Transcripts For CSPAN3 House 20240706

Spending bills in a bipartisan way and im working closely with vice chair collins on this and i believe we have the opportunity and responsibility to Work Together to make our country more safe, more competitive, and do good for the people we represent and the risk of sounding like a broken record while it is currently in infraction. Title several help and the abuse of immigration parole. Since President Biden took office as part of casualties, he has paroled in and around the million aliens who for humanitarian purpose. Administrations have been abusing Parole Authority for many years has by congress attempts to raided. In most, recently the biden ministration has created categorical pearl programs for several countries make the chaos of the border less noticeable. Title seven points use of pearl back to its intended purpose to allow foreign nationals to enter the u. S. For an emergency purpose for a short period of time. Finally, title eight films and the job might have hurt legal migration. It faces then used to be verify to check the employment eligibility for new hires over a period of three, is starting with the largest employers unending with agriculture employers. Weve worked closely with many of our folks from the district on that language. He verifies at the quick and efficient way to electronically to a colonel of requires of employees check the employments ability of their new. Hires occur insistent this objective and illegal aliens routinely fake identity employment eligibility requirements to get jobs in the United States. Titillate also reveals to Biden Administration regulations that makes the catch to a agricultural guesswork program burdensome for employees to use. H. R. 2 who put an end to it. The open borders policy of joe biden. With, that mister chairman, i yield back. Thank you very much, Ranking Member nadler, youre recognized for opening testimony. Thank, you mister chairman, members of the committee. A cruel, extreme, and workable piece of legislation. The socalled secure the border, act which would wrecker economy, destroy the asylum system, criminalize visa over days, send unaccompanied children back to dangerous situations and jail children indefinitely. Once, again my republican colleagues show that they are not interested in finding Real Solutions to tough issues. With bill attempts to combine a variety of different bills. Each want more cruel and heartless than the last. Its a one contradictory and overlapping mess. This bill has no chance of being enacted into law. Republican senators have expressed their opposition. It is nothing more than pure political theater. My republican colleagues are trying to take us back to the failed, legal and moral policies of the trump administration. Former president trumps radical, inhumane and racist immigration actions weekend the u. S. Economy, undermined our moral standing in the world and did not make us any safer. While trampling on some of our most deeply held american values, his erratic approach also failed to stem the flow of migrants across our borders. Lets be very clear about what this legislation would do. When taken together, this bill serves as a wholesale ban on asylum. No one would be able to seek asylum in the United States if the cross between points of entry or they add or could have had even temporary status in a third country. We offered a variety of amendments to the most vulnerable from these draconian requirements. Its included those fleeing communist totalitarian regimes and unaccompanied children. The majority was not even willing to exempt children under a year old. The one place where we were able to make some bipartisan headway was on the issue of e verify. He verify is an electronic employment verification system began as a voluntary Pilot Program and is currently used by a small percentage of the nations employers. This bill would make that a system editorial for all employers in the United States. Without providing other reforms, including a meaningful opportunity for undocumented workers to regularize their status. This title would damage the u. S. Economy, harm American Workers and result in billions of dollars and lost government revenue. Mandatoryy verified witness made the agriculture industry, putting u. S. Farms out of business, shipping millions of american jobs overseas and increasing u. S. Reliance on imported food. Mandatory e verify would result in hundreds of thousands of unfilled farm jobs and would leave unpicked crops rotting in the field as we saw in georgia in 2011, when the military he verify law in the state resulted in over 11,000 farm jobs going unfilled during the peak harvest season. That is why i have submitted an amendment to the rules committee which would strike the eve verified title from this bill. This amendment gained bipartisan support in the judiciary committee, and i hope my colleagues will ensure against the vote on the house floor. These are just a few of the problems with this bill. I did not even have time to go into detail into how this bill strips all protections from unaccompanied children and requires all families who come to our border seeking protection to be detained indefinitely. Or the extreme lengths it goes to narrow the eligibility grounds for asylum. Or how this bill would severely restrict this and any future administrations ability to probably individuals into the United States, and the current crow initiatives for ukrainians fleeing russia and certain military families. I might add ending the parole that has been enforced for cuba since the eisenhower administration. Immigration reform is a complicated problem that requires comprehensive solutions, and enforcement only strategy simply doesnt work. Democrats have put forward real proposals and we stand ready to work with serious republicans to pass meaningful solutions. Democrats take this complex humanitarian crisis seriously. Our proposals address the root causes of migration, improve Border Security and create additional legal pathways for people to enter the United States lawfully. But republicans have chosen a narrow path that imposes an extreme hardship on the most Vulnerable People well doing nothing to actually solve the problem. I encourage my colleagues to oppose this wrongheaded bill and i ask a majority to go back to the drawing bird. Thank you mister chairman, i yield back. Thank you. Chairman greene, you are recognized for your opening testimony. Ranking member mcgovern and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify on the secure the border act of 2023. Theres no doubt to any american paying attention that were in the midst of a severe border crisis. Just over two, years President Biden secretary mayorkas have turned the border into a place of chaos and devastation. A place for cartels are now firmly in control of at least five of our nine sectors, according to the chief of the Border Patrol. Since biden ministration took, office there been over 5 million encounters at the southwest border. 1. 5 million known gotaways and estimates by the chief of Border Patrol of an additional 20 of got a ways that are completely unaccounted for. The numbers paint a horrifying picture. Just the First Six Months of this fiscal, or 80 people on the terrorist Border Patrol arrested over 15,000 individuals with criminal convictions and 14,000 pounds of fentanyl has been seized. Enough to kill over 3. 1 billion people, a third of the world or the entire u. S. Population nine times over. , sadly the true number of cartel and game members, other criminals and trafficked persons as well as the quantity of an licit drugs that have all crossed our borders will never be fully known. But what we do know is staggering. Given these facts, it is imperative that Congress Take the necessary steps to ensure that the law passed by this body are enforced. Our borders are secure and the American People are safe. Im honored to be here with chairman jordan and chairman mccaul as we work towards this goal of the secure the border act. Each of our committees has worked tirelessly over the past several months to craft this legislation. Doing so through regular order. The committee on Homeland Securitys markup two weeks ago extended over 16 hours and considered over 40 amendments. Im grateful to the members of the committee who worked tirelessly to craft our part of this bill. Nature to addresses the Immediate Impact of the crisis by focusing on mitigating and stopping the search of illegal aliens and drugs flowing across the u. S. Borders, mainly between ports of entry. This requires the secretary of Homeland Security was previously appropriated but an expired funding to immediately resume construction of the border wall. It also makes targeted investment in border policy but appoint a most Effective Technology available. Such as advanced surveillance sensors and drones and requires a fiveyear Technology Investment plan to provide one else has of Security Risk and gaps between ports of entry. This bill also depends transparency from dhs by requirement the reporting of critical Border Security data. Including the number of known gotaways and known or suspected terrorists. The American People expect this type of transparency. And also authorizes and increases operations dont garden grants to support state and local Law Enforcement who are bearing the brunt of this crisis, as a federal government continues to fail and its mission. Lastly, the bill addresses the Major Staffing challenges that u. S. Border patrol, which was just recently highlighted and a dhs Inspector General report laying out how the unsustainable conditions that our southwest border are negatively impacting the health and morale of the frontline Law Enforcement. Our brave Border Patrol agents whose frustrations grow daily as they are full pulled off the front line process and tornadoes are leaving at an increasing rate and are greatly struggling with Mental Health issues. To address these, issues this bill includes Retention Bonuses for those frontline agents, made is no fewer than 22,000 fulltime equivalent agents and also provides polygraph Waiver Authority for hiring flexibility. These are just a few of the highlights of this critical legislation. We must have affective physical infrastructure, additional port patrol agents on the front lines to address these growing threats. Combined with the important elements led by the judiciary and Foreign Affairs committee, this bill is a major step into tackling these challenges and delivering for the American People. Left an, addressed the border crisis will continue to spiral out of control. Thank you, mr. , chairman for the opportunity to testify today. I look for to the committees questions and i yield back. Thank you very much, representative ivey, you are recognized for your opening statement. Thank, you mister chairman, mr. Ranking member. Im here to express my strong opposition to h. R. 2 and urge the committee to approve a role to allow for consideration of democratic amendments aimed at addressing serious flaws in this cruel and unworkable bill. Although i sit on the Homeland Security committee and the judiciary committee, im here to speak on per half of Ranking Member thompson about division a of h. R. 2. The language in this division, which was voted out of the Homeland Security committee about two weeks ago along partisan lines after a 17hour markup reflects the failure of cooperation and cooperation between the two groups of members. The democrats and the republicans. The majority rejected 43 amendments, even when they expressly rejected the merit and some of the amendments that were offered by the democrats. If, enacted hr to it up and border enforcement operations, Illinois Community and religious organizations working to provide migrants with basic necessities. That is why 136 community and religious organizations oppose this legislation. They have a letter that i would like to submit to make part of the record. H. R. 2 would require dhs to build Donald Trumps border wall, fake clean poised to unspent border wall funds from the trump era as a pay for. Republican colleagues identified no unspent funds as mentioned in the bill that are available to dhs to begin construction on the wall. And the legislation requires that we can i work in seven days after enactment. Moreover, roughly 1900 miles of additional wall construction its estimated to be required to complete the republican mandate. Ive seen estimates of that crossing roughly 46 million per mile. On one, hand we have no funding made available under the legislation, not expressly at least. But an astronomical amount to actually do what they are saying hes to be done. In addition to, that has republicans have adopted a bill that required 22 across the board cuts in dhs funding. I think the Ranking Member estimated that would be somewhere around a reduction of 2400 Border Agents. At the, same time my republican colleagues are saying i know, and the Border Agents themselves are, saying they need more help down at the border. But the bill doesnt fund a single new officer had port of entry to find fentanyl introduction even though administrations have 8 that more than 80 of this deadly drug comes to ports of entry. Last, month i joined with Committee Colleagues to visit with officers and brownsville point of entry in mcallen, texas. The men and women serving at the border are doing important work under very difficult situations. That led us to Ranking Member thompson in particular, top four amendments to try to address additional funding for members of the border. Officer in agents. To try to raise the funding to have them get additional payments. I know there is language in there about adding four bonuses. This would actually elevate their overall pay on an ongoing basis. And allow them to equalize the Civil Service payment. In addition to that, i we also offered language that would allow the officers and agents to unionize, so that they can protect their benefits. It also offered language that would, and