[House Hearing, 108 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
ALIEN REMOVALS UNDER OPERATION PREDATOR
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON IMMIGRATION,
BORDER SECURITY, AND CLAIMS
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
March 4, 2004
__________
Serial No. 73
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.house.gov/judiciary
______
92-347 U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 2003
____________________________________________________________________________
For Sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800; (202) 512�091800
Fax: (202) 512�092250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402�090001
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, Jr., Wisconsin, Chairman
HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois JOHN CONYERS, Jr., Michigan
HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina HOWARD L. BERMAN, California
LAMAR SMITH, Texas RICK BOUCHER, Virginia
ELTON GALLEGLY, California JERROLD NADLER, New York
BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia ROBERT C. SCOTT, Virginia
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio MELVIN L. WATT, North Carolina
WILLIAM L. JENKINS, Tennessee ZOE LOFGREN, California
CHRIS CANNON, Utah SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas
SPENCER BACHUS, Alabama MAXINE WATERS, California
JOHN N. HOSTETTLER, Indiana MARTIN T. MEEHAN, Massachusetts
MARK GREEN, Wisconsin WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts
RIC KELLER, Florida ROBERT WEXLER, Florida
MELISSA A. HART, Pennsylvania TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin
JEFF FLAKE, Arizona ANTHONY D. WEINER, New York
MIKE PENCE, Indiana ADAM B. SCHIFF, California
J. RANDY FORBES, Virginia LINDA T. SANCHEZ, California
STEVE KING, Iowa
JOHN R. CARTER, Texas
TOM FEENEY, Florida
MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee
Philip G. Kiko, Chief of Staff-General Counsel
Perry H. Apelbaum, Minority Chief Counsel
------
Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims
JOHN N. HOSTETTLER, Indiana, Chairman
JEFF FLAKE, Arizona SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas
MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee LINDA T. SANCHEZ, California
LAMAR SMITH, Texas ZOE LOFGREN, California
ELTON GALLEGLY, California HOWARD L. BERMAN, California
CHRIS CANNON, Utah JOHN CONYERS, Jr., Michigan
STEVE KING, Iowa
MELISSA A. HART, Pennsylvania
George Fishman, Chief Counsel
Art Arthur, Full Committee Counsel
Luke Bellocchi, Counsel
Cindy Blackston, Professional Staff
Nolan Rappaport, Minority Counsel
C O N T E N T S
----------
MARCH 4, 2004
OPENING STATEMENT
Page
The Honorable John N. Hostettler, a Representative in Congress
From the State of Indiana, and Chairman, Subcommittee on
Immigration, Border Security, and Claims....................... 1
The Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, a Representative in Congress
From the State of Texas, and Ranking Member, Subcommittee on
Immigration, Border Security, and Claims....................... 11
WITNESSES
The Honorable Michael J. Garcia, Assistant Secretary, U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland
Security
Oral Testimony................................................. 3
Prepared Statement............................................. 6
Mr. John Walsh, Chairman of the National Advisory Board of the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; host of
``America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back''
Oral Testimony................................................. 14
Prepared Statement............................................. 19
LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING
Prepared Statement of the Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, a
Representative in Congress From the State of Texas, and Ranking
Member, Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and
Claims......................................................... 13
ALIEN REMOVALS UNDER
OPERATION PREDATOR
----------
THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2004
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Immigration,
Border Security, and Claims,
Committee on the Judiciary,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:12 a.m., in
Room 2141, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. John N.
Hostettler [Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding.
Mr. Hostettler. The Subcommittee will come to order. Today
the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims
will examine ``Operation Predator,'' the new U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement's effort to identify and remove alien
child sexual predators. I congratulate Assistant Secretary
Michael Garcia for instituting Operation Predator and making
the removal of aliens who perpetrate these heinous crimes a
priority of his agency.
According to a recent study funded in part by the
Department of Justice, between 300,000 and 400,000 U.S.
children are victims of some type of sexual exploitation every
year. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
has reported an increase of reported child abuse cases from
4,500 in 1998 to 82,000 in 2003.
Major news stories continually break about sexual predators
who are guests, invited or uninvited, in our country. In
December, a British national employed as a diving coach at
North Carolina State University was arrested and pleaded guilty
to sex crimes. Rafael Ruiz, a Dominican national, was sentenced
by a Federal judge in September to 44 months in prison for
operating a brothel in Plainsfield, New Jersey, and for his
part in smuggling Mexican children into the U.S. to work as
forced prostitutes.
In Baltimore, ICE agents arrested 50 convicted alien child
sex predators in August. Fifty. All had avoided deportation.
One of them was a summer camp employee who was convicted of
molesting three pre-pubescent sisters.
In my home state of Indiana alone, ICE has arrested 26
child sexual predators. This includes the arrest of Mexican
nationals Jose Delana Martinez, who was previously convicted of
the sexual battery of a 13-year-old in Johnson County; and
Adrian Herrera, convicted of sexual misconduct with his own 14-
year-old daughter.
The children who are the victims of these criminals can be
immigrants themselves, preyed upon in their own neighborhoods;
or they can be native born. In either case, it should be the
Department of Homeland Security's goal to protect all of
America's children.
In the past, the Judiciary Committee has worked to enact
bills that assist in combatting child sexual predators,
including Megan's Law, the Missing Children Act, the PROTECT
Act, and even the Homeland Security Act. These pieces of
legislation have all made Operator Predator possible.
Operation Predator is an initiative Mr. Garcia launched on
July 9, 2003, to identify alien child predators and remove them
from the United States. As part of this operation, ICE is
working with State and local police to help arrest alien
predators and apprehend smugglers of children. ICE is
prioritizing for removal aliens already convicted of sex
offenses, as well as identifying alien sex offenders in prisons
around the country so that they can be removed upon release.
The bureau routinely notifies foreign governments of aliens
with a history of sex offenses before their removal, and seeks
information from foreign governments about sex offenders
seeking entry into the United States. In less than 8 months,
ICE has arrested over 2,000 child predators and sex offenders
as part of Operation Predator. This project clearly
demonstrates the effectiveness of the merger of various
immigration and law enforcement components into the Department
of Homeland Security. It also demonstrates the need to draw on
cooperation from State, local, and non-governmental resources
to combat the national tragedy of child sexual exploitation and
abuse.
For example, the combination of the Customs Service's
history of combatting pornography and former INS' role in
removing aliens is utilized to hunt down alien child predators
in this program. Now merged into the Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, or ``ICE,'' the intelligence capabilities and
experience of its former components are utilized more
effectively than previously possible.
ICE has created the Cyber Smuggling Center as the national
base to hunt down illegal pornographers and alien child
predators who use the Internet to lure minors. It has cross
referenced their former databases to find alien absconders with
child predator histories.
ICE has recently created a website, the National Child
Victim Identification System, that combines State Megan's Law
registries of sexual predators to create, in effect, an easily
accessible national database of child sexual offenders.
ICE has recently signed a memorandum of understanding with
the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, or
NCMEC, an organization made possible by the Missing Children
Assistance Act. This allows NCMEC to provide ICE with
information from their own reports with alien child predators,
and creates the National Child Victim Identification System.
The Subcommittee will examine these components of Operation
Predator in more detail to see how ICE has taken the lead in
protecting our children from harm. We will also examine how
this Subcommittee may further empower ICE in ridding the
country of alien predators of child sex crimes.
The Chair now turns to the gentleman from Arizona for an
opening statement if he has one.
Mr. Flake. Thank the gentleman.
Mr. Hostettler. President George W. Bush appointed Mr.
Michael Garcia to serve as the Assistant Secretary for U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, November 25, 2003,
as part of the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.
ICE focuses on an array of national security, financial, and
smuggling violations, including human trafficking, commercial
fraud, narcotics smuggling, child pornography and exploitation,
and immigration fraud.
Just prior to this appointment, Mr. Garcia was Acting
Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. He
also served as a career Federal prosecutor in New York City,
working on high-profile terrorism cases such as the bombing of
U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam and the first
attempted World Trade Center bombing in 1993.
Mr. Garcia is a graduate of the State University of New
York at Binghamton. He received his master's degree from the
College of William and Mary, in English; and his juris
doctorate from the Albany Law School of Union University, where
he was valedictorian.
During the transition to the Department of Homeland
Security, Mr. Garcia integrated several law enforcement
organizations to form ICE. Among them was the Customs Service,
with a history of combatting pornography and exploitation of
minors, and the enforcement wing of the former INS. A product
of this unique combination has been his brainchild: Operation
Predator.
Mr. Garcia, I invite you to tell the Subcommittee about
your project's many accomplishments today.
STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE MICHAEL J. GARCIA, ASSISTANT
SECRETARY, U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT, DEPARTMENT
OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Mr. Garcia. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Members of
the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear
before you today to discuss Operation Predator, one of the
priority initiatives of the Department of Homeland Security's
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
In July of last year, Secretary Ridge joined forces with
John Walsh of ``America's Most Wanted'' and Ernie Allen,
president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children, or NCMEC, to launch Operation Predator, a program to
target some of the most heinous criminals on our streets: those
who sexually abuse children.
Each year, as you mentioned Mr. Chairman, millions of
children fall prey to sexual predators. Experts estimate that
one in five girls and one in ten boys in the United States are
sexually exploited before they reach adulthood. These young
victims are left with permanent physical and emotional scars.
That tragedy is compounded by the fact that child prostitution,
human trafficking, child pornography, and international sex
tourism now generate billions of dollars a year worldwide. The
advent of the Internet, with its borderless and anonymous
cyberspace, has created even greater opportunities for
predators to profit by exploiting children. Operation Predator
was established to combat these activities.
Operation Predator is a coordinated law enforcement and
public awareness program that draws upon ICE's unique
investigative authorities and resources, as well as ICE's
evolving relationships with organizations like NCMEC. The
program has two primary goals:
First, to identify, investigate, arrest and, where
appropriate, deport these predators; and
Second, in partnership with NCMEC, to educate parents about
the threats their children face, and what they can do to
protect their families.
I am pleased to report that Operation Predator has resulted
in an unprecedented success. In the 8 months since the program
was first launched, more than 2,000 child sex predators and sex
offenders have been taken off the streets of America. We have
initiated the largest ever investigation into child
pornography, and we have effected the first ever arrests of sex
tourists under the new statutory authority provided by the
recently enacted PROTECT Act.
We want to send a message loud and clear that international
borders no longer shield child sex predators from the law.
While Operation Predator is indeed a worldwide enforcement
effort, it has a direct impact on the safety of the streets in
your local communities, as evidenced in that nearly 1,300 of
the predator arrests occurred in the nine States represented by
the Members of this Subcommittee.
While illegal aliens, lawful permanent residents, and U.S.
citizens are all potential targets of Operation Predator, the
vast majority of the more than 2,000 arrests to date are
illegal aliens or otherwise legal residents whose crimes make
them subject to removal from this country.
Two thousand predators. Who are they? They include a
pediatrician in Chicago who had child pornography in his home
and date rape drugs hidden in his car; an illegal alien in
Texas convicted of the sexual assault of a child, after having
been deported from the United States on three previous
occasions--he is now detailed and serving time in a Federal
prison, awaiting deportation; and an American citizen from
Seattle who thought he could avoid justice by flying to
Cambodia to engage in sex with 7-year-old boys. These are just
a few of the faces of Operation Predator. How they came into
the custody of ICE is the subject of today's hearing.
As you know, a year ago this week, ICE was formed by
combining the investigative and intelligence arms of the former
Immigration and Naturalization Service and the U.S. Customs
Service, as well as the Federal Protective Service and the
Federal Air Marshals. By integrating these once fragmented
resources, the Department of Homeland Security not only created
the second-largest investigative agency in the Federal
Government, but it also created a dynamic and innovative new
law enforcement organization focused on homeland security--
specifically, border security, air security, and economic
security.
One of the issues ICE faced was a large alien absconder
population, fugitives with outstanding final orders of removal.
Applying a systematic approach to addressing the large number
of alien absconders, ICE set about prioritizing the most
dangerous offenders. We first developed a ``Top Ten'' list,
with the worst of the worst. While this standard law
enforcement tool was not regularly employed by the legacy INS,
it proved to be a tremendous success for ICE. With the help of
John Walsh and ``America's Most Wanted,'' nine of the original
``Top Ten'' were located and apprehended within the first 2
weeks, and the tenth was soon confirmed to have already left
the country.
This initiative revealed that among the most violent
criminal subset of the alien absconder population, many have
convictions for sexual offenses and, in particular, offenses
against children. By law, any non-citizen who commits such a
crime is to be deported back to his or her home country.
Unfortunately, that wasn't always the case under the INS, as
you well know. The Committee has heard too many times terrible
stories about predators who should have been detained and
deported, but were instead freed to prey upon our children
again.
To address this problem, ICE began to examine Megan's Law
directories, matching our immigration databases to those
Megan's Law lists and taking into custody deportable aliens
convicted of sexual crimes against children. Our success rate
was astounding, Mr. Chairman, and we quickly came to recognize
the awful dimension of the child predator problem.
In addition to the high number of alien predators, our
investigators were unearthing remarkable numbers of child
pornographers on the Internet, human smuggling organizations
trafficking in children for sexual exploitation; as well as sex
tourists, American citizens who travel to other countries to
engage in sex with minors. ICE has made the first four arrests
under that new statute.
In a way unforeseeable before the creation of the
Department of Homeland Security, ICE is coordinating our
powerful resources and authorities into a united campaign
against those who prey upon our children; drawing upon the full
range of intelligence, investigative, and detention and removal
functions of ICE to target those who exploit children.
Protecting children from these ruthless predators is
undoubtedly paramount to our homeland security mission.
Operation Predator is truly an ICE team effort that employs
almost every one of ICE's six operational divisions. ICE
special agents are on the front lines of our investigative
efforts, but other ICE components are critical to the success
of this initiative.
