[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
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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
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
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
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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
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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.
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\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.
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\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.
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\2\ The chart referenced by Senator Portman appears in the Appendix
on page 60.
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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.
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\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.
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\1\ The chart referenced by Senator Johnson appears in the Appendix
on page 63.
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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.
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\1\ The picture of border wall appears in the Appendix on page 64.
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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?
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\1\ The chart submitted by Senator Johnson appears in the Appendix
on page 63.
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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.
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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.]
A P P E N D I X
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