it was raised a moment ago, about the spiritual issues and challenges that many of the agents and officers are facing on the border. We offered an amendment to expand that to provide additional counseling, which was contested by the officers and agencies we talked with down at the border. That amendment was rejected as well. We debated a section that targets nonprofits that work with migrants and other immigrants for hours. In the, end the republicans retained language like punishes these community, religious and charitable organizations for carrying out their missions of providing lifesaving services to those in need. Specifically, section 1 15 would place on workable requirements on dhs partners. Including those who dont operate at the border. The broadest of the provisions would mean Disaster Management partners would be required to verify every individual debate where providing critical assistance like shelter in transportation. Edition of that at the hearing, one of our members raised the issue of the requirements that they would face and try to identify the definition of aliens that was put into a new amendment that was offered the night of the markup. It had never been seen by any of the and ceos or had a chance to be vented by any one else. Its pretty, clear i think, weve got the letter that i offered and weve got another one from catholic bishops in el paso, in texas, that raised the same concerns about this provision. I remember, in a letter to member of congress, the bishop of el paso and chair of the u. S. Congress of catholic bishops on migration what, quote, as drafted, these provisions could even be interpreted to prevent schools, houses of worship and other organizations from qualifying for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program amid a rise in Violent Attacks on those places. The bishop continued, quote, dhss ability to rescue persons encountered in the desert and lifethreatening circumstances process unaccompanied children, victims of trafficking, victims of torture and others who even under this bills own terms would warrant such processing would be compromised. Democrats tried to strike a section 1 15 altogether. But the Committee Republicans refused. Alternatively, we offered language that would have created other exceptions to this. We helped our military personal overseas, for pregnant women, women who are survivors of Human Trafficking or Domestic Violence or sexual assault. All of those amendments were voted down. We need an open bill, open ruled to address the very real problems with this bill that we were not able to address on the committee level. With, that i yield back. Thank you very much. Representative mccaul, he recognized reopening statement. Thank you chairman, Ranking Member. Throughout my career as a federal prosecutor in the state of texas, chairman of the Homeland Security cabinet committee, now chairman of the Foreign Affairs committee, ive never seen this border more out of control. In my home state of texas, it is taking the brunt of this crisis. Chief Border Patrol officer ortiz testified that we no longer have operational control of the border. This didnt have to happen. I would argue its a self inflicted wound. The reason for this chaos is a direct result of the Biden Administrations termination on day one of two of the most effective policies implemented during the Previous Administration. That is the migrant protection protocols and asylum cooperative agreement. In fact, dont take my word for it. A Border Patrol tells you this. For decision of these policies on day one had a direct cause and effect on the chaos that were now seeing. These policies work because they are required migrants to remain in mexico pending their asylum claims. Instead of being released into the United States. Now, where back to the policy of catch and release. And also prohibited migrants from eligibility free asylum if they pass through any countries with the asylum agreements. Since the Biden Administration took office, migrant encounters have soared to 5 million. Fentanyl is flowing across the border and has killed over 100,000 americans, many of them young people. My son just went to a funeral of one of his best friends in the last week. My daughters been before. My committees contribution to the house gop border package will reinstate and codify migrant protection protocols known as remain in mexico. He will also direct the secretary of state to he enter mpp and and see aides to bring back order to our immigration system and protect americans. For, without acting, where silently enabling the human smugglers, sex traffickers and drugged hotels all well protecting our agents at continued risk. By the, way the suicide rate has never been higher than it is today. They should not be a partisan issue, to give our government the tools they need to stem this generational crisis and restore u. S. Operational control to the border. I want to commend chairman jordan, chairman greene for their hard work on this. This would be the strongest Border Security bill ever passed by the United States house of representatives if we pass it on thursday. Which, by the, way title 42 will be revoked on thursday. No doubt the flood at the border will only get, worse not better. With, that i yield back. Thank you very much. Representative castro, youre recognized for your opening statement. Thank, you chairman cole, Ranking Member mcgovern and members of the rules committee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify and oppositions, physically title two of h. R. 2. Title three, sorry, of h. R. 2. Which was marked up in the House Rules Committee as hr 60, 90 the house order act. Im glad to join you on on the western hemisphere. Last year marked 100 years since my grandmother came to the United States as a young orphan in the wake of the mexican revolution. On her paperwork, but san antonio relatives who took her in route as she was coming to live. In america, she found a better life, just as many of your ancestors did, the irish, the germans, the english, the spanish. Immigrants with descendants in this room today. Today, we face different challenges with migration. I dont think theres a Single Person in this room who believes that our current immigration system meets our countrys needs. And instead of tackling the challenges head on, title three of this bill would institute destructive, dangerous policies that force vulnerable Asylum Seekers into even more desperate circumstances. What similar protocols were previously in play, over human rights of observers reported as of the Violent Attacks against migrants sent to mexico. Including kidnapping, rape and other very brutal crimes. That socalled remain in mexico policy have, as cruel as it was, included exemptions for unaccompanied minors, children and people who dont speak spanish. This bill includes neither of those exemptions. Hr two becomes law, Asylum Seekers from around the world would be required to first ply for asylum in mexico, guatemala, honduras or el salvador. Countries that, combined, have less than one 20th of the u. S. Gdp. Lets be honest, many people in this room wont even drink the water when they go to these countries. Some advocates for the bill have described this as, quote, burden sharing. But the countries named in this bill cannot to shoulder the same burden as that World Largest economy, our nation. Nor should they be expected to. When we talk about immigration policy, i think folks often lose sight of the real people that our discussions affect. Last, month in the house Foreign Affairs committee, i introduced an amendment to exempt people with disabilities, persecuted religious minorities and even ukrainian refugees from this bill. But every Single Member of the republican majority voted it down. Under h. R. 2 as drafted, for example, if a Uyghur Muslim escaped one of chinas concentration camps and made it to mexico and seeks asylum in the United States, the United States would force that person to remain in mexico. If a group of cuban dissidents fail to florida and land outside of a port of entry, they would not be allowed to apply for asylum. Under this bill, ukrainians fleeing russias brutal invasion of their homeland, catholics fleeing religious persecution in nicaragua and christians or other religious minorities fleeing iran would all be required to remain in mexico, guatemala, honduras or el salvador, rather than reunite with family right here in the United States. Many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle have expressed concerns about how the immigration system will be able to handle a rising tide and rising number of immigrants post title 42. I agree that we need to build a more resilient and more efficient and effective system. What weve seen time and time again is that cruel restrictive policies like title 42 and remain in mexico do not stop desperate people from fleeing persecution, oppression, and violence. This bill, sadly, is a way to get rid of a problem without solving it. That is the best we can hope to accomplish by passing this piece of legislation. Instead, it forces Vulnerable People to take dangerous, irregular pass to the United States. The exact kind of journey that led to the deaths of 53 people in the back of a sweltering tractor trailer in my hometown of san antonio last summer. H. R. 2 also and its humanitarian parole, except in very limited circumstances. Since the february 2022 russian invasion of ukraine, the United States, for example, has admitted 150,000 ukrainians and their family members on humanitarian parole. If we pass h. R. 2, these families fleeing putins invasion would lose the ability to be in the United States. Let me say that again. They would lose the ability to be in the United States. In the afghans who fought alongside the United States and were evacuated from kabul in august, 2021, are largely in the United States through humanitarian parole. If we pass h. R. 2, they would lose the ability to remain in the United States. In february of this year, the United States evacuated 222 brave nicaraguans for imprisoned by the regime. Theyre here with their families on parole and two of these individuals testify to the house Foreign Affairs committee in march. They too would lose their status. Mister chairman, there are meaningful Bipartisan Solutions to address the causes of force migration to the United States. And ive been proud to work across the aisle to introduce several bills that would expand the scope of u. S. Foreign assistants to encourage Sustainable Economic Development in many of these countries that were talking about today. Unfortunately, hr two does not include any serious attempt to address the root causes of migration. So people will keep coming. This bill is not productive, and betrays our nations legal and moral obligation to help Asylum Seekers who deserve better, and betrays americas legacy. Before i yield and i want to make a brief point for the rhetoric used during this debate in this congress, and also in this country. In 2019, a mad man in my home state of texas drove ten hours to el paso texas, and murder 23 people, including american citizens to stop what he called the hispanic invasion. When members of congress use their elevated platform to demonize migrants and fearmonger about, quote unquote, illegals, aliens, and invasion, their words have consequences that echo far beyond these halls. The language that we use matters. And i urge members of this committee and of this congress to be mindful about how your rhetoric can put a target on the backs of migrants and those who may target them. Thank you for the opportunity to speak on this bill. A yield back. Thank you very much. I just have a few questions, and i want to direct my questions to the three chairman were privileged to have with us today. So chairman jordan green, i understand that all your respective committees have held hearings highlighting the causes of this unprecedented illegal immigration surge on our southern border, and the effects that is having on border communities throughout the country. Can you tell us a few of the real life consequences youre witnesses have described . I will start with you, chairman jordan. Thank, you mister chairman. So i think all of you may have had parents who lost a loved one, lost a son or daughter to fentanyl. That is a powerful testimony, from a mom or dad. I think for me, also, it was when we do the field hearing in yuma, when we went to the hospital there. And hearing from the farmers, theyve verified in their state, it works fine. They love what they have arizona. And yet they talk about the damage done. Because the flood of Illegal Migrants coming in the country, people tamp down their fields. So i think there are real consequences for people to produce our food. Its an interesting fact in yuma, they said 90 the leafy Green Vegetables way during the winter come from yuma, arizona. We had no idea. But the most powerful ones are always the moms and dads talking about a loved one. Thank, you very much. Chairman greene, same question to you. Please tell us a little bit about what the witnesses have to say about the consequences of what were dealing with. Thank, you mister chairman. There are human costs and there are the financial costs. Of an open border, and of course chairman jordan mentioned a few of the human costs, fentanyl. Taking that a step further, tennessee is faced with having to take care of children that are born to fentanyl addicted mothers. That is a human tragedy, if the child is born addicted to an opiate. That child ends up in the icu, et cetera. There are learning disabilities are associated with that addiction from birth. So there is the human side of, it is also the financial side. It cost the state of tennessee 1 million 600,000 per child, and we have 40,000 of those last year. So if you sit and think about the human cost, and you think of all the various financial costs of this, it is substantial. And the ceo the chairman jordan mentioned also came and testified about his own