For example, the ICE Law Enforcement Support Center, or the
LESC, serves as a national enforcement operations and
intelligence center by providing timely information on the
status and identities of alien suspects arrested or convicted
of criminal activity. The LESC has lodged over 180
administrative detainers on aliens who have been arrested for
Operation Predator offenses. Further, leads are sent to the ICE
field offices for action, and the LESC coordinates with local
law enforcement when the call requires local intervention.
A prime example of the LESC's impact was demonstrated in
the arrest of a particularly heinous child predator late last
summer. In August 2003, the LESC received a call on the
Predator Hotline. The call indicated that a 27-year-old Kenyan
national, who was reportedly afflicted with AIDS, was having
sex with female minors in the Boston area. The ICE LESC
immediately provided the information to police in Lawrence,
Massachusetts, who then arrested the individual the following
day on charges of raping a 14-year-old girl in a local
apartment. An ICE detainer was also placed on the individual,
because he will come into our custody when the criminal
proceedings are concluded.
The case represents just a single example of how the public
is one of our most valuable partners. Members of the public are
encouraged to call our 800--866-DHS-2ICE line to report sex
offenders to ICE. We have also created a dedicated e-mail
address at ``Operation.Predator at dhs.gov'' to receive tips
through e-mail.
As I mentioned before, we have an excellent working
relationship with NCMEC. We have two agents assigned to review
the hundreds of leads generated daily from NCMEC's Hotline and
CyberTipline. From these tips, our agents are able to generate
a significant number of leads that are sent out to the ICE
field offices around the country.
Just last month, the ICE office in Los Angeles conducted a
search based on a NCMEC lead. During the search, a computer and
narcotics paraphernalia were seized. And based upon what was
found, Los Angeles Child Protective Services removed three
children from that home.
On March 1st, 2004, we celebrated the 1-year anniversary of
the Department of Homeland Security and ICE. Clearly, we have
seen that the merging of the legacy missions and authorities in
ICE allows a multi-disciplined approach to homeland security
that is crucial to our efforts to safeguard America, especially
our children.
Through Operation Predator, ICE is working diligently to
implement the President's goal of eradicating the special evil
in the abuse and exploitation of the most innocent and
vulnerable.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, for
the opportunity to testify today on this important topic. And I
am eager to continue to work with Congress and to provide the
American people with the level of security they demand and
deserve. And I look forward to your questions. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Garcia follows:]
Prepared Statement of Michael J. Garcia
MR. CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE, thank you for the
opportunity to appear before you today to discuss Operation Predator,
one of the priority initiatives of the Department of Homeland
Security's (DHS) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
In July of last year, Secretary Ridge joined forces with John Walsh
(``America's Most Wanted'') and Ernie Allen, of the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), to launch Operation Predator, a
program to target some of the most heinous criminals on our streets--
those who sexually abuse children.
Each year, millions of children fall prey to sexual predators.\1\
Experts estimate that one-in-five girls and one-in-ten boys in the
United States are sexually exploited before they reach adulthood.\2\
These young victims are left with permanent psychological, physical,
and emotional scars. That tragedy is compounded by the fact that child
prostitution, human trafficking, child pornography, and international
sex tourism now generate billions of dollars a year worldwide. The
advent of the Internet, with its borderless and anonymous cyberspace,
has created even greater opportunities for predators to profit by
exploiting children. Operation Predator was established to combat these
activities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Carol Bellamy, UNICEF Executive Director, ``Child exploitation
is one of UNICEF's top five concerns for children in 2004'', January 1,
2004.
\2\ D. Finkelhor. ``Current Information on the Scope and Nature of
Child Sexual Abuse.'' The Future of Children: Sexual Abuse of Children,
1994.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operation Predator is a coordinated law enforcement and public
awareness program that draws upon ICE's unique investigative
authorities and resources, as well as ICE's evolving relationships with
organizations like NCMEC. The program has two primary goals:
(1) To identify, investigate, arrest and, when appropriate,
deport these predators; and
(2) To educate parents about the threats their children face
and what they can do to protect their families.
I am pleased to report that Operation Predator has resulted in
unprecedented successes. In the eight months since the program was
first launched, more than 2,000 child predators and sex offenders have
been taken off the streets of America; we have initiated the largest-
ever investigation into online child pornography; and we have affected
the first-ever arrests of sex tourists under the new statutory
authority provided by the recently enacted PROTECT Act.
Two thousand predators. Who are they? They include a pediatrician
in Chicago who had child pornography in his home and date-rape drugs
hidden in his car; an illegal alien in Texas, convicted of the sexual
assault of a child after having been deported from the United States on
three previous occasions and is now detained and serving time in a
Federal prison awaiting deportation; and an American citizen from
Seattle who thought he could avoid justice by flying to Cambodia to
engage in sex with seven-year-old boys. These are just a few of the
faces of Operation Predator. How they came into the custody of ICE is
the subject of today's hearing.
First, Mr. Chairman, let me give this Subcommittee some context
about ICE's strategic approach to border security and immigration
enforcement, which are top mission priorities for the Department of
Homeland Security. It was from this approach to border security that
Operation Predator emerged.
A year ago this week, ICE was formed by combining the investigative
and intelligence arms of the former Immigration and Naturalization
Service (INS) and the U.S. Customs Service, as well as the Federal
Protective Service and the Federal Air Marshal Service. By integrating
these once-fragmented resources, the Department of Homeland Security
not only created the second-largest investigative agency in the Federal
government, but it also created a dynamic and innovative new law
enforcement organization uniquely and exclusively focused on homeland
security--specifically border security, air security, and economic
security.
The primary mission of ICE and the Department of Homeland Security
is to detect and address vulnerabilities in our national security--
whether those vulnerabilities expose our financial systems to
exploitation or our borders to infiltration. With its newfound ability
to investigate immigration violations--as well as smuggling violations;
with its ability to target human smuggling alongside of narcotics,
weapons, and other forms of smuggling; and with its ability to follow
the illicit money trail wherever it may lead, ICE is in a unique
position to enforce border security in ways never before possible.
A good example of this approach was the case in Victoria, Texas,
where 19 people, including children, were found dead in the back of a
tractor-trailer. By combining our financial investigation with our
immigration authorities, we were able to trace the money trail back to
the members of the smuggling ring, including its leader, who had fled
the country. ICE's investigation led to the arrest and indictment of
the ringleader and thirteen other co-conspirators. Along the way, we
rescued a three-year-old boy from this same band of smugglers in an
undercover operation and arrested his captors. In the process, we
created a new model for investigating border security crimes, a model
that became the centerpiece of our national anti-smuggling strategy.
The Victoria, Texas, case shows how criminal organizations exploit
vulnerabilities in our border security to smuggle aliens. The crime
rings involved might simply be seeking profit, but they could just as
easily be terrorist rings seeking to infiltrate this country.
Similarly, the large number of criminal alien absconders, i.e., those
aliens with unexecuted final orders of deportation who have been
convicted of a criminal offense, in this nation not only signifies a
vulnerability in the nation's immigration enforcement efforts, it also
represents a significant threat in which individuals who entered or
remained in the country illegally are freely walking the streets.
Again, these individuals could be mere administrative fugitives. Or
they may be something much worse, such as the child predators I have
mentioned. And while sexual predators are dangerous threats in their
own right, we must recognize that border vulnerabilities could be
exploited for even graver purposes: terrorists can--and indeed have--
enter the country on false premises, and then simply disappear into the
interior. Like every other major initiative at ICE, Operation Predator
emerged with these various types of threats in mind.
Applying a systemic approach to addressing the large number alien
absconders, ICE set about prioritizing the most dangerous offenders. We
first developed a ``Top Ten'' list with ``the worst of the worst.''
While this standard law enforcement tool was not regularly employed by
the legacy INS, it proved to be a tremendous success for ICE. Nine of
the original ``Top Ten'' were located and apprehended within the first
two weeks, and the tenth was soon confirmed to have left the country.
This initiative revealed that among the criminal subset of the
alien absconder population, many have convictions for sexual offenses
and, in particular, offenses against children. By law, any non-citizen
who commits such a crime is to be deported back to his or her home
country. Unfortunately, that wasn't always the case under the INS, as
you know. This committee has heard too many terrible stories about
alien predators freed to prey upon children again and again.
To address this problem, ICE began to examine Megan's Law
directories, matching our immigration databases to Megan's Law
databases, and rounding up deportable aliens convicted of sexual crimes
against children. Our success rate was astounding, Mr. Chairman, and we
quickly came to recognize the awful dimension of the child predator
problem. Besides the high number of alien predators, our investigators
were unearthing remarkable numbers of child pornographers on the
Internet, human smuggling organizations trafficking in children for
sexual exploitation, and the relatively new phenomenon of ``sex
tourists,'' American citizens who travel to other countries to engage
in sex with minors. So we coordinated all, systematically.
As appropriate within ICE's existing jurisdiction, Operation
Predator has grown to include U.S. citizens and residents suspected of
sex crimes against children. This new approach targets child predators
by combining our immigration authorities and our child pornography
authorities to merge efforts in a way that had never been done in the
past. In a way unforeseeable before the creation of the Department of
Homeland Security, ICE is coordinating once fragmented resources and
underutilized authorities into a united campaign against those who prey
upon our children--drawing on the full range of intelligence,
investigative, and detention and removal functions of ICE to target
those who exploit children. Protecting children from these ruthless
predators is undoubtedly paramount to our homeland security mission.
The results of this initiative are unprecedented in law
enforcement. The success of Operation Predator--as measured by the
number of child predators ICE has taken off the streets--is a testimony
to the tireless work of ICE agents who have embraced the integration of
the legacy agencies' legal authorities and used them in new and more
effective ways. Since Operation Predator was launched in July 2003, ICE
has arrested more than 2,000 child predators. While this is indeed a
worldwide enforcement effort, it has a direct impact on the safety of
the streets in your local communities, as evident in that nearly 1,300
of these arrests occurred in the nine states represented by the Members
of this Subcommittee.
Recognizing the synergies realized through our own merger, we
aggressively sought to incorporate and join forces with others in this
important effort. ICE is currently working closely with a number of
agencies and organizations under Operation Predator. Such cooperation
is critical to the success of this initiative, since child predator
investigations often cross jurisdictional boundaries and require
specialized assistance to help victims overcome the trauma of their
abuse. ICE Operation Predator partners include other DHS agencies such
as U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP); state and local police
departments, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; the U.S. Department of
State Office to Monitor & Combat Trafficking in Persons; NCMEC; Rape,
Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN); INTERPOL; the U.S. Department
of Justice; and many others who also provide critical support to the
program.
Let me give you a few examples of how our partnerships are working.
In January 2004, ICE formalized a partnership with NCMEC aimed at
helping both organizations track down child predators and save
potential victims. The partnership allows us to coordinate national
public campaigns that raise awareness of child exploitation crimes,
help families learn to better protect their children, and educate the
public on how to work with ICE to provide valuable tips and take
predators off the streets.
Some of the concrete ways we are working with NCMEC include:
The National Child Victim Identification System: ICE
worked with other agencies to create a database to aid local,
state, federal, and international law enforcement efforts in
identifying victims of child exploitation.
The Amber Alert Program: We have established
procedures and the technical capability for NCMEC to alert the
Federal Air Marshals when it receives an ``Amber Alert'' about
a suspected kidnapping, endangerment, or abduction of children
that might involve the commercial aviation system.
The Code Adam Alert Program: The ICE Federal
Protective Service is helping develop and implement a plan to
quickly locate missing children within the 8,800 federal
facilities that it secures.
ICE is also working with INTERPOL to enhance foreign government
intelligence on criminal child predators. In conjunction with the U.S.
National Central Bureau, we are developing a mechanism to issue
INTERPOL notices to foreign law enforcement agencies whenever ICE
deports a convicted sex offender.
Operation Predator is truly an ICE team effort that employs almost
every one of ICE's six operational divisions. ICE Special Agents are on
the front lines of our investigative efforts, but other ICE components
are critical to the success of this initiative.
The ICE Law Enforcement Support Center (LESC) is a vital link to
our state and local partners. The LESC serves as a national enforcement
operations and intelligence center by providing timely information on
the status and identities of aliens suspected, arrested or convicted of
criminal activity. The LESC has lodged over 180 administrative
detainers on aliens who have been arrested for Operation Predator
offenses. Further, leads are sent to the ICE Field Offices for action
and the LESC coordinates with local law enforcement when the call
requires local intervention. A prime example of the LESC's impact was
demonstrated in the arrest of a particularly heinous child predator
late last summer. In August 2003, the LESC received a call on the
Predator Hotline. The caller indicated that a 27-year-old Kenyan
national, who reportedly is afflicted with AIDS, was having sex with
female minors in the Boston area. The ICE LESC immediately provided the
information to police in Lawrence, Massachusetts, who arrested the
individual the following day on charges of raping a 14-year-old girl in
a local apartment. This case represents just a single example of how
the public can prove to be our most valuable partner. Members of the
public are encouraged to call 1-866-DHS-2ICE to report sex offenses to
ICE. We have also created a dedicated e-mail address at
[email protected] to receive tips through e-mail.
Another ICE asset being brought to bear in Operation Predator is
the Cyber Crime Center (C3). The Center's child exploitation section
focuses on child pornography and child sex tourism violations that
occur on the Internet. C3's investigative specialists are trained to
conduct forensic examinations of seized digital storage devices, such
as computer hard drives, digital video devices, floppy disks, and back-
up tapes. Recently, C3 has played a crucial role in an investigation
that closed down an American-owned beachside resort in Acapulco,
Mexico, that catered to child sex predators. As a result of this case
and others, the Mexican government created a task force to address
crimes against children in its country.
