[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
OVERSIGHT OF THE DEPARTMENT
OF HOMELAND SECURITY
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022
__________
Serial No. 117-65
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via: http://judiciary.house.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
49-702 WASHINGTON : 2022
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COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
JERROLD NADLER, New York, Chair
MADELEINE DEAN, Pennsylvania, Vice-Chair
ZOE LOFGREN, California JIM JORDAN, Ohio, Ranking Member
SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas STEVE CHABOT, Ohio
STEVE COHEN, Tennessee LOUIE GOHMERT, Texas
HENRY C. ``HANK'' JOHNSON, Jr., DARRELL ISSA, California
Georgia KEN BUCK, Colorado
THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida MATT GAETZ, Florida
KAREN BASS, California MIKE JOHNSON, Louisiana
HAKEEM S. JEFFRIES, New York ANDY BIGGS, Arizona
DAVID N. CICILLINE, Rhode Island TOM McCLINTOCK, California
ERIC SWALWELL, California W. GREG STEUBE, Florida
TED LIEU, California TOM TIFFANY, Wisconsin
JAMIE RASKIN, Maryland THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky
PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington CHIP ROY, Texas
VAL BUTLER DEMINGS, Florida DAN BISHOP, North Carolina
J. LUIS CORREA, California MICHELLE FISCHBACH, Minnesota
MARY GAY SCANLON, Pennsylvania VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana
SYLVIA R. GARCIA, Texas SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin
JOE NEGUSE, Colorado CLIFF BENTZ, Oregon
LUCY McBATH, Georgia BURGESS OWENS, Utah
GREG STANTON, Arizona
VERONICA ESCOBAR, Texas
MONDAIRE JONES, New York
DEBORAH ROSS, North Carolina
CORI BUSH, Missouri
AMY RUTKIN, Majority Staff Director and Chief of Staff
CHRISTOPHER HIXON, Minority Staff Director
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C O N T E N T S
----------
Thursday, April 28, 2022
Page
OPENING STATEMENTS
The Honorable Jerrold Nadler, Chair of the Committee on the
Judiciary from the State of New York........................... 2
The Honorable Jim Jordan, Ranking Member of the Committee on the
Judiciary from the State of Ohio............................... 4
WITNESSES
The Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary, Department of
Homeland Security
Oral Testimony................................................. 6
Prepared Testimony............................................. 8
LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC. SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING
A video submitted by the Honorable Jim Jordan, Ranking Member of
the Committee on the Judiciary from the State of Ohio, for the
record......................................................... 5
An article entitled, ``G.O.P. Memo Shows Road Map for Attacking
Democrats on Immigration,'' The New York Times, submitted by
the Honorable Zoe Lofgren, a Member of the Committee on the
Judiciary from the State of California, for the record......... 30
Materials submitted by the Honorable Andy Biggs, a Member of the
Committee on the Judiciary from the State of Arizona, for the
record
A press release entitled, ``DHS Announces New Measures to
Better Serve Transgender, Non-Binary, and Gender Non-
Conforming Travelers,'' U.S. Department of Homeland Security. 44
An article entitled, ``ICE, CBP to stop using `illegal alien'
and `assimilation' under new Biden administration order,''
The Washington Post.......................................... 48
An article entitled, ``Joe Biden's DHS Blocks Use of Terms
`Illegal Alien,' `Assimilation,' '' Breitbart................ 51
An article entitled, ``Biden Admin Orders ICE, CBP To Stop
Using the Terms `Illegal Alien,' `Assimilation,' '' Yahoo!
News......................................................... 53
Materials submitted by the Honorable Pramila Jayapal, a Member of
the Committee on the Judiciary from the State of Washington,
for the record
An article entitled, ``48 hours of border chaos: Inside a CBP
crackdown on Iranian Americans,'' Politico................... 76
A letter from public health experts regarding immigration
policy, May 18, 2020......................................... 86
A letter to the Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of
Homeland Security, and the Honorable Tae Johnson, Acting
Director, ICE, April 22, 2021, submitted by the Honorable Mike
Johnson, a Member of the Committee on the Judiciary from the
State of Louisiana, for the record............................. 96
A statement from Members of Congress and congressional staff
about migrant processing, submitted by the Honorable Darrell
Issa, a Member of the Committee on the Judiciary from the State
of California, for the record.................................. 128
A letter from former defense, intelligence, homeland security,
and cyber officials calling for national security review of
congressional tech legislation, April 18, 2022, submitted by
the Honorable Lou Correa, a Member of the Committee on the
Judiciary from the State of California, for the record......... 132
A speech entitled, ``Declaration of Conscience,'' Margaret Chase
Smith, June 1, 1950, submitted by the Honorable Madeleine Dean,
Vice-Chair of the Committee on the Judiciary from the State of
Pennsylvania, for the record................................... 148
Materials submitted by the Honorable Veronica Escobar, a Member
of the Committee on the Judiciary from the State of Texas, for
the record
An article entitled, ``House Republicans plot to impeach
Mayorkas,'' Axios............................................ 156
A letter to the Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of
Homeland Security, from Members of Congress, April 25, 2022.. 159
Materials submitted by the Honorable Andy Biggs, a Member of the
Committee on the Judiciary from the State of Arizona, for the
record
A letter to the Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of
Homeland Security, and Acting Director Tae Johnson, April 22,
2021......................................................... 176
A letter to the Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of
Homeland Security, September 2, 2021......................... 178
A letter to the Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of
Homeland Security, October 26, 2021.......................... 183
A letter to the Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of
Homeland Security, December 15, 2021......................... 186
A letter to the Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of
Homeland Security, February 9, 2022.......................... 189
A letter to the Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of
Homeland Security, April 1, 2022............................. 191
A letter to the Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of
Homeland Security, April 18, 2022............................ 194
An article entitled, ``EXCLUSIVE: Secret ICE data shows drop in
arrests of criminals, surge in arrests of non-criminals,'' The
Washington Times, submitted by the Honorable Jim Jordan,
Ranking Member of the Committee on the Judiciary from the State
of Ohio, for the record........................................ 198
A document summarizing Department of Homeland Security component
budget requests for fiscal year 2017 through fiscal year 2023,
submitted by the Honorable Cliff Bentz, a Member of the
Committee on the Judiciary from the State of Oregon, for the
record......................................................... 214
Materials submitted by the Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, a Member
of the Committee on the Judiciary from the State of Texas, for
the record
An article entitled, ``DHS secretary defends border policies
under intense grilling from GOP lawmakers,'' CBS News........ 218
A press release entitled, ``TSA announces measures to implement
gender-neutral screening at its checkpoints,'' Transportation
Security Administration...................................... 223
An article entitled, ``School leaders say HBCUs are undeterred
after a series of bomb threats,'' NPR........................ 225
An article entitled, ``Bomb threats targeting US Black colleges
investigated as hate crimes,'' The Guardian.................. 227
An article entitled, ``NBA's Houston Rockets Face Cyber-Attack
by Ransomware Group,'' Bloomberg............................. 229
APPENDIX
Remarks submitted by the Honorable Sylvia R. Garcia, a Member of
the Committee on the Judiciary from the State of Texas, for the
record......................................................... 234
QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES FOR THE RECORD
Questions from the Honorable Jamie Raskin, a Member of the
Committee on the Judiciary from the State of Maryland, for the
record......................................................... 236
Questions from the Honorable Sylvia R. Garcia, a Member of the
Committee on the Judiciary from the State of Texas, for the
record......................................................... 240
Questions from the Honorable Greg Stanton, a Member of the
Committee on the Judiciary from the State of Arizona, for the
record......................................................... 242
Questions from the Honorable Mike Johnson, a Member of the
Committee on the Judiciary from the State of Louisiana, for the
record......................................................... 243
Questions from the Honorable Andy Biggs, a Member of the
Committee on the Judiciary from the State of Arizona, for the
record......................................................... 244
Questions from the Honorable Michelle Fischbach, a Member of the
Committee on the Judiciary from the State of Minnesota, for the
record......................................................... 245
Responses from the Department of Homeland Security............... 246
OVERSIGHT OF THE DEPARTMENT
OF HOMELAND SECURITY
----------
Thursday, April 28, 2022
House of Representatives
Committee on the Judiciary
Washington, DC
The Committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:02 a.m., in Room
2141, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Jerrold Nadler [Chair
of the Committee] presiding.
Members present: Representatives Nadler, Lofgren, Jackson
Lee, Cohen, Johnson of Georgia, Deutch, Bass, Cicilline,
Swalwell, Lieu, Raskin, Jayapal, Demings, Correa, Scanlon,
Garcia, Neguse, McBath, Stanton, Dean, Escobar, Ross, Bush,
Jordan, Chabot, Gohmert, Issa, Buck, Gaetz, Johnson of
Louisiana, Biggs, McClintock, Steube, Tiffany, Massie, Roy,
Bishop, Fischbach, Spartz, Fitzgerald, Bentz, and Owens.
Staff present: Aaron Hiller, Chief Counsel and Deputy Staff
Director; John Doty, Senior Advisor and Deputy Staff Director;
Arya Hariharan, Chief Oversight Counsel; David Greengrass,
Senior Counsel; Moh Sharma, Director of Member Services and
Outreach & Policy Advisor; Jacqui Kappler, Oversight Counsel;
Roma Venkateswaran, Professional Staff Member/Legislative Aide;
Brady Young, Parliamentarian; Cierra Fontenot, Chief Clerk;
Daniel Rubin, Communications Director; Merrick Nelson, Digital
Director; Joshua Breisblatt, Chief Counsel for Immigration; Ami
Shah, Counsel for Immigration; Julie Rheinstrom, Counsel for
Immigration; Yasser Killawi, Counsel for Immigration; Anthony
Valdez, Professional Staff Member/Legislative Aide for
Immigration; Christopher Hixon, Minority Staff Director; Tyler
Grimm, Minority Chief Counsel for Policy and Strategy; Stephen
Castor, Minority General Counsel; Ella Yates, Minority Member
Services Director; Andrea Loving, Minority Chief Counsel for
Immigration; Kyle Smithwick, Minority Counsel; Andrea Woodard,
Minority Professional Staff Member; and Kiley Bidelman,
Minority Clerk.
Chair Nadler. The House Committee on the Judiciary will
come to order. Without objection, the Chair is authorized to
declare recesses of the Committee at any time.
We welcome everyone to this morning's hearing on Oversight
of the Department of Homeland Security.
Before we begin, I would like to remind Members that we
have established an email address and distribution list
dedicated to circulating exhibits, motions, or other written
materials that Members might want to offer as part of our
hearing today. If you would like to submit materials, please
send them to the email address that has been previously
distributed to your offices and we will circulate the materials
to Members and staff as quickly as we can.
I will now recognize myself for an opening statement.
The Department of Homeland Security was founded after the
September 11 attacks and as the years passed, the department
has taken on new threats and challenges unimagined by Congress
in 2002.
We are pleased to welcome you to the Committee today,
Secretary Mayorkas. I will speak plainly. You inherited a mess
when you took over the o and no one can solve overnight the
problems left for you by the previous administration. Through
neglect and often malice, your predecessors more or less
dismantled our immigration system and ignored the grave and
growing threat of domestic terrorism. You have made important
progress in these and other areas, but there is still a lot of
work to do ahead of you to address the many challenges that
remain.
You are responsible for guarding our national security from
threats both old and new. As various cyber security attacks,
natural disasters, foreign terrorists and homegrown violent
terror extremists, America faces a multitude of challenges. One
of the greatest modern threats to our homeland is the danger
posed by violent far right extremists and White supremacists.
In 2020, the highest number of domestic terror incidents
and plots in over 30 years. Sixty-six percent of those were by
White supremacists, extremist militia members, and other
violent far right extremists. These groups recruit online,
spread misinformation and conspiracy theories, scapegoat
minority groups, fan COVID-19 fears, and undermine Americans'
confidence in our institutions.
Rather than act, the previous administration obstructed.
They were so afraid of confronting this threat, they tried to
prevent DHS from even using the term domestic terrorists
internally. The Trump Administration demoted an agency leader
who tried to sound the alarm. They shelved reports detailing
the growing threat. They permitted conspiracy theories,
disinformation, and calls for violence to flourish until the
threat became too large to contain.
The scourge of domestic terrorism and far right extremism
is sadly now a part of our daily life and unlike your
predecessors, Mr. Secretary, we do not have the luxury of
hiding from the problem with our heads in the sand because the
truth is domestic terrorists are killing not just Americans,
but the values that define us as a country. They recruit by
sowing distrust in our public institutions, spreading lies to
divide Americans, and casting blame on minority groups.
Domestic terrorism isolates us, not just by inflicting
violence in our communities, but also by defining certain
members of those communities as other. They target the spaces
we should feel safest, our houses of worship, our community
pillars, and our houses of learning.
We also know that of the violent extremists, it is lone-
wolf actors who pose the most unpredictable threat. The
violent, anti-Semitic, anti-Asian, racist, anti-immigrant
discourse that has permeated our society encourages the
creation of lone-wolf actors. While many of our brave
constituents have stood against these unprecedented levels of
hateful discourse, a dangerous radicalized few will take this
discourse as gospel and consider it a blessing to act.
To see the corrosive harm of this dangerous rhetoric, you
don't have to look beyond our nation's diverse immigrant
population, who are the backbones of our communities, and who,
generation after generation, have borne the brunt of
discrimination, fear-mongering, and inhumane immigration
policies.
A fair, humane, and functioning immigration system is vital
to our national security interests. The department has
jurisdiction over much of our immigration system, including our
borders, adjudication of legal immigration benefits, and
humanitarian protections for migrants.
The previous administration did all it could to break our
immigration system. We all know about the abhorrent family
separation policy under which children were literally kidnapped
from their mothers and fathers with no plans to reunite them
and their attempts to end the Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals, the DACA program.
However, it is important to remember that the previous
administration also did everything within its power to block
legal pathways to our immigration system. The Trump
Administration virtually shut down our nation's refugee
program, implemented a Muslim ban, and brought immigration
benefits processing to a crawl, nearly bankrupting U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services and implementing policies
that resulted in historically high processing delays.
Under your leadership, Secretary Mayorkas, the department
has done a great deal to reverse many of these terrible
policies, creating a separate, separation task force to reunite
families, ending the Muslim ban, and rulemaking by DACA. The
department has also worked to streamline and improve processing
for all legal immigration applications. However, these changes
will take time to bear fruit and other reforms have been
stymied in the courts.
Further, we continue to face Senate inaction on bipartisan
immigration reform bills shepherded through the House by this
Committee. Despite these challenges, there is much more to be
done. We are at a pivotal moment in the struggle for our
country's identity, for our safety, and for our dignity.
History will judge us, and future generations will remember us,
based on how we comport ourselves during this time of
polarization, cruelty, and divisiveness.
Your leadership, Mr. Secretary, can help guide our
trajectory through the darkness and into a new day. I am
looking forward to hearing how you intend to fight White
supremacy and online radicalization of far-right extremists and
restore our nation's reputation as one that is welcoming to
immigrants and refugees.
I thank you for appearing today and I look forward to your
testimony.
I now recognize the Ranking Member of the Judiciary
Committee, the gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Jordan, for his opening
statement.
Mr. Jordan. Thank you, Mr. Chair. It is intentional. It is
intentional, it has to be. The chaos on our southern border is
not an accident. It is deliberate. It is on purpose. It is by
design.
President Biden on day one said there will be a moratorium
on deportations. He ended Remain in Mexico. He terminated
agreements with Northern Triangle countries, and he stopped
building the wall. Those policies, done intentionally, have led
to all kinds of bad outcomes. First, maybe most importantly, we
get a record number of migrants coming to the border, 2.4
million. that is the ones we know about. That doesn't count the
so-called got-aways who get in that we don't have an accurate
count, but we know it is a big number. Paying cartels,
smugglers, all these people paying bad guys to get them into
the United States, and those cartels aren't just moving people.
They are moving drugs as well, drugs like fentanyl that is
killing so many Americans, causing so much heartache for so
many American families, and drugs get in because of the stress
2.4 million migrants put on our agents. Stress like Bishop
Evans faced when he tragically, heroically, gave his life
trying to save two migrants drowning.
Of course, there is the bad things that happen to the
people who make the journey, particularly women and children.
Americans want legal immigration. President Biden and Secretary
Mayorkas want illegal immigration. They want illegal migrants
to come, stay, and never go home.
Now, the Secretary won't say that. In fact, he says
everything is just fine. He said it yesterday in two
Congressional Hearings. He said it last September, ``The border
is secure,'' he told us. In the 15 months Joe Biden has been
President, 2,498,224 illegal migrants have been apprehended at
our border. Hundreds of thousands of others that we didn't
catch, that got away, have also entered our country and the
Secretary says the border is secure.
Think about last year, March of last year was the highest
month on record for illegal migrants encountered at our
southern border, highest month in history until the month of
April. April was the highest month on record for illegal
migrants coming to our country until the month of May. May was
the highest month on record until the month of June. June was
the highest month on record until the month of July when
213,593 illegal migrants were at our southwest border. Just two
months after that, our Witness, the Secretary of Homeland
Security, said the border is secure.
Mr. Secretary, over 200,000 a month and all the
ramifications that has with drugs coming in the country and
other people coming in the country because our agents are so
focused on that, if that is a secure border, then you are
completely out of touch with the American people.
That record last July, guess what, that record last July
was just broken last month. Next month, they are going to make
matters worse when they rescind title 42. A record last July
that was just broken last month and next month they are going
to make it worse.
I want to go back to that statement the Secretary made on
September 22nd of last year. That statement, there was a second
part to the sentence, and this is critical. There was a second
part to the statement. He said the border is secure, and the
border is secure, and we are executing our plan. The first part
of the sentence was false. We know that. We know the numbers.
We know what is happening on the border. Everyone understands
it. The second part, we are executing our plans. The second
part, he was telling us the truth and that should frighten us
all.
We have a Secretary of Homeland Security who is
intentionally, deliberately, in a premeditated fashion,
executing a plan, his words, executing a plan to overwhelm our
country with millions and millions of illegal migrants.
Executing a plan that causes all kinds of harm to people who
make the journey, executing a plan that results in record
levels of fentanyl and other drugs entering our nation,
executing a plan that stresses our border agents, stresses our
education and healthcare systems, stresses our nation, all done
intentionally.
Mr. Chair, I hope we are going to have a lot of questions
for the Secretary, but I hope one of the fundamental questions,
maybe the fundamental question that he will answer is why is he
doing it? Why is he doing this to our fellow citizens? Why is
he doing this to our country? Why is he deliberately doing this
to--he is the Secretary of Homeland Security. Why is he
intentionally doing this to our nation?
Mr. Chair, we have a video we would like to show as well.
[Video played. Video available at https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/
murlsnqbujkok
8pypuijr/Video.pptx?dl=0&rlkey=5d6vkii6pjnifudgn7v8tb685]
Mr. Jordan. Mr. Chair, I yield back.
Chair Nadler. The gentleman yields back. Without objection,
all other opening statements will be included in the record.
I will now introduce today's Witness.
Alejandro, is that correct? Alejandro Mayorkas was sworn in
as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security by
President Biden on February 2, 2021. Throughout his
distinguished career in public service, he has served in
several important roles in law enforcement, including as the
Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security
from 2013-2016, and as the Director of U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services from 2009-2013.
Secretary Mayorkas began his government service in the
Department of Justice where he served as an Assistant United
States Attorney in the Central District of California. After
nearly nine years as a Federal Prosecutor, he became the
youngest United States Attorney in the nation, overseeing
numerous prosecutions of national significance.
He received his bachelor's degree from the University of
California at Berkeley and a law degree from Loyola Law School.
We welcome our distinguished Witness, and we thank him for
participating today.
I will begin by swearing you in. I ask that you please rise
and raise your right hand.
Do you swear or affirm under penalty of perjury that the
testimony you are about to give is true and correct to the best
of your knowledge, information, and belief so help you God?
Let the record show that the Witness has answered in the
affirmative. Thank you, and please be seated.
Please note that your written statement will be entered
into the record in its entirety. Accordingly, I ask that you
summarize your testimony in five minutes. To help you stay
within that time limit, there is a timing light on your table.
When the light switches from green to yellow, you have one
minute to conclude your testimony. When the light turns red, it
signals your five minutes have expired.
Secretary Mayorkas, the floor is yours.
STATEMENT OF ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS
Secretary Mayorkas. Chair Nadler, Ranking Member Jordan,
and distinguished Members of the Committee, thank you for the
opportunity to join you.
On behalf of all of us in the Department of Homeland
Security, I share in the mourning of the loss of Guardsman
Bishop Evans who made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of
our country.
For nearly two decades, the personnel of the Department of
Homeland Security have stood as a cornerstone of public safety.
Every day, our workforce of 250,000 serves to protect our
people and our values by combating terrorism and targeted
violence, countering malicious cyber activity, securing our
border, building a safe, orderly, and humane immigration system
and more. We do this while always safeguarding Americans'
privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties, and building trust
between our Agency and the public we serve.
We remain vigilant against all forms of terrorism and
targeted violence. The nature of these threats has evolved, but
our vigilance and resolve are constant. We play a leading role
in implementing the first ever National Strategy for Countering
Domestic Terrorism, namely, establishing a new domestic
terrorism branch within our Office of Intelligence and
Analysis; launching the Center for Prevention Programs and
Partnerships to help communities prevent radicalization to
violence; designating domestic violent extremism as a national
priority area in FEMA grant programs; increasing our investment
in the nonprofit security grant program; coordinating
additional support to HBCUs in the face of recent bomb threats;
and ramping up our efforts to collect and disseminate
actionable intelligence.
On cyber security, DHS is leading the Federal government's
work to protect our critical infrastructure. We answered the
Colonial Pipeline incident with security directives requiring
pipeline companies to report intrusions, designated cyber
security coordinator, conduct vulnerability assessments, and
create contingency plans. We adopted similar measures for
airports, air carriers, and rail operators.
We work with the Department of Justice who launched
www.stopransomware.gov, the first whole-of-government website
with resources to help organizations combat ransomware.
We are defending our democracy against foreign interference
in our elections. We formed two bodies to join cyber defense
collaborative in the Cyber Safety Review Board to bring private
sector and government stakeholders to the table to help us
fortify our cyber defenses, identify vulnerabilities, and
ensure a unified response when incidents occur.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has only intensified the
threat of cyber-attacks, so we initiated the fields up campaign
to increase collective awareness, vigilance, and resilience to
possible incidents. We are countering Russia's mis- and
disinformation campaigns by helping stakeholders understand the
scale of these activities and enabling them to mitigate
associated risks.
We are expanding humanitarian programs by TPS and
developing new ones like Uniting for Ukraine initiative to
provide Ukrainians temporary refuge in the United States. Under
this administration, our department has been executing a
comprehensive strategy to secure our borders and rebuild our
immigration system. With the title 42 public health order set
to be lifted, we expect migration levels to increase as
smugglers seek to take advantage of and profit from vulnerable
migrants.
We will continue to enforce our immigration laws. After
title 42 is lifted, noncitizens will be processed pursuant to
title 8 which provides that individuals who cross the border
without legal authorization are processed for removal and if
unable to establish a legal basis to remain in the United
States, promptly removed from the country.
We began planning last September and we are leading the
execution of a whole-of-government strategy which stands on six
pillars to prepare for and manage any rise in noncitizen
encounters. I issued a memorandum earlier this week that
provides more details of those pillars.
(1) Surging resources including personnel, transportation, medical
support and facilities.
(2) Increase efficiency without compromising the integrity of our
screening processes to reduce strain on the border.
(3) Administer consequences for unlawful entry including expedited
removal and criminal prosecution.
(4) Bolster the capacity of NGOs and coordinate with State, local,
and community partners.
(5) Target and disrupt transnational criminal organizations and
human smugglers.
(6) Deter irregular migration south of our border in partnership
with other Federal agencies and nations.
We inherited a broken and dismantled system that is already
under strain. It is not built to manage the current levels and
types of migratory flows. Only Congress can fix this. Yet, we
have effectively managed an unprecedented number of noncitizens
seeking to enter the United States and interdicted more drugs
and disrupted more smuggling operations than ever before. A
significant increase in migrant encounters will strain our
system even further, and we will address this challenge
successfully, but it will take time and we need the partnership
of Congress, State and local officials, NGOs, and communities
to do so. We cannot address our core issues alone.
DHS is a department of partnerships. I look forward to
working together with this Committee to confront our ever-
changing threat landscape and protect the American people.
[The statement of Secretary Mayorkas follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chair Nadler. Thank you, Mr. Secretary, for your testimony.
We will now proceed under the five-minute rule with questions,
and I will recognize myself for five minutes.
Secretary Mayorkas, in February of last year, President
Biden made you the Chair of the President's Interagency Task
Force on the Reunification of Families. The work of that task
force is essential to reuniting those families, those children
and families, who were maliciously separated from their parents
during the Trump Administration, and to ensuring that this can
never happen again.
Secretary Mayorkas, can you discuss the progress that the
task force has made thus far including how many children the
department has identified and reunited?
What challenges does the task force face when working to
establish contact with some of these parents?
Secretary Mayorkas. Mr. Chair, I am very proud to be the
chair of that task force which under the President's direction
brings the resources of the entire Federal government together
to work with civil society to try to reunite the families that
were so cruelly separated under the prior administration. Thus,
we have reunited more than 200 separated children with their
parents and there are estimates that there are approximately
1,000 more children that remain separated. Of those 1,000
children, the task force has made contact with more than 500
parents and nearly 400 children are now in the reunification
process.