Uncompensated Health Care costs. The fact that the human side of that in his own community have to go 200 miles to the obstetrics board is full of migrants. And i know its been implied earlier that this bill somehow does not we have a rule in this country that every patient presents themselves will be taken care of. That is misinformation. But if there is a human cost, in a financial one. Thank you very much. Chairman mccaul, same question to you. What do you have to say about the consequences of this . It begs the question, and ive seen this movie before, but its the worst ive seen now. The dangerous journey that they have to make to get to the border, the children who die along the route. They are also abused, sexually abused along the way by smugglers, by cartels. Its absolutely suffering, and by bringing them in there was a change in policy and political asylum. The cartels are smart. They knows that our laws changed on day one, they can now get these people inside the United States. And then they make this dangerous journey. Ive seen horrific film of what the cartels did without getting into graphic detail. But then once they get into the United States, mister chairman, what are we going to do with 5 Million People that have no legal status in this country . That have to live in the shadows. Ere do the young women go . They get sex trafficked. Where the young man go . They go to ms13, or gangs. They become their families. There are stash houses inside the United States where 20 of these adopted children, or sponsor children go to. And it makes no sense at all. Because theyre being trafficked in the United States. To make things worse, ive seen 18 wheelers stuffed with bodies that have died in mr. Castros district. That have been smuggled into the United States, and they have suffocated and died. Because of smugglers, they dont give a darn about them. They just care about the money. And that is whats driving this. This change in policy. I do have to respond, i do respect my dear friend from san antonio, mr. Castro. However, my bill will have no impact on someones ability to apply for political asylum. That still remains there right. In fact, he talked a lot about ukrainians and afghanistans, ive done a lot to protect, the ones already in the United States are protected. Individuals already polled in the United States are protected and our bill clearly said that. So, i do want to correct the record on that. But the human suffering, mister chairman, thanks for the question, its horrific and it needs to stop. Thank you very much. Once again to our three chairman, along the same lines, could each of you talk briefly and walk us through that Committee Markup that resulted in the bill that we are considering today . Talk about the process i got you to your product, so to speak. Again, ill start with you, chairman jordan. Thank, you mister chairman. And lots of amendments offered. Some things we had to work with our members on clarifying language that as it not only in a committee but also in conjunction with members not on the judiciary committee. We worked closely and i want to commit the other committees as well, we worked well with mr. Green and mr. Mccaul. It was a long, process but we push through it. You said this in your opening, statement i do think its the strongest legislation that we have put together. Ive been factor passes on, thursday which i think it will. Thank you very much. Chairman, greenes same question, talk to us about the process that got you to your portion of the bill. Thank, you chairman cole. This it is i got the opportunity to leave the committee, i began meeting with the members and really folks across the entire conference. And assembled the ideas with the language together. Rebuilt that language a couple of different times. The actual markup itself was, as i mentioned earlier, 16 hours. It was lengthy, we had a lot of amendments brought forward. Ill say that, to mr. Iveys point earlier, some of those amendments have hope but they need work and we intend to work with our colleagues across the aisle to develop some of those ideas. And well have a bipartisan hearing to address those issues that were brought up. But they werent in a place where we could put them on this bill and it fit this bill. A lot of hard work, a lot of labor, a lot of cooperation. I think that product that we got is a good one. I agree with mr. Jordan, our dialogue across committees, between committees, has been fantastic. I appreciate his leadership and insight and mentorship. Thank you very much. Again, mr. Mccaul, to you, same thing. Can you tell us a little bit about the process that you went through to get to your portion of the bill . Sure, we had several hearings on this issue. We had contact with Many Organizations on the outside. Many groups. About this, we had a full day of markup. Ive even, i have to say, mister chairman, as i mentioned in my opening statement, ive gone down to the border many times. Ive talked to the chief Border Patrol officers down there about what caused this phenomenon. Im trying to make this as objective as i can. There are not republican or democrat down there. They say the direct cause and effect was a rescission of the migrant protection protocol, made in mexico. I dont think theres any dispute about that, even the chief Border Patrol officer, even secretary mayorkas knows better. Ive had conversations with him as well as the secretary of state blinken. Who knows, that when we have these policies in place that take the magnet away, this policy does work. I think because it wasnt acted under the Previous Administration and it had trumps name attached to it, they didnt want to touch it. Its a political move and its bad policy. Thank you very much. Before we proceed to the next member for, questions i understand and advise that we need to switch one of our witnesses. Do any members have any questions specifically from mr. Ivey before we do that . Im good. He may not be good, mister Ranking Member. Dont give him that option. So without objection, Ranking Member thompson will replace mr. Ivey on the panel. Thats a good move by mr. Ivey. Distinguished Ranking Member, we will ask any questions he cares to offer. Thank, you mister chairman. I wont take much time. I think this is an awful bill that is just page after page of empty talking points with no Real Solutions. Instead of actually solving the problem, this bill raises problems. I think it evs rates our asylum process. And with respect to chairman mccaul, the asylum part of this bill comes out of the judiciary committee. And i dont know whether he wants to address that. I want to know what were talking about, here what is in this bill. Sure. Thank, you Ranking Member. I know how much hard work chairman mccaul has done. For example, on getting afghan families that had relatives over there, and helping them evacuate. And the policy, and so forth. But this bill was in several titles, and it was worked on by three committees. So when i was referring to the, bill are specifically referring to that and title two. In title seven, on the parole. Both outside of what we did in Foreign Affairs. So that is something that has to be resolved with this new legislation. Because perhaps there is some internal conflict among those. Thank you. And as ive said before, this stops drugs from getting into america because drugs like fentanyl are getting in through points of entry. The debt ceiling bill that my friends all voted for a couple weeks ago, it cut the budget by four billion dollars. Weakening the ability to prevent drugs from crossing the border. And if this plan were enacted, we would estimate that more than 350,000 grams of fentanyl could be looked into the country. Thats over 200 million more doses of fentanyl hitting our streets, thanks to these cuts that my friends voted for. Because in fact they move forward. Half or more of the undocumented people are overstaying their visas. And this bill is quite simply a way for some to try to score more points. Which i hear over and over again in the testimony today. By demonizing immigrants. I want to emphasize the point that mr. Castro made, that language has consequences. And we see the results of that language and those consequences every day. It has to stop. Let me get into a couple of things. During the markup of the bill, democrats introduced an amendment allowing the ukrainians needed to be parole into the United States. Until it is safe for them to go back. So if youre from ukraine, and your home has been destroyed thanks to putins war of aggression, you can stay until its safe for you to go back. The Biden Administration started the program that helps save ukrainian lives. And it seems to me or my republican friends want to undo this program. So they gave republicans a way to correct the mistake, to allow the administration to continue using parole for ukrainians. And republicans voted no. They voted to send them back, into harms way. And by the way, the agreements dont qualify for asylum because the restrictions are so narrow. Mr. Jordan, let me direct your attention to section 701 of the bill, page 1 42 which reads in part, theydb secretary of homeld security may grant parole to any alien who is a national of the republic of cuba, and is living in the republic of cuba. So for some strange reason, you dont want to use parole for the ukrainiansrm. But you dont want to use them for cubansa1 humanitarian parole . And why is that included in we stuck with what the law is. The cuban plan has been in place for a long time, weve kept that in place. Other than a case by case basis, we went back to that. Why not in venezuela . Or nicaragua . We had a long debate about that. It just seems that this is an example of selective compassion. It makes one wonder, why. I would argue that its the law, thats what it is. We are treating some nationals very differently from others, from countries who are experiencing far worse human rights abuses. I wonder if we could react to by stopping the parole on a case by case basis, as it is for venezuela or ukraine. I think we spoke on that. We are here now, so we can make any amendments or order if we wanted to. My fear is that my republican friends who are chairs, they want to know amendments. But mr. Mccaul, would you be open to revisiting the issue with regards to the ukrainians . Im not even asking you to support, it but would you be open to having it brought to the floor . So there can be a debate, and people can vote however they wanted to. If they offered to get rid of the parole, i would oppose that. My question is, there is no amendment right now that is pending on the cuban military parole. But there is one on what you be okay with that . Would you be open to allowing us to bring it to the floor, so we can debate it . People can go either way on it. Would you be open to that . I think if i can ship in, do you want me to . My perspective on this is the Current Crisis is violating the laws on how the style process should be working. And that is why people are pouring into the country, because they are seeing all the exceptions that are being made. And so i think the point of this legislation that came out of the judiciary side is to go back to the way the laws are written. There is a difference between asylum and humanitarian parole. The conversation is about making an exception that extends to no other nationalities. We have ukrainians who are experiencing the most horrific experiences due to putins war crimes. Isnt that the whole nature of the process . Versus being persecuted by their country, or whatever. Thats the whole point. Theres a difference between asylum and humanitarian parole. Asylum, you have to have it well founded fear of persecution. Many of the ukrainians who are here right now, who have been here under this program, that the Biden Administration has extended. They dont necessarily fit the criteria for persecution. But we know that it would be dangerous to send them home. There are a number of nationalities that fit into this category. So there is a difference. Thats one of the reasons we only have temporary protection for certain categories of immigrants. Because the situation in their country is terrible, and its potentially dangerous. So there are two things. For the asylum stuff, the bill is before us. It is quite harsh. Its just an example of them coming to our border and being forced to stay in mexico. So thats one thing. Were talking about humanitarian parole. And so all im asking you is, you dont even have to vote for it. But this basically says that the ukrainians who are here can basically remain here. This is where we will continue with them. And so can i ask you to bring an amendment to the floor . You can vote however you want, to and check with your team. You can come up with all kinds of talking points, when its a bad idea. But given the fact that we are making an exception for one group of nationals, there is a horrific, brutal savage war going on in ukraine. I dont know, does anyone want to i agree with you. You and i both agree on this. I think that it says that individuals are protected in the United States in this bill. And i dont have more claims that i can make. What about the ones that will come . If you are here now, and you are okay but thats assuming the putins war of aggression stops. If you come, lets say this bill becomes law today. So you come tomorrow, youre out of luck. Just because why would we be so why would we do that . Im sorry. But the political sound is available on a case by case basis. These people have fled some of the most horrific situations. These are very high standards. I think before we set a political asylum, i dont think putin to me, i dont think putin qualifies. Really quick, just to get some context into why your question is incredibly important, people on parole have to renew their parole each year. So current parole leave is true, it would ride out the year. With the new criteria in this legislation would make them ineligible. So its true that the people here would continue on