The computer investigative expertise that we develop through C3 has
played a key role in helping us track down Internet-based child
predators. In January of this year, ICE agents from the Newark Office
worked with their partners in the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S.
Postal Service and the New Jersey U.S. Attorney's Office to bring about
the first indictments in connection to what we believe to be the
largest Internet child pornography investigation ever undertaken by the
U.S. Government. Regpay, a Belarus-based child pornography enterprise,
and a Florida credit card billing service were indicted in a global
Internet pornography and money-laundering scheme involving thousands of
paid memberships to some 50 pornography websites. Based on this
investigation, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of potential
targets around the globe that we are investigating.
A warrant served on the credit card processing server revealed
approximately 70,622 domestic subscriber transactions, as well as
25,597 foreign subscriber transactions. The domestic U.S. transactions
were all provided to ICE field offices as enforcement leads, and
information on the foreign-based transaction has already been passed to
law enforcement officials in a number of countries.
Given the large number of subscriber transactions, the first
arrests were prioritized by targets we knew had contact with children.
Through the investigation, ICE has arrested a campus minister at all
all-girls school in New Jersey; a seventh-grade schoolteacher on
Fresno, California; and a pediatrician in Chicago. The arrests will
continue as more of these subscriber transactions are investigated. As
this case clearly demonstrates, there is no safe haven for child sex
predators; wherever you operate in the world, we are committed to
tracking you down.
Another example of how we are going beyond our borders to protect
children involves the investigation ICE has launched against sex
tourism from the U.S. Last year, Congress gave law enforcement a
powerful new tool by passing the ``Prosecutorial Remedies and Other
Tools to end the Exploitation of Children Today Act of 2003'', or the
``PROTECT Act''. Under the PROTECT Act, it is a crime for any person to
enter the United States, or for a U.S. citizen of lawful permanent
resident to travel abroad, for the purpose of sex tourism involving
children. Within a few months of President Bush signing the bill into
law, ICE had arrested the very first offender under the new Act. On
September 10, 2003, ICE agents in Seattle arrested Michael Clark, a
U.S. citizen, on charges of traveling to Cambodia to engage in sex with
minors. Clark was extradited from Cambodia, upon the request of the
U.S., after he was arrested and charged by Cambodian police in June
with ``debauchery involving illicit sexual conduct'' with boys
approximately 10 and 13 years old. According to the criminal complaint
filed with the court, Clark subsequently admitted to molesting 40 to 50
children.
ICE is proud to have not only made the first arrest, but also the
second, the third and now the fourth Protect Act child sex tourism
arrest. We have a number of additional ongoing investigations that are
being worked by our foreign attaches in coordination with local police
in places such as Thailand, Cambodia, and the Philippines. Based on
these investigations, more arrests are expected. We want to send a
message loud and clear that international borders no longer shield
child sex predators from the law.
Additional international enforcement cases under the Operation
Predator umbrella include cases of human trafficking. One such case
involved the dismantling of a U.S. adoption agency in which those
arrested pled guilty to conspiracy to commit visa fraud and conspiracy
to launder money in relation to adoptions of Cambodian children who
were not orphans. The object of the trafficking conspiracy was to
expedite the adoption process for Cambodian children to the United
States families. In order to enhance their profits, members of the
conspiracy would falsely represent to the U.S. Department of State and
DHS that the adopted children were orphans, and would falsely represent
the identity of the adopted children. The adoptive parents were then
fraudulently charged approximately $11,000 for the Immigrant Visas for
the adopted children.
While illegal aliens, lawful permanent residents, and U.S. citizens
can all commit the type of crime that is the focus of Operation
Predator, the vast majority of the over 2,000 arrests to date are
illegal aliens or lawful permanent residents whose crimes make them
subject to removal from the United States after being placed in
immigration removal proceedings. Criminal aliens who have no
immigration status, or who have been previously ordered deported, can
be deported without an immigration court hearing. As part of our
overall immigration enforcement strategy, we are refocusing our efforts
on the Institutional Removal Program (IRP), which is designed to ensure
that aliens convicted of crimes in the U.S. are identified, processed,
and, when possible, removed upon their release from a correctional
institution. The Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 budget request of an additional
$30 million for the IRP will further ICE's plans to expand the program
nationally to all Federal, State, and local institutions that house
criminal aliens.
Additionally, the FY 2005 budget proposal for ICE includes $50
million to continue the implementation of the ICE National Fugitive
Operations Program, established in 2002, which seeks to eliminate the
existing backlog and growth of the fugitive alien population over the
next six years. Currently, ICE has 18 Fugitive Operations Teams
deployed throughout the country and can report that approximately 6,000
fugitives have been apprehended and nearly 700 additional criminal
aliens have been apprehended in connection with fugitive operations
teams. The FY 2005 budget request would fund an additional 30 teams to
locate these potential threats to public safety. Overall, the
President's Budget request includes increases of $186 million for ICE
to fund improvements in immigration enforcement that will prove
critical to the continued and expanded ICE effort to combat the public
safety threat posed by illegal aliens in our country.
On March 1, 2004, we celebrated the one-year anniversary of the
Department of Homeland Security--and ICE. Clearly, we have seen that
the merging of the legacy mission and authorities in ICE allows a
multi-disciplined approach to homeland security that is crucial to our
efforts to safeguard America--especially our children. Through
Operation Predator, ICE is working diligently to implement the
President's goal of eradicating the ``special evil in the abuse and
exploitation of the most innocent and vulnerable.'' Thank you for the
opportunity to testify today on this important topic and I am eager to
work with Congress to provide the American people with the level of
security they demand and deserve. I look forward to your questions.
Mr. Hostettler. Thank you, Secretary Garcia. At this time,
I will turn to the Ranking Member, the gentlelady from Texas,
Ms. Jackson Lee, for an opening statement.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. And
thank you for calling this enormously important hearing. We
know that Mr. Garcia has exhibited enormous commitment to this
issue, and we thank him for his testimony.
I guess, if I had to give him a good day today, it would be
the opportunity to sit next to John Walsh. People ask the
question, ``Why John Walsh, and why in the United States
Congress?'' Mr. Chairman, because John Walsh gets things done.
And I'm very pleased to have both his--if I might say, his
yesterdays and his tomorrows are part of our army, if you will,
to fight against the heinousness of those who prey upon our
children.
One thing that I've noted is that, as your testimony
proceeded, Mr. Garcia, this is an international issue. And how
horrific to find that any American would leave these shores to
go elsewhere to prey upon children. That means that our reach
is international, and the work of this Committee, Mr.
Chairman--and I thank you for your leadership--is crucial.
I chair the Congressional Children's Caucus. And we have
worked with many in our Congress, including Congressman Nick
Lampson, who heads the Missing and Exploiting Children's
Caucus. We try to work together and be noticeably in place on
some of these tragedies.
On July 9, 2003, the Department of Homeland Security's
Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced the
implementation of Operation Predator. Operation Predator is a
comprehensive initiative designed to enhance our government's
efforts to protect children from pornographers, child
prostitution rings, Internet predators, alien smugglers, human
traffickers, and other criminals. It has coordinated the
department's once fragmented investigative and intelligence
resources into a united campaign against child predators.
As a slight anecdotal story, in keeping with respect for
the family, many of us can just see some of the images of a
very young girl in Florida; the videotape that was shown when a
despicable individual approached her, in her innocence. Any of
us that have even a semblance of heart and mind felt that pain.
So this program directly involves and engages itself with that
kind of heinous act.
This is an extremely important program, and I agree with
the statement that Assistant Secretary Michael Garcia made when
Operation Predator was announced: There is nothing more
important than protecting our children, the future of our
nation.
I also agree with what John Walsh said that day, when he
thanked Secretary Ridge and the Department of Homeland Security
for its efforts to increase the protection of America's
children. Mr. Walsh said, ``Child predators are everywhere, and
they are cunning.''
It gives me tremendous hope that the future will be even
brighter and safer for kids everywhere, thanks in part to
Operation Predator. Since Operation Predator was implemented in
July 2003, Federal agents have arrested more than 2,000
suspected child sex offenders in a nationwide undercover
investigation that has targeted child pornography purveyors and
other predatory criminals. It has taken child pornography
suspects into custody in nearly every State and every major
city. It has arrested U.S. citizens who are accused of
traveling overseas to meet with children for sex, others who
are accused of molesting mentally impaired children, and people
who are accused of smuggling foreign children into the United
States to serve as prostitutes. Approximately 400 of the people
taken into custody were charged with manufacturing or
distributing child pornography on the Internet.
In addition to those arrests, agents have identified more
than 250 children featured in child pornography digital images
for State and local agencies; and responded to more than 140
calls on ICE's toll-free hotline, allowing the public to report
information about suspected child sex offenders and other child
predators.
Last month, Federal and local authorities rounded up almost
30 legal and illegal immigrants who've been convicted of sex
crimes. All of those arrested have been convicted of a felony,
sex crimes, and sentenced to probation. Twenty-five of them
have been convicted of crimes involving child victims.
These included a man from Mexico with a conviction for
abusing his 4- and 7-year-old nieces, a Guatemalan man
convicted of molesting his girlfriend's 10-year-old daughter, a
man from Peru convicted of raping a 14-year-old girl, and a
Dominican man convicted of sodomizing a 13-year-old girl.
It has been known and stated in the continent of Africa
that certain cultural attitudes are that if an old man has
relationships with a very young girl, that provides him with
longevity and good health. These are issues that impact on the
United States of America. Children are part of the world
family.
The depravity of some of the sex offenders is unbelievable.
Several days ago, a 41-year-old man was arrested for
distributing videotape footage of himself committing sex acts
on a 2-month-old infant. Agents of Operation Predator had
traced him through his e-mail. He faces a prison term of up to
50 years for making and sending child pornography.
We had a sting in Houston just about a year or two ago
where a large network of sex offenders using the computer were
arrested--people like your neighbors and friends. This
gentleman is in jail without bond. Another man was arrested by
Operation Predator agents last month for a similar offense. The
case involves a 59-year-old man who was arrested for allegedly
videotaping himself having sex with an 11-year-old girl who
appears to have been drugged or intoxicated. Inside the man's
house, the agents found what appeared to them to be a kiddy-
porn studio. His bed was covered with stuffed animals and
surrounded by cameras.
Nevertheless, I do have some concerns. Operation Predator
must employ--must employ--not employ unfair immigration laws
that sometimes produce harsh, unwanted results. We want the
culprit. We want to make sure that we ensure that that is the
case. The culprit we want; and we also want to make sure we're
balanced.
The section that I'm concerned about defines sexual abuse
of a minor as an aggravated felony, which is vague enough to
encompass people who should not be treated as sexual predators.
And that's why we're having this hearing: to ensure that we get
our person, whoever it might be. We must be careful to ensure
that people who are caught up in the national sweep to rid our
country of predatory criminal aliens are predators. I believe
that as we have this hearing, we can do the right thing.
Let me close, Mr. Chairman, by first of all saying I'm
gratified that we've had this opportunity for review. I look
forward to us discussing an opportunity as well to hold an
asylum hearing, or issues dealing with asylum, dealing with the
Haitian crisis that's going on right now, and I look forward to
that.
I believe that Congress can pass laws that will work. When
I first came to Congress, I passed a date rape drug bill that
was a direct result of adults preying upon children, teenagers,
in a teenage club that had Kool-Aid. And the adults would put
the date rape drug in it, and of course tragedy would occur.
We've worked on the issue of child soldiers, and we've seen a
difference in the number of young people taken across national
lines and use of child soldiers. We can do something.
And so I'm grateful for this hearing, so that we can do
more, and I'm grateful for the witnesses. And I thank you very
much for your kindness. I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Jackson Lee follows:]
Prepared Statement of the Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, a
Representative in Congress From the State of Texas
On July 9, 2003, the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Bureau
of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE) announced the
implementation of Operation Predator. Operation Predator is a
comprehensive initiative designed to enhance our government's efforts
to protect children from pornographers, child prostitution rings,
Internet predators, alien smugglers, human traffickers, and other
criminals. It has coordinated the Department's once-fragmented
investigative and intelligence resources into a united campaign against
child predators.
This is an extremely important program. I agree with the statement
that Assistant Secretary Michael Garcia made when Operation Predator
was announced. ``There is nothing more important than protecting our
children--the future of our nation.'' I also agree with what John Walsh
said that day when he thanked Secretary Ridge and the Department of
Homeland Security for its efforts to increase the protection of
America's children. Mr. Wash said, ``Child Predators are everywhere;
and they are cunning. It gives me tremendous hope that the future will
be even brighter and safer for kids everywhere thanks in part to
Operation Predator.''
Since Operation Predator was implemented in July of 2003, federal
agents have arrested more than 2,000 suspected child-sex offenders in a
nationwide undercover investigation that has targeted child-pornography
purveyors and other predatory criminals. It has taken child pornography
suspects into custody in nearly every state and every major city. It
has arrested U.S. citizens who were accused of traveling overseas to
meet with children for sex, others who were accused of molesting
mentally impaired children, and people who were accused of smuggling
foreign children into the United States to serve as prostitutes.
Approximately 400 of the people taken into custody were charged
with manufacturing or distributing child pornography on the Internet.
In addition to these arrests, agents have identified more than 250
children featured in child pornography digital images for state and
local police agencies, and responded to more than 140 calls on ICE's
toll-free hot line, allowing the public to report information about
suspected child-sex offenders and other child predators.
Last month, federal and local authorities rounded up almost 30
legal and illegal immigrants who have been convicted of sex crimes. All
of those arrested have been convicted of a felony sex crimes and
sentenced to probation. Twenty-five of them have been convicted of
crimes involving child victims. These included a man from Mexico with a
conviction for abusing his 4- and 7-year-old nieces; a Guatemalan man
convicted of molesting his girlfriend's 10-year-old daughter; a man
from Peru convicted of raping a 14-year-old girl; and a Dominican man
convicted of sodomizing a 13-year-old girl.
