    [House Hearing, 118 Congress]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                        THE BIDEN BORDER CRISIS: PART II

    =======================================================================

                                    HEARING

                                   BEFORE THE

                           COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY

                         U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                        ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS

                                 FIRST SESSION

                                   __________

                          THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2023

                                   __________

                                Serial No. 118-4

                                   __________

             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
    51-491                     WASHINGTON : 2023

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                           COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY

                            JIM JORDAN, Ohio, Chair

    DARRELL ISSA, California             JERROLD NADLER, New York, Ranking
    KEN BUCK, Colorado                       Member
    MATT GAETZ, Florida                  ZOE LOFGREN, California
    MIKE JOHNSON, Louisiana              SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas
    ANDY BIGGS, Arizona                  STEVE COHEN, Tennessee
    TOM McCLINTOCK, California           HENRY C. ``HANK'' JOHNSON, Jr.,
    TOM TIFFANY, Wisconsin                   Georgia
    THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky              ADAM SCHIFF, California
    CHIP ROY, Texas                      DAVID N. CICILLINE, Rhode Island
    DAN BISHOP, North Carolina           ERIC SWALWELL, California
    VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana             TED LIEU, California
    SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin          PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington
    CLIFF BENTZ, Oregon                  J. LUIS CORREA, California
    BEN CLINE, Virginia                  MARY GAY SCANLON, Pennsylvania
    LANCE GOODEN, Texas                  JOE NEGUSE, Colorado
    JEFF VAN DREW, New Jersey            LUCY McBATH, Georgia
    TROY NEHLS, Texas                    MADELEINE DEAN, Pennsylvania
    BARRY MOORE, Alabama                 VERONICA ESCOBAR, Texas
    KEVIN KILEY, California              DEBORAH ROSS, North Carolina
    HARRIET HAGEMAN, Wyoming             CORI BUSH, Missouri
    NATHANIEL MORAN, Texas               GLENN IVEY, Maryland
    LAUREL LEE, Florida
    WESLEY HUNT, Texas
    RUSSELL FRY, South Carolina

                   CHRISTOPHER HIXON, Majority Staff Director
              AMY RUTKIN, Minority Staff Director & Chief of Staff
                                     ------
                                C O N T E N T S

                                  ----------

                          Thursday, February 23, 2023

                                                                       Page

                               OPENING STATEMENTS

    The Honorable Jim Jordan, Chair of the Committee on the Judiciary
      from the State of Ohio.........................................     1
    The Honorable Tom McClintock, a Member of the Committee on the
      Judiciary and Chair of the Subcommittee on Immigration
      Integrity, Security, and Enforcement from the State of
      California.....................................................     3

                                   WITNESSES

    Dr. Robert Trenschel, President and CEO, Yuma Regional Medical
      Center
      Oral Testimony.................................................     6
      Prepared Testimony.............................................     9
    Leon Wilmot, Sheriff, Yuma County Sheriff's Office
      Oral Testimony.................................................    11
      Prepared Testimony.............................................    14
    Jonathan Lines, Yuma County Supervisor, District 2
      Oral Testimony.................................................    33
      Prepared Testimony.............................................    35

                        THE BIDEN BORDER CRISIS, PART II

                                  ----------

                          Thursday, February 23, 2023

                            House of Representatives

                           Committee on the Judiciary

                                 Washington, DC

        The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 4 p.m., in Yuma
    City Hall, One City Plaza, Yuma, Arizona, Hon. Jim Jordan
    [Chair of the Committee] presiding.
        Present: Representatives Jordan, Gaetz, Biggs, McClintock,
    Tiffany, Bishop, Spartz, Cline, Van Drew, Nehls, Moore, Kiley,
    Hageman, and Fry.
        Also present: Representative Gosar.
        Chair Jordan. The Committee will come to order.
        Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a
    recess at any time.
        We want to welcome everyone to today's hearing on ``The
    Biden Border Crisis, Part II.''
        I'd like to start our proceedings with Mr. Gosar, who's
    been kind enough to let us come to his great district.
        Where is Paul? I haven't seen--oh, here comes Mr. Gosar.
        We'd like to ask Congressman Gosar to lead us in the Pledge
    of Allegiance. If you would, if you'd all stand for the pledge.
        All. I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States
    of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one
    Nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for
    all.
        Thank you. Paul, thank you.
        First, I want to say thanks to the good folks here in Yuma
    for hosting us. We've had a wonderful 24 hours. I guess it's
    been 24 hours, Supervisor, seeing all kinds of interesting
    things. We want to thank you for your hospitality.
        To the mayor, thank you for the facility and for all your
    hospitality as well, and our witnesses who we'll get to you. We
    talked to doctor earlier today, and, Sheriff, we're glad to
    have you with us, as well as so many folks from our law
    enforcement community.
        It's not easy. It is not easy being in law enforcement
    today, so we want to thank all of you for what you do.
        [Applause.]
        Obviously it's even tougher when we're down here on the
    border and dealing with what we have.
        It's a shame that not one Democrat Member of Congress would
    join us on this trip despite having weeks of advance notice.
    It's disappointing, but it's not surprising. In fact, the
    Democrats have called this a stunt. I would argue it's not a
    stunt, not what we've--my guess is our witnesses wouldn't call
    it a stunt, what we've learned today from them, what we've seen
    last night on the border. It's disappointing that they're not
    here.
        Democrats dismiss the experiences of these real people that
    we've had a chance to visit with the last 24 hours, people
    affected by the Biden border crisis, and Democrats seem to
    believe that solutions can only come from bureaucrats in
    Washington. We actually think they come from the American
    people.
        [Applause.]
        If Democrats were here and saw what we're seeing, maybe
    we'd have a chance at ending this crisis and actually securing
    our southern border.
        According to Border Patrol agents, last night, there were
    over 200 folks who crossed the border last night. We got to see
    the unfinished wall. Everyone tells us that walls work, walls
    help. Every agent we've talked to says that's the case, and yet
    we saw places where it should've been finished but wasn't.
        This morning we were at the Yuma Regional Medical Center.
    We heard from Dr. Trenschel and his great staff about the $26
    million in uncompensated care that they've had to administer.
    Now, they're willing to help everybody, and they do, but it
    would be nice to get actually paid for the great work that they
    do, and some other concerns that they had, that impact the
    residents of this wonderful community.
        Of course we saw the damage--we heard from growers today--
    the damage that happens to them, and the crops in the fields,
    and a host of other issues that we'll get to in the course of
    our hearing this afternoon.
        By not being here and seeing firsthand is no excuse for
    inaction. Numbers don't lie. The January southwest border
    encounter number was 156,000, 30 percent higher--36 percent
    higher than the total number of encounters in January 2021 and
    January 2020 combined.
        Let me just say that again. The number of encounters this
    January, last month, were more than a third higher than the
    last two Januarys of the Trump Administration combined. Yet, a
    Biden Administration official touted this 156,000 encounter
    number as the result of, quote, ``a highly effective border
    security strategy.'' Only in Joe Biden's America is over 5,000
    illegal migrants encounter per day on the southwest border a
    cause to celebrate.
        Never forget what happened on day 1. Day 1, January 20,
    2021, Joe Biden said:

            We're not going to build the wall anymore, we're not going to
            keep the Remain in Mexico policy, and we're not going to deport
            any illegal migrants who come in for an immigration violation.

        So, think about that. They're not going to--there's no wall
    to get over, you won't have to wait in Mexico to have your
    asylum claim evaluated, and you will not get deported, you'll
    get to go wherever you want. Well, it's no wonder so many
    migrants want to come to the greatest country ever. That's the
    situation he had.
        He's also called on Congress to pass a massive amnesty
    package. All these reckless actions let people around the world
    know that our border is open, and the illegal border crossings
    haven't stopped since that day.
        Again, numbers don't lie: 4.75 million encounters since Joe
    Biden's been in office. Nearly a million of those have crossed
    in just the first four months of Fiscal Year 2023. Over 1.89
    million illegal aliens encountered along the southwest border
    have been released into American communities by the Biden
    Administration.
        There was 14,700 pounds of fentanyl were seized by Custom
    and Border Protection officials during Fiscal Year 2022; 12,500
    pounds of fentanyl seized by Customs and Border officials just
    in the first four months of this fiscal year.
        Americans are dying as a direct result of President Biden's
    open border policies.
        It's a shame that the Democrats did not join us today in
    Yuma. They would have learned a thing or two. They could've
    heard from the farmers and landowners and the growers that I
    talked about earlier. They would've seen how overrun the
    hospital is with illegal migrants and the cost to our
    healthcare institution here in Yuma. They would've heard
    directly from the people here in Yuma who live President
    Biden's border crisis each and every day.
        Instead, they've accused us of political grandstanding
    because we're here trying to hear from real people outside of
    Washington, DC.
        Why don't Democrats want to hear from local law
    enforcement? Why don't Democrats want to talk to hospital
    administrators? Why can't Democrats be bothered to hear how
    fentanyl continues to kill tens of thousands of people in
    communities across this great country.
        I think the answer--I think we know why. It's because
    Democrats' open border policies caused this crisis, and rather
    than choosing to do anything to fix it, they want to call it a
    stunt and they want to play political games.
        I want to thank our witnesses for being here today, and I
    hope we can discuss what Congress can do to help fix this
    problem.
        With that, I would like to recognize our Subcommittee
    Chair--there he is--our Committee on Oversight and
    Accountability, from the great State of California.
        Mr. McClintock is recognized.
        Mr. McClintock. Thank you.
        Mr. Chair, as you know, the morning of inauguration day
    2021, illegal immigration had slowed to a trickle and our
    borders were finally secure for the first time in decades. The
    border wall was nearing completion, the Remain in Mexico policy
    had all but stopped phony asylum claims, and ICE was actually
    enforcing court-ordered deportations.
        By the afternoon of that same day, Joe Biden had reversed
    these successful policies and initiated an unprecedented
    illegal mass migration on a scale that no civilization in
    history has ever survived.
        Since that afternoon, this administration has deliberately
    admitted into the interior of our country 1.9 million illegal
    immigrants, 600,000 of whom have not even been given notices to
    appear in court. While the Border Patrol has been overwhelmed
    changing diapers and taking names, another 1.2 million known
    got-aways have entered our country as well.
        So, that totals 3.1 million illegal immigrants who've been
    allowed into our country to violate our borders and demand
    billions of dollars of taxpayer resources that were supposed to
    be helping Americans. The 3.1 million is a population larger
    than the entire State of Arkansas, a State that has Seven
    Congressional Districts. That's just in the last 25 months.
        The vast proportion of these people are homeless,
    impoverished, and desperate. Gallup warned us last year that
    there are 42 million people living in poverty in Latin America
    and the Caribbean alone who intend to come here now that they
    can, and they are.
        There's no question that this policy is deliberate and
    calculated. For two years, we couldn't get the Democrats to
    hold a single hearing on this crisis, not one. In the first six
    weeks of this session, Republicans have held two, and we've
    come to the border today to ask the people who are at ground
    zero to tell us of their experiences. Not a single Democrat on
    this Committee has bothered to show up to listen.
        If not already affected, every American soon will be,
    because every community will soon face the practical effects of
    this collapsed border.
        We have to ask ourselves; how does it make our schools
    better to pack classrooms with non-English speaking students?
    How does it make our hospitals more accessible by flooding
    emergency rooms with illegals demanding care? How does it
    strengthen our social safety net by adding millions of
    impoverished individuals to a system that's already strained to
    the breaking point?
        How does it make our children safer with fentanyl flooding
    our neighborhoods and killing nearly 300 Americans a day? How
    does it make our communities safer to introduce violent cartels
    into them and make it all but impossible to deport criminal
    illegal aliens?
        How does it help working Americans to undercut them by
    flooding the labor market with cheap, illegal labor?
        We are here today to listen to our fellow Americans who
    live with the full impact of this new and lawless age, one
    that's rapidly making its way to every town and every
    neighborhood in the country.
        On my last trip to Yuma this past fall, I asked rank-and-
    file Border Patrol officers what laws they needed us to write
    to do their jobs. To a person, every one of them said the same
    thing: We don't need new laws, we need to enforce our existing
    laws.
        [Applause.]
        When President Trump faithfully executed those laws, our
    borders were secure. There's still much that can be done
    legislatively to assure this never happens again.
        The law requires every asylum claimant to be detained until
    their case is adjudicated. We need a Title 42-type mechanism to
    assure that we have the capacity to enforce this law. Credible
    fear standards need to be tightened to prevent the admission of
    anyone who has a criminal record or who has passed through a
    safe country. Unaccompanied minors need to be returned safely
    to their own homes immediately. E-Verify should be required to
    streamline compliance with the law that protects Americans'
    jobs. The current abuses of parole authority must be stopped.
        Well, the two parties are far, far apart on this issue, as
    evidenced by the lack of any interest by the Democrats on this
    Committee today to even address the crisis or listen to the
    people who've been directly affected by it.
        The trust gap is also immense. If this administration
    refuses to enforce existing laws, why would anyone trust it to
    enforce future laws?
        This won't stop us from trying. That's why we're here
    today. I'm afraid that this is going to get worse until the
    American people demand that these policies be reversed.
        History is screaming this warning at us. Countries that
    cannot or will not enforce their borders simply aren't around
    very long. We can't and we won't let that become the epitaph of
    the American Republic.
        I yield back.
        Chair Jordan. I thank the gentleman. Well said.
        [Applause.]
        Without objection, all other opening statements will be
    included in the record.
        I want to introduce, we have three great witnesses today
    who are--and I want to introduce them--who are here to give us
    the facts, to give us the truth, not here to complain.
    Complaining doesn't solve--what's the old--the great football
    coach, Lou Holtz, said that, ``stop complaining about your
    problems, 90 percent of the people don't care, and 10 percent
    are glad you got them,'' right?
        That is not what this panel is about. These are folks who
    want to give us the facts and the truth from here on the ground
    on the front lines, and we welcome them being here today.
        Mr. Jonathan Lines has served as District 2 Yuma County
    Supervisor for two years, a previous Chair of the Republican
    Party of Arizona. He is now a Member of the Arizona-Mexico
    Commission, serves as Vice-Chair of the new Water
    Infrastructure and Finance Authority for Arizona and, of
    course, as you all know, is a small business owner here in this
    community.
        The Honorable Leon Wilmot. Sheriff Wilmot has served in law
    enforcement in Yuma, Arizona, for 38 years. This is our second
    hearing, and this is the second hearing where we've had a
    sheriff from this great State. We had Sheriff Dannels a few
    weeks ago up in Washington, DC. It's interesting, I think he
    served 28 or 38. I think you've served 38 years, and currently
    serving his third term as sheriff of Yuma County. He's a
    veteran of the United States Marine Corps--thank you for that
    service too--and serves on the Executive Committee on the
    National Sheriffs' Association.
        Of course, our third witness is Dr. Robert Trenschel. He's
    President and CEO of the Yuma Regional Medical Center where we
    spent the morning. Amazing facility. He has nearly 20 years of
    experience in senior management of medical care. Graduated from
    medical school at Nova Southeastern University in Fort
    Lauderdale, Florida, which is dear to my colleague's heart here
    from the great State of Florida, and was in private practice
    from 1990-2000. Dr. Trenschel holds a master's degree in public
    health from Florida International University in Miami, Florida.
        We want to welcome all three of our witnesses and thank
    them for appearing here today.
        As I said earlier, I also want to welcome several Arizona
    sheriffs. Now, I'm not sure if I got everyone listed, but I'm
    going to go on my list, and if I didn't get you, I want you to
    stand up and tell us who you are. I want to make sure I
    pronounce these.
        Lu Paz, Lu Paz, did I say that county right?
        Voice. La Paz.
        Chair Jordan. La Paz, OK, county sheriff--that's what a
    Buckeye does when he gets to Arizona.
        Sheriff William Ponce and Chief Deputy David Gray, are they
    here?
        Oh, right there, there we go. Thank you, thank you.
        Pinal County Sheriff--did I get that one right.
        Mr. Biggs. Pinal.
        Chair Jordan. Pinal. You got to help me, Biggs. What the
    heck.
        [Applause.]
        Pinal County, Sheriff Mark Lamb, and Chief Deputy Matthew
    Thomas, thank you as well.
        Cochise--I got that one right--Cochise County, Mark
    Dannels. That's because I had that before. He was there two
    weeks ago. I know Mark couldn't make it, but he was there in
    DC.
        Graham County Sheriff Preston Allred. Excuse me. Yes.
        [Applause.]
        Gila--thanks for the help--Gila County Sheriff Adam
    Shepherd. Thank you, Sheriff. Thank you.
        Yahopie, wow--
        Mr. Biggs. Yavapai.
        Chair Jordan. Yavapai. I would've never got that one.
    Sheriff David Rhodes, thank you as well.
        [Applause.]
        Navajo--I would've got the last one--Navajo Sheriff David
    Clouse, thank you as well for being here.
        God bless you all.
        [Applause.]
        We need to--we will begin by swearing in our witnesses.
        If you'd all stand and raise your right hand, our three
    witnesses here.
        Do you swear or affirm under penalty of perjury that the
    testimony you're 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 each witness answered in the
    affirmative.
        We're going to give you five minutes. You guys can be
    seated. We'll start with Dr. Trenschel, and we'll go right down
    the line, five minutes, and then the sheriff and then Mr.
    Lines, and, yes, pass that microphone.
        I'll give you a little mike tap with the gavel when you get
    to about 4\1/2\ minutes, but we're going to be--we're among
    friends here; if you got to go a little longer than 5-5\1/2\
    minutes, that'd be fine too.
        So, Doctor, you're recognized. Thank you again.