through the year. But the coming year, they are gone. So that is what is at stake for each of those communities that i mentioned, and one of them that why would we even do that to the ukrainians who have fled this terrible, violent unrest . What did people think of this endeavor . I simply point out that were talking about you parole for ukrainians. In addition to what you just said, the ukrainians want to go home. They want to stay here only until that war ends. Then they can go home. This is not a class of people who want to stay here. Were not talking about we might be talking about a few people who seek political asylum. For the most part, 99 of our people who want to go home may come here last year, or in the last few months since the invasion. Or next month, the month after that, or however long it lasts. But they want to go home as soon as its safe to do so. And the war is over. If i understand this correctly, if this bill were to come about today, if you were from ukraine and came here tomorrow, you would not be able to get parole. Number two, if you are a ukrainian who is here, you have a year. And then what do you do . What do you do after a year . Youve got to get out. Even if the war is going on . Youve got to get out. Yeah. Are we miss reading something here . Really . Oh my god, i yield back. Before we proceed to the next member for questions, ive been advised we need to switch out one of our witnesses. If any members have questions specifically for being, on my friend is excused. And i think representative Phyllis Mccormick will replace him. Welcome. We will move to questions to distinguished Ranking Member of the committee, my friend mr. Burgess. Okay, my friend yields. Thank, you mister chairman. And thank, you dr. Burgess. I will be incredibly brief. Chairman, id like to just ask him about the New York Times article that said Migrant Children work brutal jobs across the u. S. Briefly, chairman greene, id like to talk about the fact that theres children coming across the border. The New York Times article has been entered into the record. About 85,000 have been no one knows where they are, what kind of impact where they are. That New York Times article is pretty damning of some of the decisions made by the secretary of Homeland Security, and the New York Times is not known to be a conservative reporting institution. But they specifically cite that the problem was a decision made by to stop the background checks. And by doing so, these children are being basically selected by one sponsor, and then being used incredibly inhumane conditions. Its just appalling. And so you take the 85,000 that we dont even know about. These are people that went through the program, were sponsored, some of them we actually know where they are. But they have passed through a sponsor that never got a background check. Theyre 85, 000, they dont know where they are. And you mentioned children in the pathway. We visited them on the border, where the undergarments of the young girls are placed on the tree as a trophy to the Cartel Members who bring them here. When you open the border and for a second, this is wellintentioned. But you open the border, everything is catch and release. The cartel saw the opportunity, and they seized that opportunity. And they began trafficking humans for a price. Homeland security investigations say making the cartels 15 billion dollars a year. In that process, incredible inhumane things have happened. Doctors without borders, not known to be a conservative Republican Organization have said 35 of the women are raped. So if you open this up, you create this mass wave. You are facilitating Human Trafficking. You are facilitating this, and what is happening to these children. If we use the legal process, this doesnt happen. And thats the point of this. It is honestly on the asylum side. Just getting back to the way the law has been written. So its a tragedy, honestly, of epic proportions. Thank you. Mister chairman, i appreciate that. I yield back. I will not go to my other friends from pennsylvania. You are recognized for any questions. Thank you. As i hope this discussion is demonstrated, immigration and border issues are pretty complex. And as such, they require nuance and comprehensive solutions. Its pretty clear that our colleagues dont want to promote our to fix our broken immigration system. Instead, weve got a completely unworkable bill. And without any Real Solutions. We havent said inflammatory rhetoric, conspiracy theories, and political theater. So this leads to fear and chaos. We have seen how the him inhuman immigration policies weaken our economy. Undermine our moral standings in the world, inflict permanent harm on Migrant Children and their families. And dont make us any safer. This leads to building a border wall that time and time again, we should be investing infrastructure to the point of entry. This is where 90 of drug smuggling is happening. And most troubling of, all this legislation puts children in harms way, even as our colleagues claim that they want to protect children. It opens the doors to barred them from seeking asylum and denies them access to representation. They need to navigate our complicated immigration system. During my legal career, i spent decades working on immigration cases, and i know the system is broken. But i also understand the reality of many of those arriving at our borders. I represented kids and other Asylum Seekers who came to the u. S. To escape gang activity, political violence, abuse, starvation, trafficking, and other exploitation. People risk their lives to come here because their situation in their home country is so horrific. For all of those reasons. These conditions have been building for decades, and still nothing has been done about those conditions. During the judiciary, and again today, are calling some trying to justify provisions that would endanger and inflict harm on migrants. The same way that they wanted to send them safely home. Ignoring the fact that the whole reason they migrated was because home was not safe. And in many cases, whom didnt exist. Kids were orphans, their families have already migrated. So we need to recognize both the conditions, and the meaningful contributions that immigrants make to our country. Weve benefited from the talent and tax dollars that result from a functioning pathway for work and immigration. We need doctors, care workers, agricultural workers, researchers, and more. To make our economy work. We need the tax dollars from the younger workers to keep our Social Security system solvent. So it is to all of our benefit to provide functioning pathways for people to enter the u. S. This bill does nothing to fix our immigration system. I deeply oppose its passage. Ranking member, now i think you have something you want to add. Yes, thank you very much. I just want to comment on what chairman mccaul said what the New York Times report. 85,000 children are not lost. Once hhs releases children to their sponsors, part of their post really services or a followup phone call. If three phone calls go unanswered, the children are marked as unreachable on a spreadsheet. I dont know that any of us answer every unknown phone call we receive. The same situation happens under the administration, and obama provide the same explanation. I know from experience of representing kids in the situation, they are most often released to the custody of a relative. So should we have more services to address the needs of my grandchildren, social services, representation, absolutely. But im afraid the 85,000 is someone calling malarkey. Representative thompson was there something you want to add . Yes. And thank you, chair for allowing me to sit. For the most part, ive heard your comments and i would just like for the record to reflect that the bill were talking about today and the section pertaining to homeland, there was nothing about unaccompanied children in it. So its that part that i think we need to understand. We had those 16 plus hours, and there was nothing about unaccompanied children in the bill. We offered a good number of amendments, that should have been considered. Not a single democratic amendment was accepted. The number of people working at the border, that was turned down. We want to level the pay of people working at the border. That was turned down. A number of efforts to make the climate of the employees better, because there are people working side by side in many instances who are not only employees who are making different salaries, for the most part, they are doing similar work. So i look forward to the chairman Going Forward with this bipartisan effort, this didnt manifest itself in the bill. We have 15 minutes before the deadline to consider. And we will look food to the bipartisanship. And this bill is a radical departure from that bipartisan bill. Thank you. I think we did see the parts of the unaccompanied minors in the judiciary markup. So you worked harder than we did. But we similarly offered those amendments which were not accepted. The part about unaccompanied minors, that was particularly troubling, how vulnerable these kids are. And if theyre going to be incarcerated, as a suggested by the, bill then Homeland Security has to deal with where they are placed. What this bill does do is a huge boon for the private prison industry, which will reap untold benefits from all the incarceration from this bill. Thats something i would recommend. We keep them for 72 hours. And after that, the losses we have to pass them on. And that becomes the burden of hhs. Of dhs, they are out of the business in short order. And all of what is being suggested about these children s functional for hhs, not dhs. As introduced, this would got the bill. So thats one of the big objections to it. I think at this, point i yield back. Thank you. Thank, you very much. Were now moving on to my good friend, the chairman of the committee mr. Birx. Thank, you mister chairman. I just want to take a moment, before we get to the business of the day, probably within the last hour now that the meeting down at the white house is wrapped up, and i dont know how it turned out or what to expect from the discussions of the debt limit. But i do know that without your stewardship of getting that bill through the rules committee and on to the floor, they wouldnt be having that discussion. So its incredibly important to get that bill passed two weeks ago. That gives me optimism that h are, while having such a good position now to get the debt limit going, hr two to perhaps have equal amounts of gas in the tank for getting a Border Security bill. Or Border Security discussions. I dont want to imply that i wasnt listening, but maybe i wasnt listening as carefully as i shouldve been you started your remarks. You gave us a recitation of some numbers of what this country has seen in the last two and a half years. Just the last weekend. 26,072 hours and one sector, in texas. 5 million of the 28 months that the Biden Administration has covered, we could go on. But 5 million over the month of the Biden Administration. Is anyone aware of a comparable situation in any country . Or 5 Million People get two years and a little more, and they have been infused into the population. Thats on top of we normally taken 1. 1 Million People legally each year. And i will tell you. One of the sheriffs testified at a hearing, he said 20 years of Law Enforcement on the border in arizona, he said hed never seen it this bad. 28 years, he had never seen this bad. And frankly, he said the Previous Administration, it was as good as he ever seen it. In 28 years of Law Enforcement on our southern border, he said right now its as bad as its ever been. As bad or worse. And then here is the problem, and why its so critically important that people see the seriousness about this bill. In 48 hours, what has been untenable. It will become astonishing. And weve seen the pictures of people that are awaiting their time. Theres this notion that when title 42 expires, there really will be no limits on the amount of people that will come to this country. Yeah. And one of the things when you have that volume of folks coming across the border and coming into our nation, there are going to be some bad people. And we know of 200 on the terrorist watchlist. Never forget a year ago, when we were in front of the judiciary committee. We asked him a question, and the we said what is the status of those individuals . And you may remember his answer. He said, i dont know. He didnt know if they were detained, he did know anything. And you are coming as from the Homeland Security committee. The security of the nation. You should know the status of the 42 individuals in the terrorist watchlist. And he didnt. Now that number is five times what it was at the time he testified. So one of the other things thats being discussed is the inability of the ngos to handle the number of people that are dropped off at their locations. Historically, ive made multiple trips down to mccallum and ive seen over and over again. Where a notice to appear is given and the folks are dropped off in downtown mccallum. Theyre given a fanny pack with a bottle of water, and a bus ticket. And good luck to you. But now, those ngos will be overwhelmed. The charities will be overwhelmed, and basically people will be turned loose on the street corners and hope to catch the bus somewhere. And has there been any discussion in the judiciary or Homeland Security about how thats going to be handled . What is going to be the mechanism of control on the streets of those border communities . Either one. You use the right word, doctor. The word is overwhelmed. That is what is happening. And now the biden ministration is talking about if i could, they are overwhelmed now. In 48 hours. In a weeks time, it is going to be astonishing. The president did send 1500 military down there to process. But again, let me interrupt you there. Our governor, my governor said 1500 . These are people with pencils in their hands. Theyre there