    [Senate Hearing 117-572]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                                                            S. Hrg. 117-572

                        RESOURCES AND AUTHORITIES NEEDED
                       TO PROTECT AND SECURE THE HOMELAND

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

                                    HEARING

                                   BEFORE THE

                                  COMMITTEE ON
                   HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
                              UNITED STATES SENATE

                        ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                                 SECOND SESSION

                                   __________

                                  MAY 4, 2022

                                   __________

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

                           Printed for the use of the
            Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

    [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                                __________

                        U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
    50-842 PDF                 WASHINGTON : 2023

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

            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 Pierce, Senior Counsel
                    Pamela Thiessen, Minority Staff Director
                Sam J. Mulopulos, Minority Deputy Staff Director
            Kirsten Madison, Minority Director of Homeland Security
           Jeremy H. Hayes, Minority Senior Professional Staff Member
                         Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
                         Thomas J. Spino, Hearing Clerk

                                C O N T E N T S

                                     ------
    Opening statements:
                                                                       Page
        Senator Peters...............................................     1
        Senator Portman..............................................     3
        Senator Carper...............................................    12
        Senator Johnson..............................................    14
        Senator Paul.................................................    17
        Senator Padilla..............................................    20
        Senator Lankford.............................................    22
        Senator Hassan...............................................    24
        Senator Scott................................................    27
        Senator Hawley...............................................    29
        Senator Romney...............................................    32
        Senator Ossoff...............................................    35
        Senator Rosen................................................    37
        Senator Sinema...............................................    39
    Prepared statements:
        Senator Peters...............................................    57
        Senator Portman..............................................    59

                                   WITNESSES
                             Wednesday, May 4, 2022

    Hon. Alejandro N. Mayorkas, Secretary, U.S. Department of
      Homeland Security
        Testimony....................................................     5
        Prepared statement...........................................    61

                                    APPENDIX

    Senator Portman Encounters at the Southwest Border Chart.........    71
    Senator Portman Border Patrol Southwest Border Apprehensions
      Migrants from outside Mexico/Northern Triangle Chart...........    72
    Senator Johnson Southwest Border Apprehensions Chart.............    73
    Material submitted by Senator Lankford...........................    74
    Senator Scott The Border is Closed. The Border is Secure Chart...    76
    Senator Scott People Who Don't Want a Border Wall................    77
    Material submitted by Senator Hawley.............................    78
    Kids in Need of Defense Statement submitted for the Record.......    87
    National Treasury Employees Union Statement submitted for the
      Record.........................................................    92
    Response to post-hearing questions submitted for the Record
        Mr. Mayorkas.................................................   104

                        RESOURCES AND AUTHORITIES NEEDED
                       TO PROTECT AND SECURE THE HOMELAND

                                  ----------

                             WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 2022

                                         U.S. Senate,
                               Committee on Homeland Security
                                      and Governmental Affairs,
                                                        Washington, DC.
        The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:30 p.m., in
    room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Gary Peters,
    Chairman of the Committee, presiding.
        Present: Senators Peters, Carper, Hassan, Sinema, Rosen,
    Padilla, Ossoff, Portman, Johnson, Paul, Lankford, Romney,
    Scott, and Hawley.

                OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN PETERS\1\

        Chairman Peters. The Committee will come to order.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\ The prepared statement of Senator Peters appears in the
    Appendix on page 57.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Secretary Mayorkas, welcome back to the Committee. I am
    certainly grateful for your continued service to our Nation.
    The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its hardworking
    employees continue to face challenges and challenging missions
    each and every day, and I certainly appreciate your efforts to
    tackle these obstacles, and the men and women who join you as
    part of the Department of Homeland Security.
        Today's hearing is an important opportunity for this
    Committee to discuss the Administration's 2023 budget request,
    and hear directly from the Secretary of Homeland Security on
    how the Department plans to use these resources to address the
    serious threats facing our Nation. As lawmakers, we must
    carefully examine these proposals, and how they will impact the
    Department's critical missions to ensure the safety and
    security of every American.
        This year, President Biden's budget proposal includes
    investments that will be essential for tackling the most
    serious issues facing our Nation, including persistent
    cyberattacks that disrupt lives and livelihoods all across the
    country.
        I have appreciated the Administration's vigilance and work
    to prevent additional breaches. But as we have seen from
    attacks like SolarWinds, JBS, or the Colonial Pipeline, our
    foreign adversaries and cybercriminals will continue targeting
    our networks. We must be prepared for the Russian government
    and their proxies to continue these efforts in retaliation for
    our support of Ukraine.
        I am also grateful that the President has signed into law a
    landmark provision that I wrote along with Ranking Member
    Portman to require critical infrastructure to report
    cyberattacks and ransomware payments to the Federal Government,
    but there certainly is more we must do to enhance cybersecurity
    across the board, especially for the most frequent targets of
    ransomware attacks like retailers and our small businesses.
        At the same time, DHS must continue its vital work to
    protect the physical security of Americans, especially by
    addressing harmful violence that has caused countless
    communities across the Nation to live in fear simply because of
    how they look, or where they worship.
        According to our national security agencies, domestic
    terrorism driven by white nationalist and anti-government
    ideologies, continues to be the most serious threat facing
    American communities today.
        I look forward to continuing working with the
    Administration to ensure the government has the necessary
    tools, resources, and data to help prevent and fight back
    against these hateful ideologies, while respecting the civil
    rights and liberties of every American.
        As the Department tackles this significant issue, it also
    must work to ensure secure and efficient travel and trade at
    our Northern as well as our Southern Borders. While I am
    pleased the President's budget proposal includes funding for
    the Gordie Howe Bridge, I will continue working to secure
    additional resources for the Blue Water Bridge, and other ports
    of entry (POE) across Michigan, so that my State can continue
    serving as a vital hub for international commerce.
        Today's hearing will also provide an opportunity to discuss
    the serious challenges we face at the Southern Border. It is
    clear that once Title 42 is lifted, the Administration must
    have a plan in place, and the necessary resources to deter
    illegal border crossings and prevent deadly and illicit drugs
    from reaching our communities, while at the same time safely
    and efficiently processing the number of asylum seekers
    expected to arrive at the Southern Border.
        This is no easy task, and it is a complex issue that
    requires a multifaceted approach to both secure our borders,
    and to address the anticipated humanitarian challenges.
        I look forward to hearing additional details today on how
    the Administration intends to address this policy change, and
    the Committee will have another opportunity to hear from senior
    Administration officials on this issue tomorrow morning.
        Finally, this Committee must also ensure that DHS is
    tackling long-term threats to the American people. Natural
    disasters continue to cause death, destroy property and small
    businesses, and harm livelihoods. Congress and the
    Administration must work together to provide investments in
    resiliency efforts that will save taxpayer dollars in the long
    run, such as the loan program created by my Safeguarding
    Tomorrow through Ongoing Risk Mitigation (STORM Act).
        Today's hearing provides a vital opportunity for the
    Committee to examine how we can all work together to protect
    all Americans. I hope today's hearing will reflect the
    seriousness of the issues facing the Department as well as the
    Nation.
        Once again, Secretary Mayorkas, thank you for being here. I
    think we all look forward to this discussion. You are always
    welcome before our Committee, so it is great to see you.
        With that I will recognize Ranking Member Portman for his
    opening Statement.

                OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR PORTMAN\1\

        Senator Portman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and Mr.
    Secretary, thank you for joining us again for this budget
    hearing.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\ The prepared statement of Senator Portman appears in the
    Appendix on page 59.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        At last year's budget hearing I noted that we were facing
    the worst unlawful migration crisis in our country in two
    decades. This chart\2\ that is about to come up will show you
    that not only was it the worst in two decades, last year during
    the hearing, but since then it has gotten even worse.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \2\ The chart referenced by Senator Portman appears in the Appendix
    on page 71.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        As you know, in your recently released border plan, you
    suggested it can get worse yet by removing Title 42. Here is
    your quote. You noted in your border plan that, ``When the
    Title 42 public health order is lifted, we anticipate migration
    levels will increase, as smugglers will seek to take advantage
    of and profit from vulnerable migrants.'' You further noted
    that, ``A significant increase in migrant encounters will
    substantially strain our system even farther.''
        I could not agree with you more. A record 1.7 million
    people who came to the Southern Border illegally were permitted
    into the United States last year, even with roughly 50 percent
    of those who came to the border unlawfully having been turned
    away under Title 42. It is clear to all that losing Title 42
    will turn this border crisis into a catastrophe. As the Border
    Patrol has told us, they will lose all operational control of
    the border.
        There is no plan to substitute for Title 42. As an example,
    there is no plan to fix an asylum system that everyone agrees
    is broken. I think you have said that in the past, publicly.
    There is no plan to replace the tools that were in place during
    the last administration to help address the border crisis,
    including a robust Remain in Mexico policy and increased
    detention of questionable asylum seekers. Instead, as I read
    it, your plan primarily provides more resources to move people
    through the system, and to do so more quickly and efficiently.
    In effect, to make it easier for people to get from the border
    to the interior of the country.
        Unfortunately, decisions to deemphasize internal
    enforcement, plus your funding request's shift away from
    detention for removals and detention capacity, and the new
    asylum rules proposed by the Administration do nothing to
    actually deter unlawful migration. Quite the opposite, and the
    smugglers know it.
        This year we also saw stark reminders of the threat that
    terrorism poses to communities across the country and that more
    than two decades after September 11, 2001 (9/11) our borders
    can still be breached by those who mean us harm.
        In this regard, I am concerned that policies and safeguards
    with one of the closest counterterrorism partnerships we have
    in the world, the United Kingdom (UK), did not prevent a
    dangerous man who simply lied in his online application in the
    DHS Visa Waiver Program (VWP) from making his way into our
    country and to small town in Texas, Colleyville. Thankfully,
    none of the synagogue members he took hostage were harmed, but
    that could easily not have been the case.
        We were recently shocked when we were informed that 42
    people who have come to our Southern Border unlawfully and been
    encountered by the Border Patrol are on a terrorist watch list.
        Additionally, a recent report from the Department of
    Defense Office of the Inspector General (DOD OIG) highlighted
    the potential of other foreign threats. The Inspector General
    (IG) found that in the chaotic evacuation of over 76,000
    Afghans, DHS failed to screen the evacuees using DOD tactical
    information collected from the most dangerous terrorists. The
    result? DOD's after-the-fact analysis indicated there are at
    least 50 Afghan evacuees with, ``potentially serious security
    concerns'' who were released into the United States.
        Of course, there is also an assault on our borders by
    criminal drug trafficking organizations. This is not new but it
    has gotten worse. With the shift of fentanyl production from
    China to Mexico, the flow of these dangerous narcotics across
    our border have profound consequences. According to U.S.
    Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics, fentanyl
    seizures at the Southern Border increased 56 percent in March
    2022, compared with March 2021, a year ago, and over 300
    percent increase from March 2020. These numbers do not actually
    tell us how much is flooding into our communities. In fact, the
    Border Patrol tells us that they believe the vast majority of
    drugs are not being apprehended.
        But in my own State of Ohio, and around the country, these
    drugs are coming in and resulting in broken families, damaged
    communities, and the loss of lives through overdoses on a
    massive scale.
        We are also facing constant cyberattacks to our vulnerable
    critical infrastructure and Federal networks. I am concerned
    that due to our support of Ukraine against Russia's illegal
    invasion, our just support of Ukraine, we are at a higher risk
    than ever of a Russian cyberattack. I appreciate your support
    of the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act
    (CIRCIA Act), that Senator Peters and I co-sponsored, and hope
    that Department of Homeland Security is working with
    stakeholders, in industry and in government, today on the
    complex but critical rulemaking processes needed to put this
    new law to work to safeguard our nation as soon as possible.
        As you know from our conversations, I am concerned by the
    Administration's decision to create this Disinformation
    Governance Board at DHS. As the author of the bipartisan law
    that established the Global Engagement Center (GEC) at the
    State Department to combat the evolving threat of foreign
    propaganda and disinformation, I do not believe the government
    should turn tools used to assist our allies and counter foreign
    adversaries onto the American people. Our focus should be on
    bad actors like Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, not our
    own citizens.
        Mr. Secretary, you have had a very full agenda at the
    Department. You have been put in a very difficult position with
    regard to the border. Thank you once again for being here to
    answer our questions but I do want to note that we only today
    received all your responses to the Committees questions for the
    record from last year's budget hearing. I would hope you will
    commit to answering all of our questions much more promptly as
    we discuss these issues today.
        Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you, Ranking Member Portman.
        Secretary Mayorkas, it is the practice of the Homeland
    Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) to swear in
    witnesses, so you would please stand and raise your right hand.
        Do you swear that the testimony that you 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 Alejandro Mayorkas is the seventh Secretary of
    the Department of Homeland Security. Previously he served the
    Department as Deputy Secretary and as Director of U.S.
    Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and began his
    public service at the Department of Justice (DOJ).
        Thank you for appearing before this Committee today, and
    you are recognized for your seven minutes of opening remarks.