                   STATEMENT OF DR. ROBERT TRENSCHEL

        Dr. Trenschel. Thank you, Chair.
        Good afternoon, Chair Jordan and Members of the Committee.
    I'm Dr. Robert Trenschel, President and CEO of Yuma Regional
    Medical Center. Thank you for being here in person today to get
    a firsthand account of the impact that open borders have had on
    our hospital and community over the past year and more.
        I've been in Yuma for close to eight years as CEO, and I
    bring over 30 years of experience in healthcare administration.
    Yuma Regional Medical Center is a 406-bed hospital that offers
    a full range of acute care services. The closest hospitals that
    do what we do are located 180 miles away in Phoenix or San
    Diego.
        Given our geographic location, our hospital and health
    system hold a deep responsibility of keeping local families
    close to home for care whenever possible. For many who live
    here, traveling out of town for care is simply an unbearable
    challenge. They depend on us to be here.
        Our mission to meet the needs of the community is always in
    the forefront of every decision.
        I also want to acknowledge the work and heart of our staff
    at Yuma Regional Medical Center who continue to work and care
    for patients each and every day. They provide the same high
    level of care for every patient. We do not treat anyone
    differently, and we take pride in that. If your mother or
    grandchild walks through our doors or if a migrant walks
    through our doors, they will receive the same level of care.
        We've had a significant increase in the number of migrants
    crossing the border into our community. Our hospital saw an
    increase in the number of migrants seeking care beginning late
    fall, early winter of 2021. They arrive to our hospital
    emergency room in a multitude of ways. Some patients come to us
    via Border Patrol, who typically release them from custody upon
    arrival. Other patients walk in, take taxis, some even come by
    Uber.
        As I've said, we're the only acute care hospital in the
    area, which means diversion to another facility is not an
    option. We are it.
        Some migrants come to us with minor ailments, but many come
    in with significant disease. We've had migrant patients on
    dialysis, cardiac catheterization, and in need of heart
    surgery. Many are very sick. They have long-term complications
    of chronic disease that have not been cared for. Some end up in
    the ICU for 60 days or more.
        One of the largest cohorts we have seen are maternity
    patients who present with little or no prenatal care. These
    higher risk pregnancies and births result in higher
    complication rates and longer hospital stays. Due to a lack of
    prenatal care, many of these babies require a stay in our
    neonatal intensive care unit, some for a month or more at a
    time.
        There are language and cultural concerns with migrant
    patients. We work through those, but when you consider the
    volume and associated case management that comes with it,
    resources have to support this as well.
        Migrants often require three times the amount of human
    resources to resolve their cases and provide them with a safe
    discharge as defined by CMS. That effort includes assisting in
    locating families, making sure they have a safe place to go
    when they are discharged, arranging, and sometimes purchasing
    durable medical equipment when needed. We have paid for
    emergency air transport when they need a higher level of care,
    hotel rooms, taxis, and car seats.
        We do all these things because it's the right thing to do
    from a humanitarian perspective, but it also allows us to open
    up a hospital bed sooner for another patient in our community.
        None of these expenses are included in the $26 million
    figure. Our reality is this: We have delivered over $26 million
    in uncompensated care to these individuals in the 12-month
    period from December 2021-November 2022. That's an auditable
    figure.
        Let me assure you this is not an approximation. That number
    comes from a detailed review of unpaid patient bills directly
    attributed to migrant patients.
        The $26 million in uncompensated care is simply not a
    sustainable business model. While this is a huge number that we
    have validated, the point is that any number is not acceptable.
    It is an unsustainable model to have a hospital like ours bear
    the entire burden of paying for migrant healthcare. No business
    or service can survive ongoing, large-scale expenses without
    any offsetting revenue.
        Because of this surge in migrant care, we've had to hire
    additional staff at a time when healthcare labor post-pandemic
    is higher than ever.
        Every dollar in uncompensated care has a direct impact on
    our hospital. Migrant patients are receiving free care. They
    have no ability to pay. We have no ability to bill anyone. We
    don't know their final destination. We don't know anything
    about them. We cannot provide completely free care to the
    residents of our community, so the situation is simply not fair
    and understandably concerning to them.
        Let me put this into perspective. The $26 million is equal
    to the salary and benefits to support 212 bedside nurses. The
    city of Yuma has 100,000 people, and we've had over 300,000
    people cross the border here. That's three times the population
    of Yuma coming across the border. We're the only hospital
    within a three-hour radius, which means they come here.
        We've contacted our State and Federal leaders, and no one
    has a solution. They are willing to listen and are empathetic
    to our situation, but so far, we have no solutions or
    reimbursement for the care.
        We've been at this for well over a year now. On behalf of
    our entire healthcare team, I'm here seeking your leadership
    support to find a payer source for the care we have already
    provided and will continue to provide in the future, and to put
    long-term solutions into action that will support our daily
    commitment to be here for our community for years to come.
        One hospital should not and cannot bear the healthcare
    costs of a national migrant problem that is deeply impacting
    Arizona and our community. We need a revenue source for the
    patient population so we can sustainably provide high-quality
    care to all comers and remain viable for the future.
        [The prepared statement of Dr. Trenschel follows:]
        [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

        Chair Jordan. Thank you, Doctor. We appreciate your being
    with us and your testimony.
        Sheriff, you're recognized for five minutes. Yes, pull that
    nice and close, and everyone in the room will be able to hear
    you.

                    STATEMENT OF SHERIFF LEON WILMOT

        Sheriff Wilmot. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair Jim Jordan and
    distinguished Members of this Committee. I appreciate the
    opportunity to address this Committee regarding the status of
    our southern border from the perspective of our community and
    local law enforcement.
        I've served our border community for over 38 years with the
    Yuma County Sheriff's Office, and prior to that as a member of
    our military, serving in the United States Marine Corps,
    stationed here at MCAS Yuma, located within Yuma County.
        I've always been a genuine believer in my oath of office,
    to protect my country and now Yuma County as a duly elected
    sheriff for the past 11 years. I'm an active member of the
    Arizona Sheriffs' Association, currently serve as an Executive
    Committee Member for National Sheriffs. I'm a board member and
    past Chair of National Sheriffs' Association Border Security
    Committee, Executive Board Member at Western States Sheriffs'
    Association, and an active member and past Chair of the
    Southwestern Border Sheriff's Coalition.
        All these associations share three objectives: Public
    safety, national security, and addressing humanitarian issues
    in our communities.
        In my submitted brief, I have shared with you all an
    overview of Yuma County and the history of our border. I have
    personally experienced the good, the bad, and the ugly of being
    a border county.
        Unfortunately, my office has always had to deal with
    border-
    related crimes, death investigations, and the smuggling of
    illicit drugs, humans, weapons, and cash by our transnational
    organizations--the cartels.
        I am proud of our relationship with our Federal, State, and
    local law enforcement partners that serve our communities.
        I do want to take this opportunity to thank our Customs and
    Border Patrol officers and agents who have worked tirelessly
    and diligently to protect this great Nation. I also want to
    thank all my fellow sheriffs that stand united for the rule of
    law and the protection of their communities. Finally, I want to
    thank my constituents for their patience and support in a time
    of crisis and disarray.
        To best understand my presentation, you need to understand
    where we were two years ago. My county was one of the safest
    border communities and counties based on our collective
    governmental efforts, messaging, and yes, delivering a hundred
    percent consequence delivery and enforcement efforts against
    the criminal element supported by the rule of law.
        Apprehensions by Border Patrol were an average of roughly
    40 a day. When the policies of this administration changed, our
    Federal agents immediately averaged 200 a day, then 400 a day,
    to over a thousand a day in apprehensions along the river
    corridor.
        Chair Jordan. Wow, wow.
        Sheriff Wilmot. The citizens of Yuma County and law
    enforcement face a huge migrant crisis along the river
    corridor. Last Federal fiscal year, you've heard, there were
    310,000 give-ups. So far, this Federal fiscal year, we are
    currently at 93,000 in Yuma County.
        We had 28,000 known got-aways last Federal Fiscal Year in
    the east part of our county alone, and so far, 5,000 this
    Federal fiscal year.
        Yuma County is an agricultural community, supplying 90
    percent of the winter leafy greens to the whole of the United
    States during the winter season. Because of the proximity of
    the fields to the river corridor, it's visually an
    environmental disaster on the river area ecosystem with the
    tons of trash, pharmaceuticals, and biological waste being left
    by those crossing the river illegally.
        Yuma County Emergency Management alone has had to budget
    general fund dollars to lease Porta-Johns to put down by the
    river corridor to prevent the defecation in the fields.
        The price tag for migrants being illegally smuggled by the
    cartels begins at roughly $6,000 per person and up to $15,000,
    depending on what country they're coming from. These smugglers
    include juveniles being recruited, via social media, by the
    cartels to smuggle not only humans and narcotics into Yuma
    County, but children are also the pawns on the cartel's money-
    making schemes.
        Roughly 400-800 juveniles cross our border every day to go
    to school in Yuma County. The cartels use them to body conceal
    and carry narcotics across and tell them that the Federal
    Government will not charge a juvenile for smuggling, so you
    don't have to worry about being arrested.
        Border-related bookings of undocumented immigrants
    committing State crimes in Yuma County has cost us, in Federal
    Fiscal Year 2021, $440,000, and last fiscal year, over
    $300,000.
        These charges included sexual exploitation of minors,
    narcotics, assaults, kidnappings, burglary, and theft cases,
    and of recent, we have one smuggler that was caught and is
    being charged by our agency for committing murder on another
    individual he was smuggling into this country.
        All of this is borne on our local taxpayers' dollar. Our
    Federal partners across the southwest border made 40,000
    arrests of individuals with criminal convictions or individuals
    that were apprehended and wanted by local law enforcement.
        In 2021, over five million dosages of fentanyl were seized
    on the Arizona border. In 2022, over 12,000 pounds of fentanyl
    was seized on the southwest border.
        From a local's perspective, there were 50 overdose deaths
    between 2021 and 2022 in Yuma County.
        We've also had to encounter 700-plus deaths in the desert
    along the southwest border as a whole. In 2021, our agency
    investigated 30 of those. In 2022, we investigated 70 deaths
    just in Yuma County's desert.
        In 2021, 1,821 encounters by my officers with individuals
    that were smuggled into Yuma. In 2022, my officers encountered
    over 4,600 who were being smuggled into the United States into
    our county.
        We've had to handle over 750 911 calls through our dispatch
    center, on and above the ones that Border Patrol gets, from
    migrants wanting to be rescued out in the remote deserts of our
    county.
        In 2021, I authorized an effort to identify and combat the
    influx of illegal moneys into Yuma County. The ensuring effort
    resulted in the discovery of the use of local banking
    institutions to move moneys from the United States into Mexico.
        In the four-month period of September 2021-January 2022,
    two people and one business moved over $600,000 from U.S. banks
    into Mexico. In a two-month period between April and June 2021,
    one business moved over 300,000 alone.
        As the initiative has expanded and matured in 2022, three
    people were discovered to have moved about 1.6 million in a 10-
    month period, in addition to another estimated 950,000 from
    other accounts in a four-month period, for an estimated total
    of over 2.5 million.
        Our initiative continues in the latter part of 2022. Eleven
    individuals were identified in Yuma County as moving roughly
    over $3 million between the U.S. and Mexico in a three-month
    period, and one company was identified as moving 1.9 million in
    a 90-day period.
        Chair Jordan. Wow. Sheriff, if you can, we got your written
    testimony, so on that, maybe just, if you could just finish up,
    and then we'll--we got your written testimony, it's been given
    out to every member, and then we can get to Supervisor Lines.
    Go ahead and finish up if you can.
        Sheriff Wilmot. Absolutely. I will cut mine short and I
    will leave you with this final statement.
        We all serve the priorities of Americans based on our
    shared oaths of office to keep them safe, enhance their quality
    of life, and support the rule of law, absent political
    affiliation or the concern of reelection. I ask each and every
    one of you today to reflect on this statement as you serve
    those that placed you into the office of trust.
        Once again, I thank this Committee for the invitation and
    the opportunity to provide testimony.
        [The prepared statement of Sheriff Wilmot follows:]
        [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

        Chair Jordan. Sheriff, thank you. Very interesting numbers.
    The financial dealings that you've uncovered too, the stuff
    going on there is something new that we--I don't know that the
    Committee had seen much of before. Thank you so much.
        Supervisor Lines, thank you. You're recognized for five
    minutes.