to process people. Theyre not there to stop anyone. And that just encourages more. That number should be 15,000 or 50,000. With enforcement capabilities. These are processors, yes. So and really, that is what is the worst of it. Chairman jordan, you referenced a term a lot of people may not be familiar with. We know from past experience, there are so many people that hang on to the televised rules committee hearings. And could you explain the darien gap to people . In panama, they want to come through. And theyre already amassing there. And weve all seen them. Weve all seen the caravans of folks coming. We dont fault anyone from wanting to get into the greatest country ever. If to do it legally, you have to do it right way. And you have to have the administration understand that. The darien gap is that area of real estate south of panama, between panama and south america. But it is also some of the most uncovered and lawless and gate is that not correct . Yeah, ive not been a personally. But weve had members go down there and see for themselves. I think chairman greene has been there. But yes, thats what were talking about. And the testaments are now thousands are already missing there. And they are burdensome and troublesome. Again, the policies that this administration follows has only exacerbated the problem. And it will get worse on a level that i dont think anyone really can estimate. Or anticipate. I also, chairman, we heard about the New York Times article. I have a second New York Times article id like to submit for the record. Migrant children were put to work and United States ignored the warnings. This was exactly correct, three days or 72 hours after, these children are turned over to the department of health. And the issue there has been the it became so critical to get those kids and get them out quickly. And you heard references from saying this could be a henry for type of assembly line. This article from the New York Times is quoted as saying these kids are coming here just because this is bs. It is leading to voluntary separation through our generosity. That is pretty harsh. That was a domestic policy adviser a week and a half ago in this administration. So i do want to stream a part of the record. And that is part of the hearing that we held in the oversight investigation. Over the office of resettlement, the secretary general attended that hearing. And they had prepared a report. We would also like to submit this for the record, the Inspector General and the operational challenges in the o. R. And the o r emergency intake site. They have injured Case Management for children. On page 15 of this report, the headline is, the officer of resettlement issued field guides of thesponsored screening process across owe our facilities. Potentially increasing childrens risk of release to unsafe sponsors. Sub paragraph 40. Some o r our field guidance issued from march of 2021, through june of 2021 was developed without adequate input from o r our staff or expertise in child care. Let me translate that. Originally, o r could only release children into their custody. To family members. Or to close relatives after appropriate vetting. But they changed the guidelines. It was a field guide that was issued in march of 2021. They didnt need to take those protective steps anymore. So i actually believe, senator mccaul, that that 85,000 number that you referenced, when we actually know, that number is going to be significantly higher. Because secretary mayorkas, unilaterally change the field guidance. Not something that went through the administration features act. Certainly not something that came through a legislative committee in regular order. But a field guide said, we dont need to do this work anymore. And we can send these kids wherever the heck it is they want. And that is what has led to the crisis of the New York Times saying we have to have a secure border. After we have a secure border, we can talk about any number of Immigration Reforms. That anyone of us would like to see. But we do not have a secure border. And in fact, the six border is becoming less secure by the hour, and over these next 48 hours, again, we are going to see a crisis of really, really on heralded proportions. Again, mister chairman, i do want to ask can i respond . Because i have to say, this is what worries me. These children come in. They are being sent to stash houses, essentially. They are not vetted, the sponsors arent vetted. Youve got ten, maybe 20 kids going to the same house. This is not a mom and pop thing. Its not a mom and pop shops, really. Its a trafficking organization. This is happening inside this country right now. And its the children that are being affected by this. If i recall correctly, it was the chief of police that said oh are our is releasing all of these children to and you dont even know where that is. There was no vetting of the process. Secretary mayorkas issued field guides, not going to a normal administrative procedure, not going to the legislative branch. Heres the field guidance. And that is were asking for trouble. But as bad as it is today a week from now, there is no telling what the numbers are were going to see. We all know theyre going up, theyre high now but theyre going to get higher. And more and more people are going to be heard. Thank, you mister chairman. I yield back. Thank you very much. We now go for questions to my good friend from mexico. Thank you ever so much for giving the opportunity. And before i get into questioning, i wondered if Ranking Member nadler might want to respond to those questions we were just hearing about. Thank you very much. I just want to make one point. This bill will result in the long term detention of children. This title eliminates the current requirements of dhs during the border search of 2018 during the trump administration, we saw horrible images of many children held in cbp custody. And living in squalid conditions during that period of time. Is this still implemented . Title five is still implemented. The detention of children in such heart conditions has become standard operating procedure. Thank you. I actually want to respond to that first. And i think that i have been at the border, following under the Biden Administration. And i found the way in which our custom patrol officers working really hard to make sure that those children were processed as quickly as possible. They were moving them into nonprofits, where they were being well cared for. And the problem is that there had been supplemental funding for this, and we need to continue to provide for that supplemental funding. But what we have to do is fix the broken immigration system. I think thats what we all agree on. But we should not fix it on top of the backs of these poor children. And as i was there at the border, and you might appreciate this, representative burgess. I was there at the border, and i was called another story of a refugee. And another story of somebody, of a mother who was going to send her child to a place that she believed would be safe. Because she knew that where she lived would not be safe. That mother gathered her baby, she put him in a small basket and put him on the nile river, and sent him downstream. Because if she had kept him at home, she knew he would die. That baby was welcome. That baby was home. And i call upon us here, i call upon our republicans to think about the story of moses, and imagine what it must be like to be a parent who sends her child north, through the darien gap, through all of these tragic circumstances because they want their children to live. They want their children to live. Earlier, we heard from representative joaquin that what was written on the application for his grandmother. That grandmother was sent here to the border. And i think that is a really key thing for what we want to do. I want to address the issue that dr. Burgess did raise, with regards to the debt ceiling. Because it strikes me that comprehensive Immigration Reform, Something Like the u. S. Citizenship act, which for indeed, the last Time Congress seriously considered comprehensive Immigration Reform in 2013, the sea po estimated it would increase both domestic product by 1. 4 trillion. If we are serious about addressing Economic Issues in our political house, we would actually pass comprehensive Immigration Reform. The kind of reform that would make it possible for those who are now here working, those who are now here starting businesses but without papers, that they would then be able to contribute to our economy. I have participated in the immigration can act as an attorney, helping those who were going to remain lawful through the rca. What we found was a boosting economic activity, a significant boost. When lets talk about bills that weve actually put forth. And where do we get that from . When i am in new mexico, i let everybody know, i have i am talking to farmers, im talking to my home builders, and what i hear them say over and over again is they want us to pass Immigration Reform that addresses their need for workers. That addresses their need for workers on the ranches, the farms, that allows dreamers to stay and be im going to ask the chairs, yes and no, does this bill that we are presently before us, does it address the need for additional workers we have in our society . Perhaps i will start with you. This is a Border Security bill, not an immigration bill as i understand it. Once we get Border Security, we can fix the immigration, the problem is that has been exemplified by this administration and securing the border. It creates an incentive that drives more and more folks into the country. If you fix the immigration system and provide an unsecured border, it is just even more. Thats why our argument, i think congressman burgess was making this point earlier, lets get Border Security. Lets talk about Immigration Reform. This bill thank you very much. I think that really is a difference of opinion. I think what we are looking at is that we can do both. That we should do both. In order to do comprehensive, you need to address both and you need to address those things that are most impactful to our issues which i will get to in a bit. And by the way, did you vote for the bipartisan workforce act last cycle . I would have to go look. I dont remember. Let me tell you, that bipartisan monetization act, that was one of those pieces of legislation that was worked out by those most impacted. It was worked on by the United Farmer group. They came to the table and told us, you know what, it doesnt have everything we want. But it has what we need. It was worked on by those who businesses depend on those workers. Both businesses at the table, farmworkers were at the table, we had a bill that was bipartisan, mister chair i dont believe you did vote. You did not vote for it. Chair, you will recall, you voted for it . I dont believe i did. Chair jordan, i know you didnt vote for it either. Okay. Im sure there is a reason in there. Those are the kinds of things that if we do that, its bipartisan, we would start addressing so many of the issues we have, especially in areas, rural areas like mine. Im looking over at our Ranking Member thompson. You and i often talk about the issues that we need to address in rural areas. You and i represent a big rural area. Tell me, how does what we are looking at now impact your Rural Community . Thank you very much. I have a large agricultural district and that depends significantly on migrant labor force to harvest our crops. Without it, those crops could not be harvested, to be honest with you. The individuals are coming from the southern border, from the northern border, wherever. In addition to that, our challenge is we have a value system, as america, that we have to uphold. The Homeland Security part of this deal would say that those ngos and were talked about earlier, that if one person they help turned out to be illegal, they could get no additional dhs funds. In my fifth situation, i have a working in my district right now. Another ngo trying to help people with lodging or whatever. If they are fighting, and then they lose all the funding with dhs. We put a lot of people out of work. There are some other issues associated with it. I know there are some challenges that we have to look at. But those ngos, they are a significant part in addressing a lot of issues, along the southern border. For us to try to punish them for their humanitarian efforts would not be good. We often refer to those ngos and the many volunteers who work with them, who have huge hearts, imagine them, imagine the compassion that these organizations have. Thank you, chairman jordan, for nodding. You know what these ngos are facing and you know they have big hearts, right . But they have a lot of volunteers. And they are there to help out. Representative sheila tell me about your experience and how you see this as actually, i think you are the only representative in congress who is a migrant from am i correct in that . Im a member of congress as a democrat whos ever been a my parents came from haiti during a dictatorship. One thing i want to make very clear is the incentive to leave your home to come through water, walking, millions of people dont make it through this country and they take that risk. Its only because you have no other choice. Did you hear me . What i was saying, the incentive. This bill, the Foreign Affairs part of, it doesnt deal with the incentive. No ones intent incentivized to come to the United States because of the policies. Its because you have no other choice. You are suffering in your country. You are being persecuted. What we have an opportunity to do is actually add in, create bills that would deal with the core causes. When we look at what is going on and why we have such high migration patterns, its because of the postcovid world coupled with the rise of authoritarian regimes trying to pop up throughout latin america and south america, in addition to that the gangs that are growing. To be quite honest with