelled is that cities are not cooperating with ice. I ask unanimous con sent to put that into the record. Without objection. And i also ask to put into the record this statement from the constitutional lawyers that this is unconstitutional, the order by sessions and the president of the United States to penalize cities and deny them their money. I hope one of them will sue. I ask unanimous consent. Reserving the right to object. Who are these constitutional lawyers . Im losing my time. I will pull that back. May i ask a question. Resuming the right to object. Id like to find out will you give me extra time . I have a question. Just answer my question. Youve been asking there is a long list how many it is, stan . How much . No, there are more than that. They said theyre representing 292. 292 and theyre from uc irvine, university of San Francisco, denver, and smu school of law. And there are 292. I can get the names. Theyre not attached to the letter. The Ranking Member says she has already put that in the record. Thank you. May i ask my question . With you withdraw your unanimous con sent request . Yes, mr. Chairman. Okay. Thank you. May i ask you the question, please . I ask unanimous consent the gentle woman from texas be given an additional minute. I thank you, mr. Chairman. I am very familiar with the center. I think you know marty down in texas and weve 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 unstatus to feel free to report threats that not only can jeopardize the lives of the significant other, the spouse, the girlfriend but the children in that home or in that context. Would you explain the scene youve seen of the children involved and how important for there to be freedom . The gentle womans time has expired. You may answer the question. Thank you so very much. Congresswoman, hello from our texas office. You know we work hand in hand with Houston Police to help them to identify and investigate trafficking in the area. Our work is pioneering in an attempt to bring trafficking under some kind of control. I can talk about right now you asked me to share with you something about a client. We have a client who spoke at a briefing a few weeks ago here in the house who shared that as a woman who met her husband, u. S. Citizen, military husband overseas, he brought her here to the United States and they had a child together. Tl their sunson was autistic. The 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, im a citizen and you dont have status and if you call the police, you will be deportd. And then our child will be with me. And youre out of luck. And so very desperately and very nervously she contacted us for help and worked to build up her courage and eventually was able to cooperate with Law Enforcement and her husband was removed from the home allowing the child then to really flourish and his autism has now significantly improved. So we can see not just sort of emotional impact immediately, but certainly even cognitive and Behavioral Changes when abusers are removed from the home. And women are able to care for their children in safety. Thank you very much. The gentle woman from california. Id like to ask unanimous con sent to put in the record a letter from the chief justice of the california state Supreme Court appointed by a republican i might add to the department of Homeland Security asking that enforcement in courtrooms in california cease zbhchlt without objection. Is. The gentle woman from washington. I ask unanimous content to enter into the record the oped i referred to from the king county prosecutor, also a republican. Without objection. Thank you. I guess this shows that we republicans are not like the rockettes. Thats right. This concludes todays hearing. Thanks to all of our witnesses for attending. Without objection, all members will have five legislative days to submit additional written questions to the witnesses or additional materials for the record and without objection the hearing is adjourned. Senate democrats have the votes to block President Trumps Supreme Court nominee, senator chris coons was the senator to say hell support the filibuster. He made the announce ment during the Judiciary Committee hearing. Even though, majority leader mi Mitch Mcconnell said he plans to hold the final confirmation vote on neil gorsuch friday. Watch the senate live on cspan2. In case you missed it on cspan. The policy Research Institute at the Senate Intelligence hearing. Through the end of 2015 and start of 2016, the russian influence system began pushing themes and messages seeking to influence the outcome of the u. S. President ial election. Russias coverts sought to sideline opponents on both sides of the political spectrum with views towards the kremlin. They were in full swing during both the republican and democratic primary season. May have help sync the beliefs. Lieutenant general on the shortage of pilots in the military. The total force including our active guard and reserve components are short. Of this amount, the total force was short 1,211 Fighter Pilots. It should be noted that the cost to train a fifth generation Fighter Pilot to prepare him or her for the first operational squadron is approximately 11 million. Nfl wide receiver bolden at a Congressional Forum on policing and minority communities. There are a lot of Police Officers that arent involved in the community thats theyre serving in or supposed to be serving in. So i have this crazy theory that if i know you, im a lot more likely to treat you a lot better than if i dont. So if i have a relationship with you, with that relationship im not going to be so quick to lock you up. General joseph on security challenges in the middle east. While we consider an established accountability over our actions in this incident, i think it is also important to clearly recognize that the enemy does use human shields, has little regard for human life, and does attempt to use civilian casualty allegations as a tool. Arizona congresswoman Martha Mcsally at the americanisrael policy conference. Today the state of israel is a modern day david. And goliath is the arsenal of hundreds of thousands of rockets and missiles aimed at the jewish state by terror groups like hezbollah and hamas. But this time israel has a major upgrade in technology that will help it take down the next giant. Amen. The david slaying Missile Defense system which was codeveloped by israels advance Defense Systems and the American Defense contractor ratheon. Cspan programs are available at cspan do the coring, on our home page and by searching the video library. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson hosts Foreign Ministers at the state department to discuss global efforts in combatting isis. A gathering of 68 members who make up the Global Coalition created in 2014 to Work Together to reduce the threat of isis. Following secretary tillersons remarks, iraqs Prime Minister addressed the gathering. This is 40
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