                    STATEMENT OF MR. JONATHAN LINES

        Mr. Lines. Chair Jordan, Members of the Congressional
    Judiciary Committee, thank you for being here. For many of
    you--Mr. Gaetz, Mr. Biggs, and my Congressman Mr. Gosar--
    they've been here multiple times, as well as Mr. McClintock.
    So, thank you for taking a personal interest in some of the
    challenges that we have here along our border.
        For many of the freshmen that just came into office,
    congratulations, and hopefully you can come back to discuss
    other things like great weather. Except for yesterday, we
    noted.
        I'd like to welcome you to the most patriotic community in
    Arizona as declared by Insurify. I serve my community in many
    different capacities: As a county supervisor and sitting on
    boards like the Yuma Community Food Bank, Amberly's Place, and
    through service organizations.
        Yuma has been my family's home since the 1930's, and
    Arizona, our State, since the 1870's, prior to statehood.
    Here's where we choose to carve out an existence in the desert.
        I am sad to be before you today to discuss the failures of
    the Biden Administration on the southwest border in the Yuma
    Sector. Since the first days of this administration, we have
    seen a significant deterioration in border security, despite
    the massive efforts from the men and women who have been
    working tirelessly to secure the border to safeguard our
    national security.
        Since President Biden took office, we saw a huge surge, a
    record number of people crossing illegally from 106 different
    countries. Seventeen of those countries are designated as
    special interests because of the negative relationship with the
    United States and a desire to do harm, and that has steadily
    continued these many months.
        Along with illegal entry into the United States across an
    open border, the increase in trafficking of narcotics, both
    human trafficking and drug trafficking, remain at an all-time
    high, significantly greater than any other administration in
    our history.
        In addition to the known give-ups, we are extremely
    concerned about the backgrounds and intentions of the got-
    aways, the 1.2 million as noted, those who evade law
    enforcement, enter the United States illegally, who are not
    willing to give themselves into the custody of Border Patrol
    for processing. These are estimated to exceed the 1.2 million
    since Biden took office.
        I've had many opportunities to visit with the border from
    elected officials from all over the United States, and the
    message they have shared with me is that this is not just a
    Yuma, Arizona, problem, but that illegal entry, human
    trafficking, and narcotics, especially fentanyl and
    methamphetamines, has now compounded and pervaded across the
    United States to affect every community across our Nation, now
    making them too into border communities.
        These leaders stood with us in asking the President to
    fulfill his commitment through Secretary Mayorkas at his visit
    last year, who had pledged to Mayor Nicholls and myself, to
    close the Yuma gaps in the border wall and provide financial
    support, safety and security for the men and women who are on
    the front lines battling a very porous border, which support
    has yet to materialize from the Executive Branch.
        Today you'll have the opportunity, as you have, to hear
    testimony--and I thought I was going to go first, so I have to
    change this a little bit. You've heard their testimony, and now
    you'll have the opportunity to ask them questions.
        Last week, we learned that the average number of people who
    entered illegally across the Yuma Sector is now percolating up
    at 2,500 a week. Prior to, that number was 5,000-6,000 per
    week. Yet, at the same time, fentanyl, methamphetamines, and
    cocaine seizures were up between 200 and 400 percent because
    the men and women in uniform were able to direct their
    attention and efforts to border security, national security.
        Fentanyl is the scourge of our Nation. It's being shipped
    from Mexico--to Mexico from China. In conjunction with the
    cartels, it is being marketed and sold to children through
    social media apps. These stories are tragic when parents talk
    about the loss of life of their sons and daughters due to
    fentanyl and opioids.
        My hope today through this hearing is that we can shed
    light on the challenge we face as a small community, as well as
    to remind the Nation, like many elected officials have done
    after coming to see for themselves, that every community in the
    United States is now a border community due to an abject
    failure by this administration to control and stem the tide of
    illegal entry along the southwest border and to commit to take
    back control of the border from the cartels.
        Mr. Chair, thank you.
        [The prepared statement of Mr. Lines follows:]
        [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