you, our inaction in the last administration with dealing with our four neighbors and being good partners. We have an opportunity right now to have bilateral relationships, Multi Lateral relationships and funding, helping those root causes. Especially when it comes to food insecurity, when it comes to political and security. We can live up to our reputation at this moment and be that beacon of hope for all countries. We have to start with what we do in Foreign Affairs, which is building, being the diplomats we can be. Thats the problem i have with this bill here. This is actually not dealing with incentives. I hear a lot of it. Like, we have incentive fallacies now to come to the United States. And thats absolutely incorrect. And the motivation to come to this country is because of desperation. We have to address that. When we look at what we can do, lets incentivize them to stay home. Lets incentivize them to be in their native land. No one wants to migrate to the United States, especially at this time. You want to be in your homeland, you want to be with your family. Millions and i on this trip. Millions give up their life trying to get here. Do you understand the risk of being women understand that. They understand the risk of their children being taken from them. The other risk is being dismembered in your own country. The other risk is being torn apart, watching your child being raped in front of you. Weve heard reports in haiti of a three year old being raped over and over again. Where are our diplomatic efforts . Where are we we have governance. Thats what this portion has to be when we talk about Foreign Affairs. We have to come back to that and not surrender to the rhetoric we hear about what is incentivizing people to come to the country. Its not because the border is open. Millions of people are turned away and can never come back. We are not even really looking at Asylum Seekers and giving them those opportunities. With that, i yield back. Thank you very much. I think what you point out is that we are not incentivizing. Actually, the trouble is that congress has failed to pass Immigration Reform for decades. The burden lies here, right . So we have had republican president s. Bush kept talking about wanting to solve this. Right . We have republicans and democratic president s talking about the need to solve this, and because we havent gotten a bipartisan agreement, i think it lies with us. The blame lies with us, in congress. Chair michael, i am so sorry to hear of the funerals that your children have had to attend. New mexico has a very high rate of addiction, and overdose. I could talk with affected i lost two brothers to addiction. These are issues that are really hard for communities. Im really sorry to hear that, and sorry to hear how close it is to your own family, and your own home. I guess what i think about is i go back to the cato incident. That actually acknowledge that 90 of the fentanyl that is being brought into the United States is being brought through our ports of entry. Its being brought by United States citizens. And with that, mister chair, id like to enter into the record this of timber 14th 2022 article. Fentanyl is smuggled for u. S. Citizens, by u. S. Citizens. Without objection. And i think that when we think about that, we need to really consider seriously the amendment by my own colleague, from representative who actually would direct more money to the border, to increase the kind of technology that we know who works at the border. Will you be supporting the representatives direction to send more money to the border for those kinds of interventions . And for 300 and 5 million. I do Supreme Court technology. I think that is smart. The Border Security, i know that the dea administrators a couple days ago, this has all come from china. And it goes through one port, through western mexico. And its finals up into the United States. Its everywhere. Yeah. Its absolutely everywhere. And on the foreign chairman committee, we have marked up a bill on international Law Enforcement. On dealing with a political situation, and i agree. Weve got to deal with the root cause of this, as well. My dear colleague, mr. Green has a bill on central america. While you have a lawlessness and chaos, and gangs, lack of opportunity, and youre going to drive that magnet. And we are saying, the policy for political asylum is in the United States. So i think what i want to make sure is that when we talk about fentanyl, fentanyl, when i go home, im a border state. The issue of fentanyl is very great. And i think because it gets talked about all the time in relationship to Asylum Seekers, it gets confused. I want to make sure Everybody Knows that the facts are clear. Fentanyl is coming in through ports of entry by 90 by United States citizens. And not by Asylum Seekers. We do not have little kids bringing in its a Border Security issue. Thank you. Mister chairman . I have an undergraduate degree in economics, and if youll just bear with just a second about the math equation to come up with a 90 . What theyre doing, if you say that 90 of what is seized is seized at the points of entry, when you equate that to, thats where 90 of the fentanyl comes into the United States, thats a false correlation because if that were the case, there wouldnt be fentanyl in the United States, right . So 90 of exess seized after what is seized at the crossing site is divided by the number seized at the crossing site, plus the number seized not at the crossing site, it leaves out the number that we dont know. Because it didnt get seized. You cant say that because Michael Santa seized and the crossing site, 90 of the fentanyl is seized. Thats a faulty mathematical equation. We have video in our committee of coyotes wearing backpacks, camouflage, and carpet shoes for you across ranchers on game camera footage with fentanyl. They find a drop site in arizona. Im sure they are in mexico as well. Hundreds of backpacks are found by Law Enforcement empty at the drop site where they are loading the fentanyl and bringing it in. Those numbers are not in the equation. You are accurate if you are saying that 90 of what is seized is seized at ports of entry. Thats where weve got the people looking. But if you say 90 of the fentanyl comes into the United States at the port of entry, thats mathematically incorrect. I just want to make that point. Thank you so very much. I think what it does say, and in fact what you just said, the backpacks, we actually have seen under the administration an increase in fentanyl, there is an increased effort to address the fentanyl coming in. The backpacks are being left by the i think we need to go after them. And they are hurting my community my community and they are hurting the United States. Whether it is the Asylum Seekers, thats when you try to equate that, i never said those words. I agree with you. There are people who legitimately want to come here for their betterment. I get that. The vast majority of people that are coming are coming for their betterment. I understand that completely. The problem is the deal with boredom sister we have the drug cartels are taking advantage of it. It was fascinating that Merrick Garland said this was the cartels strategy in testimony to the senate. They are amassing people using coyotes at crossing sites so that they can sneak the fentanyl with a nefarious individuals between the ports of entry. Secretary mayorkas said he was unaware of that strategy. Weve gotta get ourselves. As we know, we asked the department how was this impacting your ability to continue to interdict. They said it would leave 2400 fewer frontline Law Enforcement officers. Ranking member thompson, do you have some thoughts on this conversation . Thank you very much. First of all, made Technology Improvements we propose in markup didnt get approved. And the only issue, from a technology standpoint, that homeland sees our two way radios. That is course in the budget. You need it, but we offer inclusive capabilities at our ports of entries. And that was turned down. All the Technological Advancements that we clearly understand that would help identify the fentanyl and other drugs coming across the border, that was turned down. In terms of the statistics, the statistics that the Cato Institute and other people have talked about, those are statistics from the fbi. Other regulatory agencies who do this for a living. Its not but i think those figures are accurate. Our real charge is that homeland is a part of this deal, puts it at risk of a lot of opportunities to work with people who get it. Ngos do a wonderful job. Not everybody has stories. The real part about it is, as we work with the officials, i think its important for us to come up with a system. Thats why my plea is with my after this board appeal, he publicly said, we will do some bipartisan legislation. I really want to see it because we have a history in this committee of homeland to work that out. The last point is the ports of entry. It the other point i cant argue, but in terms of the facts, when you start looking at the collection of the fentanyl, we capture them at the ports of entry. I mean, and that is a fact. When people want to catch more with the new technologies, if it had been included in this bill we could get more. We didnt get it included. We offered to get new people hired. We didnt get the new numbers for additional people hiring. In the past, when we try to get it, new people brought on board, my republican colleagues voted against it. We need good people working at the border. We cant turn down those opportunities. We look forward to working with we have a problem with drones coming across the border. We produced the drone amendment in the markup, are people working at the border tell us drones are now one of those new technologies that bad people are using. We need some anti drone technology. We couldnt get it approved. We continue to look at technology but we have to look at it in a forward manner, not in the rearview mirror. Thank you, representative thompson. I think that is what is so problematic about this bill. Its not a bill thats been worked out in a bipartisan fashion that looks at what the problem is and says, lets solve it rather than lets create a political messaging, lets beat up on the president. This is not something that we should turn into a political football. We really need that kind of comprehensive Immigration Reform. We need the comprehensive Border Security that looks like i really am looking forward to chairman greene. 70 of americans favor the dream act. Addressing the fact that we have dreamers who are doctors, artists, nurses, teachers, so many amazing things, but we cant get the dream act passed. Chairman greene, when you talk about being ready to support others, are you supportive of the dream act . I would have to look at it. Id have not seen that bill. I dont know the exact wording. Just like i tell the Government Affairs people and the lobbyist to come into my office and say its a great idea, i dont say yes until i read that entire bill. I would have to read it and take a look at it. Thank, you chairman greene. We have introduced the i was cosponsor of the one last year and last cycle. This cycle, that act has been introduced numerous times and usually basically says hopefully we will get your support for. I think thats what we need to do. Be real honest and support this thing that we know americans want. And then, you know, i really do appreciate the reference to scripture in terms of how we look at the rescue teams and Asylum Seekers and those crossing our border. It reminded me once again going to exit is to not oppress a foreigner. You yourself know how it feels to be a foreigner, because once you were. In many ways, we will all immigrants. Deb haaland was not. Representative chairman cole, and cherice david. So many of the others of us depend on immigrants to make our country diverse and vibrant and economically strong. I hope that we remember that and that we remember to treat our latinos, our asians, our haitians, with the kind of respect and awe that they deserve because they go through so much. Representative burgess, i am sorry. I got caught up in this passage of moses and did not yield as i hinted i would. I will yield now. Thank. You i wanted to point out that the chairman, Ranking Member [inaudible] [laughter] you referenced the Previous Administration. It was actually in 2014 that the Obama Administration have those horrific pictures of kids in cages were First Published with our colleague who took the pictures at the in texas. Furthermore, when first many of those kids were moved to the airport, in san antonio to deal with the overwhelming numbers at that time that were coming in, hernandez, the first lady of honduras came to san antonio. She says, of course we want our children back. The Obama Administration accommodated. Those children were back in honduras. It had the immediate effect of radically diminishing the number of unaccompanied minors from honduras, which showed up in america. The important point, it does work. That was a policy that was asked for by the Obama Administration, allowed to be used in the Obama Administration, and actually worked. All we are asking is for this bill, this is the security bill on immigration. Fix the border, have some Immigration Reform. Back in 1986, the bill, because of the double crossed that occurred then, president reagan we will fix the security problem. We got the amnesty and they never fix the security problem. Most of the people i represent do not want to take that risk again. I yield. Thank you, representative burgess. Ranking member, do you want to add anything to that or you want to move on . I will move on but i think the image that is seared in so Many Americans minds is those babies and those children torn from their parents during the prior ministration. I just hope that we remember that and reject it always. And thats not who we are. We are much better than that. America is much better than that. With that, i