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

        Secretary Mayorkas. Chairman Peters, Ranking Member
    Portman, distinguished Members of the Committee, thank you for
    the opportunity to join you today.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\ The prepared statement of Secretary Mayorkas appears in the
    Appendix on page 61.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        For nearly two decades, the personnel of the Department of
    Homeland Security have stood as a cornerstone of public safety.
    Every day our workforce of 250,000 people serves to protect the
    homeland by confronting terrorism and targeted violence,
    counter malicious cyber activity, securing our border, building
    a safe, orderly, and humane immigration system, and much more.
    We do this while safeguarding Americans' privacy, civil rights,
    and civil liberties and building trust between our agency and
    the public we serve.
        We remain vigilant against all forms of terrorism and
    targeted violence. The nature of these threats has evolved but
    our vigilance and resolve are constant. We play a leading role
    in implementing the first-ever National Strategy for Countering
    Domestic Terrorism by, for example, establishing a new domestic
    terrorism branch within our Office of Intelligence and Analysis
    (OI&A); designation domestic violent extremism as a ``National
    Priority Area'' in the Federal Emergency Management Agency
    (FEMA) grant programs; increasing our investment in the
    Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP); coordinating
    additional support to historically black colleges and
    universities (HBCUs), in the face of recent bomb threats; and
    ramping up our efforts to analyze and disseminate actionable
    intelligence.
        On cybersecurity, DHS is leading the Federal Government's
    work to protect our critical infrastructure. Among other
    things, we answered the Colonial Pipeline incident with
    security directives requiring pipeline companies to report
    intrusions, designate a cybersecurity coordinator, conduct
    vulnerability assessments, and create contingency plans. We
    adopted similar measures for airports, air carriers, and rail
    operators.
        With the Department of Justice we launched
    stopransomware.gov, the first whole-of-government website with
    resources to help organizations combat ransomware.
        We formed two bodies, the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative
    (JCDC) and the Cyber Safety Review Board, to bring private
    sector and government stakeholders to the table to help us
    fortify our cyber defense, identify vulnerabilities, and ensure
    unified response when incidents occur.
        Russia's invasion of Ukraine has only intensified the
    threat of cyberattacks, so we initiated the Shields Up campaign
    to increase collective awareness and vigilance and resilience
    to possible incidents. We are expanding humanitarian programs
    like temporary protected status and developing new ones like
    Uniting for Ukraine, that initiative to provide Ukrainians
    temporary refuge in the United States.
        This hearing will provide me with an opportunity to address
    questions that some of you have posed regarding the
    Department's Disinformation Governance Board. This internal
    working group was established with the explicit goal of
    ensuring that the protection of free speech, privacy, civil
    rights, and civil liberties is incorporated into all of the
    Department's disinformation-related work, which has been
    ongoing for years across different administrations.
        Under this Administration, our Department has been
    executing a comprehensive strategy to secure our borders and
    rebuild our immigration system. With the Center for Disease
    Control and Prevention (CDC's) Title 42 public health order set
    to be lifted we expect migration levels to increase as
    smugglers seek to take advantage of and profit from vulnerable
    migrants. We will continue to enforce our immigration laws.
        After Title 42 is lifted, non-citizens will be processed
    pursuant to Title 8, which provides that individuals who cross
    the border without legal authorization and are unable to
    establish a legal basis to remain in the United States are
    promptly removed from the country.
        We began planning last September, and we are leading the
    execution of a whole-of-government strategy which stands on six
    border security pillars to prepare for and manage against any
    rise in non-citizen encounters. I issued a memorandum last week
    that provides more details about lines of effort: (1) surge
    resources including personnel, transportation, medical support,
    and facilities; (2) increase efficiency without compromising
    the integrity of our screening processes to reduce strain on
    the border; (3) administer consequences for unlawful entry,
    including expedited removal and criminal prosecution; (4)
    bolster the capacity of non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
    and coordinate with State, local, and community partners; (5)
    target and disrupt transnational criminal organizations (TCOs)
    and human smugglers; and (6) deter irregular migration south of
    our border in partnership with other Federal agencies and
    nations.
        We inherited a broken and dismantled system that is already
    under-strained. It is not built to manage the current levels
    and types of migratory flows. Only Congress can fix this. Yet
    we have effectively managed an unprecedented number of non-
    citizens seeking to enter the United States and interdicted
    more drugs and disrupted more smuggling operations than ever
    before. A significant increase in migrant encounters will
    strain our system even further, and we will address this
    challenge successfully, but it will take time, and we need the
    partnership of Congress, State and local officials, NGO's, and
    communities to do so.
        We cannot address our core issues alone. DHS is a
    department of partnerships. I look forward to working together
    with this Committee to confront our ever-changing threat
    landscape and protect the American people. Thank you.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
        Mr. Secretary, as you know, we have a number of
    Administration officials before this Committee hearing coming
    here tomorrow. We are going to have an in-depth conversation
    about our challenges at the Southwest Border with a number of
    experts who are on the front lines, and part of that discussion
    will include the Department's plans for the termination of
    Title 42.
        Once Title 42 is terminated, Border Patrol needs to return
    to border security enforcement strategies such as the
    consequence delivery system, which has been severely limited
    from this health order. Before there were consequences for
    coming across illegally. Now folks are just returned back and
    they keep coming over and over again because of the way Title
    42 works. We keep stopping them, we keep sending them back, but
    they keep coming over and over again.
        My question for you is how is the Department preparing to
    resource efforts to lean into consequences, like the expedited
    removal and prosecution, to limit the number of individuals
    crossing the border illegally, as well as limit these high
    rates of recidivism that we are seeing as a result of Title 42?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Mr. Chairman, if I could take a step
    back. Title 42, the CDC's authority, calls for an expulsion of
    an individual, which means that the individual is not place
    into immigration removal proceedings and therefore does not
    have an enforcement record established by the attempted illegal
    entry.
        We are seeing a great deal of recidivism. The number of
    encounters does not necessary reflect, and does not, in fact,
    reflect the number of unique individuals whom we encounter, but
    rather we see the same individual trying repeated attempts to
    enter in between the ports of entry.
        What we are doing is surging personnel, both at U.S.
    Customs and Border Protection, specifically the Border Patrol,
    as well as enforcement and removal operations within
    Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to bring expedited
    removal, that is immigration enforcement proceedings, to the
    fullest extent that we can, as well as working with the
    Department of Justice, the United States Attorneys in the
    jurisdictions along the border, to address conduct through
    criminal prosecution that warrants it.
        Chairman Peters. In recent years, with high arrivals of
    unaccompanied minors, we saw children spending unfortunately
    significant amount of time in CBP facilities instead of the
    Depatment of Health and Human Services (HHS) facilities, I
    think due, in large part, to the lack of appropriate planning
    in years past.
        Mr. Secretary, how are you ensuring that the DHS and HHS
    are cooperating across the departments to make sure resources
    can be quickly activated to protect these vulnerable children
    if a similar situation occurs?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Mr. Chairman, the law provides that
    unaccompanied children in the care of U.S. Customs and Border
    Protection must be turned over to the Department of Health and
    Human Services within 72 hours. When we saw those Border Patrol
    stations become overcrowded early in 2021, that was by reason
    of a challenge in throughput, that the Department of Health and
    Human Services did not have the resources to actually receive
    and shelter the unaccompanied children.
        We, in the Department of Homeland Security, dedicated
    tremendous resources to assist the Department of Health and
    Human Services, and we also brought expertise to re-engineer
    the process. We built a more efficient and agile process to
    move children from Border Patrol stations to HHS to Department
    of Health and Services shelters and then added great efficiency
    to ensure that those children could be united, as the law
    provides, with qualified family members here in the United
    States who would sponsor them. That collaborative work and
    relationship, of course, has not waned in the ensuing months.
        Chairman Peters. There is no doubt that the Department's
    effort to respond to security and humanitarian needs at the
    Southern Border are going to require significant resources in
    the days and months ahead. Are you preparing to submit a
    supplemental funding request to Congress to address some of
    these needs?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Mr. Chairman, we are very grateful to
    Congress for the appropriation that we received in fiscal year
    (FY) 2022, in this current fiscal year, and we, of course, have
    submitted a spending plan with respect to how we are using
    those funds. We believe it is a matter of fiscal responsibility
    for us, after those funds are expended, to first look within
    the Department and where we can reprogram funds as necessary.
        If, indeed, we need to seek a supplemental from Congress we
    will certainly communicate that with this Committee forthwith.
        Chairman Peters. Mr. Secretary, we are facing supply chain
    bottlenecks and a busy summer travel season, and the need to
    make sure our ports of entry across the country are functioning
    as efficiently as possible. If I look at the past, we have,
    unfortunately, seen DHS personnel pulled from Northern Border
    and airports to support what is happening at the Southern
    Border.
        My question to you, sir, is what actions in the
    Administration taking to ensure that ports of entry around the
    country, including the Northern Border, are properly resources?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Mr. Chairman, we are very mindful of
    the ports of entry as an engine of economic prosperity, the
    movement, the lawful movement of people and goods, promotion of
    trade and travel, and we deploy our personnel, if needed, to a
    different area according to the needs of the ports of entry. We
    do not sacrifice those needs to serve others. We know how to
    move our personnel and resources around so that we achieve all
    aspects of our mission ably as our people are extraordinarily
    talented in doing.
        Chairman Peters. Mr. Secretary, this year's budget request
    for Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is
    lower than what was appropriated last year. CISA is still
    growing, and Congress has provided, as you know and have been
    helpful, extensive new authorities to the incident reporting,
    running the dot-gov domain, supporting K-12 cyber, a joint
    cyber planning office, and we in Congress are now working to
    update Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA).
        Could you explain to the Committee why the budget request
    is lower than what Congress appropriated, and what do you feel
    is an appropriate growth trajectory for CISA?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Mr. Chairman, we are very grateful for
    the budget that was enacted for fiscal year 2022. The amount
    that we dedicated in the fiscal year 2023 budget for the
    Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is actually
    considerably more than the budget that we proposed for fiscal
    year 2022. It is a matter of timing. We were unaware that
    Congress would so amply fund CISA.
        It is really a matter of timing, but we continue to grow
    CISA, and we actually have the $650 million in funds from the
    other source. We are growing it as quickly as we can
    efficiently absorb the funds and grow the organization to
    ensure its quality and growth to meet the challenges that we
    confront.
        Chairman Peters. All right. I appreciate that. We have had
    numerous conversations about this. I appreciate your passion
    about defending our country from these cyberattacks. Thank you,
    Mr. Secretary.
        Ranking Member Portman, you are recognized for your
    questions.
        Senator Portman. Mr. Secretary, over the past year about 1
    million people have come into our country through the Southern
    Border, unlawfully coming to the border and then being allowed
    into the country. Most of them have claims under the asylum
    system, a system where, at the end of the process, once their
    claims are adjudicated, more than 80 percent are denied.
        This year DHS is expecting 1.5 to 2 million people to come
    to our border unlawfully. You have been using Title 42 to turn
    back about another 1 million people. So clearly not having
    Title 42 is going to lead to a lot more folks coming to the
    border unlawfully and being allowed into the country.
        On Fox News Sunday this past week I was watching you. You
    said that asylum-seekers, ``make their claims under the law. If
    those claims do not prevail they are promptly removed from the
    United States.''
        According to information we have received, about 1.2
    million unlawful migrants have been issued a final order of
    removal. Those are people who go through the asylum process and
    their claims are adjudicated and they are denied.
        You only deported 59,000 people last year. That would be
    the lowest percentage in the history of the country. With these
    numbers, how can you say that asylum-seekers whose claims were
    denied are, ``promptly removed,'' from the United States?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Ranking Member Portman, thank you very
    much. That 59,000 figure is not the figure that I have but I
    will drill down on that.
        Senator Portman. Do you know what figure you have?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Yes, I do. I believe it is over 74,000.
        Senator Portman. 74,000? Under the Obama years----
        Secretary Mayorkas. Forgive me, Ranking Member Portman. You
    are correct. That is the number of arrests. We removed 59,011
    people in fiscal year 2021.
        Senator Portman. OK. Out of 1.2 million unlawful migrants
    that have been issued a final order of removal?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Let me, if I can, first focus on the
    59,000 figure because our focus has been on individuals who
    pose the greatest threat to our public safety in the execution
    of smart and effective law enforcement. Forty-six percent of
    the ICE removals were for people convicted of felonies or
    aggravated felonies, compared to 18 percent during the previous
    four years and 17 percent the year before that. Our focus,
    first and foremost, in execution of our security mission is the
    removal of people that pose the greatest public safety threat.
        Senator Portman. I understand that. You are deporting a lot
    fewer people and so you are focusing on those that have
    criminal records, and therefore your percentage of those will
    be higher. You were in the Obama Administration. I worked with
    you then. You were Deputy Secretary. Your deportation numbers
    are 80 percent lower than they were under the Obama-Biden
    administration. Forget the Trump administration. The Obama-
    Biden administration. DHS was deporting about 350,000 unlawful
    migrants each year, on average, that you know because you were
    there.
        Secretary Mayorkas. There is an important fact to explain
    that distinction, and that is the implementation of Title 42,
    which does not account for a removal. Under Title 42, we have
    used Title 42 to expel, I believe, more than 50 percent of the
    people encountered.
        Senator Portman. It is about 55 percent. That is correct. I
    am talking about the people who come into the country.
    Remember, we are at record levels of people who are allowed
    into the country, primarily because they have made a claim
    under asylum. For Central America and Mexico, only 15 percent
    of those will ultimately allowed to stay in the country under
    that adjudication.
        But they tend to stay because you are not deporting them,
    and you are not doing what you said on Fox News, which is that
    if their claims do not prevail they are promptly removed from
    the United States. It is just now what is happening. We can
    argue whether that is right or wrong, but I think the American
    people deserve to know, do you not, that we are not removing
    people at this point. Is that correct?
        Secretary Mayorkas. We are removing people as quickly as we
    can and we focus----
        Senator Portman. 59,000 is about three or four percent.
        Secretary Mayorkas. If I may, Ranking Member Portman, a few
    thoughts. First, we are working with Immigrations and Customs
    Enforcement, specifically enforcement and removal operations,
    to increase the number of removals that we are able to
    effectuate. We are seeing now an increasing number of
    individuals from countries of origin to which we have
    difficulty removing them. For example, Cuba, Venezuela,
    Nicaragua. We are seeing more than 1,200 Cubans each day
    because of the oppression of the authoritarian regime in Cuba.
    I believe that there are members of the U.S. Senate that would
    not endorse our removal of Cubans back to Cuba.
        Senator Portman. Mr. Secretary, let me continue because my
    time is about to expire.
        Secretary Mayorkas. It is very complex----
        Senator Portman. Of course it is complex, but the vast
    majority of people we are talking about do not come from Cuba
    or Venezuela.
        Secretary Mayorkas. No, but----
        Senator Portman. Or any other country where they cannot be
    returned. I will give you a chance here. Would you like to
    change your assertion that asylum-seekers who do not prevail
    are promptly removed from the United States?
        Secretary Mayorkas. No. We are doing that to the fullest
    extent that we can.
        Senator Portman. You are not doing it to the fullest extent
    you can, and you know that. Fifty-nine thousand people, three
    or four percent. Back in the Obama Administration you were
    doing 350,000, on average, per year. It is just not accurate.
        I am trying to help you here, to be able to clarify the
    record.
        The American people, when they listen to us saying
    everybody who comes in goes through an adjudication process. If
    they do not get asylum they are promptly removed. It is just
    not accurate. Now you can argue that that is the way it should
    be, for policy reasons, whatever reasons you or the
    Administration might have, but it is not accurate to mislead
    the American people.
        Secretary Mayorkas. That is not my position. It is not my
    position that that is the way it should be. We should remove
    individuals who have made their claims----
        Senator Portman. OK. Now we are making progress. You
    believe we should not be doing what we are doing. In fact, we
    should be removing more people, who did not qualify.
        Secretary Mayorkas. We should be able to remove individuals
    who have made a claim for relief, who have had that claim heard
    by an immigration court, and the immigration court denied that
    claim. Those individuals do not have a legal basis to remain in
    the United States and therefore should not be permitted to do
    so.
        Senator Portman. But you and the Administration have a
    policy not to do that.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Ranking Member Portman, that is
    precisely why we promulgated the asylum officer rule, to more
    expeditiously be able to remove individuals.
        Senator Portman. We can talk about that later, but the
    asylum officer rule says that you, at the border, get a quick
    adjudication, but if the adjudication is that you do not
    qualify because you are an economic refugee, which we
    understand a lot of people want to come here for economic
    reasons. I probably would too if I was one of those fathers.
    But those people are then allowed to appeal that decision to
    the regular immigration court judge, so we are right back into
    the backlog, which is unfortunate.
        We will have an opportunity in our second round to talk
    more about this, but I am glad to hear you say that you think
    we ought to be actually following the law and removing people
    who do not qualify, and I look forward to working with you to
    make that actually happen.