The depravity of some of the sex offenders is unbelievable. Several
days ago, a 41-year-old man was arrested for distributing videotaped
footage of himself committing sex acts on a two-month-old infant.
Agents of Operation Predator had traced him through his email. He faces
a prison term of up to 50 years for making and sending child
pornography. He is in jail without bond.
Another man was arrested by Operation Predator agents last month
for a similar offense. This case involves a 59-year-old man who was
arrested for allegedly video-taping himself having sex with an 11-year-
old girl who appears to have been drugged or intoxicated. Inside the
man's house, the agents found what appeared to them to be a kiddie porn
studio. His bed was covered with stuffed animals and surrounded by
cameras.
Nevertheless, I do have some concerns. Unfortunately, Operation
Predator must employ unfair immigration laws that sometimes produce
harsh, unwarranted results. For instance, section 101(a)(43)(A) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act defines ``sexual abuse of a minor'' as
an aggravated felony, which is vague enough to encompass people who
should not be treated as sexual predators. We must be careful to ensure
that the people who are caught up in the national sweep to rid our
country of predatory criminal aliens really are predators. Thank you.
Mr. Hostettler. I thank the gentlelady.
In July 1981, Mr. John Walsh and his wife, Reve Walsh, lost
their son Adam to an abductor. Adam was later found murdered.
The story of Adam and the Walshes' tragedy was dramatized in
the 1983 NBC made-for-television movie ``Adam.'' The movie
highlighted a number of missing children, leading to the
eventual recovery of 65 children. Mr. Walsh then became the
host of the country's prime crime-fighting show, ``America's
Most Wanted: America Fights Back.''
The Walshes didn't leave it at that, however. They have
crusaded on a number of occasions in Congress for legislation
to combat child abduction, including the Missing Children Act
of 1982 and the Missing Children's Assistance Act of 1984. This
legislation helped create the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children, of which Mr. Walsh remains a board member.
As we have heard, NCMEC has signed an important memorandum
of understanding with ICE to assist in identifying and
arresting child predators. Mr. Walsh has been very supportive
of Operation Predator and ICE. Last year, John Walsh was quoted
as saying about ICE's program, ``Operation Predator,'' ``I
think this sends a loud message to pedophiles, who know no
borders, especially illegal aliens that come here that molest
children, serve time in our prisons, and then are released: You
cannot stay in the United States.'' Mr. Walsh is a graduate of
the University of Buffalo.
Mr. Walsh, on a personal note, as a father, I cannot begin
to comprehend the depth of loss that you and your wife Reve
experienced in 1981. If it is some small comfort to you, I can
say, however, without hesitation, that the moms and dads that
serve in this body and all of us that serve in the United
States Congress, as well as the rest of the country, believe
that America's children and, as Mr. Garcia has pointed out, now
we know, the world's children, are safer because you are on the
job. Thank you very much. And the floor is yours, sir.
STATEMENT OF JOHN WALSH, CHAIRMAN OF THE NATIONAL ADVISORY
BOARD OF THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED
CHILDREN; HOST OF ``AMERICA'S MOST WANTED: AMERICA FIGHTS
BACK''
Mr. Walsh. Thank you so much for the introduction, Chairman
Hostettler; very gracious, and I really appreciate it. I want
to thank you and your Committee for, you know, allowing us to
come here today and tell the ICE story. I think good works need
to be acknowledged, and people need to know that there are
resources.
Before I start, I really wanted to thank Representative
Sheila Jackson Lee for all her great work here in the United
States Congress. She is a loud, loud voice for children, as the
Chair of the Children's Caucus, and she has an outstanding
record of speaking for those who can't speak. The silent
majority here in the United States are children. And she's done
a great job.
And I really support her piece of legislation to create a
national DNA registry of sex offenders. This has been a problem
for years, that we have identified predators; we know that they
have many, many victims. Some States still don't allow us to
take DNA. Why can't we, when someone is convicted of a felony,
take their DNA, run it through her legislative piece of--the
DNA bank--and find out if this person is wanted somewhere else,
if they've committed crimes somewhere else? It's a great piece
of legislation. And it would also free people that are
innocent, people that have been charged of crimes. If the DNA
doesn't match up or someone's in jail for something, we can run
the DNA and find out if they're innocent.
But I didn't mean to get sidetracked. But I just want to
commend you. You and I are on the same page, as it relates to
children. We're on the same page, with sexual predators, in
allowing law enforcement to access that DNA bank and to get
these people off the street. I just had to put in my two cents
about all your work, and I really appreciate it.
You know, I've been up here, coming up here, for 22 years.
I've been before so many Committees and testified on both
sides, the House and the Senate, on numerous occasions. And
this is the first time that I'm here not asking for something
or trying to get you to do something; because you have done it.
And Congressman Flake, I'm glad you could come back here, and I
want to thank you for taking your time today to be here,
because this sends a loud message that we can change things.
And instead of being here and saying, you know, ``This
doesn't work,'' and ``We need this piece of legislation,'' and
``We need more money''--money is always, you know, a concern,
and a legitimate concern; and I think homeland security
probably does need more money--but I'm here today to say this
Operation Predator and this ICE team, it works. It works. Two
thousand predators off the street since July 9. It's
incredible.
They have put together agencies, Mike Garcia and the people
that work with him and Tom Ridge, that have been battling for
years. When I first started ``America's Most Wanted,'' the
first show, I'll never forget, there were three law enforcement
agencies in that studio, that were looking for the same
fugitive, that wouldn't talk to each other. I had to introduce
them to each other and say, ``You're looking for the same guy.
Who cares who gets the credit? Who cares who gets the picture
in the paper or the 15 seconds on the news? You guys have to
drop these turf wars and these egos, and go after this guy.''
That's what ICE does.
ICE has put together Immigrations, Customs, Border Patrol:
all these agencies that I've been after for years, to hunt down
sexual predators, and especially international predators. I'll
never forget begging the State Department to go after a
dentist, a pedophile dentist, who was going to Costa Rica,
sodomizing young boys, making videos of it, making pictures,
and trading and selling them on the Internet. No one would
listen to me. ``Well, we can't do it. It's not in our
jurisdiction.''
We chased an international pedophile by the name of--oh,
God, he was on the FBI's Top Ten--Eric Rosser. He used to play
keyboards for John Mellencamp and run piano schools in Indiana.
He would go to Thailand and molest little girls. He bought a 9-
year-old girl and made a video of himself raping this girl, to
bring back to the United States and sell.
For years, I couldn't get anyone interested; and finally
appealed to the FBI Director, Louis Freeh, and said, ``You have
five sons. You can't tell me that this wouldn't affect you if
this happened to your child.'' And by all that coercing and
bringing it--why did I have to do that? Why did I have to get
the FBI to put a predator on their Top Ten list, when this guy
was traveling back and forth all over the world? And we finally
caught him in Thailand, after he had plastic surgery and 40
pounds of liposuction, because of an American woman who was
there and he tried to apply to her school to be a school
teacher so he could prey upon little girls.
It has been so hard over these years to get these agencies
to do their damn job. It has been near impossible to convince
them to go outside of the United States to hunt down these
creeps. To be in the United States is a privilege. This is a
great country. This is a wonderful, powerful country. And I'm
sure all of us sitting here come from some type of immigrant
background. But if you come into the United States and you prey
upon our children; and you're sent to a State, local, or
Federal jail; and you do your time. And a condition of your
parole--which is a privilege, parole and probation is a
privilege--the condition of that is you leave this country; and
you go like this [gestures], ``The hell with America;'' and you
stay here, you stay in this country and violate all our rules,
violate the principles of this country: It's beyond arrogance,
it's illegal. And until ICE came along, I couldn't get any
Federal agency involved in hunting these people down.
I'll never forget when we caught a child predator. He had
one ton of child pornography. He was arrested; he did his time;
and that one ton of child pornography went into the sheriff's
unit in southern California. It went into a storage unit. I
asked the FBI, I asked all different agencies, ``Why don't you
look at that child pornography and see if any of those kids are
missing kids? You could charge this guy with kidnapping. What
if these kids were murdered?'' ``We don't have the time. We
don't have the resources.'' He had the audacity 10 years ago to
get a lawyer, an ACLU lawyer, who sued the sheriff to get that
child pornography back. It sat in that storage unit for over 2
years, and he did get it back. No one looked at it. No one had
the time; no one had the resources. And that predator got out
on probation. God knows where he is now, because there was no
Megan's Law.
These guys work with the National Center. The National
Center last year looked at 600,000 images of child pornography.
And who did they turn to? ICE. They turned to ICE and said,
``Here, these are the children that are being preyed upon.
These are the people we think are the predators. We don't know
who this predator is.'' ICE said, ``We'll do it.''
Mike Garcia came to me, and Tom Ridge. I didn't have to go
to them and say, ``Dammit, use these resources. Do your job.
You're supposed to be in charge of homeland security and
terrorists. A child predator, an international child predator,
is a terrorist. He's preying upon our children. And if you're a
6-year-old child that's being sodomized and raped and being
photographed, you're terrified. That person is a terrorist.''
They came to me.
They came to the National Center and said, ``We can do
this. We can do it. We have the resources. We're going to get
over the turf battles. We're going to get over the turf wars.
We're going to make these agencies work together. And you know
what we're going to do? We're going to hunt these low-lifes
down. We're going to put them in jail, or we're going to take
them across the border where they belong; send them back to
their country of origin. And we're going to create a website.
We're going to exchange information. We're going to access
Megan's Law.''
I went to a child murder in El Paso, Texas, where the two
detectives, God bless them. This is a little girl that was
kidnapped out of a Wal-Mart. You could see it on the video. It
was as chilling as Carli Brucia, the little girl that was taken
in Sarasota. I said to the two detectives, I said, ``You see
how he lured her out of the store, and he didn't hold her hand?
He said--he had her walk behind him, in case someone came up to
him. The video picked them up out in the parking lot.'' I said,
``You know what? This guy is a predator. I'll bet he's a repeat
offender, and I'll bet he's registered in Megan's Law. He's in
your sex offender registry.'' And they both looked at me and
said, ``What's Megan's Law? What's a sex offender registry?'' I
said, ``You should be looking at every convicted sex offender
that lives within 10 miles of where this kidnapping occurred.''
They said, ``Well, you know what, Mr. Walsh? We don't have much
evidence. The 5-year-old girl was naked, her face was burned,
and there's no DNA.'' And I said, ``You know, let me tell you
something. Why he burned her face was to destroy evidence.
Whatever he did to her, he did in her face. You need a forensic
team down here.'' I had to beg a forensic team to come from
Dallas, from the FBI.
They took the charred first layer of skin off of her
forehead, and there was a handprint. That handprint was of a
predator who was registered in Megan's Law, a sex offender who
was out on parole. He lived two miles from that little girl. I
had to go down there and tell these two cops how to do their
job. I had to tell them about Megan's Law. I had to tell them
there was a sex offender registry, that there were resources
available.
This group came to me. They came to us at ``America's Most
Wanted.'' They came to the National Center and said, ``We'll
hunt these low-lifes down. We'll get them. We'll use the
resources. We'll use the technology of the 21st century. We'll
start a website.''
They know what they're doing. I know the Congresswoman's
concerns about how we treat our aliens, our immigrants. They
have those same concerns. I've ridden with them. I've ridden on
that border. I've sat there all night on horses with the Border
Patrol, who sit there in that dangerous desert at night, all
night, looking for illegal smugglers of human bodies, of drugs,
of weapons; al Qaeda terrorists who try to come into the
country. I've ridden in their Black Hawk helicopters; I've gone
on their ATV's; I've gone in their Hummers. They treat these
people with dignity.
They save lives on the border. Illegal smugglers will bring
poor, innocent Mexicans who've paid them $1,500 and, the minute
they think they're going to get caught, leave them to die in
the desert. I've been with them when they've come up on women
and children that are absolutely dehydrated, on the verge of
death. They give them water, medical treatment and treat them
with great dignity. I've seen it firsthand. Saved their lives.
Those concerns are legitimate, but I've watched it first-
hand. I've watched how these agents handle these illegal
immigrants, these aliens. They give them the respect that this
country is known for. But they also send a loud, clear message:
You want the privilege of coming here? Behave. Obey the law. If
you molest a child or hurt a child in this country, we're going
to hunt you down. And if you have the audacity and nerve to
serve time in our prisons and come out, and not leave the
country, ICE is going to hunt you down. You're going to do more
time, and we're going to take you in chains back to that
country where you came from.
They've done a hell of a job: Two thousand predators. Two
thousand. It's taken me 16 years on ``America's Most Wanted,''
with the help of millions of people, to catch 780 fugitives and
bring back 34 missing children--one of them, Elizabeth Smart.
Millions and zillions of dollars of Fox money, lots of effort,
to hunt down these 780 fugitives worldwide, 15 off the FBI's
Ten Most Wanted. They've caught 2,000--2,000 low-life dirtbags
in 1 year. Should get a medal. I really mean that. They should
get a medal.
If they need more money, give it to them. If they need more
resources, give it to them. Because I spent 22 years begging
these different agencies to do the damn job that they were
initiated to do. I couldn't get them to go outside the borders.
I couldn't get them to do it. It wasn't sexy enough. ``Let's
put John Gotti in jail. Let's put Michael Milliken and Ivan
Boesky in jail.'' They don't get enough credit for that low-
life pedophile that might be the school bus driver that
sodomizes your daughter when she's the last one off the bus.
They ought to down that guy.
Maybe it's not sexy; maybe it doesn't get a lot of
publicity. But you know what? They're making streets a lot
safer for all of our children. When you mention so many people
on both sides of the aisle in both Houses up here that have
children, these are the people that are out there day and night
hunting these low-lifes down.
