[Senate Hearing 117-426]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



                                                        S. Hrg. 117-426

   DHS ACTIONS TO ADDRESS UNACCOMPANIED MINORS AT THE SOUTHERN BORDER

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

                                HEARING

                               before the

                              COMMITTEE ON
               HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                     ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS


                             FIRST SESSION

                               __________

                              MAY 13, 2021

                               __________

        Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov

                       Printed for the use of the
        Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
        
        
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		 U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

45-984 			 WASHINGTON : 2022
        		
        
        

        COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

                   GARY C. PETERS, Michigan, Chairman
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware           ROB PORTMAN, Ohio
MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire         RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona              RAND PAUL, Kentucky
JACKY ROSEN, Nevada                  JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma
ALEX PADILLA, California             MITT ROMNEY, Utah
JON OSSOFF, Georgia                  RICK SCOTT, Florida
                                     JOSH HAWLEY, Missouri

                   David M. Weinberg, Staff Director
                    Zachary I. Schram, Chief Counsel
         Christopher J. Mulkins, Director of Homeland Security
                    Sarah C. Pierce, Senior Counsel
               Katie A. Conley, Professional Staff Member
                Pamela Thiessen, Minority Staff Director
    Andrew Dockham, Minority Chief Counsel and Deputy Staff Director
       Kirsten D. Madison, Minority Director of Homeland Security
       Jeremy H. Hayes, Minority Senior Professional Staff Member
                     Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
                     Thomas J. Spino, Hearing Clerk

                            C O N T E N T S

                                 ------                                
Opening statements:
                                                                   Page
    Senator Peters...............................................     1
    Senator Portman..............................................     3
    Senator Hassan...............................................    12
    Senator Carper...............................................    15
    Senator Johnson..............................................    15
    Senator Rosen................................................    18
    Senator Lankford.............................................    20
    Senator Romney...............................................    23
    Senator Scott................................................    29
    Senator Hawley...............................................    31
    Senator Ossoff...............................................    34
    Senator Padilla..............................................    37
    Senator Sinema...............................................    39
Prepared statements:
    Senator Peters...............................................    43
    Senator Portman..............................................    45

                               WITNESSES
                         Thursday, May 13, 2021

Hon. Alejandro N. Mayorkas, Secretary, U.S. Department of 
  Homeland Security
    Testimony....................................................     6
    Prepared statement...........................................    52

                                APPENDIX

Unaccompanied Children Encountered at Southwest Border chart.....    60
Number of Children in CBP Custody chart..........................    61
Average Number of Hours Children in CBP Custody chart............    62
SW Border Apprehensions chart....................................    63
Picture of fence.................................................    64
Statement for the Record from Kids in Need of Defense............    65
Responses to post-hearing questions for the Record:
    Mr. Mayorkas.................................................    75

 
   DHS ACTIONS TO ADDRESS UNACCOMPANIED MINORS AT THE SOUTHERN BORDER

                              ----------                              


                         THURSDAY, MAY 13, 2021

                                     U.S. Senate,  
                           Committee on Homeland Security  
                                  and Governmental Affairs,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:16 a.m., via 
Webex and in room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. 
Gary C. Peters, Chairman of the Committee, presiding.
    Present: Senators Peters, Carper, Hassan, Sinema, Rosen, 
Padilla, Ossoff, Portman, Johnson, Lankford, Romney, Scott, and 
Hawley.

            OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN PETERS\1\

    Chairman Peters. The Committee will come to order.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ The prepared statement of Senator Peters appear in the Appendix 
on page 43.
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    Secretary Mayorkas, welcome back, and thank you for your 
willingness to testify and your continued service to our 
Nation. We appreciate that.
    I know that you and the Biden administration as a whole 
inherited a number of very serious challenges, and I have been 
impressed with what you have accomplished in a relatively short 
time. Your efforts to support the wide distribution of vaccines 
to every community so we can get through this Coronavirus 
Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and your concrete actions to 
combat domestic terrorism, including white national violence, 
is appreciated. While you help ensure communities across the 
country are safer and more secure, we know that it is a big job 
that requires your constant attention.
    While doing all of that, your Department has also grappled 
with the situation on our Southern Border, addressing the 
humanitarian challenges presented by the arrivals of 
unaccompanied alien children (UAC) while also working to keep 
our border secure. That is the focus of today's hearing, and I 
look forward to hearing about some of your successes and the 
challenges that you continue to face and the support and 
resources that your Department needs to effectively carry out 
your mission while ensuring appropriate care of people who are 
in DHS custody.
    Although we saw higher-than-usual numbers of unaccompanied 
minors arriving at the border earlier this spring, these 
numbers appear to be decreasing. Even so, the significant 
numbers of migrants seeking asylum in the United States 
continues to present a very serious challenge.
    Our Nation rightfully serves as a beacon for those who are 
fleeing persecution. We have an obligation to ensure that the 
migrants that our border security professionals encounter are 
being treated with dignity and have appropriate food, care, and 
shelter.
    But we also must ensure that those efforts do not restrict 
the ability of border security personnel to continue their 
critical front-line mission to stop illicit drugs, contraband, 
and other illegal activity along our borders and help keep 
Americans safe.
    Mr. Secretary, many of the challenges that you inherited 
were made worse because of the actions of the previous 
administration. The Trump administration's decision to suspend 
longstanding legal protections afforded to minors and those 
fleeing persecution for significant numbers of asylum seekers 
to wait in a very precarious condition in Mexico. As a result, 
when President Biden took office in January, there was already 
a significant population of vulnerable asylum seekers, 
especially minors, waiting to seek refuge in the United States 
from violence or persecution in their home countries.
    The ongoing pandemic has compounded challenges faced by 
both the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the 
Department Health and Human Services (HHS) as they work to 
house unaccompanied children. COVID-19 health protocols have 
limited the amount of space and staff available at State-
licensed shelters. These factors resulted in more than 5,000 
children at a time being held for days in the care of Border 
Patrol agents who are simply not trained in child care.
    These minors should have been transferred, ideally within 
hours, to Health and Human Services facilities where licensed 
child welfare professionals ensure they receive adequate care 
while waiting for release to sponsors in the United States.
    I have had the opportunity to visit the Southern Border 
twice so far this year to see both the border facilities and 
the shelters for unaccompanied children firsthand and speak 
directly with the folks on the ground who are working to 
address these challenges.
    During my most recent visit, I spoke with dedicated Border 
Patrol agents who are personally supplying toys and food to 
unaccompanied minors in their care at their own expense. They 
were going above and beyond their official responsibilities, 
and we all appreciate that effort. I am happy to see the DHS' 
recent efforts to help Health and Human Services identify 
additional shelter locations and expedite the safe transfer of 
these children, and it is beginning to show positive results.
    I am encouraged to see a drastic reduction in the number of 
these vulnerable children in Border Patrol facilities and that 
they are staying for shorter periods of time. While the 
situation at our Southern Border continues to improve--thanks 
to the Biden administration's efforts, I will say--
unfortunately, many challenges still persist, especially 
because of the population of migrants who are continuing to 
flee incredibly dangerous conditions in their home countries.
    This Committee and Congress must work together to address 
the root causes of migration flows and ensure that the Federal 
agencies in charge of responding to these challenges have the 
right resources and support. This is a big task, but it is not 
insurmountable.
    Secretary Mayorkas, I look forward to hearing from you and 
how Congress can work with the administration to secure our 
borders and ensure we have sufficient personnel, provide asylum 
seekers with appropriate care, and ensure asylum applicants are 
processed efficiently and fairly to help address these 
concerns.
    With that, I turn it over to Ranking Member Portman for 
your opening comments.

            OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR PORTMAN\1\

    Senator Portman. Thank you, Chairman Peters. I appreciate 
your moving ahead with this hearing, and it is critical we have 
it, and I appreciate the bipartisan oversight of the critical 
issues we will talk about today.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ The prepared statement of Senator Portman appears in the 
Appendix on page 45.
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    More than 50,000 unaccompanied children have come to our 
border during the 113 days since the first day of the Biden 
administration when they immediately began to put in place new 
policies. Typically, these kids were brought by unscrupulous 
traffickers and too often abused along the way.
    This chart\2\ behind me shows what has happened. It uses 
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data to show that the 
crisis today is unprecedented, far worse than it was last year, 
and even substantially worse than 2019, when everyone 
considered it a crisis.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ The chart referenced by Senator Portman appears in the Appendix 
on page 60.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Here is 2019. Here is the Inauguration. Here is where we 
are today.
    Because the focus today is on unaccompanied children, these 
numbers do not even include families which are also coming in 
in large numbers, 50 times higher than last year at this time, 
or single adults where there is a 20-year high, as predicted by 
the Secretary, a 20-year high in crossings, or, of course, the 
drug trafficking, which is a huge concern. We know that 
seizures of deadly fentanyl as an example are at a record high. 
We do not know how many of these deadly drugs are getting 
through, but it is most of them.
    Last month, over 108,000 single adults were apprehended at 
the border, up from 96,000 in March and, again, seven times 
greater than last April. On top of that, the Border Patrol 
conservatively estimates that over 40,000 people who crossed 
illegally got away and were not apprehended in April. We have 
no idea who these individuals are.
    Our Federal agencies on the border are, of course, 
overwhelmed. My hope is that today we can quickly get past the 
debate on the nature of this unprecedented surge so we can turn 
to solutions to stop this surge and ensure that vulnerable 
children are not further endangered by the policy choices being 
made here in Washington, DC.
    Mr. Secretary, it has been two months since you, Chairman 
Peters, the Ranking and Chairs of the DHS Subcommittee on 
Appropriations, and I traveled to El Paso to see this crisis at 
the border firsthand. I appreciated your support of our trip, 
and I have appreciated our conversations since.
    What I learned on our fact-finding trip was that the Border 
Patrol is overwhelmed and short staffed because the 
overwhelming pressure at the border from not only the 
unaccompanied minors arriving but also the significant increase 
in adult and family arrivals we have discussed. I am proud of 
the Border Patrol agents and welcome the progress made in 
getting out of the situation we were in where so many children 
were crowded into CBP facilities. They have now gone into other 
government shelters run by HHS, so more frontline agents in the 
Border Patrol can now go back to their critical law enforcement 
duties along the border.
    Border Patrol agents are doing the best they can in a very 
difficult situation, and we must support them, including 
providing additional resources. I learned the pressure on the 
Border Patrol of managing the influx of migrants, particularly 
processing children and families as they are detained, has 
taken them away from border enforcement activities. Human 
traffickers and drug smugglers know that. They are using 
unaccompanied children and families to divert Border Patrol 
agents so that they can cross the border with other illegal 
entries and illicit and deadly narcotics such as fentanyl that 
are killing Ohioans and others across our country, with record 
levels of drug overdoses and hurting families across the 
country.
    I learned that the surge of children puts those children at 
risk of abuse and trafficking, even once they are in the United 
States. Remember, these children are only held until sponsors 
can be found in the interior of the United States. Then, as we 
have learned, regardless of the asylum adjudication that might 
occur, hardly any of these children will ever be returned to 
their home country. In fact, those who came in the last surge 
in 2019 I am told are almost all still here in the United 
States.
    We have all heard the horrifying stories of the trauma some 
children experience on their way north. We have heard of sexual 
assault and other abuses, including, unfortunately, at HHS 
facilities. Now hundreds of Federal employees with no formal 
experience or training in child care are being brought in from 
other jobs around the country to help care for these children. 
I appreciate those volunteers, but I am also concerned that 
they do not have the training and experience to be able to 
properly care for them.
    HHS is repeating the same mistakes of the two previous 
administrations as they deal with this crisis. With the 
overwhelming number of children, HHS has released children 
quickly without proper background checks of sponsors or other 
adults in the same household. We know that in some cases in the 
past, children have even been sent back to their traffickers, 
and HHS has lost contact with these kids.
    I am glad that CBP has moved children to HHS, again, but 
these children have only been moved from one Federal agency to 
another. Now HHS is in crisis. Moving from one unsafe, 
overcrowded family to another is not a measurement of success. 
Neither is releasing them to sponsors who have not been 
properly vetted.
    We have seen this before. While Chairman of the Permanent 
Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), we issued three 
bipartisan investigative reports and held three hearings over 
two administrations on this very issue. We found that HHS 
failed to conduct background checks and as a result released 
children to human traffickers, including some who were placed 
into forced labor at an egg farm in my home State of Ohio.
    A major issue left unresolved is that unaccompanied 
children remain at risk because no Federal agency claims legal 
responsibility or authority to ensure they are not being 
trafficked or abused once placed with a sponsor. There is no 
accountability.
    These are all downstream problem statistics exist because 
of the surges and the incentives that encourage parents to send 
their children with human smugglers to enter our country 
unlawfully. The current policy is essentially that any child 
from anywhere, other than Mexico, who shows up at our Southern 
Border is allowed to come into the United States for an 
indefinite period of time. As long as that is true, in my view, 
the surge will continue.
    I support more help to the Central American countries, the 
so-called Northern Triangle country, where most of these 
unaccompanied children are coming from. But no one who looks at 
this problem seriously can believe that any amount of aid to 
Central America will change the pull to come here in the short 
term. Properly targeted U.S. foreign assistance and engagement 
in the region can help to change conditions over time, but the 
crisis at the border is now.
    There are three actions the administration must do and two 
actions Congress can do.
    One is to support the Border Patrol with more agents, more 
technology, and certainly the completion of the parts of the 
border wall that are already paid for. My hope is that we made 
some progress on this issue just in the last 24 hours.
    Second, we must provide incentives for children to apply 
for asylum from their home country, not to come to the border, 
and we must reinstate the safe third-country agreements so they 
can apply there.
    Third, we should require immediate asylum adjudication at 
the border for children and families and adults. It will 
require some resources, but it is well worth it. We should not 
be releasing children to sponsors in the interior of the United 
States pending a decision. We should be making the decision at 
the border.
    We should also pass our bipartisan bill, the Responsibility 
for Unaccompanied Minors Act, to require better background 
checks and to ensure accountability to be sure HHS keeps track 
of these children who have already come in. We also need to 
pass my legislation to mandate E-Verify to reduce the jobs 
magnet which is behind all of this. The sad reality is that 
some of these children are exploited and abused, including 
being forced to work in violation of labor laws in order to pay 
off their smugglers. That this is happening right now here in 
this country is unacceptable.
    Mr. Secretary, again, I appreciate your being here today, 
and I look forward to discussing all these issues in more depth 
with you.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Portman.
    Secretary Mayorkas, it is the practice of the Homeland 
Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) to swear in 
witnesses, so if you will stand and raise your right hand. Do 
you swear that the testimony you will give before this 
Committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but 
the truth, so help you, God?
    Secretary Mayorkas. I do.
    Chairman Peters. Thank you. You may be seated.
    Secretary Mayorkas is the seventh Secretary of the 
Department of Homeland Security. Previously he served the 
Department as Deputy Secretary and as a Director of U.S. 
Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and began his 
public service at the Department of Justice (DOJ).
    Secretary, thank you again for appearing before this 
Committee, and I now recognize you for your seven minutes of 
opening remarks.