        Chair Jordan. Thank you, Supervisor.
        Now, I want to go to one of the experts in the U.S.
    Congress on this issue and done so much to bring its attention
    to colleagues in the Congress and folks around the country. The
    gentleman from Arizona, Congressman Biggs, is recognized for
    five minutes of questions.
        Mr. Biggs. I thank the Chair. I appreciate being here in
    Yuma, where it's always a very hospitable group of people that
    greet us, and I'm grateful for that. It's reflective of the
    unity of this community and how great you are.
        We just heard from three great witnesses, and I also tip my
    hat today to the officers and agents of CBP and law
    enforcement. We recognize the challenges that you have.
        I'm going to try to first undercut a narrative that our
    colleagues across the aisle raise, and they tell you that 90
    percent of fentanyl is seized at the border--at the port of
    entry, right, port of entry, as if there's not a massive amount
    of fentanyl and other drugs coming between the ports of entry.
        So, I'm going to ask the panel: Why do you suppose that we
    are more successful at interdicting drug smuggling at a port of
    entry that has, I don't know, dogs, X-ray machines, material,
    and more agents, than we would be between ports of entry?
        Mr. Lines, you look like you're just chomping at the bit to
    answer that question.
        Mr. Lines. No, the sheriff winked at me and told me to go.
        Mr. Biggs. Very good. Please.
        Mr. Lines. Mr. Biggs, Congressman Biggs, thank you for the
    opportunity. We learned last week, and this number we made
    public toward the end of the month, but the narrative of 90
    percent coming through the ports has been changed a little bit
    in that because of the downturn over the January timeframe, 48
    percent of the fentanyl was being intercepted between the ports
    and 52 percent at the ports.
        To combat that narrative, Border Patrol has now had the
    opportunity, because they're not spending 1.5, 1.7 hours
    processing each individual, and so they are now on the border
    being able to provide national security and border security.
        Mr. Biggs. Sheriff, do you want to add on that?
        Sheriff Wilmot. I would just confirm what Jonathan Lines
    just said.
        Mr. Biggs. Thank you.
        Sheriff Wilmot. With our agents being able to get back out
    in the field, it's helped us intercept that.
        Mr. Biggs. Thank you. Sheriff, I'm going to ask you a
    question. You mentioned juvenile drug smuggling, juveniles
    being used and exploited to smuggle drugs coming across, who
    have legal purpose to enter the country--or legal authority to
    enter the country through the port of entry. Please tell us
    about that.
        Sheriff Wilmot. That is correct. When we speak with our
    port of entry personnel, they are the ones that typically are
    the screeners when juveniles come across from Mexico to go to
    school each and every day. The cartels exploit them by asking
    them to carry fentanyl and other narcotics across the border
    when they're walking into the United States.
        These individuals are then apprehended by port of entry
    personnel, who then get ahold of DEA or the local narcotics
    task force, and then they end up getting charged as an adult
    because of the amount of narcotics that they have in their
    possession.
        Mr. Biggs. Thank you. I'm going to make a quick statement
    and then try to get time to get to Dr. Trenschel to ask him a
    question too. There's just so much. This is an incredibly broad
    topic.
        The violation of laws of this administration, I'm going to
    point out four quick things. They've changed the parole--they
    haven't changed it. They are violating the parole of the law--
    the parole law. The parole authority typically would be a case-
    by-case basis, 12-20 people a year, per year, until the Biden
    Administration came in.
        Last year, more than 300,000 people received parole, and
    there's a promise of 360,000 more people this year from four
    different countries: Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
    That's one violation.
        The second is the no deport. One of you mentioned the no
    deportation law. More than 1.2 million individuals have
    received due process and an order of removal because their
    asylum claim was bogus--found to be bogus by a court. This
    administration has forbidden ICE to pursue, look, and deport.
        The third thing is the violation of the first safe nation
    international law. That's another reference to the Remain in
    Mexico policy. If you had the First Safe Nation Law and you
    enforced the First Safe Nation Law, which we did under the
    Remain in Mexico policy, Yuma Sector, the last year of the
    Trump Administration had fewer than 9,000 encounters. Last
    year, well over 300,000 encounters. That's the third thing.
        So, I will just leave it there, so I can ask Dr. Trenschel
    this last question, because you said something that I think
    every American needs to hear. You are actually expending
    hospital funds--community hospital funds--to actually move
    people to family members or elsewhere around the country. There
    are many that you are sending, that you don't even know their
    destination. Please expand on that and tell us what that looks
    like.
        Dr. Trenschel. Sure. So, when a patient comes into the
    hospital, we have to provide them with a safe discharge, per
    CMS, and we do that. So, a lot of that includes tracking down
    their family members. We've had to fly them to their families.
    We've had to air ambulance individuals for higher levels of
    care. We've just had to--durable medical equipment,
    wheelchairs, walkers, all these other items that we have to
    provide for patients for a safe discharge.
        Mr. Biggs. you're not being compensated by the Federal
    Government or anyone else, and these individuals are not those
    that have been brought for medical treatment by CBP through
    some kind of legal mechanism.
        Dr. Trenschel. Correct. Some individuals may have walked
    in, declared themselves a migrant and we treat those. They
    could've have come in by taxi. They could've come in by any
    means, yes.
        Mr. Biggs. Thank you.
        Mr. Chair, thank you so much. I yield back.
        Chair Jordan. Thanks for all your good work.
        The Chair of the Subcommittee on Immigration, the gentleman
    from California, is recognized for five minutes.
        Mr. McClintock. Well, thank you, Mr. Chair.
        Dr. Trenschel, you said that your hospital has incurred $26
    million in uncompensated care over the past year. Obviously
    that money doesn't come from nowhere. It comes out of what
    you'd otherwise be spending. So, does this mean that there's
    $26 million less equipment for your patients, $26 million less
    staff to care for them?
        Dr. Trenschel. It does. That extra revenue that we would've
    brought in would've gone back into the community, and we do
    that as a nonprofit. So, it would've been either to purchase
    equipment, have additional access ports for patients here,
    bring in additional physicians. It would've been used for the
    benefit of our community for sure.
        Mr. McClintock. Now, you say you serve all patients
    equally, but it is a zero-sum equation, isn't it? A bed that's
    taken by one person is not going to be available for another.
    An hour of a doctor's time on one person is not going to be
    available to care for another.
        So, if your emergency room, for example, is packed with
    illegal immigrants, doesn't that mean, just as a simple,
    mathematical equation, that legal residents must wait exactly
    that much longer for care?
        Dr. Trenschel. Yes, it does. That's very true. We've had
    that experience in our emergency room. We've had that
    experience with patients who've had to delay elective surgery
    because other urgent migrant patients have come in who needed
    emergent surgery.
        We've had to delay maternity patients with planned
    inductions, because we've simply been out of space in our
    maternity unit with migrant patients who've had deliveries.
    Many of them just coming in at the same time for deliveries.
        Mr. McClintock. Now, of course, virtually all these
    migrants don't stay here. Where do they go?
        Dr. Trenschel. We don't know where they go. Some may go to
    Florida. Other--they really go everywhere. We don't know.
        Mr. McClintock. So, this is going to be impacting every
    hospital in the country?
        Dr. Trenschel. Yes, yes.
        Mr. McClintock. Sheriff Wilmot, are Mexican cartels
    operating in Yuma County today?
        Sheriff Wilmot. There is a cartel influence in Yuma County
    between--we have two States in Mexico that border Yuma County.
    We have the Baja California, which is the Sinaloa cartel in
    Sonora.
        Mr. McClintock. What are they doing on this side of the
    border? What are the cartels doing on this side of the border?
        Sheriff Wilmot. Well, they're the ones that are
    orchestrating the smuggling of narcotics and the humans toward
    the east part of the county.
        Mr. McClintock. What are your greatest concerns for public
    safety from their activity here?
        Sheriff Wilmot. Well, obviously, first concern is the loss
    of life and the impact on our local communities. It's also the
    fact that when we have that many get-aways, and we know how
    many countries have actually come through Yuma County, those
    also being special interest countries, what is this country
    going to expect to happen of these unknown individuals coming
    into the United States? Where are they going, and what is their
    intentions?
        Mr. McClintock. Could we expect to see the kind of violent
    cartel gun battles in our cities that we're now seeing in
    Mexico?
        Sheriff Wilmot. We have seen victims of that come into our
    county as well as other counties along the U.S.-Mexico border.
    We have not--
        Mr. McClintock. Is it just a matter of time before we see
    the same things here?
        Sheriff Wilmot. I believe they've already seen it in other
    States as of late.
        Mr. McClintock. We saw it in Tulare County in California
    just a few weeks ago.
        Sheriff Wilmot. Yes.
        Mr. McClintock. What is your warning to other communities
    from what you've experienced here?
        Sheriff Wilmot. We've been trying to warn other communities
    for the past couple years in regard to the activities that
    we're seeing here. It's not staying in the border, it's going
    across the Nation, and I don't think you'll find a sheriff now
    throughout the United States that doesn't say that they're
    actually now a border county because of what the impacts they
    have had in their communities.
        Chair Jordan. I thank the gentleman.
        I now yield to the gentleman from Florida, my friend, Mr.
    Gaetz.
        Mr. Gaetz. Mr. Chair, I observe that the people of Yuma are
    good folks, and they deserve a lot better from the Federal
    Government than they have been getting, and whether or not
    they'll get it depends heavily on the House of Representatives,
    and particularly this group and whether or not we will fight
    for them.
        We don't have a single Democrat that we could even convince
    to come to this briefing to get evidence from these experts.
    You think we're going to get President Joe Biden and Chuck
    Schumer to pass legislation without a fight, without demanding
    that it go in must-pass bills? We have to use every bit of
    leverage, or this is a deeply unserious exercise.
        Now, Dr. Trenschel, about 1 in 4 of the migrants who use
    birthing services at your hospital need neonatal intensive care
    unit services, NICU, right?
        Dr. Trenschel. That is true, yes.
        Mr. Gaetz. That rate, 1 in 4, is way higher than with the
    nonmigrant population, right?
        Dr. Trenschel. Very much higher, correct.
        Mr. Gaetz. You got about 20 beds at any given time?
        Dr. Trenschel. Correct.
        Mr. Gaetz. They fill up sometimes, don't they?
        Dr. Trenschel. Yes, they do.
        Mr. Gaetz. So, when you have those beds that are full up
    because of the pressure of these migrant communities, where do
    you have to send the residents of Yuma when they have a baby
    that needs NICU?
        Dr. Trenschel. We would have to fly them to Phoenix or
    another venue.
        Mr. Gaetz. That's 170 miles away?
        Dr. Trenschel. Yes, it is.
        Mr. Gaetz. There are few prayers that I have ever seen more
    sincere and deeper than the prayers of parents when their
    little babies are at the NICU. For all the folks on the left
    who want to lecture to us about how humane an open border is,
    there is nothing humane about putting a parent on a 170-mile
    journey when they need NICU services.
        Supervisor Lines, we hear Secretary Mayorkas come to us all
    the time on the Judiciary Committee and testify that the most
    important partnerships above all else for the Department of
    Homeland Security are the partnerships with local officials. We
    hear it time and again.
        So here is my simple question for you. Has Secretary
    Mayorkas ever lied to you?
        Mr. Lines. Yes.
        Mr. Gaetz. What was the substance of that lie?
        Mr. Lines. So, the mayor and I had the opportunity to visit
    with Secretary Mayorkas, and the Yuma Sector Chief, as well as
    the chief of the entire Border Patrol at sector headquarters
    almost a year ago. During that meeting, he committed to, after
    reviewing the border, both from the ground and the air, to
    specifically address, quote, ``9 of the 11 Yuma gaps,''
    unquote.
        Mr. Gaetz. How many of those gaps have been addressed?
        Mr. Lines. To date so far, none. We see infrastructure on
    two, and yet they will not deter anyone.
        Mr. Gaetz. This is my fourth time here with you.
        Mr. Lines. Yes, sir.
        Mr. Gaetz. I think if I come any more often, I'm going to
    be eligible to vote in Yuma County.
        Mr. Lines. Thank you for coming back, Matt. District 2 is
    great.
        Mr. Gaetz. It seems as though it's not a great mystery
    where the pressure points are, where we have gaps in the wall,
    and where we have recalcitrant tribes. So, in those
    circumstances, should we observe that this is a lack of
    capability or a lack of will to go and plug those holes?
        Mr. Lines. A lack of will. We've followed up multiple
    times, as well as Yuma Sector Border Patrol staff and--with
    Under Secretaries, and we were told time and time again that
    they were issuing contracts, that we would have it no later
    than June of last year, then no later than September, then no
    later than November. Every time it kept getting pushed out
    while--
        Mr. Gaetz. So, would a reasonable person observe that this
    is on purpose?
        Mr. Lines. My wife says I'm not a very patient person, but
    I was patient every time that I called, and they continued to
    push this process out. It's not reasonable.
        Mr. Gaetz. Well, the American people are losing their
    patience, we ought to be losing ours, and while we greatly
    appreciate the three of you being here to answer our questions,
    the day will come soon when Secretary Mayorkas has to come and
    answer our questions.
        To my colleagues, if he'll lie to Mr. Lines and lie to the
    community here, then he will lie to us, and he will lie to the
    American people, and that's why I'm very proud to cosponsor
    Representative Biggs' Articles of Impeachment against Secretary
    Mayorkas, because this is not a lack of ability, it is a lack
    of will.
        [Applause.]
        Mr. Lines, I'll give you the last word.
        Mr. Lines. Mr. Gaetz, thank you very much. To what Mr.
    McClintock was saying as far as the cartel violence, over the
    last 14 months, the sheriff and I have been made aware of over
    200 assassinations in San Luis Rio Colorado, where the cartels
    are targeting law enforcement. This last weekend we had another
    officer shot and then retribution the following night.
        So, when you talk about that violence, it's here at our
    border. They are in control, and we want to take our control--
    our border control back, and we need an administration that has
    the will to secure our borders. That's what we're asking you to
    do. I thank you very much for being here.
        Mr. Gaetz. Mr. Chair, my time's expired. I yield back.
        Chair Jordan. I thank the gentleman from Florida.
        I now recognize the gentleman from Wisconsin, Mr. Tiffany.
        Mr. Tiffany. Thank you very much.
        Let me followup on that. Sheriff, do you believe the U.S.
    Government has control of the border here with Mexico?
        Sheriff Wilmot. I believe that we are trained, and our
    Border Patrol partners are trying very hard, but the cartels
    are the ones that are creating the narrative and controlling
    the activities all along the 2,000 miles of international
    boundary.
        Mr. Tiffany. Do you have the ability to identify migrants
    who are inadmissible to the United States for criminal reasons
    or prior deportations?
        Sheriff Wilmot. We do not have access to that.
        Mr. Tiffany. Is ICE or CBP actively assisting you in
    processing the migrants, in your charge?
        Sheriff Wilmot. In the law enforcement aspect, we work with
    them quite a bit in regard to those that are in my jail. As far
    as the immigration side, that is something that is not in our
    wheelhouse. I can tell you that, because of their constraints,
    that I've actually cross-deputized our Federal partners in the
    different entities to be able to seek State charges against
    individuals that the U.S. attorney would not charge for crimes.
        Mr. Tiffany. Have you had--say that last part again, the
    United States attorney.
        Sheriff Wilmot. The part in regard to the United States
    Attorney not wanting to charge an individual for a crime, then
    I've cross-deputized them so they can take that case to a
    county attorney to get prosecution.
        Mr. Tiffany. Have you had any detainers issued by ICE for
    migrants in your facilities?
        Sheriff Wilmot. Yes, I have.
        Mr. Tiffany. As a result of the illegal migration coming
    across our border, are they harming the environment?
        Sheriff Wilmot. Absolutely. The vast amount of trash,
    pharmaceuticals, garbage, clothing that's being dumped along
    our river corridor has been astronomical, and the impacts for
    our farmers in their fields as well.
        Mr. Tiffany. When we had a hearing just a couple weeks ago,
    we had a Judge Samaniego, from I believe El Paso, and Sheriff
    Dannels on the panel. They had very divergent statements to say
    in regard to fentanyl, that the reason for fentanyl--the
    expansion of its use in our country and the devastating
    consequences was not because of the border being open. That was
    the case being made by Judge Samaniego.
        Sheriff Dannels said that it is a result of the borders
    being opened over the last couple years that fentanyl use and
    its migration into the United States has gone up exponentially.
        Who's correct?
        Sheriff Wilmot. I would tend to support Sheriff Dannels'
    statement in regard to that. I would agree with his statement
    as well.
        Mr. Tiffany. So, you've seen--are you saying you have seen
    the same thing as Sheriff Dannels in Cochise County?
        Sheriff Wilmot. We have seen the same type of activity
    where individuals were recruited to come and pick up
    individuals that entered this country illegally between a port
    of entry and come to pick them up because it's a money-making
    adventure. They've also been found to be in possession of
    narcotics too at the same time.
        Mr. Tiffany. Has Secretary Mayorkas secured the border?
        Sheriff Wilmot. No.
        Mr. Tiffany. I just have one further question and then a
    final statement, Mr. Chair.
        Do any--to Dr. Trenschel--do any of the NGO's out there,
    nongovernmental organizations, have they compensated you for
    any of the uncompensated care that you're providing for
    migrants?
        Dr. Trenschel. No, they have not. We've not received any
    compensation from anyone.
        Mr. Tiffany. Thank you.
        I'm just going to close with this. You know, folks, set
    aside--we've had the most number of people that are on the
    terror watch come across our border in the last couple years,
    in the history of the United States of America.
        You can set aside the human trafficking. You have the
    largest--your U.S. Government, via the Biden Administration, is
    running perhaps the largest human trafficking--or complicit in
    perhaps the greatest, biggest human trafficking operation in
    the history of the world, along with the cartels, along with
    the International Organization of Migration, a United Nations
    outfit, and others.
        Set those things aside. Just fentanyl alone should be a
    national emergency in America, and I can't believe we do not
    have colleagues on the other side of the aisle that are not
    here today, and even if they're not here today, that are not
    calling for the same thing that we're calling for: At a
    minimum, secure the border to stop the fentanyl, or at least
    reduce the amount of fentanyl coming into America that has made
    every State, including my State of Wisconsin, a border State.
        I yield back, Mr. Chair.
        [Applause.]
        Chair Jordan. I thank the gentleman.
        I now recognize the gentleman from North Carolina, Mr.
    Bishop, for five minutes.
        Mr. Bishop. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
        That does it.
        I sit up here and I wonder what you must be thinking, who
    are here, kind enough to spend your time watching us today, and
    you must be troubled that only one of the major parties is
    here. You must be discouraged as you ponder what it would take
    for the Federal Government to fix this problem. I appreciate
    your hospitality and your interest, and I love everything I've
    seen about Yuma.
        How many fentanyl deaths in Yuma this year, Supervisor
    Lines, in the past year?
        Mr. Lines. Mr. Bishop, I was just able to submit data that
    I acquired from the hospital. That number continues to
    increase. The average nationwide is 1 in 100,000, and yet we've
    had 16 fatalities directly attributable to fentanyl, so more
    than 16 times the national average.
        Mr. Bishop. How many ODs?
        Mr. Lines. Sixteen--well, there were 117 overdoses, and 16
    of those were fatal.
        Mr. Bishop. Sixteen deaths, right? So, you're way above the
    national average in that key thing.
        You made a point earlier that about--this was very
    interesting, because a lot of our colleagues in Washington say
    over and over and over again that the uncontrolled immigration
    between ports of entry really doesn't contribute to the illicit
    drugs because they come through the ports of entry. You've
    touched on that already. You've said your data that Border
    Patrol has furnished to you is that about half--about half--I
    hope everybody's listening in Washington--about half of the
    seizures are occurring between ports of entry.
        Mr. Lines. Yes, sir.
        Mr. Bishop. It means it is coming from this uncontrolled
    problem. Yet, we have colleagues that--Katie Porter said at a
    hearing, she's a Democrat from California, she said last week
    at a hearing:

            We had a change in President in 2020 and some changes in border
            policy, and what we can see here is that the facts show we are
            seizing a lot more fentanyl, and for me, as a mom, that is a
            sign of success.

                   I don't even know what to say about that.