We continue to partner with nongovernmental organizations,
such as Kids in Need of Defense and Justice in Motion, to
contact families and direct them to our website. One of the
greatest obstacles we have, Mr. Chair, is to overcome the
distrust that was sown by the prior administration through its
cruel policies. Many remain still fearful given what trauma
they experienced and continue to experience.
Chair Nadler. The President's Executive Order requires the
task force to issue a report containing recommendations to
ensure that a tragedy like this never happens again. How soon
do you anticipate issuing that report? Can you preview some of
its recommendations?
Secretary Mayorkas. Mr. Chair, we have published interim
reports along the way since we began our work. We are working
on policies to make sure that no such cruelty ever occurs
again.
I had the occasion to speak with a number of parents who
were reunited with their children, and it was extraordinary
heartbreaking to hear a mother speak of the fact that despite
the physical reunion, there remained a distance between her and
her teenage daughter. The teenage daughter still continued to
suffer trauma from the separation that they both suffered. This
is going to take time to mend the people's broken hearts and
the trauma that they suffered due to such a cruel policy.
Chair Nadler. Thank you. I am pleased to see the Biden
Administration has been preparing for months with the eventual
end of title 42. As you know, title 42 is a public health
measure, not an immigration control strategy. In fact, because
title 42 has no immigration consequences for repeat border
crosses, the border crossing recidivism rate has quadrupled
since title 42 began.
I am sure we will be hearing today about the record high
numbers of encounters at our border. However, some 900,000 of
those encounters are migrants who tried repeatedly cross
unlawfully. Smugglers are even offering package deals to
encourage recidivism.
Fortunately, as you mentioned in your opening, the
Department of Homeland Security has put in place a
comprehensive whole-of-government strategy to manage any
potential increases in the number of migrants encountered at
our border when title 42 is ended. The department is increasing
its capacity to process new arrivals, evaluate asylum requests,
and quickly remove those who do not qualify.
Mr. Secretary, can you go into more detail for the
Committee about the department's plans? I am particularly
interested in understanding what type of resources will be
increased and where they will be deployed, as well as learning
more about the Southwest Border Coordination Center's role.
Secretary Mayorkas. Mr. Chair, the plan is very
comprehensive and very detailed. We have developed it over
many, many months. The end of title 42 which is a public health
authority, as you correctly described, we knew it was not going
to be forever and therefore, we began planning and preparing
quite a long time ago.
It is very detailed, but let me try to run through in the
short time that I have. Pillar one is surging resources,
personnel, transportation, medical support, increasing
facilities for the processing of individuals whom we encounter.
The second pillar, increasing CDP processing efficiency.
That involves such things as enhanced central processing
centers where we bring different parts of our department
together to drive efficiency, where we process individuals en
route to ICE facilities and decompress border patrol stations.
The third pillar is a consequence regime, using title 8 of
the United States Code to expedite the removal of individuals
that the law provides: Bring criminal prosecutions where the
facts so warrant; implementation of our historic asylum officer
rule which brings tremendous efficiency to the asylum system;
bolstering the capacity of non-governmental organizations and
coordinating with State and local communities; targeting and
disrupting the transnational criminal organizations and the
smuggling organizations. We have intensified efforts at a
historic level, working not only as an entire Department of
Homeland Security, but across the Federal Government bringing
the resources of the Department of Justice and the Department
of Treasury to bear. We are working to deter irregular
migration throughout the region.
This is not a phenomenon, Mr. Chair, and Members of this
Committee that the United States encounters alone. This is
something that countries throughout the region, throughout the
hemisphere, and we so powerfully have seen in recent months
throughout the world, the number of individuals displaced from
their home countries is greater now than it ever has been. We
are working in response to a regional challenge with a regional
solution, working with our partner countries throughout the
region. I was in Panama last week to accomplish that end.
Chair Nadler. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. My time has
expired.
Mr. McClintock.
Mr. McClintock. Mr. Secretary, since the administration
took office, you have deliberately released into the United
States 836,000 illegal immigrants who crossed our borders in
violation of our laws and sovereignty. Now, that is more than
the entire population of the State of North Dakota. While the
Border Patrol has been overwhelmed by this influx you have
allowed about 600,000 got-aways to escape into the interior.
This is more than the entire population of the State of
Wyoming. That is with title 42 in place. When you remove that,
it is estimated that we are going to see as many as 18,000
illegal immigrants released into the interior every day. That
is the same as admitting a new State of Alaska every 40 days.
These numbers are simply staggering.
I would like to know why you think this benefits Americans?
Packing classrooms with non-English-speaking students, flooding
emergency rooms with illegals demanding care, making it harder
to deport criminal illegal aliens, flooding the labor market
with cheap foreign labor. How does this benefit Americans?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, if I can explain how the
legal system works when encountering individuals at our
southern border.
Mr. McClintock. I know that is the way--
Secretary Mayorkas. Individuals--
Mr. McClintock. First, that is not my question.
Secretary Mayorkas. No. No, but--
Mr. McClintock. My question is how does this benefit
Americans?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, when an individual is
encountered at the southern border, they are placed in
immigration enforcement proceedings.
Mr. McClintock. Okay.
Secretary Mayorkas. Under the law--
Mr. McClintock. So, you don't have an answer for how any of
this benefits Americans, so let's talk about your enforcement
proceedings. Let's define exactly what that means.
An alien is given a Notice to Appear with a court date or
simply a Notice to Report: Call in when you get wherever you
want to go. Ninty percent of these asylum claims are turned
down. When they are, less than 15 percent actually leave. Now,
you have already instructed ICE that mere legal-illegal
presence in the country is not grounds for deportation. So,
they stay and await the next amnesty. That is what you mean by
enforcement proceedings, because that is what you do.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, you've misstated the
facts. So, individuals are placed in immigration enforcement
proceedings. Those who present a public safety threat, a threat
to national security, a threat to border security are held in
detention during the pendency of those immigration proceedings.
Those who do not are given a Notice to Appear. The appearance
rate is over 86 percent. So, individuals--
Mr. McClintock. On the initial proceeding, but 90 percent
of them are rejected, and when they are rejected, only 15
percent leave. You have told ICE don't go after the others
unless there is an underlying criminal situation.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman--
Mr. McClintock. You have assured us that ICE prioritizes
criminal removals. I heard you say you deported more criminals
in the Trump Administration, but according to data from the
FOIA request from the Center for Immigration Studies in 2021
deportations of aliens with serious criminal convictions
declined by over 50 percent compared to 2020 and 65 percent
compared to 2018. According to ICE's own website detainers for
assault are down 57 percent under your leadership. Detainers
for weapons offenses down 52 percent, dangerous drugs down 49
percent, detainers for homicides are down 43 percent, sex
crimes down 29 percent. How does this make our communities
safer?
Secretary Mayorkas. So, Congressman, allow me to share some
facts with you. Twelve thousand twenty-five individuals
convicted of aggravated felonies were removed in fiscal year
2021.
Mr. McClintock. That is down--
Secretary Mayorkas. That's nearly--
Mr. McClintock. That is down from 2020 or 2018.
Secretary Mayorkas. Actually you're wrong. Twelve thousand
twenty-five were individuals convicted of aggravated felonies,
nearly double the 6,815 arrested--
Mr. McClintock. Wait. Wait a second. You said aggregated--
Secretary Mayorkas. --in fiscal year 2020. If I may--
Mr. McClintock. Aggravated felonies. What does that mean?
Secretary Mayorkas. Well, that's a definition--
Mr. McClintock. I would call homicide an aggravated felony.
Your detainers for homicides are down 42 percent of I believe--
43 percent I should say, weapons offenses down 52 percent. You
are defining terms that don't actually exist.
Secretary Mayorkas. Oh, actually--
Mr. McClintock. Aggravated felony.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, the term aggravated felony
is defined in statute. It is a United States law. The
definition of an aggravated felon--
Mr. McClintock. The--
Secretary Mayorkas. --is a matter of statutory law.
Mr. McClintock. Crimes like homicide are down.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman--
Mr. McClintock. Your detainers.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman--
Mr. McClintock. I mean those numbers are there on your
website.
Let me go on. You have repeatedly said there is a need for
re-prioritizing ICE because of limited resources, yet in 2012,
with fewer agents and judges than we have now, ICE arrested and
deported 409,000 aliens. Under your administration with more
agents and judges you have deported only 59,000. That is \1/
7\th as many. Overall deportations down in 2021 down 90 percent
from 2019.
Chair Nadler. The time of the gentleman has expired. The
Witness may answer the question.
Secretary Mayorkas. Forty-six percent of ICE removals in
fiscal year 2021 were for people convicted of felonies or
aggravated felonies, compared to 18 percent during the previous
four years and 17 percent of the year before that.
Chair Nadler. The time of the gentleman, as I said, has
expired.
Ms. Lofgren?
Ms. Lofgren. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Secretary Mayorkas.
Before I ask my question, I would like to give you an
opportunity--my fellow Californian reading from his talking
points made several assertions that I think are incorrect, and
you didn't get to fully explain what the facts are. Obviously,
what is the benefit of applying the law? Well, it is standing
up for the rule of law, which is what the country stands for.
So, if you would take a minute on that before I get to my
questions, that would be helpful, I think.
Secretary Mayorkas. Thank you, Congresswoman. The law
provides that individuals encountered at our border have a
right to make a claim for humanitarian relief under the asylum
laws that the United States Congress passed.
If their claim for asylum relief prevails in an immigration
court, then they have established a basis to remain in the
United States. If their claim fails, then they are removed from
the United States.
We are a nation of laws, and this Department of Homeland
Security is administering the laws that Congress passed.
Ms. Lofgren. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Watching what
happened in the prior administration I am mindful that you
inherited something of a mess in terms of the department. There
were over 400 changes to the immigration system, policy changes
that resulted in delays, no increase, and no benefits. For
example, USCIS repeatedly interviewing the same people over and
over again on the employment-based side leading to backlogs and
questionable policy choices that nearly bankrupt USCIS.
I remember in the summer of 2020, the agency was forced to
send furlough notices to 15,000 employees, 70 percent of its
workforce. It was only at the last minute working on a
bipartisan basis, actually here in the House, that we did a
stopgap measure. There was a hiring freeze and there were
millions of backlogged applications.
At the same time, we saw extreme vetting of the Special
Immigrant Visa Program in Iraq and Afghanistan, which actually
ended up being no vetting, so that there was no processing of
over 17,000 SIV cases for Afghanistan. When the former
President's timeline for removal was implemented, there was no
plan in place to expedite the processing or to evacuate those
allies, and those unprocessed SIV applications just continued
to sit there.
I am wondering, Mr. Secretary, what steps you are taking to
try to clean up the mess in the Refugee Program where all--it
was zeroed out and the agencies, the non-profits and the
religious-based agencies that help were basically dismantled,
USCIS was hollowed out, and the like. What is your plan to
clean up the mess?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, one of the ways in which
the prior administration decimated the legal immigration system
is to really leave U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services,
the agency that administers our nation's legal immigration
system, on the brink of bankruptcy. Employees were furloughed,
the Asylum and Refugee Corps were decimated.
That agency is funded primarily through the fees it
collects from applications that people submit for immigration
benefits. The law provides that every two years a fee rule is
to issue to recalibrate fees according to the costs of the
agency every two years. That agency has not had a fee rule for
more than six years.
Ms. Lofgren. So, we will look at that.
Secretary Mayorkas. So, we are bringing it from the brink
of bankruptcy to some level of financial stability. It will
take time. We are promulgating a new fee rule as this Congress
expects.
Ms. Lofgren. Okay. I have got one more question I want to
get in. The H2-A Program is an important one for agriculture in
the United States. As you know, we had a bipartisan bill to
streamline and improve that provision that is languishing in
the Senate. There have been, and it has been brought to my
attention the Operation Blooming Onion case where there was
some abuses of people in the H2-A Program.
I am wondering, do we have adequate tools to protect H2-A
visa holders from exploitation, understanding that it is an
important program; and I'm not saying all employers are
exploitive; far from it, but we want to get the bad actors.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, we are focused--
Chair Nadler. The time of the gentlelady has expired. The
Witness may answer the question.
Secretary Mayorkas. We are focusing some of our enforcement
resources on employers who exploit vulnerable employees and
create a non-competitive labor market. That's one of our areas
of tremendous focus.
Ms. Lofgren. Thank you.
Chair Nadler. Mr. Chabot?
Mr. Chabot. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Secretary, the situation at our southern border is an
unmitigated disaster and I fear it is about to get a whole lot
worse. With this administration's bone-headed decision to end
enforcement of title 42 you are essentially saying the COVID
healthcare emergency is over; come on in, while at the same
time saying nope, still got a COVID emergency, so we are going
to force everybody to mask up on planes and buses and trains,
whether you like it or not.
Since he took office President Biden has been busy
reversing just about every one of the Trump Administration's
successful immigration policies, stopping construction of the
border wall, ending catch and release, and practically
abandoning border enforcement altogether, just to name a few of
these misguided policies. The result, as I said, has been a
complete and utter chaos at our southern
border.
Unfortunately, again due to Biden Administration policies,
the chaos doesn't stop at the border; it is intentionally being
spread all across the country. The Biden Administration is
putting illegal immigrants and asylum seekers on buses and
planes at taxpayer expense, often in the middle of the night
when it is not so obvious, and shipping them to communities all
across the country. As a result, virtually every State in
America is now directly impacted. Let's face it, we are all
really border States now.
Mr. Secretary, how many migrants have you shipped to Ohio,
my State?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, I would disagree with the
phrasing of your question, but I would be pleased to provide
you with data with respect to the number of individuals--
Mr. Chabot. Well, the question is pretty simple. How many
have you shipped to Ohio?
Secretary Mayorkas. As I mentioned, Congressman--as I was
stating, I'd be pleased to provide you with data specific to
Ohio subsequent to this hearing.
Mr. Chabot. I assume your answer is here today you don't
know, is that right?
Secretary Mayorkas. I don't have the data with me
Congressman.
Mr. Chabot. Okay. Because I certainly think the people
would like to know that. In fact, I think it is their right to
know how many migrants you are shipping to their State or my
Congressional District or others. After all, they are footing
the bill for all this, right, the American taxpayers?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, I'd like to again--
Mr. Chabot. Are the American taxpayers paying for this
stuff?
Secretary Mayorkas. I would respectfully disagree with the
phrasing of your question, but I think it's something very
important to remember, which is individuals who are placed in
immigration proceedings--
Mr. Chabot. That is not the question I asked. Please, we
have only got five minutes each of us, so if you will just
answers the questions I have asked. You said I can't tell you
how many I shipped to Ohio; I will provide that down the road.
Let's see if you actually do that.
Now, the American taxpayers are footing the bill. The
people that you are shipping across the country, they are being
fed, right?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman--
Mr. Chabot. They are having their healthcare needs met.
They are being housed somewhere.
Secretary Mayorkas. If I may?
Mr. Chabot. Their children are attending school, I assume.
Who is paying for all that?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, you are mistaken in
asserting in your question--
Mr. Chabot. That we are not feeding them?
Secretary Mayorkas. --that individuals--
Mr. Chabot. That we are not housing them?
Secretary Mayorkas. If I may?
Mr. Chabot. We are not providing healthcare?
Secretary Mayorkas. May I?
Mr. Chabot. It doesn't have to be paid for? I asked you,
who is paying for this stuff?
Secretary Mayorkas. Individuals in immigration proceedings
are not entitled to the same benefits that United States
citizens are.
Mr. Chabot. I didn't say that. So, but they are not being
fed? We are not feeing them?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, not to my knowledge do
they receive--
Mr. Chabot. Okay. Thank you.
Secretary Mayorkas. --public benefits or food.
Mr. Chabot. So, they are not being fed?
Okay. Let me ask you this: How many bus loads have you sent
to my State, Ohio? Do you know that?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, as I stated previously, I
will provide you with the data that you are requesting.
Mr. Chabot. Thank you. Okay.
So, how many and how many bus loads? Okay. Let me ask you
this: If you don't have the numbers here today, who has these
numbers?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, we in the Department of
Homeland Security have a wealth of data and I would be pleased
to provide you with whatever data you request.
Mr. Chabot. Excellent. Thank you very much.
Secretary Mayorkas. One of the hallmarks of our department
is our openness and transparency, and in fact--
Mr. Chabot. Thank you.
Secretary Mayorkas. --it is one of the priorities that I
have established for this department for fiscal year 2022.
Mr. Chabot. You have been extremely open, and we certainly
appreciate that.
Mr. Secretary, where does the buck really stop here? Who do
we hold accountable for the chaos at our southern border? Is it
you, the Secretary of Homeland Security? Is it the Vice
President? Because President Biden we know supposedly put her
in charge of the border. Is it the Big Guy himself? Is it
President Biden? Where does the buck really stop?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, I'm incredibly proud to
work alongside the dedicated men and women of U.S. Customs and
Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the
entire Department of Homeland Security who tirelessly dedicate
themselves to the service of our country including the security
at the border.
Mr. Chabot. Thank you. We are proud of the folks that work
there, too. We wish you would support them though. We really
wish you would support--they want to do their jobs, they want
to secure the border, they want to uphold the law, and you took
an oath to uphold the law and right now when you got three
million people coming over here in a short period of time is
not enforcing the law.
Chair Nadler. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. Chabot. Yield back.
Ms. Lofgren. Mr. Chair?
Chair Nadler. For the purpose of a UC request, Ms. Lofgren?
Ms. Lofgren. Yes, I would ask unanimous consent that a New
York Times article, ``GOP Memo Shows Road Map for Attacking
Democrats on Immigration,'' be made part of the record.
Chair Nadler. Without objection.
[The information follows:]
MS. LOFGREN FOR THE RECORD
=======================================================================
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chair Nadler. Ms. Jackson Lee?
Ms. Jackson Lee. I thank the Chair very much. I thank you
for your presence here today.
As well let me try to remind my friends on the other side
of the aisle of the historical record of this country. Mr.
Secretary, I hope it is not a personal question, but you had a
history outside of this country in terms of your family coming
from somewhere else. Is that not correct, sir?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, I am an immigrant. My
family came to this country as political refugees fleeing the
Communist takeover of Cuba.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Let me applaud you for your service to the
nation. I think as I said in previous comments the Statue of
Liberty still stands in the New York harbor. I assume you have
seen it on one or two occasions?
Secretary Mayorkas. I most certainly have. I should say
that what this country gave to my family is what led me to
public service, first as an Assistant United States Attorney,
then the United States Attorney, then the Director of U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services, then the Deputy Secretary
of Homeland Security, and now the Secretary of Homeland
Security.
Ms. Jackson Lee. I am glad I allowed you to provide that
into the record because the antics of my friends on the other
side of the aisle are so without reason it is difficult to even
follow in questioning.
To even suggest that the past administration had an
immigration policy is absurd because I stood in the place that
you stood watching the reunification of separated children.
There was a glaze of disbelief in the child's eye as to who
this person was. Was it their mother? Why did she abandon them?
It was the most criminal aspect of that policy, and I don't
know how anyone could cite that as reasoned and reasonable.
Let me move to what we are here for, and the general
sentence; my time is short, that I want you to enunciate is
that, in fact, the administration does have a policy if the
scientifically-based section article 42 is scientifically
removed as it relates to the pandemic by CDC. You can just say
yes, yes or no. You have a plan?
Secretary Mayorkas. It is a public health authority that
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention--
Ms. Jackson Lee. You have a plan if it is removed?
Secretary Mayorkas. Oh, most certainly?
Ms. Jackson Lee. That is the question I have.
Secretary Mayorkas. Most certainly.
Ms. Jackson Lee. So, it is yes?
Secretary Mayorkas. Yes.
Ms. Jackson Lee. So, let me go specifically to Pillar 5,
which I think is the crux of what we are speaking about, and
that is we are targeting and disrupting the transnational
criminal organizations, TCOs, and smugglers to take advantage
of and profit from vulnerable migrants who seek to traffic
drugs into our country. Can you, because I have one or two
other questions, briefly talk about the scourge of human
smugglers, even though people may be coming for economic
reasons, fleeing prosecution? That is something that the
Federal government can put all fours on. Do you intend to
deeply go to disrupt this--criminal organizations, if you will,
that prey on the very people that are at the border?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, our intensified efforts
to tackle the human smuggling organizations are historic.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Give us some elements of that quickly,
please.
Secretary Mayorkas. We have a number of different
operations both within the Department of Homeland Security and
across the Federal enterprise: Using the Department of Treasury
to seize bank accounts, Operational--Operation Sentinel that
Homeland Security investigations runs to tackle and dismantle
their infrastructure, working with our intelligence community
partners, working with the Department of Justice in Operation
Alpha. We have so many different multifaceted efforts underway.
It's really unprecedented the level of intensity that we are
bringing to tackling the transnational criminal organizations
and the human smugglers.
Ms. Jackson Lee. In the course of that work let me also say
that there are organizations like CBP, Border Patrol, and ICE.
I want to make sure that your administration also as they do
their work; and I applaud them for their work--and I do want to
as well acknowledge the individual, National Guard Specialist
Bishop E. Evans. I want to express my deepest sympathy to his
family and my respect for his service. We honor him.
I want to make sure as we go forward you infuse into all
that the idea of equity and justice in terms of those migrants
and others who are treated under these particular agencies and
subagencies. Is that correct?
Secretary Mayorkas. Yes, it is, Congresswoman.
Ms. Jackson Lee. So, let me quickly go to an issue that
continues to be spoken about by Director Wray is that the
largest threat to the United States is domestic terrorism and
the increase in White supremacy. I don't think it has changed
from a couple of months ago to today.
Give me the deep dive that you have done on thwarting
domestic terrorism, particularly the rise in violence against
minority institutions and faith institutions and how we are
protecting Americans through that effort, please.
Secretary Mayorkas. So, our efforts are so expansive, I
won't be able to cover them all, and I would be pleased to
provide further information to you, Madam Congresswoman,
subsequent to this hearing.
Let me give you two important examples: We created a
Domestic Terrorism Branch within our Office of Intelligence and
Analysis and it has been disseminating and unprecedented level
of information and intelligence throughout the nation to our
State, local, tribal, and territorial partners so that they are
equipped with our latest intelligence and data so that they can
counter the threat.
We created the Centers for Prevention Programs and
Partnership, we term it CP3, to equip and resource local
communities with information and funds so that they can tackle
the radicalization to violence. It's the connectivity to
violence that we are focused upon, so that they can ably do it.
Our front-line personnel, our brave personnel in uniform
throughout this country are the first line of defense.
Chair Nadler. The gentlelady's time has expired.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you, the gentleman. Thank you,
Secretary.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Chair Nadler. Mr. Gohmert?
Mr. Gohmert. Thank you. Secretary Mayorkas, in a meeting
some of us had with you April 5 you agreed to find out who gave
the order to prevent Members of Congress like me from going
undeterred to the border to see for ourselves what is
happening. Did you find out where that came from? Because the
region said--the regional director said it came from
Washington.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, I have inquired, and I'm
not aware of any such order. I was not able to identify any
such order. In fact, of course, quite a number of CODELs have
occurred since you and I met in April.
Mr. Gohmert. Right, but those, normally, they are escorted
where they're allowed to see, instead of like those of us that
have oversight of the Border Patrol, we like to go down and
just see for ourselves--no dog and pony tour--but see for
ourselves what's happening. You agree that is appropriate,
correct?
Secretary Mayorkas. Yes.
Mr. Gohmert. Okay.
Secretary Mayorkas. There are certain parameters, quite
frankly, for the safety and well-being of those who wish to
tour the border. So, for example--
Mr. Gohmert. For a Member of Congress that wants to go
down, as I've done for the last 17\1/2\ years, we have to
understand we assume the risk when we get there. So, I'll make
sure I have a recording of you indicating that it's okay for
whomever has been given that kind of order.
Now, we heard the Chair say the prior administration
dismantled the immigration system. He said the prior
administration did all they could to destroy the immigration
system. He said they implemented a Muslim ban.
So, we can set the record straight--and I know it is not
intentional misleading - but, even the courts have made clear
there was no Muslim ban. Muslims were allowed in. There were
specific countries that had extraordinary numbers of
terrorists. Those were the countries where there was a ban.
There was no Muslim ban.
So, I do know want to know, though, you say immigrants are
placed in immigration proceedings, but you didn't say where
they go during those proceedings. They remain in the United
States. When you say somebody's placed in immigration
proceedings, and then, you further clarified that some are
detained, if they are not detained, the vast majority go
released around the country, correct?
Secretary Mayorkas. No. Quite a significant number are
placed on alternatives to detention. We use the acronym ATD.
There are different levels of alternatives to detention,
depending on the risk profile that--
Mr. Gohmert. You ship many of those people that are not
detained and are these other categories around the country,
correct?
Secretary Mayorkas. Yes, on alternatives to detention,
which can--
Mr. Gohmert. That's one of the things you're looking to
increase the money for, is to pay NGOs and have your own folks
who can help get those people shipped around the country,
correct?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, if I can explain--
Mr. Gohmert. You have asked for an increase in that amount
of money, correct?
Secretary Mayorkas. Yes. Yes, we have because--
Mr. Gohmert. So, I'm wanting to know, though, who makes the
decision where these different busloads, planeloads,
trainloads, who makes the decision where they are going to go
in the country?
Secretary Mayorkas. So, Congressman, there are different
tiers of disposition, depending on the risk profile that--
Mr. Gohmert. I'm wanting to know who makes those
determinations. I just want to know who makes the
determination. I don't have time for filibustering.