yield back. Thank you. Thank you, general lady. Before we proceed, i understand we need once again to switch out a witness. Any members have any questions specifically . I think you are more than capable of answering. I know they are eager to join. A seeing none, without objection, my friend is confused, mr. Mcclintock will replace chairman jordan on the panel. With, that we will go to my friend from minnesota for any questions he may have now. Thank, you mister chair. I was going to i wanted to point out my colleague from new mexico talked about comprehensive Immigration Reform and all kinds of things. In the bill from last year. I wanted to point out that the democrats were in control of everything last year and still failed. It didnt pass out of the house but i wanted to point that out. When you say we need to pass it, you have the opportunity last year. With the representative yield . We did pass it out of the house. It was bipartisan. We could not get enough republican senators because of the filibuster. We needed more republican senators. So, yes, we, in the house, we were in control, but as you know, the senate has its own rules and we had democratic support but we did not have the republican support in the senate. Thank. You then it must not have been a bill that would have bipartisan support if we couldnt get it. We wont go on that. I just wanted to pointed out. I just had to point that out. Yield for an observation. In 2010 in a lame duck session of congress, house pressing the dreamers. They did not pass it in the senate with three republican guest votes. The reason they didnt pass it in the senate was they had a 60 vote majority in the senate, five Democratic Senators voted no. The last time they had the opportunity, swing and a miss. Thank, you i yield back. I wanted to point that out because we are talking about how we need this, you had the opportunity. Mr. Mcclintock, i dont mean to put you on these but. I did have some questions. There was some discussion before you got here about some of the effects on the agonist rethis bill might have. We are struggling, the ag industry and Many Industries struggling with workforce issues. I was hoping maybe this changed the piece of direction of the discussion. Can you talk about some of the provisions and the bill that could potentially help the ag industry and farmers with a reliable access and a reliable workforce . First of all, it would regulations of the Biden Administration. The gentlemans mic on . Can you hear that . It repeals the adverse effects, the wage rate regulations. Theres also a provision i believe was agreed to in negotiations on the night before last that postpones in provision until it is certified. Is there some reasonable things in here that would help with those issues . Oh yes. Absolutely. Thanks to the good work of a lot of our representatives from the agricultural district. Thank you. I appreciate the repeal of the rule of the bureaucrats in the department of labor with no experience and i feel decided that a socalled modest rule that would increase farmers in my district by nearly 15 . This is on top of the regulatory brought on by this administration over the past year, two and a half years, excuse, me as well as crippling inflation and im deeply concerned about the administrations complete lack of attention to the need of rural america. Im glad that this is included. I just wanted to talk a little bit. Of course, my computer freezes up. How that Border Security not only in the way of fentanyl, but if we secure the border, it helps our communities all the way from minnesota, all over the country. Immediately we can just refocus. Talk about the issues constantly at the freeflowing border. The numbers are staggering. You will be dwarfed this week as the border is completely collapsing before our eyes in the last 20 we had secure borders on inauguration day, by mid afternoon we didnt. Joe biden repealed in the trump era remainin mexico policy. He ordered a cessation of any activities on the border wall. He ordered i. C. E. To stop enforcing deportation orders, 1. 2 million deportation orders. People going through the whole process. Those orders not being carried. Out the numbers allowed into the country deliberately 2. 1 million. That is marginally in the state of nebraska. While the Border Patrol has been taking names and taking 1. 5 million known gotaways, trapped crossing the border. They have aided any kind of capture, that is 1. 5 million. And that is the largely in the state of hawaii. That is just 28 months. I never understood how the democrats believe that our schools are going to be improved by packing classrooms with non English Speaking students, or how our hospitals are going to be made more accessible by flooding Emergency Rooms with illegals and demanding care, or how our communities are made safer by introducing cartels into our neighborhoods and then making it all but impossible to remove criminals illegal aliens through their sanctuary policies. I dont understand how 300 deaths a day from fentanyl coming across the border thats the equivalent of two 737 air riders crashing every single day in this country. They dont seem to be the least bit upset about that. What are we doing to working families by flooding the labor market with cheap, illegal labor . And the impact of these policies is being felt by every american, every Border Patrol officer has told me, they dont stay here, they go throughout the country. Now you are seeing the social safety net meant to help americans in need collapsing before our eyes. You are hearing that not from fox news. You are hearing it from lori left foot and other democratic mayors across the country. I appreciate that. The concern is nationwide about the and the issues that come along with the crime that comes along with that open. Border in our district last week, i was assured in rural minnesota, and a small county, he was talking about the fentanyl. A serial killer just caught in davis, california came here as a part of the dock program, apparently. I will yield back my time. Mister chairman . Yes sir. Insert in the record statement that verifies mandatory program will to go under. Without objection. Gentleman from South Carolina is recognized for questions. [inaudible] that would be fine. The gentlelady from indianas recognized for a question. Thank you, mister chairman. Thank you, mr. Norment. Thank you for coming here to testify today. I appreciate your time. The biden border crisis has made every state a border state, including the state of indiana, where im from. I visited the border earlier this year. I want to eagle pass, texas, and uvalde. I visited the unaccompanied minors crossing their, and countered ten unaccompanied teenagers between the ages of 14 and 17, and 15 year old girl. There was a 16yearold female holding on to this five year old girl, cradling her in her arm. We spoke to these children. Is this your sister . She said, no. They handed her to me as i crossed the border, she has no family. Border patrol agents let us know that after the new policies under this administration, these kids are really handed a piece of paper where they are supposed to be taking once they get here. I work in Child Services for about the first two years of my career. We couldnt send foster children across state lines without a significant elaborate process to verify when they get there they are going to be safe. I dont know if the number is 85,000 kids, dr. Burgess. I imagine its probably higher than that. Its that we dont know what happens to them. But what i know is that we are not with dna testing. Maybe we are calling them. But it is calling it a Human Trafficking home to say, did so and so show up . Thats not ensuring the safety of these kids. We heard about families that want to spend Young Children over here because they are unsafe at home. Where patrol agents found an innocent and a field alone covered in fire ants, nearly dead. And they were able to save that young baby boys life. Many do not make it across the border. Adults and children. When i visited uvalde, i heard about cases that occurred three and four times a week, citing down the school. I heard that the e. R. Is full of women, units are full of women having babies. Border patrol agents must stay there while those women are in labor. What Border Patrol agents described to me is like a war zone. That is certainly not far from what i witnessed. In eagle pass, texas, we visited a homeowner where he feeds 500 to 1000 crossing across the river every day. His property is four acres of his property looks like a landfill. He and others expressed to me that if when title 42 expires, they expect a four fold increase in border crossings every day. It is a humanitarian crisis. Weve heard from our friends across the aisle that this has no chance of being an act against the law. I think there is a chance of it being a enacted into law. The democrats just have to vote for this bill. They need to join us. There cannot be a head in the sand approach on the border. Securing the border is the first step in comprehensive Immigration Reform. Now i also heard some comments about a 30 foot wall, i will show you a 35 foot ladder. But i can tell, you its faster to cross and unimpeded border than it is to climb a 30 foot fence. Border patrol agents would tell you this is not just build a wall. The wall as a deterrent, it can slow them down. They also need technology, we also need personnel. They told me, as part of the trump administration, that all that was planned. Technology, personnel. Once the administration took, over the Biden Administration took over, all of that went out of the window. We are in a crisis. Im asking, im encouraging, i think that if anyone saw what i saw the border, they would say, this cant continue. We must secure the border. We must join together to do that. I would encourage our friends across the aisle to come together and join us in securing the border. Indiana has a tracker for opioid and fentanyl overdose related deaths in our state. 220 of my constituents in the ninth district have died from drug overdoses in the last year alone. Thats 220 sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, family members. Even one is too many. Many of those deaths are a direct result of the influx of drugs like fentanyl from across unchecked south earn borders. Cameron green, i appreciate your comment about how we dont know how much fentanyl is crossing the border illicitly. I can tell you what Border Patrol agents told me when i visited uvalde we, and that there are as many as 85 children being held at one point in mexico for one day, to push them all across at once for the Border Patrol agents so they can the cartels can get all the Illicit Activity through unimpeded we. Weve all heard stories but seeing it in person causes needless pain and suffering for americans. It has caused needless pain and suffering for those in dallas, texas. I wonder, why did it take our president so long to get there . Better yet, why hasnt anything been done to secure the border a few feet from where i was standing at eagle pass, texas, in march. Why are democrats silent as we approach the end of title 42 on thursday . The department of Homeland Security has even predicted we could see upwards of 10,000 border crossings a day. And that is 10,000 more to add to the numbers, the staggering numbers weve already seen. Its a National Security issue. The president and his administration have failed. They must act to resolve it. On the contrary, republicans are leading the effort and this is evidence of that, this bill. I have a few questions. First for chairman greene. Why is it so important, why is it so important for the committee to include reconstruction of the border wall in this bill . What benefit does that give to our National Security . The issue of the border wall, thanks for the question, its pretty simple. Walls work. And they do work. A vp itself published an article on it. When the wall was built, and there was an 87 decrease in illegal crossings from fy 19 to fy 20. There is other october 2020 press releases. I quote, the result speaks for themselves. Illegal drugs, border crossings, and illegal smuggling activities have decreased in areas where barriers are to where we are best prepared to catch them, our ports of entry. In the walls do work despite arguments made to the contrary. And there was a study done on the san diego wall when it was implemented and that showed a 98 decrease in illegal border crossings. It is substantially i will just speak as a military guy. We use walls to make people all move to a certain area where you can better control them. You can better assist them. They work. Clearly, i agree with chief ortiz when he said that we will not build a wall for the shining sea. Its not necessary. But there are areas where it would be beneficial. When asked under oath in front of our Committee Just recently, the chief of the Border Patrol, currently working for the secretary mayorkas said he disagreed with President Biden s immediate stop of border wall construction. I think that say is it all. Thank you. One of the things i heard when i was in uvalde is that the Illicit Activity is totaling three and a half Million Dollars a week and drug trafficking, Human Trafficking, organ trafficking, and other things. Can you elaborate on the improvements of this technology in this bill and how that assists dhs in apprehending drug traffickers and smugglers . In this bill, we have a Technology Plan we are asking for from the department, where they will go and build out basically their technology requests. It also requires that they create a plan that extends beyond the current needs. They are forecasting how they will do acquisitions, et cetera, for any new technology that it is implemented or evolves over the next several years. The bill specifically says that they have to create a plan, come back to us with that plan, and then we will execute appropriations, et cetera, to get that done. Thank. You mr. Mcclintock, the crisis of the unaccompanied children and our southwest border, weve heard some of this from dr. Burgess. Isnt it true that the obama Biden Administrations have the authority to quickly screen and return children back home . Yes they do. By the way, we do that. And each other comes to us through canada or mexico as a resident of those countries, we get them safely home. Thats what you do if a little you wouldnt take them ten doors down to the sweatshop or worse, you would get them safely home with. This bill simply says we will try to get every child safely home. Again, you want to stop this. This is trafficking. The cartels are doing the traffic and they are making thousands and thousands of dollars on every child they bring into this country through this horrific and dangerous process. I asked Border Patrol, how do we stop this . Send them home. The cartels dont give refunds. The moment one of these childrens returned to their home, the trafficking stops because their business will dry up. For some reason, we cant get our colleagues to understand is fundamental point. Isnt that the same authority we are providing . We yes. Regarding the changes to asylum law, isnt it true that those with legitimate asylum claims can have their cases heard faster, years faster, than they would under this. They are completely gutted now with phony asylum claims. Why are they making these phony silent claims . Because they work. You make a phony asylum claim, it is very simple. You get instant admission to the United States, you get a free ticket anywhere you want to go, you get lots of free stuff, including cash. You get indefinite residency permission. You get indefinitely work authorization. Here is from, now when they finally get around to your case and you are deported, you can be very confident you will not be deported. This administration has 1. 