        Border Chief Raul Ortiz said a couple of weeks ago--put a
    tweet out that said that Yuma--let's see ``so far, in Fiscal
    Year 2023, we have seized over 476 pounds of fentanyl between
    ports of entry along our southwest border.'' That's enough to
    kill 100 million people. I'd say that's a problem even that
    Washington should be able to recognize.
        I want to use my remaining time--Supervisor Lines, I hope
    you won't be offended. I was taken with a moment of
    conversation between you and me at the lunch before we came in
    here. I hope you won't mind my sharing it with the Committee
    and with those attending, because for me it connects to the
    issue that we are grappling with.
        As extraordinary as your story is, I would say that--and I
    don't articulate it to single you out but to recognize that the
    law enforcement officers who are sitting next to and behind you
    and the healthcare professionals, like Dr. Trenschel, and the
    men and women attending this, there are hundreds of lives who
    likewise have fulfilled and even exceeded their potential to
    contribute to building and sustaining a culture that has proved
    the most successful in the history of mankind for the
    flourishing of human beings.
        Everyone wants his family--his or her family and children
    to thrive. I submit that what we're talking about is not really
    a question of the stresses on the safety net--the provision of
    food for the people who can't provide if for themselves, the
    provision of medical care, the jail, the detention services,
    keeping the community safe--this is about how we maintain and
    protect a culture that has been the most successful in the
    world. That is what is at stake too.
        You and your wife have 11 children, and with three
    remaining at home, your wife has undertaken developing
    subdivisions.
        Mr. Lines. Yes, she has.
        Mr. Bishop. You have four grandchildren. Your children are
    hardworking and productive, and yet you've made time not only
    to serve in office but as a charitable leader, particularly as
    Chair of the Food Bank, et cetera.
        So, you've not only reckoned with the task of--the awesome
    task of figuring out how to provide for 11 children, but you've
    produced and served in a way to demonstrate just how
    constructive and productive human lives can be.
        [Applause.]
        Mr. Bishop. So, I'm grateful to you for having us here, for
    your hospitality in this great community, to show me that yet
    again, and to remind all of us that we must act. We must act.
    The first thing we must do--I'm going to finish this way,
    because I think everybody's got a responsibility to say: What
    are we going to do?
        Matt Gaetz summarized it correctly, that it is a question
    of will. The first thing to preserve this culture we must do is
    we must restore order.
        The best vehicle at hand--Chip Roy of Texas is not here
    today, can't be here today, but his H.R. 29, which says to the
    Secretary of Homeland Security: Notwithstanding any other
    provision of law, with respect to every migrant that you
    encounter, you must detain or turn away.
        You cannot just release them into the country, you cannot
    continue doing this to all our support services, our safety net
    on which our culture depends, you cannot do this to our
    culture, or we will surely face, not only what you just--the
    shocking information you just mentioned, Supervisor Lines,
    about the assassinations. I haven't heard that story, I'm
    afraid to say.
        [Applause.]
        Mr. Bishop. So, I'm grateful to you for having us here, for
    your hospitality in this great community, to show me that yet
    again, and to remind all of us that we must act. We must act.
    The first thing we must do--I'm going to finish this way,
    because I think everybody's got a responsibility to say: What
    are we going to do?
        Matt Gaetz summarized it correctly, that it is a question
    of will. The first thing to preserve this culture we must do is
    we must restore order.
        The best vehicle at hand--Chip Roy of Texas is not here
    today, can't be here today, but his H.R. 29, which says to the
    Secretary of Homeland Security: Notwithstanding any other
    provision of law, with respect to every migrant that you
    encounter, you must detain or turn away.
        You cannot just release them into the country, you cannot
    continue doing this to all our support services, our safety net
    on which our culture depends, you cannot do this to our
    culture, or we will surely face, not only what you just--the
    shocking information you just mentioned, Supervisor Lines,
    about the assassinations. I haven't heard that story, I'm
    afraid to say.
        There was this--on January 5th of this year, I think it's
    Culiacan, Mexico, there was a warfare, there was a war between
    the Sinaloa Cartel and the Mexican Army with helicopter
    gunships firing against people on the ground and burning cars,
    blocking the entrances to the town so that the people were
    cowered in their homes.
        That will occur in the United States of America if we do
    not get control of this problem. It sits squarely as the
    responsibility of the Federal Government, and we must have the
    will to act.
        Mr. Chair, I yield back.
        [Applause.]
        Chair Jordan. Well done. Well done. Thank you.
        The gentlelady from Indiana is recognized for five minutes.
        Ms. Spartz.
        Ms. Spartz. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
        It's my pleasure being here today. I can tell you one
    thing: That the great State of Indiana will stand with the
    great State of Arizona to protect your border, I can assure
    you.
        [Applause.]
        People do care, because it's not an issue of one State,
    it's a national security issue. Unfortunately, we can debate
    and deliberate on a lot of issues and have disagreement, but
    we're always able to come together to protect our country.
        This is a crisis. It's a national security crisis. It's
    unacceptable. It's unfortunate that my colleagues from this
    Committee couldn't come here today to see what's really
    happening, the impact of real life.
        I just want to have a couple questions to this panel. I
    grew up in a Communist, totalitarian regime, under mob rule.
    So, have lots of guns and ammunition. We have constitutional
    carry in Indiana. So, I am good to go, but that's not where we
    want to go.
        I sometimes wonder, listen, if I have come here illegally,
    I would really not have to go through all the struggles I had
    to go for the last 23 years.
        So, my question is for Dr. Trenschel.
        When I was listening to you, I thought, like, OK, as a
    legal immigrant, a legal citizen in this country, you have to
    pay for healthcare, you have to get insurance, you have to work
    and do all those different things.
        Isn't it we're creating perverse incentives for people to
    come here illegally? Because it's not just hurting people that
    try to be within the system, but, actually, you get a free
    ride, and we have now illegal immigration to welfare.
        So, I would like you to comment on that.
        Dr. Trenschel. I agree. We're required by law to see all
    comers and to provide the same level of care we do to everyone
    else. When a migrant comes in that crosses the border without
    insurance, without a payment plan, we give them the same
    healthcare we provide to the other residents of our community.
        We have no ability to bill. We don't know where they're
    going. We don't know if their name is right. We don't know
    anything about them.
        Ms. Spartz. It's unfortunate that we're starting to
    incentivize the lawlessness in our country.
        I have a question to the sheriff. I think really my
    colleagues on the other side are always talking about this
    human trafficking and what was happening, and it's really--it's
    a humanitarian crisis, too, because these people become slaves.
    It's like modern day slavery. To the cartels, it was a lot of
    big money made on these people. I understand they're desperate,
    but we created perverse incentive.
        So, I want you to comment on human trafficking and the
    issues of getaways, how dangerous it is.
        Sheriff Wilmot. I'll use the word from the Yuma Border
    Patrol Chief: It's narco-slavery, every bit of it, that we are
    seeing along our border, and it's gone to the interior
    throughout the United States.
        There's indentured servitude in a lot of these States and
    counties because of the cartels controlling the narrative right
    now. So, there's not been many sheriffs that I have ran into
    that have not had to investigate those types of crimes.
        We've seen in the past where you had indentured servitude
    discovered by Border Patrol agents happening in the Carolinas,
    3,500 cases of children being used, as recycled to get more
    people in.
        So, we have seen the indentured servitude. If you can't
    pay, you're going to pay another way.
        Ms. Spartz. So, thank you for your service.
        I would like to let you know we have great sheriffs in the
    State of Indiana. If you need help, let us know, because if we
    cannot fix it at the Federal level, States can also step up and
    help each other.
        Mr. Lines, some quick question. Even though I have a little
    problem with being called flyover State, so I need to work on
    that. Hopefully you'll visit Indiana more often because we have
    a lot of great things. It's a great State, as well as you have
    a great State here, too. It's far from a flyover State, but
    actually farther.
        I want to just have a quick question for you. With what we
    have happening right now with agriculture, and I was actually
    surprised at some of the numbers, isn't it really pose some
    issues with food safety and food security, what's really
    happening at the border?
        Mr. Lines. So, it's a challenge along the border. Our
    agriculture practices here in Yuma exceed the expectations and
    even the minimum standards or the maximum standards of any
    growers against any region in the United States. They have
    about a 500-page volume that they use, it's self-imposed, to
    make sure, and they have hired people to watch over.
        We have had entry into fields. At that point in time,
    depending upon what they have been able to locate, they either
    plow it under or remove it altogether.
        Ms. Spartz. It would add that additional cost placed onto
    the consumer, right?
        Mr. Lines. It's an additional cost, yes, absolutely.
        Ms. Spartz. Because it's extra cost that everyone has to do
    because ultimately you have to be able to survive and pay money
    to be able to run your business.
        Mr. Lines. Ms. Spartz, may I comment a little bit just on
    the narco-labor, narco-trafficking of human trafficking?
        It was interesting, just before the China virus hit, the AP
    did a story, and they were talking about the L.A. Basin
    specifically, but they estimated that between 65-75 percent of
    all manual labor was undocumented in the L.A. Basin.
        That remains a challenge and a problem today, because many
    of these people, as they come across the border, are still
    subject to the cartels to pay a debt and are indefinitely
    remanded to their service. They actually never leave.
        Ms. Spartz. Thank you. It's unfortunate.
        I yield back.
        [Applause.]
        Chair Jordan. I thank the gentlelady.
        The gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Cline, is recognized for
    five minutes.
        Mr. Cline. I thank the gentleman.
        I want to thank the witnesses for being here. I want to
    thank the people of Yuma for being here, too. We stand with the
    people of Yuma.
        My constituents are far, far away from here. They are in
    the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, another farming community,
    another agriculture community. We have many ties that bind us
    to Yuma.
        We also stand with you in protecting the national security
    of this country, making sure that we secure our border, and we
    will do everything in our power to do that.
        We recognize it as a national security crisis. The things
    that we have seen and heard here during this visit have
    reinforced that view.
        My decision to cosponsor legislation that was introduced by
    Warren Davidson from Ohio to authorize the use of military
    force to ensure that, Sheriff, you have those resources that
    are needed to secure this border and make sure that the cartels
    do not continue their march into this country, into this
    community, and into our neighborhoods and our homes, we will
    make sure that you have those resources, sir.
        Thank you.
        We did see some things that just show and demonstrate the
    brazenness of what is transpiring here in this community when
    it comes to the cartels.
        On the drive down to the border, to San Luis crossing, we
    had in our convoy cars that slowed down, that entered, that
    forced their way into our line of vans. I didn't think anything
    of it. I thought someone was trying to exit. I couldn't figure
    it out. It was only today, after, we realized that they were
    cartel members who were infiltrating our caravan to try and
    figure out what we were doing, what we were looking at.
        Just being able to have that close reinforced just what a
    security crisis this is on this side of the border.
        Sheriff, I've heard of cartel violence erupting similar to
    the cartel violence that's erupting across the border from Yuma
    in Texas, leading to members of the cartel actually escaping
    into the United States and asking for asylum. Have you ever
    seen that happen?
        Sheriff Wilmot. Yes, sir. Thank you for that question.
        Yes, Yuma has seen it. Cochise County has seen it. Texas
    has seen it.
        Mr. Cline. That is shocking and just goes to show just how
    porous the border has become, how abused it is, when cartel
    members themselves are creating the violence that's happening
    and then trying to escape the violence by taking advantage of
    the very laws that are protecting the citizens and enabling
    them. The lack of the enforcement by the Biden Administration
    is enabling them to take advantage of those laws.
        Mr. Lines, I want to followup on a conversation we had a
    little bit earlier. My eyes have been opened to the breadth and
    depth of the impact of this porous border and this lack of
    enforcement by the Biden Administration on society in Yuma, but
    also across this country on districts like mine.
        We talked about the impact on hospitals. We went to the
    hospital. We saw the NICU. We saw the emergency room. We know
    that there's a finite number of beds, and that when there's a
    bed being occupied by someone here illegally, there's a bed not
    available to someone here legally, someone who is a resident of
    Yuma.
        We talked about the food banks and the agriculture. We met
    with farmers. We listened to them talk about the impact of
    people, thousands of people crossing their fields, and just one
    incident taking away a whole entire set of acreage from being
    able to be harvested.
        What other areas are we talking about here where this open
    border is having such an impact? Talk about the schools, talk
    about transportation, other areas.
        Mr. Lines. Everything that you discussed has been a
    challenge.
        Most recently, I had a call from an ESL teacher who said
    that she had a significant number of students being enrolled
    into her classes that did not speak either English or Spanish,
    and many of them Eastern European or Central Asian. So, there
    is a concern that we will continue to see that type of influx.
        For the most part, people have not been taking up residency
    in Yuma. So, it was surprising to me that an ESL teacher was
    calling me to say, ``I now have a new challenge here in my
    classroom,'' and it wasn't something that she expected to
    confront.
        Mr. Cline. In terms of housing--
        Mr. Lines. Oh.
        [Applause.]
        Mr. Lines. Well, the sheriff can speak specifically to the
    jail. I appreciate everything that he's done as a county
    supervisor, and we work hand in hand.
        His Federal reimbursement is at 10 percent. So, when he has
    cross-deputized the Border Patrol officers to go and assist,
    because the U.S. Attorney General won't prosecute, he then is
    faced with those challenges, and it's up to the county to make
    him whole.
        Sheriff, do you want to talk a little bit more about that?
        Mr. Cline. Well, let me just--
        Mr. Lines. OK. Or, Mr. Cline, sorry about that.
        Mr. Cline. Let me just wrap up and say, I've been a
    prosecutor, I've used the ICE detainer process to have illegals
    who have committed crimes in Harrisonburg deported and made
    sure that the community is kept safe.
        I've talked to troopers who pull over vans on Interstate 81
    in my district who encounter the human trafficking that crosses
    the border here in Yuma. I see the criminal aspect of it in my
    district.
        Never have my eyes been opened to the impact on healthcare,
    education, housing, food, and agriculture that this porous
    border is having. I'm going to go home with this information to
    ensure that we fight even harder to secure this border so that
    the people of Yuma are protected, but the people of the Sixth
    Congressional District are protected. We stand with Yuma, and
    we stand with our citizens.
        Thank you all for being here today.
        Mr. Lines. Thank you, Mr. Cline.
        [Applause.]
        Chair Jordan. I thank the gentleman.
        The gentleman from New Jersey, Mr. Van Drew, is recognized
    for five minutes.
        Mr. Van Drew. Thank you, Chair.
        As I was sitting up here, first, great testimony all
    around, it really is, if you think about what these gentlemen
    and ladies are saying.
        I was thinking of how tired of it I am, how worn out of it
    I am, how tired I am of the President lying. I know people
    don't like to say it that way. I'm a little rough around the