I'd be willing to answer any of your questions. But what
they have done with the Child PROTECT Act, what they have done
with the legislation, they didn't wait for a Committee to say,
``Go do it. Why the hell aren't you doing it? Why don't you do
it?'' They didn't come up with any excuses, ``I can't. My hands
are tied. It doesn't meet this. I can't do it. It's out of my
jurisdiction.'' I never heard one of those complaints. They
said, ``We'll do it. We'll do it legally; we'll do it
ethically; we'll do it morally; we'll do it to the letter of
the law. But we'll do it. We'll go out and do it.''
I'm honored to be here today. It's my first trip up here
that I'm not saying, ``Why the hell aren't you doing your
job?'' or ``Give us something.'' I'm honored to be here today,
and I'm honored that you take the time. And I wish all the
Members were here. I hope they aren't at some lobbyist's lunch
somewhere raising funds, because this is an important hearing.
I'm honored to be here; that you're saying, ``What can we
do? What can we do to help you?'' Do your job; we'll monitor
it. You're the people that allow this guy and the people that
he works with to operate, to make the streets safer. You allow
him to go there, by your legislation. Your support of the Child
PROTECT Act gave him the wherewithal to go out and round up, to
saddle up and get these guys.
You do a good job, and this guy follows your mandate, he
and all the men and women who work for him. And all those
different agencies have now been sent one loud message: The
turf battles, the ego, and the credit, it's over. Let's just go
get 'em.
I'm honored to be here. Thanks for having me.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Walsh follows:]
Prepared Statement of John Walsh
Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the Subcommittee:
Thank you for this opportunity to appear before your Subcommittee
today to present the views of the National Center for Missing &
Exploited Children concerning OPERATION PREDATOR. Mr. Chairman, you
have long been a champion on behalf of children and I commend you and
the members of this Subcommittee for your tireless efforts that
continue to greatly enhance the safety and protection of America's
children. I thank you for your recognition of these critical issues
that are targeted by the Department of Homeland Security through
OPERATION PREDATOR and also for your continued and generous support of
the Congressionally mandated role that the National Center for Missing
and Exploited Children implements everyday on behalf of our children
and families.
Mr. Chairman, let me also express my deep appreciation to Secretary
Ridge, Assistant Secretary, Michael J. Garcia, and the Department of
Homeland Security for targeting those individuals who sexually exploit
our children. While we live in a country where there are more than
400,000 registered sex offenders, there are many thousands who have not
registered. The majority of America's victims of sexual offenses are
children. One in five girls, one in ten boys, but only one in three
will report their victimization. A recent article in Tass reported
evidence that increasingly organized criminals and terrorist groups are
using child pornography as a source of revenue--why? Because children
are plentiful and easy to obtain, it is inexpensive to produce, the
profits are high, and the risks are very low. In light of the Supreme
Court's 2002 decision on virtual child pornography, identifying who the
children who are depicted in child pornography is of vital importance.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is pleased to
work with the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other
agencies to build a resource to address this vital concern.
Mr. Chairman, since the launch of OPERATION PREDATOR on July 9,
2003, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (hereinafter
``ICE'') has arrested over 1,700 child predators and sex offenders.
This comprehensive initiative by the Department of Homeland Security
(hereinafter ``DHS'') to protect children worldwide is to be applauded.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is honored to be
a part of this coordinated, comprehensive effort to attack the problem
and bring those who prey upon our children to justice. The National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children has a long history of
partnership with agencies now a part of DHS. We have worked hand-in-
hand with the U.S. Customs Service on child pornography since 1987. We
are proud of our decade-long partnership with the U.S. Secret Service
since 1994. The Secret Service has provided forensic support and a wide
array of other technical and human support in missing and exploited
child cases.
This administration has made child protection a priority. In
October of 2002, President Bush hosted the first-ever White House
Conference on Missing and Exploited Children. Today, the federal
government is doing more than at any other time in its history to make
the sexual exploitation of children a priority throughout our federal
criminal enforcement agencies. We are pleased to be a part of an
unprecedented partnership with DHS, ICE, the FBI, the Postal Inspection
Service, the Secret Service, the Child Exploitation and Obscenity
Section at the Department of Justice, and more than 40 Internet Crimes
Against Children Task Forces across the country, working together to
identify children in child pornography and keep every child safe from
the horror of sexual exploitation.
In order to enhance our partnership and effectiveness in meeting
the goals of OPERATION PREDATOR, on January 29 of this year, the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Department
of Homeland Security's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement entered
into a Cooperative Agreement outlining various protocols that will
greatly enhance the cooperation and effectiveness in support of this
important initiative. Signed by Homeland Assistant Secretary Michael J.
Garcia and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's
President, Ernie Allen, this memorandum of understanding will expand
the ongoing cooperative efforts between the two organizations. As a
part of that agreement, the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children will furnish ICE with evidence and leads it receives on child
pornography and suspected child sex violators through its national
CyberTipline (1-800-843-5678 or cybertipline.com). In addition, ICE has
agreed to provide the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children with access to child pornography images and identifying
information contained in ICE's data systems to assist the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children with its efforts to locate
missing and exploited children.
This agreement also calls for the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children to alert ICE's Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS)
when the organization receives an ``Amber Alert'' about the kidnapping,
endangerment, or abduction of children that might involve the aviation
domain. This action complements the new Code Adam Alert Program that
requires all federal facilities to have a plan to quickly locate
missing children.
This agreement marks an official collaboration and partnership that
takes place at two levels:
1. The sharing of information to help track down child
predators and possibly save victims.
2. A national public campaign to raise awareness about the
facts behind child exploitation crimes, how families can
protect their children, and how the public can work with ICE to
provide tips and take predators off the streets.
To date, both U.S. citizens and non-U.S. citizens have been
arrested, prosecuted, and/or sentenced under OPERATION PREDATOR,
including the following;
Non-citizen child sex offenders whose crimes made
them subject to deportation
U.S. residents who traveled abroad to engage in sex
with minors
Individuals who molested mentally-impaired minors
Individuals who used the Internet to lure minors to
engage in sex with them
Individuals who smuggled foreign minors into this
country to work as prostitutes
Individuals who manufactured or distributed child
pornography via the Internet
Mr. Chairman, the synergies realized from the partnerships created
under OPERATION PREDATOR will save the lives of children, save children
and families from the horror of sexual exploitation, and bring to
justice those who would prey on our most vulnerable population.
OPERATION PREDATOR through its partnership with the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children and other agencies has in a very short
time:
Established a single web portal to access all
publicly available state Megan's Law databases
Created a National Child Victim Identification System
with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Agents that are stationed internationally that are
working with foreign governments and their law enforcement
counterparts to enhance coordination and cooperation on crimes
that cross borders
Working with INTERPOL to enhance foreign government
intelligence on criminal child predators
Mr. Chairman, I very much appreciate the opportunity to appear
before this Committee today and would be pleased to answer any
questions the Committee might have on these matters.
Mr. Hostettler. Thank you, Mr. Walsh, very much. And the
questions I have to ask, Mr. Secretary, are less than redundant
after that endorsement; but I will do my job, nonetheless. And
all this Committee, this Subcommittee, and Congress, seconds
Mr. Walsh's sentiment that in fact it is you and your
employees, the men and women of ICE, that are making the
streets safer, that are doing the job that we've asked you to
do.
Your assistant, Mr. Dougherty, last week gave a very good
rationale for the increase in funds that the President has
asked for your department. I think it is a good first step, but
it is just that. It is just a first step in giving you the
resources, the increased resources, that you need to continue
and expand on the good job that you've done.
Mr. Secretary, your testimony explained how local law
enforcement officers have been cooperative in providing leads
on alien child sex predators they have in custody, so they can
be removed after serving their sentence. Are there certain
localities that refuse to provide immigration status of sexual
predators that they have in custody?
Mr. Garcia. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We have seen an issue
in terms of cooperation or statements being made in terms of
free zones or areas where the immigration laws wouldn't be
enforced; statements by some local political leaders to that
effect. That has not been the case in terms of child sex
predators.
I think this is one area where we can all agree that it's
necessary to work together to provide the information to get
that to ICE, so that we could take the steps necessary to make
sure those predators don't get out of that local facility and
get back on the streets where they can harm a child.
Mr. Hostettler. Very good. As you may be aware, Mr.
Secretary, the CLEAR Act, introduced by our colleague, Charlie
Norwood of Georgia, would provide further resources for
cooperative local law enforcement agencies to enforce the
country's immigration laws. In your opinion, would the CLEAR
Act, if enacted, be useful in assisting ICE and Operation
Predator with identifying and removing alien sexual predators
or other alien criminals?
Mr. Garcia. Again, Mr. Chairman, I've seen some of the
CLEAR Act legislation, and I understand the need for further
State and local cooperation. But I think particularly in this
area where we're talking about violent criminals, what I've
seen as the--where it slips through the cracks has been in the
resource issue on the fact that we have so many local
facilities across the United States, local penitentiaries,
State and Federal, leveraging those assets in terms of
providing a feed into ICE, making sure we can get the coverage
out there.
In some cases, it'll take us 8 hours to get to a local
facility to process an alien. And it's obviously very important
work, but we need to be looking at how do we do that through a
central facility; which we're doing through closed-circuit TV
and other technology that can ensure our reach.
So really, in the case of predators and violent offenders,
it's that mechanism we need to develop for linking those local
enforcement officials, local prison folks, up with our people,
so we can make sure that that hand-off takes place, that that
connection takes place; to ensure, again, that we don't see
sexual predators, particularly predators who prey on children,
slipping through the cracks of the system.
Mr. Hostettler. Very good. One of the press releases
mentioned that a foreign national was sentenced by a Federal
judge in September for smuggling Mexican children into the U.S.
to work as forced prostitutes. How widespread is this problem,
in your perception?
Mr. Garcia. Unfortunately, Mr. Chairman, we've been seeing
this come up more frequently recently. You mentioned that case.
We've had others involving the smuggling of Mexican children
into the U.S. I think we're seeing a new focus in this area,
new dedication to rescuing these children and making these
cases.
And again, to get to your point, working with those local
officials, who are in many cases the first responders to a
house where children may be held; educating them on the other
part of that puzzle, the fact that these people have brought
those children across the border, that organized criminal
enterprises are exploiting those children for profit and
bringing them into the U.S. I do think it's a big problem, and
I think the fact that we've been seeing more cases recently
within the past few months is highlighting that fact.
Mr. Hostettler. And then finally, Mr. Secretary, how many
of those apprehended under Operation Predator have been
deported, and how many are still currently in the process?
Mr. Garcia. Mr. Chairman, unfortunately, that's a difficult
number to provide. In terms of that statistic, we've almost
been a victim of our own success in a way, because we've had so
many people come into the system, and are now putting in place
the technology to track that automatically and see where they
are in terms of the deportation proceeding.
We have deported hundreds of sexual predators since July,
since the time that this initiative was launched. Matching
those to the dates and where we are in the process is somewhat
difficult. And one of the things we're working very hard on
now: to capture that data in meaningful ways so we have those
statistics real-time, in terms of deportation, the categories,
the Megan's List folks we're picking up off the street, so we
can provide that data. But we'll have that on an ongoing basis,
and I'll be happy to get that to the Committee as we develop
it.
Mr. Hostettler. Very good. Thank you.
Mr. Walsh, in your testimony, your written testimony, you
refer to a Supreme Court decision in 2002--I believe it's the
case Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition--that requires
prosecutors to prove that someone has posted actual real, as
opposed to digitally enhanced, pictures of a child, to prove a
crime took place. What has that decision, that Supreme Court
decision, done for the morale of your non-governmental
organization? And what can be done to minimize this blow to
combatting child sex abuse?
Mr. Walsh. Well, most of that revolves around the Supreme
Court not dealing with the issue of virtual child pornography.
Virtual child pornography is the creation of a fantasy,
whatever you want to call it, that looks like a real man, looks
like a real person, sodomizing or raping a 5- or 6-year-old
child. Who is interested in that? I don't think anybody up
there at that Committee is interested in downloading virtual
child pornography. It looks so real. It looks like a real man
sodomizing that little boy. It looks like a real man raping
that little girl. It is virtual child pornography.
And the Supreme Court justices, in their wonderful way of
trying to protect first amendment and freedom of press,
somewhere got confused along the line and said, ``You know,
virtual child pornography is not child pornography.'' Well, the
Child PROTECT Act took care of that. The Child PROTECT Act said
virtual child pornography is child pornography. Any record--
whether it's a cartoon, whether it's a drawing, whether it's a
computer-generated man sodomizing a 5-year-old boy--is against
the law. Child pornography is against the law.
So I'm glad to see that the Members of this Committee which
supported the Child PROTECT Act--I mean, it was really the
House of Representatives that carried the ball on the Child
PROTECT Act. The version that you passed on the House side was
so far superior to the Senate side that we had to have a 3-hour
conference to work it out so that the Senate would come to the
agreement that the House side, the one that many of you Members
sitting right here, particularly Congresswoman Jackson Lee,
supported, that was allowing background checks of everybody who
works at Boys and Girls Clubs. The Boys and Girls Club wanted
that. They wanted to know that nobody, no volunteer or anybody
there working with children, was a convicted child molester.
ICE has helped them with that, and the National Center.
We reversed that decision on virtual child pornography. I
mean, come on. You look at a screen; it looks like a real man
sodomizing a little girl. It gives you the creeps. It breaks
your heart; makes you cry; makes you mad; makes you angry. That
was taken care of.
The Child PROTECT Act that you supported so well mandated
Code Adam in every Federal building. If a child is missing in a
Federal building, Code Adam is activated immediately. The doors
are shut, the security in that Federal building, that
courthouse, whatever it is, looks for that child. Who's
implemented that ogram? You passed that wonderful legislation,
but you forgot to tell who to implement it and to teach the
Federal officers--for example, the Capitol Hill cops. You know
who does it? The ICE guys. The ICE guys said, ``We'll take that
responsibility. We'll go in every Federal building and tell
them how to do a Code Adam.'' Code Adam's saved kids lives.