                  OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR CARPER

        Senator Carper [presiding.] All right, Senator Portman, as
    you know there will be another round, and I am sure you will
    get another bite out of the apple.
        Mr. Secretary, great to see you. Thank you not just for
    being here but thank you for your continued service to our
    country. When people take on this kind of responsibility their
    spouses and their children serve as well, so give them our best
    and our thanks.
        I am going to ask a couple of short questions, if you do
    not mind. I am going to ask you to please try to answer them in
    sort of a yes-or-no format. I am not a big yes-or-no guy. If
    you want to elaborate on any of them, feel free, but at least
    start off with a yes or no and then elaborate if you would
    like.
        The first question I want to ask is, is our border open?
        Secretary Mayorkas. No it is not, Senator.
        Senator Carper. Is it true that Title 42 is a public health
    order determined by the Centers for Disease Control and
    Prevention, not an immigration policy decided by the Department
    of Homeland Security?
        Secretary Mayorkas. That is true, Senator. The Centers for
    Disease Control and Prevention, has exclusive authority with
    respect to the public health law of Title 42.
        Senator Carper. All right. Is Title 8 the legal authority
    under which the border has regularly operated, and does it
    allow the Department to impose consequences for repeat border
    crossers?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, it does. Title 8 provides a
    series of different consequences, a consequence regime, both in
    the civil arena as well as in the criminal arena. Frankly,
    before my service in the Department of Homeland Security I
    prosecuted Title 8 cases under the criminal authorities as an
    assistant U.S. Attorney and the United States Attorney for the
    Central District of California.
        Senator Carper. All right. Do you intend to enforce the law
    under Title 8 once the Title 42 public health order is lifted,
    and has Title 42 significantly increased the number of repeat
    crossers coming to our border?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, the six lines of effort that I
    outlined in my opening statement reflected, in greater detail,
    and in the plan that is set forth in the memorandum I issued
    last week I spoke of the consequence regime that is one of the
    key pillars, and that includes, of course, proceedings under
    Title 8, both in the civil arena, expedited removal, which is a
    faster way of removing individuals from the United States, and
    criminal prosecutions.
        Senator Carper. All right. Does your Department have a plan
    in place that the Congress is aware of which includes both
    short-term and long-term solutions for managing our borders?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, yes, we do, and that is a plan
    that we developed beginning in September of last year. It is
    reflected in the memorandum I issued last week. But
    fundamentally the enduring solution is legislation to fix what
    is unanimously understood to be a broken system.
        With respect to the plan that I detailed, there are a few
    solutions that are more enduring than others. One is the
    intensified targeting and disrupting of the transnational
    criminal organizations and the smuggling organizations, and two
    is deterring irregular migration in cooperation with not only
    Federal departments and agencies but critically with our
    partners to the south of our border. Yesterday I met with
    Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard of Mexico, certainly not for
    the first time, and over the last month I have been in Panama
    and Costa Rica to speak with our partners.
        Senator Carper. All right. Thank you.
        Let me turn to addressing some root causes of domestic
    terrorism here for my next question, but we do not have
    confirmation from the intelligence community (IC) or law
    enforcement official to tell us that the threat of domestic
    terrorism is rising. Unfortunately, we only have to think back
    to one of the many devastating attacks over the last couple of
    years that continue to rock communities around our country.
        Whether attacks are on places of worship--they have been in
    my State and others--institutions of higher education, or other
    community-based organizations, the reality of these attacks is
    disturbing, and as a nation we must be doing more to address
    it.
        I often say that we need to find out what works and do more
    of that. How often does the Department's Center for Prevention
    Programs and Partnerships address the root causes of this
    problem, and how is it reflected in the budget request?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator Carper, the Center for
    Prevention Programs and Partnership is really a concerted
    effort, on a day-in and day-out basis to address the root
    causes. The model of that center is to equip and resource and
    empower local communities to address the dissention into
    radicalized violence by individuals within their neighbors,
    within their communities and jurisdiction.
        No longer do we think the optimal course is for us, in the
    Department of Homeland Security, and the Federal Government to
    go into the community but rather to equip local first
    responders--teachers, faith leaders, parents, family members,
    and neighbors--to identify when someone is exhibiting the signs
    of dissenting into a potential to commit violent acts and
    intervene. It is about prevention, preparation, addressing the
    causes of that.
        Senator Carper. Good. I have about a minute and 15 seconds
    left, and I am happy to yield that time to you if you want to
    respond more fully to questions that have been asked of you by
    other colleagues.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Thank you very much, Senator. I look
    forward to speaking with Ranking Member Portman further about
    the issues that he has raised. I appreciate the opportunity.
        Senator Carper. All right. With that I think the next
    person in line is Senator Johnson. Senator Johnson, you are
    recognized.

                  OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR JOHNSON

        Senator Johnson. Thank you, Senator Carper.
        Mr. Secretary, I cannot tell you how many times, as
    Chairman of this Committee, I talked about the problem-solving
    process, and the first step in that process is admitting you
    have a problem. I have heard you say that we have a secure
    border, that you are managing it. Do you not admit that this is
    a problem on the Southern Border?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator Johnson, that is certainly a
    challenge. We recognize the challenge.
        Senator Johnson. Can you say the word ``problem''?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator Johnson, it is precisely why,
    in September of last year, we intensified our----
        Senator Johnson. Yes. I have some questions I want to ask
    you. Because you also said that you inherited a broken system.
    I would contend you broke a system. I think it is time for a
    little history lesson here.
        This is a chart\1\ I developed as Chairman, showing the
    growth in unaccompanied children crossing our border illegally.
    You see, before Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
    it was somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000 a year. DACA, in 2012,
    all of a sudden it spring to 10,000. In 2014, it went up to
    51,000 unaccompanied children, and this even President Obama
    called that a humanitarian crisis.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\ The chart referenced by Senator Johnson appears in the Appendix
    on page 73.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Going to this chart, that humanitarian crisis peaked one
    month where apprehensions were slightly over 2,000 a month. You
    can see that President Obama, then, responded. He started
    detaining families. Then you had the Flores court decision
    reinterpreted, you could not break up families. They would not
    do that, and I understand that.
        It took a little while longer for people to recognize, even
    though when President Trump ran for office illegal immigration
    climbed pretty dramatically because people thought we were
    going to be serious about securing our border. But once they
    found out that the laws had not changed, that we had, again,
    this very low standard of credible fear--not the asylum
    standard but credible fear that all you had to do was come to
    this country and say, ``I am afraid to go back,'' you can come
    in.
        We had the crisis that culminated in 2019, at a little bit
    more than 4,000 in one month. I think 4,600 a month. But in
    January we were averaging about 3,000 for about five or six
    months.
        Then President Trump did something about it. He actually
    modeled his Return to Mexico off of the program that Senator
    Sinema and I worked on, called Operation Safe Return, but they
    turned it into Return to Mexico. He had agreements with Central
    American countries and Mexico. I think you have to admit that
    at least in terms of unaccompanied children and families
    exploiting our asylum law we pretty well almost stopped the
    flow.
        What happened during 2020, is during the Democratic
    Presidential debates every Democratic Presidential candidate
    said they were going to stop deportations and give free health
    care. You can see single adults started rising, but the full-
    blown crisis did not start until you and President Biden took
    office. You dismantled Return to Mexico. You dismantled those
    agreements. You send the signal to the world that America's
    borders are open. You end Title 42 and the signal says the
    borders are completely open.
        Now can you sit there and testify that the root cause of
    the current crisis is not how you dismantled what worked under
    the previous administration?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Yes. That is my position, Senator.
        Senator Johnson. You do not believe that your dismantling
    of those successful policies that obviously worked did not
    cause this crisis, that you were brought into office with a--I
    understand the system cannot handle 7,000 people a day, which
    is what we have been averaging since your Administration took
    office, about 6,000 a day, last month 7,000 a day. I know the
    system cannot handle that. But that was not a broken system.
    What is broken is the uncontrolled flow caused by your policies
    of opening up the border.
        You will not admit that what you did in dismantling
    successful policies caused this?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, so I disagree with your
    framing of the question, but let me answer it if I may. The
    challenge of migration is not unique to the United States. I
    have traveled to the south of our border. let me share a few
    facts with you.
        There are more than 1.8 Venezuelans in Colombia. I was in
    the small country of Costa Rica. Costa Rica's population right
    now is approximately two percent----
        Senator Johnson. Mr. Secretary, you are Secretary of
    Homeland Security for the United States of America.
        Secretary Mayorkas. No, but what I am sharing with you----
        Senator Johnson. I have seen the surveys. There are tens of
    millions of people around the world that would want to come to
    this country, and I understand that. I am sympathetic with
    that. But we need to secure our border, and we pretty well had
    it done. It was your Administration that stopped building the
    fence. You stopped completing it. You dismantled these
    programs.
        Again, you can sit there and deny that the actions you
    took, your policies have sent the signal to the world, and
    again, Title 42 is it the final signal that our border is
    completely open. You even stopped calling it apprehension. Now
    it is just encounter. You encounter. You are managing the
    process by making that processing and dispersing so much more
    efficient.
        Secretary Mayorkas. I would like to finish my answer.
        Senator Johnson. You are not answering the question. You
    are just dodging it.
        Secretary Mayorkas. No. I have already answered your
    question, Senator, if I may, that we do not believe the
    policies of this Administration have caused the migration----
        Senator Johnson. OK.
        Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. Challenges, that
    actually----
        Senator Johnson. You are living in an alternate reality.
        Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. But it is actually----
        Senator Johnson. Is the goal of this Administration to
    actually reduce the flow of illegal immigrants or is the goal
    just making it more efficient to let them in and disperse them?
    What is the goal of your policy?
        Secretary Mayorkas. The goal of this Administration, and it
    has been articulated publicly many a time, is to build safe,
    orderly, and legal pathways for individuals to access the laws
    of immigration that Congress has passed, not to come in between
    the ports of entry, not to take the dangerous journey, not to
    place one's life savings----
        Senator Johnson. That is not working very well. You said
    that Congress has to pass laws. Is there any law that you
    proposed that would tighten that credible fear standard so that
    we do not have this beacon for people coming to this country
    illegally and exploiting our very low credible fear standard?
    Is there anything you are proposing that would actually reduce
    the flow as opposed to just making it more efficient to process
    and disperse?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator Johnson, I believe that
    Senators Sinema and Cornyn, for example, have presented a
    proposal to fix our asylum system. We would look forward to
    working with them with respect to that proposal or other
    proposals that are----
        Senator Johnson. Why not go back to Return to Mexico,
    because that worked?
        Without congressional action, because President Trump did
    it, you just go back to Return to Mexico, complete the fence,
    reenter those agreements with Central American countries, and
    do what President Trump did: fix it. Why don't you do that? You
    can do that with Executive action.
        Secretary Mayorkas. We do not agree with many of the
    inhumane and cruel policies of the prior administration.
        Senator Johnson. You think the human trafficking, the sex
    trafficking, the over 100,000 drug overdoses is because of our
    completely open border? Do you think the selling of children,
    to use that loophole in our asylum laws, do you think that is
    humane? Do you think what you are facilitating, the business
    model of some of the most evil people on the planet putting
    billions of dollars in their pocket, do you think that is
    humane?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator Johnson, of course I will treat
    that as a rhetorical question, because you know that the
    question compels the answer that I would give. Of course we do
    not consider that human suffering to be humane.
        Senator Johnson. You are allowing it.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Of course we do not consider the more
    than----
        Senator Johnson. You are allowing it. You are facilitating
    it. You have caused it.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Of course we do not consider the more
    than 1,500 individuals raped, murdered, tortured----
        Senator Johnson. Then fix it.
        Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. Otherwise victimized under
    President Trump's execution of the Remain in Mexico program.
        Senator Johnson. Fix it. You know how to fix it.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Of course we do not consider that
    humane.
        Chairman Peters. Senator Paul, you are recognized for your
    questions.