Secretary Mayorkas. No, Congressman, I'm trying to answer
your question about it.
Mr. Gohmert. Yes, who makes that determination in those
categories?
Secretary Mayorkas. Your Honor--oh, Your Honor? --that's my
days as a prosecutor. Congressman, Immigration and Customs
Enforcement makes a determination, subject to the Immigration
Court judge, as to who is placed in detention. Then, the
alternative--
Mr. Gohmert. Who makes that decision in ICE?
Secretary Mayorkas. The ICE personnel with expertise make a
decision with respect to who should be detained.
Mr. Gohmert. Wow, it sounds like a court chamber; we don't
get to know who is making the decision to send people to these
neighborhoods.
Well, I've only got 27 seconds. Let me just say, as you
know, article 4, section 4, says the Federal government is
going to keep the States free from invasion. That hasn't
happened. There was Poncho Villa's guys in 1916. They came in
and killed 19, 18-19 people in New Mexico. That was considered
an invasion. We're losing 100,000 a year. What will be your
response when Texas repels the invasion?
Chair Nadler. The time of the gentleman, the time of the
gentleman has expired. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. Gohmert. Sir, you allowed two minutes beyond your time
to let the Witness answer the question.
Chair Nadler. My policy--excuse me.
Let me explain exactly what I'm doing, so everybody knows.
Mr. Gohmert. Okay.
Chair Nadler. Okay? If someone has asked a question before
the clock expires, I let the Witness answer.
Mr. Gohmert. The majority of the question was asked.
Chair Nadler. If the Witness is in the process of answering
a question, I let him finish. You've heard me say the time of
the gentleman or gentlelady has expired; the Witness may answer
the question.
Mr. Gohmert. Correct.
Chair Nadler. You weren't asking a question.
Mr. Gohmert. Yes, I was.
Chair Nadler. You were stating a fact. There was no
question. What is the question in front of--so, that's why I
cut it off at that point.
Mr. Cohen?
Mr. Cohen. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Tiffany. Point of order, Mr. Chair.
Chair Nadler. Yes, the gentleman will State his point of
order.
Mr. Tiffany. The gentlelady from California, her question
ended at 21 seconds in the red, and then, he was allowed to
answer, the Witness was allowed to answer. Mr. Gohmert is
correct, you allowed someone to ask a question into the red, 21
seconds, by the gentlelady in California.
Chair Nadler. The gentlelady was in the course of asking a
question and I permit that, as I permitted on both sides of the
aisle.
The gentleman, Mr. Cohen--
Mr. Gohmert. Except here.
Chair Nadler. Mr. Cohen?
Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Secretary, thank you for coming before us. I appreciate
it. We've had other Cabinet Secretaries in the previous
administration who refused to come before us. So, I appreciate
your being here.
I'm very concerned with the situation in the Ukraine and
with the refugees. You may have answered this question. I've
been doing three Committees at once. So, I've been in the back
sometimes. What is being done to accommodate the Ukrainian
refugees who might want to come to the United States? I've seen
stories on TV where they've gotten to the border in Mexico and
they've maybe eventually gotten in, but they spent a long time
there, sir.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, there are three avenues to
bring humanitarian relief to the Ukrainians under the direction
of our President.
First, of course, the traditional refugee system, the
refugee program. We immediately deploy Refugee Affairs Officers
to the region to administer a request for refugee relief.
Secondly, in addition, the State Department, the State
Department issued new guidance with respect to the application
for visas for temporary stays here in the United States, in
accordance with our legal immigration system.
Third, we were very proud, under the President's direction,
to launch, this past Monday, Uniting for Ukraine, which is a
program to provide humanitarian parole to Ukrainians seeking
temporary relief here in the United States who have sponsors
here.
Mr. Cohen. I don't know if you had anything to do with
this, but there were about eight, I think eight children and
their parents who were brought to St. Jude Children's Research
Hospital in Memphis for treatment. If you did have something to
do with it, thank you. If you didn't, thanks to whoever did it.
Secretary Mayorkas. Well, thank you very much for
recognizing the extraordinary work of the people in the
Department of Homeland Security who made that possible, in
collaboration with our great colleagues in the Department of
State.
Mr. Cohen. Thank you, sir.
I visited with First Lady Biden when she came to Memphis,
and she visited with the families; we didn't, but we were
there. St. Jude is very special to us, and it's free and serves
those children, and thank you for getting them there.
Afghan interpreters, I've got quite a few people in my
district who went to Afghanistan, and they had interpreters.
They praised their work. Some of them have not gotten back over
to this country, and they have sent me messages suggesting that
there are many Afghans, and interpreters, in particular, who
are still in the queue to get here. Is there a big backlog?
What are we doing to get our friends who helped us there back
to--
Secretary Mayorkas. So, Congressman, as you well recognize,
the work, the heroic work of Operation Allies Welcome, which
brought more than 73,000 Afghan nationals here to the United
States in a matter of weeks. There remain individuals in
Afghanistan who are seeking humanitarian relief, and there are
those outside of Afghanistan doing the very same. U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services, with the Department of
State, is working through those applications as swiftly as it
can.
We ask you to understand that we are doing so with the
greatest urgency, in light of the urgent need for relief. We
are addressing an agency that was so incredibly underresourced.
We're building up those resources to be able to provide
emergent relief, as you so correctly identified the need.
Mr. Cohen. I believe one of my colleagues might have asked
you about children being separated and maybe the lawsuit, or
what's gone on with the previous administration who separated
children from their parents at the border. What's going on with
children and parents who have come together, and are there many
children coming on their own today?
Secretary Mayorkas. So, we are, through the Family
Reunification Task Force that the President directed, reuniting
separated children with their parents. We are enabling them to
reunite here in the United States. What we do is we grant them
humanitarian parole, so that they have some level of stability
for a three-year period. Of course, that is renewable,
depending on the facts of the particular case.
We have already reunited more than 200 separated families.
We have 400 more in process, and our work will not be done
until we reunite them all.
Mr. Cohen. Thank you, sir.
I just want to--I looked at your biography a little bit,
and I saw you have Sephardic, as well as Ashkenazi, roots, as
do I. My Sephardic roots came from Turkey. So, we both probably
had our families get benefits from HAIS, and the HAIS is a
great group that helps immigrants. Because of that, and knowing
that history, I feel an obligation--and I suspect you do, too,
as well--to help others who need to immigrate and leave
oppressive regimes or danger.
So, thank you for what you're doing. I know you, coming
from Cuba, it was important that you were allowed in the United
States.
Secretary Mayorkas. Thank you. Thank you, sir.
Chair Nadler. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. Issa?
Mr. Issa. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Secretary, I want to join with others in thanking you
for the expedited work being done at the U.S.-Mexico border
near San Diego, where 700-1,200 Ukrainians a day are being
processed, and the coordination that your staff has done.
There's no question at all, they've risen to the task, and I
appreciate that.
Secretary Mayorkas. Thank you, Congressman.
Mr. Issa. I also want to thank you for the service that I
know you have given as a U.S. Attorney in California.
I am disappointed--and we're going to go over it, at no
surprise today--in your current performance. In your opening
statement, you said, ``We inherited a broken system.'' I just
want, if possible, a yes or no. When you said you inherited a
broken system, was the system you say that was broken, did it
represent less people coming over the border illegally and
being admitted than today?
Secretary Mayorkas. Yes, sir. Yes, yes.
Mr. Issa. So, there were a lot less coming over?
Secretary Mayorkas. The number of encounters has increased.
Mr. Issa. Okay. So, the system that you called broken was
working relative to the Border Patrol not being swamped?
Secretary Mayorkas. Oh, I wouldn't say that at all. If I
may, Congressman, when I refer to a ``broken system,'' a broken
immigration system, I'm speaking of a broken system before the
prior administration.
Mr. Issa. Okay. I'd be the first to say that, since the
1990s, the system for legal immigration has needed reform, and
it's overdue, but--
Secretary Mayorkas. That's correct, which is why I--
Mr. Issa. Right, but there were no laws changed in 2004-
2007, the many years leading up to the Biden Administration,
and yet, we clearly have a huge influx of people. Your Border
Patrol, to be specific, they said, ``Eighteen months ago, we
were on the border; today, we're on our back.'' That is from
the Border Patrol.
I think it's extremely important. You said that the border
is secure previously. I'm hoping you someday recant that. When
you look at behind me, that was taken four or five days ago on
a CODEL, and that is the current border with the opening that
your administration continues to leave and a fence where you've
sold off the fence. Now, is that a secure border by any stretch
of the imagination?
Secretary Mayorkas. So, Congressman, if I can go back to an
initial point that you made with respect to the broken
immigration system, fundamentally, what we need is legislation
to fix it which is why I added--
Mr. Issa. Mr. Secretary--
Secretary Mayorkas. No, I'm going to--
Mr. Issa. --I have very limited time, and I want to hear
your answers--
Secretary Mayorkas. Which is why I added the word
``dismantled,'' which is what the prior administration did.
Mr. Issa. Yes.
Secretary Mayorkas. With respect to the security of the
border--
Mr. Issa. Mr. Secretary, I appreciate that you want us to
legislate, as I do. Your job is to enforce the law as it is.
Your Border Patrol's job is to deter and deny people's entrance
unless they have a bona fide ability, and you're not doing
that.
So, let me just go through a couple of quick questions.
Your own Border Patrol Chief Ortiz had said, ``They've got a
muzzle on me.'' That is a quote I got from multiple Border
Patrol Agents of what he's saying. That muzzle appears to be
telling us on CODELs just how bad it is. Having said that, we
saw it for ourselves.
Mr. Secretary, I'm going to cut right to the chase. Title
42 is something that is being talked about a lot right now.
When is title 42 going to end?
Secretary Mayorkas. The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention--
Mr. Issa. No, no, no. Just a date.
Secretary Mayorkas. Oh--
Mr. Issa. May 23rd?
Secretary Mayorkas. The CDC said May 23rd.
Mr. Issa. When we were at the border a week ago, we saw
that, on your orders--orders from Washington, but I have to
presume they were yours--title 42 has already ended. Your
Border Patrol--your Customs people were ordered to, and they
were bringing in every day as many as they could get from down
in Mexico, title 42 people that had been refused and bringing
them back in. When I asked the Agent in Charge, she told me
that they were trying to clear the backlog completely by May
23rd; they didn't know if they were going to be able to. That
is a clandestine ending of title 42. Why did you do it?
Secretary Mayorkas. I am not familiar with that, and that
is factually incorrect.
Mr. Issa. Well, that is, that is--
Secretary Mayorkas. That is not--
Mr. Issa. That is a statement that multiple members here on
the dais saw. The question is, will you come back and give us
the details of who gave that order and when it began? We have
been told, and we have witnessed, that going on at the U.S.-
Mexico border. It is going on as we speak today. So, would you
agree to come back and give us the details of who gave that
order, and whether that order was lawful?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman--
Chair Nadler. The time of the gentleman has expired. The
Witness may answer the question.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, I don't know to what order
you are referring. There is no clearing of the backlog, as you
have framed it. What we did begin to do is begin to expand the
use of expedited removal under title 8 of the United States
Code, which is an enforcement mechanism to expedite the removal
of individuals who do not have a valid basis to remain in the
United States.
Mr. Issa. Mr. Chair, for the record--I'll be brief--
multiple members here on dais were told by the Agent in Charge
the time and place that they were bringing in these individuals
who were in Mexico, were remaining in Mexico. They had been
refused under title 42. NGOs were coming, bringing them there.
We were told--
Mr. Cicilline. Point of order, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Issa. We were told that--
Mr. Cicilline. This is the same side of the aisle that's
complained. You've now had an extra minute, Mr. Issa, to make
your point.
Chair Nadler. That's not a point of order.
Finish quickly, please.
Mr. Issa. Very quickly. I just want to make sure the
record--I understand that the Secretary may not know about it,
but there are multiple Members who were told this by a
uniformed agent. I just want to make sure that was in the
record.
I thank the gentleman.
Chair Nadler. Thank you.
Mr. Johnson of Georgia?
Mr. Johnson of Georgia. Thank you, Mr. Chair, for holding
this hearing.
Welcome to the Judiciary Committee, Secretary Mayorkas.
I find it ironic that my colleagues on the other side of
the aisle want to concentrate on the southern border while
completely mischaracterizing and ignoring what's happening in
the interior of our country by right-wing extremists propelled
by the false rhetoric of the ex-President Donald Trump.
Secretary Mayorkas, a June 2021 Brennan Center report
detailed the onslaught of threats against election workers
continuing to this day. According to the survey described in
the report, one in three local election officials are concerned
about facing harassment or pressure while on the job, and one
in six local election officials have been threatened because of
their job.
In my own Congressional District, election workers from
local volunteers to senior administrators endured threats of
violence after the 2020 election, threats of hanging, firing
squads, torture, and bomb blasts.
Mr. Secretary, the department issued a February 2022
bulletin warning that, in upcoming elections, we should expect
to call for violence to be directed by democratic institutions,
political candidates, party offices, election events, and
elections workers, isn't that correct?
Secretary Mayorkas. Yes, it is, Congressman, and the
security--
Mr. Johnson of Georgia. Do you stand by that bulletin?
Secretary Mayorkas. The security of the election system is
a core responsibility of the United States Government. We are
extraordinarily proud in the department to play a leading role
in advancing the security of the elections.
Mr. Johnson of Georgia. Well, let me ask you this, Mr.
Secretary: As we speak, it's accurate to say that Americans are
being radicalized in preparation for the upcoming 2022
elections, isn't that correct?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, we are seeing a rise--
Mr. Johnson of Georgia. My time is quite limited.
Secretary Mayorkas. We are seeing a rise in misinformation
and disinformation that is attempting to strike at the
integrity of the election system and people's right to vote.
Mr. Johnson of Georgia. We're seeing on social media posts
calling election officials corrupt and calling for violence
against candidates and election officials, isn't that correct?
Secretary Mayorkas. That is, Congressman, which is exactly
why I addressed the Secretaries of State throughout this
country a few weeks ago to speak with them about the efforts
that we are making them with physical security; the resources
and information they need to ensure the safety of the electoral
system over which they preside.
Mr. Johnson of Georgia. Mr. Secretary, mimicking false
claims of ex-President Trump, we continue to see social media
posts claiming, quote, ``If our election systems continue to be
rigged and continue to be stolen, then it's going to lead to
one place, and it's bloodshed,'' correct?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, we're very well (sic) of
the spread of false narratives that have as one of their goals
an effort to radicalize individuals to violence.
Mr. Johnson of Georgia. As I understand online
radicalization and how it works, Mr. Secretary, is it fair to
say that believers of such disinformation could become lone
wolves and take it upon themselves to Act on these calls for
violence against election workers?
Secretary Mayorkas. That is a potential that we are
guarding against materializing, Congressman. That is why we
have so many different efforts underway to equip local
communities to identify individuals who very well could be
descending into violence by reason of ideologies of hate, false
narratives, or other disinformation and misinformation
propagated on social media and other platforms.
Mr. Johnson of Georgia. Well, I'm glad to know that the
department is in touch with election officials to provide them
with information about security, personal security as well as
election apparatus security, so as to protect the integrity of
our upcoming elections.
Thank you so much for your work.
With that, I yield back.
Chair Nadler. The gentleman yields back.
Mr. Biggs?
Mr. Biggs. Thank you.
Mr. Secretary and Mr. Chair, my constituents aren't worried
so much about mean tweets as they're worried and concerned
about the impacts of the crisis on the border.
So, under your leadership, DHS issued guidance that
included for CBP agents and officers to use gender-neutral
language and politically correct pronouns, is that true?
Secretary Mayorkas. Did I issue a memorandum to that
effect? Is that what you're asking?
Mr. Biggs. Guidance. Did you, DHS issue guidance?
Secretary Mayorkas. I'm not sure what piece of guidance--
Mr. Biggs. Dhs.gov--
Secretary Mayorkas. --if I may, to what guidance you're
referencing, but that does reflect the principles that we are
proud to advance.
Mr. Biggs. Okay. So, you don't recall issuing the guidance.
I'll send that into the record, without objection.
Chair Nadler. Without objection.
[The information follows:]
MR. BIGGS FOR THE RECORD
=======================================================================
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Biggs. So, you also ordered CBP and ICE to stop using
the term ``alien,'' including scrubbing websites, guidance
documents, and other materials, is that true?
Secretary Mayorkas. So, to be precise, unless the
individuals are referencing the statutory language itself, we
are using the term ``non-citizen'' to reflect the dignity of
each individual.
Mr. Biggs. All right. So, I'll introduce three articles
that support that statement as well.
[The information follows:]
MR. BIGGS FOR THE RECORD
=======================================================================
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Biggs. Did you tell the Conference of Mayors that
unlawful presence in the United States will alone not be a
basis for immigration enforcement actions?
Secretary Mayorkas. The September 30th enforcement
guidelines that I promulgated, Congressman, make a number of
different statements with respect to two very core principles.
No. 1 is the safe and effective use of limited resources--
Mr. Biggs. Could we please--
Secretary Mayorkas. --and the fact that many individuals
who are unlawfully present in the United States have been
contributing members to this country, and our resources should
not be dedicated to removing them.
Mr. Biggs. So, are you denying that, on January 20, 2022,
you told the U.S. Conference of Mayors the following: That
unlawful, quote, ``Unlawful presence in the United States will
alone not be a basis for an immigration enforcement action.''?
Secretary Mayorkas. I'm not denying that, but I am--
Mr. Biggs. Okay, great. Thank you.
Secretary Mayorkas. What I'm sharing with you, Congressman,
is that is drawn--
Mr. Biggs. The rationale for it. I appreciate that.
Secretary Mayorkas. --that is drawn from my memorandum.
Mr. Biggs. Right. So, is it true that DHS has spent
resources and time creating a Strategic Framework for
Addressing Climate Change, including the establishment of the
Climate Change Professionals Program?
Secretary Mayorkas. Yes, that is true, and we are
addressing one of the most significant threats to the homeland.
Mr. Biggs. You have, also--
Secretary Mayorkas. We see that in the increasing frequency
and gravity--
Mr. Biggs. Yes. You just have a couple of seconds. Right.
Secretary Mayorkas. Yes. We see that in the--
Mr. Biggs. So, the question was a yes or no. I appreciate
you answering the question. You said, yes, you did.
The next question--
Secretary Mayorkas. We see that in the gravity--
Mr. Biggs. --did you issue--
Secretary Mayorkas. --and frequency of--
Mr. Biggs. Right. I understand that. That's your rationale.
You and I have had this discussion, Okay?
So, did you also release the first-ever Equity Action Plan?
Secretary Mayorkas. Yes, and very proudly so.
Mr. Biggs. Great. So, here's the deal, Mr. Secretary--well,
let me just ask you another question. I think this is an
interesting question, too.
Will you commit to oppose any form of amnesty or
modification of legal status of those who are in this country
illegally who have entered during your tenure?
Secretary Mayorkas. Only Congress can provide legal status
through the laws. We administer the laws that Congress passes.
Mr. Biggs. Would you oppose the--we're not talking about
who passes laws or not. We're just talking about your
philosophy, as the DHS Secretary. Would you support amnesty or
modification of legal status?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, I fully support, and have
for many years, legislative reform that, once and for all,
fixes--
Mr. Biggs. Okay.
Secretary Mayorkas. --our broken immigration system--
Mr. Biggs. So, I'll take it that you won't make that
statement now.
Secretary Mayorkas. No, no, I actually will, if you would
allow me.
Mr. Biggs. Please. We've got just a few seconds. So, speed
it up, please.
Secretary Mayorkas. That involves a path to citizenship for
those who have been in this country for many years--
Mr. Biggs. Okay.
Secretary Mayorkas. --who've been contributing to the well-
being of our country.
Mr. Biggs. Very good. So, the answer is you would support
amnesty of some kind.
So, you said that you would--that the border is closed and
secure. You've said today you're following every law. You
understand, don't you, that the law, the Secure Fence Act of
2006, you're in total violation of that? Operational control.
You don't have the border under operational control, do you?
Section 2, what does it say? It says, ``In this section,
operational control means the prevention of all unlawful
entries into the U.S., including entries by terrorists, . . .
.''
You're not preventing entries. You're fomenting entries.
You're encouraging it. You're either accepting the Biden
Administration--and if that's the case, then you should be
impeached. If you disagree with the Biden Administration's
program, you should resign. That's where we are.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Would the gentleman yield? Would the
gentleman yield?
Chair Nadler. Mr. Deutch?
Mr. Deutch. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Secretary, good morning. Thank you for being with us.
Thank you for your thoughtful testimony.
As you know, I wrote to the President last May,
Representative Meng and I did, at a time of then-rising
antisemitism in our country amidst a series of violent attacks
last spring against the Jewish community and Jewish
institutions. When I wrote it, I urged the administration to
swiftly implement the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act to help
prosecute antisemitic hate crimes and also develop an
interagency strategy to combat antisemitism and protect
American Jews from those rising attacks.
In the response that I received from you, I was glad to see
that there are steps that have been taken over the last several
months within existing DHS programs to counter domestic violent
extremism, including anti-Jewish extremism. I was encouraged by
the prioritization of Nonprofit Security Grant Program
investments.
Mr. Secretary, the Security Grant Program, as you know, can
only go so far. Programs with a secondary or partial focus on
antisemitism can only go so far. These attacks are occurring
not only against institutions that fall under the Security
Grant Program purview, but against members of the Jewish
community, against Jewish grocery stores, against Jewish homes
and neighborhoods, and literally, out in the general public.
We already knew from the FBI that more than half of all
religion-based hate crimes occur against Jews. This week, the
ADL published its audit, which showed us that, in 2021, the
year I wrote that letter, that it was the worst year for
antisemitism ever recorded. Incidents were up over a third
above 2020, with a total of 2,717 incidents, an average of
seven attacks per day. Jewish institutions covered by the
Security Grant Program saw a 60 percent increase in attacks.
Perhaps most chilling is that there was a 167 percent increase
in assaults against members of the Jewish community. Known
White natural extremists accounted for only 18 percent of that
total.
So, while I am grateful, I appreciate the inclusion of
antisemitism in your other domestic violence extremism
programs, and your strong support for the Nonprofit Security
Grant Program, we know that we need to do more.
I would just like to take the opportunity while you are
here to ask you about what your department can do to prioritize
combating antisemitism, prosecuting antisemitic hate crimes,
and how you might lead an interagency strategy to tackle this
issue specifically.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, tragically, we are seeing
a rise in hate crimes of all types against minority communities
throughout this country, not only antisemitism. I spoke with
the Presidents of Historically Black Colleges and Universities
a few weeks ago in response to a series of bomb threats against
them.
We are, indeed, assisting in the investigation of hate
crimes and working very closely with the Department of Justice
to bring the perpetrators of that heinous crime to justice.
We are also through, our Centers for Prevention programs
and partnership resourcing local communities with funding to
the best of our abilities as our grant programs permit and,
critically, with information and advice with respect to how
they can harden their facilities without making them less
welcoming--schools, places of worship, and different types of
places of congregation.
We would be proud to enhance our efforts in this regard and
I very much look forward to speaking with you and learning your
ideas. Of course, I have been in touch with the President of
the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt, to discuss
strategies.
Mr. Deutch. Mr. Secretary, I would welcome the opportunity
to work with the administration to help formulate a whole of
government approach. When a community represents less than two
percent of the American population but is a significant
majority of all the religious-based hate crimes and when people
are being attacked on the street, being pulled out of their
chairs in restaurants and pummeled, having fireworks shot at
them as they walk down the street because they are identifiable
as members of the Jewish community, then the protection of
institutions is important.
It is the protection of lives that deserves, I would
respectfully suggest, even greater attention and I do look
forward to working closely with you to help accomplish that.
Thank you, sir.
Chair Nadler. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. Gaetz?
Mr. Gaetz. One point two million people are undetained,
free, roaming about the country. They've gone before a judge. A
judge has issued a final order of removal. How many ICE agents
do you need to deport them?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, I think what we need is
legislation to fix the broken immigration system because let
me, if I can--
Mr. Gaetz. We don't need legislation to overcome a final
order of removal. Right? Look, I get it. You want comprehensive
immigration reform and a big amnesty thing. Very unlikely
that's going to happen. So, we have to operate under the laws
that exist now.
So, under the laws that exist now, a judge has told 1.2
million people that they have no right to be here. Do you plan
to remove those 1.2 million people?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, with the resources we
have--and I would appreciate the opportunity to answer your
question fully--with the resources we have, we have to allocate
those resources to address the greatest--
Mr. Gaetz. How much money do you need to deport all them?
How much money? How many agents?
Secretary Mayorkas. To--
Mr. Gaetz. To deport the 1.2 million who a judge has said
has no right to be here.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, there are a number of
questions that your question raises with respect to whether all
those individuals actually have been given due process just
because--
Mr. Gaetz. No. No. No. They have. These are the people
who've had the due process. Okay. Here's the point. You have no
plan to remove them.
You don't know how many ICE agents it would take, and you
don't know how much money it would take because you actually
don't want to remove them. That's why you issued this September
30 guidance that says, well, if you haven't committed a crime
and you just came to our country illegally we're not going to
remove you. Isn't that your position?
Secretary Mayorkas. No, it isn't, Congressman. Not at all.
You just stated--
Mr. Gaetz. Then what is your plan to remove the 1.2
million?
Secretary Mayorkas. Let me--if I may--
Mr. Gaetz. Do you have one?
Secretary Mayorkas. Yes, we do. If I may, Congressman.