    edges. I don't care. He doesn't tell the truth.
        [Applause.]
        I'm tired of Secretary Mayorkas even worse, because with
    the President you can kind of tell when he's lying. He gets
    that weird look in his face, which is most of the time.
    Mayorkas will look you dead in the face.
        I used to be on the Homeland Security Committee. We
    interviewed him I think three times. Every time I would ask
    him, ``Is there anything going on, on the border, is anything
    wrong, are there any problems, anything we should do?'' he
    said, ``We fully have it under control.''
        Then not long after I would go to the border, and you would
    find that you actually watched the people illegally crossing
    and getting through. He just wouldn't face the facts. He
    wouldn't tell the truth.
        I'm tired, to be honest with you, of Congress people--and
    I'm not always partisan, I'm not, but it happens to be on the
    other side of the aisle--not fulfilling their constitutional
    responsibility.
        They owe it to you to be here today. They owe it to America
    to debate these issues. They owe it to America to prove why
    what they've done is a good thing. You know why they're not
    here? Because they can't prove it, because they can't show it,
    because they know it's bad.
        To the gentlemen over there, both Mr. Bishop--all you guys
    actually said it. This is more. This is more than just Yuma.
    It's a big deal in Yuma. I know that. This is the United States
    of America under attack. We're losing our country.
        If you think about it--
        [Applause.]
        I don't want to digress, because we only have a certain
    amount of time and there's a couple of questions I want to ask.
    Think what's going on. There's all this stuff at the border,
    all over our border--which is now all over the country, by the
    way.
        I tell the folks in New Jersey, they say, ``Gee, you're
    going all the way to Arizona.'' Because guess what? It's in New
    Jersey, too. People are dying of fentanyl. Guess what happens?
    It comes through the border. It's in Michigan. It's in New
    England. It's everywhere. It's everywhere because of what these
    people did to a situation that we had fully under control.
        I agree that you have those hearings, you have hearings for
    impeachment. I'm there. I'm voting for it. I've cosponsored it
    with you. I'm proud to do it because I really believe we have a
    case where somebody--Mayorkas--has committed treason, has
    broken the rule of law, and deserves not to be there anymore.
    What he's done is too bad.
        [Applause.]
        What we pay in taxes. Do you know how much this costs us?
    Billions upon billions of dollars. What we're doing to our
    kids, with our safety. You don't really have the words to say.
        It's easy to fix. It was pretty much fixed. Get the fence
    up everywhere. Get the electronics that are needed up. Get the
    Remain in Mexico policy back. Get the immediate returns of
    illegals that do make it through right back to where they came
    from.
        Get agreements made with Mexico. If they don't want to
    listen to the agreements, you make it clear, like it's been
    done in the past, that you're going to be in a lot of trouble
    trade-wise if you don't, so you better do it.
        We can do this. We're the most powerful nation still. We're
    working at demeaning ourselves, but we are still the most
    powerful nation on the face of the Earth.
        [Applause.]
        So, it's time to stop it. It's time for us to move on. It's
    time for us to get back. It's time for us to bring our America
    home.
        So, Supervisor Jonathan Lines: Cartels. Let's just really
    quickly just make clear. I want people to understand. They make
    a relationship. It's almost like a contract with the people
    that they get across the border, which are a lot of them.
        Once they get across the border, they get them fixed up to
    go to a particular area in the United States, and then they own
    them. Then they push the fentanyl on your kids and my kids,
    whether it's in New Jersey, New York, or Arizona. Is that
    correct?
        Mr. Lines. Yes, sir.
        Mr. Van Drew. Spreading--how do I say this? We're spreading
    all this throughout the area. I know we know the answer to
    this. Has it gotten worse in the last two years? It's a stupid
    question, but I'm going to ask it anyhow.
        Mr. Lines. There's no question that's stupid, right, just
    the unasked question.
        Mr. Van Drew, it has exceeded anything that we could have
    ever imagined.
        Mr. Van Drew. Exactly.
        Mr. Lines. We've had more than 600,000 people come through
    Yuma since this administration took office.
        Mr. Van Drew. So, we get this administration in. They make
    you just do a lot of paperwork. We don't protect our people. We
    don't protect our Americans. Things have gotten worse. Costs to
    the hospital.
        Again, I know you said it, but I want everybody to really
    think about this. Is anybody helping?
        Dr. Trenschel. No.
        Mr. Van Drew. No, Doctor, they're not.
        Dr. Trenschel. No, they're not.
        Mr. Van Drew. You know what? When you go in with your
    maternity and your maternity patients, guess what? It's the
    job, and they're doing a good job, of health professionals and
    nurses. They have to take care of the people that are sickest
    first. That's just the Hippocratic Oath. They've got to take
    care of those people.
        Guess who's waiting with their children? Guess who's
    waiting with their families? Guess who's paying for all of it?
    You know the answer.
        Am I correct, Doctor?
        Dr. Trenschel. Yes, you are.
        Mr. Van Drew. Am I correct that your nurses had to go out
    and buy safety seats for these people because we used so many
    in the last big tranche of folks that came over? They went out,
    and the hospital had to pay for them, and they had to go
    everywhere in the area to buy safety seats because they didn't
    have any. Is that true?
        Dr. Trenschel. Yes, that's true.
        Mr. Van Drew. Is it true that when we spoke today to a food
    bank, that she told us that some of the people, believe it or
    not, that were illegals and had come over expressed
    dissatisfaction with the food? Is that true?
        Mr. Lines. Yes, that's--
        Mr. Van Drew. I'm not making this stuff up, right?
        Mr. Lines. Yes, Mr. Van Drew, that's--
        Mr. Van Drew. I'm so tired and worn out of it, and so are
    you. We're tired of it.
        Twenty-six million you're in the hole, right?
        Dr. Trenschel. That's correct.
        Mr. Van Drew. Who's going to pay for that?
        Dr. Trenschel. We are.
        Mr. Van Drew. I'm looking at you. Americans.
        So, it is time to change. It is time we had a real
    Secretary that did a real job. It's time we had, I'm sorry, a
    real President.
        It's time we have Congressmen--guess what? These guys will
    go into any meeting no matter how much of a disadvantage you
    think you are to really talk the issues.
        When you believe in something, when it's in your heart,
    when you know it's right, you're going to stand up and you're
    going to fight for it.
        They can't. Because you know what they know? At the end of
    the day, they're hurting our American people, and they're
    hurting America, and it has to come to an end.
        I thank you guys so much for what you did.
        Sheriff, thank you for what you do. I know you guys put
    your lives on the line all the time. People are dying. People
    are getting hurt. This isn't just some imaginary things like
    we're told when we go back to Washington, and we will do
    everything that we can.
        Dammit, I hope we have those impeachment hearings.
        Thank you, Chair.
        [Applause.]
        Chair Jordan. Thank you.
        The gentleman from Alabama is recognized for five minutes.
        Mr. Moore. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
        In Alabama recently, I was told that in Birmingham we
    seized enough fentanyl to kill every man, woman, and child in
    my entire State.
        So, I tell everybody this. This may be affecting border
    communities, but it's a crisis for our entire Nation, and so
    we're going to try to address it.
        Sheriff, this is my third trip down, and so I want to talk
    a little bit. Some things that just kind of stuck out when I
    was asking the agents along the border that kind of concerned
    me and really kind of, as I talk about it, is something that
    kind of--it strikes a chord with a lot of people.
        You were saying earlier that the price that you're seeing
    now to come across the southern border, it's ranging from
    6,000-15,000. Is that correct?
        Sheriff Wilmot. In Yuma County, yes, sir.
        Mr. Moore. Now, who's getting that money, Sheriff?
        Sheriff Wilmot. The cartels.
        Mr. Moore. The cartels.
        Of course, when we talk about inflation, the money we
    print, everything has gone up. A few years ago, I heard it was
    $4,000 just south of the southern border and then the Triangle
    Nations further south.
        We had a price for Syria of up to $20,000. Are you seeing
    some high prices from other countries around the globe as well?
        Sheriff Wilmot. That's my understanding, yes, sir, when
    you're looking at Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and
    Russia. Russia has been an increase where I think Border Patrol
    roughly 70 a day was the number that they were encountering
    just from Russia.
        Mr. Moore. What's the price on a Russian now coming across
    the border?
        Sheriff Wilmot. I wouldn't think that it would be that
    much, yes, sir.
        Mr. Moore. I would imagine. I don't know. I haven't heard
    the Russian price.
        We actually seized some Chinese nationals, the sheriff's
    department in Texas, and it was $80,000 each.
        Folks, they're not coming here to do us any favors, just so
    you know.
        Sheriff, my question now. You said that--so we got a price.
    What about if somebody--have you guys heard--and maybe other
    law enforcement officers would know, too--what if they don't
    have the money to pay the cartel? What are the options then?
        Sheriff Wilmot. So, the option is that they're--it's
    indentured servitude, slavery. They're going to be sent to a
    certain location. I've found pieces of paper down on the border
    that list the location that they're ordered to go to, and
    that's where they will work off their debt, depending on what
    you're capable of doing.
        Mr. Moore. Wait, wait, wait, now, Sheriff. So, you're
    telling me that Biden's policies on the southern border are
    actually creating American--are slaves from around the globe.
    Is that correct?
        Sheriff Wilmot. Correct.
        Mr. Moore. Wow.
        So, the Democrats who accuse us of all the awful things
    that we do, they're actually enforcing polices now that are
    creating slaves in this country?
        Sheriff Wilmot. It's lending to that right now.
        Mr. Moore. So, not only are they creating slaves, but I
    also heard when I was on the border, and I found this rather
    intriguing, if somebody was coming across the border and they
    actually didn't have the money and they didn't want to be an
    indentured servant, is it true that they can backpack now
    heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine and pay that passage? Is that an
    option as well?
        Sheriff Wilmot. That is an option.
        Mr. Moore. So, the Democrats' policies--two things now. So,
    they're creating slaves and drug mules. Is that where we're
    going with this? No wonder they don't want to come talk about
    it, right?
        So, now that we've got this issue of slaves and drug mules,
    I want to change over to a little something I saw. This is
    troubling to me.
        I went to Fort Bliss, the emergency intake center--you guys
    heard of this? Fort Bliss, to handle all the unaccompanied
    minors coming to this country.
        As I was there, the admiral is running it, and I'm like,
    ``Sir, why don't we send these kids''--these are unaccompanied
    minors now--``back to their home country, back to their town?''
    the admiral said, ``Well, they don't know where they came
    from.''
        So, these kids are from--I saw one, I know he's probably no
    more than five, and I saw some probably--the average was 16-17-
    year-olds. So, they're saying these kids, these unaccompanied
    minors, do not know where they came from.
        I said, ``Well, where are we going to send them to?''
        ``Oh, we're going to send them to a Google address in the
    United States of America.'' Then we don't background check the
    people we're sending them to.
        So, one of my friends here, I remember earlier, hit on
    this. We are actually, with taxpayer dollars, are now
    trafficking children, and we're paying to get them there on
    American taxpayer dollars and putting them in God knows what
    and God knows where.
        So, the thing that really--I think Andy Biggs has mentioned
    this--is we've lost 20,000 children. Mayorkas said himself in a
    hearing he does not know where 20,000 of these children are.
    That's just staggering to me.
        So, Sheriff, is it mostly heroin and cocaine now and
    fentanyl, or is it just mostly fentanyl?
        Sheriff Wilmot. Unfortunately, for Arizona and California
    right now we're the worst and the top as far as fentanyl, and
    below that is methamphetamine.
        To address your other comment, what you're looking at is a
    ploy by the cartels marketing in a way to work with Mayorkas on
    the reunification policy that he put into place. So, if you
    send your child across as a child that's by themselves, then
    you can be reunified when you come at a later date and time.
        So, the cartels are exploiting every policy that this
    administration has put into play.
        Mr. Moore. It's almost like they're better at the game than
    we are, right? I mean, they know before we know what's
    happening.
        I know that they're talking about the new rules that the
    Biden Administration wants to enforce, and basically that just
    adds another step.
        My understanding--last night I was talking to one of the
    border agents--is once the illegals, when they cross into the
    country, they want that MTA, that motion to appear in court. Is
    that correct?
        Now, Mr. Lines, could you tell me for sure, when they get
    this MTA, does that automatically qualify them for benefits?
        Mr. Lines. Yes, it does.
        Mr. Moore. So, you're telling me they come into the
    country, they turn themselves in, and then they get the MTA,
    and they are qualified for benefits from the American taxpayer?
        Mr. Lines. Yes, sir.
        Mr. Moore. Do we have any idea how much those benefits run
    or any idea? Have you heard that, Mr. Lines?
        Mr. Lines. Up to $800 a month.
        Mr. Moore. Eight hundred a month.
        So, I understand, too, we give them a cell phone.
        Mr. Lines. Yes, they do.
        Mr. Moore. Have you heard that we actually give them a cell
    phone? My kids would probably rather come across the border,
    honestly, sometimes.
        [Laughter.]
        Mr. Lines. Yes, sir.
        Mr. Moore. So, we give them a cell phone that they can jail
    break and use it however they want. My understanding--go ahead,
    Lines. I'm waiting. I want to hear what you've got to say.
        Mr. Lines. No, no. Well, it's just they give them the phone
    so that they know where they're at, but we have a 95 percent
    failure rate to appear for those motions.
        Mr. Moore. So, you mean they take our phones, but they
    don't take our phone calls? Is that what you're telling me is
    going on?
        Mr. Lines. Yes, sir. It's the worst date.
        Mr. Moore. Man, that does sound like my kids.
        Mr. Lines. Yes.
        Mr. Moore. Now, Doc, one last thing and then we'll get off
    and I'll give Mr. Jordan--I didn't have a timer over here, Jim.
    Am I over time?
        Chair Jordan. You're definitely over time.
        Mr. Lines. The benefits continue, Mr. Moore.
        Mr. Moore. I'm definitely over time.
        Mr. Lines. The benefits continue.
        Mr. Moore. The Chair has said I'm definitely over time.
        Chair Jordan. You can ask your last question.
        Mr. Moore. Last question, Doc.
        So, 100 percent of the immigrants, when you deliver the
    children, you have to give them car seats, I understand. So,
    because the Federal Government requires you. Isn't there some
    rule that says that you can't send a child away from a hospital
    without a car seat?
        Dr. Trenschel. Correct. CMS rule. We cannot do that.
        Mr. Moore. So, we're buying all the car seats as we send
    them on their way and paying for all the healthcare, and you're
    $26 million in debt, basically.
        Dr. Trenschel. Correct.
        Mr. Moore. Very good.
        Thank you for your time. I appreciate it.
        I yield back, Mr. Chair.
        [Applause.]
        Chair Jordan. I thank the gentleman.
        The gentleman from Texas is recognized for five minutes,
    Mr. Nehls.
        Mr. Nehls. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
        I would like to thank Dr. Trenschel and Mr. Lines for your
    leadership in this community. You're doing a great job going to
    visit that hospital.
        My oldest daughter just graduated from Texas Tech. She's
    now a NICU nurse in Houston, Texas. You guys are doing a great
    job over there.
        Of course, Sheriff Wilmot, it's good to see you. I see
    Sheriff Lamb there and all the other sheriffs. Thank you for
    your service.
        Some of you know that I served in law enforcement for 30
    years. I was a sheriff in Fort Bend County, Texas, for eight
    years before I decided to run for the swamp. I will never
    forget; I will never forget where I came from. I am with you. I
    support the Thin Blue Line.
        [Applause.]
        Sheriff Wilmot, in our first hearing, we had a hearing a
    couple weeks ago some of my colleagues mentioned on the Biden
    border crisis, we had a Democrat witness there. He was the El
    Paso County judge. He testified, and I quote,