                   OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR PAUL

        Senator Paul. Do you think the Steele dossier included
    Russian disinformation?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, that is not a question that I
    am equipped to answer.
        Senator Paul. It was in the public news. You may have heard
    of it, the Mueller investigation. It is a $32 million
    investigation that went over a couple of years. Horowitz was an
    investigator general and he looked at the Federal Bureau of
    Investigation (FBIs) activity in the beginning of this. What
    the FBI concluded was that there were FBI agents throughout
    this period of time who concluded that yes, the dossier was
    full of Russian disinformation.
        Let's say it is Russian disinformation. You say your new
    Disinformation Governance Board is going to help the public
    with disinformation. You claim is not going to be about
    domestic. It is going to be about foreigners and those evil
    Russians.
        Here is my question. The FBI concludes that the Steele
    dossier was full of Russian disinformation. The Cable News
    Network (CNN) propagated this disinformation gladly for years
    and years. The difference, I guess, between your opinion and
    our opinion is that as despicable as it is that CNN propagated
    this disinformation, I would not shut them down. I would not
    lecture them. I would not put it on a government website that
    CNN is wrong for propagating disinformation.
        The problem you have is you are not even willing to admit--
    we cannot even have an agreement on what the FBI said was
    disinformation. How do you propose that you are going to have
    an Office of Disinformation Governance if you see the problem
    in even determining what is disinformation?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, because our work is not
    focused on disinformation writ large. Where we, the Department
    of Homeland Security, become involved is when there is a
    connectivity between disinformation and threats to the security
    of the homeland.
        Senator Paul. The Russians might be considered that. You
    mentioned the Russians the other day when you tried to pivot
    away from this being about censorship. But let's say it is the
    Russians. I know you are not going to ever agree that the
    Steele dossier, which you all spent so much money on, was
    disinformation. But it was, and the FBI concluded.
        But let's just say there is an imaginary disinformation.
    You have discovered tomorrow Russian disinformation that is
    going to hurt our national security, and CNN is broadcasting
    it. What are you going to do?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, let me----
        Senator Paul. Are you going to tell Putin, ``You should not
    do this.''
        What are you going to do?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, let me explain what we do in
    the Department of Homeland Security with respect to
    disinformation, and frankly, what we have been doing for nearly
    10 years across different administrations.
        The cartels propagate disinformation that Title 42 does not
    apply to a particular community of migrants, migrants from a
    particular country.
        Senator Paul. How are they propagating this?
        Secretary Mayorkas. If I may, through social media, and
    what we do, through U.S. Customs and Border Protection, is
    actually communicate via social media and other channels that
    that is false, that we do apply Title 42----
        Senator Paul. Let's say there is Russian disinformation as
    well. Are you going to take to social media and broadcast that
    people are broadcasting something incorrect about what you
    think is Russian disinformation?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, let me emphasize----
        Senator Paul. You said the other days Russians, and now you
    are saying not so much the Russians. You are saying the
    cartels.
        Secretary Mayorkas. No, I am not, Senator. You are
    mischaracterizing my statement.
        Senator Paul. Then what are you going to do if there is
    Russian disinformation? Are you going to broadcast something on
    social media?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Please allow me to share when we become
    involved in the Department of Homeland Security. We become
    involved when disinformation poses a threat to the security of
    our country. It is when there is a connectivity to a threat to
    our country. It could be a threat connectivity to violence.
    What this working group does is precisely what I would think
    you would want it to do, which is to take a look at the
    disinformation work that our Department has done and ask the
    following questions: Do we have policies? Do we have
    guardrails? Do we have standards to assure----
        Senator Paul. But here is the problem. We cannot even agree
    what disinformation is.
        You cannot even agree that it was disinformation, that the
    Russians fed information to the Steele dossier. If you cannot
    agree to that, how are we ever going to come to an agreement on
    what is disinformation so you can police it on social media?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I have two points, if I may
    finish. No. 1, What this working group does is ensure that
    there are guardrails, definitions, standards, to make sure that
    the free speech rights, the civil rights, civil liberties, and
    privacy rights of individuals are not----
        Senator Paul. Do you think Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-
    19)----
        Secretary Mayorkas. No. 1.
        Senator Paul [continuing]. Do you think COVID----
        Secretary Mayorkas. And No. 2, if I may----
        Senator Paul [continuing]. Do you think COVID
    disinformation threatens our national security?
        Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. If I may, Senator, and No.
    2 is that your proposition that when the cartels spread
    disinformation with respect our immigration policies, try to
    lure vulnerable migrants to our border illegally----
        Senator Paul. I think you have no idea what disinformation
    is, and I do not think the government is capable of it. Do you
    know who the greatest propagator of disinformation in the
    history of the world is? The U.S. Government. Are you familiar
    with McNamara, the Pentagon Papers? Are you familiar with
    George W. Bush and the weapons of mass destruction (WMD)? Are
    you familiar with Iran-Contra?
        Think of all the debates and disputes we have had over the
    last 50 years in our country. We worked them out by debating
    them. We do not work them out by having the government being
    the arbiter. I do not guardrails. I want you to have nothing to
    do with speech. Do you think we cannot determine, speech by
    traffickers is disinformation? Do you think the American people
    are so stupid they need you to tell them what the truth is? You
    cannot even admit what the truth is with the Steele dossier. I
    do not trust government to figure out what the truth is.
        Government is largely disseminating disinformation.
        I do have a question, and here is the question. So the
    Russians, maybe some cartels, what about COVID-19
    disinformation? Is that in your bailiwick for your
    Disinformation Governance Board?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, you would have to give me the
    details with----
        Senator Paul. OK, here. I have said a million times that
    cloth masks do not work. YouTube takes me down. They are a
    private company. I can have that beef with them. What about
    you? Are you going to look at that? I often say that natural
    immunity from having had the infection is equal to the vaccine
    or better. Are you going to take that down?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Frst of all----
        Senator Paul. Those are very specific.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, first of all, it is not for us
    to take it down, and second of all----
        Senator Paul. Are you going to put information out there
    saying that I am spreading disinformation?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, we are not the public health
    experts to make those determinations.
        Senator Paul. So public health will not be part of the
    Disinformation Governance Board. No COVID disinformation. Yes
    or no?
        Yes or no. Is public health going to be part of your
    censorship?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, allow me, because you are
    presenting hypotheticals that are vague and----
        Senator Paul. I gave you a very specific one on cloth
    masks. I gave you a very specific one on immunity from previous
    infection.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Let me answer your question, but let me
    answer the last question that you posed. Do not, under any
    circumstances, accept the vaccine at a FEMA-overseen
    vaccination center because they are actually peddling fentanyl.
    Now, should I sit back and take that or should I actually
    disseminate accurate information--that is what we would do?
    Should FEMA issue accurate information that the vaccinations
    that we are administering in the sites that we oversee actually
    are the COVID-19 vaccines----
        Senator Paul. I have greater respect for the American
    people than you do. I think the American people can figure out
    the truth, and if you think the American people need to be told
    there is not fentanyl in the vaccination, feel free to say it.
    But the thing is if you are going to go around saying that you
    are the arbiter of information and of disinformation, I think
    you have no clue----
        Secretary Mayorkas. I never said----
        Senator Paul [continuing]. And you do not have the
    prospective history knowing that disinformation, the largest
    progenitor of disinformation in our history has probably been
    the U.S. Government.
        Secretary Mayorkas. I have never said that, and actually I
    have said the exact opposite.
        Senator Paul. Thank you, sir.
        Secretary Mayorkas. We are not the truth police.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Paul.
        Senator Padilla, you are recognized for your questions.

                  OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR PADILLA

        Senator Padilla. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Seven minutes
    goes by fast so I will jump right in, Mr. Secretary.
        A major breakdown of the U.S. immigration is the failure to
    consider the fate of the children of long-term visa holders.
    Now these are children who have parents who have applied for a
    green card and are in the United States with legal status--but
    their applications remain stuck in years-long backlogs. As
    result, there are currently over 250,000 children who are at
    risk of aging out from the protection of their parents' lawful
    status. When these children turn 21, they face the impossible
    decision of leaving their families to self-deport to a country
    that is often completely foreign to them or remaining in the
    United States, undocumented and living in the shadows.
        To address this problem I introduce the America's Children
    Act to help fix this often-overlooked inequity in our
    immigration system. I am proud to say that it enjoys, from the
    start, bipartisan support, including from my colleague Senator
    Paul, a Member of this Committee. But as you well know, Mr.
    Secretary, we have a lot more work to do to clear backlogs and
    reduce processing times at USCIS. That is partly why I am
    pleased to see the $765 million included in the President's
    budget request this year to help work through the processing
    backlog.
        Secretary Mayorkas, do you think it makes sense for our
    immigration system to allow children to be brought here
    lawfully on their parents' visa, raised and educated here,
    oftentimes for decades, but not have a clear opportunity to
    become an American citizen because their parents' green card
    petition is stuck in the backlog?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator Padilla, I think the
    legislation that you proposed is one element of a much-needed
    massive fix to our broken immigration system.
        Senator Padilla. Thank you. Can you please explain what the
    $765 million requested for USCIS will be used for, and whether
    it will be sufficient to work through the backlogs?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator Padilla, the $765 million is
    comprised of two parts. One, to address the backlog, if I am
    not mistaken, and two, to hire additional asylum officers to
    implement the asylum officer rule that will take effect later
    this month, which we believe is a very much needed reform to
    the asylum system. That will not be enough to put U.S.
    Citizenship and Immigration Services on firm financial footing.
        That agency was dismantled. It was on the brink of
    bankruptcy. It is funded predominantly through the fees it
    collects, and that is why we are very focused on a fee rule.
    The fee rule calibrates the fees that we charge applicants. It
    calibrates them according to the costs incurred in
    administering those benefits.
        It is a law that a fee rule is to be promulgated, I
    believe, every two years, and it has been over six years, I
    think that a fee rule has been promulgated, which is why we are
    so focused on it.
        Senator Padilla. There are two issues I want to get to so I
    just ask that whatever additional resources that you would need
    to successfully clear the backlogs, share that with my office,
    share that with this Committee. We want to be helpful.
        Second, I want to highlight FEMA's Emergency Food and
    Shelter Program (EFSP), which provides funding for NGO's as
    well as State and local jurisdictions along our border. I was
    disappointed to see that the amount requested in the budget for
    this part of the program was only $24 million. As you know,
    border area local governments and NGO's doing this kind of work
    provide critical services that are typically functions of the
    Federal Government, such as temporary shelter, food,
    transportation for families and adults who are released from
    government custody. Without proper funding support operations
    will inevitably be scaled back.
        My question is a simple yes-no. Will you commit to working
    with me to ensure that we have the necessary resources to meet
    the needs of organizations and local governments providing
    humanitarian assistance to vulnerable migrant families and
    individuals?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Yes, I will, Senator, and that is
    actually one of the six pillars in our plan that we detailed in
    the memorandum I published.
        Senator Padilla. Good. Thank you.
        The final area deals with wildfire. Historically, the
    Stafford Act, which governs FEMA's disaster efforts, has not
    been explicitly inclusive of wildfires, which are increasing in
    frequency and severity throughout the West, not just in
    California. Due to the unique nature of wildfires, California
    has experienced tremendous difficulty after catastrophic
    wildfires in getting approval for Federal disaster assistance.
        Most recently, the Calder Fire had victims who were denied
    individual assistance, despite the fact that more than 1,000
    structures were destroyed, and despite President Biden himself
    having visited the area and committed assistance from the
    Administration.
        Secretary Mayorkas, will you commit to working with my
    office to ensure that the disaster assistance needs of all
    communities impacted by wildfires are more fully supported by
    DHS and FEMA?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Yes, I will, Senator, and we have a
    number of different efforts underway in that regard, very well
    understanding that both the frequency and the gravity of
    wildfires that this country is experiencing have increased. In
    fact, our Department is working with the U.S. Deparment of
    Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Interior (DOI) in
    setting up a commission to address this very threat to the
    security of our homeland.
        Senator Padilla. OK. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
        Mr. Chairman, I will reserve my further question for the
    second round.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Padilla.
        Senator Lankford, you are recognized for your questions.