As a former prosecutor, let me ask you a question. If one
has a finite amount of resources and one has a finite number of
hours, and one has a choice of removing 20 shoplifters or three
fugitive armed bank robbers, how would you spend your time?
Mr. Gaetz. I know how you've spent yours. I know how you've
spent yours.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman--
Mr. Gaetz. By decreasing by 48 percent, the number of
criminals you arrest, deporting 63 percent fewer convicted
criminals. You have the lowest deportation rate in the history
of the department, right?
Secretary Mayorkas. Your data that you cite is misleading.
Mr. Gaetz. No, it's your data. This is actually what your
own agency is reporting.
So, do you think that it just might be the case that one
reason that we will encounter the highest number of illegal
immigrations in our nation's history this month and next month
because everybody knows that even if they come here, even if
they go through the removal procedures, even if a judge issues
a final order, you still think there might be more due process
and you have no plan to remove them, and then when I ask you
what the plan is, you say, oh, well, resources--I got to make
finite decisions.
I go back to my first question. How many ICE agents to
remove the 1.2 million?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, I'd be pleased to provide
you with a resourcing data subsequent to this hearing, if I
may.
Mr. Gaetz. I think it's telling that you got plans for
pronouns and you got plans for misinformation. When it comes to
the plan to remove the people that have had due process you
don't have one at all.
Now, 800,000 people have encountered your CBP agents and
those folks have been released into the country. Like, some of
those people are going to commit crimes, aren't they?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, may I have a moment to
answer your questions?
Mr. Gaetz. Will some of the 800,000 commit crimes, yes or
no?
Secretary Mayorkas. Undoubtedly.
Mr. Gaetz. Undoubtedly. So, the Americans who are the
victims of the crimes for the people that you released in the
country are collateral damage that you are willing to accept to
have our border function as a turnstile and you're willing to
accept that collateral damage?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, I couldn't disagree with
you more. Let me give you, if I can, some data that will
actually--
Mr. Gaetz. More than the data, how about this? How did it
feel to you when you went to the border and the Border Patrol
agents turned their back on you?
Secretary Mayorkas. One Border Patrol agent turned his back
on me, and I addressed that, as the leader--
Mr. Gaetz. There was only one?
Secretary Mayorkas. --the leader of the Department of
Homeland Security. So, if I can return to data because I want
to--
Mr. Gaetz. We see the data.
Secretary Mayorkas. --make sure that you have accurate
information--
Mr. Gaetz. Everyone knows that you have more people coming
in than ever and you're removing fewer people than ever and
it's because you have no plan and because it's on purpose.
See, I don't buy the theory that you don't know how to do
this. I think you're actually a highly competent dude. The
reality is your plan is to bring these people in and to send
the message to the smugglers and the criminals that they will
never have to leave.
That's why your workforce turns their back on you. You have
tools that you could use to deport these people. You have
facial recognition. You have flights going all over the country
dropping people off, and I think we ought to use the best tools
in the country to find these folks, round them up like they
were at the Capitol on January 6th and deport every last one of
them.
I yield back.
Chair Nadler. The gentleman yields back.
Ms. Bass?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, may I have a moment to
answer a question?
Chair Nadler. No. No. He didn't ask a question.
Ms. Bass?
Ms. Bass. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Mr.
Secretary. I want to especially point out your patience for
putting up with all the theatrics.
I want to echo what Chair Nadler has already stated about
your efforts to reunify children with their families. The last
administration's policy of State-sponsored abuse of children, I
believe, will go down as one of the worst moments in our
history, and the trauma inflicted on those who have been torn
apart from their families will be lifelong.
On that note, could you speak a little more about those
children detained by DHS? I want to know, in particular, where
some of the children were found, whether they were with family
members. Do you know if any of them--the children--were
recovered from traffickers?
I'd also like to know about the relationship with the
domestic foster care system. How many of these children ended
up in foster care?
For those children who are in the process of being reunited
with their family, I believe you said that there are about 500
more. I wanted to know what is the process? What do you think?
Are you concerned that some of these children will not be able
to be reunited with their families?
I know with the last administration the families had to pay
to have their children returned. I want to know if we are
providing any assistance, especially to the families to help
them recover from the trauma of being separated.
Then, finally, in the past the administration administered
or issued contracts so quickly and we know that many of the
facilities were subpar. We know that many of the children were
abused, and I want to know if the Department of Homeland
Security is pursuing any of this.
Please take the rest of the time to answer all those
questions.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, thank you so much for
speaking of an effort that we're very proud to lead under the
leadership of President Biden.
I'm the Chair of the Family Reunification Task Force. We
already have reunified approximately 200--more than 200
children who were cruelly separated from their parents under
the prior administration's family separation policy.
We have approximately 400 more children in process so that
we can reunify them with their parents. We anticipate or we
estimate, I should say, a total of a thousand families that
remain to be reunited.
We are, to the extent of our capabilities, providing
resources to the families who are reunified here in the United
States under our grant of humanitarian parole.
I look forward to following up with you, Congresswoman, to
identify how many of the children here in the United States
were placed into foster care and we are, certainly, very
focused on the facilities in which children are sheltered.
That is something within the province of the Department of
Health and Human Services, and we have contributed resources to
the department to advance the wellbeing of those children.
This is an all government effort under President Biden's
direction and each and every agency involved in this effort is
extraordinarily proud to bring relief to these traumatized
families.
Chair Nadler. Karen, your mic's off.
Ms. Bass. I'm sorry. For the families--for the children
that have been reunited, do those families have to pay for
their children? Then feel free to take the rest of the time
responding to the attacks from my colleague, Representative
Gaetz.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, we do not impose
financial fee to reunify families. We're trying to restore
families that have suffered so very much.
I want to just give--and thank you for the opportunity--to
give a few statistics. In fiscal year 2021, 12,025 individuals
were arrested and were convicted of aggravated felonies, nearly
double the number, 6,815 arrested in fiscal year 2020.
Again, in fiscal year 2021, of the individuals removed 46
percent of the removals were for people convicted of felonies
or aggravated felonies, compared to 18 percent during the
previous four years and 17 percent the year before that.
This is what we call smart and effective law enforcement to
focus on those individuals who pose the greatest threat to
public safety, national security, or border security. Thank
you.
Ms. Bass. Thank you for your service. I yield back.
Chair Nadler. The gentlelady yields back, I assume.
Ms. Bass. Yeah, I yield back. My time is up.
Chair Nadler. The gentlelady yields back.
Mr. Bishop?
Mr. Bishop. Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's useful to have a
follow-up opportunity when seeking answers from you, Mr.
Secretary. We were together yesterday when I was in Homeland
Security, and Mr. Gaetz's questions sort of put a fine point on
something for me.
I asked you yesterday about Americans who may be subject to
crimes committed by the 836,000 that are released into the
country and what you'd have to say to them.
We went back and forth because I was having a hard time
getting a straight answer and, ultimately, you went back to
what I hear you say a lot, that they've got the right to assert
an asylum claim.
When you hear the real numbers and what Mr. Gaetz just
asked you about, let's get the real numbers. There's 836,000
people released. There's 600,000, give or take, got aways that
Border Patrol knows they weren't able to capture because
they're distracted by changing diapers and processing people.
Then you've got 1.2 million people subject to an order of
deportation who you're not removing. As you said, undoubtedly,
some of those 2.6 million people in the country by your
discretionary choice will commit crimes.
So, I want to go back to the question I asked. Do you have
anything to say to the American people, the victims of the
crimes those people will commit who are here by your
discretion?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, we do not tolerate the
commission of crimes in the United States. We have laws to
address those crimes. It is not--
Mr. Bishop. Is that what you intend to tell the people
who've been subjected to the victim--who are the victims of the
crimes?
Secretary Mayorkas. I have worked with victims of crime for
more than 12 of my 20 years in government service, and so we do
not tolerate the commission of crimes here in the United States
against individuals present in the United States.
It is not my discretionary choice. It is by operation of
law, of the laws that the United States Congress has passed,
that individuals who make a claim for asylum have a right--
Mr. Bishop. How about the individuals--
Secretary Mayorkas. --have a right to vindicate their
asylum claims--
Mr. Bishop. You're not suggesting to this Committee, are
you, sir, that the people who are subject to an order of
detention cannot be removed by law? You're not suggesting that
to this Committee?
Secretary Mayorkas. That is not what I said at all.
Mr. Bishop. All right. The people that--the rest of the
people, the people who you released, not all those people are
required to be released, are they? You could detain them.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, we are funded for a
certain number of immigration--
Mr. Bishop. Your budget request reduces the amount of bed
space you request to detain people. Isn't that right?
Secretary Mayorkas. Yes. Our fiscal year 2023 budget
requests 25,000 detention beds and the numbers, as you have
readily identified--the number of detention beds over the last
many years has not met the number of individuals who are in
asylum proceedings, and detention--
Mr. Bishop. So, you're reducing the ones you're requesting.
Secretary Mayorkas. Detention is used--Congressman,
detention is used to address the greatest public safety
threats. In the criminal justice system, there is, also,
detention is used.
Before a trial reaches a final adjudication, detention is
used for two purposes:
(1) To protect the public safety if there is no condition or
combination of conditions that can secure the public safety
during the pendency of the criminal proceedings, and
(2) to ensure the individual's continued appearance in
proceedings.
Mr. Bishop. The rest of the people who are committing
crimes, the people who suffer are the victims of the crimes are
just left on their own. You have no answer for them.
Secretary Mayorkas. That is--and that is--
Mr. Bishop. Let me ask you a question about security. I've
given you a lot of time, Mr. Secretary, to go on. Let me ask
you about security. You've said that DHS assesses that domestic
violent extremists present the greatest risk to the homeland,
and that struck me.
I want to ask you this question. Are you including as
domestic risks--domestic violent extremist risk--those 2.6
million people who are here by your discretion?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, my statement is that
domestic violent extremism represents the greatest terrorism-
related threat to the homeland. That is--
Mr. Bishop. How do you know that none of the 2.6 million,
including the 600,000 got aways you don't even know who they
are, and you know 41 on the terror watch list have been
encountered, how do you know those people aren't a source of
risk of terrorism?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, the individuals that we
have encountered on the terrorism screening database, the TSDV
is--
Mr. Bishop. You're not answering my question. I've got 22
seconds. I'm going to pose one more question.
Do you know Ramzi Yousef, a claimed asylum, right, and you
know that he has to go and be released into the country on an
assertion of credible fear. He was released and six months
later he bombed the World Trade Center.
Among the 600,000 got aways, just that small portion, Mr.
Secretary, how do you know that we're--are you waiting for a
mushroom cloud?
Chair Nadler. The time of the gentleman has expired. The
Witness may answer the question.
Secretary Mayorkas. Mr. Chair, I won't dignify that last
question with a response.
Chair Nadler. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. Cicilline?
Mr. Cicilline. Mr. Secretary, thank you so much for being
here. Just in case there's any mystery about why you're not
being allowed to answer questions by my colleagues on the other
side of the aisle or why they're not interested in your
reference to data or misleading statements or making statements
which are inaccurate that you've corrected for them, well, it's
actually--there's a plan about this.
They're not actually interested in that because they have a
60-page memo prepared by the Ranking Member of this Committee,
as reported in the newspaper, that's a memo that includes
misleading and provocative talking points that seek to portray
migrants and refugees as perpetrators of gruesome crimes.
It's a confidential for internal use only document and it's
prepared so that the Republicans can argue that Democrats are
seeking to--listen to this--abolish all immigration enforcement
and even encourage illegal immigration.
So, don't be confused. With all due respect, Mr. Secretary,
of your ongoing efforts to actually put data and information
before the Committee.
There's a whole plan about what this hearing is about and
it's about creating Fox News spots that they can use for
politics, and I regret that you have to be part of it.
I'm grateful for your presence here today, and so I have
three very specific questions, in addition to wanting to
express my gratitude for all that you're doing.
That video that was, again, designed to be scary showed you
are preventing dangerous individuals from coming into the
United States, arresting drug kingpins, seizing caches of
drugs, and disrupting human trafficking. Sounds like you're
doing exactly what we expect you and your department to do and
for that, we're grateful.
First question is there been a number of very anti-LGBT
laws passed around the country that have put families and,
particularly, parents at risk--in Texas, for example, an
Executive Order that demanded the investigation of parents who
were providing their trans children with healthcare, a position
supported by every medical association.
In response, the United States Air Force has announced it
will provide legal, medical, and other resources to employees
whose families are impacted by these anti-LGBTQ laws, including
reassignments to other States if necessary.
My question, Mr. Secretary, is will you commit to providing
similar resources to DHS employees whose families are impacted
by these anti-LGBTQ laws?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, let me, if I can, make a
very important statement.
Diversity, equity, inclusion, opportunity is one of our
core principles. It is one of our priorities for fiscal year
2022 and beyond. We're investing in employee wellbeing and
employee morale.
Mr. Cicilline. Thank you, and I hope you will look at the
practices that the United States Air Force has adopted and
consider doing exactly the same thing.
Mr. Secretary, last week, you announced a new streamlined
process for Ukrainians to enter United States for humanitarian
parole in the refugee program and, of course, this is very much
needed.
Can you discuss the actions you're taking to ensure that we
reach these 100,000 numbers? Also, what can Congress do to
support it?
If you could do it quickly, I have one last question.
Secretary Mayorkas. Very quickly, as I mentioned
previously, we have the Uniting for Ukraine program, which is a
humanitarian parole program. We've already received, I believe,
more than 4,000 applications and we launched the program on
Monday. We also deployed our refugee affairs officers to the
region to accept refugee applications.
So, we are going full throttle to realize the President's
commitment to provide refugee relief for 100,000 Ukrainians.
Mr. Cicilline. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
Finally, our nation's refugee and asylum programs were once
called by the evangelical leadership of this country as the
crown jewel of America's humanitarian work.
As you know, Mr. Secretary, the prior administration--the
Trump Administration--dismantled our refugee admissions program
and set historically low refugee admission goals. They
decimated the capacity of refugee resettlement organizations
and delayed the pipeline of refugees ready for processing in
the United States.
Fortunately, President Biden has begun to reverse that
process. Can you discuss what your department is doing to
increase our nation's ability to accept and resettle refugees?
Why have the refugee admission numbers been so low even
this year? What can Congress do to support our refugee program
to ensure that America continues to be the crown jewel of the
refugee and asylum program that other people around the world
look to as an example of what a great humanitarian effort is?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, thank you so much for your
interest in these critical programs, and we were and are so
proud to, once again, lead the world in doing so.
We are hiring personnel so that our personnel can
administer applications for refugee status and can administer
applications for asylum, and one of the requests in the
President's fiscal year 2023 budget is to appropriate funds to
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services so that we can
advance the recruitment and hiring efforts.
We will, of course, promulgate a fee rule that will equip
USCIS with additional resources to hire those personnel which
are so vital. The work they do is so incredibly noble.
Mr. Cicilline. Thank you so much, Mr. Secretary, and thank
you for your service to our country.
With that, Mr. Chair, I yield back.
Chair Nadler. The gentleman yields back.
Mr. Buck?
Mr. Buck. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Secretary Mayorkas, Americans are mad, and they are
particularly mad at you. In fact, even President Biden had to
appoint the Vice President to help you do your job.
When I listen to the constituents in my district, they
believe you have intentionally made our border less secure.
When I listen to my colleagues, they believe you have acted
intentionally to make the border less secure.
My constituents distinguish between your actions and the
actions of other Biden Administration officials. Americans are
mad at Secretary Austin, for example, because he removed
military personnel for not taking the COVID vaccine.
Americans are mad that the Biden Administration reduced oil
and gas production and we see the result at the pump. There are
a number of bad policies from the Biden White House, but
Americans believe what you've done is intentional.
You've stopped the building of the wall that deterred
illegal immigrants from coming to this country. You've
terminated asylum cooperative agreements with Guatemala, El
Salvador, and Nicaragua.
You're trying to revoke title 42. You are funding
organizations that work in foreign countries to encourage
illegal immigrants to come to America.
The result is the largest increase in illegal immigration
in the history of the United States. You've allowed thousands
of pounds of fentanyl to come into this country.
Fentanyl overdose is now the leading cause of death for
adults between the ages of 18-45. You're responsible for
thousands of young girls being forced into prostitution in this
country.
The Americans I speak to believe you have intentionally
undermined the mission of the Department of Homeland Security,
that mission being to ensure a safe, secure, and prosperous
homeland.
Secretary Mayorkas. To safeguard our people, our homeland,
and our values.
Mr. Buck. There you go. American parents are frustrated
that their kids can't get an education because half of the
students in the elementary schools where their kids go are
monolingual Spanish-speaking kids that require additional care,
and that care is coming from their kids' classrooms.
Americans are mad that their relatives with serious medical
conditions are waiting in line at the emergency room being used
by illegal immigrants to treat common ailments.
American workers are mad that their wages are being
suppressed by the mass influx of laborers. Many of my
constituents have asked me whether you will be impeached when
Republicans gained control next year.
They don't believe that you've committed a high crime and
they don't believe that you've committed a misdemeanor. My
constituents want you impeached because they believe you've
committed treason. They believe you're a traitor. They compare
you to Benedict Arnold. No parent with the last name Arnold
names their kid Benedict. They wonder, what would the Mayorkas
family do down the road?
Secretary Mayorkas, I was at an event this past weekend and
a lady approached me and asked me if you felt any shame for
what you've done to this country.
My question for you, Secretary Mayorkas, is very simple.
Would you please answer that lady's question? Are you ashamed
for what you've done to this country?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, I have so much to say in
response to what you have just said.
Mr. Buck. You got a minute and 17 seconds to say it.
Secretary Mayorkas. It is so profoundly offensive on so
many different levels, in so many different regards. I won't
ask you for an apology.
Mr. Buck. Don't.
Secretary Mayorkas. I won't. Let me share with you just
quite succinctly, I am incredibly proud of my service to this
country. It is more than 20 years of service in the civilian
corps, as a Federal prosecutor, and as a member of the
Department of Homeland Security.
I am immensely proud to work alongside the selfless,
dedicated, and talented 250,000 personnel of the Department of
Homeland Security in the service of the American people to
secure our homeland, to secure them, and to secure our values.
That is my response.
Mr. Buck. What do you say to the mothers of the children
who have died from the fentanyl overdoses? What do you say to
all the people out there who can't get an education because of
what you've done with immigration in this country?
You've secured the homeland? It's a farce. It's an absolute
farce.
I yield back.
Chair Nadler. The gentleman yields back.
Mr. Lieu?
Mr. Lieu. Thank you, Chair Nadler. Thank you, Secretary
Mayorkas, for your distinguished public service.
An American President told the American people that all
their problems were because of the southern border. Sounds just
like my colleague from Colorado, that all your problems are
because of the southern border. He railed against the border.
He tried to close it. He talked about the drugs at the border.
That American President was Richard Nixon in 1969 and he
launched Operation Intercept to shut down, virtually, the
southern border and after three weeks, he gave up. He failed.
His policies failed to stop the migrants coming to the
United States, and so did the policies of every other
President--President Ford, Carter, Reagan, George W. Bush,
Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Obama, and Trump.
In fact, under the Trump Administration, migrant
apprehensions increased to 851,000 in May of 2019, more than
double the year before. A 140,000 migrant encounters occurred
in May of 2019.
So, my question to you is: It's true, isn't it, that the
issues of the southern border have been there for more than
half a century?
Secretary Mayorkas. That is true, Congressman.
Mr. Lieu. My Republican colleagues somehow say this is a
new problem that's just hogwash. So, let's talk about one of
the more ineffective solutions, which is the wall.
The former President said Mexico would pay for the wall.
Did Mexico pay for the wall?
Secretary Mayorkas. No, it did not.
Mr. Lieu. Okay. The southern border is approximately 1,933
miles long, is that correct?
Secretary Mayorkas. Approximately, yes.
Mr. Lieu. In four years, all the former President managed
to do was built approximately 455 miles, of which only 49 were
in places where there weren't already physical barriers, is
that correct?
Secretary Mayorkas. I'm not familiar, Congressman, with the
precise amount of mileage that was built, but it certainly
didn't expand the entire territory of the southern border. Nor
is it the most effective means of securing--
Mr. Lieu. In fact, the public reporting is that there has
been over 3,000 times this wall was sawed by people trying to
cross, isn't that right?
Secretary Mayorkas. I have read a report that estimates
that number of attempted incursions.
Mr. Lieu. An overwhelming majority of this wall was built
in places where there already was a previous physical barrier,
isn't that right?
Secretary Mayorkas. I believe so, Congressman.
Mr. Lieu. Thank you. By my calculation, the former
President in four years only built new barriers in 2.5 percent
of our entire southern border. So, let me just tell you a story
about why I think every administration has had problems with
migrant flow.
A few weeks ago, I met with a Colombian refugee. She left
Colombia, and I asked why she left. She said narco traffickers
had killed her father. The line I kept remembering was she just
wanted the body back. They just wanted her father's body so
they could give him a proper burial.
So, her brother negotiated with these bad people to get the
body. When the brother showed up, they killed him. Then they
went after her husband and killed her husband. Then she fled
with her three children. If any of us were in that situation,
we would flee too.
Migrant flow is a very complicated issue. To really solve
this you would need comprehensive immigration reform. So, let
me ask you, do you agree that if we really want to solve the
problems at the southern border, we would need comprehensive
immigration reform?
Secretary Mayorkas. We would, Congressman, need legislation
indeed to fix what has long been a broken immigration system.
Not just with respect to the southern border, but in many, many
regards.
Mr. Lieu. I'm pleased the Bloomberg has reported that there
is a bipartisan group of Senators meeting, including Senator
Thom Tillis and Democrats, talking about bipartisan legislation
to try to address the real issues facing the southern border.
So, let me ask you, what would some of those pieces of
legislation look like that you would like to see?
Secretary Mayorkas. So, there are many pieces that have
been discussed and that I support. One, of course, a
fundamental, is a path to citizenship.
We have approximately 11-12 million undocumented
individuals here in the United States. Programs that recognize
immigrants' contributions to the prosperity of our nation, to
fix the path for farm workers to citizenship and provide
citizenship for the DREAMers, the young children who really
have known no other country but America.
Who've been on our front lines and contributed to our
communities in so many different regards, whether it's in
response to the COVID-19 pandemic, or have taught our children,
or worked in our faith-based institutions, to recognize the
contributions of individuals who have made this country
everything that it can and should be.
Mr. Lieu. Thank you, and I yield back.
Chair Nadler. The gentleman yields back. Mr. Jordan.
Mr. Jordan. Mr. Secretary, have you done anything right?
When it comes to our border, have you done anything right?
Record number last July, record number of illegal migrants
coming into our country last July. That record was just broken
last month, and next month you're going to make it worse.
Agents turning their back on you when you speak. Agents on
video on horseback patrol doing their job, Democrats call them
racist. You guys throw them under the bus.
Fentanyl coming across our border like we've never seen
before. Are you doing anything right when it comes to the
border?
Secretary Mayorkas. Well, Congressman, so you mention I've
done a tremendous number of things correct and which I am very
proud. Let me just pick up on one element of your question, and
that's the element of fentanyl.
Because the effort to smuggle fentanyl into our country
actually comes through the ports of entry, and we have
increased the interdiction of fentanyl by quite a significant
amount through the technological resources.
Mr. Jordan. We appreciate that. I think there are lots of
families that have been impacted by this drug that would have a
different take on that, but we appreciate what you are doing at
the ports of entry. That doesn't take into account what's
happening outside the ports of entry.
Let me just ask you this question, because this gets to the
numbers and the records that you have broken month after month
after month after month. Five months in a row, and then of
course, that record was just broken last month.
Do you think that maybe, just maybe, your actions and your
policies are encouraging migrants to come to the border? A
moratorium on deportations was announced on day one by
President Biden. You've ended remain in Mexico. You've ended
agreements with Northern Triangle countries.
You've stopped building the wall, and in 25 days title 42
goes away. Do you think that's encouraging people to come to
the border?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, the increase at the border
is the result of a number of factors, and it's a regional
phenomenon.
Mr. Jordan. Maybe a number of factors, I'm asking about
those specific factors, your actions and policies.
Secretary Mayorkas. I do not. I think that--
Mr. Jordan. You don't?
Secretary Mayorkas. I think that individuals--
Mr. Jordan. Come on, come on. You went to Berkeley, you
went to Loyola, you're no dummy. You understand--the folks I
represent, good people, they understand that when you put those
kinds of policies in place, that encourages, incentivizes
people to come.
I haven't even talked about the biggest incentive, Mr.
Secretary. The biggest incentive for people to come is they
know they're going to get released. You're going to let them
go. Come to America illegally. There's no wall to stop you. We
won't deport you. You won't have to stay in Mexico while we
check you out.
You'll get released to wherever you want to go. We'll put
you on a bus or we'll put you on a plane. Now, you may have to
fly in the middle of the night, because we don't want the
American taxpayers who are paying for this, we don't want you
to know where you're going and that we're doing this.
Of course, when they get there, this is just so common
sense. Again, the folks I get the privilege of representing
understand that when they get there, you know what they're
going to do? They're going to get on their phone. It may not be
the phone you gave them, but they're going to get on their
phone and they're going to call back home.
They'll say hey, come to America. Mayorkas is letting you
in. They won't even call, they'll probably FaceTime. Hey, look,
I made it. Show it around. That's what they're going to do.
That's what your policies have incentivized.
The part that bugs me is that is so unfair to the American
taxpayer and the American citizen. Maybe, most importantly, Mr.