It's caught people that were in the act of kidnapping children.
It was started by Wal-Mart, and it was named after my son. What
an honor.
But, you know, that's a long answer to your question. But
you up here, through that Child PROTECT Act, took care of a lot
of those concerns. It wasn't just the Amber Alert, that has
already saved 107 kids' lives, that was mandated. It took us 6
years to get that piece of legislation passed. I don't want to
remind the Members here about it. I'm talking to the SWAT team
for kids right here. But I know it took 6 years to get the
Amber Alert passed as a national piece of legislation. Broke my
heart for 6 years.
But the Child PROTECT Act is a wonderful piece of
legislation that the Members here participated in, and gave
people, the men and women at ICE, the wherewithal to do the
things that should have been done for 20 years.
Mr. Hostettler. Very good. The Chair now recognizes the
gentlelady from Texas, Ms. Jackson Lee, for questions.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you very much. Mr. Walsh, let me
just say that our schedules up here in Washington sometimes
don't lend themselves to the graciousness that we should
exhibit; and that is to be at every Committee hearing. As we
speak, a Homeland Security Committee hearing is going on. And I
happen to serve on that Committee, and I believe some of our
Members have had to depart for that reason. But I'm going to be
the school teacher, and assign everyone the responsibility of
reading line by line the transcript that this fine gentleman is
doing. So Mr. Chairman, I want you to hand that transcript out.
The reason why I'm saying that is the words that are in
this room tonight--or this morning, excuse me--really need to
be broadcast or to be pronounced around our esteemed body, but
also nationally. And that is this emphasis on the importance of
protecting our children. And I will say that, without any
indictment of anyone, it's been a hard road to get that to be
an interesting topic.
And as I have looked at human trafficking with young girls
in Bangladesh; as I have indicated to you without any shame,
because I'm not broad-brushing the continent of Africa, but
when we've gone there to look at questions of HIV/AIDS, and
we've heard the stories of older men taking young girls as
young as under ten because of something about purification and
virginity and issues of that kind that would probably give us
chills, but it happens; it is imperative that we use this
opportunity, or many opportunities, to speak to what is
happening to our children.
We can go through a long list of poverty and not having
breakfasts and lunches, but one thing about this kind of abuse:
It ruins a child. If it doesn't take their life, it certainly
can contribute to a drastic altering of their life into
adulthood. And so I want to thank both Mr. Garcia and Mr.
Walsh.
And let me just sort of explain, Mr. Garcia, two questions
I want to pose to you, and let you understand where I'm going
when John Walsh so aptly commented on my concern about the
broad brush. And I'll just focus on one aspect of it, and you
can share your thoughts with me and then let us see how we can
help you.
The question of the definition of sexual abuse of a minor,
the question I raise, and I think you're familiar with it, that
some cultures marry early or have the need to--I had a
situation in my community, and it was individuals from Mexico.
And the gentleman, I guess, was about 19 and intending--in
fact, they have married. Let me just say that they have
married. And he was not a citizen, and so he was, if you will,
arrested, or taken under criminal proceedings, for the
relationship he had with a young person under 15.
My question would be to you, do you take into consideration
any of those circumstances when it is a cultural acquiescence
by family members; they're ultimately marrying? I think you are
aware of some of the cultural ceremonies that go on when
someone is 15, etcetera; and whether or not that comes to your
attention.
Let me give you these other questions, so you can answer
it. What might be helpful today as well--and I'm interested in
how we can emphasize or improve the database, collecting of
data--are your databases overloaded? Are you able to keep up
with the increasing securing of data? And in the budget request
for 2005, has Homeland Security provided extra requests for the
ICE functions? And if not, let's see how we can help you to do
that, if you don't have the necessary resources.
The other point that I wanted to ask of you is this whole
question of our foreign governments. Again, that goes to the
misunderstanding of how children can be used internationally.
Are we getting the cooperation that we need amongst our foreign
governments? And if not, give us advice and instruction how we
can begin to press the State Department to not only look at
human trafficking, but these enormous crises that we're dealing
with the abuse of children.
Mr. Garcia, I'd appreciate it. And I'm going to pose some
questions to Mr. Walsh, but I'd appreciate your response.
Mr. Garcia. Thank you, Congresswoman. And I'll begin where
you did, in the definition of sexual abuse of a minor under the
immigration law. Our approach----
Ms. Jackson Lee. And that particular incident was under
local criminal law, so you were not involved. But you
understand what I'm saying.
Mr. Garcia. And I may have heard of that case, or I've
heard of similar cases, certainly. What I can tell you is that
we look at each case on a case-by-case basis. There were some
cases that actually came to my attention early on in the
Predator initiative, where looking at what the actual charges
were or had been and the fact pattern, the status of the
individual, say a legal permanent resident, we did look at
those cases and make decisions in terms of detention, etcetera,
and how we proceeded. And we continue to do that. And actually,
we've sent out some guidance on that issue, because I do think
it's important. Each case has to be treated separately.
By the same token, where we've seen heinous criminals who
have managed to obtain bail and other relief in the immigration
proceedings, we've appealed and we've been very aggressive in
seeking remedy on that front, as well. So on a case-by-case
basis, we look at what was the decision here and what's the
proper way to proceed.
Ms. Jackson Lee. And my question, if I might, is a one-on-
one relationship where the people ultimately marry, but they
were caught up in that kind of misunderstanding.
Mr. Garcia. And certainly, again, that would be a factor we
would look at. And we would also look at what's the status of
the individual, what's the fact pattern involved in the
underlying charge or course of conduct that led to whatever the
charges were that we've based our action upon. And we'll take a
look at that. And we have actually sent out guidance on that
front.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you.
Mr. Garcia. In terms of our data systems and the overload:
Really, a department-wide issue, obviously. For us at ICE,
we've taken at least four different legacy systems and tried to
merge them into one law enforcement agency. And as I've
discussed with the Chairman, those types of IT and
administrative issues are really the most serious challenges we
face as an agency.
We have a short-term solution, in terms of a method to
access all our systems so that the person sitting at the desk
can get into every system we have and make sure the checks are
run. And we have a long-term plan for a new law enforcement
platform to be serviced across the department enforcement
agencies.
We have asked for additional resources in the President's
2005 budget, $186 million in enhancements, including money for
an institutional removal program, fugitive operations,
detention bed space, legal backlog elimination, things that
will support the Predator and other priority programs.
Ms. Jackson Lee. And the databases, as well?
Mr. Garcia. And will support our work towards creating this
database. And again, that's a long-term project, Congresswoman,
as I know your work in the past----
Ms. Jackson Lee. Yes.
Mr. Garcia. You're well aware of the need for long-term
planning on that front so we get it right.
In terms of foreign government cooperation: critical to the
success of our mission. We recently were given operational
control over former Customs and INS assets overseas. We have
seen cooperation in foreign governments. The Chairman mentioned
the case involving Mexico. We saw tremendous cooperation from
the Mexican government. In fact, the initial lead for that case
came from the Mexican authorities. We took enforcement action
in the New York area; sent back leads we developed. They took
enforcement action on the--in their jurisdiction.
We have partnership there. We need to move forward in many
cases. And I'm sure you're aware, Congresswoman, it involves
training and education, as Mr. Walsh pointed out, on the reach
of our law. People don't understand. The pedophiles that go
overseas don't understand, foreign governments don't
understand, the incredibly powerful tools Mr. Walsh mentioned
that you have given us to work with; the fact that we can get
at these predators, these pedophiles, who think they can cross
our borders, go overseas, pick on 7-year-olds in Thailand with
impunity, with immunity. And they can't.
And we've sent that message in our four first cases under
the PROTECT Act. We've worked very closely with authorities in
Bangkok, Cambodia which has such a tremendous problem in this
area. We're looking to sign some formal agreements on that
front.
And I have found that the hurdle there is to make sure we
get out--we get the message out about what we can do, what we
can provide; and then educate and go step by step with those
local authorities to help them work with us to remove those
predators from their streets; and bring them back here, and
that's the case of the PROTECT Act, and make sure they're
prosecuted.
Ms. Jackson Lee. I thank you very much. That is an
excellent segue, if I might, to Mr. Walsh. You've certainly
given me--let me just say two things. One, I'd like to help you
with the database, to specifically look to see if the funding
is finite enough to address your needs there. So Mr. Chairman,
I'd like to work with you as we look at the appropriations
situation. I'd appreciate it very much.
The other thing I would ask, and if the Chairman would
indulge me--I'm looking at the clock. If you would just indulge
me for a moment to get a question in to Mr. Walsh.
Mr. Hostettler. Without objection.
Ms. Jackson Lee. I thank you very much. The other point
that I would raise, Mr. Chairman, as I talk to the Committee as
well, that I think we need to have a hearing with members of
the State Department, the appropriate officials in the State
Department. We might secure some of the international
organizations, relief organizations, children's organizations,
UNICEF. I believe that we've got to elevate this issue on an
international level.
And then Mr. Garcia has been very kind by suggesting that
he's getting cooperation, probably working with officials. I
appreciate it. I'm not sure if it has reached the most
appropriate high levels, and whether it's reached the levels of
the State Department.
And with that in mind, that's why I'm leading to Mr. Walsh.
And I do want to tell him, isn't it wonderful to be able to
give, if you will, energy to an organization like the National
Center that gets called--civilians call the National Center.
Mr. Walsh. Absolutely.
Ms. Jackson Lee. I've called the National Center on issues
of lost children and exploited children; ``Can you help me?''
And it's almost like the civil rights movement for children;
that people feel their rights have been deprived, they get on
the phone and call the agency that they think will do so. So
let me just thank you very much for the leadership that
generated that kind of entity.
But let me ask you this. How can we--one, what do you think
of this idea of trying to establish more of a presence
internationally, as we hear all these stories? And two, you
gave a sort of frightening anecdotal story--and this is not a
condemnation of law enforcement--of how busy they are, how
small law enforcement is from the rural hamlets to big cities,
how overloaded they are. And now they are now the homeland
security first responders.
This whole idea of a national public campaign and how can
Congress interface with that to put this--at least to say to
them, ``Here's what's available.'' We're up here passing laws,
from the PROTECT Act, to Adam's Law, to Megan's Law, to many
others that we've been able to do.
And thank you for your commentary on the DNA because in
particular, not only for sexual offenders, but we're going to
refine it to have it for child predators; so they could go
quickly to it and know that these are individuals that prey
right on it. And I'm looking out the side of my eye on my
Chairman, and I'm going to be parroting him to go to the
Chairman for us to have hearings on that along with the Crime
Subcommittee.
But Mr. Walsh, tell me what you think about the fact that
we need to do the international work; but also, what kind of
campaign? Because, you know, we can provide funding to suggest
that we have a national campaign. I mean, that can be an
earmark, or it can be out of a particular department, if it is
so crucial to have it. And your thoughts about that would be
appreciated.
Mr. Walsh. Absolutely. And I love it when you said you're
going to be the school teacher here. And I was only kidding
about the lunches. I know they're doing their jobs. But for you
to be the school teacher and make sure that they know what went
on at this hearing today is wonderful. I really think so.
Because, you know, they're just as over-burdened as everybody
else is.
I love the analogy that it's almost a civil rights movement
for children. I've seen more movement in this last year by
Congress on both sides of the aisle for children, meaningful
legislation and money, than I've seen in 20 years. It's really
encouraging. But you know, I think Mike Garcia is pretty
humble, and I think ICE is, when they come and say, ``Well, our
database is overloaded. We need $186 million to get ICE up to
snuff and exchange information,'' like your wonderful bill
about the database.
I mean, we all like to see the pictures on the other side
of Mars, okay? But I live in Florida, where NASA is
headquartered. And when you write those checks for billions of
dollars to send those stupid little things up to Mars, it's
wonderful; it's great; but you know what? If we can't get $186
million for these guys to exchange information to hunt down a
guy that's got a rap sheet 27 pages long and should be out of
the country or should be in jail, I mean, it's for you, it's
tip money, or walking-around money.
International cooperation: I don't see it. I mean, Mike and
ICE have tried to initiated it. During President Clinton's two
terms, I met with him several times saying, ``Why don't we have
an extradition treaty with Mexico?'' We've lent them billions
of dollars, and saved them when the peso was devalued, and
saved that country's economy. And they wouldn't sign an
extradition treaty. I had nine ``America's Most Wanted''
fugitives and I knew exactly where they were in Mexico. A guy
who raped and murdered a 9-year-old girl in front of her
mother, an illegal Mexican national, and blinded the mother.
And I knew exactly where he was. His father was the chief of
police of a small town down in Mexico, and he was being
protected by his father. And Mexico has only just started. I
mean, here's a country we saved, that we saved their economy,
and they won't sign an extradition treaty to send back our
fugitives, particularly our child sexual predators.
We're just starting to make some leeway in Thailand. Where
you talked about the cultural differences in Africa, you know,
where it's a symbol of virility and long life to rob an 11-
year-old, 10-year-old girl of her virginity, well, in Thailand,
you can buy a little girl. Eric Rosser bought a 9-year-old girl
from her immigrant peasant family, because they were broke and
starving, and he made a video of himself sodomizing and raping
her to sell on the Internet.
Costa Rica, you go down there tomorrow. I've sent crews
down there four or five times. You want to have sex with a
little boy? You don't have to talk to somebody. They're on the
street. Their little prostitutes are out there hustling.