                 OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR LANKFORD

        Senator Lankford. Mr. Chairman, thank you. Secretary
    Mayorkas, thank you for being here. You have had a long couple
    of weeks in getting a chance to be able to testify. Obviously
    there are a lot of folks that have talked to you, both today
    and before, about this Disinformation Governance Board. There
    are some obvious questions and there have been some problems
    with the rollout on this. I am not going to go into a lot of
    details but I will tell you I have some major concerns,
    obviously, and part of our concerns is just a lack of
    information. I want to be able to bounce through a couple of
    things.
        Before I jump into that I do want to say this, as well.
    Last year, at our budget hearing, which was in July last year,
    I asked you some different questions for the record. Your team
    actually sent me the answers for those questions for the record
    three hours ago. I am going to give you a couple of things,
    because it may take eight months to be able to get the answer
    back on it. By the way, some of those were yes-or-no questions
    on it, as well. I do appreciate the answer on it very much, but
    let me give you just a couple of things.
        Is there a written mission statement, a strategy document,
    principles, a charter, a job description on this Disinformation
    Governance Board? Are there written documents to explain what
    it is and what it is not, and what they are doing?
        Secretary Mayorkas. If I can preface my answer with an
    apology----
        Senator Lankford. Thank you.
        Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. Both to you and Ranking
    Member Portman and to this Committee with respect to the
    responses to requests for the record. We need to be swifter in
    providing this Committee with responses, and I extend that
    apology to the entire Committee.
        There is a charter. You are correct, Senator, that the
    rollout with respect to this working group was suboptimal and
    we need to provide more information, not only to this Committee
    and Congress but to the American public. There is a charter,
    and principles are being developed. What this working group
    seeks to do is actually develop guidelines, standards,
    guardrails to ensure that the work that has been ongoing for
    nearly 10 years does not infringe on people's free speech
    rights, rights of privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties.
    It was quite disconcerting, frankly, that the disinformation
    work that was well underway for many years across different
    administrations was not guided by guardrails.
        Senator Lankford. Let me say this then. We will want those
    written documents, all those principles as soon as we possibly
    can, job description and the task on this, because it is left
    undefined. We have no idea what this is. We want to be able to
    get that.
        You have also said that they will have guardrails, or
    already have guardrails on this. Can I have a copy of that, and
    when can I get that?
        Secretary Mayorkas. No. One of the primary goals of this
    working group is actually to develop those guardrails, protect
    the rights.
        Senator Lankford. Got it. Here is my challenge initially on
    this. Obviously it is completely undefined. Its just sitting
    out there. The FBI already does this. The State Department
    already does this. The State Department identifies already
    foreign disinformation that is coming in to us. The FBI is
    already looking for disinformation that could lead to
    terrorism, harm, all those kinds of things.
        We are trying to figure out this DHS new invention on what
    it does, and here is our problem. Let me show you this. This is
    not going to shock you on this. The leader that you appointed
    to be able to put into this task, when we just do a simple
    question to say who is this person on it, what we get back is
    political statements that she has made, for instance, on the
    Steele dossier, which we all know was disinformation. That was
    a Clinton campaign document that was very engaged with the
    Russians on it.
        She actually, when it comes up, she is going to Chris
    Steele and saying, ``I listened to this last night. Chris
    Steele, yes, that Chris Steele, provides some great historical
    context about the evolution of disinformation worth a listen.''
    Or when people made a comment publicly about Chris Steele she
    responded back on Twitter, April 22, 2020, ``You are aware that
    the Steele dossier is a Republican opposition research
    project.''
        OK. That is clearly disinformation on this. She has also
    made the public statements, October 14, 2020, in an Associated
    Press (AP) article she is quoted as saying, ``The Hunter Biden
    laptop, we view it as a Trump campaign product,'' and then
    said, ``The emails do not need to be altered to be part of an
    influence campaign. Voters deserve the context, not a fairy
    tale about a laptop repair shop.''
        We have a practical question here. We do not have a
    definition of what it is. We do not have boundaries of what it
    does. The FBI already does this. The State Department already
    does this. The person you tapped to lead the disinformation
    campaign has been outspoken on TikTok and Twitter with
    disinformation, specifically on election issues.
        We are responding to something that is unknown, and what we
    do know is disinformation coming from it. Why should we not
    have suspicions on this?
        Secretary Mayorkas. I will say two things. No. 1, Senator,
    you mentioned that the Department of State and the Federal
    Bureau of Investigation already do this work. The Department of
    Homeland Security has been doing this work for years, in
    addressing disinformation that poses a threat to the security
    of our homeland, whether it is Russia in the cyber domain,
    whether it is disinformation with respect to the resources that
    FEMA provides to the most vulnerable people in the wake of a
    natural disaster, whether it is addressing the smuggling
    organizations and their disinformation not to United States
    persons but to vulnerable migrants who receive disinformation
    and are goaded into coming to the border under false pretenses.
        That work has been underway for years and years. What this
    group is to do is to ensure that that work is performed in a
    way consistent with the law. It does not infringe on freedom of
    speech, rights of privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties.
    It is going to be establish what should have been established
    years ago--standards, definitions, guidelines, and policies.
        Senator Lankford. We will look forward to getting and the
    written information on that. I appreciate that very much, to be
    able to get it out.
        You testified last week about operational control of the
    Southern Border, and you testified that we do have operational
    control of the Southern Border. What we did not get was your
    definition. Obviously, we look at this and say 221,000 people
    were encountered just in March illegally crossing the border.
    Another 66,000 people were seen crossing the border, that the
    Border Patrol could not actually get to because they were
    taking care of the 221,000 people they did have. But you stated
    in your testimony, ``We do have operational control of the
    Southern Border.'' Can we get a copy of what your Department
    uses as the definition of ``operational control''?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Actually there is a statutory
    definition, which provides, if I am not mistaken--and I will
    double-check to make sure of my accuracy before this
    Committee--is that operational control is if no individual and
    no controlled substance passes through our border.
        Under that strict definition this country has never had
    operational control, but obviously a layer of reasonableness
    must be applied here, and looking at that definition through
    the lens of reasonableness we dedicate now 23,000 personnel to
    the border. We are surging increased personnel, facilities, and
    other methods of support. In my opinion, operational controls
    means maximizing the resources we have to deliver the most
    effective results.
        Senator Lankford. I would say over a quarter million people
    that crossed the border illegally in one month is not
    operational control. We are going to disagree on that pretty
    strongly.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Lankford.
        Senator Hassan, I need to step out to vote shortly. Senator
    Hassan, you will have the gavel and you are recognized for your
    questions.

                  OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR HASSAN

        Senator Hassan [presiding.] Thank you, Senator Peters, and
    thank you and Ranking Member Portman for this hearing, and
    Secretary Mayorkas, thank you for coming before the Committee
    today to discuss critical resources that are needed to protect
    the homeland.
        I want to start with a question about Title 42. While your
    April 26th memo summarizing the Department of Homeland
    Security's plan for Southwest Border security and preparedness
    in anticipation of the lifting of Title 42 included more detail
    than it had before, I remain concerned about the Department's
    ability to get additional, much-needed resources to the border.
        Your memo states that the Department has, ``been able to
    manage increased encounters because of prudent planning and
    execution.'' But during my trip to McAllen, Texas, and Nogales,
    Arizona, in early April I heard from border security personnel
    on the ground that they were still struggling to manage the
    historically high number of people who they were already
    encountering, and that they anticipate a significant increase
    in attempted crossings if the Title 42 restrictions are lifted.
        Mr. Secretary, what should give us confidence that the
    Department can handle even more attempted crossings if it is
    already struggling with the current situation?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, there is no question that the
    Border Patrol agents are under strain, and I have been very
    candid and straightforward with respect to the fact that once
    the operational of Title 42 comes to an end we anticipate that
    strain to increase, which is why we are delivering greater
    resources to them.
        We have entered into a contract, for example, for hundreds
    of case processors to do the processing of individuals
    encountered in between the ports of entry, so we can push those
    Border Patrol agents out into the field. That is a very strong
    example of what we are doing. Why you should have confidence is
    because this is what the extraordinary personnel of the
    Department of Homeland Security do. They plan, they prepare,
    and they execute to meet the mission.
        Senator Hassan. I agree that we have extraordinary
    personnel at the border and throughout the country, and I am
    very grateful to them each and every day. But I would suggest
    to you that a plan does not necessarily deliver resources. We
    need to make sure that the actual resources for the anticipated
    increase are there, and will continue to push to make sure that
    that happens.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, if I may, because that plan is
    quite comprehensive because it is not just about resources. It
    is about attacking the transnational criminal organizations and
    the smuggling organizations.
        Senator Hassan. Mr. Secretary, I have limited time so I
    appreciate that, and I appreciate the overall plan. My issue is
    making sure that we have the resources in place and the
    execution capacity before Title 42 is lifted, and a plan and
    that capacity are two different things and that is what I hope
    to continue to work with you and your team on and push the
    Administration on.
        I want to turn to the issue of international terrorist
    threats. I am concerned, I think as we all are, about a
    resurgence in threats from international terrorism in the face
    of a potential resurgence of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. What
    processes and procedures does the Department of Homeland
    Security need to have in place to identify, monitor,
    investigate, and disrupt international terrorist threats?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator Hassan, we have an Office of
    Intelligence and Analysis (OIA) that focuses on this very issue
    that is appropriately an issue of concern to you and, of
    course, one of ours. That is why we maintain vigilance in
    addressing it.
        Our Office of Intelligence and Analysis works with the
    entire intelligence community in identifying the threat of
    international terrorism. What we really need the Senate to do
    is to confirm our nominated Under Secretary for Intelligence
    and Analysis, who served as the Homeland Security advisor under
    President Bush, who is a former United States Attorney, and
    eminently qualified to lead that critical office at that time.
        Senator Hassan. Thank you. Now I want to turn to our
    cybersecurity. Earlier this year, Senator Cornyn and I
    reintroduced our bill, Codifying the Continuous Diagnostics and
    Mitigation (CDM) Program. CDM is supposed to provide
    foundational cybersecurity capabilities to all Federal
    agencies, such as the ability to quickly and accurately know
    all of the devices on an agency network. Without the
    foundational capabilities provided by CDM, other Federal
    cybersecurity efforts will be ineffective, at best.
        Mr. Secretary, the Department's proposed budget requests
    approximately $67 million more for CISA to run the CDM program
    than Congress appropriated earlier this year. How would the
    additional investment be used to ensure that all Federal
    agencies have the foundational cyber capabilities provided by
    the CDM program as soon as possible?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator Hassan, we so very much
    appreciate your support of CDM. It is a critical tool. We have
    been pushing it out across the Federal enterprise. We have been
    issuing binding operational directives to make sure that other
    Federal agencies and departments within our purview, at the
    leader of the dot-gov environment, to the civilian dot-gov
    environment, implement the cybersecurity measures that they
    can. We communicate known vulnerabilities and allow those
    Federal agencies to close them.
        We very much appreciate your support and are pushing CDM
    throughout the Federal enterprise.
        Senator Hassan. Thank you. I appreciate that.
        It is extremely important that we product the cybersecurity
    of our nation's critical infrastructure too. We talked about
    own Federal agencies' cyber infrastructure. But critical
    infrastructure is a whole other concern, and that is why I
    worked with my colleagues in both parties to create a State and
    local cybersecurity grant program in last year's infrastructure
    bill to protect government-owned computer systems and critical
    infrastructure such as public schools and water utilities.
        That grant program is currently being rolled out, and I
    would be interested in hearing any update you have on the
    progress in rolling out those grants. I am also interested in a
    new critical infrastructure cybersecurity grant program that
    the Department proposed in its budget. How will this new grant
    program complement the State and local cybersecurity grant
    program? How will the Department effectively prioritize which
    critical infrastructure entities receive grants so that the
    grants will have the most impact?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator Hassan, the program that is in
    effect right now, the State and local grant program, is to
    equip State and local jurisdictions with the resources they
    need to strengthen their respective jurisdictions.
        The critical infrastructure grant program that we propose
    would be a complement to that, quite frankly, to focus on those
    elements of critical infrastructure that are target-rich and
    resource-poor. We have to be mindful of the fact that the
    majority of our country's critical infrastructure actually
    rests in the hands of the private sector. It is an
    extraordinarily important complementary program.
        Senator Hassan. Thank you, and I will submit for the record
    a question I have concerning your efforts, the Department's
    efforts on Russian sanction evasion.
        Now, as I am looking at our order here, I believe, given
    who is in the room, Senator Scott, you are next.