Secretary, I think that's unfair to the people who came here
legally, the immigrants who did it the right way. I think it's
unfair to them. I think it's spitting in their face.
Your policies are driving this influx. We have seen the
record after record.
Secretary Mayorkas. Ranking Member Jordan, can I answer
your question?
Mr. Jordan. I just paused.
Secretary Mayorkas. I want to speak of one success. First,
I'll return very quickly to the issue of fentanyl.
Mr. Jordan. Oh, yeah.
Secretary Mayorkas. Opioid overdose deaths. In 2020, there
were approximately 50 percnet more opioid deaths in this
country than over 2019, 2020 versus 2019. The scourge of
illegal drugs in this country--
Mr. Jordan. Let me ask you this. Look, I want you to answer
the question of your actions and your policies are driving and
incentivizing people to come--
Secretary Mayorkas. Let me give you--let me give you--
Mr. Jordan. People of common sense know that they are. Let
me ask you this: Do you think when you release 836,225 illegal
immigrants into our country, do you think that is actually
accomplishing the objective of the cartels?
These people pay the cartels money to get here, pay them
lots of money, for them lots of money, to get here. Then you're
actually releasing them. Isn't that sort of accomplishing the
objective of the cartels?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, those are individuals who
have claimed asylum under our laws.
Let me speak of one success since I didn't have that
opportunity to answer your question. In 2010, when I was in the
Department of Homeland Security, I was told that one of the
infirmities in our system is it takes six to eight years
between the time of encounter at the border and the time of a
final adjudication of an asylum claim. That was in 2010.
Nothing was done to address that until this administration.
We promulgated--
Mr. Jordan. As Mr. Gaetz pointed out, Mr. Secretary, 1.2
million of them went through that process. They're supposed to
be removed, and you're not doing it.
Secretary Mayorkas. We promulgated an asylum--
Mr. Jordan. You're not doing it.
Secretary Mayorkas. We promulgated an asylum officer rule
that is taking effect at the end of May.
Mr. Jordan. Let me ask you one last thing.
Secretary Mayorkas. (Inaudible)
Mr. Jordan. Forty-two illegal--42 illegal immigrants were
encountered at our border, are on the terrorist and no-fly
list. Are any of them still in our country?
Ms. Scanlon. The gentleman's time has expired.
Mr. Jordan. This is the important question for this
Committee. Are any of them still in our country?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, I will deliver to you a
response with respect to--
Mr. Jordan. No, no, no, that's a simple question. Are
terrorist--people on the terrorist watch list or no-fly list,
are they still in the United States that you've encountered on
the border?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, some of them may be still
in detention. So, I will--
Mr. Jordan. Have any of them been released? Have any of
them been released?
Ms. Scanlon. The gentleman's time has expired.
Mr. Jordan. This is critical for the--
Ms. Scanlon. The Chair recognizes--
Mr. Jordan. You got 42--have they been released?
Ms. Scanlon. The gentlewoman, Ms. Jayapal.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, I will provide you with--
Ms. Jayapal. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Mr. Jordan. They may have been released.
Ms. Jayapal. Thank you, Madam Chair, thank you, Madam
Chair. Ranking Member, I believe it is my time.
Mr. Jordan. Madam Chair, if I could just one second.
Ms. Scanlon. No, the gentleman's time has expired. Ms.
Jayapal.
Mr. Jordan. We went to know if terrorist, people on the
terrorist watch list, have any of them been released and he
won't answer that question.
Ms. Jayapal. Mr. Secretary it is--Mr. Jordan, it is my
time.
Mr. Jordan. This is about people.
Ms. Jayapal. It is my time.
Mr. Jordan. It's a pretty important question, it's a pretty
important question.
Ms. Jayapal. Secretary Mayorkas--
Mr. Jordan. I can't believe the majority doesn't want to
know the answer to that.
Ms. Jayapal. Secretary Mayorkas. Ranking Member Jordan.
Ms. Escobar. Madam Chair, point of order.
Ms. Scanlon. Ms. Jayapal is recognized.
Ms. Jayapal. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Secretary Mayorkas, thank you for your service to this
country, and thank you for tolerating with such grace the
outrageous attacks, including personal attacks on your
character.
I want to make three points before I get to my questions
for you. Number one, you were handed a broken system further
decimated by the Trump Administration. A Trump strategy was
systematically to eliminate all legal pathways to come to the
United States. The misguided implementation of the title 42
public health law to circumvent existing immigration law was
part of that strategy.
So, was the horrific Trump separation of at least 5,500
children, five thousand, five hundred children from their
parents, a trauma which they will likely never recover from.
You are absolutely right, this is my second point, that
what we need is a humane and just immigration system with legal
ways for people to come, including upholding our obligations
under international and domestic law for people to seek asylum.
Our colleagues have no interest in getting such a system
because it is actually too useful for Republicans to not have a
functioning system, because it allows them to attack and
scapegoat immigrants, even as they and all of America benefit
from the labor and contributions of documented and undocumented
immigrants to our country.
I am a legal immigrant, and I have no problem with the fact
that we need to reform our immigration laws. So, let me get to
my questions.
Secretary Mayorkas, how does the previous administration's
harm to the refugee system and attacks on legal immigration
affect the people who are coming to the border?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, what we have done is
shut down lawful pathways in a prior administration. It drives
people to seek the dangerous journey to arrive at our southern
border and make a claim of asylum.
That is why this administration is so focused on rebuilding
safe, orderly, and humane pathways as our laws provide so
people do not have to take that perilous journey when they fear
persecution by reason of their membership in a particular
social group, which is how our refugee and asylum laws are
built.
Ms. Jayapal. Can you just briefly talk about the
administration's work to rebuild the refugee system and any
other specific quick measures you want to mention that mitigate
the numbers of people seeking protection at the border?
Secretary Mayorkas. So, there have been a number of efforts
to dismantle our refugee system in the prior administration.
Number one, of course, decimate the agency that administers it
with the Department of State, that's the U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services.
Also, to take down our international operations, which
provide incredible services in furtherance of our refugee
system. So, we have plans to rebuild our international
operations. As I have stated earlier in this hearing,
Congresswoman, to hire our personnel that adjudicate refugee
claims, screen people appropriately for their eligibility.
Ms. Jayapal. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. One part of the
problem is the capacity of our immigration agencies, as you
said, to timely process benefits. Another is the law itself,
which doesn't allow us to have immigration that meets our
needs. Moreover, the only punishment for breaching immigration
law is deportation.
There is no middle ground, no matter your family ties, no
matter the decades you've lived and worked in the United
States.
I have a resolution, Roadmap to Freedom resolution, that
calls for us to adopt a compliance-based approach similar to
what we do in the tax law system, by implementing scalable
immigration consequences that provide a way for people to come
into compliance with the law.
Do you think that such an approach warrants further
investigation to encourage and facilitate compliance with
immigration law?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, I would be pleased to
review your proposal and discuss it with you. We have to fix
our broken immigration system. As I have stated previously this
morning and for many years, it is broken in so many different
regards.
Ms. Jayapal. Let me move to the detention system. If we had
immigration laws to meet our needs and scalable consequences to
give people opportunities to secure status, we wouldn't need
enforcement and detention to the level we need them now.
Right now, the immigration incarceration system allows
private, for-profit prison companies to pad their bottom line
while subjecting people to horrific conditions that have led us
to preventable deaths. Do you agree that immigration detention
should not be driven by profit?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, I know that one of the
President's commitments is to end the for-profit prison system
in the immigration system.
What I have done in the Department of Homeland Security is
adhere to our standards of detention to focus on those
facilities that house people in substandard conditions or do
not otherwise comply with the standards that have been in
existence in the Department of Homeland Security for many years
from administration to administration.
So, we will hold facilities accountable and those who
operate them to make sure that they comply with the laws that
we have imposed.
Ms. Scanlon. The gentlewoman's time has expired.
Ms. Jayapal. Madam Chair, I seek unanimous consent to enter
into the record a 2021 article, ``40-Eight Hours of Border
Chaos, Inside a CBP Crackdown on Iranian Americans,''
describing how the previous administration wrongfully detained
hundreds of Iranian Americans at the northern border in
Washington State for over six hours, including U.S. citizens
and legal permanent residents.
I also seek unanimous consent to enter into the record a
public health letter that was sent in May of 2020 from public
health officials, dozens and dozens, opposing title 42 and
saying that the CDC at that time had based that order on
specious justifications and failure to protect public health.
Ms. Scanlon. Without objection.
[The information follows:]
MS. JAYAPAL FOR THE RECORD
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[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Ms. Jayapal. Thank you, Madam Chair, I yield back.
Ms. Scanlon. Thank you. The gentleman from Louisiana is
recognized.
Mr. Johnson of Louisiana. Thank you. I yield to Mr. Jordan.
Mr. Jordan. Secretary, have any of the 42 illegal migrants
on the terrorist watch list, a no-fly list, encountered on our
southwest border been released into the United States?
Secretary Mayorkas. Ranking Member Jordan, as I mentioned
before, I will provide that data to you with respect to the
disposition of each one. I do not know the answer to your
question.
Mr. Jordan. The Secretary of Homeland Security does not
know the answer to the status of 42 individuals who came to our
southern border illegally, are on the no-fly list and the
terrorist watch list. You do not know whether they have been
released or not into the country. That's your testimony.
Secretary Mayorkas. Ranking Member Jordan, as I've said
before, I will provide you the data. I do not want to--
Mr. Jordan. Yield back to the gentleman. That's amazing.
Mr. Johnson of Louisiana. Mr. Secretary, this is
outrageous. At your oath-of-office ceremony on February 2,
2021, you said, quote, ``The mission of the Department of
Homeland Security is to safeguard the American people, our
homeland, and our values.''
On the website of DHS, it describes the mission. It says,
``The Department of Homeland secures the nation's air, land,
and sea borders to prevent illegal activity and is focused on
securing our borders and keeping our community safe.''
Sir, you're the seventh Secretary of Homeland Security, in
charge of the third largest Federal department in the United
States and the largest immigration system in the world. You are
given immense power and an absolutely critical responsibility.
Of all our Federal agencies, sir, I think yours is the one
that has the smallest margin of error. Because if the Secretary
of Homeland Security is unable or unwilling to give these
answers, to perform his duties and accomplish his mission,
crime surges, chaos ensues, and innocent people die.
Mr. Mayorkas, that is exactly what is happening on your
watch. All of us have been down to the border. We've seen this
with our own eyes, and we are outraged. So, are our
constituents and all law-abiding citizens in this country. They
outraged because of your deliberate and defiant policies.
These are the documented facts. We have a literal invasion
of lawless masses flooding over our border from more than 160
countries. The safety and security of the American people are
being directly threatened, and innocent children, sir, are
being abducted, assaulted, raped, and murdered by human
traffickers.
Countless numbers of known terrorists and vicious gang
members are clearly coming across our border and making their
way into our communities all over the country.
The precious treasure of American taxpayers is being used
to incentivize and reward all this because illegals are given
food, clothing, healthcare, cellphones, welfare benefits, and
we also, the taxpayers pay for ghost flights and bus tickets so
they can send them around and secretly transfer these folks
into all our communities across the country.
It is your policies and because of them that our entire
country is becoming a crime scene and we are dealing with a
humanitarian disaster that would have been unimaginable just
three or four years ago.
Because of your policies, the drug cartels are making
billions of dollars and building their empires, and they are
drowning our streets in fentanyl and other deadly substances.
That has made drug overdoses, as you know, now the number one
cause of death for Americans ages 18-45.
Our brave border patrol and law enforcement agencies and
officers are completely overwhelmed, and they are personally
endangered. The rule of law is being trampled underfoot. The
stability and the very sovereignty of our nation is being
threatened like never before.
I have a long list of questions I was anxious to ask you
today, but I've been watching you. You've been on Capitol Hill
for three days now, you've been in three committees. You've
very--you have an extraordinary talent I think for evading
questions. You've provided answers that are not accurate, and
that's documented.
You're insulting the intelligence of the American people
and you're subjecting them to extraordinary danger. This is not
a game. It's been detailed over and over this week and here
again today, you have presided over the greatest immigration
catastrophe in American history.
It's an objective truth that you have helped design and
implement this system. You took your oath of office in February
of last year, and by the end of the first year, ICE recorded
the highest number of border crossings and the lowest number of
deportations in history. Fact.
You have stated and publicly in direct defiance of our laws
that, quote, ``Being here illegally by itself is not enough to
be removed,'' unquote. If DHS does not deport illegals, that is
apprehend and quickly remove people who cross into our country
illegally, then we have no border security at all.
We all know that after title 42 is repealed, 18,000
immigrants a day are going to result coming over that border.
It's going to be a total collapse of our operational control.
If people are allowed to simply walk in here and live and work
and collect taxpayer-funded benefits and assistance for years
upon years and maybe permanently, then in a very short period
of time, we'll be totally overwhelmed.
We'll be crushed by the sheer numbers and the weight of
illegal immigration. There will no longer be any border or any
security here or any sovereignty at all. We won't have a
country.
I called for your resignation in July of last year and
explained then that it had already become crystal clear that
you are either unable or unwilling to do your job. As has been
said here today now, based upon the facts and the evidence,
we've concluded you're doing this intentionally.
It is despicable. I believe these are impeachable offences.
Mr. Secretary, my advice to you is to begin your search for a
different career field very soon, because there will be an
election and the American people will let their voices be heard
on this. We will be retaking the majority.
I ask unanimous consent to enter in the record a letter
from 133 Members of Congress to the Secretary expressing our
concern that his actions in opening our border and inaction in
enforcing our laws are endangering American lives.
Chair Nadler. Without objection, and the time of the
gentleman has expired.
[The information follows:]
MR. JOHNSON OF LOUISIANA FOR THE RECORD
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[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chair Nadler. Mr. Swalwell.
Mr. Swalwell. Thank you, Chair, and welcome, Secretary.
Welcome back, you were here on the Hill testifying yesterday. I
think you have seen over the past few days that my Republican
colleagues have zero interest in border security. They have
high, high interest in border theater and politics.
These guys, if you want a dog to bark at cars that drive by
in front of your house, they would be great at that. You should
hire them to do that. I would never hire them to solve a
problem. They're not interested in solving problems.
In 2014, the United States Senate was very interested.
Republicans and Democrats, Republicans like Lindsey Graham and
Marco Rubio came together, 68 of them, to pass a bipartisan
comprehensive immigration plan that would put 20,000 new border
agents on the border.
These guys, Kevin McCarthy's crew, they blocked it from a
getting a vote in Congress. What would it mean to you today,
Secretary, if you had 20,000 additional border agents on the
border, rather than a border plan that was defunded?
Secretary Mayorkas. It would, Congressman, help us advance
our mission.
Mr. Swalwell. How would it help you advance your mission?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, there are two elements
that fundamentally help us advance our mission with respect to
security at the border.
Of course, is our dedicated personnel. First, our
dedicated, talented, selfless personnel who sacrifice so much
each and every day. Second, is technology, innovation. That is
the greatest force multiplier. Not just for us on the border,
the Department of Homeland Security. I've heard that from law
enforcement officers in communities across the country. I think
those are two very important elements that advance the security
mission.
Mr. Swalwell. Can you tell us about your respect for the
border agents? I'm sure many of them are watching right now.
What would you want to tell them?
Secretary Mayorkas. I'm extraordinarily proud to support
them, extraordinarily proud to be in the Department of Homeland
Security with them.
These are individuals that every single day don a uniform,
and I say this to law enforcement across this country, don a
uniform, pin a badge on that uniform, and holster a firearm to
protect others. They're willing to make the greatest sacrifices
in the service of other people.
Mr. Swalwell. Shifting gears to cyber threats, would you
agree that China is probably the greatest cyber actor and
threat as far as economic espionage, cyber espionage, and just
stealing, cheating, and manipulating?
Secretary Mayorkas. I think, Congressman, that China is one
of the leading adversaries in this space.
I think that Dmitri Alperovitch, a thought leader in cyber
security and other domains, said it very aptly. We don't
necessarily have a cyber security problem, we have a China,
Russia, and Iran problem. We cannot divorce the cyber security
problem from the geopolitical challenges that we in this
country face.
Mr. Swalwell. Would you have any concerns about legislation
that would require U.S. software and device makers to put on
their platforms, require them to sideload or include through
interoperability requirements Chinese apps?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, I'm familiar with some
legislative action is this area, and I am reviewing it. I know
that it rests in other parts of the Federal government. I look
forward to discussing that with you.
Mr. Swalwell. Secretary, I have a number of smaller
civilian airports or noncommercial airports in my district. We
have a tech and biotech industry that continues to create jobs
in my district. A number of those companies are flying overseas
to conduct business and then returning to my district.
They are not able to land at the airports in my district
because there's no Customs presence. Those airports have
offered to pay to have Customs officers there through a program
that CBP has, but have been told that they cannot do that.
I was just hoping that we could continue to work with you,
and we have worked with your staff to try and make sure that is
possible. Because that is jobs and investment. If those flights
have to go to San Francisco or Oakland Airport, it just reduces
the likelihood that they would invest because of inconvenience.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, I'm aware of the
challenge. It's not restricted to your jurisdiction in
California. I know that there are other small jurisdictions
that have airports similarly situated. I'd be very pleased to
address that with you.
Mr. Swalwell. Thank you so much, Secretary. You should be
very proud of your last name, and I know everyone in your
family will, too.
Secretary Mayorkas. Thank you.
Mr. Swalwell. I yield back.
Chair Nadler. The gentleman yields back. Mr. Steube.
Mr. Steube. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
In May of last year at a Senate Committee hearing, you
stated that White supremacy was, and I quote, ``the greatest
threat to the homeland.'' m over here.
Secretary Mayorkas. Thank you, Congressman.
Mr. Steube. Earlier this month you doubled down and again
claimed that, and I quote, ``Domestic violent extremism was the
biggest threat.'' When you say that term, do you include in
that term Black Lives Matter and Antifa?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, let me be precise, because
you're not quoting me accurately, and precision is--
Mr. Steube. I watched the video, I am.
Secretary Mayorkas. Domestic violent extremism is the
greatest terrorism-related threat to this country.
Mr. Steube. Okay, so the greatest terrorism threat. Do you
include Black Lives Matter and Antifa in that definition?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, I do not consider Black
Lives Matter to be a--
Mr. Steube. So, the riots that we saw all over the summer
of 2020 and the killing of David Dorn by an Antifa member, that
wasn't domestic terror?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, it is not in my province
to address a particular case--
Mr. Steube. Okay, well, what about the riots--
Secretary Mayorkas. Let me--
Mr. Steube. The riots at the Department of the Interior
right here in Washington, DC, by a leftist environmental group,
would you term that domestic terrorism?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, I leave it to the
Department of Justice to define domestic terrorism with respect
to particular incidents.
Mr. Steube. Well, you're the Department of Homeland
Security, and you're saying that this is the number one threat
to the homeland, so I'm trying to get an understanding of
obviously now based on your testimony you don't include leftist
radicalized groups, only White nationalist and right
radicalized groups.
Meanwhile, Customs and Border Protection have had over 2.4
million interactions with illegal immigrants at the border
since the Biden Administration took office, with an estimated
600,000 more illegal immigrants making their way into our
country undetected.
So, using your definition that we just flushed out here,
how many cases involving White supremacists and domestic
terrorists have you referred to DOJ for prosecution?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, let me--
Mr. Steube. It's a simple, do you not have the number? It's
a simple number.
Secretary Mayorkas. You've made some profoundly inaccurate
statements, that I would like the opportunity to correct.
Mr. Steube. I'm specifically asking you a question. You
just clarified domestic terrorism is a threat to the homeland,
number one threat. I'm asking you how many referrals from
Homeland Security have you made to DOJ for White supremacy or
domestic terrorism?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, I will provide you with
that information--
Mr. Steube. So, you don't know.
Secretary Mayorkas. Subsequent to this hearing. I do not
have--
Mr. Steube. Can you name one case?
Secretary Mayorkas. That statistic--
Mr. Steube. Can you name one case of a referral from DHS to
DOJ for domestic terrorism?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, I will provide the data to
you. Let me--
Mr. Steube. I'm asking you, you can't name one case.
Secretary Mayorkas. Let me just say--
Mr. Steube. Okay, so you can't name one case, yet,
according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Justice,
almost half of all the criminals prosecuted in Federal courts
in 2018 were aliens, charged with crimes ranging from drug
trafficking to murder, and to kidnapping.
The vast majority, 38,000, were illegal immigrants, illegal
aliens. It's still domestic terrorism that is the number one
cause of your concerns.
Texas is one of the only border States that keeps detailed
statistics on crimes committed by aliens specifically. The
latest report from the State of Texas reports that between June
1, 2011 and November 30, 2021, the 356,000 criminal aliens were
booked into Texas jails, of which 243,000 were identified as
being in the country illegally.
Those illegal aliens were charged with more than 401,000
criminal offenses, including 742 murders, 47,000 assaults,
7,500 burglaries, over 11,000 sexual assaults, and other sex
crimes. That is just in the State of Texas. You can't name one
referral that DHS had made on a domestic terrorism charge to
the DOJ with all those numbers.
Just in April, in a 24-hour period of time, CBP arrested at
least five gang members who illegally crossed the border. It's
been touched on in this Committee about fentanyl. I come from
Florida, I hail from Florida, I represent Florida, and fentanyl
is a large problem in the State of Florida.
Now, we are at the point where fentanyl is the number one
cause of death of Americans between the ages of 18-45. Do you
agree with that statement, that fentanyl is the number one
cause of death between the ages of 18-45 for Americans?
Secretary Mayorkas. I'm aware of that statistic, and it's a
tremendous threat to the wellbeing of our--
Mr. Steube. So, that's a yes, and therefore, since it's the
leading cause of death, you have, this is just what you've
captured at the border, more fentanyl to kill every American
has been seized at the border. You say it just comes in through
ports of entry.
So, if we're only seizing that at ports of entry or other
places you guys are capturing it, just like there's 600,000
got-away illegal immigrants, there's got to be a tremendous
amount of fentanyl that's coming in through the southern border
than you guys are not stopping that--
Chair Nadler. The time of the gentleman--
Mr. Steube. Has now beaten the cause of death.
Chair Nadler. The time of the gentleman--
Mr. Steube. In America.
Chair Nadler. The time of the gentleman has expired. Ms.
Demings.
Mr. Steube. Mr. Chair, may I--
Ms. Demings. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Secretary, thank you. Thank you for your service, thank
you for your endurance, thank you for your tolerance.
Increase in domestic terrorism, attacks against religious
institutions, bomb threats, and other threats against America's
children at historically Black colleges and universities,
victims of severe storms still waiting for assistance, the need
for more resources at the border.
Mr. Secretary, unlike my colleagues on the other side of
the aisle, I'm actually concerned about all of it. I'm upset
about all of it. I don't just pick and choose winners and loser
based on the politics of the day. All the things on the list
that I just mentioned, we all need to be concerned and need to
come together to address them.
When there's a lot of talk about the border, I was looking
at something in 1970 where it was determined that the nation's
immigration policy was in disarray. That is the word that they
used. So, today's problem is not new, but the political games
that I think that we are experiencing have taken a new low.
It took 60 pages, 60, to basically give instructions to
that we don't really want to do anything. Mr. Secretary, I know
you know as a former police chief, I do want to hold people
accountable who break the law. I want to hold them accountable
at the border, I want to hold them accountable on our streets.
I want to hold them accountable if they exist in this body.
There's been a lot of talk about protecting the American
people. That is our primary responsibility. In this document, I
only see the American people addressed one time.
Mr. Secretary, the sky would be the limit. We could do
great things on behalf of protecting the American people if
this body would take one minute to get its Act together. That
is my prayer for the time that I am here, is that this body
will live up to its oath and its responsibility and get its Act
together. Because one day of theater has not protected, not
one, not one American citizen.
Mr. Secretary, I want to talk about an issue that is very
important, in addition to a lot of others, to my constituents,
and that involves USCIS and the processing of applications. I
get calls from constituents, from people in my district daily
about how long it takes for them to receive their employment
authorization documents.
Just for the sake of the people on the other side of the
aisle, let me just make this clear, that these are people who
are here legally, have followed all the rules, and still suffer
because of a failure to process their applications in a timely
manner.
So, Mr. Secretary, could you please let us know what the
department is doing to address these significant delays and
processing these employment applications.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, thank you very much.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, as I had mentioned
earlier, was on the brink of bankruptcy. The personnel of that
agency are actually doing heroic work despite a significant
backlog created by what occurred in the prior administration.
What we are focused on is resourcing that agency with
personnel so that we can work through the backlog and address
the benefits for which people have applied, and if eligible, to
which they are entitled.
Funding is a critical component of our ability to resource
the agency, which is why we are working as quickly as possible
to issue a new fee rule that will recalibrate the fee
applications according to the costs associated with them.
That is the way we will fund that agency primarily. The
President's budget for Fiscal Year 2023 also requests
appropriated funds for certain positions so that we can address
certain responsibilities in the jurisdiction of that agency.
Ms. Demings. Could you talk a little bit about staffing for
processing those applications? How are your staff increase--
Chair Nadler. The time of the gentlelady has expired, the
Witness can answer the question.
Secretary Mayorkas. So, we need to increase that staffing
significantly, Congresswoman, and I can provide you with
specific data. Depending on the particular immigration benefit
category, we've calibrated the needs.
Ms. Demings. I would like that. Thank you so much, Mr.
Secretary.
Chair Nadler. The gentlelady yields back. Mr. Roy.
Mr. Roy. I thank the Chair.
