Acting customs and Border Protection commissioner mark morgan testified the Senate Homeland security and government official. Pretty discuss the challenges they coronavirus pandemic posed to his agency including passenger travel restrictions. The hearing will come to order. Im looking at the title of this hearing. Cbp oversight unit i was talking to mr. Morgan earlier. Wondering if he wouldve broken of four told the future before he took this position. He wouldve done so. Is been challenging yes. Crisis after crisis after crisis. So first want to say i want to thank the witnesses mr. Morgan or your perseverance and your service to the nation. About the past and present and in the future. Things are not getting a whole lot better anytime soon a fear. I would ask consent to my Opening Statement be entered into record. This hearing on the border that we have not had of quite a few months. Obviously need to is a chart. This really what i want to talk about in my opening comments. I think c
Your perseverance and service to this nation, both the past, present and in the future too. Things arent getting a whole lot better any time soon, i fear. I would ask consent that my written Opening Statement be entered into the record. As a hearing on the border we havent had one for quite a few months, so i obviously need to use a chart. Thats really what i want to talk about in my opening comments. Weve held i think close to 40 hearings on some aspect of the issues on the border and with our broken immigration system, began keeping this chart on unaccompanied children but then as the whole issue with people coming across and exploiting our asylum laws coming as families, the problem just exploded in late 2018 and into 2019, and the main reason i want to show this chart, youll see the gold colored bars are single adults, down slightly, pretty persistent, pretty stable for the, you know, eight years this chart represents. What you do see, though, in red is unaccompanied children, blue
The moment weve all been waiting for. Weve been talking about cbp and the Important Role that these important agencies play in creating a competitive u. S. mexico border. Were excited to have our guest speaker here today. Whether youre in the private sector, trade organization, if youre here, if you have anything to do with the border, you care very much about your on going relationship with cbp. Thats certainly the case for us at the Border Trade Alliance. Our relationship, our partnership, the communication is critical. Cbp ensures Border Security and the efficient movement of people and goods across our ports of entry. Were grateful for cbps work to reduce border wait times which is one of the most challenging barriers to trade. Today, yesterday and hopefully not tomorrow. Its my great pleasure to introduce john wagner, Deputy Executive Assistant Commission for the office of Field Operations at u. S. Customs and border protection. In 1991 he joined the Customs Service as a customs i
And ice and the Important Role that these important agencies play and making the Us Mexico Border a competitive usmexico border so we are excited to have our guest are here today. Whether youre in the private sector, trade organization , if youre here, if you have anything to do with the border, you care very much about your ongoing relationship with cbp but certainly the case for us as a border trade alliance, our relationship, our partnership, the communication is critical. As cbp ensures Border Security and the efficient movement of people across our ports of entry. Were grateful for cbps work to increase border wait times which is one of the most challenging barriers to trade. Today yesterday and hopefully not tomorrow. Its my great pleasure to introduce john wagner, hes debbie assessed and commissioner for the Field Operations at us customs and border protection. He began his federal lawenforcement career in 1991 when he joined the Us Customs Service as a customs inspector and wor
Aspects of security. Security at the ports of entry is just as important as security between the ports of entry. And, you know, since then weve seen efforts and i think trade community has responded. Congress has responded. Weve seen bills to add more officers. We need other resources at the border. I think at first the only resource were being drawn from southern ports of entry and our first point was what about the airports . What about the seaport . What about the northern ports . You cant pick just one area and say well thats the only area that will get hurt. So beyond that weve seen may 7th, tomato duties went into effect. Now duties on mexican tomatoes. When tariff threat came up, that would have equalled 25 tariffs, 3 billion in tariffs just on what we eat and that constitutes a food tax. In the meantime we had these issues. Thats a glimpse into what we see at the border but we cant stop and think that we cant move forward because theres a lot of things we can move forward on. I