                   OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR SCOTT

        Senator Scott. Thank you, Senator Hassan. First, thank you
    for being here again and thanks for testifying.
        I come from Florida. Florida is a State that we have a lot
    of people that have come to Florida that were born in other
    countries, so we like immigration but we expect it to be legal.
    As you talk to people around my State, they do not believe at
    all that the border is secure. As you talk to our law
    enforcement, our police chiefs and our sheriffs, they have seen
    an unbelievable uptick in illegal drugs coming across the
    Southern Border, and so they are frustrated.
        Last year, in March, you told American Broadcasting Company
    (ABC's) Martha Raddatz, quote, ``The border is closed. The
    border is secure.'' I can just tell you, in Florida that is not
    something that people believe at all.
        Months later, on September 21, even after we had seen wave
    after wave of illegal immigration at our Southern Border, you
    told Senator Johnson, this Committee, you believed that our
    borders are closed. He asked you if you believed our borders
    are closed. You responded, ``Senator, I do.''
        In a hearing of May of last year, you made the commitment
    to me, when we talked before your vote on the Senate floor,
    that you would enforce the law, and I have no belief that is
    what you are doing. I guess we do not have the chart\1\ up here
    on the numbers. It is just staggering. I do not think there is
    any question the border is not secure, and I do not believe you
    are enforcing the laws.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\ The chart referenced by Senator Scott appears in the Appendix
    on page 76.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        I do not know how this does not just devastate you.
    Recently we lost Sergeant Bishop Evans, a member of the Texas
    National Guard, who died April 22nd while trying to save
    migrants illegally entering the United States. He is clearly a
    hero. He was trying to do his job. I think all of our prayers
    are with his family. To make it even worse, the migrants
    Sergeant Evans was attempting to rescue are suspected of trying
    to illegally enter the United States to traffic illicit drugs.
        Secretary Mayorkas. But why would you suggest that the loss
    of this hero's life does not devastate me?
        Senator Scott. Because I can tell you right now, as I
    talked to Border Patrol agents, they do not believe you are
    doing anything to make the border secure, and I do not believe
    you are doing anything to make the border secure.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Do you actually suggest, Senator Scott,
    that I, as a human being, am not devastated by the loss of a
    law enforcement officer in the line of duty?
        Senator Scott. I would suggest that if you were worried
    about that you would start taking action to secure the border,
    and you are not.
        I have not seen action on your part. I have been to the
    border. I have talked to Border Patrol agents. They do not
    believe you are doing anything. They believe this is the first
    Administration that has sat there and done nothing to secure
    the border. If you look at the actions you have taken since you
    took this job, you promised me you would enforce the law. I do
    not think there is any question you are not enforcing the law.
    I think you have utterly failed in your duty to the American
    public, and I do not think there is any question what you have
    done.
        I am just shocked when you see this. You talk to families
    who lost their kids with these drugs, and it has skyrocketed
    since you have been in office. I do not get why you can sit
    here, and you can go on television, and you can come here and
    claim this border is secure and you are enforcing all the laws.
    You look at the Border Patrol agents. You put them in harm's
    way. You look at the National Guard members. I just do not get
    it.
        Let us go through your numbers. Tell me how it is secure
    when you have two million illegal border crossings last year
    and more than half of those individuals were allowed to stay.
    Think about the numbers for a second. A little over three
    million people in America, so about one in every 300 people in
    this country today, they came here illegally since Joe Biden
    took office.
        You are seeing 7,000 apprehensions on the Southern Border
    every single day. You have caught terrorist--42 individuals
    were on the terrorist watch list. That is the ones we know you
    caught. We do not know how many you did not. We had, what,
    105,000 people die of drug overdose. I can tell you my State,
    story after story of people that have lost their loved ones. I
    do not get it.
        But let me go to disinformation. I was Governor. We put out
    information all the time, but we did not say we were going out
    and tell what the truth, so trust us. Don't trust the media.
    Say we have disinformation. We are going to be the ones that
    tell you exactly what the truth is. This is George Orwell's
    book 1984, where they had the thought police. In Communist
    Cuba, where they created an organization that is going to do
    the same thing, that they are going to be the ones that tell
    you what the truth is.
        Tell me why you do not simply say, ``Here is what we
    believe?'' Instead you want to create an organization that is
    going to go out and tell people exactly what the truth is.
        Secretary Mayorkas. That is just inaccurate.
        Senator Scott. Then why would you call it the
    disinformation board?
        Senator Hassan. Would the Senator care to let the witness
    answer the question?
        Secretary Mayorkas. A few points, if I may. The opioid
    overdose deaths in this country in 2020 increased by more than
    50 percent over 2019. The opioid and drug epidemic in this
    country is something that has been increasing year over year
    for too many years and we have to address that together.
        No. 2, the Department of Homeland Security has relied on
    the National Guard every single year since I think about 2006.
    We have requested 300 more Border Patrol agents in the
    President's fiscal year 2023 budget, the first time since 2011.
        Three, individuals are not allowed to stay in the United
    States unless their claims for relief are adjudicated favorably
    by an immigration judge. They are in immigration enforcement
    proceedings.
        With respect to the working group, this Disinformation
    Governance Board, it does not have any operational authority or
    capability. The agencies, the operating agencies within the
    Department of Homeland Security, execute their responsibilities
    to address disinformation that poses a threat to the security
    of our homeland. I gave one example. Allow me to articulate it
    again.
        When the cartels spread disinformation to individuals in
    countries to the south of the United States that Title 42 does
    not apply to them, and, in fact, it does, we are applying Title
    42 with respect to them, U.S. Customs and Border Protection
    disseminates information to that very same population that
    Title 42 does apply and you will be expelled.
        What this working group will do is not exercise operational
    authority, does not have operational capability. What it will
    do is ensure that there are guardrails, that there are
    standards and policies in place so that disinformation work
    that has been ongoing in our Department for nearly 10 years
    does not infringe upon people's free speech rights, privacy
    rights, civil rights, and civil liberties.
        Senator Scott. I have no belief in that. Thank you.
        Senator Hassan. Senator Hawley.

                  OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR HAWLEY

        Senator Hawley. Thank you, Senator. Mr. Secretary, nice to
    see you again. Thank you for being here. Let us keep talking
    about this disinformation board if we could. The fact sheet
    from DHS on the disinformation board that you recently released
    defined disinformation this way: ``False information spread
    with the intent to deceive or mislead.'' You agree with that, I
    assume. That is your definition.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Yes, I believe that is the definition--
    --
        Senator Hawley. On the fact sheet.
        Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. More broadly, and broadly
    held.
        Senator Hawley. You think it is important that the U.S.
    Government combat this disinformation, right? I mean, you have
    testified to that.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, what I testified to is when
    disinformation----
        Senator Hawley. Threatens national security.
        Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. Is a threat to the
    security of our homeland, then we are engaged.
        Senator Hawley. OK. All right. Good. I presume that is why
    you set up this disinformation board.
        Let us have a look at the person whom you have selected to
    head this new disinformation policing effort, and let us look
    at what she has been spreading online. She has, for starters,
    consistently misinformed the public about the Hunter Biden
    laptop story and spread the lie that it was Russian propaganda.
        Here she is, on October 14th, saying, ``Disinformation
    experts say there are multiple red flags that raised doubts
    about their authenticity''--meaning the emails--``including
    questions about whether the laptop actually belongs to Hunter
    Biden.'' Of course, as it turns out, that is totally false.
    This laptop has been authenticated, both by government entities
    and by independent news organizations.
        She went on. Here she is again, the same interview, saying
    that ``we should view it''--meaning the laptop, and apparently
    the whole story--``as a Trump campaign product.'' That is also
    a lie, which you know it is not a Trump campaign product. It
    never was a Trump campaign product.
        But she did not stop there. Here she is on, October 22,
    2020, this time taking to social media saying that ``Biden
    notes 50 former NatSec officials and five former Central
    Intelligence Agency (CIA) heads that believe the laptop is a
    Russian influence op,'' here using former government officials
    to launder the lie that this was, in fact, a Russian influence
    op, which, of course, is not true at all.
        Here she is, also on October 22nd, still on social media,
    this time saying, ``The emails do not need to be altered to be
    part of an influence campaign.'' Of course, they were not
    altered. ``Voters deserve that context, not a fairy tale about
    a laptop repair shop.'' Of course, we know the only person in
    all of this telling a fairy tale is Ms. Jankowicz, on social
    media, repeatedly for days and days on end.
        How about a different set of examples? She has consistently
    spread false and misleading claims about the Steele dossier,
    which we now know was actually itself a piece of Russian
    propaganda. Here she is, on December 8, 2017, responding, by
    the way, to a United States Senator. She is responding to
    Lindsey Graham. She says to him, ``Your party funded the
    dossier first. The FBI was investigating Trump since the summer
    but did not make it public. The American public deserve to
    know.'' This is false. The people who funded the dossier were
    the Clinton campaign, which we now know. This has been
    verified.
        This is outright falsehoods, but she did not stop there.
    Here she is on August 7, 2020, promoting Christopher Steele,
    the stooge who helped launder Russian propaganda, including
    lying to the FBI about it. Here she is lauding him as a
    trustworthy and legitimate source, classic disinformation. She
    says she ``listened to this last night. Chris Steele, yes, that
    Chris Steele, providing great historical context about the
    evolution of disinformation.'' At every turn, Mr. Secretary,
    she has used social media and the public to launder propaganda
    herself.
        She has also advocated for law enforcement to be involved
    in policing speech online. Here she is, in a National Public
    Radio (NPR) interview this year, just a few weeks ago, April
    16, 2022. This is Ms. Jankowicz, and I quote, ``I shudder to
    think about if free speech absolutists were taking over more
    platforms. We need platforms to do more, and we frankly need
    law enforcement and our legislatures to do more as well.'' Then
    she goes on to praise legislation in other countries that
    involves policing speech.
        Or here she is on February 17, 2021, saying that the ``free
    speech versus censorship dichotomy is false'' and calling
    herself, in a TikTok video ``the Mary Poppins of
    disinformation'' where she sings that Members of Congress
    should not be permitted to spread misinformation on the floor
    and otherwise taking to task those who propagate views she
    disagrees with.
        Here is my question to you. If your intent was to combat
    misinformation, online or in the government, why on God's green
    earth would you nominate someone who is a human geyser of
    misinformation?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I am ultimately responsible
    for the hiring of Ms. Jankowicz to be the Executive Director of
    the Disinformation Governance Board. In my capacity as
    Secretary----
        Senator Hawley. Why did you choose her?
        Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. I bear responsibility for
    that.
        I understand that she is an expert in disinformation----
        Senator Hawley. Yes, indeed, in spreading it.
        Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. She will have an
    obligation to execute her responsibilities in a nonpartisan
    way.
        Senator Hawley. Were you aware of this information when you
    chose her, everything I have just shown you?
        Secretary Mayorkas. I was not.
        Senator Hawley. How could you not be? Did you do any
    research on her?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I will not discuss the
    internal workings of the hiring process----
        Senator Hawley. You will not?
        Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. Of the Department of
    Homeland Security.
        Senator Hawley. Let me ask you about this. I am sure there
    are documents pertaining to this board, minutes of meetings,
    communications about who would serve on the board. Will you
    release those to this Committee?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, there are not yet. This
    governance board----
        Senator Hawley. Wait a minute. There are no minutes of
    meetings about this board?
        Secretary Mayorkas. It has not yet----
        Senator Hawley. You have not created any records?
        Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. It has not yet begun its
    work.
        Senator Hawley. You have hired her. You surely had
    deliberations about hiring her.
        Secretary Mayorkas. The board has not yet met.
        Senator Hawley. You had deliberations about hiring her,
    though. Correct?
        Secretary Mayorkas. I did not, Senator.
        Senator Hawley. You just said that you are solely
    responsible for hiring her.
        Secretary Mayorkas. In my capacity as the Secretary I bear
    responsibility.
        Senator Hawley. Are you telling me that there are no
    documents associated with this board?
        Secretary Mayorkas. You asked for meeting minutes.
        Senator Hawley. Minutes of meetings. Documents pertaining
    to the board, any records of communications about who would
    serve on the board, will you turn those over to this Committee?
    Any document pertaining to this board, will you turn it over to
    this Committee?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, we owe you documents with
    respect to the work of this board that already are in
    existence.
        Senator Hawley. So you will turn them all over. You will
    turn those documents over to this Committee.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Unless there is a legal basis for us
    not to do so, Senator, I will follow up with my colleagues on
    that.
        Senator Hawley. Wait. Wait a minute. You started to say yes
    but then you just----
        Secretary Mayorkas. No.
        Senator Hawley. Is that a yes or is that a maybe, I will
    get back to you later?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I owe openness and
    transparency with this Committee, and we will produce the
    documents that you have requested, unless there is a legal
    prohibition from us doing so.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you----
        Senator Hawley. If I can conclude, Mr. Chairman. Here is
    the last thing I will say on this, Mr. Secretary. We have two
    million unauthorized migrants who crossed the border last year
    during the calendar year. We have 245,390 illegal crossing this
    year in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV), and your priority is
    setting up a board and hiring someone who has gone to TikTok to
    talk about stopping speech she does not like, who has mocked
    voters, supporters of the last President.
        That has been your priority. To say that your priorities
    are misplaced I think is a dramatic understatement, and the
    time has come, I think, Mr. Secretary, for you to resign.
        Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator. I am going to ask
    everybody to try to keep to the seven minutes here. We have 10-
    minute votes now, so we are going back and forth quite rapidly.
    Then on the second round we are going to go to five minutes,
    because of the time crunch we have here with what is going on
    with votes. But on the first round everyone will get seven
    minutes.
        Senator Romney, you are recognized for your questions.