That dentist that I talked about, he went down there on
pedophile tours. There are tours from Germany and from the
United States, where pedophiles get together and go to Thailand
and Costa Rica to have sex with kids, because they know it's
not illegal in that country, that nobody's going to do it. It
took us forever to get an indictment against this dentist down
in Costa Rica. It was the threat that I would put Costa Rica as
a country allowing this on ``America's Most Wanted'' every week
for a year until they did something about it to get this guy
arrested. And they let him bond out with a $1,000 bond. He
destroyed the lives, as you so aptly put--he destroyed the
lives of these little people. They thought it was funny. But
finally, we nailed him. Finally, when he came back here, the
message sent by the Child PROTECT Act was, ``So what, if you
didn't do it here? You did it in Costa Rica, and we know about
it. And you're going to pay. You're going to pay under our
laws.''
So I would like to see the State Department saddle up. I
would like to see Congress say: Okay, we send relief and aid to
many of these countries, and they deserve it. We are a
wonderful, wonderful country. We reach out. Our generosity is
worldwide. Why not put a little pressure on them? Why not say,
``Hey, you're harboring this. You're harboring this behavior.
You're allowing this to go on. You're not cooperating with us.
You're not sending these creeps back. You're sending a loud
message that anybody can run and hide, anybody can do what they
want to an American child and then they can hide in this
country, or an American can come here and exploit a child.''
So I love your analogy about, hey, we're reaching out to
protect children worldwide. Absolutely. So you know, Mike is
being very nice about saying we've opened the door with Mexico,
and all that type of stuff. You know, my attitude is, if we're
going to give them money, let them pony-up. Let them step up to
the bar. Let's ask them some hard questions. Let's put some
strings to that relief. Let's put some strings attached to it
and say, ``Come on, this goes on in your country.''
Get Mexico to sign that extradition treaty. We saved that
country. I have fugitives down there now. ``Oh, we don't
believe in the death penalty. We can't send them back. We don't
want to.'' Come on. What the hell kind of message is this?
The hobo serial killer, perfect example: Ramirez. He was in
and out of Immigration's hands ten times. While he committed a
murder and was put on the FBI's Top Ten, he was in an
immigration jail in Dallas, Texas, for crossing the border
illegally; because none of those agencies even exchange
information. The FBI is over-burdened. They do a great job.
Their Innocent Images program is wonderful. They give us guys
on ``America's Most Wanted''--I work closely with them.
But these people know how to beat the system. They know how
to beat the system. Ramirez, every time it got close to
catching him, he hopped back across that border. He'd been in
and out of American jails 17 times, over 20 years. He'd been
convicted of crimes against Americans. He knew how to beat the
system by murdering someone close to a train. He jumped on that
train. He didn't take a bus; he didn't take a plane. He
hightailed it back to Mexico. Before the sheriff ever
investigated the murder, he was across the border. We ignored
that. We ignored that. That man killed eight Americans. Eight
Americans.
He wasn't in a system anywhere. There wasn't any record of
his crimes. It was only till the TV show started to focus in on
him and put those murders together, did we realize that we had
an illegal alien, Mexican national, jumping back and forth at
will, in custody and out of custody, while he was committing
the murders. It was disgusting. He killed eight Americans.
Give him [Secretary Garcia] the money. He'll track them
down. He'll find out what's going on when they get out of jail.
Whoever tracked Resendez Ramirez? Nobody. We let him out of
jail to kill eight Americans. What the hell is that? We can get
a man on the moon; we can put these little lunar modules on
Mars and send back these pictures; but we can't track a guy
that's been in and out of 17 prisons, killed eight people? It's
disgusting. Stupid. It's unacceptable. Especially if you're one
of the surviving members of those families, of those victims'
families, who ask the same question: What in the hell was this
guy doing in the country? And what in the hell was he doing
going back and forth across the border? And why, when
Immigration had him, did they let him out of that jail after 4
days, when he was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted? What kind of
exchange of information is that?
He's [Secretary Garcia] trying to--he's trying to do
something about that. Give him the ability. Give him the money.
You guys give Homeland Security the money. I love to look at
those pictures from Mars, but I hate to put guys like Resendez
Ramirez on ``America's Most Wanted.''
And that's just like in the Carli Brucia case. I asked one
thing about the murder of that little girl: Why was that guy
out on the streets? It's my home State. He'd been arrested 13
times; he was convicted of 13 felonies. His probation officer
went in to a judge in Sarasota and said, ``This low-life needs
to be back in jail. He's failed the drug test. I ordered a drug
test. He's tested positive for heroin and cocaine. He's been a
`Peeping Tom.' He beat a woman near to death with a helmet. Put
him back in, Your Honor.'' And the judge had the ability to
arbitrarily say, ``Our jails are too full. Let him out.'' Then
what did he do 2 months later? He killed Carli Brucia. His butt
should have been in jail.
Parole? He was on parole. Parole is a privilege. He revoked
that privilege. What kind of message do we send, the State of
Florida? Governor Bush and I, the Attorney General, and all
kinds of people here in Washington are going to try to change
that law in Florida and put those repeat offenders back. They
shouldn't be on the streets. But don't tell Carli Brucia's
mother that, or tell Carli Brucia's father. They'll be angry at
the government for the rest of their lives in the State of
Florida, for letting that guy walk around. They'd go in there
and pound that judge today, if they could.
They ask good questions. That's what he wants to do: get
that database, coordinate it. These guys walk out of jail; they
go like this [gestures], ``The hell with you, America. I'm
going to get on a bus, I'm going to get on a train, and I'm
going to go to another State. I'm going to continue preying
upon children.'' Because nobody in the past has met them at the
jailhouse door and said, ``Your butt is out of here. You're
going back. The condition of your parole and probation is for
you to leave this country and never come back in. And we're
going to make sure that if you ever try to get in again, you
come across the borders through Immigration or Customs; it'll
come right up when you show your illegal ID. Or if you come
across those borders illegally, we're going to put you in jail
for the rest of your life.'' It's a nice message to send to
these other countries.
Mr. Hostettler. It sure is. The gentlelady's time has
expired.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you. Thank you very much for your
indulgence. Thank you, Mr. Walsh.
Mr. Walsh. Oh, thank you for having these hearings. God
bless you.
Mr. Hostettler. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
Arizona.
Mr. Flake. Thank the Chairman, and thank the witnesses.
It's been extremely enlightening. I've had the pleasure of
meeting Mr. Garcia several months ago when we launched ICE
Storm in Phoenix. And we've already seen the effects of that. A
couple of drop houses were recently raided, a few hundred
people in a house. Some of them had been there for 3 days, some
without food and water. Just a horrible, horrible situation. We
have a lot of need, obviously, in Arizona for as many resources
as we can muster. And I appreciate the work of Mr. Walsh; been
a fan for a long time.
Mr. Walsh. Thank you.
Mr. Flake. And you've done a lot of good work.
Mr. Garcia, about 2 years ago, ABC Channel 15 ran a series
of stories on sex tourists in Mexico. And I think it--I came
back here with the tapes of those series and gave them to some
colleagues. And it was just--I went into the studio and watched
some of those tapes. It was basically Americans, Arizonans,
going down to Acapulco and Mazatlan, and just basically going
with one purpose in mind: sex tourism. And it was just
unbelievable how callous they were, and how they just flouted
it. And they had gone down there to investigate it with hidden
cameras, and it was just unbelievable. It just shook everybody
who watched it to the core.
And I think it provided a lot of fodder for those who are
pushing for new laws and for new resources to actually go at
this. And I just want to say publicly that they did a good job
on this and they really helped spur some action.
But with operation--or you mentioned that with Mexico they
now have a task force to deal with sex tourism. Mr. Garcia, can
you expand on that? How are they cooperating? And has it been
good cooperation? We could use a lot better cooperation in
Mexico in a number of areas, like extradition. How have they
been on this issue?
Mr. Garcia. I agree, Congressman, and with Mr. Walsh.
Obviously, there's always a tremendous amount of work that
needs to be done. We have seen--and I think Mr. Walsh pointed
it out, as well--on the local level with the officers we work
with, that work regularly with our agents overseas, tremendous
cooperation in this area, in terms of providing us information
that leads to these houses in the United States, or providing
information on the sex tourists that you mentioned that think
they can cross the border and commit these crimes without any
repercussions.
There is work that needs to be done. And you can see,
Congressman, I--my experience has been that sometimes in one
jurisdiction and a locality, you'll get very good cooperation.
You may move 50 miles down the road and, for one reason or
another, you're not seeing the willingness to work with us,
where people know that this activity is going on.
And we need to make sure we're doing everything we can,
particularly now that since January we have operational control
of the overseas offices investigating this activity; that we're
doing everything we can to change that; to continue where we
have the success, but to also start to look at the problems
that you have highlighted here today in terms of the need to do
more. And we recognize that.
Mr. Flake. Thank you. Mr. Walsh, we've seen in Arizona, and
I think across the country, the kind of a shift from drug
smuggling to human smuggling. The profits are just as great, or
greater. The sentences are usually lesser. And that's part of
the reason for that. Can you talk about that?
Are we seeing the shift that we need to focus on the human
smuggling? Because with it comes the sex issues, and everything
else. Can you comment on that? Do we need harsher sentences in
that regard, to drive people out of that business, as well?
Mr. Walsh. Well, I absolutely agree. I went down into your
State on the Tucson border there, and rode with ICE. That's
what I was talking about. I rode with the Border Patrol on
their pintos, on their horses, their paints. I rode in their
Black Hawks. I worked with them down there. And the problem is
human smuggling.
Drugs are coming across, yes. They always will, and Mexico
will always be a conduit. And the Mexicans are right: As long
as the appetite is here in the United States, they'll be in
that business. They'll provide it. But much more lucrative has
become the smuggling of humans. With no regard whatsoever,
they'll charge someone $1,500; pack them in a truck. You've all
seen the pictures in the newspaper. They'll bail out of that
truck, and leave ten or 12 or 15 or 20 people to suffocate to
death, or die on the border.
And what they also do is, they'll know the name of that
person. And when that person gets into the United States
successfully and starts working as an illegal immigrant, maybe
as a dishwasher or a migrant worker, they will kidnap a member
of their family or a child in Mexico, and hold that child for
ransom, and demand five, six, seven, ten, 15, 20 thousand
dollars for that illegal alien that's working here at minimum
wage. It's unbelievable, the level of extortion and
exploitation in human smuggling.
And you're absolutely right: The penalties for a drug
smuggler are twice, three, four times what they are for a human
smuggler. And they know. They bail out. They run back. They
bring them in, and they make the money; get the money whether
the person gets across the border or not. They get their money
up front. They don't care if they get them alive or dead.
And, yes, these guys are down there. They sit on those
horses all night long. It's amazing. People are shooting,
smugglers are shooting, guns are going off, trucks are going.
It's chaos. I mean, I don't know how they do it. They should be
getting about, you know, what an athlete gets, $5 million a
year, for sitting in there in the dark while guns are going
off, etcetera.
And then, you see these people. And the smuggler, when they
do catch them, he bonds out; he runs back to Mexico. It's like
a slap on the wrist. It's a joke. You're damn right. Make it so
difficult. Send that message. When ICE arrests one of these
guys on the border, let's keep him here. Let's put him in jail
for 20 years. He's going to make that call back to Mexico and
say, ``Hey, hombre, don't do it any more. It's not worth it.
I'm here in a Federal prison for 25 years. Don't do it any
more.''
Mr. Flake. Right.
Mr. Walsh. You're right. You hit it right on the nose. But
all they can do is arrest them; can't keep them in jail. It's
up to you guys. You pass that Federal law; make it stiff; make
it tough for a human smuggler. Look at the misery. A drug
smuggler is one thing; but a smuggler of humans, that's a
disgusting, despicable person, who couldn't care whether they
live or die.
And when they abandon them down on the border and they go
back, and these people die, I think we should charge them with
homicide. They brought these people, and left them there to
freeze to death, or to die of dehydration or whatever. Get that
extradition treaty. Bring them back; charge them with homicide
and try them. Send a message. Send that message.
Mr. Flake. Thank you. Mr. Garcia, most of us have gone to
the border. I rode with Secretary Ridge in December along the
border. And the notion that we're going to stop all traffic
coming over the border, to me, is just pretty far-fetched,
unless we have some legal, orderly process for those who are
simply coming for economic reasons to work to do so. Myself,
Senator McCain, and Congressman Kolbe, as you know, have
proffered a bill to do that.
Do you see the need for a comprehensive solution; be it
this one or another one? Because even if you did seal the
border, even if we could, 40 percent of those who are here
illegally first entered the country legally. So we need to deal
with the reality that there are people here that are going to
stay here, that we're not going to deport, and that we need to
deal with and realize--particularly children, who came here as
children--that they consider themselves as American as
American, and rightly so.
What is your feeling overall? I know this isn't the purpose
of this hearing, but I just had a meeting outside with a number
of people who have come and it's on my mind.
Mr. Garcia. Certainly, Congressman. As you mentioned, the
President has come out with his statement regarding the guest
worker program. Congress--yourself--has proposed certain
legislation or mechanisms for doing what you were suggesting.
What I feel should be our contribution at ICE to that
process is to watch the proceedings and how Congress and the
President structure that mechanism, and to input our
enforcement expertise to ensure that the group that it is
decided should have this relief--and you mentioned some of
those people--that that's getting to the right group; that we
don't see the fraud and abuse that we've seen in the past. I
think that's very important. And I think we can bring some
expertise to the table and some help in that area, to make sure
that whatever path is chosen by those involved gets to the
right folks.
I have been asked out to the border. We did meet out in
Phoenix. Tremendous issues in the Arizona smuggling corridor.
ICE went out primarily as a response to the incredible spike in
violence in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Since we've been out
there, I'm happy to report that we saw a 30 percent reduction
rate in murders in Phoenix in the last part of 2003, which the
Phoenix PD, etcetera, are attributing to ICE Storm and our
work. ICE Storm was obviously ini cooperation with the local
enforcement officials. So far that has been a tremendous
success.
