To examine the human rights and legal implications without objection we will recess at any point. Looking at the migrant protection protocol known as the marine and Mexico Program with our prospective practitioners on the ground going to affect 2019 the remain in mexico policy has forced asylumseekers to wait while their claims are processed this does not even begin to touch on the devastating and destructive impact this is had on countless lives go prior to the implementation asylumseekers stay while they are moved through the court and the common sense premise with a temporary safe haven while it is decided whether or not they remain in our country. And while they arrive at the border to seek asylum there provided a court date in and sent back to mexico they are mostly from central and south america almost only strangers to mexico as they weigh on a decision from the United States. Some of the most dangerous and mexico jobs are hard to come by even local government officials have been known to engage in violence and exploitation these migrants flee violence and oppression that are just as dangerous to face kidnapping and Sexual Assault and extortion in addition to another humanitarian crisis the program has created a newly vulnerable population by the drug cartels to allow those to remain active and then expand their reach so that the exceptions for mexican nationals and non spanish speakers pregnant women lgbtq and people with disabilities. However investigations and reporting have revealed the categories frequently turned away that the state department has marked as too dangerous to travel in august 2019 to notify congress of a large temporary facility located in brownsville these facilities function as virtual immigrations forums from brick and mortar courtrooms these facilities are significant cause for alarm with translators and attorneys with a complete disregard those are just some of the problems emerging from the system with those facilities and hundreds of hearings per day to provide Little Information despite numerous inquiries news outlets and congressional staff. Available information on their operations exacerbate on who can even access the facility the barbed wire fence to be close to the public and with that they reject request after request. And then to remove any migrants to act as legal aid and that prohibition expose migrants to the Due Process Rights established for asylumseekers and us law we have invited witnesses to shine light on this terrible situation and thank you for joining us today. Miss emerged as the Second World War as we look at the shameful truth we failed to give safe haven to those fleeing the nation now those of leading edge all over the world to do so save an untold number of lives that remain in mexico policy is a reprehensible step backwards in a continuation of this administrations abandonment to the nations longstanding a bipartisan tradition of protecting asylumseekers and refugees we hope to improve our own understanding to put this on the men and women and children seeking safety in our country the chair recognizes the Ranking Member of the subcommittee for an opening statement. Thank you madam chair and to our witnesses for being here today i look forward to your testimony i also would like to voice i am disappointed no dhs officials actually responsible for negotiating and implementing migrant protection protocols agreement testified today by a majority. Im also concerned of the partisan preconception regarding the hearing title. This past year we saw crisis at the border referred to as a fake emergency exposing 977,000 people attempted to illegally enter the United States through the southwest border. That is more than we encountered in 2017 and 2018 combined larger than the population of the entire state of delaware. Historically most Illegal Immigrants are single adults looking for temporary work fiscal year 2000 Border Patrol could repatriate the majority of those detained within hours. Today most Illegal Immigrants and unaccompanied minors from guatemala honduras and el salvador fiscal year 19 Customs Border protection encountered 473,682 families nearly 3200 percent increase from fiscal year 13. This changes directly to criminal organizations exploiting loopholes in Immigration Laws as propaganda to convince people to bring children to the border. Migrants give up their life savings or mortgage their homes and properties and handing their children over to smugglers because they are falsely told the children is a visa into the country. Even the Guatemala Ministry of Public Affairs have publicly confirmed this. Smugglers dont care about the wellbeing of the migrants just turning a profit. Fiscal year 19 cbp average 71 hospital visits per dafor migrants that arrived in deteriorating health. Border patrol conducted 4900 rescues of immigrants that smugglers left to die dhs secretary testified in july more than 5500 fraudulent family cases have been uncovered where the adult is not the parent of the child 1000 have already resulted in prosecution. Worse the cartels send back to their home country and in return to the border they recycle children identifying 600 children one child told investigators he was forced to make the trip eight times. There is a common misconception that most people illegally crossing the