Mr. Secretary, there have been over one million-plus
individuals put into proceedings or released into the United
States on your watch. I've asked multiple border patrol
personnel, not the union mind you, if we double, triple,
quadruple the CBP budget, would that one million released go
down. They categorically said no, it would go up.
Do you agree, yes or no?
Secretary Mayorkas. I'm not sure I understand your
question, Congressman. Would the addition--
Mr. Roy. Would the number of people being released in the
United States under current law, would it go down no matter how
much you increased your budget? It would not, as they said. Do
you agree, yes, or no?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, if I understand your
question correctly, when individuals are in the United States,
and they make a claim for asylum--
Mr. Roy. Right, the number would not go down is the answer,
right? Yes or no? That's what they said, and I think you've
just answered it would not go down.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman--
Mr. Roy. The only plan that you offer, the plan you just
offered, is to process aliens faster and encourage more to
come. We know that be true. I know it's true, you know it's
true, cartels know it's true, and people around the world know
it's true, and that's why people are coming.
Secretary Mayorkas. That is false.
Mr. Roy. The secure--it's not false.
Secretary Mayorkas. Yes, it is.
Mr. Roy. The entirety of plan says that. The Secure Fence
Act of 2006 says what? That the Security of Homeland Security
shall take all actions the Secretary determines necessary to
achieve and maintain operational control over the entire
international land and maritime borders.
Will you testify under oath right now, do we have
operational control, yes or no?
Secretary Mayorkas. Yes, we do, and we--
Mr. Roy. We have operational control of the borders?
Secretary Mayorkas. Yes, we do, and Congressman, we are
working to--
Mr. Roy. Assume operational control defined. In this
section the term operational control means the prevention of
all unlawful entries into the United States, including entries
by terrorists, other unlawful aliens, instruments of terrorism,
narcotics, and other contraband.
Do you stand behind your testimony that we have operational
control in light of this definition?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, I think the Secretary of
Homeland Security would have said the same thing in 2020 and
2019.
Mr. Roy. No, well, the Secretary would have at least had a
basis for saying that we have some sort of control of the
border. The fact is we currently have people flowing across the
border including dangerous narcotics and dangerous numbers of
terrorists, which your own agency sent a letter to my office.
After eight months, we sent a letter saying there were 42
people on the terrorist watch list that are in the United
States. You just said to Mr. Jordan you don't even know where
the hell they are. That's what you're saying is operational
control?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman--
Mr. Roy. Including entry by terrorists and unlawful aliens?
It's not, it's not operational control.
Mr. Secretary, let me ask you a question. We're looking
ahead and we're talking about asylum, okay. Here, if the
officer determines at the time of the interview that an alien
has a credible fear of persecution, the alien shall be detained
for further consideration.
Mandatory detention, any alien subject to procedure under
this clause shall be detained, pending a final determination of
credible fear of persecution. Is everyone being detained, yes
or no?
Secretary Mayorkas. No one is, as a matter of fact,
Congressman. That is an issue that is before the United States
Supreme Court.
Mr. Roy. The fact of the matter is our law says they should
be detained, and your agency is releasing people on purpose to
flood the zone and make sure that more people can come to the
United States.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman--
Mr. Roy. You use parole to do it.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman--
Mr. Roy. Parole of aliens within the following groups have
been retained, coming in on a case-by-case basis for urgent
humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit. Yet, your
office is using parole. When you use parole, the fact is
they're not showing back up to ICE.
Your own letter to Senator Johnson, to this Committee, have
acknowledged they're not showing back up to ICE.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman--
Mr. Roy. How can you be saying that you have operational
control or that we're securing the United States when they're
not showing back up?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, are you actually
interested in the facts and the law? Because--
Mr. Roy. Yeah, I'm actually, I'm reading you the law and
I'm actually talking to you about the facts about who's in this
country.
Secretary Mayorkas. Actually, you're--
Mr. Roy. Now, let's actually go to something that's--
Ms. Jackson Lee. Chair, can the Witness be allowed to
answer the question?
Mr. Roy. Well, there wasn't a question there to be
answered.
Chair Nadler. The gentleman's time.
Mr. Roy. Now, let's talk about the damage being done to the
United States of America. Mr. Secretary, do you know what this
is? This is a mobile morgue, a body trailer, needed by counties
in south Texas overwhelmed by dead migrants.
That particular trailer is filled with these bodies, 27
bodies that were stored in this mobile morgue in south Texas
with dead bodies of migrants. Dead bodies like this one found
on a ranch just three weeks ago in south Texas. A dead migrant.
Somehow that's compassion.
How about the dead bodies found by migrants? Compassion.
How about the ranchers who had to walk out of their door, and
this is what they face? Gentlemen with rocks threatening a
rancher in south Texas, only able to be saved when they are
able to bring their dogs out to scare the people away to save
themselves.
Or the fact that you've got houses being attacked. You've
got livestock dead on the side because we've got ranches wide
open. How about the little girl here with a brand on her arm. A
little girl with a brand on her arm because of your policies. A
little girl here in the desert found by ranchers trying to save
their life.
How about the lost voices from people dying from fentanyl?
The hundreds of--tens of thousands of Americans dying from
fentanyl. Faces, faces of Americans, faces of Americans across
this country dying because of fentanyl pouring into our
country--
Chair Nadler. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. Roy. You know full well--
Chair Nadler. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. Roy. Encouraging people to come here, harming Texas and
harming this country.
Chair Nadler. The time of the--
Mr. Roy. You know it, and you're ignoring the truth.
Chair Nadler. The time of the gentleman has expired. He no
longer has time to slander the Secretary.
Mr. Roy. It's not slander. You know what slander is--
Ms. Scanlon. Thank you, Secretary Mayorkas.
Chair Nadler. Ms. Scanlon, Ms. Scanlon.
Ms. Scanlon. Thank you, Secretary Mayorkas. Over here.
Thank you for being here today to address the many issues under
your jurisdiction, including the important task of how we can
ensure our national security while honoring our legal and
humanitarian obligations.
I appreciate you coming here prepared with facts and plans
to help us do that job. I'm sorry that so much of this hearing
has been wasted with political grandstanding and
disinformation.
As others have remarked, from its earliest days, ours has
been a nation of immigrants, home to those fleeing poverty,
persecution, and war. I'm incredibly proud of the diversity of
my district in Pennsylvania and the generations of Americans
who welcomed immigrants into our country.
Our nation also has a history of political opportunists who
attack the latest wave of immigrants and seek to stoke fear and
chaos to gain or cling to power. Whether those attacks were
made against my ancestors, the Irish; yours, Secretary, from
Cuba; those coming to our southern border today; or so many
other groups in between, we've heard the same language and
scare tactics.
Then and now, those attacks are a sham, vile, attention-
seeking, to divide and distract us from their proponents' lack
of seriousness, their lack of solutions, and even at times
their own misconduct.
I do want to echo several of my colleagues in thanking you
for your efforts to reunite children who were separated from
their families at the border under the last administration.
Like you, I've met with children who were separated from their
parents and seen the lasting trauma that caused. As a mother,
it made me weep. It still makes me weep.
As a patriot, it makes me sick to think that our country
played any role in the immoral and heartless decision to rip
children from their mothers' arms for purely political purposes
with no interest in how that action would traumatize those
children and no plan to ever reunite them with their families,
so I appreciate your efforts in that behalf.
I also would like to turn to an issue of immediate concern
in my district. The city of Philadelphia was the primary point
of entry to welcome thousands of our Afghan allies who fled
their homeland after the fall of that government last summer.
Hundreds are attempting to settle in our region.
The fact that we anticipate a wave of Ukrainian refugees
coming to our region as well adds some urgency to the need to
address issues in the resettlement process.
One of the greatest danger points for our Afghan allies is
that family members who remain in Afghanistan are targets for
the Taliban. Many family members of Afghans living in the U.S.
have filed for immigration parole so their family members could
join them here.
Unfortunately, we've seen the backlogs in that process. I
understand there are nearly 40,000 parole applications awaiting
adjudication.
So, what can DHS do to reduce the backlog for those
applications, and how can it manage that backlog while also
addressing the needs of the Ukrainian refugees we anticipate?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, thank you very much for
your statements that precede your question and for your
question which focuses on a very vulnerable population of
individuals.
So, we have sought to prioritize to the best of our
abilities the applications of individuals who are in
Afghanistan who seek humanitarian parole. We have dedicated
personnel to that effort.
We're very aware of what the delays are, and we're trying
to work as best we can with the limited resources that we have
to work through that group of people and that critical body of
applications, understanding the urgency.
I must say that the personnel of USCIS are just doing
extraordinary work meeting the moment in a number of different
regards, given the situation in different parts of the world.
Ms. Scanlon. Thank you for that. We have worked with USCIS
people in our region, and we know that they are working really
hard.
I am concerned about reports that Afghans are nervous about
affirmatively applying for asylum. According to immigration
advocacy groups, there's not sufficient legal assistance to
help them.
We know how complicated immigration law is. Many of our
colleagues have trouble understanding it. It's particularly
difficult if you're coming from another culture and speaking
another language.
So, what can DHS do to ensure that our Afghan allies are
able to navigate our system?
Secretary Mayorkas. So, we've done of number of regards,
Congresswoman, in that regard. First, we have worked with
organizations to make sure that we are matching the individuals
who might not otherwise know how to seek relief to be able to
educate them on how they can.
Afghan individuals already present here in the United
States who have become naturalized who have the cultural
sensitivity and the understanding and the language capacity to
match them with the individuals seeking relief.
We've also worked with law firms to be able to provide pro
bono assistance, so individuals can access the humanitarian
pathways that our laws provide. We're trying a number of
different ways in which to match individuals' needs with the
resources that are already resident here in the United States.
Ms. Scanlon. Thank you. I see my time has expired, and I
yield back.
Chair Nadler. The gentlelady yields back. Mr. Owens.
Mr. Owens. Thank you, Chair Nadler and Ranking Member
Jordan.
Mr. Secretary, about a year ago I visited the border town
of McAllen, Texas, and what I saw was devastating. There was
overcrowded facilities, families and unaccompanied children
gathering under a bridge to be processed. Within hours, these
illegal immigrants, with taxpayer dollars, were put on a bus or
a plane to travel to the interior of our country.
It was unlike any humanitarian crisis I've ever seen in my
lifetime. My Republican colleagues and I spoke with border
patrol agents who were overworked and overwhelmed.
Days before our arrival, there was a surge of unaccompanied
children, alone, confused, and helpless. They were sitting on
the floor in the facility looking up at these adult strangers
with no idea what to expect next.
There were about 250 children packed in rooms designed to
accommodate 40. I'll never forget a little seven-year-old
child, little girl, that was by herself without her siblings,
mother, or father. She was autistic, alone and afraid, and
could not communicate anything about her family with
authorities.
She represents the 40,000 unaccompanied children that have
been trafficked through our borders under your watch since last
November. I noticed her because every time I looked over in her
direction, she had tears in her eyes. The agents told me that
she had been crying for days and could not stop. We'll never
know if she was stolen from her parents or abused cartel
perpetrators.
It has become obvious to me that DHS doesn't know and
doesn't care. In another Committee meeting yesterday it was
pointed out that some of these children were used over and over
again by the cartel, taken back and forth like cattle. By the
way, the reported cost of these children, each child was
$5,000. If that's not slavery today, I don't know what is.
You visited the border a few weeks after we had and had a
polar opposite experience. As a camera crew followed you
through an orderly and empty facility, you explained to the
American people that you had successfully closed the border.
You didn't see the little seven-year-old child because these
children had been moved to another facility, out of sight, out
of mind, on the same property.
I love our country because of the good people who live
here. Our American culture is one of compassion and empathy. We
serve, protect, and provide for our most vulnerable. It is
within our DNA if we see human suffering that we act,
especially when it comes to our children.
Mr. Secretary, over the last year, you have failed to act.
Over the last year, you have overseen the dismantling of our
border, the villainization of our border agents, and have
purposefully refused to enforce U.S. immigration laws. You did
not inherit this, you created this.
Under your watch, the Mexican cartel is now earning about
six billion dollars a year. Six billion dollars a year is your
profit from human traffic child exploitation as they rape women
and girls on their trek to our southern border. As they smuggle
Chinese-sourced fentanyl to our country.
Last year we lost over 100,000 Americans to fentanyl. After
20 years in Vietnam, our American body count was 60,000.
I'd like to share some quick feedback from my constituents
from Utah's 4th District, and I quote,
The Mexican cartels seem to be in charge of our border and who
crosses it. Removing title 42 is wrong, reckless, and plain
stupid. The Biden Administration has shirked their
responsibilities to control the illegal immigrants on our
southern border.
Mr. Secretary, we look back on our history and we see the
stain of human labor and sex trafficking. We called it slavery,
which survived as long as it did only because the government
bureaucrats chose to close their eyes to this evil. Profit and
power were prioritized over compassion and empathy. We're
living Groundhog Day 2022 today.
I encourage you to change courses to end your empathy-free
open border policies. If not, I promise you American history
will not treat you kindly.
Thank you, and I'd like to yield the remainder of my time
to Ranking Member Jordan.
Mr. Jordan. Thank you. Mr. Secretary, yesterday you
announced the formation of a Disinformation Governance Board at
DHS. So, you put out a bulletin two months ago, a big, fancy
bulletin here, red, white, and blue. You said that misleading
narratives, mis-, dis-, and mal-information, MDM as you call
it, misleading narratives undermine the trust in government.
I was just wondering, when the head of the CDC, Ms.
Wollensky, said that the vaccinated can't get the virus, did
that undermine trust in government? When the highest paid
official in our government, the smartest man on the planet, Dr.
Fauci, when he said the virus didn't come from a lab, did that
undermine trust in government, and will that be something that
this governing board will look at?
How about this one: When 51 former intel officials told us
that the Hunter Biden story had all the earmarks of Russian
misinformation. Will that be something that this governance
board that you just formed, will you be looking into that?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, the Disinformation Board
addresses disinformation that imperils the safety and security
of our homeland. One of the primary areas that we are focused
on is the dissemination of disinformation and its potential
connection--
Mr. Jordan. That's not what your bulletin talked about, it
talked about COVID.
Chair Nadler. The gentleman's time--
Mr. Jordan. It talked about COVID.
Chair Nadler. The gentleman's time has expired. I am
permitting the Witness to answer the question. The gentleman
can say nothing now.
Mr. Jordan. Let me know when--
Chair Nadler. Privileged to answer the gentleman's
question.
Secretary Mayorkas. Yeah, and it's connectivity to
violence. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Chair Nadler. The gentleman's time has expired. Mr. Correa.
Mr. Correa. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Secretary, welcome
again. You are a refugee from Cuba. My grandparents are
essentially immigrants from Mexico. As I look around this room,
I would say probably everybody here is the descendant of a
refugee, an immigrant, economic or otherwise.
There's a lot of violence around the world right now, Mr.
Secretary, a lot of wars. I also recently had the opportunity
to travel to the border, this time to San Ysidro. This time to
look and observe what's going on with the Ukrainian refugees,
refugees from the Russian-Ukrainian war. There are about 1,000
refugees from the Ukraine, from Ukraine, reaching Tijuana on a
daily basis, 1,000.
We've allocated 100,000 temporary protective status
tickets, those golden tickets to get into the U.S. under TPS.
The UN Report, yesterday the UN reported an estimated 8.3
million, and eight million Ukrainian refugees expected to leave
Ukraine this year alone. I bet that 100,000 cap TPS, it is
going to be hit pretty quickly.
Mr. Secretary, what do we do when 100,000 Ukrainian
refugees are admitted into this country? Are we going to blow
through that top or can we give the more admissions to the
U.S.?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, let me first, if I can,
make sure that the language that we use is precise. Temporary
protected status, or TPS, applies to those Ukrainians who are
already a resident of the United States.
What we are speaking of when we are speaking of bringing
100,000 Ukrainians who have fled their brutally attacked
nation, we're speaking of the refugee program. We are speaking
of the grant of humanitarian parole. We are also speaking of
the visa programs that the Department of State administers.
The President has committed to bringing 100,000 Ukrainians
to relief here in the United States. There will be others, in
addition, who could be eligible for relief under the grant of
humanitarian parole, which is judged on an individualized case-
by-case basis.
Mr. Correa. Mr. Secretary, you proposed that the prior
administration effectively dismantled the refugee program. Is
that essentially what happened?
Secretary Mayorkas. That is true. If I had 20 seconds--
Mr. Correa. Please.
Secretary Mayorkas. --I would actually say the following to
the Congressman who did not give me an opportunity to say
anything.
(1) We have intensified efforts to dismantle the transnational
criminal organizations in human smuggling networks at an
unprecedented level.
(2) We've brought greater efficiency to the process of
unaccompanied children and uniting them with a parent, legal
sponsor, or other qualified family member here in the United
States.
(3) The prior administration took accompanied children and
deliberately made them unaccompanied.
Mr. Correa. Mr. Secretary, my concern is with what is going
to happen this year, an unprecedented number of refugees coming
to the United States. We should open our arms to those
individuals who are fleeing war and devastation around the
world. Again, from Ukraine, I would imagine you're going to, we
are going to probably get more than a million at our doorstep
here this year. As soon as the Russian economy collapses, you
will have a whole lot more Russians here as well.
This is nothing new. For the last two years at the southern
border, we've had Russian and Ukrainian undocumented
individuals crossing the border. Your agents have told me that.
So, my question to you, sir, how do we put together a program
that's humane, looks at the refugees, admits them to the U.S.,
and also not forget about the Central Americans, the Syrians,
other refugees that are also there waiting to be admitted to
the United States?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, very briefly in the few
seconds that I have.
(1) It is our view that the majority of Ukrainians that have
fled their country, their sovereign nation, want to return
there.
(2) That is precisely why this administration is focused on
safe, orderly, and humane pathways to obtain relief under the
laws of the United States.
Mr. Correa. Sir, I'm running out of time. I just want to
call your attention to these two photos I took at the border
three weeks ago. This is the face of refugees coming to
America.
Chair Nadler. The time, gentleman, has expired. Mr.
Tiffany.
Mr. Tiffany. Mr. Mayorkas, in 2021 last year, at a Senate
hearing, you said everyone that came out of Afghanistan, the
disastrous pull out of Afghanistan, that they were fully
vetted. Do you stand by that comment?
Secretary Mayorkas. Yes. We conducted comprehensive
security screening and vetting for those Afghanis.
Mr. Tiffany. Okay. Thank you. Here is a headline from last
year. Second major felon found on Afghani evacuation flight,
aggravated robbery by one, the other one, a rapist. They had
been deported. They came back in on those flights.
Here's a CNN document that says some Afghans fleeing their
home country have arrived in the United States without
paperwork. It goes on to say the approach from the
administration has been get as many people on the plane as you
can, and we'll sort out the immigration stuff later.
Some people land with no documents whatsoever, creating a
very challenging work environment for the officers the source
said. Did you fully vet everyone?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, as I have stated before,
we conducted comprehensive security and vetting screening of
the individuals who arrived here under Operation Allies
Welcome. We're extraordinarily proud of that program.
Mr. Tiffany. So, you did not vet them before they left the
Kabul Airport?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, what we did--
Mr. Tiffany. Did you vet them before they left the Kabul
Airport?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, we did not. What we did is
we vetted them at third countries.
Mr. Tiffany. Okay. Thank you very much.
That's not what DHS and the camp commander said in Fort
McCoy. They said they were still vetting people after they
arrived, already had parole, when they were in Fort McCoy in my
State, Wisconsin. I want to continue with my questioning here.
Secretary Mayorkas. Let me share with you how the vetting
program works.
Mr. Tiffany. Last month, the Department of Defense
Inspector General confirmed at least 50 cases of Afghans with
potential significant security concerns. The IG report also
concluded the administration has absolutely no idea where most
of them are. Did you fully vet those 50 that have potential
significant security concerns?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, two quick points if I may.
Mr. Tiffany. Did you vet them?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, may I answer your--
Mr. Tiffany. You said you vetted all them.
Secretary Mayorkas. We screened and vetted. I am familiar.
Mr. Tiffany. Screening and vetting are different. How many
people completed the SIV process, the Special Immigrant Visa
process, which is very detailed, especially when you're dealing
with a country that is very high on the terror list? How many
of them completed? Of the 77,000, how many completed the SIV
process?
Secretary Mayorkas. I can get that precise figure to you.
Mr. Tiffany. I look forward to hearing that from you.
Secretary Mayorkas. Can I explain something?
Mr. Tiffany. That will be a really interesting thing to
hear.
Secretary Mayorkas. Can I explain something?
Mr. Tiffany. You are very familiar with title 8. You know
title 8, right? Section 5(a), it shall be used only on a case-
by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant
public benefit.
In 1989, in a floor speech, a Democrat, Representative
Morrison from Connecticut, Congress intended that the parole
authority would be used for temporary admission of aliens.
Parole status is an unacceptable alternative to a more
permanent and defined immigration status. Senator Simpson
repeated the same thing in 1994.
In 2008, your Agency, USCIS, ICE, CBP Memorandum of
Agreement, parole is not to be used to circumvent normal visa
processes and timelines. Are you complying with title 8 in the
INA?
Secretary Mayorkas. We believe we are.
Mr. Tiffany. You believe you are?
Secretary Mayorkas. Yes.
Mr. Tiffany. Even though, even though this is meant to be
done on a case-by-case basis. Did you interview all 77,000?
Secretary Mayorkas. Of the Afghani evacuees?
Mr. Tiffany. Of the Afghani evacuees, did you interview
every one of them?
Secretary Mayorkas. Did I personally or did the Department
of Homeland Security personnel?
Mr. Tiffany. Yes. Did you do it on a case-by-case basis and
interview every one of them?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, those individuals are
screened in third countries, not at Kabul Airport for reasons
that, of course, you well understand. They are screened and
vetted in third countries. They are then manifested on the
plane--
Mr. Tiffany. They weren't because many of them were
screened in the United States at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman--
Mr. Tiffany. Did you fully vet everyone you paroled from
Afghanistan? I believe the answer is no. So, think about it.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, if you would let me--
Mr. Tiffany. Think about it for a second. Here's a document
you gave us this week. This is the grand plan. Biden
Administration DHS executing a comprehensive and deliberate
strategy to secure our borders, build a safe, orderly and
humane immigration system.
What is humane about people being sexually abused by these
parolees? How about the woman at Fort Bliss, a soldier, a
female soldier, beat to a pulp by five evacuees, is that
humane?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, of course that isn't. That
is addressed with the full force--
Mr. Tiffany. You have erased our borders.
Chair Nadler. The time, gentleman, has expired. Mr. Neguse.
Mr. Issa. Mr. Chair?
Chair Nadler. The time of the gentleman has expired. Mr.
Neguse.
Secretary Mayorkas. May I complete my answer, Mr. Chair?
Mr. Issa. Mr. Chair, I'll be brief.
Mr. Tiffany. Mr. Chair, may the Witness be permitted to
answer the question?
Chair Nadler. The time is Mr. Neguse's.
Mr. Neguse. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Secretary Mayorkas, would
you care to respond to that last question?
Secretary Mayorkas. That incident was met with the full
force of law enforcement response. I should say that the
Congressman misunderstands the screening and vetting process
and the fact that it is a recurrent process. Even while the
individual is in the United States, we conduct recurrent
screening and vetting as a further layer of security. Thank
you, Congressman, for giving me that chance.
Mr. Neguse. Thank you. Mr. Secretary, first let me say
thank you for coming before our Committee today, and I want to
express my gratitude and appreciation for your assistance
during and after the Marshall Fire.
As you know on December 30, 2021, a fire tore through my
community in Northern Colorado, the Second Congressional
District of Louisville and Superior. We lost 1,000 homes, and
tragically, two members of our community perished during the
fire.
The very next day, you were the first Cabinet Secretary to
reach out to me personally and to convey your grief over the
events in my community and to convey your commitment on behalf
of the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA to step up for
our community when we needed the department.
I just want to say thank you for extending me and my
community that courtesy. We have been working with
Administrator Criswell, who, of course, as you know, is a proud
Coloradan, on the recovery from the Marshall fire. As you well
know in Colorado and in the Rocky Mountain West, we no longer
have fire seasons but fire years. We are likely to be besieged
by wildfires for years to come so the partnership between FEMA
and our local communities and the State government couldn't be
more important. Again, I want to thank you and Administrator
Criswell for your cooperation in that regard.
Switching gears, I'd like to talk about the threat of
cyber-attacks. Now, you touched on this in your written
testimony and some of your oral testimony as well. During our
hearing with FEI Assistant Director Vorndran, which is last
month, I mentioned that in Colorado local government entities
have been hit by ransomware attacks as have large organizations
like the University of Colorado. I'd like to talk a little bit,
Mr. Secretary, about how DHS is responding to those same
threats.
As part of the omnibus spending package, Congress passed
the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act.
As you are aware, I'm sure, the legislation requires critical
infrastructure companies that experience a hack to notify CISA
in certain cases, including within 72 hours of discovery a
cyber intrusion and within 24 hours of paying ransomware
attackers.
I'm wondering how DHS is working. First, to ensure that
this breadth of ownership doesn't result in security risks,
particularly to our electric grid and water infrastructure.
Second, the law does leave some details to be hashed out by
CISA via the rulemaking process. I'm wondering how DHS is
working with companies to ensure that the most essential
information is captured.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, thank you so much. So very
quickly, the threat of ransomware has only grown. We developed
in collaboration with the Department of Justice the first ever
one-stop-shop online to really provide information to the
potentially affected and the affected community,
stopransomware.gov. It's really a resource for individuals and
organizations of whatever size and of whatever resource to be
able to address the threat of ransom-
ware. We, of course, have our advisors in Colorado and in every
State throughout the country.