But as you point out, we're continuing to find drop houses,
places where this human cargo, essentially, is being held in
really incredibly horrific conditions. I have pointed out the
threat to children. We saw a child die in the back of a tractor
trailer in Victoria, Texas last year, suffocate. Those
smugglers also had a 3-year-old boy that they wanted to ransom
out, that ICE did as an undercover; rescued the boy, and
arrested the kidnapper/smugglers.
We've seen children abandoned in the desert, and left to
die. And it really is an issue of protecting these children
that are brought over, exploited on the way over. And it's
something, as you've pointed out, we really need to hit hard.
And there are some terrific penalties in place where we've had
victims who have been killed, like in the Victoria case; but we
really need to do more in that area.
Mr. Flake. Thank you. And I thank the Chairman.
Mr. Hostettler. Thank the gentleman. The Chair now
recognizes the gentleman from Iowa, Mr. King.
Mr. King. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd point out initially
I do represent Denison, Iowa, where in October 2002, the
decomposed bodies of 11 suspected illegal aliens were
discovered in a railroad car. The deceased had left Mexico in
June. They were extremely overheated in the rail car, and
dehydration led to their deaths. That's something that impacts
our local community. It impacts the attitude and the political
position, really, on immigration in my district, and all the
way down to the border and back.
Abd you raised the issue, Mr. Walsh, of the extradition
treaty. And I agree with you: Marketing in human beings and
trafficking in human beings should be severely punished. But
we're not able to extradite people when it exceeds the penalty
level of the Mexicans. And I'm one of those people that
believes that we ought to take a good look at all of our
agreements with a country that would interfere with how we
enforce our laws in this country. And so I appreciate that
testimony, and both your testimony.
I'd direct my question to Mr. Garcia. And that is, Mr.
Garcia, under Operation Predator, ICE must have arrested
several aliens who were convicted of their offenses over the
past, say, several years. What responses has the agency
received from the immigration judges and the Board of
Immigration Appeals when it attempts to detain and remove those
aliens?
Mr. Garcia. Thank you, Congressman. Very good question; and
the answer is, really, you look case by case. Under certain
legislation, there is mandatory detention for aggravated
felons. Many of those we arrest, obviously, under Operation
Predator fall within that mandatory detention provision.
Unfortunately, we have seen cases where heinous individuals
convicted of really atrocious crimes have been bailed at a
level. And we've been very aggressive in appealing those
decisions, or staying those decisions, and asking for
reconsideration in those cases.
Overall, I've said there has been adherence to the
mandatory detention requirements, and a recognition of the
seriousness of these crimes and the history of these
individuals we bring before the IJs in immigration court. But
we have had some instances where we've had--it's been necessary
for us to take additional action to get a remedy that we
believe should have been initially forwarded to us.
Mr. King. So if I heard that correctly, we have judges who
are ignoring the mandatory retention?
Mr. Garcia. We have seen that. I will be honest. We have
seen cases where those we believed were subject to mandatory
detention provisions under the statute were bailed.
As I'm sure you're well aware, there was some question over
the constitutionality of that particular legislation for some
time. That was resolved last year in the DeMar v. Kim case that
the Supreme Court decided. And it is now clear that that
provision is constitutional. And we are being very aggressive
in seeing that it's enforced.
Mr. King. I think it's interesting that a judge can sit on
an individual case and disregard a statute by their judgment on
the constitutionality of that statute. And I'll be looking for
those judges who do ignore the statute. Thank you, Mr. Garcia.
And thank you, Mr. Walsh. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Walsh. Thank you. You make a good point, Congressman.
Thank you. It's mind-boggling when a judge doesn't adhere to
Federal law, and decides to arbitrarily let somebody bond out
that he knows in his heart is going to run across that border
and we're never going to see him again. But good point, great
point.
Mr. Hostettler. I thank the gentleman. And Mr. Walsh, your
point is an excellent one that I will not prolong much further.
But I will not speak for Mr. Garcia or any of his employees,
but I can tell you on numerous occasions the Chair has heard
from various law enforcement entities that they are really
looking at what a judge will do. And they are asking
themselves, ``Is this worth my time, knowing what this judge,
or knowing what judges in general will do in this particular
case?''
Mr. Walsh. Absolutely.
Mr. Hostettler. And so many times we may fault law
enforcement with not getting their job done, when in fact they
are trying in their best ability to get their job done. Only in
that execution of their job, they're just taking into account
reality of the judicial system as it is today.
Mr. Walsh. It's--you make such an important comment. I
mean, again, in the Carli Brucia case, how do you think that
probation officer and the detective who arrested that guy that
killed Carli Brucia felt, when they went in and said, ``Your
Honor, he's violated parole. He's a dangerous individual. Put
him back in jail.'' Now, probation officers have an average of
75 cases. They don't have time to go in and beg a judge to put
somebody in. When you take the time to go in, and you show them
the file, and you bring the cop that arrested him, and you
bring everybody else, and you say, ``Look, this scumbag belongs
in jail,'' and the judge says, ``Ah, he just--you know, maybe
he'll get some help. He's a druggie,'' and they go, ``No.'' How
do you think they feel? They're going to go back and say,
``This judge is killing me. I'm going to do something else. I'm
going to work on a different case. I'm not going to go in
there. I'm not going to do it.''
You're absolutely right. It's disheartening. You're trying
to do your job. You're underpaid; you're overworked; you're
stressed out. And you go in there, and a judge--pompous people
that they can be, and wonderful that they can be--makes an
arbitrary decision and goes out--that goes outside the law. Of
course, yes, it's disheartening. I see cops that are saying all
the time, ``Not going to work that case. I can't stand that
judge.''
And you know, we've dealt with that in the Child PROTECT
Act, about Federal judges going outside the guidelines, you
know, the Federal mandates and the Federal guidelines. And you
know, I don't know, where does this disrespect come from? You
know, you pass a Federal law. I mean, I don't--I adhere to the
guidelines that are set in my life by you on the Federal level:
Pay your taxes; do this and that. I wouldn't dare go outside
those. And I don't know how a judge gets off doing it.
So in a lot of child protection--I mean child exploitation
cases in the past, we've seen judges go outside those
guidelines. Thank God, the Child PROTECT Act made it mandatory
life without possibility of parole for a two-time offender. But
most of the cases of exploitation of children, about 90 percent
of them, are tried on the State and local level. So it really
is a State problem.
But it's really--it's really unnerving and really
disappointing, especially for these guys that are out on those
streets all night in the ICE, you know, risking their lives.
You know, when a judge goes, ``Ah, let the guy bond out,'' that
judge knows, so does the cop that arrested him, so does that
ICE agent, that that guy is going to walk across that border
and say, ``The hell with you. I'm going to go down and, you
know, I'm going to party down in Cabo San Lucas''; make a
mockery of the criminal justice system in America.
I still, I just can't--it's mind-boggling that we've lent
Mexico--and they've been a great neighbor--billions of dollars
to save their economy, and they won't sign an extradition
treaty. I can't make them. If it was up to me, I'd go down
there tomorrow and take care of it; but it's up to you. It's up
to you guys, men and women here, sitting right up here. It's up
to you to go--and the President can't do it, and Colin Powell
can't do it. Nobody can do it except you guys. You can do it.
You can say, ``You want to keep the relationships? You want the
free trade zones? You want to be our good neighbor? Well, send
those dirtbags back, and let us go down and get your criminals,
too, and try them under American law.''
It's a joke. I've been in Mexico nine million times. They
laugh at us. It's a joke. See guys walking around; they've got
15 warrants on them in the United States, and they're walking
around in public. It's degrading and humiliating. It's stupid.
Anyway, change it. Don't give them any more money until they
sign that extradition treaty.
Lots of countries that we deal with that don't take our
money, that we haven't bailed them out, we haven't saved their
economy, readily sign the extradition treaties and work with us
on all kinds of issues. We don't give them any money.
I mean, I don't know, President Clinton and I had 52
meetings about this. I said, ``You know, this is a win-win-win
for you. Force them to sign that treaty when you give them that
NAFTA money.'' He said, ``I can't do it. It's got to be
mandated by Congress.'' I don't know. Passed the buck.
But anyway, you bring up a good point. Congressman King,
you're right there. And you know, Mr. Flake, he's sitting on
the border. He knows these guys hop across. Look at that--I
mean, Arizona is in big trouble. I've been to Tucson and
Phoenix. Those used to be cities where retirees would go to
play golf. They used to be nice places to live. It's cowboy
land. It's the ``wild west.'' It's the ``wild west,'' because
the guys know they can jump over and do all kinds of things and
commit heinous, heinous crimes. These guys can arrest them.
They can bond out, and they can go back, and you never see them
again. It's really a joke.
But anyway, that's what we're here for today. God bless
you. Do something about it.
Mr. Hostettler. Thank you very much, Mr. Walsh. Secretary
Garcia, thank you for your presence and your testimony, and
especially for the work that you and your folks are doing to
solve this problem.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Mr. Chairman? Excuse me, Mr. Chairman. And
isn't the world small? I have a delegation. Mr. Chairman, would
you yield just for 1 second?
Mr. Hostettler. The Chair recognizes the gentlelady.
Ms. Jackson Lee. I'm sorry. I wasn't escaping. I have a
delegation from Denmark, and they were listening, and so I had
stepped away. I apologize. This is the ministry of homeland
security. They were listening to you, Mr. Walsh, Mr. Garcia.
And they were inspired to say--they came specifically to
find out how they can secure their homeland, and they were
listening; and to also deal with immigration issues. And they
were impressed by our international discussion about working on
this question of predators.
So I just wanted you--you can--and I wanted the Chairman--
you can walk out, sir. This is the minister of homeland
security.
But in any event, they were impressed, Mr. Chairman, by
your Committee, and impressed by the Members here. And I just
wanted to let you know that I had stepped aside just for that.
Mr. Walsh. It's wonderful they're here and you recognize
them. I think it's great that they're here. Because I've been
to the Middle East; I've been to the Persian Gulf. It's a
global community now. The terrorists know that. There aren't
any borders any more. I've walked across the Afghanistan border
back and forth a zillion times. You know, the terrorists that
got into this country, that flew into the towers and into the
Pentagon or in that plane that went down in Shanksville, that
was so easy for them to get in this country. And they come all
over the world. I've been all over the world chasing terrorists
and fugitives. They know how to use the Internet. They know how
to launder money. They know how to send money.
I'm glad to see them here. And Homeland Security has taken
the initiative, yes. And they have the mandate to make it safer
here. But I agree with you, the mandate should be to our
partners, like in Denmark. Let's stop this territorial stuff,
and let's start exchanging information.
One of the good things that Homeland Security and ICE do is
they work with Interpol; which gives them a chance to hunt down
fugitives worldwide. I've been for years before Committees
saying, ``Come on, let's use the resources of Interpol.''
So it's great that these people are here from Denmark
because, I'll tell you what: Terrorists, child predators,
people who traffic in human beings and children, they know no
borders. They don't respect any borders. They go to the places
where they get treated the easiest, like Mexico and Costa Rica
and Thailand. They know how to evade people. They know how to
evade prosecution. They know how to evade penalties.
It's great. It's great to see these people here from
Denmark, because members of Hamas, Hezbollah, al-Qaeda--I can
name zillions of terrorists that I've been hunting for--they
could be in Denmark tomorrow. They were in Germany, planning
the attacks on the Trade Towers, in hotels in Germany. It
doesn't matter where you live any more. It's a global
community. And they're always one step ahead of us. They always
know what the laws are. They know what they're doing. They're
always one step ahead of us.
Ms. Jackson Lee. And I thank you for indulging me. Let me
just offer my appreciation to the Chairman; Mr. Garcia; Mr.
Walsh, who comes from his sunny Florida. Whenever we call, he
comes.
And Mr. Walsh, you have provoked, I think, an action item.
I don't want to misspeak on what the Chairman and myself have
agreed on, but I think you have prodded us to move on this as
it relates internationally, and maybe involve some other
Committees. And maybe we would advise that this would happen
and you would grace us again with coming to appear on that
hearing.
Mr. Walsh. I'd be honored to. I'd be honored to. Your
statement of saying that this is a civil rights issue for
children, and getting the State Department off their butt:
You're right on target, Congresswoman.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you.
Mr. Walsh. You're right on target.
Ms. Jackson Lee. I thank you so very much, and our respect
for you and your loss.
Mr. Garcia, thank you. You have apparently extended
yourself. You've gone the extra mile in wanting to make sure
this works.
And I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for indulging me. I think
this has been more than productive for our Committee. Thank
you.
Mr. Hostettler. Thank the gentlelady. We welcome our guests
from Denmark. And all Committee Members are advised that they
have seven legislative days to revise and extend their remarks
for the record.
Once again, thank you, gentlemen, for your appearance here.
Mr. Garcia?
Mr. Garcia. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If I might,
particularly timely, I think, the appearance of our colleagues
in the Danish delegation. We did work a tremendously important
child pornography case with the Danish authorities over the
past several years, one that was recognized by NCMEC; a
tremendous cooperative law enforcement effort on the front of
protecting children.
I would also just add my appreciation to you, Mr. Chairman,
Congresswoman Jackson Lee, for having this hearing; being able
to sit next to John Walsh, the most articulate spokesperson for
the protection of children; and to hear words of support, words
of real support, from Mr. Walsh, from this Committee.
And that means so much to the men and women of ICE, who are
out there every day doing this job, to the morale of those
folks making the arrests, putting these predators behind bars,
who realize that they are getting the recognition for the
important public safety work that they do every day. So I thank
you very much for that.
Mr. Hostettler. Hear, hear. Very good. Thank you. The
business of this Subcommittee being completed, we are
adjourned.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you very much.
[Whereupon, at 11:49 a.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]