borders are seeking asylum however less than 20 percent of immigrants of cbp custody are found to have credible fear to return to their home country this clear 18 it was 18 percent. And for those who say everyone turns themselves in, thats not the case according to cbp last year more than 150,000 migrants who illegally enter this country got away from authorities evading capture the trenton administration has been forced to act alone and has taken several actions to mitigate the crisis as gridlock over Immigration Reform continues in congress dhs implemented the migrant protection protocol to cut down on overcrowding of migrants and dhs custody and the numbers released into Us Communities with the backlog and at one point this year cbp had almost 20000 people in custody. Now they are averaging less than 3500. Dhs has invested temporary courtrooms near the southwest border to help expedite immigration hearings for individuals and to make meritless asylum claim. Only 20 percent of asylum claims get favorable final judgment as they are provided with a work authorization. Pointing to more than 89000 orders of removal for fiscal year 19 for those who are not detained to mitigate the risk those that are removed will disappear into the United States interior the state department and International Organization for migration visits shelters operated by faithbased organizations in mexico to house individuals those that have a persistent Law Enforcement presence and access to food and water and medical care todays hearing could have been an opportunity to bring in the department to discuss the implementation of the programming greater detail. We have seemingly foregone the Factfinding Mission for something that might resemble a show trial. Nevertheless i want to thank our witnesses for appearing before us today and i look forward to your testimony i yelled back to make the chair now recognizes the full committee. Thank you very much chairman. Today the subcommittee will hear about the Trump Administration to remain in mexico policy to distort the immigration system effectively closing the door to people seeking safety in this country. I share concerns about the legal and humanitarian implications of this misguided policy and thank her for calling the Hearing Department of Homeland Security has allowed cbp to regain operational control of our border with mexico. We actually know better in fact it has raised serious legal questions to create a new humanitarian crisis along the southern border. Moreover contrary to American Values returning migrants with Developmental Disabilities is unacceptable. Sending pregnant women into mexico with basic medical care is unacceptable establishing what dhs used to have asylumseekers forcing to return to mexico is contrary these proceedings are generally open to the public for the sake of transparency American Immigration lawyers aclu and Amnesty International among others observe these proceedings however they have been repeated the denied access to the new temporary courts in laredo if you are familiar with the Rio Grande Valley you know about the work of Catholic Charities carried out to assist migrants in the region. Also being denied entry with no real explanation as to why. These observers are desperately needed those to get into the courts to talk about Court Operations running rough shot so to fill out the wrong information every step that can be taken to limit the amount of time is taken cbp allegedly fabricated future hearing dates in order to return them to mexico. The administration appears intent to cut off access to the lawful asylum process given that their actions are legally questionable for adults and children in danger i look forward to hearing from our panel from their observation with the remain in mexico policy their testimony will help inform the committees oversight work with official security has been a bipartisan priority of this committee the blocking the asylum process to risk lives by putting them in harms way does not make us any safer it just makes us out less than remake ourselves out to be thank you for holding the hearing and the members of the committee for their participation. I yelled back. Thank you mister chairman the Ranking Member of the full committee is recognized for an opening statement. Allstate for the record i wholeheartedly support the remain in mexico policy and no way is it inhumane. The past year nearly 1 million Illegal Immigrants were attempting to cross the southwest border with a humanitarian crisis cbp was overwhelmed and overrun leading to conditions of Law Enforcement officers 50 percent of border to patrol agents were taken off and so request for emergency funds to deal with a crisis but for months my colleagues ignored the crisis as a fake emergency finally to be critical emergency funding although it did nothing to address the root cause and that is the loophole in our asylum laws. Democrats have yet to move any legislation to close the loopholes the Trump Administration has been forced to act on its own to secure agreement with mexico honduras guatemala and el salvador to improve Security Cooperation across the region to reduce the exploitation of Immigration Law for after negotiation with mexico dhs office so implemented the Migrant Protection Protocol Program as a regional strategy