                  OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR ROMNEY

        Senator Romney. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the chance to
    speak with you today. I appreciate the chance to see you, Mr.
    Secretary, and appreciate your service.
        Several members have already spoken. I cannot begin to
    understand why you would want to announce the creation of a
    misinformation board. I think it is a terrible idea. It
    communicates to the world that we are going to be spreading
    propaganda within our country. It is an awful idea and you
    ought to disband it.
        On a separate topic, or related, I do respect my colleague
    from Kentucky who spoke about misinformation. I would
    respectfully disagree vehemently on his contention that America
    is the largest misinformation entity in the history of the
    earth. I am afraid the Soviet Union would deserve that title,
    if not perhaps other nations. But the Soviet Union continues
    under a new entity and new leader, with Russia continuing to
    spread disinformation of an extraordinary nature, including
    that they were not going to invade Ukraine, that Mr. Zelenskyy
    is a Nazi, and so forth. It is awful to see.
        But that does not mean that we have not participated in
    misinformation, and we certainly have, much to our chagrin. I
    am pleased with the fact that by and large people of highest
    authority in our government who have so participated have
    eventually come clean.
        I was struck by the chart that Senator Johnson put up and
    that Senator Portman put up. I am going to bring that chart\1\
    back again that Senator Portman had here, and that is this. It
    is so overwhelming, which is this is the prior administration
    in terms of the encounters at the Southwest Border. By the way,
    we know that in addition to encounters there are people who go
    across that are not encountered, and that is roughly 60,000 a
    month. During the term of your Administration you are seeing
    the red. It is more than double.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\ The chart referenced by Senator Romney appears in the Appendix
    on page 71.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        My prior experience was as a Governor and in the private
    sector. If I had an executive that was working with me, that I
    was responsible for, that had a record like that I would ask
    them to leave office. I would find a job they would do better.
    But I would say this is an extraordinary failure, and I do not
    know where all the fault likes. I do not know whether it is the
    fault of the President not allowing you to have the policies
    you need to have a record that is more like the prior
    administration, or whether it is your own failings as a leader.
    But one or the other, this is a failed record and would cry for
    a change in leadership.
        I respect you as an individual. I acknowledge you have a
    tough job. But when you said that you inherited a mess, it is
    like wait. There were policies in place you changed. You
    changed the Remain in Mexico policy. You said we are not going
    to complete the border wall. Now you are getting ready to say
    Title 42, we are going to pull that away as well. It is like
    you are adopting policies which have caused that to happen.
    These are not just bars. These are human lives that are
    affected.
        This is fentanyl coming into the country. This is human
    trafficking. These are lives lost that are associated with that
    kind of record. I find it appalling.
        And you say, now we have six pillars. We have six pillars
    to make this better. I guess the question is this. Do you
    believe that in the coming several months that those numbers
    are going to come down? Because I believe that the six pillars
    will do nothing to reduce those bars. In fact, the six pillars
    sound good but will not change those numbers. In fact, we are
    likely to see numbers that high or higher.
        Do you predict that those numbers are going to come sharply
    down to the level they were prior to your Administration being
    in place?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, we are very concerned that the
    end of Title 42 could result in an increase in encounters at
    the border. However, that is precisely why, in September 2021,
    understanding that Title 42 would not be around forever, we
    began to plan and prepare for its end. Some of these----
        Senator Romney. Those are as accurate as they are off-
    target. My question is, I mean, you are the person responsible
    for this record. This record is devastating to our country.
        One of the challenges that I hear in my State, and I do not
    know that people can recognize the relation between these
    things, is that my State is desperate for more workers. We need
    more truck drivers. We need more health care workers. We need
    more nurses. Our agriculture community needs more workers to
    harvest the crops. Our dairy farmers need people to work on the
    dairy farms. They want to get visas, more visas, to bring
    people in who are available to work in our country, desperately
    needed here, but we cannot make these kinds of reforms to our
    legal immigration system because the illegal immigration system
    is a disaster.
        We cannot solve the problems of legal immigration until you
    secure our border, a job you are not doing.
        Secretary Mayorkas. So in other words, Senator, we have a
    problem, and one of the solutions is legislation----
        Senator Romney. The solution is to do what was done prior
    to you taking office.
        Secretary Mayorkas. We will not deliver the solution
    because we have the problem? Is that----
        Senator Romney. I am sorry. I did not follow that logic.
        Secretary Mayorkas. No. Let----
        Senator Romney. If you have a problem, that is a problem.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Let me articulate----
        Senator Romney. I have a solution. That is a solution.
        Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. Let me articulate----
        Senator Romney. Finish the wall, keep the Remain in Mexico
    policy, and keep Title 42 in place. You do that and guess what?
    This is going to come back to the way it was. If instead you
    continue on the course that you are on you are going to
    continue to see that, whether there are six pillars or 1,000
    pillars.
        Secretary Mayorkas. I have a number of things to say, and
    let me first articulate my logic. You speak of, and correctly
    so, the need for labor in this country.
        Senator Romney. Yes.
        Secretary Mayorkas. There was a very powerful article about
    that on the front page of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) just a
    few weeks ago. This Administration, the Biden-Harris
    administration, has spoken of the need for safe, orderly, and
    legal pathways----
        Senator Romney. We have 30 seconds.
        Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. So that people do not need
    to take that journey.
        Senator Romney. I have got seconds.
        Secretary Mayorkas. And so one of the solutions----
        Senator Romney. We will never have the labor that we need
    and the legal immigration system fixed to get us the visas we
    desperately need until you secure the border. You are incapable
    of doing that with the policies you have described. Only by
    returning to policies that were there before can you do it.
    That has to be done or we need to have new leadership to do
    that.
        Thank you very much, Chairman.
        Secretary Mayorkas. I very much look forward to discussing
    this with you because legislation is a solution, and the single
    most enduring solution to the problem of regular migration that
    this country has suffered for more than 20 years.
        Senator Romney. We have told you time and time again we
    will put in place the legislation that solve our legal
    immigration woes once you secure the border. What we will not
    do is legalize all sorts of individuals who come here illegally
    at the same time people keep flowing in illegally. You have got
    to secure the border.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Romney.
        Senator Ossoff, you are recognized for your questions.

                  OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR OSSOFF

        Senator Ossoff. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Secretary
    Mayorkas, thank you for joining us. I have a few Georgia-
    specific questions to raise with you at the outset.
        First of all, since January of this year, historically
    black colleges and universities across this country, including
    Spelman College, Albany State, and Fort Valley State University
    in Georgia, have been targeted by terrorist threats. I know DHS
    has been engaged with the Department of Justice DOJ and FBI in
    the efforts to ensure that these institutions are secure and
    that their faculty and students are safe.
        I want to ask you for the assurance once again, Secretary
    Mayorkas, that you will use every authority at your disposal
    and work closely with the Department of Justice and other
    Federal agencies to protect HBCUs in Georgia and nationwide.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I will, and I myself engaged
    with presidents of the historically black colleges and
    universities in the immediate aftermath of a series of bomb
    threats that they had suffered.
        Senator Ossoff. Will you ensure, working with my office,
    that those institutions in Georgia are fully briefed on the
    opportunities available to them through nonprofit security
    grants to secure Federal resources to protect their faculty and
    students?
        Secretary Mayorkas. I will, and some of them are eligible
    for that grant program. Of course, it is a nonprofit security
    grant program. I think there are, if I am not mistaken, 26
    nonprofit historically black colleges and universities that
    could be eligible for that grant program.
        Senator Ossoff. Thank you, Secretary Mayorkas. I want to
    talk to you about the synthetic opioids and fentanyl and other
    lethal drugs that are entering the United States that are
    killing and creating addiction and dependence in communities in
    Georgia and across the country. I want to focus on the Port of
    Savannah--in the 2021 strategic plan for DHS Science and
    Technology (S&T) there is research and development (R&D) of
    screening systems for CBP to detect illegal drugs such as
    synthetic opioids or fentanyl, at ports of entry.
        What I want is a commitment from you personally that you
    will ensure every relevant office within the Department of
    Homeland Security is expediting the development of these
    systems so that we can deploy them at the Port of Savannah and
    other ports of entry in Georgia and protect my constituents
    from these deadly drugs that are entering the country.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator Ossoff, every relevant agency
    and office in the Department of Homeland Security is indeed
    committed to that. We have maximized the use of non-intrusive
    inspection (NII) technology. We have maximized the use of what
    we call forward operating laboratories to test controlled
    substances, to ensure their identity as illegal contraband, and
    we have interdicted more drugs than in the past.
        Senator Ossoff. Thank you for that commitment, Mr.
    Secretary. I want to draw your attention to an issue that has
    been raised by law enforcement in the Chattahoochee River
    Valley in Georgia, specifically the Muscogee County Sheriff's
    Department, about drug trafficking and the importance of drug
    interdiction operations on the Chattahoochee River and the
    riverine operations necessary to prevent smuggling and
    trafficking in that area.
        Will you designate someone in the Department to meet,
    either in person or remotely, with me and the relevant local
    law enforcement agencies in that region of Georgia so that we
    can determine how DHS can support our local law enforcement
    agencies in preventing the flow of drugs on and along the
    Chattahoochee River?
        Secretary Mayorkas. I will, Senator. I am not familiar with
    that challenge in that particular geography but would be
    pleased to engage. Our Department would be pleased to engage
    with your office to that end.
        Senator Ossoff. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I want to ask
    about the work that the Department is doing to remediate Per-
    and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) contamination, chemicals
    that pose a significant threat to human health in Georgia and
    nationwide.
        The DHS budget proposal includes several million dollars to
    be used for PFAS contaminant management. The contamination of
    communities and facilities in Georgia by PFAS has been
    typically associated with the Department of Defense (DOD)
    installations where fire retardant chemicals have led to
    contamination, potentially of local water supplies. Recognizing
    that those are DOD facilities, what I would like is a
    commitment from you that DHS will engage with my office to
    determine whether using the authorities and funding you are
    seeking for PFAS contamination remediation to ensure that
    folks, for example, in Marietta, in Valdosta, for folks who are
    near Dobbins Air Reserve Base, folks who are near Robins Air
    Force Base, near Warner Robins, folks who are near Moody Air
    Force Base near Valdosta are protected from those environmental
    hazards, that we will work together to determine if, and if so
    how DHS can support my efforts to protect my constituents from
    these chemicals?
        Secretary Mayorkas. I am very pleased to look into that,
    Senator Ossoff. Quite candidly, I am not familiar with the PFAS
    challenge, but certainly our Department will look into it and
    work with you.
        Senator Ossoff. OK. I appreciate the commitment to work
    with me on that.
        I want to turn for a moment to a topic that has received
    some heated attention and scrutiny today, and that is this so-
    called Disinformation Governance Board that has been the
    subject of great controversy. You have received a number of
    questions about it today. I do think that anything so named and
    anything that purports to engage the Department in work related
    to purported or real disinformation warrants congressional
    scrutiny to ensure that there are not First Amendment issues
    implicated.
        Can you please take a moment just to characterize that
    board's purpose and any First Amendment concerns Congress
    should have related to its operation?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Thank you very much, Senator. Very
    succinctly, the work of the Department in addressing
    disinformation that presents a threat to the security of our
    homeland has been going on for years, nearly 10 years across
    administrations.
        When we took office we observed that there are not policies
    that guide that work across the Department, that the operating
    agencies, such as Customs and Border Protection, FEMA,
    Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, their efforts
    are not necessarily harmonized. There are not policies that
    guide that work, or guardrails, as I have termed it, to ensure
    that that ongoing work and that critical work to accomplishing
    our mission to secure the homeland, to ensure that it does not
    infringe on people's free speech rights, right of privacy,
    civil rights, and civil liberties.
        This working group is designed to ensure that those
    policies and guardrails and standards and definitions are in
    place to protect those fundamental rights. I have committed to
    provide quarterly reports to this Committee with respect to the
    work of the working group, and I have enlisted the expertise
    and the outside assistance of two members of the Homeland
    Security Advisory Council (HSAC), Michael Chertoff, the second
    Secretary of Homeland Security, who served under President
    Bush, and Jamie Gorelick, a former Deputy Attorney General and
    member of the 9/11 Commission, who served as a Deputy Attorney
    General under President Clinton, to assist in ensuring the
    value and the validity of this work.
        Senator Ossoff. My time is up, Mr. Secretary. I will close
    with this. Certainly the Congress will and should remain
    engaged in vigorous oversight of such operations to ensure that
    the First Amendment rights of every American are vigorously
    protected and upheld. Thank you.
        Secretary Mayorkas. That is precisely why we established
    this working group. Thank you.
        Senator Sinema [presiding.] Senator Rosen.

                   OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR ROSEN

        Senator Rosen. Thank you, Madam Chair. I really appreciate
    having this oversight hearing on the DHS budget, and Mr.
    Secretary, thank you for being here today, for your patience
    with all these questions.
        A number of my colleagues I know have discussed this issue
    with you today, but I want you to know it is really an
    important issue in Nevada so I am just going to ask you this
    again.
        The Administration has recently lifted restrictions on
    migration at the Southern Border imposed as a result of the
    ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It was not until after this decision
    was made that DHS released a plan to address the resulting
    increase in migration numbers at the Southern Border. It is
    really frustrating to all of us that there was not better
    interagency coordination, with DHS developing and releasing a
    comprehensive plan before the Centers for Disease Control and
    Prevention announced it would lift restrictions.
        The plan released is still lacking details. It largely
    repackages earlier plans, such as to surge resources to the
    border, encourage better collaboration with State and local
    governments and NGO's.
        I am going to be asking about this tomorrow at our hearing
    on the Southern Border, but given the budget focus of today's
    hearing I would like to ask you specifically about DHS
    investments in border security. Mr. Secretary, can you describe
    in more detail the funding requested in the budget for new
    equipment, other technological enhancements at the border that
    will increase security, such as drones, motion sensors, and, of
    course, smart tech?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator Rosen, if I can comment very
    briefly on something, because the plan was not devised after
    the CDC's announcement that it would end use of its Title 42
    authority on May 23rd of this year. The plan was developed
    beginning in September of last year. But there were concerns--
    in response to our assertion publicly that we did have a plan
    there was concern that individuals, not only in the Senate but
    in the public, had not seen it. Therefore I published details
    with respect to the plan on April 26th.
        I will say that there has been a request for even more
    detail, but one has to be mindful of the fact that we are
    dealing with an adversary, and it is not my intention to
    provide a detailed blueprint of exactly what we are going to do
    in the six lines of effort as the cartels seek to exploit
    vulnerable migrants.
        Our budget for fiscal year 2023 invests not only in
    technology, Senator Rosen, but critically in personnel as well.
    For the first time since 2011, we are requesting more Border
    Patrol agents, 300 to be precise, if I am not mistaken. We are
    requesting additional case processors that will enable the
    Border Patrol agents that are doing processing now to get out
    into the field and do the law enforcement work that they signed
    up to do.
        We are, indeed, investing in technology, not only at our
    ports of entry to increase the interdiction of fentanyl and
    other dangerous drugs, but also technology to serve as a force
    multiplier in between the ports of entry, on land and in the
    air.
        Senator Rosen. Thank you. I look forward to maybe perhaps
    the Chairman and Ranking Member having classified hearings so
    we might have a discussion with you in private, so again, we
    may not make the bad actors aware of what your plans are but
    that so we can get some further questions in place.
        I want to move on a little bit, building on what Senator
    Padilla talked about, wildfire preparation, because this is a
    really big issue, of course, out West and to us in Nevada, and
    the DHS budget must reflect the new reality of a longer and
    more dangerous wildfire season all across the Western States.
    Nevada, in particular, relies on FEMA's Fire Management
    Assistance Grants (FMAGs), to prepare for and mitigate
    wildfires. But it was brought to my attention last month, when
    I met with Chief David Fogerson and his team at the Nevada's
    Division of Emergency Management, that FMAGs are only approved
    on a county-by-county basis, and I am told that if a fire
    starts in Douglas County, neighboring Lyon County cannot begin
    to prepare until the fire actually reaches the county border.
    It would be so much easier if we could prepare for these fast-
    moving wildfires if the officials had the flexibility to move
    resources as the fire progresses.
        Mr. Secretary, can you commit to having FEMA work with my
    team and see how we can build flexibility for State officials
    who are responding to these active wildfires? I mean, they are
    fast and furious and dangerous. There is loss of life,
    evacuations that have to take place. We have to be able to be
    in front of all that.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator Rosen, I most certainly do and
    I very well understand the situation in Nevada specifically,
    and other State, of course, in the West, with an unprecedented
    number of wildfires and a high percentage of Federal land.
        Senator Rosen. Well good. I look forward to working with
    you, again offline, on changes we can make to the FMAG program
    to make it more responsive to the more severe and more
    persistent wildfires that we have.
        In the minute I have left I am going to talk about
    something else we have talked a lot about, our nonprofit
    security program. I do appreciate your commitment to increasing
    funding for FEMA's Nonprofit Security Grant Program in the wake
    of the antisemitic attacks in Colleyville, Texas, in January,
    and for the first time requesting a specific allocation for the
    program.
        As you know, NSGP plays a critical role in protecting
    houses of worship, other nonprofits against terrorist attacks
    and targeted violence, which is why I worked with my colleagues
    to secure a nearly 40 percent increase in NSGP funds this year.
        Mr. Secretary, rural communities, smaller communities,
    suburban communities have historically experienced resource
    gaps. They face challenges in accessing these nonprofit
    security grants. As Congress considers your Department's budget
    request, how can we ensure that funding reaches all communities
    and not just the largest communities, because this is happening
    everywhere?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator Rosen, thank you so much for
    your support of the Nonprofit Security Grant Program. You have
    been a champion of it for many years. It is because of you and
    other champions of it that we have $250 million appropriated.
    In my tenure it used to be at $180 million, and of course we
    are now hoping to achieve a $360 million level for it.
        This is something that I am speaking with FEMA about, the
    issue that you have raised, access to the grant program,
    equality of access to the program, tomorrow, in fact. Chairman
    Peters and I were in Detroit, Michigan, and heard, of course,
    some faith-based leaders who have small congregations, who do
    not have the resources but nevertheless are as much a target as
    others.
        We have to develop the capability to reach the otherwise
    disenfranchised, and we are working intensely on that, Senator,
    and I look forward to keeping you updated.
        Senator Rosen. Thank you. I look forward to that meeting as
    well.
        Madam Chair, my time is up.