            There is no invasion of migrants in our community. Nor are
            there hordes of undocumented immigrants committing crimes
            against citizens or causing havoc in our community.

        I was able to quickly, quickly discredit his testimony by
    producing numerous, numerous articles of crime in his community
    as a result of this invasion.
        Then I also did a quick search, Sheriff, of crime here in
    Yuma. I point out one here, a former gang member arrested by
    border agents in Yuma. This guy was a gang member, convicted
    felon, been arrested by border agents in Yuma, an illegal
    immigrant, was arrested for entering the U.S. from Mexico. He's
    25 years old. Was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon in
    Santa Barbara, California.
        Served three years now, served three years in prison, which
    was enhanced for being a criminal street gang. After completing
    his sentence, he was removed from the U.S., and he will be
    prosecuted for reentry. So, this guy's coming back. No problem.
    He can just come back.
        I highlight this guy here. He's the alleged migrant killer
    arrested after a four-month run. Sheriff, you mentioned this
    guy in some of your testimony. He killed, I guess, somebody on
    his way up here.
        Folks, you don't want this guy to be your neighbor. You
    don't want this guy in your neighborhood at all.
        Just another guy. This was here on January 17, 2023. You
    arrested him four months later. At the Yuma County Detention
    Facility for second degree murder after having been arrested by
    border agents for trying to come back, to try to come back into
    the U.S.
        This child molester here, he was caught hiding in the
    brush. Again, February 17, 2022. He was a child abuser,
    convicted child abuser from Honduras. You arrested him, took
    him to Yuma here for processing, looked at his record.
    Montgomery County, Maryland, circuit convicted Vargas in
    December 2009, first- and second-degree child abuse for
    fracturing the skull of a newborn while babysitting for his
    girlfriend.
        He got seven years, served seven of the 25 years in
    Maryland, before being placed on supervisory probation. Removed
    to Honduras in 2018, and now here he is coming back.
        This just goes on and on, 1,400 border crossers charged
    with coming back, reentry. It just goes on.
        Sheriff, I want to ask you the same question I asked our
    former witness. Are the aliens crossing illegally committing
    crimes across this country?
        Sheriff Wilmot. Absolutely.
        Mr. Nehls. Joe Biden, are you listening?
        Mayorkas, are you listening to the sheriffs?
        Sheriff Wilmot. No, they are not.
        Mr. Nehls. Sheriff, you have--in some of your written
    testimony--
        [Applause.]
        Sheriff Wilmot. Sorry.
        Mr. Nehls. In some of your written testimony, Sheriff, you
    talk a little bit about the rising crime due to Biden's border
    crisis. How has it impacted your agency with response times and
    resources?
        I mean, my guys are chasing criminals all over my county in
    the whole southwest Houston area.
        How has it affected your ability to keep these people in
    your community safe?
        Sheriff Wilmot. Thank you for the question, sir.
        In regard to our response times, when we have to respond
    out and do a rescue out in the desert, which is about 40-50
    miles away from civilization, that ties up our resources from
    doing their normal service delivery to the community that we
    serve.
        When we're processing the crime scenes out in the desert,
    when we're investigating the calls of the thefts, burglaries,
    rapers, and the delayed rapes and robberies that happen to some
    of the immigrants coming to the border that we have to handle,
    it taxes your resources and otherwise takes away our ability to
    do proactive enforcement versus reactive.
        Mr. Nehls. What we all know in this room, what we all have
    witnessed under Former President Donald J. Trump, the greatest
    President in my lifetime, that border crossings were down--
        [Applause.]
        Yes, yes. Border crossing were down, and our country was
    proud to uphold the rule of law.
        When you look at our United States Constitution, and you
    see that it's the Federal Government's responsibility to secure
    our southern borders--we could talk about it. I sent a letter
    to Biden calling him to invoke that Guarantee Clause.
        If you don't understand, if you look at Article IV, Section
    4, there's an ``invasion clause,'' folks, and I'll just read
    it.