2 million deportation order simply going on in forest. Theyve been through the process, theyve been ordered to be deported and the administration refuses to enforce those deportations. Thats why they are coming. This bill says, by the way this bill says, if you want to make an asylum claim, you may. It will be processed. But we are going to enforce the existing law, this is not a new, law the existing law that says during the dependency of your claim, you must be detained. As Justice Alito said. It shall be detained means shall be detained. This administration refuses to do so. What we are saying is if you will not be detained here in the United States, you are free to return to mexico, you are free to seek a residency in any country we have an agreement with. You will not be admitted into the country. Suddenly, all the incentives make phony claims disappear and now youve got rules for a legitimate claim to be heard in a timely manner. Thank you. Yes . There are 1. 2 million deportation orders that this administration is not enforcing. This administration, this president , on his first day in office, ordered i. C. E. Not to enforce deportations. You cant get any more brazen than that. I will also just add that my husband has been a prosecutor for 16 years, now a judge. During the Obama Administration, he did not get people that committed Violent Crimes and sex crimes deported. They are in u. S. Prisons. Well, thank you. I appreciate it. Republicans, once again, are leading with the strongest Border Security bills that weve seen in years. I hope our democrat colleagues will finally join us in securing the border. As i said, this is the first step and comprehensive Immigration Reform. We must secure the border for all the reasons weve discussed today. I am proud to support this bill. With that, i yield back, mr. Norment. Thank you. Jared thanks the gentlelady. From South Carolina is recognized. Thank you. I appreciate the panelists coming in. The sad part about all this is that we are seeing flat out, congressman mcclintock you mentioned you are only as good as if you enforce it. Anybodys arpan arms about title 42, they have not been enforcing it anyway. The numbers show that. Ive been to the border like most of yall. It is sickening to see what is happening. It is sickening to see the children getting its sickening to see the fentanyl that came into South Carolina. I would add, we are all border states now. That couldve killed half of the state of South Carolina, which is 2. 4 Million People. Weve got a total population of 5. 2. Its sickening to see the farmers we met with went to the border, fences being cut, walls being built. To protect themselves. To hear the farmer plead with us, please do something. It is sickening to see Law Enforcement who we met with this week who dont know who in the world they are start stopping. One of the eagles are committing crimes in this country, the blood is on the hands of this administration for letting this go. It could not be stated anymore clearly. To try to make the argument that you are in a tough administration, the numbers were not found. He was building 900 miles of wall at designated points of entry. And false not work, take a lot off your house, folks. Take the doors down, let everybody in, it doesnt work. Mr. Mcclintock, like you said, like you mentioned, the schools that are being overrun now, Emergency Rooms being overrun all over this country, it is sickening to see that we could solve it but its just not going to do it. This administration is devoid of any reason. They dont know one thing. It was shown in new york city when they gave them licenses. It was shown when we were visiting. And they were getting on airplanes. Where was the Covid Vaccine card that illegals had . They had none. The ngo supporting this, it is sick to see this. The issue that all of us face, how are you going to walk this . Back how do you want this back in america . You cant, unless you line dressers up all over the country. Im sick and tired of hearing about dreamers. You have people who are violent who want to be here. Thats true. But you verify. Thats what this administration is not going to do. Mr. Mcclintock, from an enforcement standpoint, lets say this bill passes the house and the senate in a perfect world, where is the enforcement part of this . Weve got another year of hoyer unless this administration where is the order going to come to force anything thats in this bill . Its a blessing sometimes and a curse sometimes. But in democracy, you get the government, the government that the people of the United States voted for. It turns out its a government that is not to their liking, they have the opportunity to rectify that and the next election. Im convinced that this is deliberate policy. It will continue as long as the people responsible for it remain in office. If you want to know why all of this is happening, this is exactly you voted for the democrats, this is exactly what you voted for. If that surprises you, you arent paying very close attention. They made a very clear this was their intention. Ultimately, it will be up to the American People. Our job is to provide the laws that can be used to restore the integrity of our borders, as history screams this morning at us that countries that either cannot or will not enforce their borders simply arent around very long. Without enforcement of Immigration Laws, we have no Immigration Laws. With that Immigration Law is, we have no borders. If we have no borders, we are no longer a country. We are simply a vast International Territory between canada and mexico. And that is what the democrats, i believe, have deliberately imposed on our country and is going to be ultimately the American People to stop them. Safe is say, it will probably take another 9 11 that will happen. Thats what worries me the most of all. 1. 5 million known gotaways. Those are the people we actually saw crossing the border illegally. We know nothing about them at all. We do know this. When this administration unconditionally surrendered the air force base, we had the military detention facility there, it was housing more than 5000 of the most dangerous terrorists on the planet. We know we are one of those 5000. Ten days later, one of those 5000 went to the kabul airport and took a bomb to kill 13 u. S. Marines. We dont know what the other 5000. Are we do know weve been able to intercept 100 or so nor terrorists at the border. We dont know how many are among the 1. 5 million gotaways. Im afraid there will come a day when we will suffer a coordinated attack by terrorists who come through our southern border during this period of time. The other thing i worry a lot about it is we are introducing the violent cartels into our major cities, how long will it be before we start seeing the kind of gun battles breakout in our American Cities that have become routine in mexico . Its not a matter of, if its just when. When you dont have a border, its not a matter of if, its just when. Mr. Mccaul, congresswoman greene you both on the National Security front have dangers, what this administration has been doing. What is most likely going to affect this country for a longtime. How many more 300,000 deaths are we going to have to take before we finally wake up . This is not a democrat or republican issue. This is an american issue. Thanks for the question. I was a counterterrorism federal prosecutor. This border, i have been dealing with this issue for well over 20 years and as chairman of homeland, when you have 5 million counting and 5 Million People in this country that have no legal status where they are manipulated with trafficking, with women get trafficked, the men go to gangs. Mr. Mcclintock mentioned the numbers on potential terrorists. When i chaired homeland, that was the stat i asked every week i had my quest. How many special interest aliens do you have . That was the number that was the biggest threat. The biggest threat. As a financial toll, beyond belief. Then the fentanyl, the human toll on that, 100,000 people dead. Thats more than vietnam over 20 years. 100,000 people. That number is climbing. Its coming up from china. Going through mexico, its going all throughout the United States. When you dont have any accountability and you have a wide open border, you dont know who is coming in, you are really asking for. Not to mention the crime rate, which we are going to see sort as a result of this. They will not have the legal status. What do you do living in the shadow . Its very common sense, as you are pointing out. The dangers, such a threat to the United States. Not only from a criminal standpoint, but a National Security standpoint. And a drug standpoint. If we dont get control over this soon, im afraid it will be hard to turn back. Congresswoman greene . Sure. The 1. 5 million gotaways, the no number, you can add on to that what chief ortiz believes is another 20 where they are hit at the fiber optics in the ground where they know people are coming across but they are not getting their eyes on so they dont count those gotaways. They actually have another term for it. He thinks that number is another 20 , another 300. 1. 8 million. Its interesting right now, if you turn yourself into customs and Border Patrol, you are going to get released into the country. They are not deporting, they allow the return agreements to expire with the other countries. If you are intentionally avoiding cbp, it begs the question, what is the intent . We talked about the videos earlier, the drugs, facts of fentanyl coming in, et cetera, what concerns me more is when we talk to the sector chiefs and we are gathering testimony from them now, we have in, for example, the del rio sector, 25 to 35 chinese nationals aged 25 to 35 with unknown associations to being released in the country every day. That is in one sector a day. You think about the chinese spy balloon that pretty much everybody in the country was frustrated that was allowed to traverse the country. When we get to the bottom of the numbers, people with affiliations, with pla coming into the United States being released into the country. We will get to the bottom of, it thats an upcoming planned hearing because of whistleblowers that came to us. I think people are going to really be shocked at what is really happening at our southern border. Its our intention to shine a light on that over the coming months. I will just close with this. Again, to try to walk this back, i dont know how you do it. Whats going on now . 5 million we think, more or less before this administration is over with, we will have 12 to 15 million, its like the Airline Pilot told me off record. He said, we are struggling, we cant catch everybody. That is most likely protocols of another 9 11. What will be our reaction . I think this is a good bill, its got some enforcement issues, as i mentioned. It has got the chairman, i know what 20 of us did back in january was get the two hour rule where we get amendments in place early. This violates that. Thats a problem Going Forward, a huge problem. That is not the process. I think its not fair to everybody. Its not democrat or republican, its american, democracy, the way it ought to work. Thank you to you for the time. I will not beat a dead horse anymore. Mister chairman, i yield back. I appreciate that. A couple things we are getting ready to recess. Number one, we have three votes on the floor. I would advise any witnesses, none of you are excused yet, your system oneill still here. Immediately after the we request you to return back up here, obviously something to the members. You get the first to, done cast the 13 as soon as weve got it right, back we will move through it. With that, the committee is on wednesday, fbi director Christopher Wray and dea administrator and milligram if testified at a Budget Hearing about a number of Law Enforcement issues. Live before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, and 2 30 pm eastern on cspan 3. You can also watch on our free mobile video app. Cspan now, or online at cspan. Org. Order your copy of the 118th congressional directory now vela bullet cspanshop. Org. 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