The mandatory reporting legislation is really a game-
changer for us. We're incredibly indebted to Congress for
passing that piece of legislation. What we are going to
implement is the notice of proposed rulemaking. Then through
that vehicle, through that regulatory vehicle, receive input
from industry so that we can fashion the implementing
regulations that address the cybersecurity challenge as well as
the sensitivities of the business community because they're
going to have to report an incident very well while they are
tackling the incident itself. We want to be mindful of that and
also not create a responsibility to report false alarms, which
neither they should nor we should be burdened with.
Mr. Neguse. Well, thank you, Mr. Secretary. I see my time
will soon expire. I will just simply say, I couldn't agree with
you more about the legislation and, in particular, it being a
game-changer.
There isn't a business or a local government in our
country, that in every one of our districts represented on this
Committee that is not at risk from the threat of ransomware and
cyber-attacks.
So, again, the partnership, I think between the department,
local governments, and small businesses couldn't be more
important and timelier. I appreciate your work and the
department's work in that regard.
Secretary Mayorkas. Thank you, Congressman.
Mr. Issa. Mr. Chair.
Chair Nadler. The gentleman's time has expired. I now
recognize Mr. Issa for purposes of UC.
Mr. Issa. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I ask unanimous consent
that a signed statement signed by 10 Members of Congress and
staff entitled, ``We the Undersigned Members of Congress and
Congressional Staff Were Informed by Custom and Border
Protection Leadership That They Were under Orders to Begin
Processing at That Time Aliens Who Otherwise Would Have Been
Ineligible for Entry under title 42.'' It's signed by all that
were present. I thank the gentleman.
Chair Nadler. Without objection.
[The information follows:]
MR. ISSA FOR THE RECORD
=======================================================================
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chair Nadler. I recognize Mr. Correa for UC requests.
Mr. Correa. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to request
unanimous consent to submit an open letter for the record from
former defense intelligence, Homeland Security and cyber
officials calling for a national security review of
congressional tech legislation.
Chair Nadler. Without objection.
[The information follows:]
MR. CORREA FOR THE RECORD
=======================================================================
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chair Nadler. I now recognize Ms. Fischbach.
Ms. Fischbach. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Secretary, I just
don't know where to start. So many of my colleagues have asked
questions that you either can't or won't answer.
I have a lot of questions from my constituents. Over 500
questions came in directly from my constituents because I don't
think--they don't see you do anything. They don't see your
department doing anything to stop the flow over the southern
border. I would love to ask you all those questions, but I only
have five minutes.
So, I will start with one that you probably won't have an
answer for. Similar, to Mr. Chabot, I would love to know how
many immigrants have been relocated to Minnesota.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, I will provide data with
respect to relocation to the best of my ability.
Ms. Fischbach. Well, and since you don't have it here, I am
formally requesting it now that you send that to my office. I
would appreciate--and, you know what? On behalf of Mr. Chabot,
I would ask for you to send that to his office or to anyone
else who would request that because I think that's important
for our constituents to know.
One of my colleagues also asked about your plan to stop the
flow of illegal crossings at the southern border. Do you have a
real plan? Do you have a plan where there's action where you
are going to be doing something to actually stop that flow?
Secretary Mayorkas. Oh, most certainly, Congresswoman, and
I published details about that plan two days ago. Those
preparations have been in the works for months and months.
In fact, I set up a southern border coordinating center to
bring together the resources of the Department of Homeland
Security and not only the resources of our department, but the
resources of the Federal government in the interagency.
Ms. Fischbach. When do you expect that to--
Secretary Mayorkas. That consecrated effort--
Ms. Fischbach. --and when do you expect that to take
effect, so that we can see something happening at the southern
border?
Secretary Mayorkas. The implementation is well underway,
Congresswoman.
Ms. Fischbach. So, it's in effect? It's working? Are you
seeing actual results of that plan?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, we are. We are
continuing to build on the plan. It is an advancing and
increasing effort on the part of not only the Department of
Homeland Security, but the entire relevant Federal government
agencies.
Ms. Fischbach. Mr. Secretary, I would love, love for you to
put together a little something to the effect that we could see
and you could tell us what's actually happening, if there's
actual results. I would love to have that to my office.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, I am very eager to--
Ms. Fischbach. So, thank you so much for that, and I will
be looking forward to seeing that. Can you tell me what do you
think securing the border really means? I mean, what does that
mean to you, securing the borders? Stopping the flow, slowing
it, what does that really mean?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, that means effectively
applying the laws of our country and making sure that we are
maximizing the impact of the resources that we have to secure
the border.
I very much look forward to providing you with information
about the results of our plan. I'll give you a shining example
of the results from our targeting--
Ms. Fischbach. No. I look forward to getting that in
writing. We are very short on time, and I only have a few
minutes. I have a--but, I do want to know how does releasing
illegal aliens into the U.S. secure the border? How does that
fit in with the definition of security?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, under our laws,
individuals who make a claim for asylum have a right to
vindicate their claims in immigration court proceedings.
Ms. Fischbach. Okay. All right. Well, I understand that
you're not going to address what I'm asking because you're
releasing them. I'm not talking about those necessarily asking
for asylum. It is my time so I'm going to continue.
I just want you to know that some of those questions that
I'm getting were asked here today about how much are we
spending on this? You couldn't answer that one. Why are there
no COVID protocols, and what are you really doing to secure the
borders?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, there are COVID--
Ms. Fischbach. Well, that was a question I had. I'm not
asking it. I'm just telling you that was one of the questions I
got. I will follow-up actually with your office because I do
want--there's a lot of questions that we have.
Really quick, I do want to change. I want to change courses
right here because I got the following this morning. Recently,
U.S. Customs and Border Protection made the decision to reduce
hours at the port of entry in Lancaster, which is in my
district.
My office was told that the management engaged with
stakeholders at the local, State, and Federal level. The listed
stakeholders were two local officials, the Democrat Chair of
the Homeland Security Committee, who doesn't live in my State,
and one Democrat Senator from my State.
As the Congresswoman who represents the communities that
this port is around the communities, that port, why was not I
considered a stakeholder? Why were we not included at all? I
mean, is there some reason why we weren't included in that
discussion?
Chair Nadler. The gentlelady's time has expired. Ms.
Fischbach. I asked the question.
Chair Nadler. The Witness may answer the question.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, I'm not familiar with
the engagement that was held, the invitations that were
distributed, but I will look into it. We will get back to your
office with that information.
Ms. Fischbach. I would absolutely appreciate that. So, I
will be expecting a few letters. Thank you.
Chair Nadler. The gentlelady's time--the gentlelady yields
back. Ms. McBath.
Ms. McBath. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Secretary
Mayorkas for joining us today. I know that you've had a very
busy week up here on the hill. I really appreciate your time
with us today and for patiently and, also, incredibly answering
all our questions.
It has been mentioned already immigration is one of the
most important issues that DHS oversees. Immigration affects
almost all sectors of American life, our family life, our
economy and education. It's imperative that we have a highly
functioning fair and efficient immigration system.
Like many of my colleagues here today, my district, which
is Georgia's 6th Congressional District, is made up of very
large and vibrant immigrant community. They are my neighbors.
They are my friends. They are my coworkers. As I mentioned at a
previous markup in our towns of John's Creek and Chamblee,
about a third of the population there, they are made up of
immigrants.
Our district office caseworkers, they work tirelessly to
help our immigrant populations get their visa applications
processed. Something that we face time and time again like many
other offices there are very, very heavy backlogs.
So, I'd like to ask what, if anything, is being done to fix
the backlog of employment authorization documents? We know that
there have been attempts to really help alleviate these
backlogs for certain nonimmigrant visas, but we're still seeing
very large numbers of constituents that are reaching out about
DACA and TPS, EADs that are just taking so many months to be
processed.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, three quick things.
(1) I must champion, as I have previously in this hearing and
otherwise, of course, the personnel of U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services for doing herculean work while being
under-resourced.
(2) We are delivering processing efficiencies so that we can
work through the backlog more expeditiously.
(3) We are seeking funding from Congress, and we are also
promulgating a fee rule as we seek to and continue to hire more
personnel to be able to work through the backlog and administer
immigration benefits in a timely manner as is our goal.
Ms. McBath. Thank you for that. Also, as a graduate of an
HBCU, Virginia State University, and as an American concerned
about the threat of White supremacy, I want to now turn to how
DHS is responding to the bomb threats against HBCUs earlier
this year.
Now, during our hearing a little bit earlier, it was
called, the Rise in Violence Against Minority Institutions, we
heard from experts on whether the government has done enough to
combat violent right-wing extremism and White supremacy.
Our witness, Dr. Jones, said, and I quote, ``I will say
that there has been uptick in my conversations with some of the
joint terrorism task forces and the FBI and the Department of
Homeland Security to pay more attention to this.''
So, have arrests still not been made in the investigations
into bomb threats against many of our HBCUs? Can you please
describe for us what efforts the DHS is doing to prevent
further threats or potential attacks on our historically Black
colleges and universities?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, thank you. I engage with
the Presidents of the HBCUs to understand the impacts of the
threats on their respective institutions and to better
understand their needs to meet the challenge of increasing
threats.
We are disseminating information to the HBCUs, and other
institutions similarly situated, both with respect to the
threat landscape and what they could confront and also
providing information to them about how they can best secure
their institutions.
We've, also, looked into the availability of the Nonprofit
Security Grant Program and whether some of those funds could
indeed be allocated to HBCUs and similarly situated
institutions. Indeed some of the HBCUs as nonprofit
organizations do qualify for the grant programs. We are working
to make sure that information about the grant programs is
widespread and easily accessible. The grant funding itself is
equally accessible as well. Those are some of the measures that
we are taking.
Ms. McBath. Well, thank you so very much for patiently
answering my questions. I know it's been very difficult today.
You've been a wealth of grace under fire. So, thank you so
much. I give back the balance of my time.
Chair Nadler. The gentlelady yields back. Mr. Massie.
Mr. Massie. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Secretary Mayorkas, there
has been some debate today about the numbers for 2021. How many
ICE arrests, detentions, removals have there been for
aggravated felonies committed by noncitizens? I want to give
you a chance to tell us what that number is.
Secretary Mayorkas. Thank you very much, Congressman. Let
me pull, if I can, the data sheet. In fiscal year 2021,
enforcement and removal operations, the part of Immigration and
Customs Enforcement, arrested 12,025 individuals convicted of
aggravated felonies, nearly double the 6,815 arrested in fiscal
year 2020.
With respect to removals, in fiscal year 2021, Immigration
and Customs Enforcement removed an average of 937 aggravated
felons per month, the highest level ever recorded. Forty-six
percent of ICE removals were for people convicted of felonies
or aggravated felonies compared to 18 percent during the
previous four years and 17 percent the year before that.
Mr. Massie. Can I ask you, for the people who are watching
this back home, aggravated felony is a term of art, a legal
term.
Secretary Mayorkas. A legal term.
Mr. Massie. Can you tell us what is included in aggravated
felonies? Does it include homicides? What kind of crimes does
it include?
Secretary Mayorkas. It includes a series of serious crimes
that Congress has identified as qualifying as aggravated
felonies.
Mr. Massie. So, that would be homicide, sexual assault,
robbery, kidnapping, those would be included?
Secretary Mayorkas. I would have to take a look at the
precise statutory language. There are also--
Mr. Massie. Homicides and sexual assaults.
Secretary Mayorkas. --Congressman, if I may. There are also
certain serious crimes--I would qualify them and describe them
as serious crimes--that are actually not defined as aggravated
felonies which is why we are actually dedicating our
enforcement resources to those cases as well.
Mr. Massie. Okay. Thank you. So, it does include murderers,
rapists, armed robbers, and child molesters according to the
data. I've got your report here that you presented.
You gave us the numbers for this year, 836,000 migrants
have been released into the United States who don't have
citizenship here or a legal basis for being here since January
21, 2021.
Matt Gaetz, my colleague, asked you, will some of the
800,000 migrants that DHS has released into the United States,
since you've been in this position, commit a crime? Do you
remember what your answer was?
Secretary Mayorkas. I believe I said to Congressman Gaetz
that some very well might.
Mr. Massie. You said undoubtedly. How many of those are
going to commit a rape?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, there are individuals--
Mr. Massie. How many of those are going to commit a murder?
Secretary Mayorkas. There are individuals--you are speaking
of individuals who are making a claim for humanitarian relief.
Mr. Massie. How many got-aways made it across the border
according from your estimates from DHS, there are people--
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, can I answer your
question?
Mr. Massie. No, no. We have got to--I asked you a question.
How many of those are going to commit rape, murder, armed
robbery, or molest a child? How many of the 800,000 that you
have released in here that you told my colleague will
undoubtedly commit a crime, and you've just characterized the
types of crimes they're going to commit. You're bragging on how
many you've arrested. How many have you not arrested?
By the way, I want a very specific answer to this. Were
those crimes committed in another country or were those crimes
committed in the United States?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, you are--
Mr. Massie. Were those committed in the United States or
another country?
Secretary Mayorkas. You are describing individuals who are
seeking asylum in our country with a broad brush for now.
Mr. Massie. Who were you describing? Let me give you a
chance. Who were you describing when you mentioned that you
have arrested murderers, rapists, armed robbers, and child
molesters? Were they seeking asylum?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, those individuals are
arrested, detained and removed from the United States.
Mr. Massie. How did they get here?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, they were encountered at--
Mr. Massie. Do you have operational control of the border?
Secretary Mayorkas. I've answered those questions a number
of times.
Mr. Massie. Do you?
Secretary Mayorkas. Yes, we do.
Mr. Massie. How many people are coming across every day
that you can't control?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, I can give you that number
if you would like.
Mr. Massie. Wouldn't it be better for the United States if
we didn't allow these felons to come into the country? If we
didn't give them a chance to commit murders, rapes, child
molestation, and armed robbery?
Chair Nadler. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. Massie. You just told us today. Did you arrest these
very people for these crimes?
Chair Nadler. The time of the gentleman has expired. The
Witness may answer the question.
Secretary Mayorkas. Thank you. The Congressman has asked me
to disobey the laws of the United States of America because the
laws of the United States of America provide for asylum,
provide for humanitarian relief, provide for the protection of
individuals who need it under our laws because they fear
persecution by reason of their membership in--
Mr. Massie. You have discretion to remove them from this
country. You did not.
Chair Nadler. The gentleman--
Mr. Massie. They commit crimes, violent crimes.
Chair Nadler. --the gentleman's time has expired. The
Witness is permitted to answer the gentleman's last question.
He's in the process of doing so.
Secretary Mayorkas. By reason of their fear of persecution,
by reason of their membership in a particular social group.
That body of people that the United States law permits to make
a claim for relief under laws Congress passed should not be
painted with a broad brush of criminality.
In fact, my family, and I included, are beneficiaries of
those laws because a standard of fear of persecution applies
for refugees as well. We fled the Communist takeover of Cuba to
enjoy the freedoms and liberties and the democracy that makes
this country shine.
We are intensely proud and immensely proud of our
humanitarian relief programs. I will not disobey the laws of
humanitarian relief that Congress has passed.
Chair Nadler. The gentleman's time has expired. Mr.
Stanton.
Mr. Stanton. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, Secretary
Mayorkas. I represent the border State of Arizona. As a former
State Deputy Attorney General and a long-time elected official
in the State of Arizona, I understand the border and its
complexities very well as do Arizonans.
We know that being a border State is helpful to our
economy. We understand that immigrants make us stronger, which
is why most Arizonans support modernizing our nation's
immigration system, including a pathway to citizenship.
We also know that our border must be secure. If it isn't
secure, there are real consequences that Arizonans pay the
price for. Opioids and other drugs come across and wreak
activities on our communities, cartels and traffickers can
extort and smuggle migrants in abhorrent conditions across our
dangerous deserts, sometimes killing them.
When the Federal government is overwhelmed, it too often
passes the buck. It places an incredible burden on local law
enforcement, on local communities, on our local nonprofits.
I paid careful to your testimony yesterday, Mr. Secretary,
as well as your commentary earlier today. I agree with you that
the Trump Administration got border policy wrong. Their
approach was inhumane, ineffective, and harmed the Federal
government's long-term ability to process migrants through the
system.
You are also right that migration issues are not unique to
the United States. Increased migration is a worldwide crisis in
which human tragedy in the developing world is putting pressure
on countries like the United States.
This administration did not create the problem. Managing it
effectively is your responsibility. What was outlined in the
memo you released on Tuesday, just a couple days before today's
hearing, is not at all sufficient to handle what will come our
way once title 42 restrictions are lifted.
Those on the ground in Arizona know that the entire chain,
starting with the Border Patrol and ICE to local law
enforcement, nonprofit refugee centers, even our International
Airport in Phoenix is already overwhelmed.
Just yesterday, I met with a local Arizona mayor who has
been seeking assistance from DHS for months so that his
community can be prepared to deliver necessary services.
He told me that today they're processing about 300 migrants
per day through a local nonprofit, but they have been told by
the Federal law enforcement to expect that the number jump to
1,000 per day by this summer. They have been telling your
department that at this time they are not ready.
When migrants can't get help at a nonprofit, where will
they go, Mr. Secretary? Putting more pressure on a system that
can't handle it carries a significant risk of creating a full-
scale humanitarian crisis on American soil for which the White
House and your department will be solely responsible. No person
who cares about migrants should want that. It is clear to me
that the Federal government is not prepared, not even close.
One example, your memo acknowledges that even with title 42
restrictions in place, Customs and Border Patrol was so
overwhelmed just two months ago that it had to increase in its
number of agents deployed along the southwest border by more
than 600. You proposed adding a few hundred more.
Mr. Secretary, no thinking person believes that modest
staffing improvements will put the Federal government in a
position to handle triple the number of crossings, not a
chance.
So, I have a long list of questions for you. I know that we
won't get through all them here today. I will be following up
in writing. Let me get through as many as I can in the short
time left.
Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport is one of the busiest in
America. Since January airport staff has been even busier
taking on duties that they shouldn't be asked to, assisting
migrants in making travel plans.
Leaders at the airport have told me that up to 600 migrants
who have been released by CBP and ICE custody are dropped at
the airport every day, at the busiest times of the day. Most
are not ready to travel. Many are at high risk with health
concerns and few resources.
Airport staff has sprung into action. They're setting up
phone banks, providing translation services, and many are even
donating clothing and food. They're making trips to the store
to purchase belts and shoes and shoe laces with their personal
funds. They're delivering diapers and formula to mothers and
infants. Airport staff is maxed out.
Even with the expected surge this summer, there will come a
breaking point. DHS needs to provide additional support to its
nonprofit partners to ensure that all migrants arriving at
transportation hubs like Sky Harbor Airport are better prepared
to travel. Mr. Secretary, will you commit to getting your
partners the resources that they desperately need?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congressman, one of the six pillars of
our plan is to bolster the capacity of nonprofit organizations
and to coordinate with local and State officials. So that is
directly responsive.
Another part of our plan is to work with our countries to
the south, our partners throughout the region to address their
order management opportunities and responsibilities, which is
why I was in Panama last week with Secretary of State Anthony
Blinken.
We will be prepared. Our plan is comprehensive. I look
forward to sharing with you some of the details of that plan to
address some of the concerns that you have expressed because
we're aware of those concerns. We've been planning against
those concerns for months.
Chair Nadler. The gentleman's time has expired. Ms. Spartz.
Ms. Spartz. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
In your six-point plan, how many migrants that once you process
you plan to remove this year? Do you have a number that you
plan for removals? Do you have a number?
Secretary Mayorkas. We don't have a predictive number.
Ms. Spartz. In your plan, you don't set a number, right?
You don't plan. This is so many minimum people? So, you don't
have a number for that?
Secretary Mayorkas. No. Because it's a function,
Congresswoman, of a number of different variables.
Ms. Spartz. Okay. Do you believe--
Secretary Mayorkas. What we will do, and as our plan
indicates, is we will maximize the effectiveness--
Ms. Spartz. Well, maximize does not work. I would like to
hear the number at some point. Let's just go to the next one.
Do you believe in the light of everything that's happening
right now in Europe and the war, big war, do you think there
are some significant national security concerns at our border
also? Just tell me yes or no.
Secretary Mayorkas. I believe that, ma'am, the situation,
Congresswoman, that any individual who seeks to do us harm is
encountered--
Ms. Spartz. I'm talking about there is increased risk at
the border due to war in Europe. Do you believe there is an
increased national security risk at the border due to war in
Europe? Yes or no?
Secretary Mayorkas. I want to make sure I understand your
question. Does the number of individuals--
Ms. Spartz. No, no, no. I'm not talking about an
individual. Do you assess as a Chief Executive of agencies that
provide border security, there is increased risk of security,
national security risk, at our southern border due to war,
major war, happening in Europe? Do we believe the risk is
escalated, is increased?
Secretary Mayorkas. By reason of what has occurred in
Europe?
Ms. Spartz. The war, yes. The war in Ukraine.
Secretary Mayorkas. What we are seeing is--
Ms. Spartz. Yes or no, like just answer. Do you have an
increased risk or not?
Secretary Mayorkas. What we are seeing, Congresswoman, if
you would allow me, what we are seeing is an increased number
of individuals seeking humanitarian relief.
Ms. Spartz. So, you don't think there is a national
security risk. Okay. How many people do you think believe the
Border Patrol is actually overwhelmed and right now and have a
really low morale? What do you think?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, the morale in U.S.
Customs and Border Protection and the Border Patrol is low.
There is no question.
Ms. Spartz. You believe they are overwhelmed.
Secretary Mayorkas. They are under strain, which is why we
are taking--
Ms. Spartz. They are overwhelmed. Okay. So, the question
has been--
Secretary Mayorkas. --which is why we are taking--
Ms. Spartz. How many people--do you have a number, how many
people were released by Border Patrol under prosecutorial
authority without even notice to appear, just get them in the
country because they don't have even capacity to handle? Do you
have that number?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, yes, I do.
Ms. Spartz. So, what is that number?
Secretary Mayorkas. Because it's not--
Ms. Spartz. Just a number, just a number. How many people
were released without that?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, would you allow me to
answer your question because--
Ms. Spartz. Yes. Please do. Because I need to ask more
questions, so I need to ask.
Secretary Mayorkas. I understand, but your question is
imprecise.
Ms. Spartz. Yes. Mm-hmm.
Secretary Mayorkas. Because right now those individuals are
being released on either notice to appear or parole with
alternatives to detention. We no longer use the notice to
report that we used in fiscal year--
Ms. Spartz. So, how many were used? How many were used
without just anything? How many? Do you have that number when
you did that?
Secretary Mayorkas. Yes. Yes, I do. Your question is how
many individuals were released on a notice to appear for
example?
Ms. Spartz. No, without, without it.
Secretary Mayorkas. In fiscal year 2021 because right now
we are not using the notice to report.
Ms. Spartz. Yes, just give me the number. I don't need the
full-blown statements.
Secretary Mayorkas. In fiscal year 2021, 144,383 were
transferred to ICE enforcement for the removal--
Ms. Spartz. No, not ICE. Actually, given to them, go
directly from the border into the country without any
documentation under prosecutorial authority. I've been at the
border four times and that happened. You're not aware that it's
happening--
Secretary Mayorkas. They're--
Ms. Spartz. --in the Texas border? You're not aware about
that?
Secretary Mayorkas. You're asking your question--
Ms. Spartz. My question is when the Border Patrol has no
ability to do processing, so they just send them without
documentation inside the country. Get on the bus, and they go
there. So, you're not aware that it's happening under
prosecutorial authority?
Secretary Mayorkas. No. What we--
Ms. Spartz. Okay. If you're not aware, let's talk about.
Are you aware how many people--I just was at one section of the
border. I talked to Border Patrol. They had predicted about in
a small section about 300 people per day going not caught, but
they see on camera. Only 25 percent of their sector has camera.
Do you know how many people cross this border, do you have
a number, estimate that were not detected by any cameras and
couldn't be stopped by Border Patrol because they have a
limited capacity? Do you have an estimate?
Secretary Mayorkas. Are you asking me how many got-aways?
Ms. Spartz. Yes. No, they got away.
Secretary Mayorkas. Got-aways?
Ms. Spartz. Yes. They pretty much crossed the border. Do
you have that number? What is your estimate? How many people?
Secretary Mayorkas. I just want to make sure I understand
your question.
Ms. Spartz. You understand that there are some people that
cross border you see on camera, no resources to catch and some
border sections do not have camera. What is your estimate? How
many people can cross the border and be completely undetected?
What is your estimate?
Secretary Mayorkas. Completely undetected?
Ms. Spartz. Yes.
Secretary Mayorkas. Or--
Ms. Spartz. What is your estimate?
Secretary Mayorkas. --observed and not apprehended as well?
Ms. Spartz. Not detected because we've got to observe some
of them. Let's say how many undetected, not observed.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, your question is quite
imprecise. In fiscal year of 2021--
Ms. Spartz. I just don't understand if you don't have
answers on this question.
Chair Nadler. The gentlelady's time has expired. The
Witness may answer the question.
Secretary Mayorkas. In fiscal year 2021, there were 389,155
got-aways.
Ms. Spartz. It's not got-aways.
Chair Nadler. The gentlelady's time has expired. The
Witness--
Ms. Spartz. Mr. Chair, I think you're not--but I think
you're not answering my question. I will ask it in writing
because this is very incompetent.