            The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union
            a Republic Form of Government and shall protect each of them
            against invasion.

        We are being invaded, yes?
        [Applause.]
        Article I, Section 10 states, self-defense clause, reserves
    to the States the sovereign power to repel an invasion and
    defend their citizenry from the overwhelming and imminent
    danger.
        Your attorney general is doing a hell of a job. Our
    attorney general is doing well as well in Texas trying to
    invoke it.
        Let's just say this. The American people are the victims
    here. We are the victims. We must take the fight to the
    cartels, to the enemy, and we must use extreme prejudice to
    eliminate them off the face of the Earth.
        I yield back.
        [Applause.]
        Chair Jordan. The gentleman from South Carolina is
    recognized, Mr. Fry.
        Mr. Fry. Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's good to be here. I
    appreciate you, Chair, holding this hearing right here at the
    center of our border crisis.
        To the good people of Yuma, thank you for having us. Thank
    you for showing us. I'm a freshman. So, this has been
    incredibly eye opening for me.
        Mr. Chair, I remember our first, my first committee hearing
    this year, the first one ever, when the ranking member said
    that we were imagining a border crisis.
        My first question to the good people of Yuma: Are you
    imagining a border crisis?
        Is the border secure here in Yuma?
        Has the border gotten worse under President Biden?
        Final question: Do you think this administration has
    faithfully executed their obligation to secure that border?
        We got a ``hell no.''
        Thank you to the panel.
        From the short time we've been here in Yuma, one thing is
    very crystal clear to me, and it's that President Biden's open
    door, open border policy is an abject failure to the people of
    this country. We have seen firsthand the prioritization by this
    administration of illegal immigrants over the people of
    America.
        Illegal immigration, obviously, you know this here in Yuma
    more than anyone else, it deprives your community of safety in
    your homes and in your community of healthcare. It costs the
    taxpayers billions of dollars. It destroys property, farmers,
    where you are at. It destroys families through fentanyl
    poisoning.
        Congressional Democrats should be here, Mr. Chair. It's
    actually a shame that we were ``imagining'' a border crisis.
    Everything that we've seen, thus far, proves exactly that we
    are not, that you see it.
        Of course, in my home State of South Carolina, as has been
    talked about, we are a border State. Myrtle Beach is not just
    famous for its beaches and Chinese spy balloons. It also has
    record fentanyl overdoses that happen year after year.
        The first question to the sheriff.
        What Federal policies were in place under the prior
    administration that really helped, in your opinion, secure that
    border?
        Sheriff Wilmot. I thank you for that question, because I
    also told Secretary Mayorkas the same thing.
        The Operation Streamline was the most successful program
    that we ever had, and that was 100 percent prosecution for
    anybody that entered this country between the port of entry and
    denied them the access.
        Mr. Fry. Would you say that the Biden Administration has
    been able to control the cartels in two years?
        Sheriff Wilmot. No, sir.
        Mr. Fry. What policies do you think promote or enable the
    cartels to act more freely across the border or even in our
    country?
        Sheriff Wilmot. Well, when they removed the migrant
    protection protocols that were put into place, plus Operation
    Streamline, and they got away from any kind of prosecution at
    all, that just enabled the cartels to do what they're doing
    today, and they continue to escalate in their capabilities.
        Mr. Fry. Mr. Lines, you tweeted back in January that the
    border was 100 percent not secure, that it was wide open. Do
    you believe that still to be the case?
        Mr. Lines. Yes, sir.
        Mr. Fry. OK.
        In both you and the sheriff's experience, what are you
    seeing from real world impacts that you're hearing from people
    out here in the community that are happening from a crime
    perspective or a cartel perspective in their homes or
    neighborhoods?
        Mr. Lines. We've had some home invasions. Those were few
    and far between just because border patrol has been able to
    interdict.
        Yesterday morning one of the farmers you heard from this
    morning testified that his daughter was returning home from
    feeding her 4H project and was almost hit by a van full of
    people being smuggled across the border.
        So, we continue to see those types of instances. He's had
    two of those experiences in the last six months.
        One of the things that--and I apologize, but I should have
    addressed when Mr. Cline asked, but it's been a negative impact
    in our community, is the ability of 911 services to respond
    adequately, and that's been a severe challenge.
        I met with the first responders from every group in Yuma,
    and they shared with me their concern or the ability to be able
    to respond when they continue to receive a high volume of 911
    calls from the border.
        Now, not all those people were actually looking for medical
    assistance. They were simply tired of waiting to be processed
    because they had somewhere to go and someplace to be.
        So, that has affected the people of this community, and I
    was absolutely blown away to hear them tell me that. They do
    not care about the value of life, and that is something
    directly related to the cartels.
        Mr. Fry. Sheriff, what instances have you heard from the
    residents here in Yuma of crime or cartel activity? Talk about
    that. Have you heard these similar instances?
        Sheriff Wilmot. Absolutely, sir, and you can refer to my
    document that I submitted as well.
        My jail already this last year had over 55 individuals
    booked into custody that had entered this country illegally and
    committed sexual exploitation of minors. They're trespassing.
    The smuggling of narcotics not only for use but for sale and
    trade. That's the majority of what I have in my jail right now
    for those kinds of offenses.
        Mr. Lines. Mr. Fry, over at Amberly's Place, our youngest
    victim coming in for a sexual assault was 10 years old. The
    challenge is that we don't know in which country it occurred
    and by whom. So, we're able to collect the data, but because of
    jurisdictional challenges, there's no one to prosecute. So, a
    10 year old was violated by someone under cartel control or by
    the cartel itself.
        Just here, at Morelos Dam, Congressman Biggs and I have had
    the opportunity to walk around and pick up Plan B, and that was
    an area commonly referred to as the rape tree. So many people
    coming across were victims of the cartel where they exacted
    that last price and denied them their dignity.
        Mr. Fry. Thank you to the panel for being here.
        Mr. Chair, I yield back.
        Chair Jordan. I thank the gentleman.
        The gentlelady from Wyoming is recognized for five minutes,
    Ms. Hageman.
        Ms. Hageman. Thank you.
        Others have asked you questions. There have been some
    excellent questions today. You've provided some incredibly
    helpful testimony.
        I'd like to take a little bit different approach. I want
    you to know that I think that maybe you believe here in Yuma
    and along the border that you've been forgotten and that we
    don't care. But you haven't, we do care, and it's why we're
    here.
        We read the statistics. We see the film on the 5 o'clock
    news. We hear about the fentanyl deaths. We have some awareness
    of the human trafficking across our borders and spreading
    across our country.
        Reading about it is fundamentally different than being here
    and seeing it for ourselves and in talking to you about what
    you've been experiencing.
        I want you to know that everyone on this Committee has
    heard you, they are listening, and they want to represent you.
    They want to represent your voices. They want to hear what you
    have to say.
        I want to thank this entire community for your candor. I
    want to thank you for your willingness to talk to us and engage
    with us and to show us what you're dealing with.
        I want to thank your growers and producers for providing us
    with fresh and healthy food and for creating the beautiful Eden
    and oasis carved out of the surrounding desert.
        Thank you to our law enforcement, our sheriffs, our Border
    Patrol, and our police officers. Thank you to our local
    business owners and community leaders for what you do.
        Again, I want to be your voice, and to do that, I'm going
    to read to you some of the notes that I have taken just in the
    last day or so in visiting with the folks that we've had the
    opportunity to talk to.
        Now, you've heard some of this information, but I want to
    make it very, very clear: These are not Republican talking
    points. These are not an effort to just attack the Biden
    Administration for the sake of attacking the Biden
    Administration. These are my notes of my conversation with your
    fellow citizens.
        As we've already talked about, there's $26 million in
    uncompensated care for illegal immigrants in just one year.
    There is no payer source for those fees. The folks that come
    here are sick, not all of them, but a lot of them. They have
    hypertension, they need dialysis, they need heart surgery, and
    they need intensive care.
        Twenty-five percent of illegal babies that are born here
    end up in NICU because they don't have any prenatal care.
        We have to assure that we give a safe discharge, is what
    our medical professionals told us, which means that they have
    to provide wheelchairs and walkers and transportation. They may
    have to make contact with a family member.
        None of the NGO's that are working with the Biden
    Administration to further this agenda have offered to pay these
    costs, and the Feds have refused.
        You cannot discharge a baby without a car seat, and so
    basically the hospital has been out purchasing car seats
    throughout the entire surrounding area. Many of these babies
    have brothers and sisters that also need car seats. So, they
    may end up buying two and three car seats for the same family.
        The hospital has essentially had to set up a hotel upstairs
    because they can't discharge the patients. They had one baby in
    NICU for almost two months. So, the mother had to live there as
    well.
        There are lots of signs of abuse with the female migrants
    that are coming across. It is a Federal law that the facility
    treats everyone who comes to the hospital. In other words, the
    Federal Government requires you to provide care but refuses to
    pay you for it, the ultimate in an unfunded mandate.
        You've had illegal immigrants in ICU for over 30 days, some
    as long as 90 days. You've had to transfer residents to other
    places, as there have been times when there aren't enough ICU
    beds because the illegals are taking them. It takes two to
    three times the amount of resources to take care of an illegal
    as it does a resident.
        One woman at the hospital very compassionately noted that a
    loss of one person to fentanyl is one too many. In other words,
    they're very compassionate about what you're dealing with. The
    illegals, the increase in illegal immigration has coincided
    with an increase in fentanyl overdoses.
        When Trump was President, there were 810 people seeking
    asylum in 2020. In 2021, it had gone up to 110,000, and in
    2022, it was 310,000. That's just in the Yuma Sector alone.
        These people are processed here and then they're sent to
    communities throughout the entire country as the cartels are
    telling them where they must go to pay back what they have to
    pay to be brought across to the United States. The CBP has
    essentially become a concierge service for illegal immigrants.
        You have aliens from over 100 different countries entering
    this area. The cartels are controlling all aspects of the
    border. They earned $3.2 billion last year in human
    trafficking.
        The Biden Administration is jeopardizing our food supply
    and our food security, and they're prioritizing illegal aliens
    over and above American citizens and legal immigrants.
        These are real life facts told to us and as expressed by
    real life citizens from this very community. Again, I will say
    it: You're not forgotten.
        We will never make life better in foreign countries by
    destroying the United States of America.
        [Applause.]
        We will never make foreign leaders do a better job of
    taking care of their poor or prosecuting their criminals by
    sending them across the border illegally.
        We must protect our borders, we must recognize that
    citizenship matters, and we must enforce the law.
        Mr. Chair, I yield back.
        [Applause.]
        Chair Jordan. Thank you. The gentlelady yields back.
        The gentleman from California, Mr. Kiley, is recognized for
    five minutes.
        Mr. Kiley. Good afternoon.
        Sheriff, could you please summarize the ways that the
    cartels are involved in illegal border crossings?
        Sheriff Wilmot. So, you have the Jalisco New Generation in
    Baja California, then you have the Sinaloa Cartel in Sonora,
    Mexico, on our very southern border.
        So, the Jalisco New Generation, theirs is the movement of
    bodies that are coming across the river corridor, so they are
    the ones that are coordinating. They actually have contacts in
    different countries that have been identified as being the
    travel agents, for lack of a better term, to get the people
    here and to be able to control that coming across.
        So, right now, between midnight and 4 a.m., 40 at a time
    come across down by the river corridor.
        So, the Sinaloa Cartel, they are the ones that are doing
    the narcotics side of it. So, they coordinate between those
    that can afford and cannot afford to be able to pay the price,
    and they utilize those people to smuggle the narcotics in,
    whether it's on a vehicle through the port of entry or whether
    it's through the remote deserts of our county.
        Mr. Kiley. Thank you.
        So, would it be fair to say that the relaxation of border
    policies has redounded to the benefit of the cartels?
        Sheriff Wilmot. Oh, absolutely.
        Mr. Kiley. I mean, just to be blunt, it's been a bonanza
    for them, right? It's expanded their business opportunities for
    their criminal enterprises, has it not?
        Sheriff Wilmot. Absolutely. They have scouts that are in
    our mountains. So, they can watch Border Patrol's actions out
    in a remote part of our desert. So, they can coordinate the
    loads getting through, whether they're human or narcotics.
        Mr. Kiley. So, we know who is benefiting. So, then we have
    to ask: Who is paying the price?
        Well, first, of course, is the victims of fentanyl. In
    2020, Border Patrol seized 4,800 pounds; 2021, it was 11,200;
    2022 fiscal year, it was 14,700; and in just the first four
    months for the 2023 fiscal year, 12,500.
        I have a chart here showing basically a quadrupling in
    overdoses here in Yuma just over the course of a few years. Of
    course, this is not a localized matter. Throughout the country,
    fentanyl poisoning is now the leading cause of death for young
    people, more than car accidents, more than suicides, more than
    anything.
        Sheriff, is it your opinion that fewer Americans would be
    dying of fentanyl poisoning if the border was as secure as it
    was at the start of this administration?
        Sheriff Wilmot. Absolutely.
        Mr. Kiley. In addition to the victims of fentanyl, we then
    have the victims of human trafficking as well.
        Supervisor, I believe we discussed earlier some evidence
    that you've seen of the increases and the impact of human
    trafficking here in Yuma?
        Mr. Lines. Yes. So, in the first three months, we've seen a
    350 percent uptake in human trafficking, people who have come
    forward seeking assistance on their own who have declared that
    they have been trafficked. If nine were willing to do it, I'm
    sure that there are many more out there looking to free
    themselves of that bondage.
        Mr. Kiley. Sheriff, is it your opinion that fewer people
    would be suffering through the horror of human trafficking if
    the border was as secure as it was at the start of this
    administration?
        Sheriff Wilmot. Absolutely.
        Mr. Kiley. Then we have the migrants themselves. In 2022,
    856 died attempting to cross the border. That was 300 more than
    it was in 2021 and three times as many as it was just in 2020.
        Sheriff, is it your opinion that fewer migrants would be
    dying crossing the border if the border was as secure as it was
    at the start of this administration?
        Sheriff Wilmot. Yes, sir.
        Mr. Kiley. So, there you have it. We have a set of policies
    that has been a bonanza for the cartels, for foreign criminal
    organizations, and this windfall is being underwritten by pain
    and suffering and death.
        That's why this is not a partisan issue. Usually we have to
    weigh costs and benefits, we have to adjudicate competing
    values. Here it's just bad all the way around. It's negative on
    both sides of the ledger.
        So, how does this make any sense? Well, it really only
    makes sense when you look at it from a political perspective.
        We had a set of border policies that were working. Everyone
    here will tell you that. This administration came into office,
    and to make a political statement, not only reversed those
    policies, but swung the pendulum radically in the other
    direction, exploding whatever bipartisan consensus there was on
    this issue and ushering in a crisis unlike we have seen in
    American history.
        So, I'm not interested in criticizing our colleagues on the
    other side of the dais for not being here. I want to encourage
    them to come here, talk to the supervisor, the sheriff, and the
    hospital, see what we have seen.
        I want to work with anyone who is interested in getting
    this crisis under control. That includes the President, who I
    implore to accept responsibility, to admit his policies have
    failed, to find a new Secretary of Homeland Security. Let's all
    work together to replace pro-cartel policies with pro-America
    policies.
        [Applause.]
        Chair Jordan. I thank the gentleman. The gentleman yields
    back.
        Mr. Lines, who benefits? That seems to me to be the
    fundamental question, right? Who benefits?
        We talked earlier. On January 20, 2021, the first day,
    President Biden says no more wall, no more Remain in Mexico, no
    more detain and deport.two years ago this was the safest border
    county in the country. Today we have what's been described here
    in the last two hours.
        Sheriff Wilmot. Yes, sir.
        Chair Jordan. So, it sort of raises the fundamental, who
    benefits from this border that's no longer a border, from this
    open border chaos on our southern border? Who benefits from
    that?
        Does our healthcare system benefit, Mr. Lines?
        Mr. Lines. No, sir. No. Directly benefiting the cartels.
        Chair Jordan. Does our law enforcement benefit, Sheriff
    Wilmot?
        Sheriff Wilmot. No, sir.
        Chair Jordan. How about first responders, Supervisor? Does
    first responders, does that benefit--
        Mr. Lines. No, sir.
        Chair Jordan. How about the taxpayers? Do the taxpayers?
        How about the growers and ranchers and farmers that we
    heard from earlier? Do they benefit from this chaotic policy
    that was put in place on day one?
        How about the legal residents? How about the citizens? Do
    they benefit?
        Mr. Lines. No.
        Chair Jordan. That's the takeaway here. How about now, who
    does benefit, though?
        Do the cartels benefit, Supervisor Lines?
        Mr. Lines. Yes, sir, 100 percent.
        Chair Jordan. Do the drug dealers benefit?
        Mr. Lines. One hundred percent.
        Chair Jordan. Yes, and the scary thing is, the sad thing
    is, too, the people--many times the people who are being
    trafficked across, they don't really benefit either. Things
    that happen to women, things that happen to kids, we've talked
    about that.
        So, this is the crazy thing. This brings us back to what my
    colleague and friend from Florida said earlier in today's
    hearing. I don't think they're going to change. I don't think
    Joe Biden is going to change. Because any administration that
    puts in policies that harm the citizens, law enforcement,
    taxpayers, farmers, ranchers, and everyone, it seems, and only
    benefit the bad guys, the cartels and drug dealers, I don't
    know that they're going to change without a fight.
        Mr. Lines. Mr. Chair, I think that it's good to remember
    the source of all fentanyl, and that's being shipped directly
    from China to the cartels to come and poison the people of the
    United States.
        Chair Jordan. Yep. Yep.
        I would just add this to it as well, and this is in your
    testimony, Supervisor. In your testimony, you were asked, I
    believe by Mr. Gaetz, I think you said Secretary Mayorkas lied
    to your face. That was your testimony here today under oath,
    here today you took the oath when we swore you in, you said the
    Secretary.
        So, if you have an administration that you pay for, your
    tax dollars pay for the Federal Government, they come here,
    they promise to work with local government, work with the local
    community to better the situation and then don't deliver on
    their promise, the only way we're going to fix this is a fight.
        The way our system works, the way our system works is when
    you have split government, you have to do it on the
    appropriations bills. We are going to have to attach on the
    appropriations bills: Hey, look, if you don't start enforcing
    the law, as Mr. McClintock pointed out, if you don't start
    enforcing the law, we're not going to fund certain things. Not
    our law enforcement, not Border Patrol, we need that, but other
    things. We're going to have to do that if we're going to remedy
    this situation.
        Mr. Lines. Yes, sir.
        Chair Jordan. That's how bad it is. That's how serious it
    is.
        We came here today to just underscore and hear from people
    who have been living it now for two long years, to hear from
    you all so we can go back and tell our colleagues: Look, we're
    going to have to fight. We're going to have to fight for the
    good people of Yuma County, the good law enforcement folks in
    Arizona, people providing healthcare, the mayor of this great
    town, and, as our other members have pointed out, folks all
    over the country, because every county is now impacted by five
    million illegal migrants coming into our country in the past
    two years. That's what we pledge to do.
        So, I want to thank you all for being here today.
        We're going to close with the gentleman who represents this
    fine community for five minutes, who has been a good friend of
    mine in Congress for a number of years, who does an outstanding
    job at serving the folks of his great district here in Arizona.
        Mr. Gosar is recognized for five minutes.
        [Applause.]
        Mr. Gosar. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
        So, I'm going to hit two things. I'm going to try to hit
    this a little differently.
        It's been alluded to by some of my colleagues. Ben Franklin
    was asked: ``What kind of government did you give us? A
    republic, if you can keep it.''
        What is key to a republic? The rule of law, accountability,
    and defined, defensible borders.
        Now, let's take an example of one of those republics that
    fell: Rome. They actually invited the conquered to conquer.
    Now, think about that. Think about that.
        The reason I bring that up is that we've been bamboozled by
    the other side in the press that there's only 10 or 11 million
    illegals in this country. That's not true. The Ivy League study
    in 2014, 2015 that showed there was between 33 and 36 million.
    You add another six million that has come across during this
    tenure, you're over 40 million illegals.
        Now, why do I bring that up? Well, in a population of 360
    million, maybe 10 million doesn't really make much of a
    difference, but when it's 40 or 50 million, they're changing
    culture. That's where this is going, changing culture.
        Now, the other thing is, is I keep hearing over and over
    again: What could you do about it?
        As has been alluded, we're one of the three stools. Well,
    there's the power of the purse. The Chair actually just brought
    this up. That fight's coming. That was part of the fight that
    the 20 held out for, to get that rule change.
        [Applause.]
        Mr. Gosar. It's even better than that. We have an
    opportunity that if they were never authorized by Congress,
    that we can defund them. This is going to be so much fun. Can
    you say ATF? Can you say OPT?
        So, now, we take the fight to them. Why is this important?
    Because we have to have that power of the purse.
        That also means that we have to get rid of the national
    emergency on COVID. It seems kind of strange that I'm bringing
    this up, but when you're under a national emergency, the
    Executive Branch has 120 additional powers, and one of them is
    to move money around. So, let me share with you an example.
        Congress in its wisdom a five-years ago authorized $2.some
    billion to go to COVID testing. It disappeared. It was rerouted
    by the administration for illegal immigration housing.
        Now, let's step back. This last fall, there was an omnibus
    bill of $1.7 trillion passed, and it was passed intentionally
    under the COVID national emergency. That means that simply not
    one of those dollars that Congress has obliged to send has to
    be spent that way, not that it will.
        I hope I'm sharing with you that they can get a lot more
    latitude. So, that power of the purse has to return. OK.
        We also have to do our job. In the national emergency,
    would you be surprised to find out that once upon--once a
    declaration of a national emergency occurs, that Congress,
    must/shall, no later than six months later, convene to decide
    whether to continue that national emergency or kill it.
        I dropped that bill twice. Ms. Pelosi killed it twice.
        So, the magic about this is that once you start the
    process, it has to go through. It's a privileged motion. So,
    we've actually enabled our Senate minority to actually take
    this up, because we've already passed it out of the House. So,
    play smarter, not harder.
        The appropriations process is going to be the big fight.
    You have a debt ceiling and you have these appropriations.
    Finding these programs, rules, agencies that are not authorized
    by Congress is a good step in the right direction. Because we
    have to get back the levity of equal justice under the law.
        We've been asleep at the wheel for a long period of time,
    folks. We saw this in the Obama Administration, the Fast and
    Furious, Benghazi, the IRS, countless. Who's paid the penalty
    for it? Nobody's paid the penalty for it.
        That they can do this to a President. They throw everything
    at him, and not one thing has been found on the guy. That's one
    of the founding principles that's failing now in our Republic.
        So, trust is a series of promises kept. I hope that you'll
    look at us, and when appropriations season comes, they told us
    they were going to march up there. They were going to get the
    power of the purse, because maybe we could earn your trust
    again.
        I'm going to end, because I'm a person of accountability. I
    do animes, I take full responsibility for those things. So, I
    believe that there has to be a personal touch to this. So, let
    me go through the roster of who's not here:
        Mr. Nadler from New York, Ms. Lofgren from California, Ms.
    Jackson Lee from Texas, Mr. Cohen from Tennessee, Mr. Johnson
    from Georgia, Mr. Schiff from California, Mr. Cicilline from
    Rhode Island, Mr. Swalwell from California, Mr. Lieu from
    California, Ms. Jayapal from Washington, Mr. Correa from
    California, Ms. McBath from Georgia, Ms. Dean from
    Pennsylvania, Ms. Escobar from Texas, Ms. Ross from North
    Carolina, Ms. Bush from Missouri, and Mr. Ivey from Maryland.
        Until we start putting names and holding people
    accountable, we are not going to get anywhere close to our
    goal. We, the people.
        Thank you, gentlemen. I thank you, Chair, for the privilege
    of sitting in and charging in your parade.
        Chair Jordan. Thank you. The gentleman yields back. Thank
    you, Paul.
        [Applause.]
        I would just close, I'll remind everyone it's a great
    country. My favorite scripture Verse 2, Timothy 4:7. Paul is
    the old guy giving advice to the young guy Timothy, and he says
    what? Fight the good fight, finish the course, keep the faith.
        I tell people I love that verse because of the action in
    it. It's not a sissy, wimpy verse, it's an American verse.
    Words of actions. Americans aren't timid people. We are people
    who get the job done. We fight, we finish, we keep faith with
    the principles that made our country special.
        That verse characterizes this community, and we have so
    appreciated your hospitality over the last 24 hours. The mayor,
    the supervisor, hospital administrator, sheriff, and everyone
    else we've had a chance to visit with, the Border Patrol
    agents, law enforcement, first responders, all the folks we've
    got a chance to visit with.
        You are living that verse here, and we appreciate it, and
    we owe you that same kind of commitment in the U.S. Congress.
    You pay our salary. We're supposed to fight for you. Your two
    guys from Arizona are definitely doing that. The rest of us
    need to do the same, and we pledge to you that we will. We
    understand how serious this situation is.
        I'll finish with this final story. I share this all the
    time because it had an impact on my wife and me. This is
    probably 10-12 years ago. We live north of Dayton, Ohio, near
    the town of Urbana, and about 12 years ago we had some good
    friends of ours in Dayton said, are you guys free for dinner.
    It was the summertime of the year. They said, ``yes, well, come
    down, we're going to meet us down here at our place in the
    Dayton area, we're going to go out to dinner.'' They said,
    ``before we go to dinner, we're going to tour the Wright
    brothers' home,'' and we said, ``great. We like history, we
    like, seeing that. We live in the house we raised our family,
    it was built in 1837, and we liked old things and history,''
    and said, ``sure.''
        So, we go down there. We pay the lady at the door with the
    historical society, like, $5, and they take you on the tour of
    this home, and you learn all kinds of neat things about these
    two amazing Americans.
        You learn about the bicycle shop, you learn about the
    things they tinkered and built and the stuff they did and all
    the things they were into, and it's a fascinating tour.
        The tour ends in Wilbur Wright's bedroom, and they tell you
    a few more things about this particular Wright brother. Then
    they finish the tour by showing you two pictures.
        First picture they hold up was that very first flight,
    1903, and this thing they called a plane in Kitty Hawk, North
    Carolina. When you see that picture, your first thought was,
    wow, how did that thing get off the ground? How did that
    contraption fly? The truth is, it barely did. It flew like a
    hundred feet, got like 10-12 feet off the ground. They show you
    that picture, and you're like, OK, that's kind of neat, because
    you sort of remember that from when they taught you that in
    school, 7th or 8th grade, whenever you learned that. You're
    like, OK, that's kind of neat.
        They put that picture down, and then they hold up a second
    picture--1947, Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier in a
    jet. I was like, wow, that I didn't know. I must not have been
    paying attention that day in school or something. I didn't know
    that.
        I'm thinking, that's amazing, in 44 years, we go from two
    guys flying a hundred feet in this jalopy contraption of a
    thing they called a plane to another great American breaking
    the sound barrier in a jet. It's amazing. They put that picture
    down. That was the end of the tour.
        Polly and I start walking out, and as we're walking out, I
    thought, wait a minute, wait a minute, why did they stop there?
    I represent Wapakoneta, Ohio, hometown of Neil Armstrong, who
    22 years later stepped on the moon.
        Think about it. Sixty-six years, we go from two guys flying
    a hundred feet, to another American stepping on the moon. One
    lifetime. One lifetime, this country did that. I would argue,
    no other country is capable of doing that, only this Nation,
    the greatest country ever.
        You can't fault people for wanting to come here. They just
    got to do it legally, and that's what we're going to fight for
    and make sure the law is enforced.
        Thank you all very much. Our Committee is adjourned.
        [Whereupon, at 6:10 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.]

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