TESTIMONY OF THE HONORABLE ALEJANDRO N. MAYORKAS,\1\ SECRETARY, 
              U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

    Secretary Mayorkas. Thank you very much, Chairman Peters, 
Ranking Member Portman, and distinguished Members of the 
Committee. Good morning and thank you for the opportunity to be 
here with you today.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Mayorkas appear in the Appendix 
on page 52.
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    This hearing addresses a subject of intense focus at the 
Department of Homeland Security. We are addressing the needs of 
unaccompanied children who arrive at our Southern Border 
without a parent or legal guardian, children who have fled 
torture, persecution, extreme violence, and poverty, many who 
have crossed Mexico in the grasp of smugglers with the hope of 
reaching safety and uniting with their parent or close relative 
here in the United States. These are children, many of tender 
age.
    To address the needs of these children, we mobilize 
capabilities from our different agencies and offices. We called 
upon the dedication, expertise, and talent of the workforce of 
the Department of Homeland Security. I am privileged to speak 
with you today about the challenges we confronted, the actions 
we have taken to overcome those challenges, and the 
extraordinary results we have achieved thus far.
    First, the challenges. We began our work with systems and 
tools that the prior administration had dismantled and with 
assistance programs that had been torn down or cut short. We 
had to rebuild while at the same time addressing the surge of 
unaccompanied children that had begun in April 2020, many 
months before we took office, and our efforts had to be 
undertaken in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
    We are dedicated to an orderly, safe, and humane 
immigration system, and, therefore, we stopped the prior 
administration's policy of expelling the unaccompanied 
children. We did not turn them away.
    Because the prior administration failed to increase the 
Department of Health and Human Services' capacity to receive 
the unaccompanied children from Border Patrol stations within 
the required timeframe, children were staying in Border Patrol 
stations for too long. As I have said before, a Border Patrol 
station is no place for a child.
    In late March, more than 5,700 children were in Border 
Patrol stations, and the average length of their stay was 133 
hours. We managed the situation because of, quite simply, the 
selfless dedication, the heroism of the United States Border 
Patrol. I repeated then what I had said two weeks earlier: that 
we have a plan, that we were executing on our plan, and that it 
will take time. This is what we do, and we know how to do it.
    On March 13th, I directed our Federal Emergency Management 
Agency (FEMA), to support an all-of-government effort to assist 
HHS in transferring and sheltering the children. Then I 
directed our expert U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services 
personnel to serve as caseworkers to further support HHS, 
helping unite the children with their verified relatives here 
in the United States. Our Department's dedicated and talented 
workforce volunteered to provide further assistance.
    We also deployed our Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and his 
team's expertise, instituting COVID-19 health and safety 
protocols, and mobilizing additional medical teams, including 
those of the United States Coast Guard (USCG). It is now about 
six weeks later. On March 29th, more than 5,700 children were 
in Border Patrol stations. Two days ago, there were 455.
    On March 29th, 4,078 children were in Border Patrol 
stations, more than the maximum allowed, 72 hours. Two days 
ago, there were none.
    On March 29th, the average length of time a child spent in 
a Border Patrol station was 133 hours. Two days ago, on May 
11th, the average time was 22 hours.
    The challenge is not behind us, but the results are 
dramatic, and not only did we mobilize the talented workforce 
of the Department of Homeland Security in partnership with our 
colleagues at HHS, we have also been reengineering the process 
from start to finish and creating new efficiencies. These 
changes are reducing the time a child spends in the shelter and 
care of HHS before being united with her or his parent or legal 
guardian in the United States.
    More broadly, to effect more foundational change, our 
immigration strategy focuses on three key areas.
    First, we are addressing the root causes of migration for 
the Northern Triangle countries, addressing the reasons why 
families send their children in the first place.
    Second, we are building legal pathways for children and 
others to come to the United States if they qualify under the 
laws that Congress passed many years ago so that they do not 
think that they have to take the dangerous journey north.
    Third, we are urging you to pass immigration reform. We are 
all in agreement that the system is broken. We need to come 
together to pass the proposed legislation that fixes the broken 
system.
    Thank you again for the opportunity to be here today. I 
look forward to answering your questions.
    Chairman Peters. Thank you, Mr. Secretary, for your opening 
comments.
    I just want to be clear. As I listened to your comments, as 
you opened it up, you stated that the number of unaccompanied 
children arriving at the Southern Border started to rise in the 
second half of last year, tripling between June and December 
2020. Is that correct?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Mr. Chairman, the surge of 
unaccompanied children first began in April of last year, April 
2020, and it swelled from there.
    Chairman Peters. So could you explain how the Trump 
administration anticipated and began making preparations for 
this increased arrival? As these unaccompanied children are 
coming in, what were they doing to prepare for this trend that 
was clear last year?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Mr. Chairman, they did nothing to 
facilitate addressing the surge. What they did was they 
dismantled the tools that we had to address it, and they tore 
down the programs that could have helped alleviate the 
pressure.
    Chairman Peters. They were dismantling facilities while we 
are seeing this surge begin? That does not seem logical to me.
    Secretary Mayorkas. Mr. Chairman, in my view, it was 
antithetical to not only our values and our principles, but 
also our operational needs.
    Chairman Peters. If efforts to expand HHS shelter capacity 
had started earlier, back in the time that we are talking 
about, in the fall or the early winter, could bottlenecks that 
had led to the 5,000 children in CBP, would that have been 
avoided?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Most certainly, Mr. Chairman. In fact, 
the conditions that were depicted on photographs that troubled 
us all but two months ago, those photographs would have 
depicted a very different situation at Border Patrol stations 
had we had the capacity for throughput that the operational 
efficiency of the system is predicated upon. But we did not 
have that capacity at HHS. We did not have the shelters and the 
processes in place and the resources in place to achieve that. 
That is what we have built.
    Chairman Peters. Yes, that is what you inherited, and you 
had to work pretty quickly to try to build and expand HHS 
capacity in order to transfer minors. How can the Department's 
expertise that you are bringing to bear now, such as the FEMA 
rapid response and contracting capabilities that I know you are 
using in order to expand that capacity, how can they be better 
leveraged in the future?
    Secretary Mayorkas. I think one of the things that we are 
looking at, Mr. Chairman, is actually equipping the Department 
of Health and Human Services with a Federal workforce. It is 
right now built on a contracting architecture, reliant on 
vendors. One of the models that we are taking a look at is 
whether there can be a permanent Federal workforce and then a 
contracting architecture to address surges as they arise, 
because we all know that surges arise periodically. They arose 
in 2019. They arose in 2016, in 2014, and well before then. 
Migration is a very dynamic and fluid challenge that we have 
faced for many years.
    Chairman Peters. Mr. Secretary, I know many children arrive 
at the Southern Border with caretakers who are not their 
parents. They are separated under U.S. law from them. This 
policy was developed with child welfare in mind to ensure that 
a child is not being trafficked, a victim of trafficking, or 
otherwise being taken advantage of.
    At the same time, this policy can cause some heartbreaking 
separations even if they are temporary. Aunts can be separated 
from nephews and nieces. Grandparents can be separated from 
grandchildren. During my trip to the border last month, for 
example, I met a very young boy, who had arrived with his older 
brother, but was separated from him and being processed 
separately and, therefore, was alone.
    Do you know how many children arrive with caretakers who 
are not their parents? Do you have any numbers related to that?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Mr. Chairman, I do not have those 
numbers with me. I would welcome the opportunity to see whether 
we collect that data and circle back with you. But if I can 
make a couple points, if I may, Mr. Chairman.
    First of all, certainly I grew up in the law enforcement 
arena. I was a Federal prosecutor for 12 years, and I believe 
in enforcing the law. The law includes the humanitarian laws 
that Congress passed. Those, too, are deserving of enforcement, 
and, frankly, it is our obligation and commitment in government 
to enforce those as well. One law that the prior administration 
did not enforce was the Trafficking Victims Protection 
Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), and that is our obligation to 
enforce, and that is what we are doing.
    Second, if I may, ``Building Back Better'' is not a slogan. 
It is a mandate. It is a mandate that I am obligated to carry 
out as a member of President Biden's Cabinet. And that is 
exactly what we are doing.
    The issue that you raise is something that we are very 
carefully looking at, and not only have we brought our 
capacities, our talent, our expertise to bear to address the 
surge of unaccompanied children that started in April 2020, but 
we are taking a look at the process, the system, and how we can 
reengineer it for a better future. That reengineering has well 
begun and is underway and will continue to be executed 
consistent with the mandate that President Biden directed me to 
execute.
    Chairman Peters. The government's ability to ensure 
children are moved out of CBP facilities in a timely manner is 
dependent not only on HHS' bed capacity but also HHS' ability 
to officially release children to sponsors here in the United 
States. You have already discussed some of the ways that DHS 
has assisted HHS both in increasing bed capacity and in making 
the sponsor release process much more efficient. While I 
realize this is not specifically a DHS jurisdiction, could you 
just elaborate for the Committee on protections that remain in 
place to ensure that children are not being released into a 
dangerous situation?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Mr. Chairman, we have brought expertise 
to bear on that part of the process as well. We have dedicated 
very experienced asylum and refugee officers from U.S. 
Citizenship and Immigration Services who are expert in 
verifying the identity of individuals, and we work in tandem 
with experts from the Department of Health and Human Services 
to ensure that the individuals in whose care the children will 
be placed are qualified to be caretakers for those children. 
There is an extraordinarily important data point here. 
Approximately 40 percent of the children who come to the border 
unaccompanied have a parent or legal guardian here in the 
United States. Over 90 percent of them have relatives here in 
the United States, and that is very relevant to our 
verification responsibilities that we execute in the hands of 
expertise.
    Chairman Peters. All right. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
    Ranking Member Portman, you are recognized for your 
questions.
    Senator Portman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    I said at the outset I hope that we can kind of move on 
from the debate about the crisis and what happened and how we 
got here. I have a lot of respect for you, as you know, Mr. 
Secretary, but I am not able to sit here and not comment on 
this idea that somehow this is Donald Trump's fault. I mean, 
you can say that the Trump administration should have been 
letting children in, but you have said instead you think it was 
inhumane what they were doing by turning children away based on 
Title 42, which said basically during the COVID-19 period we 
were not going to let folks in. And so that is fine, we can 
have that debate. But you cannot say that and then also say the 
Trump administration is at fault because they did not prepare 
for the surge. You are saying they did not allow children to 
come in because they, believed that under Title 42 they should 
not come in, as well as adults and families; therefore, kids 
did not come up to the border, they did not make that arduous 
journey from Central America; and then at the same time say 
they are at fault because they did not prepare for the HHS 
facilities that they knew were necessary. They did not know 
they were necessary because the kids were not coming in.
    These are the facts. These are the charts. OK? I mean, let 
us just stipulate this so we can move on and talk about policy. 
This chart is very clear. You see where the yellow line is. 
That is the Biden administration Inauguration. Actually, I was 
generous. That yellow line should be one bar to the left. I 
gave kind of the whole situation a month to kind of percolate 
so people would know in Central America and elsewhere what was 
going on. Here is January 21st, this bar right here. Look at 
that surge. I mean, it is obvious what happened. And you have 
said it. You said they were not allowing unaccompanied kids or 
families or individuals to just come into the border and then 
go into the interior. They stopped that practice, and it had 
the intended effect. People stopped sending their kids up to 
Central America, paying smugglers, paying traffickers, those 
kids, as we have said, facing all kinds of assaults and 
exploitation.
    So, we can agree to disagree on what the policy ought to be 
going forward. I get that. But let us at least stipulate as to 
what happened here. And what happened is when the Biden 
administration came in, they made a decision. You were asked to 
implement it. I remember talking to you at the time, and you 
realized this was going to result in some real issues. But the 
thought was this is the humane way to go, let us allow these 
kids to come in. So do not blame the previous administration 
for not having facilities that they did not need because they 
did not have the surge. Again, let us look at the numbers.
    So here we are. ``What do we do?'' is the question. And for 
these kids, you had said earlier about the trauma some of them 
have faced and the difficulties that their families face in 
Central America. I get that. If I was a dad in Central America, 
I would want my kids to have a better life. As I have talked to 
children and families on the border, both on our most recent 
trip and previous trip, they all say the same thing to me, 
which is they do want their families to have a better life. 
These kids say they have come here to have the opportunity to 
have a life where they cannot just make more money but have, a 
life in the United States of America because it is a better 
place to live. I get that. I am all for legal immigration, and 
I am all for providing asylum to people who really have a 
credible fear of persecution. But what we have done instead is 
just opened the doors.
    I would make the point that those children who came in 2019 
during the last surge, I would ask you, Mr. Secretary, those 
children were allowed to come into the interior of the United 
States with sponsors. Some of those sponsors were unscrupulous, 
as we know, and we have done investigations on this and had 
hearings on this, and some of these kids were exploited. Some 
were not. But of those children who came in in 2019 who did not 
receive asylum because they did not meet the criteria for 
asylum, how many have been deported and sent back to their home 
countries?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Mr. Ranking Member, may I comment?
    Senator Portman. Yes, sir. But I would like an answer to 
that because I think it is illustrative of where we are now. 
You look at your own U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 
(ICE) deportations in the month of April. I am told they were 
at a historic low, that people are not being sent back even if 
they do not receive the asylum. Only 15 percent of individuals 
from Central America, I am told--you can correct me--are 
successfully adjudicated, in other words, successfully, having 
claimed and received asylum. And my understanding is there is 
no process in place to send those other folks back to their 
country of origin. So surely these smugglers have the 
opportunity to tell these families in Central America, ``Give 
your child to me, and that child will get into the United 
States and indefinitely will be able to stay there.''
    So that is the policy we need to look at and we need to 
change. But could I hear your answer on the 2019 surge and how 
many of those children have been sent back to their home 
country?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Mr. Ranking Member, assuredly we will 
have the opportunity to discuss the many issues that you have 
raised. It will take me quite a bit of time to answer them 
fulsomely, but I will do so in bullet point fashion as rapidly 
as possible.
    First of all, my parents brought me here to this country so 
that my sister and I could have a better life, so I am very 
familiar with the challenges that we are addressing and more 
powerfully and heartbreakingly the challenges that the parents 
are facing when they send their children to traverse Mexico to 
reach our Southern Border.
    Second, we speak of lawful pathways and support of them, 
and yet the prior administration tore those down, too. They 
tore down the Central American Minors (CAM) Program that 
provided a lawful pathway for the adjudication of children's 
rights to arrive here in the United States and stay in the 
United States under the laws that Congress passed, but that was 
torn down.
    Senator Portman. Mr. Secretary, just for a second, before 
we just continue the blame game here, how many children were 
processed over a three-year period through that program? Which 
I support, by the way, and I support reinstating it.
    Secretary Mayorkas. That program should have been built up 
rather than torn down.
    Senator Portman. How many children during the Obama 
Administration were brought in under that program?
    Secretary Mayorkas. I would be pleased to provide that 
data.
    Senator Portman. I think it is about 5,000 children. Five 
thousand children. Look at these numbers, over three years. I 
support that program. But let us not think that these are going 
to solve the problems that we face. Anyway, please continue.
    Secretary Mayorkas. That is 5,000 children that were 
expelled. Next, I do not think that the prior administration 
supported legal immigration. They threw up every obstacle 
possible to permit legal immigration.
    Fourth, the asylum system is in need of improvement. It is 
in need of strengthening, and that is precisely what we are 
dedicated to achieving. It has been a years-long challenge 
preceding the Trump administration, preceding the Obama 
Administration, that the time of adjudication of asylum claims 
is too long. We need to shorten that, but not at the expense of 
permitting individuals to develop their legitimate claims 
through the recovery from the trauma that they might have 
suffered and so many, in fact, have suffered.
    Last, with respect to our enforcement efforts, we are 
focused on enforcing the law and focusing on individuals who 
pose the greatest threat to public safety, national security, 
and border security, and that is what we are executing upon, 
just as I did as a Federal prosecutor for 12 years in a 
jurisdiction of approximately 18 million people with limited 
resources. We said we were going to allocate those resources to 
have the greatest public safety impact. I am proceeding no 
differently as the Secretary of Homeland Security.
    Chairman Peters. Thank you, Secretary Mayorkas. I 
appreciate it.
    Senator Hassan, you are recognized for your questions. I 
need to momentarily step away to the Armed Services Committee 
to ask some questions, so the gavel will be turned over to 
Senator Carper.
    Senator Hassan, you may ask your questions.

              OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR HASSAN

    Senator Hassan. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and 
Ranking Member Portman, for holding this hearing. Secretary 
Mayorkas, welcome and thank you for your service.
    I want to start with a question about interagency 
coordination. At the end of 2020, even as the number of 
unaccompanied children began increasing, HHS capacity to 
shelter children remained limited. As numbers continued to rise 
in 2021, DHS mobilized support to provide care, speed up 
processing, and stand up emergency shelters. This included key 
assistance from FEMA, which helped HHS open 14 emergency intake 
sites, as well as assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. 
Citizenship and Immigration Services.
    The surge of unaccompanied children has slowed recently 
from more than 52,000 children transported to the Office of 
Refugee Resettlement (ORR) facilities in March to approximately 
20,000 children in April.
    Secretary, given that the volume may continue to fluctuate, 
is DHS prepared to remobilize personnel and resources from FEMA 
or other parts of DHS when it is necessary?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Thank you very much, Senator. Yes, we 
are. But to something I said earlier, we are also focused upon 
building the capacity for the Department of Health and Human 
Services so that it has the resources to address its elements 
of the process of the care for young children.
    Senator Hassan. Thank you for that. But given the 
fluctuations, I just think you will need to have some 
flexibility there and supports available.
    Secretary Mayorkas. We most certainly do. We have that 
capacity, that surge capacity, if you will.
    Senator Hassan. OK.
    Secretary Mayorkas. The President has, in fact, directed an 
all-of-government effort to address that.
    Senator Hassan. Thank you. Let me turn to a different 
topic. There are several interagency and intergovernmental 
programs designed to identify threats and prevent dangerous 
people from entering our communities. These includes the Visa 
Security Program, the Refugee Admissions Program, USCIS 
processes to evaluate asylum claims, and the National Vetting 
Center (NVC) within DHS.
    Secretary Mayorkas, do you believe that any of these 
vetting programs need to be enhanced to ensure that our 
programs can identify and prevent dangerous people from 
entering the United States?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, we have tremendous vetting 
capabilities in the Department of Homeland Security and across 
the Federal enterprise. They are very strong vetting 
capabilities of which we are extremely proud and, of course, 
extremely proud of the personnel at the Department of Homeland 
Security that have developed and administer those vetting 
programs. But we never rest on what we have achieved. We are 
always looking at how everything we do can be strengthened and 
improved, and that is especially the case with our vetting 
programs, with the use of new technologies, new analytic tools, 
new sources of expertise.
    Senator Hassan. Thank you. Now I want to talk a little bit 
more about how we vet sponsors for unaccompanied children. 
Coordinated efforts between the Department of Homeland Security 
and the Department of Health and Human Services have reduced 
the time that unaccompanied children spend in government 
facilities. However, I am concerned--and you have heard it from 
other folks here this morning--about the vetting process for 
sponsors.
    For example, in the past, HHS has sometimes failed to 
recognize that people who were sponsoring multiple unrelated 
children could also perhaps be human traffickers, that when 
they do that kind of sponsorship of unrelated children, they 
could be engaged in human trafficking, or that sponsors 
hopefully failed to ensure that children appear in immigration 
court.
    I understand that HHS has primary responsibility for 
vetting sponsors, but could you explain how DHS is working with 
HHS to ensure that sponsors are appropriately vetted to prevent 
human trafficking, to ensure that children are placed in safe 
environments, and ensure that sponsors bring children into the 
immigration proceedings?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Thank you, Senator. We have achieved 
and are continuing to achieve efficiencies in the process, but 
never at the expense of the quality in our administration of 
the processes. That is quite evident in precisely the subject 
that you are focused upon, which is the vetting of the family, 
relatives, or sponsors of the unaccompanied children. It is 
precisely why we did not take from our volunteer workforce or 
our surge capacity workforce individuals unqualified to conduct 
that vetting. Quite the contrary, what we did was deploy 
experts in the vetting of individuals with respect to their 
identity and their qualifications.
    We took asylum and refugee officers who deal with these 
very issues in the hottest spots around the world and applied 
their technical expertise and experience to the vetting of the 
sponsors. We are working as hard as we can to ensure that the 
mistakes of the past are not repeated. We learn from mistakes, 
and we move forward. And that is precisely what we are doing in 
our support of the Department of Health and Human Services that 
does indeed have ultimate responsibility for that part of the 
process.
    Senator Hassan. Thank you. Medical professionals have noted 
that unaccompanied children apprehended at the border suffer 
trauma before they ever enter DHS and HHS custody, trauma from 
being separated from their loved ones, from being in the 
company of strangers, or even from mental or physical abuse 
prior to or during the journey to the United States. In a 
briefing to the Committee, officials stated that DHS and HHS 
were focused on building trauma-informed procedures.
    Secretary Mayorkas, could you tell the Committee about what 
DHS has done and what you further plan to do to address trauma 
experienced by children before they are in custody and to 
reduce trauma experienced by children while they are in 
custody?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, we cannot overstate the trauma 
that some of these children have endured. It speaks to, on the 
one hand, the cruelty of some, but it also speaks poignantly of 
the resilience of the human spirit. It is remarkable what these 
children have gone through, but how they can see a better day 
ahead.
    It is our responsibility, it is the responsibility of 
humanity, to address the needs of these children, and what we 
have done with our Chief Medical Officer, an extraordinarily 
talented and dedicated individual, Dr. Pritesh Gandhi, is to 
see what these children have gone through, what their needs 
are, and to bring that health professional counseling at the 
earliest possible time in our operational processes and the 
Department of Health and Human Services and their expertise in 
this area, to bring those resources to bear so that it exists 
throughout the period. One thing, why we speak of efficiency 
but not at the expense of quality, is sometimes it takes an 
individual time to work through the trauma they have suffered 
and articulate the claim for relief that they have legitimately 
under the laws that we have passed. We are very mindful of 
that.
    Senator Hassan. Thank you very much, and thank you, Senator 
Carper.

              OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR CARPER

    Senator Carper [Presiding.] Senator Hassan, thank you for 
those questions. It is not every day that a former Chairman of 
this Committee is asked by the current Chairman and Ranking 
Member of this Committee to preside and to recognize another 
former Chairman of this Committee to ask questions of a former 
Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. It is 
great to see you again, and, my friend, you are recognized.

              OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR JOHNSON

    Senator Johnson. Unprecedented. Thank you, Senator Carper. 
This does feel like old times back in 2014, a little deja-vu. 
You have the gavel, I am sitting next to you, and we are in the 
midst of a crisis at the border, even though some are denying 
it.
    I know during my chairmanship in hearings where we were 
always going through the problem-solving process, I would often 
say the first step in solving any problem is admitting you have 
one. And it just does seem like we are in an utter state of 
denial.
    I have a chart,\1\ a little bit different than Senator 
Portman's. His is children. I have total apprehensions at the 
border. It shows clearly--it is galling, quite honestly, to 
hear that this is a crisis inherited by this administration. 
The Chairman is saying that the numbers are decreasing, the 
situation is improving, the surge started in April 2020. To the 
extent that we had any surge in 2020, it is because Democrat 
Presidential candidates were saying we are not going to deport 
anybody and we are going to give everybody free health care. 
That was an incentive; that was a pull factor.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ The chart referenced by Senator Johnson appears in the Appendix 
on page 63.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    But it is very clear what has been happening. The crisis in 
2018, 2019, we had probably a little over 4,000 apprehensions 
per day. We have for the last four or five weeks been close to 
6,000 per day. In 2014, we were dealing with around 2,000 per 
day. This is unprecedented what is happening here.
    When you talk about the Trump administration dismantling 
things, what they did is they ended catch and release. They 
ended the enormous incentive for people to come into this 
country and exploit our very generous asylum laws.
    Mr. Secretary, real quick, isn't it true that when cases 
are actually adjudicated on asylum, about 90 percent of them 
are denied?
    Secretary Mayorkas. I do not believe that is true, and----
    Senator Johnson. What is the real percentage then?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I do not have the data right 
before me, but I am very happy----
    Senator Johnson. OK. Please get that for me.
    Let me ask you, have you done a cost study on how much 
money the taxpayers will waste, that is going to be expended by 
not honoring the contracts to build the final 250 miles of 
wall? Have you figured out how much that is going to cost the 
American taxpayer and get no wall built?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I certainly have taken a look 
at the expenses that were incurred in building the wall and, in 
my opinion, how much waste was caused by that construction 
when, in fact, we could have leveraged innovation of new 
technologies that prove far more effective in securing the 
border.
    Senator Johnson. OK. I know you are in the state of denial, 
but let us go back to my chart here. What the Trump 
administration did is they ended the incentives, so they put in 
place Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP). Then they quite 
honestly threatened some tariffs to get cooperation from 
Mexico. That is that line right there, and you can see it 
worked. Add to that the imposition of Title 42. We pretty well 
stopped a robust surge of illegal immigration at the border, 
and that was pretty much in effect--again, it started ramping 
up when Democratic Presidential started talking about open 
borders and free health care. This is President Biden's 
Inauguration. Here is the surge.
    Let me talk about real numbers, too. At the height of the 
surge in May 2018, it was about a little over 7,000 
unaccompanied children per month. In March 2020, right here, 
that had dropped to about 3,000. After Title 42, it dropped 
down to 741 per month. That was the low point. In March of this 
year, almost 19,000. Last month, in April, 17,000 unaccompanied 
children. Those are the numbers. We can talk about, percentages 
and tripling the number since April, but here is the problem. 
There is the surge. And it is undeniable, and yet you are 
denying it.
    This is as close to open borders as we could possibly have. 
Don't you think that is going to be even more of a pull factor?
    Secretary Mayorkas. May I have a minute to answer your 
question?
    Senator Johnson. Again, is that going to be a pull factor 
or not?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator----
    Senator Johnson. That is kind of a yes-or-no answer.
    Secretary Mayorkas. You have asked a few questions.
    Senator Johnson. No, I have not really asked a question. So 
let me ask you some questions. I want to go back to----
    Secretary Mayorkas. If I may----
    Senator Johnson. I want to talk about the February 18th 
interim guidance to all ICE employees in terms of carrying out 
enforcement removal priorities. First of all, was there any 
analysis regarding how the new priorities would impact crime 
and public safety before that guidance was issued?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Yes.
    Senator Johnson. Can you provide us those documents of that 
analysis?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I have worked for 12 years as 
a Federal prosecutor. I have been in the immigration----
    Senator Johnson. No, would you provide us those documents? 
Will you provide me those documents of that analysis?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator----
    Senator Johnson. Yes or no?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Yes, I will.
    Senator Johnson. OK. Thank you.
    Was there any consultation or coordination with States 
regarding how the new guidelines would impact law enforcement 
and public safety?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, one of the things that I have 
articulated in the promulgation of the guidelines that I will 
execute is that I will engage with the workforce of Immigration 
and Customs Enforcement----
    Senator Johnson. No. The question is: Did you engage and 
coordinate with State governments prior to that guidance being 
issued? Yes or no?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I do not know what engagement 
preceded me. I took office in February----
    Senator Johnson. OK. Can you check? And if there was, can 
you provide me that documentation?
    Finally, talking about States----
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator----
    Senator Johnson. Again, we are running out of time. I do 
not want long answers. As local law enforcement is apprehending 
and holding illegal immigrants that they have flagged for 
removal--OK? So we have that group of people. Is ICE issuing 
detainers on every one of those individuals that local law 
enforcement is holding and that are flagging for removal?
    Secretary Mayorkas. I am sure they are not, nor should they 
be.
    Senator Johnson. Can you tell me what percentage they would 
be issuing detainers on?
    Secretary Mayorkas. I do not have that percentage, and I 
will get that to you as well.
    Senator Johnson. OK, good. Thank you.
    My final question then is--because I was shocked when we 
were at the border. I have heard the word--we have become more 
efficient. Yes, you have become more efficient at apprehending, 
processing, and dispersing. I was shocked when we went down to 
the border and said that the guidelines for CBP is to literally 
process people in 8 hours and disperse them, get them out of 
CBP custody and send them all over the country.
    I was also shocked to find out that we are not issuing 
notices to appear (NTA). What percentage of people are we 
dispersing around this country that do not even have a notice 
to appear?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, the individuals who arrive at 
our border and are placed in the interior are subject to 
immigration proceedings, and they receive a notice to appear.
    Senator Johnson. So 100 percent are receiving a notice to 
appear. That is your testimony?
    Secretary Mayorkas. The policy of our administration is 
that each individual is placed into immigration proceedings and 
receives a notice----
    Senator Johnson. So you are not aware that CBP has been 
directed not to provide notice to appear as they are dispersing 
people into the interior? That is your testimony?
    Secretary Mayorkas. That is my testimony because the 
process is that U.S. Customs and Border Protection issues a 
notice to appear, and if, in fact, they are operationally not 
able to do so, the individual receives a notice to appear at an 
Immigration and Customs Enforcement office. Individuals in the 
interior are placed in immigration proceedings in accordance 
with enforcement law, period.
    Senator Johnson. I will be following up that with other 
information we have gotten. Thank you.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Secretary Mayorkas. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, may I make a 
couple points that I did not have the opportunity to make 
because I did not have an opportunity----
    Chairman Peters [Presiding.] Yes, it is important to have 
these questions answered, so you may continue, Mr. Secretary.
    Secretary Mayorkas. One of the things the Trump 
administration did was separate children from their parents, 
and they ripped sons and daughters out of the hands of fathers 
and mothers and said they would never see each other again. 
That is one of the things. Maybe that worked, and maybe it did 
not. But I will tell you what it did not work for, is the 
values and principles of this country. No. 1.
    Senator Romney. This is not a hearing about the Trump 
administration. This is a hearing about the current 
administration.
    Chairman Peters. Secretary, you may answer the question as 
you see fit. Let us have an open forum to discuss the issues 
before us. You may continue, Mr. Secretary.
    Senator Romney. Will we have enough time for----
    Secretary Mayorkas. No. 2----
    Senator Romney [continuing]. Questions from the Senators, 
to ask questions?
    Chairman Peters. You can have questions, but your questions 
take up the full seven minutes. We would certainly like to have 
the Secretary have an opportunity to answer these questions, 
Senator.
    You may continue, Secretary.
    Secretary Mayorkas. The only additional thing I will say is 
that our----
    Senator Johnson. I did not ask that question, by the way.
    Senator Romney. That is not a question.
    Senator Johnson. I did not ask that question.
    Chairman Peters. If you could answer the questions as they 
were asked, I would appreciate it, Mr. Secretary.
    Senator Johnson. I did not ask that question.
    Secretary Mayorkas. The only other thing I would say is 
that our enforcement efforts are focused on smart and effective 
enforcement that delivers the greatest public safety 
consequence. Thank you.
    Chairman Peters. Thank you.
    Senator Rosen, you are recognized for your questions.

               OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR ROSEN

    Senator Rosen. Thank you, Chairman Peters, Ranking Member 
Portman, for holding this important hearing.
    Secretary Mayorkas, I really want to take this moment to 
thank you, commend you for your compassion and for your 
leadership navigating this critical moment personally, 
professionals, and for the families that are going through 
this. Before I ask my question, I will allow you to use some of 
my time. If you have anything additional you would like to say, 
you can take that, and then I can go into my questions. 
Otherwise, I can go straight in. Mr. Secretary?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Thank you very much for that courtesy, 
Senator. I look forward to your questions.
    Senator Rosen. OK. Thank you.
    I really just want to talk about, building on what Senator 
Hassan talked about, child welfare and child welfare 
professionals. Children in CBP custody, there are poor 
conditions, and the treatment has not been good. I worked with 
the last administration trying to develop a plan to bring child 
welfare professionals to all CBP facilities. Unfortunately, the 
previous administration ignored my requests.
    And so to follow up on some of the recommendations proposed 
by child welfare advocates, are CBP facilities currently 
staffed with medical professionals with pediatric experience 
and child welfare professionals to provide those other wrap-
around services that these children who are experiencing trauma 
or other issues, as Senator Hassan brought up? Do you have 
those folks at facilities?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, we do have individuals with 
those capabilities and that expertise at Border Patrol 
stations. Of course, in March, when we experienced such a great 
surge, we did not have the ratio that was optimal. Our focus 
has been on moving the children out of the Border Patrol 
station as rapidly as possible to ensure that they are in the 
shelter and care of the Department of Health and Human Services 
that does indeed have a greater level of that expertise, as 
appropriately should be the case.
    Senator Rosen. Thank you. I want to build on that when we 
were working with the prior administration, and they were not 
really listening to what we were trying to ask them to do. Do 
non-governmental organization (NGOs) currently have access to 
CBP facilities to assist and augment any care or programming 
that these children might need? The prior administration was 
not allowing that as well.
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, there is some access, and that 
is one thing that we are taking a close look at, because, of 
course, when we were experiencing the greatest challenge, there 
were operational capacity issues with respect to providing that 
access. But we believe that that access will strengthen the 
efficiency of the system in all regards, and it is one of the 
areas that we are keenly focused on as we are improving and 
strengthening the process from beginning to end.
    Senator Rosen. Thank you. I am going to move on. I know 
Senator Johnson talked about Title 42, and so I am pleased that 
the Biden administration took immediate actions to reverse 
several of the previous administration's cruel and misguided 
policies. I do remain concerned about the continuation of Title 
42, that policy that the Trump administration used to expel 
migrants across the board, including children and families 
desperately attempting to come here for our asylum process.
    And so are you concerned that Title 42 could still be a new 
source of family separation? It is so painful and making 
migrant parents make that painful decision to separate from 
their children in order for them to find safety in the United 
States. What is DHS doing to mitigate the risk of family 
separation while Title 42 is still in place?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, we are certainly hearing 
anecdotally that some families self-separate to allow their 
children to enter the United States unaccompanied. That speaks 
to the trauma that these families have endured and their 
desperation to give their children a better life. Our exercise 
of Title 42 is the exercise of a public health authority to 
protect the American public with respect to COVID-19, as well 
as the migrants themselves. It is an exercise of authority that 
rests with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
(CDC). The issue that your question addresses is something that 
we are keenly focused upon.
    Senator Rosen. Thank you. I know the prior administration 
as well when they were separating families, we are still 
concerned that the recordkeeping was not, I guess I will say, 
``adequate.'' That is how we will put that, lightly and 
diplomatically. I want to be sure that if families are self-
separating, if there is separating going on, that we know where 
children go, where their parents go, because I never want to 
hear a story that some child could never find their parents 
again or do not know who they are. So can you let us know that 
you are doing that and how you are doing that, because that is 
keenly important to us.
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I look forward to following up 
with you. I appreciate it.
    Senator Rosen. Thank you. One last thing on Title 42. We 
know that, of course, because of COVID that lies not within 
your Department. Do you anticipate with the vaccines becoming 
more available that Title 42 might be rescinded soon? Do you 
have anything that you would like to bring up about that for 
us?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I do not have a timetable. As 
I sit here today, I know that the Center for Disease Control 
looks at the public health landscape in determining whether its 
authorities need to continue to be exercised, and its 
responsibility is to look at that public health imperative and 
make that decision, and that falls within its jurisdiction.
    Senator Rosen. In my last 30 seconds, I will take the 
responses to these off the record, but we know that some 
migrants were removed by a tent court process. They really were 
not given a fair process. Are you considering allowing those 
individuals to re-present their cases? Some of those cases also 
that were in the MPP program that remain in Mexico, they were 
closed. Are you considering opening these tent courts and these 
MPP cases? I will take those off the record to allow the next 
Senator to speak.
    Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Rosen.
    Senator Lankford, you are recognized for your questions.

             OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR LANKFORD

    Senator Lankford. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Secretary 
Mayorkas, thanks for being here.
    The last time you were here, several months ago during the 
process of the nomination, I asked you about the border wall. 
You said you were studying that. I understand the 
administration called for a study that was completed the 21st 
of March. None of us have seen the results of that study, 
though there was a press release that came out of your office 
saying that we are now protecting the border communities from 
the wall at this point.
    When I was down at the border area--you have been down 
there as well a couple of times; thanks for doing that--in 
Arizona, this is what I saw.\1\ The day that border wall 
construction stopped, miles and miles of wall with the gates 
incomplete, this seems to be the status that we are still at. 
This is nonsensical. As you know, the Border Patrol now has to 
park a vehicle right there next to that gap because on the 
other side of this fence is a city of 450,000 people on the 
Arizona--from the Arizona side into Mexico.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ The picture of border wall appears in the Appendix on page 64.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    So my question to you is: What is the result of the study 
on the border wall completion? There is $1.4 million that was 
passed with a bipartisan majority last year that is in the law 
to be able to complete this. Where is this going?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Thank you, Senator. Two things, if I 
may.
    Number one, we have committed to finishing the levees as 
well as addressing the erosion of land under roads adjacent to 
the wall as two public health imperatives. We have made that 
decision, and we are studying the very issue that you identify 
here about how are we going to address, what is the most 
effective way to address gates and the completion of gates as 
well as the closing of gaps. That is something that is under 
review now.
    Senator Lankford. So this requires a review to be able to 
evaluate if you should just hang the gate when the steel is 
sitting right there, if that should be complete?
    Secretary Mayorkas. The review is indeed underway.
    Senator Lankford. What would be the challenge here? I would 
tell you people in my State and myself included, when I went 
and looked at it, I do not understand what needs a review to be 
able to evaluate if you just have to be able to close the gate, 
especially when the law already has set aside those dollars and 
it is already there.
    Let me follow up on a couple of things. You have given 
testimony about the notice to appear. We understand there have 
been 19,000 individuals that have crossed the border this 
calendar year that were not given a notice to appear. Are you 
saying that is incorrect?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I am not aware of that number, 
but let me, if I may, say that it is our policy to issue a 
notice to appear to individuals who are permitted entry into 
the United States to make their claim. Ideally, they are issued 
the notice to appear at the Border Patrol station. If we are 
not able to do that, the objective is to issue them a notice to 
appear at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office to 
which they are directed.
    There was a time when we were unable to issue certain 
notices to appear and placed those individuals immediately in 
immigration proceedings. But our policy----
    Senator Lankford. So our understanding is from being down 
in Texas, in Arizona, talking to some of the folks on the 
ground, we have the number of 19,000 individuals have been 
released into the country without a notice to appear. They are 
told to go to an ICE office wherever they are going in the 
country to self-report at the ICE office, basically turn 
themselves in there are ICE, and ask for a notice to appear. Do 
you know of any that have actually done that? Of the 19,000 
that have been asked to do that, how many have actually done 
that?
    Secretary Mayorkas. I can get that number to you because we 
have seen a high rate, and I should say that individuals who do 
not appear are a priority of ours for apprehension in the 
service of border security.
    Senator Lankford. I understand those were family units that 
are coming in, or it is a parent with a child, at least one 
child at that point, and they are told to be able to do that. 
The notices to appear that are being given out right now, do 
they comply with the previous Supreme Court orders that had 
been done to be able to make sure that they are consistent and 
they will stand up under the rule of law?
    Secretary Mayorkas. I believe they do, and I will confirm 
that, Senator.
    Senator Lankford. Please do, because we have several 
Supreme Court rulings recently that have given greater clarity 
to those NTAs, and I want to make sure that we are actually not 
giving out something that will violate the Court in that.
    Speaking of court, there was a court order that was done 
from Drew Tipton about the 100-day moratorium that was 
announced to not deport individuals even if a court had said 
they have a final order of removal. The Biden administration 
announced that. The Federal court in Texas immediately said, 
no, you cannot just do that. In the meantime, since that has 
occurred, if I am tracking these numbers correctly, ICE 
removals have fallen anyway by 50 percent from January to April 
of this year and by 70 percent from October to April of this 
year.
    I want to ask you, are you complying with the Federal court 
order that ruled that you cannot just stop, you have to 
continue to be able to remove people that have a final order of 
removal?
    Secretary Mayorkas. We are complying with the court order, 
Senator. The policy was promulgated at the outset that there 
would be a pause on removals to enable the administration to 
review the policies. The court did, in fact, enjoin that pause, 
and the pause was indeed lifted, and new guidelines were 
issued.
    Senator Lankford. That is a pretty stark drop in removals, 
though, that has already happened this year.
    Also, the policy seems to be for ICE removals and for 
enforcement priorities that--it seems to me pretty high 
criteria at this point for removal of individuals, and if they 
are not on the predetermined list to be able to be removed, 
they have to go get permission in advance to be able to remove 
someone. ICE informed my staff on April 8th of this year that 
enforcement action directed at sex offenders that do not meet 
the aggregated felony criteria will require preapproval from 
the field office director or special agent in charge (SAC).
    So my question is about this. Can you share with us today 
the number of sex offenders that ICE has declined to deport 
this year because they did not meet that criteria?
    Secretary Mayorkas. It is my view that individuals who 
commit sex offenses should be apprehended and removed.
    Senator Lankford. Why is there a special request to get 
preapproval before you actually address that?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, allow me to explain the 
process, because I have yet to issue my enforcement and removal 
priorities, and I intend to do so after engaging with the ICE 
workforce, hearing from our personnel on the front lines, as 
well as other stakeholders.
    Senator Lankford. I would say there is a real concern about 
the additional hoops that people have to go through which seems 
to discourage them, and we see that in the numbers, a 50-
percent drop.
    Let me ask about Title 42, because when I was at the 
border, that was a major concern of folks on what to do on 
Title 42. You and I spoke about this the last time that you 
were here saying that you are going to study it and try to 
examine what to do on this. There is a significant number of 
people--in fact, of the 178,000 people that were encountered at 
the border last month, 111,000, almost 112,000 of them were 
turned around due to Title 42. The question is: How are you 
examining, what is your criteria for dropping Title 42? What is 
your plan? Because if you drop Title 42 at this point, there 
are 112,000 more people that are actually engaging across the 
border.
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, Title 42 is the CDC's public 
health authority.
    Senator Lankford. Correct.
    Secretary Mayorkas. It is not a tool of immigration. It is 
a tool of public health. Therefore, the use of Title 42 will be 
governed by the CDC's analysis of the public health imperative.
    Senator Lankford. But is the public health imperative in 
Mexico or in the United States?
    Secretary Mayorkas. It is the public health imperative with 
respect to the protection of the American people.
    Senator Lankford. So that would be where they are coming 
from, if they are coming across the border from Mexico, the 
health status there?
    Secretary Mayorkas. I cannot speak to the precise analysis 
that the CDC undertakes, and I would be very happy to follow up 
with that.
    Senator Lankford. Please do.
    Mr. Chairman, thank you for the additional time. This is a 
very important issue that we started a couple of months ago 
that we still have to get clarity on how that is going to be 
handled, because this is a very serious issue of how those 
individuals that are currently being returned, what happens 
next? Thank you.
    Secretary Mayorkas. Thank you, Senator.
    Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Lankford.
    Senator Romney, you are recognized for your questions.

              OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR ROMNEY

    Senator Romney. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    I must admit that I have found this hearing to be stunning 
in that it seems, Mr. Secretary, that you are proud of the 
progress being made by the administration, that things are 
going well at the border. I look at this chart\1\ that was 
prepared by Senator Johnson, and I see an extraordinary crisis. 
I mean, do you recognize this as an alarming crisis?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ The chart submitted by Senator Johnson appears in the Appendix 
on page 63.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I look at immigration as a 
challenge that has been persistent for many years----
    Senator Romney. Of course, but we were running along here, 
and now we are seeing apprehensions at the border that have 
skyrocketed. As alarming, perhaps even more so, is the chart\2\ 
that came from Senator Portman, which is unaccompanied children 
who are being let into the country, an explosion. Is this not a 
massive failure that would suggest that the administration 
needs to take immediate action to remedy what we are seeing 
here?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ The chart submitted by Senator Portman appears in the Appendix 
on page 60.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, we have taken immediate action 
with respect to the unaccompanied children, and we have made--
--
    Senator Romney. Is the number coming down?
    Secretary Mayorkas. We are addressing that challenge with 
increasing efficiency every single day.
    Senator Romney. Increasing efficiency to get them moved to 
other parts of the country and with families and out of these 
crowded facilities. I understand that. I am delighted that we 
are not having kids sleeping on floors and in cages. But the 
number coming into our country and being released into our 
country is at a skyrocketed level, as is this. The question is: 
Do you have plans to do something dramatically different such 
that those numbers come down to an acceptable level? Because 
you can imagine this overwhelms our Border Patrol agents. If 
they have numbers like this they are dealing with, this means 
that the drug cartels can be smuggling through drugs because 
our folks are taking care of kids, they are taking care of 
people coming in illegally.
    Do we have plans to dramatically address what is happening 
here?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Two points, if I may, Senator, both of 
which are extremely important. The laws of our country provide 
certain procedures and certain rights for children who arrive 
unaccompanied and have claims of asylum, who claim fear of 
persecution by reason of their membership in a particular 
social group, so----
    Senator Romney. I understand that.
    Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. We have an obligation----
    Senator Romney. But we were turning those kids away under 
Title 42, and the new administration came in and said we will 
not turn them away, we will let them come in. I presume as a 
result of that the numbers went through the roof.
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, we are addressing the numbers 
consistent with the law under the Trafficking Victims----
    Senator Romney. Well, propose a new law. I mean, we have a 
crisis both for children--I mean, you talk about the 
humanitarian concerns of kids that come here, and I understand, 
we have addressed that----
    Secretary Mayorkas. These are children.
    Senator Romney [continuing]. You are addressing that. They 
are children. Think of them coming here all the way from 
Honduras. Think of the trial of going across the entire country 
of Mexico to get here, and then not being able to come into the 
country.
    Yes, let us put this up.
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator----
    Senator Romney. I mean, this is a crisis for children. The 
fact that these kids are coming here making that kind of 
journey, and they are not going to be allowed to stay in this 
country.
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, if I may, we are the United 
States of America. Ninety percent of these children have a 
parent or legal guardian in the United States, and they have a 
claim of fear of persecution----
    Senator Romney. So this is not a problem then? Your view is 
that this is the way it is going to be.
    Secretary Mayorkas. If I may, Senator, they have a claim 
under the law for humanitarian relief, either a claim of asylum 
or their claim for special immigrant juvenile status. And we 
can, in fact, meet the challenge of humanitarian----
    Senator Romney. What I find astonishing, Mr. Chairman, is 
that we have the Secretary responsible for securing our border 
and our immigration system who does not recognize these charts 
as being a problem, and there are human beings behind these 
numbers, and is not saying, hey, we have to make some changes 
immediately. I find that extraordinary and extremely damning.
    Secretary Mayorkas. No, I----
    Senator Romney. Let me turn to a different topic, and that 
is, some years ago immigration was, well, if you will, the 
huddled masses yearning to be free, and we were encountering 
people who wanted to come to this country, and we were able to 
offer them hope for a better life.
    Today, increasingly, much of what we are seeing here is a 
result of cartels that have learned how to take advantage of 
current law in the United States to defeat our systems and not 
provide the people that are being brought here the opportunity 
that they were seeking.
    I think there is an urgent need to rethink our immigration 
system to make sure that we recognize we are dealing with a 
different circumstance in many cases than we were before. A 
discussion of root causes, we need to address the root causes 
in Latin America, gosh, we have root causes in our own country. 
We have challenges here we cannot solve that we have been 
working on for years. The countries around the world who have 
problems, we cannot solve all the problems of the world, let 
alone the problems in Latin America and the problems here in 
our country.
    Do you agree with this, that we have to focus on enforcing 
our border, finishing the border barrier, using the 
technology--by the way, if it is technology, use technology, 
but somehow deal with this in an urgent and aggressive manner.
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, we are indeed focused on 
securing our border and, in fact, using technology is the most 
effective or one of the most effective ways of doing it, first.
    Second, I do agree with you that we do need change in the 
law, and that is precisely why I hope that Congress does indeed 
pass immigration reform.
    Third, these are people yearning to be free, and what the 
cartels do, unfortunately, is too often control the means by 
which they arrive, not the reasons why they flee and why they 
seek relief, humanitarian relief in the United States under the 
laws that Congress passed many years ago.
    Senator Romney. You indicated the last time we were 
together that you would study E-Verify. Senator Portman and I, 
among others, have proposed a mandatory E-Verify system in our 
country. Do you believe that is a good idea? Florida is using 
that effectively. Should we have an E-Verify system for our 
country that is mandatory?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I believe in E-Verify. I think 
it is an effective tool. Its effectiveness grew under my 
administration as the Director of U.S. Citizenship and----
    Senator Romney. Should it be mandatory so businesses are 
required to check the legal status of people they are hiring?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Whether it should or should not be 
mandatory is actually something that I have not yet determined.
    Senator Romney. I will look forward to that determination. 
Thank you.
    Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Romney.
    I have a quick question, because I think we should know 
this in the Committee. Senator Romney talked about the number 
of apprehensions that are occurring right now. That chart, if 
you could help me, because when I was down on the border, I 
understand that we are apprehending a lot of folks from Mexico, 
single adults who are coming across. They are being expelled 
from the country, but then they come back in a few days. You 
catch them; they go back. Is that reflected in those numbers? 
Give some clarity to us if you have an opportunity to see that 
chart.
    Secretary Mayorkas. It is very difficult for me to see, and 
forgive me, with my diminishing vision. But I do understand 
your question. What is likely measured is the number of 
encounters, and the number of encounters probably includes a 
great deal of duplication because there is recidivism. When an 
individual is expelled under Title 42, a single adult, we have 
seen that same individual return only to be expelled again, and 
that is one of the things that we are looking at in terms of a 
consequence regime.
    Senator Johnson. Mr. Chairman, I have all the numbers. I 
would like to enter them in the record. In the second round of 
questioning, I will spout some of those things off. OK?
    Chairman Peters. That is fine.
    Senator Carper, you are recognized for your questions.
    Senator Carper. Thanks. Mr. Secretary, thank you so much 
for joining us and for your past service to our country and 
your current service and your leadership.
    Would you like to take a minute of time to respond to any 
questions that you did not have a chance to respond to?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Thank you for the opportunity. I look 
forward to your questions, Senator.
    Senator Carper. All right. Thanks. A number of us have had 
the privilege of traveling to the Northern Triangle countries--
Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador--repeatedly in bipartisan 
groups. I hope to be part of one of those later this year and 
look forward to some of the Members of this Committee joining 
at that time.
    I want to remind you of Scripture: When I was a stranger in 
your land, did you welcome me?
    We are reminded in the Flores decision, which actually 
reflects and mirrors, I think, very much the message in Matthew 
25. I think Matthew 25 is a moral obligation that we have to 
the least of these, including people who are trying to escape 
violence and crime and corruption and lack of opportunity, 
which we are implicit in. We are implicit in by virtue of our 
addiction to illegal drugs that are trafficked through these 
countries. We are implicit in their misery. The question is: 
What are we going to do about it? I would suggest that what we 
do about it is walk and chew gum at the same time.
    We have some charts\1\ here that indicate what has been 
going on at CBP in terms of how long we are holding kids and so 
forth. Let us see. Average number of hours children in CBP 
custody. What was it on March 28th? A hundred and three hours. 
What was it on May the 11th? Twenty-six hours in CBP custody. 
That is a reduction of 80 percent. That is improvement.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ The chart referenced by Senator Carper appears in the Appendix 
on page 61.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Do you have another chart? Number of children in CBP 
custody on March 28th, 5,767 children were in CBP custody, 
almost 6,000. May 10th, what is that? Two days ago. We had 455 
children in CBP custody. That is a reduction of 92 percent. 
That is an improvement. That is a marked improvement. I just 
want to say to you but particularly the folks at CBP that the 
Department of Health and Human Services, whose work is making 
this possible, good work.
    If we want to do something about these charts we have been 
shown by our colleagues with the most recent surge, we can do 
something about that, my friends. We can do something about 
that. Three primary reasons why people are coming out of these 
countries to try to get up here: No. 1, lack of opportunity and 
hope; No. 2, crime and violence; No. 3, corruption.
    We created something called the ``Alliance for Prosperity'' 
a number of years ago, the idea that we would put money into 
fighting those three ills: crime and violence, corruption, lack 
of economic opportunity. The idea was that we would provide 
some money and in return each of these countries would provide 
money, a lot more than we were going to provide.
    No. 2 was try to leverage money from other countries to 
help out in these three areas, to leverage money from NGO's, to 
work and focus on these three areas.
    The most recent trip I took was down to the border with a 
congressional delegation (CODEL) about a month ago, and we saw 
some indication that this kind of progress could be realized. I 
just want to take my hat off to the CBP folks, the men and 
women who are down on the border doing this work every day. I 
just want to take my hat off to the folks from HHS who are 
taking the hand-off and trying to do difficult work, important 
work, but in compliance with Flores.
    Let me ask, Mr. Secretary, how important is it--and then I 
am going to ask you to be very brief in your responses. We have 
not had a U.S. Ambassador to Honduras for four years. Four 
years, no confirmed U.S. Ambassador to Honduras for four years. 
We do not have a confirmed U.S. Ambassador in El Salvador right 
now. We have a pretty good Ambassador--I talked to him just 
this past week, highly regarded. I think he is doing a good 
job. But if we want to do something about changing these 
numbers, why don't we confirm--why don't we get from this new 
administration--they have had a chance to get their feet wet 
now. We need them to nominate career Ambassadors, and we need 
to hold speedy hearings, vet them, and vote them up or down. I 
think one of the best things we can do is put in place career 
Ambassadors with Senate confirmation, Senate support, as much 
as anything. We need to make sure that they are surrounded by 
terrific staff in the embassies in Honduras, Guatemala, and El 
Salvador. They need to be the counterbalance to all the thugs 
and the crooks and the criminals down there that are using drug 
money that we provide to continue to screw up those countries. 
That is the first thing we can do.
    The second thing we can do, and I think here is my 
question. I actually am going to ask a question. The ability 
for the young people or not so young people to apply for asylum 
within their own country, at our embassies, at our consulates, 
is that something that we are doing a satisfactory job and 
doing? If not, is there something that we on our side need to 
make that possible?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Thank you very much, Senator Carper. We 
are very focused on that. As I articulated at the very outset 
in my opening remarks, we have a three-pronged approach: to 
address the root causes, to build legal pathways, and to 
advocate for, with the hope that Congress will pass, 
immigration reform. And with respect to that second prong, I 
think that is what your question goes to, the building of legal 
pathways. If we can, in fact, adjudicate claims in the 
countries of origin or in truly safe places, then we will spare 
children the perilous journey north.
    Senator Carper. Why is it important for the Congress to 
take up and actually debate and pass comprehensive immigration 
reform? Why is that important in this debate today?
    Secretary Mayorkas. I think we all agree, the one thing 
that there is unanimity about is the fact that our current 
system is absolutely broken, and we can provide fixes through 
the legislation that has been proposed and is pending.
    Senator Carper. Let me say to my colleagues, I am not 
surprised but disappointed with the tenor of this hearing 
today. There is a problem here that needs to be addressed. 
There are a bunch of problems that need to be addressed, and 
our pointing fingers at one another and one administration or 
the other, that is not going to solve the problems. There are 
some things we can do and need to do, and if we will follow up 
and work together across the aisle and with this new 
administration, we could make great progress. We can turn this 
around. I want to do that. I want to do it with all of you.
    Thank you.
    Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Carper. I think 
hopefully all of us will come together because these are 
serious issues that we need to deal with.
    Senator Scott, you are recognized for your questions.

               OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR SCOTT

    Senator Scott. Hi, Secretary.
    Secretary Mayorkas. Good morning.
    Senator Scott. First off, I am appreciative that you are 
trying to do your job with compassion. I do not think any of 
this is easy, and I think everybody that is involved in border 
security is having a very difficult time.
    I had the opportunity to go down to the Arizona border with 
Governor Ducey, and when I went, what actually shocked me was 
we did an aerial tour and they had the wall, and you have heard 
all the stories--Senator Lankford brought it up--that they just 
did not put up the gates. They just stopped. I mean, you 
cannot--if you talk to people around the country, they look at 
that and say, ``Why would that happen?'' And, a lot of have 
said we need to use new technology. They had the lights and 
cameras up. And you talk to Border Patrol; they just did not 
electrify it. They just stopped. Right after January 20th, they 
just stopped.
    When you look at this, you say there is no logic to this, 
right? I know we want to be a compassionate country, and we are 
a compassionate country, but we also have drugs come across our 
border. We have people that do--sometimes criminals come across 
the border, and we have wonderful people who want to come here 
and live our dreams.
    When you and I talked before your confirmation, one thing 
you committed to me is you were always going to enforce the 
law. Do you believe that you and your agency are enforcing the 
existing laws?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Yes, we are.
    Senator Scott. All right. There is none that you have any 
concern are not being enforced?
    Secretary Mayorkas. I believe that we are enforcing the 
laws in a smart and effective way, and, actually, we will do so 
smarter and more effectively as the days and weeks progress. I 
am very focused on that, and I am looking forward to actually 
meeting with the ICE workforce in the coming days to hear from 
them as front-line personnel to learn of their experiences, to 
inform the guidelines that I intend to promulgate.
    Senator Scott. So you have seen this chart, the 
unbelievable increase in apprehensions, and also the chart that 
showed how many unaccompanied minors. Are you disappointed that 
President Biden and Vice President Harris have not taken the 
time to come to the border to see firsthand what a lot of us 
have seen, that there is clearly a crisis, that we have to--and 
you have said there are things we have to address. Are you 
disappointed that President Biden and Vice President Harris 
have not taken the time to come to the border?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Absolutely not. What the President and 
the Vice President have done is directed me to address the 
challenges at the border which are within my responsibility as 
the Secretary of Homeland Security, and I have visited the 
border on multiple occasions thus far.
    Senator Scott. As I talk to sheriffs in Florida, what they 
are seeing since Joe Biden's Inauguration is an unbelievable 
increase in fentanyl coming into Florida. The only thing they 
can say is it has to be it is coming across the border. 
According to CBP data, drug seizures are down significantly 
this year. Do you think the record-low drug seizures are 
because our CBP agents and their resources are being diverted 
to manage the humanitarian crisis at the Southern Border?
    Secretary Mayorkas. No. Our interdiction efforts continue 
effectively, Senator. We have a multi-tiered approach to the 
interdiction of drugs, contraband, and dangerous individuals. 
We take great pride in the capabilities of the men and women of 
the United States Border Patrol and, quite frankly, in the 
actions that I have taken. We launched Operation Sentinel to 
elevate and accelerate those actions, and as Senator Portman 
well knows, I overcame delays that preceded me in the 
promulgation of critical regulations to effect the Synthetics 
Trafficking and Overdose Prevention Act of 2017 (STOP) Act, 
which was a tremendous tool for law enforcement.
    Senator Scott. Why would seizures be down then? If all that 
is happening, why are seizures--I mean, that is the data that 
is coming out of the administration.
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I would like to review the 
data that you have and exchange data, because our interdiction 
efforts are quite effective. And, regrettably, we are 
interdicting a great deal of contraband that predominantly does 
not come in between the Ports of Entry (POE), historically has 
come through the ports of entry, in hidden compartments of 
vehicles. Our technology is tremendous, and the traffickers 
also use air assets, marine assets that we are interdicting as 
well.
    Senator Scott. Does DHS feel like it has a duty to remove 
illegal aliens convicted of serious crimes, like sexually 
assaulting a child or manufacturing illegal drugs?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Yes.
    Senator Scott. And is that happening?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Yes.
    Senator Scott. OK. Can you commit that those individuals 
that are being released for future courts dates, like you 
talked about earlier, are clearly going to be deported if their 
asylum claims are rejected?
    Secretary Mayorkas. I am sorry. Can you repeat the 
question?
    Senator Scott. If somebody has come in and they have been 
released, but their asylum claim is rejected, are they clearly 
going to be deported?
    Secretary Mayorkas. They are subject to removal, yes.
    Senator Scott. Are they going to be?
    Secretary Mayorkas. As far as I know, yes.
    Senator Scott. Do you think it is happening now?
    Secretary Mayorkas. I believe so. What I think we need to 
focus on, quite frankly, Senator--and this is something I spoke 
to earlier--is addressing the asylum system and strengthening 
and improving it so individuals who are actually eligible for 
relief and deserving of relief receive it in a reasonable 
period of time, and those who do not, the adjudications are 
delivered in a reasonable period of time, which is a problem 
that has plagued the asylum system for years and years and 
years.
    Senator Scott. Going back to the wall and the technology 
that is not being connected to electricity, why is that?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, we approach this in a very 
methodical and reasonable fashion, in my opinion, which is the 
border wall in many respects was not the most effective use of 
taxpayer dollars to secure the border. the paradigm that had 
bipartisan support certainly when I served as the Deputy 
Secretary was a paradigm of different types of assets brought 
to meet the challenge: physical barriers that were in 
existence, the use of technology, and harnessing innovation to 
really be force multipliers, as well as, of course, the brave 
and heroic men and women of the United States Border Patrol. It 
is that three-part effort that is most effective.
    The methodology that was designed and is being implemented 
is let us put a pause on the construction of the border wall; 
let us assess what is actually needed to be completed, for 
example, the levees and the road erosion that we, in fact, have 
committed to; and let us take a look and see what does deserve 
and needs to be continued and what really should be stopped. We 
are taking a look at the gates, the gaps, the deployment of 
sensors in those parts that have been completed, and what is 
reasonable to complete in the judicious exercise of taxpayer 
dollars, and so that is what we are doing.
    Senator Scott. It sounds really good. You know, just 
looking at it from the outside, it looks sort of crazy. That 
money has been committed, the wall is up, and the gates need to 
go up. Or the lights and the cameras are all there, and they 
are just not--I mean, it just does not seem logical to the 
American public.
    Secretary Mayorkas. I respectfully disagree, Senator. I 
think it is a logical way to approach, and if we can actually 
save the expenditure of dollars on something that should not be 
the subject of expenditures, it would be terrific if we can 
forestall that and use those funds more effectively in a 
different way.
    Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Scott.
    Senator Hawley, you are recognized for your questions.

              OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR HAWLEY

    Senator Hawley. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank 
you for being here, Mr. Secretary.
    I want to talk about the policies that have gotten us to 
where we are with our effectively open border, but let me first 
ask you about this. You said as recently as this week that the 
border is closed. Is that still your position today, the border 
is closed?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Yes, it is.
    Senator Hawley. Don't you think you bear any responsibility 
for the current crisis by telling the world earlier this year 
that the border was open? Your words were, ``We are not telling 
you not to come. We are just telling you that we are putting a 
system back in place in which you can come.'' I mean, don't you 
think people took your words at face value then?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I have never said that the 
border is open, and I have never----
    Senator Hawley. ``We are not telling you not to come.'' How 
would you parse that?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I have never said that the 
border is open, and I have never believed that it should be an 
open border. We have laws that Congress has passed that are 
laws of accountability and also laws of humanitarian relief.
    Senator Hawley. You did say that, ``We are not telling you 
not to come,'' though, right? You said that. You remember that.
    Secretary Mayorkas. I am sorry, Senator. I apologize.
    Senator Hawley. You remember saying, don't you, that ``We 
are not telling you not to come''? Those are your words that 
you said in a press conference. You said that, right?
    Secretary Mayorkas. I do not recall saying that. I do not 
believe----
    Senator Hawley. You do not recall saying that?
    Secretary Mayorkas. That is correct, Senator. I have never 
said----
    Senator Hawley. We would be happy to refresh your memory 
for you in some questions for the record. That is interesting 
news, and I am sure everyone will--the Secretary has just said 
he does not have any memory of making those comments. That is 
extraordinary.
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I have never said that the 
border is open.
    Senator Hawley. Let me ask you about this. CBP data says 
that the agency had 178,000 enforcement encounters at the 
Southern Border in April. This is the highest in two decades. 
Of that total, what percentage were subject to immediate 
expulsion?
    Secretary Mayorkas. I will get that data to you. I do not 
have that at my disposal this morning.
    Senator Hawley. Is it 100 percent? Is it 60 percent? Is it 
20 percent? Do you have any idea?
    Secretary Mayorkas. 100 percent of families and single 
adults are subject to expulsion except for those with acute 
vulnerabilities, and we exercise that discretion. However, our 
ability to actually expel families under CDC's Title 42 
authority is limited by, for example, Mexico's ability--
capacity, I should say, to receive the expelled families, and 
that is what we are addressing as a result.
    Senator Hawley. I think the number is around 60 percent or 
so are subject to immediate expulsion, which means we have a 
very large percentage of migrants who are permitted entry into 
the United States and are still here. But we will give that 
question again to you for the record so that you can go and 
look it up.
    Let me ask you this: Why is it that this week--actually, 
late last night it was reported that CBP terminated a flight 
program that transferred families across the Southern Border 
for purposes of expelling them under Title 42. These flights 
were apparently canceled due to the pressure of left-wing 
groups. Is that accurate?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, we make our decisions as we 
consider to be most effective in furtherance of our mission and 
not because of pressure by outside groups. I would be pleased 
to look into the cancellation of the lateral flights and 
respond to you after I have done so.
    Senator Hawley. So you are telling me here that the 
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) had no role in the 
termination of these expulsion flights? Is that your testimony?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, we are addressing the claims 
of the ACLU. The ACLU has claimed that our exercise of the 
CDC's Title 42 authority is not supported by the law, and we 
are working with the ACLU--actually, adverse to the ACLU----
    Senator Hawley. You are working with them, though?
    Secretary Mayorkas. If I may, Senator, we are adverse to 
the ACLU----
    Senator Hawley. But you are working with them on this 
program? Is that why you canceled it?
    Secretary Mayorkas. If I may finish, Senator, we are 
adverse to the ACLU in litigation with respect to the legal 
authority underpinning our exercise of the CDC's Title 42 
authority.
    Senator Hawley. Right, but you are working with them in the 
termination of these expulsion flights?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, the decisions with respect to 
expulsion flights are ours because of the decisions that we 
have made based on the reasons that we think are necessary to 
execute on our mission.
    Senator Hawley. I think the fact that you are working with 
them is interesting news, so that is also quite relevant. We 
will give you this information as a question for the record.
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, they are suing us, and we are 
defendants. That is not what I----
    Senator Hawley. I am just quoting back what you just said. 
You just said that, ``We are working with them.'' The news 
reports indicate that you canceled these flights at their 
behest. You and I both know that there can be such a thing as 
friendly litigation, Mr. Secretary. I mean, let us not pretend 
otherwise. I am just repeating your own words to you. We will 
give this to you as a question for the record so that you can 
look into it further. I think that is interesting news.
    Let me ask you about why you canceled the Safe Third 
Agreements with the governments of El Salvador, Guatemala, 
Honduras? These are agreements negotiated by the previous 
administration that the President canceled once he came into 
office. The President says that he is an avowed 
multilateralist, and yet one of the first things he did was to 
tear up these international agreements with other countries. 
How can you address the root causes of migration, as you keep 
talking about, if you are going to tear up international 
agreements that try to address these problems?
    Secretary Mayorkas. I will answer your question and make 
one comment, but before I do so, I have been a lawyer now for 
35 or so years. ``Friendly litigation'' is a phenomenon with 
which I am completely unfamiliar.
    Senator Hawley. Really? You are not familiar--wait a 
minute. You are not familiar with an outside group bringing 
litigation against the government that the government then 
accedes to in order to change the law? You have never heard of 
that phenomenon?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I am not familiar with 
friendly litigation. As a Federal prosecutor, I was a strong 
advocate for the U.S. Government in the pursuit of criminal 
accountability.
    Senator Hawley. You have never heard--wait, this is 
interesting. You just brought it up. You have never heard of 
regulatory lawsuits in which outside groups bring suits against 
the Federal Government. The government then agrees to settle 
the suit or to change its rules, and it reaches a settlement 
that is favor--that the government actually wants to achieve? 
You have never heard of that before?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I have heard of resolutions of 
litigation. I have heard of settlements of litigation. I have 
heard of arbitration. I have heard of mediation. Friendly 
litigation, the commencement of friendly litigation is 
something with which I am unfamiliar. The reason why----
    Senator Hawley. That is extraordinary.
    Secretary Mayorkas. The reason why the Safe Third County 
Agreements were terminated is because there was nothing safe 
about them.
    Senator Hawley. I am sorry. By which you mean what?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, to have an individual fleeing 
persecution from Guatemala and considering Honduras a safe 
third country is actually empirically incorrect because--and we 
can take a look at the migration from Honduras and the number 
of people leaving Honduras for fear of persecution, and that is 
not our concept of a safe third country.
    Senator Hawley. It is not your concept. So you think it is 
wise policy to come into office, to terminate these 
international agreements based on your judgment about these 
other countries, without consultation with them apparently, and 
then we see this massive--would you say that the children who 
have come to the United States and have gone through the border 
crossing have had to pay who knows what for the cartel are more 
safe because of your actions? Do you think that you have put 
them in less danger because of the agreements that you 
terminated and the opportunities to seek asylum and then wait 
in a third country you have denied to them? Do you think that 
your actions have made the situation better?
    Chairman Peters. Senator, you have gone over your time, 
but----
    Senator Hawley. Could I get an answer to that question? 
Then I will stop.
    Chairman Peters. Yes, absolutely. Secretary, you may answer 
that question, but we have to be respectful of our three other 
Members that are waiting.
    Secretary Mayorkas. The Safe Third Country Agreements, in 
my opinion, put children in harm's way.
    Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Hawley.
    Senator Ossoff, you are recognized for your questions.

              OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR OSSOFF

    Senator Ossoff. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thanks to you and 
the Ranking Member for holding this hearing, and thank you, Mr. 
Secretary, for joining us today and for your testimony.
    Mr. Secretary, on March 12th of this year, the Federal 
District Court for the District of Columbia blocked ICE from 
destroying records related to detainee sexual abuse and 
assault, records related to the death of detainees in ICE 
custody, records related to solitary confinement and other 
punitive measures imposed on ICE detainees, and other materials 
under a plan that has been approved by the National Archives 
and Records Administration (NARA).
    Last month, Members of Congress wrote a letter urging DHS 
to reconsider its document destruction plans and policies in 
light of that March district court decision, and the letter 
explained that, ``For Congress to effectively perform its 
oversight and legislative functions, it is essential that the 
government permanently retain records reflecting serious abuse, 
neglect, and misconduct.''
    In fact, the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on 
Investigations has attempted to collect exactly these types of 
records from ICE going back to October 2019, only to have the 
agency continually delay its production of those requested 
records and misrepresent the completeness of the response, and 
many documents responsive to the Permanent Subcommittee on 
Investigations' request are still outstanding today.
    Mr. Secretary, will you commit to a reappraisal of any DHS 
document destruction plans or policies that could impact the 
treatment of materials related to mistreatment of ICE 
detainees? And will you please commit now to ensure that ICE 
fully and immediately produces all records requested by the 
Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations?
    Secretary Mayorkas. I do, Senator.
    Senator Ossoff. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I appreciate that 
commitment.
    I would like to ask you about the use of private companies 
in the immigration detention system, please. The Trump 
administration dramatically expanded the use of private 
companies in immigration detention. As of January of last year, 
ICE held 81 percent of detainees in its custody in privately 
owned or managed facilities. At the same time, detainees in 
these facilities have reported sexual abuse, unsanitary 
conditions, substandard medical treatment, and worse, including 
recent allegations in Irwin County, Georgia, of unnecessary and 
extreme medical procedures performed on female detainees.
    The President's criminal justice plan during his campaign 
stated that the Federal Government ``should not use private 
facilities for any detention, including detention of 
immigration detainees.''
    Mr. Secretary, as the administration moves to discontinue 
the use of privately run Federal prisons, what steps is your 
Department taking to end the use of privately run immigration 
detention facilities?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, let me share with you, if I 
may, what I have done and what I am doing. I have read 
extensively about the use of detention in civil immigration 
proceedings as well as the conditions of detention in civil 
immigration proceedings. I have read accountability reports by 
the Office of Inspector General (OIG), our own Office for Civil 
Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL). We now have a detention 
ombudsman, an Office of Detention Ombudsman, and I have read 
reports by nongovernmental organizations.
    I am very focused on the use of detention in civil 
immigration proceedings as well as the conditions in those 
facilities, and I intend to begin taking action very quickly.
    Senator Ossoff. Can you specify any steps that have been 
affirmatively taken to end the use of privately run immigration 
detention facilities?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I am going to be speaking with 
my workforce about my findings and my intentions. I have begun 
that dialog, and I would appreciate the opportunity to continue 
those discussions and take the actions that I think will be 
responsive to your concerns.
    Senator Ossoff. Thank you, and we will follow up on that in 
short order and hope to see some progress and some affirmative 
steps that you will have taken.
    I would like to ask you about surveillance footage at DHS 
and specifically ICE detention facilities. I had a conversation 
with the Director of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Director 
Carvajal, at a hearing last month, and the BOP shared with my 
staff, pursuant to some requests for information that I had 
made, that Federal prisons only retain surveillance footage for 
14 days before purging that footage to create space for new 
data. And recognizing that BOP administration is far outside of 
your purview, that appears to me to be a totally inadequate 
duration of retention of those records.
    Given the scope of alleged detainee abuse and, indeed, 
corroborated reports of detainee abuse and substandard 
conditions at ICE detention facilities, I have similar 
questions about the retention of surveillance footage at those 
facilities. In May 2018, for example, a detainee died at a 
hospital shortly after entering ICE custody in New Mexico, but 
the private contractor running the detention facility deleted 
surveillance footage which could have clarified the 
circumstances of that death.
    Mr. Secretary, my question for you is: Does ICE impose 
uniform surveillance footage retention policies on the private 
contractors who operate ICE detention facilities?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I do not know the answer to 
that question. I will have to follow up.
    Senator Ossoff. I would be grateful for that answer for the 
record.
    And on a related note, Mr. Secretary, an ICE internal 
document was reported in 2019 to call for ``an internal review 
of all facility inspection records for detention facilities 
after the death of a detainee in ICE custody.''
    Are you aware, Mr. Secretary, whether ICE procedures 
require a detention facility to immediately preserve and share 
up the chain of command all surveillance footage and records 
related to the death of a detainee in ICE custody?
    Secretary Mayorkas. I certainly hope they do, Senator, and 
I will follow up on that with alacrity.
    Senator Ossoff. Thank you so much, and if they do not, will 
you commit, presuming you have the legal authority to do so, to 
making that DHS policy?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Yes. Absent some compelling reason why 
I should not, of which I am unaware as I sit here today and 
testify, most certainly.
    Senator Ossoff. I am grateful for your testimony, your 
candor, and for your service to the country.
    Secretary Mayorkas. Thank you, Senator.
    Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Ossoff.
    Senator Padilla, you are recognized for your questions.

              OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR PADILLA

    Senator Padilla. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Mr. 
Secretary, for participating today and for your service.
    A couple quick questions, quick yes-no questions, just to 
sort of calibrate the conversation, because as I entered the 
hearing midstream--I was coming from the Senate Judiciary 
Committee. I heard a whole lot of rhetoric.
    So, first, is it lawful for someone to seek asylum in the 
United States? Yes or no.
    Secretary Mayorkas. Yes.
    Senator Padilla. Are there processes and procedures in 
place to consider requests for asylum? Yes or no.
    Secretary Mayorkas. Yes.
    Senator Padilla. As these requests for asylum are processed 
by the appropriate agencies, determination is some combination 
of approvals and denials? Yes or no.
    Secretary Mayorkas. Yes.
    Senator Padilla. OK. I just think it important for those 
watching at home to kind of put the conversation and issues 
raised in this hearing in the proper context.
    I did want to follow up on something that Senator Hawley 
raised, a question about safe third countries. It is my 
understanding that during the Trump administration they never 
sent anyone back to El Salvador or to Honduras, and, indeed, 
less than 1,000 migrants were sent to Guatemala. So it does not 
seem like these so-called Safe Third Country Agreements were 
really used by the Trump administration. Agree or disagree? Or 
maybe you can verify the numbers.
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I would have to get back to 
you with respect to the data, which I do not have before me 
this morning.
    Senator Padilla. OK. That would be helpful. I appreciate 
that.
    Now, I did want to raise a question about collaboration 
between the Department and nongovernmental organizations. I am 
hearing from a lot of advocates and service providers in 
California that more communication and coordination would be 
helpful between DHS and the NGO's that are efficiently and 
safely providing service for immigrant families. Oftentimes, 
migrants are sent to areas of the country where shelters are 
already at capacity, though, and the Department is not 
sufficiently drawing upon resources in other regions of the 
country where providers have more capacity to continue to meet 
their needs.
    Can you discuss any DHS efforts to improve communication 
and coordination with NGO service providers and how the 
Department takes NGO feedback into consideration when making 
operational decisions?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Thank you, Senator. So we work very 
closely with nongovernmental organizations to address the 
asylees, the individuals who make asylum claims under United 
States law, to ensure that they are sheltered appropriately and 
that the COVID-19 health and safety protocols are administered 
in partnership with us and pursuant to an architecture of 
reimbursement that we work with the State and local officials 
on.
    Early on, we heard the very same concerns that you 
reference this morning, that there were challenges with respect 
to the lines of communication, and so we addressed those, and 
we think we have made tremendous strides with the 
nongovernmental organizations in improving the lines of 
communication. That is not to say that everything works 
perfectly. The process is difficult. But when we learn of a 
shortcoming, we address it not only with respect to that 
particular relationship, but we take a look at whether there is 
any system improvements that we can institute. And so we are 
very proactive as well as reactive in improving and 
strengthening the communication lines with the nongovernmental 
organizations. They are critical partners in this.
    Senator Padilla. I look forward to following up with you on 
this as well, because as a proud representative of California, 
I know there are a number of local governments in addition to 
NGO's, particularly in Southern California, that have stepped 
up to try to be partners during this very unique time period 
and, some of the goodwill and well-intentioned gestures have 
meant facilities are near or at, maybe slightly beyond 
capacity, given, traditional occupancy limits, COVID protocols, 
et cetera. In other parts of the country, NGO's with capacity 
and experience, separate and apart from the funding question, 
are willing to be more helpful than I think DHS has taken them 
up on. So why not follow up with your team to share that 
information?
    Secretary Mayorkas. I look forward to that because we do 
work, of course, in close partnership with the Department of 
Health and Human Services. We look at the landscape of 
nongovernmental organizations across the country in the border 
area, I should say, and seek to place the families, the 
children, in the shelter where the capacity is greatest. It is 
a multifaceted analysis.
    Senator Padilla. I know there are multiple factors that are 
considered.
    I do want to touch on what I think is an encouraging trend. 
I was glad to hear this week that the Department has decreased 
the amount of time that children spend in Border Patrol 
custody. As you recall, in March there were more than 5,000 
children who were in Border Patrol custody specifically, each 
spending an average of 115 hours in Border Patrol facilities. 
But as of last Tuesday, I understand there are 455 children in 
Border Patrol custody, each spending an average of 28 hours in 
those facilities. That is a dramatic decrease in both the 
number of children in custody and the time spent in Border 
Patrol custody. Decreasing the time that migrants are in Border 
Patrol custody should be a top priority, especially for migrant 
children who are better cared for by far by HHS.
    Can you discuss some of the steps that the Department and 
Border Patrol specifically have taken to decrease the time 
unaccompanied children are spending in Border Patrol custody 
and how we anticipate the time further going down going 
forward?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Thank you very much, Senator. I must 
really emphasize the extraordinary work of the United States 
Border Patrol, the men and women of the Border Patrol. Many of 
them are fathers and mothers who understand the plight of the 
children in whose care--the children were in the care of these 
heroic law enforcement officers.
    First, we have deployed FEMA to assist HHS in increasing 
the number of shelters and intake facilities that it had so 
that we had places to move the children. Then we started 
delivering operational efficiencies, reducing the time that it 
took to actually place the child in those facilities. And now 
we are very focused on reducing the time not at the expense of 
quality, reducing the time between the HHS facility and the 
placement of the child with a relative or legal guardian here 
in the United States.
    So it is shelter capacity, care capacity, process 
efficiency, three critical components of what we have delivered 
to achieve the dramatic results that you have noted.
    Senator Padilla. Thank you.
    Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Padilla.
    The Chair now recognizes Senator Sinema for your questions.

              OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR SINEMA

    Senator Sinema. Thank you, Chairman. I appreciate you for 
holding this hearing today. I am glad that Secretary Mayorkas 
has joined us to talk about the crisis at the Southwest Border. 
Secretary, I appreciate your commitment to responding to 
Arizona's needs during these challenges time.
    As Chair of this Committee Border Management Subcommittee, 
I will continue to work to ensure that Congress and the 
administration take meaningful steps to secure the border, 
support our border communities and NGO's, prevent the spread of 
COVID-19, and treat all migrants and unaccompanied children 
fairly and humanely. That is why I recently introduced the 
bipartisan Border Solutions Act with Senator Cornyn. Our bill 
does not solve all the challenges of the border, but it does 
take meaningful steps to respond to the ongoing crisis by 
creating regional processing centers, improving the asylum 
process by ensuring that migrants get better legal assistance, 
and improving communication and coordination with local 
communities and nongovernmental organizations that are impacted 
by the crisis.
    Secretary Mayorkas, that effort to improve communication 
and coordination is where I want to start today. I am pleased 
that Arizona ICE has responded to my concerns that our office 
raised regarding the release of single adult migrants at bus 
stops, and they have recently changed their policy. Bringing 
these individuals directly to nongovernmental organizations 
makes migrants and our communities safer, and I appreciate 
that. But under your leadership, ICE and DHS are working 
collaboratively with Arizona communities and NGO's to solve 
challenges. However, Arizona communities still worry about 
unannounced dropoffs of family units.
    Which DHS rules and policies prevent your agency from 
providing notice before any migrants are going to be released 
in a community? how are you working to further solve this 
challenge?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Thank you very much, Senator. You did 
indeed bring your concerns to our attention, and those concerns 
were valid, and we took swift action. It is our commitment to 
ensure appropriate coordination and communication between 
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the United States Border 
Patrol, and the local community officials. If, in fact, there 
is a breakdown, then that is our responsibility to ensure that 
it does not happen again. This is something that we are very 
focused on. Local officials do deserve to know of our actions 
that could impact their resources and their facilities, and we 
are very focused on continuing to strengthen that relationship, 
those relationships, and that dynamic.
    Senator Sinema. Thank you. I know we will continue working 
together to resolve this challenge.
    My office has also received confirmation from local NGO and 
ICE officials that some COVID-positive migrants have been 
released into communities without sufficient resources or 
direct access to quarantine shelters. What are the Department's 
policies for releasing COVID-positive migrants? What steps can 
DHS take to improve these policies to keep both migrants and 
our communities safe?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, under the tremendous 
leadership of our Chief Medical Officer, we have built an 
architecture of working with local officials and 
nongovernmental organizations to transport family members to 
local facilities through the nongovernmental organizations that 
have the capacity to test, isolate, and quarantine as necessary 
family members. This is an architecture that we have built in 
Texas, in Arizona, in California, and it is really a remarkable 
achievement.
    We are continuing to look at that architecture to see how 
it can be strengthened and improved. We are committed to 
ensuring that individuals are indeed tested, isolated, and 
quarantined in the service of the public health imperative.
    Senator Sinema. Thank you. DHS recently finalized a 
contract with a private company to house migrants in Arizona 
and Texas hotels in order to improve processing capacity. What 
oversight is DHS conducting to ensure that these facilities 
meet the standards we expect of them, including sufficient 
access to legal and to casework assistance?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, there are really two ways to 
proceed in this regard. One is through licensed facilities, and 
the other, to ensure appropriate capacity and efficient and 
effective processes on licensed facilities. But we are 
committed to adhering to the very same standards across that 
landscape. So the fact that a facility is unlicensed does not 
mean that it should not have the very same standards for the 
care and custody and shelter of the individuals in its 
residence. And we are committed to and dedicated to adhering to 
those very same standards.
    Senator Sinema. Thank you. As you know, Secretary, I am 
extremely interested in the administration's efforts to improve 
the asylum process, including providing better access to legal 
counsel and legal orientation as a way to make the system more 
efficient. That is a key reason why I recently introduced 
bipartisan legislation with Senator Cornyn to make the asylum 
process more efficient and also making it fairer.
    What steps is the administration taking right now to 
improve legal orientation and legal access, including allowing 
migrants to easily make and receive phone calls at all DHS 
facilities?
    Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I am very well aware of and 
appreciative of your efforts to improve the asylum process. 
That is an effort that we, too, are very dedicated to, and that 
process is underway.
    We have learned of challenges to access to counsel by 
reason of inadequate telephone services, and we have installed 
additional telephone services in facilities. Access to counsel 
is a core principle in the administration of justice, and we 
are dedicated to achieving that across our enterprise. If there 
are any obstacles of which you are aware in individuals' 
ability to access counsel, please do continue to bring them to 
our attention so that we can solve them immediately.
    Senator Sinema. Thank you, Secretary. We will definitely 
follow up.
    Mr. Chairman, I have a couple other questions, but I see 
that my time is expiring, so I will submit them for the record 
to the Secretary.\1\
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    \1\ The questions submitted by Senator Sinema appears in the 
Appendix on page 97.
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    I want to thank you again for holding this hearing and 
thank the Secretary for joining us today.
    Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Sinema.
    Mr. Secretary, thank you again for being here. You have 
been generous with your time. But we have a couple just brief 
closing comments. I know Ranking Member Portman wanted to make 
a comment. Then I will close out the hearing.
    Senator Portman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To the Secretary, 
thank you for coming today. I think it was very important. We 
will have a lot of follow-up questions, as you saw.
    I did want to say to Senator Sinema we appreciate her 
legislation on regional processing centers. It is consistent 
with what I talked about in my opening statement. I hope we can 
talk more about that maybe next time, about policy going 
forward, which would be more rapid processing of asylum claims.
    I wanted to correct the record on the Central American 
Minors Program. You had pointed to that as one reason there has 
been an increase, because it was stopped in the Trump 
administration. I told you I supported the program. I said 
there were about 5,000 people that had gone through it in three 
years, and that was not very many compared to the problem we 
have. I was wrong. It is 3,500 went through it in three years, 
which is roughly the number of unaccompanied minors coming 
every week now.
    So we look forward to talking about some of those policy 
questions going forward so that we can resolve the issues that 
I know you agree need to be addressed.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Chairman Peters. Thank you, Ranking Member Portman.
    Mr. Secretary, we have had a very thorough discussion today 
about the challenges that we face at the Southern Border and 
what the Department needs to address those challenges. Although 
I do not agree with the characterization of the situation by my 
Republican colleagues, I think it is very clear to me that we 
need to work in a bipartisan fashion to solutions on a 
multitude of challenges that we face. While there are issues 
where we will disagree here in this Committee, I think there 
are some areas of agreement. DHS certainly needs adequate 
resources. CBP officers and agents need support. And 
unaccompanied children need to be protected from violence and 
the transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) that seek them 
harm. I look forward to working with my colleagues and the 
Department on some common-sense solutions.
    Secretary Mayorkas, thank you again for your attendance 
today and for your commitment to work with this Committee and 
to be available for our questions. We appreciate that.
    The hearing record will remain open for 15 days, until May 
28th at 5 p.m., for submissions of statements and questions for 
the record. With that, the hearing is now adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 12:28 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.]

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