Chair Nadler. The gentlelady time has expired. The
gentlelady no longer has the floor. The Witness is in the
process of answering her last question and may proceed.
Secretary Mayorkas. I answered it, Mr. Chair. I gave the
figure of got-aways.
Ms. Spartz. Not.
Chair Nadler. Very well. The time of the gentlelady has
expired.
Ms. Spartz. You did not.
Chair Nadler. Ms. Dean.
Ms. Dean. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to you, Secretary
Mayorkas, for being here, for your service to our country in
trying to solve serious problems. So, I thank you and your team
for that work.
The indecency with which you have been treated by many
people on this dais is staggering to me. It reveals the lack of
seriousness to solve problems, the lack of interest to solve
problems.
It reminds me of a different time of disinformation, of
bigotry, of political theater. It reminds me of a beautiful
speech given by Senator Margaret Chase Smith, speaking up
against Senator McCarthy and his bigotry and disinformation
campaign.
Part of what she said is freedom of speech is not what it
used to be in America. She complained it has been so abused by
some, and it is not exercised by others. She asked her fellow
Republicans not to ride to political victory on the four
horseman of calumny, fear, ignorance, bigotry, and smear.
Sadly, I see those four horseman riding today. We need to
put an end to it and be serious about the problems that we
face.
So, rather than ask you the questions I was going to ask
you, I will list the issues I am interested in and will submit
them for the record and submit them to you, and I look forward
to having a further conversation with you. I'm going to give
you a chance to speak.
Some of the three or four issues I'm interested in. We have
a detention center in my area, Berks Detention Center, I would
like to see it closed. It has a recent history of sexual
assault of one of the detained.
I'm very interested in the process around the 100,000
number and how the department will ensure that Ukrainians can
navigate that system.
I'm hoping that you are considering TPS for Ethiopians who
really are suffering tremendously. I think our country should
be offering that as we have to other people fleeing and, of
course, Afghan resettlement. Those are my areas of interest.
I would rather give the rest of my time to let you speak
because so often you were misquoted, you were misrepresented,
and most importantly, you were not allowed to speak. The floor
is yours.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, thank you very much. I
have so much to say in response to the misstatements that have
been made and directed at me that actually I'm going to use the
time most productively to address very quickly the four areas
that you have identified.
We have focused our efforts on detention centers and
ensuring that our standards for detention centers are abided
by. Detention centers that do not abide by those standards will
be addressed. We've addressed a number of them by closing them
because of their repeat offenses.
I've outlined the paths to deliver on the President's
commitment of providing humanitarian relief for 100,000
Ukrainians who need that relief here in the United States. I
welcome the opportunity to speak with you about the efforts to
resettle Afghan individuals, individuals from Afghanistan.
We have Operation Allies Welcome, which we have been
working with civil society in that regard, the business
community,
welcome.us, and other organizations. I will look at the
situation in Ethiopia with my partners in the Department of
State. That is an issue that already we are looking into, but I
will check on its status. I very much appreciate the question.
Obviously, we are very proud in this country to be a nation
of immigrants and a nation of laws. We abide by our identity in
both. It is quite regrettable that individuals who seek
humanitarian relief in this country, who qualify for
humanitarian relief, are being painted with a brush of
criminality and in terms of being a nation of laws, when
individuals who do not qualify for relief, they are removed.
Individuals are placed in immigration proceedings where
they make their claims. An immigration judge rules on their
claims. Those who qualify are provided the relief to which they
are entitled under our laws. Those who don't are removed.
Ms. Dean. I thank you for your seriousness and your
decency. I seek unanimous consent to enter into the record the
beautiful speech by Margaret Chase Smith of June 1, 1950,
Declaration of Conscience.
Chair Nadler. Without objection.
[The information follows:]
MS. DEAN FOR THE RECORD
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Chair Nadler. The gentlelady's time has expired. Mr.
Fitzgerald.
Mr. Fitzgerald. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Secretary, I
think some of the level of frustration I think you're hearing
from Members here today is because many of the Members on the
Judiciary Committee have done, as you're well aware, multiple
border visits.
I think oftentimes the way it's characterized or the way
it's been presented by yourself and sometimes members of your
team doesn't necessarily match up with what we see on the
grounds on these visits.
So, let me ask you this. Mr. Secretary, on one of those
visits last week, there were Members of this Committee that
were down at the border in San Diego at the site that's
oftentimes referred to, I guess, as Welldraw.
On this visit, as well as other Members that were with me,
this issue of human trafficking continues to come up. I feel
strong about it because I think it's a driving force in just
about everything that you could characterize it as or what it
kind of touches. It's all encompassing.
So, the high likelihood of release is what's motivating
more and more people around the globe to put themselves in the
hands of criminals, which is the big part of I think what's
creating the issue at our southern border.
I'll just say, easy access to the United States, it's just
irresistible that you're going to continue to have individuals,
especially from the southern hemisphere continue to want to
come to America. If we don't get control of what happens to
those individuals once they hit that southern border, I don't
think this issue is going away anytime soon.
So, I think we can agree that human trafficking, it's
clearly illegal. I think you would agree with that, right?
Secretary Mayorkas. Of course.
Mr. Fitzgerald. We can agree that human trafficking is
real. It is really happening out there. We hear about it all
the time when we're at the border.
Secretary Mayorkas. Most certainly.
Mr. Fitzgerald. Or even on the backside, law enforcement
back in our districts. I'm from the Fifth Congressional in
Wisconsin, and we hear about it all the time. It might take the
form of a local truck driver who somehow comes in contact with
it. Law enforcement finds out about it later. So, it is a
terrible thing, I think we can agree.
I think we can agree that many of the aliens, illegal
aliens who are coming across right now are being smuggled or
are being ushered through by coyotes as we just heard about,
and it was somewhat demonstrated to us again and again every
time you're at the border.
So, since we agree on those kind of small sets of facts,
let me just go back to the big question. Why aren't we
finishing the wall? I mean, what we saw in San Diego were gaps.
Then stories of materials that had been there on the ground and
then suddenly the Border Patrol agents noticing that someone
had come and picked up those materials, and where did they go?
There was kind of a mystery that was in place for some time.
Then they found out later that those materials were shipped to
Texas.
So, I know it's kind of the big question. Why aren't we
finishing the wall?
Then, I can't believe that it wouldn't help funnel so that
agents would know who is coming and going on the border, which
is probably half the battle. Not necessarily sealing off
America on the southern border but getting control of it.
Then just based on human trafficking, which I said earlier
is what I consider more of a motivator, there's got to be a
reason for people to try and usher individuals who clearly
don't have the wherewithal on their own back and forth.
Then the other thing, not to mention even the illegal
drugs, which is probably another great motivator in this whole
thing.
So, can you answer that for me? Answer the simple stuff.
Why aren't we finishing the wall and why aren't we making an
attempt to clearly control and close the border right now?
Secretary Mayorkas. A number of points, Congressman.
(1) The funds used to build the wall are not the most
effective use of those funds in achieving border security,
number one.
(2) I have approved approximately 68 projects to complete gaps
and gates.
(3) We've intensified our efforts against the smuggling
organizations for precisely the reason you articulate.
(4) The smuggling organizations spread misinformation.
It's why we counter that misinformation.
Mr. Fitzgerald. I'm going to cut you off right there. Just
I got one more question. Let me just--
Chair Nadler. The gentleman's time has expired. Ms.
Escobar.
Mr. Fitzgerald. Mr. Chair, I--
Ms. Escobar. Thank you, Mr. Chair--
Mr. Fitzgerald. --there was one second left when I tried to
ask the question.
Chair Nadler. Ms. Escobar.
Ms. Escobar. Can I get my time back?
Mr. Fitzgerald. Mr. Chair?
Chair Nadler. Ms. Escobar.
Ms. Escobar. Mr. Chair--
Mr. Fitzgerald. There was a second left.
Chair Nadler. Please restart the clock.
Ms. Escobar. Thank you so much.
Mr. Fitzgerald. I cut him off with a second left.
Ms. Escobar. Secretary Mayorkas, thank you so much for
being here. Let me from the onset apologize to you, your family
and your staff for the sickening, breathtakingly xenophobic
political theater that has occurred at this hearing, which has
included attacking your family. I know that your family is
profoundly proud of you and your service to our nation.
Mr. Roy. Mr. Chair? Mr. Chair? I move to strike those
words.
Ms. Escobar. Unfortunately, for some of my colleagues.
Mr. Roy. She's accused us generally of making xenophobic
remarks.
Chair Nadler. The gentlelady
Ms. Escobar. Mr. Chair?
Chair Nadler. There's nothing wrong with that.
Mr. Roy. There's nothing wrong with that?
Ms. Escobar. Mr. Roy, can you stop eating into my time,
please? I did not do that to you. Have some respect for me.
Mr. Roy. I'm not eating into your time. I'm just making a
point of order.
Chair Nadler. You're eating into her time. The gentlelady
will continue.
Ms. Escobar. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Secretary Mayorkas,
unfortunately, for some of my colleagues, there is no bottom.
These are the same people who praised Donald Trump's
immigration strategy, which included separating small children
from the arms of their mother.
I'd like to enter into the record the article from Axios,
``House Republicans plot to impeach Mayorkas,'' and the April
25, 2022, letter addressed to Mr. Mayorkas outlining that plot.
I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record. Mr.
Chair?
Chair Nadler. Without objection.
[The information follows:]
MS. ESCOBAR FOR THE RECORD
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Ms. Escobar. Thank you. I hope the American people are
watching this. To those who are, let it be absolutely clear
that the majority of my Republican colleagues are showing you
the American people that they are not interested in addressing
our country's challenges. Their goal is instead to feed our
nation a regular diet of hate and rage because that is what
they believe will win them elections. I hope Americans are as
sickened by this as I am. I hope Members of their party with
integrity and decency will rebuke their colleagues for the way
they have degraded this body and themselves today.
I am the only Member of this Committee who represents a
border district, the only one born and raised in a border
district, the only one who has chosen to stay and live and
raise my children in a beautiful vibrant border district.
What we are seeing at the border today is a challenge that
began decades ago, but has been neglected by Congress after
Congress. It should be no surprise that the situation has grown
only more challenging as a result of inaction. Much of what has
suddenly outraged my Republican colleagues has been going on
for years, including during the Trump era.
We talk about root causes of migration. There is one we
don't talk about enough, and that is Congress' inaction.
Immigration reform, which hasn't happened in decades, won't
eliminate migration, but it sure would help alleviate the
pressure.
So, why won't my Republican colleagues work with us on it?
To quote the Ranking Member of this Committee, Jim Jordan, from
his opening remarks, quote, ``It's intentional. It's by
design.'' They don't want things to change.
Secretary Mayorkas, I am going to ask you just a few
questions. If could, just please yes or no.
Secretary Mayorkas, in your time as the Secretary of
Homeland Security have any of my Republican colleagues on this
Committee asked you for your thoughts on how we can best
address the challenges at the border?
Secretary Mayorkas. Not my recollection, congresswoman.
Ms. Escobar. Secretary Mayorkas, my Republican colleagues
believe that dealing with migration should happen at the border
with walls and rapid expulsion. Have hundreds of miles of
border wall or2\1/2\ years of title 42 slowed, deterred, or
eliminated migration?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, it's very difficult with
respect to the wall. Of course, we've seen an increase
[inaudible]--
Ms. Escobar. Well, let me ask you this: Has it eliminated
migration?
Secretary Mayorkas. It has not.
Ms. Escobar. Did Donald Trump end migration?
Secretary Mayorkas. He did not, Congresswoman.
Ms. Escobar. So, their strategy hasn't worked. We have
tried their strategy. In fact, we have focused fundamentally
singularly on their strategy for decades. Their strategy is
don't reform outdated immigration laws and only deter at the
border. Hasn't worked. They have called it a failure. If
Congress did its job and legislated, Mr. Secretary, do you
think that would help the situation at the border?
Secretary Mayorkas. That is our best chance for an enduring
solution, Congresswoman.
Ms. Escobar. Thank you, Secretary Mayorkas. I would tell
again the American public that Congress is not doing its job,
loves to point the finger, loves to shirk from its
responsibility. House Democrats have delivered bill after bill
only to see our Republican colleagues vote against them.
One last thing, Secretary Mayorkas: Governor Abbot has
engaged in all sorts of antics that have shut down the border
and that have led to four deaths by suicide of service members
who are at Operation Lone Star. Has that stopped migration or
made our border more secure?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, it has not.
Ms. Escobar. One final thing actually. Would love to work
with you on reforming the personnel staffing model.
Chair Nadler. The gentlelady's time is expired.
Ms. Escobar. Thank you.
Chair Nadler. For the purpose of a UC request, Mr. Biggs?
Mr. Biggs. Thank you, Mr. Chair. As a person who was born
and raised in a border district I have here a stack of letters
requesting Mr. Secretary Mayorkas to respond to, at least six
letters. I would like to have those put into the record.
Chair Nadler. Without objection.
[The information follows:]
MR. BIGGS FOR THE RECORD
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Mr. Jordan. I have a UC, too. Mr. Chair?
Chair Nadler. Mr. Bentz?
Mr. Jordan. I have a UC. Mr. Chair?
Chair Nadler. I am sorry. Mr. Jordan for a UC request.
Mr. Jordan. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to ask
unanimous consent to enter into the record a Washington Times
article from March of this year quoting ICE Sources saying that
ICE data an aggravated felons is, quote, ``a shell game with
numbers that are not reliable.''
Chair Nadler. Without objection.
[The information follows:]
MR. JORDAN FOR THE RECORD
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Chair Nadler. Mr. Bentz?
Mr. Bentz. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Secretary, for your patience. I am from
Oregon, and we have a situation with our southern four counties
involving cartels growing massive amounts of marijuana and
utilizing folks without the benefit of documentation in those
operations.
We have asked Attorney General Merrick Garland for help. I
specifically wrote letters to him twice asking for 80 people to
help. You have asked actually for a number of people to help
you in your district, or in your department, but you have
encountered the problems with direct hire or--as opposed to
standard hire. You have asked actually for direct hire be
given--the authority be given back to you.
Would you please reassert your request to the folks that
are in charge of this, the Director of Office Personnel, and
get us some help in Southern Oregon so we can begin to head off
some of the incredible damage the cartels are doing utilizing I
am going to say undocumented immigrants in that space?
I was one of the people that went to the border just a few
days ago. Went down to San Diego. I saw of course that the
detention facilities are dramatically inadequate and that folks
are being released into the United States when they don't fit
in the detention facility, which is right now. We found out
that there was no means of finding folks once they are
released, no way of tracking them. We found out that there is
not the full and complete background analysis on these folks as
they come in that could be done being done. Just as Congressman
Issa said, title 42 is currently being ignored. We are not sure
who gave that order, but that is what is happening. The Border
Patrol is overwhelmed and they need help.
I was somewhat surprised when you indicated that you
would--I think you didn't really use the word ``welcome,'' but
you could certainly put to work the 20,000 folks that it was
suggested we prevented from being hired, but I have here, which
I would ask be offered into the record--it is your budgets,
actually fiscal year 2017-2022 budgets for your department, the
CBP, the ICE, EOIR, and CIS.
Chair Nadler. Without objection.
[The information follows:]
MR. BENTZ FOR THE RECORD
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Mr. Bentz. I think the budget tells a story of what you
really want to do because it shows how much money you are
asking for or not asking for in each of these spaces. For
example, for the Border Patrol this year it is $18 billion,
fiscal year--I am sorry, last year it was 18 billion. This year
it is 16 billion. For some reason the amount that you asked for
is less by $2 billion for Border Patrol. Next year it goes back
to 17 billion, but it is still far less than the 20 billion
that they had available in 2020. In ICE--this goes right to the
heart of whether you are really truly asking for--planning on
picking up people across the United States--your budget drops
from $9 billion in 2020 down to $8 billion 2023. So, I would
suggest that shows better than anything what you are real plans
are, which is not to take people out of the United States that
are here illegally.
Finally, I think it is incredibly important that people
actually look at the fact sheet that President Biden has sent
out a commitment to modernize our immigration system. Almost
every element in this so-called fact sheet has nothing to do
with securing the border. There is one bullet point at the end
that talks about it. The rest of them talk about how to
facilitate those who immigrate, how to help those who
immigrate.
Now, needs to be important, one thing that gets lost in
this that we Republicans support legal immigration. We want
legal immigration. What you are doing, your administration, is
failing to protect the border and making it almost impossible
to correctly address issues on immigration. So, when people
become upset and angry, as the folks that I represent are back
in the little State of Oregon, they wonder why in the world--by
throwing the border open you are making it so hard to get help
up on our farms and our ranches and using H2-A, H2-B, and H2-C
programs.
So, what I am trying to say to you is your failures to do
what you should be doing are making it almost impossible to get
valid and needed and absolutely necessary immigration reform.
With that I yield to the Ranking Member, Mr. Jordan.
Mr. Jordan. I thank the gentleman.
Mr. Secretary, who is Nina Jankowicz?
Secretary Mayorkas. She is the newly-appointed individual
in our Office of Policy in the Department of Homeland Security
and she will be the--
Mr. Jordan. Is she the new Executive Director for
Disinforma-
tion Governments Board?
Secretary Mayorkas. She is the Executive Director of the
Disin-
formation Governance.
Mr. Jordan. Is this the same individual who said the
dossier was real and the Hunter Biden laptop story was false?
Is that the individual who is now running the Disinformation
Governance Board?
Secretary Mayorkas. I'm not familiar with those statements.
Mr. Jordan. Been reported widely.
Secretary Mayorkas. I'm not familiar with those statements.
Mr. Jordan. I am just asking--
Chair Nadler. The gentleman's time is expired.
For the purpose of a unanimous consent, Ms. Jackson Lee?
Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Unanimous consent to submit into the record ``DHS secretary
defends border policies under intense grilling from GOP
lawmakers,'' where a member from Louisiana again cites an
impeachment of Mayorkas talking points.
As an unanimous consent, ``TSA announces measures to
implement gender-neutral screening at its checkpoints''
regarding transgender. I thank the Secretary for that.
As an unanimous consent, ``School leaders say HBCUs are
undeterred after a series of bomb threats,'' NPR.
As an unanimous consent, ``Bomb threats targeting U.S.
Black colleges investigated as hate crimes,'' The Gardian.
Finally, ``NBA's Houston Rockets Face Cyber Attack by
Ransomware Group.'' Ask unanimous consent to submit into the
record.
Chair Nadler. Without objection.
[The information follows:]
MS. JACKSON LEE FOR THE RECORD
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Chair Nadler. Ms. Ross?
Ms. Ross. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Secretary Mayorkas, thank you for all the work that you and
the Biden Administration have done to preserve the Deferred
Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, or DACA.
I was pleased to see that the administration engaged in
notice and comment rulemaking to strengthen and protect this
vital program, however the proposed rulemaking fails to address
the needs of a group often referred to as the documented
DREAMers. These are young people who have grown up in the
United States as dependents of nonimmigrant visa holders that
age out of their visas at age 21 due to the decades-long
backlog in the immigration system.
Around the country over 200,000 of these documented
DREAMers live in limbo struggling to find a pathway to
permanent residency and ineligible for many of the
opportunities that their peers who were born in the United
States can access.
I have heard from countless young people in my district who
dream of getting back to the country in which they spent nearly
all their lives. However, backlogs along with other hurdles in
the legal immigration system have made this dream an
impossibility for many documented DREAMers. As you may know, I
have introduced bipartisan, bicameral legislation to address
this problem, however there may be an administrative solution
through you.
Former Secretary Napolitano's original June 15, 2021, DACA
memorandum only requires one to be present in the U.S. on June
15, 2012, in addition to meeting other requirements under the
program, however under the DHS-implemented DACA the agency
stated that the applicants must have been physically present on
June 15, 2012 and have no lawful status on that date. That
means documented DREAMers who were here legally on June 15,
2021, but have subsequent lost status because they have aged
out are not eligible for DACA. Such individuals were not
considered ineligible under the initial Napolitano memo.
Is the department considering expanding DACA to include
these documented DREAMers? If not, is there a reason they are
not being included given the original memo? I have written two
letters to your office in support of the documented DREAMers,
and have yet to get a response.
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, first, I will follow up
to make sure that you do receive a response to the letters that
you've transmitted to us.
The 2012 program was implemented to address those with most
acute vulnerabilities. The point you make with respect to
individuals who should have access to relief because they've
known the United States as their home and have contributed to
this country speaks of the imperative to pass immigration
reform, to pass legislation to provide a path for those
individuals whom you identify.
We currently do not have a plan. The focus is on the
regulation to fortify the existing DACA Program and I'd welcome
the opportunity to speak with you about the concerns that you
rightly express for documented DREAMers, as you've identified
them.
Ms. Ross. As a follow-up question, the House has passed the
American Dream and Promise Act, which includes both the current
DACA recipients; and make no mistake they absolutely have to
keep their status, and documented DREAMers. Then of course
extends protection for folks with temporary protected status.
What is your office doing to encourage our friends in the
Senate to see the need to pass this bill as well?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, I'd be pleased to follow
up with your question to address the legislative activity that
is underway. We remain hopeful for legislative reform. I note
very powerfully that our President sent to Congress a
legislative package on his very first day in office.
Chair Nadler. The gentlelady's time is expired.
Ms. Bush?
Ms. Ross. I yield back.
Chair Nadler. The gentlelady yields back.
Ms. Bush?
Ms. Bush. Thank you. St. Louis and I thank you, Secretary
Mayorkas, for being here with us today.
As a country we have been unified in our response to the
crisis in Ukraine. Your department, Secretary Mayorkas,
recently unveiled a plan to accelerate initiatives from Ukraine
with a goal of admitting up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. We
know that we have a legal and a moral obligation to welcome
those fleeing persecution, wars, and famine.
Does the department consider the conditions in the home
country of the individual who crosses when assessing for the
use of title 42? For example, is this why Ukrainian nationals
coming through our southern border that they are currently
exempt from title 42?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, we have built pathways,
safe, orderly, and humane pathways for the Ukrainian
individuals seeking relief to access the United States, the
Humanitarian Parole Program that we have termed ``Uniting for
Ukraine,'' the refugee process for which we have deployed our
personnel overseas, and of course the visa programs that the
Department of State traditionally and historically has
administered.
As a category of individuals Ukrainians are not necessarily
exempt from title 42. We provide individualized exemptions
depending on acute vulnerabilities, claims under the Convention
Against Torture. What we are really doing is implementing safe
and orderly pathways so that individuals do not travel to
Mexico with the intent of crossing through a port of entry and
into the United States. That is not the safest way to proceed
and that is precisely one of the reasons, just one of the
reasons why we implemented the measures that I have described
to build an orderly and safe way to provide humanitarian relief
in the proudest traditions of this country.
Ms. Bush. Okay. Well, thank you. Thank you, Secretary. Last
year DHS designated Haiti for temporary protective status to
Haiti. In making that decision DHS noted that Haiti is
grappling with a deteriorating political crisis, violence, and
a staggering increase in human rights abuses. Haiti faces the
challenges of rising food insecurity and malnutrition,
waterborne disease epidemics. Similar conditions exist for
Cameroon, which was finally granted TPS status last week.
Given this can you explain why Haitian, Cameroonian, and
others fleeing poverty, violence, and war not exempt from title
42?
Secretary Mayorkas. Congresswoman, our experts, not only in
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, but also in the
Department of State, review country conditions to determine
which countries are eligible for temporary protected status
based on the statutory criteria that are set forth. You
correctly note that we reviewed the country conditions last
year in Haiti and granted temporary protected status for
individuals already resident in the United States from Haiti.
We actually in light of the tragic assassination of the
Haitian President last year extended the period. We have not
made a determination that in fact a further designation of
Haiti is warranted under the statutory criteria, and therefore
we have not extended temporary protected status beyond that
which we granted last year.
You correctly note as well that our review of the country
conditions in Cameroon led us to grant temporary protected
status to Cameroonians. Our experts review country conditions
against the statutory criteria, the Statutory Program, and we
exercise our discretion accordingly.
Ms. Bush. Thank you. Reclaiming my time.
Earlier this year I led 100 Members of Congress in sending
a letter to the administration requesting the departmental
review of our immigration system and the disparate treatment of
Black migrants. Yes or no, Secretary, are you aware of the
disparate treatment of Black migrants at the border?
Secretary Mayorkas. I would respectfully disagree with that
assertion. One of our core principles is equal application of
the law in a non-discriminatory manner. I think our designation
of temporary protected status for Haitian nationals' resident
in the United States last year, our recent our declaration of--
Ms. Bush. Well, reclaiming my time. I have another
question. Has the department ever conducted a review of
disparate treatment of Black migrants?
Chair Nadler. The gentlelady's time is expired.
The Witness may answer the question.
Secretary Mayorkas. I'm sorry, if the question could be
repeated? I didn't quite catch it. I apologize, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Bush. That is fine. Has the department ever conducted a
review of disparate treatment of Black migrants?
Secretary Mayorkas. We have, Congresswoman, a statutorily-
created Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. I will
consult with that office to see whether our department has ever
conducted such a review and be back in--or we will be back in
touch with your office.
Ms. Bush. Thank you.
Chair Nadler. The time of the gentlelady has expired.
This concludes today's hearing. We thank Secretary Mayorkas
for participating.
Without objection, all Members will have five legislative
days to submit additional written questions for the Witness or
additional materials for the record.
I will note that there are two votes on the floor right
now.
Without objection, the hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 2:14 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.]
APPENDIX
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QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES FOR THE RECORD
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