to prevent abuse of asylum laws while protecting those with legitimate claims that it discourages false asylum claims and help to create wait time migrants under the program wait months compared two years for those currently in the interior to focus on reforming Immigration Laws instead of holding messaging hearings i yelled back. I would like to seek unanimous consent the over 2018 assessment for the record. So ordered. Under Committee RulesOpening Statements may be submitted for the record without objection members not on the committee today we look for our colleagues and i welcome the Panel Witnesses the first pro bono counsel at the American Bar Association native of the Rio Grande Valley appointed at the Us State Department under the Obama Administration later serving as an immigration Trial Attorney she served as a visiting attorney with the texas civil rights project after the zero tolerance policy went into effect last summer a staff attorney for the civil rights project that advocates on behalf of immigrants and low income individuals as part of the family separation crisis last year of much of the recent efforts are assisting asylumseekers forcing to wait for the policy in mexico next the assistant professor for emergency medicine at the University Southern california asylum clinician and has worked with those in tijuana mexico over the last five years for asylum cases on both sides of the border including the individuals for weight in Mexico Program we also have the president of the American Federation local 181924 the affiliate representing more than 2500 employees in the dc region who began working with communities in 1975 in countries such as afghanistan and thailand serving as the asylum officer since 1992 but is a special representative for refugee asylum with use of the union and its members finally Mister Thomas holman former acting director of immigration and enforcement he began his career as a Police Officer in new york before joining the immigration naturals are shut in Service Serving as a Border Patrol agent and investigator and executive associate director. January 2017 President Trump named him the acting director of i. C. E. Where he served through to june 2018 without objection i now ask each witness to summarize his or statement for five minutes. Thank you to members of the subcommittee. I am pro bono counsel for the American Bar Association commission on immigration employees to testify on behalf of the president. Thank you for the opera president of the aba burqa we are concerned of the migrant protection protocol also known as remain in mexico it discriminates against Spanish Speaking asylumseekers to deny full access to the justice system. We are more concerned about the personal safety of 55000 asylumseekers objected to this policy and return to dangerous conditions in mexico particularly the border near laredo and there is a refugee camp in sentiment encampment nongovernmental organizations the facility erected near the port of entry where the hearings take place and remains closed to the public. Based in the Rio Grande Valley representing individuals i will briefly identify the primary issues that led to the erosion of Legal Protections for asylumseekers in the migrant protection protocol first asylumseekers are being returned with documents of hundreds of incidents of kidnappings and violence. Aba is concerned dhs efforts to comply with its obligations to refrain from sending refugees to suffer persecution or torture has failed asylumseekers must affirmatively request an interview to be removed from the program placing the burden on the applicant when it is a legal obligation of the United States government the Legal Standard is so high only a small percentage can actually pass the interview to be allowed to pursue their claim in the United States. Second a dhs run facility managed by cbp is a major obstacle of basic due process protection to appear for the hot hearings they travel through dangerous border cities in the middle of the night and have to wait on the bridge before they are processed for their hearing Immigration Judges and interpreters and counsel appear through video teleconference while respondents appear most without an attorney the technology can be a reliable leading to displays that can further traumatize asylumseekers when it does function no interpretation is provided during the hearing with the exception of procedural matters and that is selected by the judge the results in unfairness and lack of due process it also frustrates meaningful access to counsel they do have a statutory right to counsel in immigration proceedings it although there are many attorneyclient in the court they are you underutilized due to restricted access managed by cbp attorneys can enter only to appear for the Asylum Seeker attorneys cannot enter to screen potential clients. Once a relationship is created somehow they can only consult with their client one hour prior to the commencement of the hearing on the date of the hearing attorneys are often prohibited for meeting with their clients after the end of the hearing just to explain what transpired during the hearing for interpretation. They go to their clients in mexico a dangerous proposition that many attorneys will not take for me to meet with my clients i must take precautions to