                  OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR SINEMA

        Senator Sinema. Thank you, Senator Rosen. Thank you, Mr.
    Chairman. Wait. I am the Chairman now. Thank you, Mr.
    Secretary, for being here today.
        In Arizona the State of America's border is not a new
    crisis. The border has been broken for generations. In fact,
    for my entire life the border has been a disaster.
        The Administration's decision to suspend Title 42 will add
    incredible stress to Federal law enforcement, nonprofits, and
    Arizona communities that are at capacity and have been in a
    state of emergency for years. I have grave concerns that DHS
    does not currently have the capacity to respond to the influx
    of migrants expected to follow the suspension of Title 42 and
    will not be able to ensure the safety of Arizona communities
    and the fair and humane treatment of migrants.
        In order to protect Arizona communities and ensure a fair
    and human process for migrants, DHS will need to put additional
    resources, including staffing, transportation, physical
    infrastructure, and support for local communities on the ground
    before lifting Title 42.
        Now Title 42 is not and should not be a permanent solution,
    but chaos in Arizona communities and threats to migrant safety
    are not viable alternatives. Every time migration surges
    Arizona communities pay the price for the Federal Government's
    failure.
        Our communities, our NGO's, and our local and Federal law
    enforcement officers have been struggling to keep up with the
    flow of migrants for years. While the migration contingency
    plan discusses the planned response I am concerned about on-
    the-ground implementation. Today Border Patrol processing
    centers all across the border are full. Tucson Sector is
    taking, on average, hundreds of migrants per day from the Yuma
    Sector, to decompress their overcrowded facility.
        While the contingency plan does discuss surging
    infrastructure, transportation, and human capital to affected
    areas, I am concerned that these resources will not be in place
    in time.
        Secretary, how will DHS ensure these resources are on the
    ground before Title 42 ends in order to minimize the impact on
    Arizona's border communities?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator Sinema, thank you so much, and
    we have spoken about this, you and I, previously. We are
    already well underway in implementing the plan. It is not a
    plan that we are waiting to execute until May 23rd, the
    announced date of the end of Title 42, as the CDC has made
    clear. We are already surging personnel resources,
    transportation resources to the border. We understand the need
    to be already in place when Title 42 comes to an end.
        So that work is well underway and has been well underway.
    In fact, I set up the Southern Border Coordinating Center
    (SBCC) to bring together all of the elements of the Department
    of Homeland Security and to lead the interagency effort in
    surging resources to meet the very need and challenge that you
    identify.
        For example, obtaining transportation resources from
    departments and agencies outside of the Department of Homeland
    Security to meet the need.
        Senator Sinema. Thank you. Arizona continues to pay the
    price of Washington's failures on the border. Our communities
    right now are absorbing costs related to the migrant surge,
    including sanitation, emergency services for migrants in
    distress, hospital visits, and other costs. Many of these costs
    are not reimbursed by the Federal Government, even though this
    is the Federal Government's problem.
        For example, a small town in Southern Arizona, Somerton,
    has spent tens of thousands of dollars to respond to emergency
    calls on the border in recent months. There is no expectation
    of reimbursement by the Federal Government for the cost to
    Somerton.
        What additional authorities does DHS require in order to
    reimburse these communities and their local services who are
    paying the price for Washington's immigration problems?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, When you mention Washington's
    problems I cannot help but think of the need for legislation to
    address what is clearly a broken immigration system. We, of
    course, have been using the Emergency Food and Shelter Program,
    of which you are very familiar. We are looking at other
    resource vehicles to assist State and local communities that
    are taxed by the challenges that we are facing now. We are
    looking very intensely at that.
        Senator Sinema. Title 42 has almost entirely suspended
    migrant processing at ports of entry over the last two years,
    which forces most migrants seeking asylum to enter between the
    ports of entry. As you know, this is dangerous for migrants and
    it requires Border Patrol agents to spend a very significant
    amount of their time processing migrants instead of their
    principal job, which is to keep the border secure.
        An end to Title 42 will mean increased migrant processing
    at ports of entry, but many of our ports of entry do not
    currently have the necessary staffing or infrastructure to
    process those high numbers of migrants while continuing to
    facilitate trade and travel.
        What specific additional resources is DHS putting in place
    at the ports of entry to ensure they can continue to facilitate
    trade and legitimate travel and keep our communities safe while
    also treating migrants humanely and fairly?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator Sinema, we are very intensely
    focused of both the use of technology, of course maximizing our
    tremendous personnel, but also bringing greater process
    efficiencies to facilitate lawful trade and travel at the ports
    of entry.
        I should say we are also looking at expanding the capacity
    at ports of entry to process individuals we are seeking relief
    under the laws of the United States so we do not encounter them
    in between the ports of entry. We have a virtual platform that
    use, called CBP One, that allows individuals south of our
    border to register on that virtual platform.
        We work with international organizations and non-
    governmental organizations to the south of our border, in
    Mexico. They make their claims, they are screened, and if, in
    fact, they pass that screening we are able to bring them to a
    port of entry at a predesignated time, in an orderly way, and
    thereby avoid the encounter and the attempted illegal entry
    between the ports of entry.
        There are many details that are involved in how we are
    maximizing the capabilities and potential of the ports of
    entry, both for lawful trade and travel and to process
    individuals in a safe and orderly way. I very much look forward
    to speaking with you further on this subject.
        Senator Sinema. Arizona ports of entry process billions of
    dollars' worth of produce and other goods each year, and that
    generates revenue for the Federal Government and, of course,
    boosts Arizona's economy. What steps will DHS take to monitor
    the effect of increased migrant processing at our ports of
    entry and to ensure that any issues are dealt with quickly to
    prevent disruptions to commercial trade?
        Secretary Mayorkas. We are very focused, as I mentioned,
    Senator, on the ports of entry and facilitating lawful trade
    and travel through them. We have agriculture inspectors at the
    ports of entry in the Office of Field Operations (OFO) within
    U.S. Customs and Border Protection to do that extraordinarily
    difficult and time-consuming work. We are always looking at how
    we can bring digitization to bear and how we can harness
    innovation and technology to drive greater efficiency and speed
    without compromising critical security vetting.
        Senator Sinema. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I would like to
    follow up on each of those issues, and I still continue to have
    grave concerns around the ability to implement the end of Title
    42 in an effective way that protects Arizona communities.
        The Committee will now proceed to a second round of
    questions. As Chairman Peters noted, this will be a five-minute
    round, and we are asking Senators to please keep their
    questions and responses to those five minutes.
        Senator Portman, you are now recognized.
        Senator Portman. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr.
    Secretary, for your patience with us today. There are so many
    important issues. One is these 42 individuals who were found
    recently to have come up to the border who were on the
    terrorist watch list. This is a shock to all of us, and I think
    to your people as well.
        But part of the problem of having a border that is so open
    is that people are coming in from all over the world, including
    these 42 individuals. Can you tell the Committee if any of
    these 42 individuals on the terrorist watch list were actual
    released into the United States?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, there are a number of
    dispositions. Those individuals, I would want to provide
    information with respect to the disposition of the 42
    individuals, which we know of, in a classified setting.
        Senator Portman. You are saying you cannot tell us today
    whether any of them were released into the United States.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Some of them very well might have been
    U.S. persons.
        Senator Portman. Were they released into the United States?
    That is the question.
        Secretary Mayorkas. I cannot tell you the precise
    disposition, but I can share that with you.
        Senator Portman. OK. So you want to do it in a classified
    setting.
        Secretary Mayorkas. If I may----
        Senator Portman. You said, in response to questions in the
    House last week that you would provide that information.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Yes. If I may, Senator, we know the
    disposition of the individuals. Some may be placed in removal
    proceedings. Some may be placed in criminal custody. Some may
    be cooperating with law enforcement.
        Senator Portman. OK. I hear what you are saying. You are
    not going to give us any information unless we can do it in a
    classified setting. We will do it in a classified setting.
        Secretary Mayorkas. That information, with respect to the
    disposition of particular individuals----
        Senator Portman. Yes, but some of these individuals, you
    are saying, may have been released into the United States, but
    you will not tell us that information today.
        Secretary Mayorkas. No. If I may just finish, Ranking
    Member Portman.
        Senator Portman. OK. I would like to go on to the next
    question, because you are not going to tell us the answer to
    that question, and I understand.
        Secretary Mayorkas. No. If I can provide that information
    to you outside of a classified setting I certainly will. I will
    do both.
        Senator Portman. OK. I look forward to getting that
    information. I think it is incredibly important that we know
    who is coming into our country and whether they have been
    screened or not. We heard recently, from the DOD Inspector
    General IG, that there were 50 individuals with significant
    security concerns who were paroled into the United States
    through the Afghan parolee program, and this was a shock to
    everybody. You testified last year that you were robustly
    screening the Afghan refugees, and you and other DHS officials
    assured us, on several occasions, including in some member
    briefings.
        What we know now is that the DOD tactical databases were
    not used. That is information that is collected that details
    military operations, combat operations, detention records,
    fingerprints, and provides explosive devices, and so on. The
    fact that at least 50 individuals with serious security
    concerns were discovered was only because DOD ran that database
    after the fact, from the people who had already come into the
    United States.
        Earlier today we were briefed by DHS that you guys either
    did not ask for or did not have access to that tactical
    database to conduct the screening. My question to you is, can
    you assure us today that you are, indeed, screening people at
    the Southern Border using these tactical databases that DOD
    says are necessary to determine whether someone is a potential
    terrorist?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Ranking Member Portman, let me share
    with you that we were not consulted by the Inspector General at
    the Department of Defense before the publication of that
    report. We consider there to be infirmities in that report,
    factual inaccuracies, and we are continuing to review the
    report to identify all of them. I look forward to following up
    with you in response to your specific question.
        Senator Portman. Do you disagree that there were 50 people
    who were released into the country as Afghan evacuees who have
    security----
        Secretary Mayorkas. I know that there are a number of
    factual inaccuracies in that report.
        Senator Portman. Really? OK. That is the first I have heard
    of that, so we will follow up on that.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Yes.
        Senator Portman. Quickly, yes-or-no questions. We have
    talked a lot today about what can be done. You said we need to
    change immigration policy, that it is not the Administration's
    fault. Others have said, well look, in the Trump years we had
    virtually a secure border and now we do not. If someone can put
    up that chart\1\ behind me.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\ The chart referenced by Senator Portman appears in the Appendix
    on page 71.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        I am going to ask you these questions. Whether you are for
    it or against it, just say yes or no. That is all we have time
    for.
        One, a commitment to finish the wall and the technology
    that goes with it, which I think is more important even than
    the wall, and to properly fund the Border Patrol. Yes or no?
        Secretary Mayorkas. No, the commitment of this
    Administration is not to continue to build the wall.
        Senator Portman. OK, so that is a no.
        So that is one thing that has changed.
        Return to safe third country asylum program, where you tell
    people that they can apply for asylum from, say, Guatemala, if
    they are from El Salvador? Yes or no?
        That program was in place for Guatemala and not other
    countries, but the plan was to do it in other countries.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I would respectfully submit
    that Guatemala is not a safe third country, given the
    conditions in that country and the amount of migration that we
    see from that country.
        Senator Portman. I am talking about people coming from a
    third country to Guatemala, applying for asylum in Guatemala.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Correct. What I am saying is it is
    respectfully my opinion----
        Senator Portman. OK, so you would be no on that.
        Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. Guatemala is not
    qualified----
        Senator Portman. No on that one too.
        Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. Third country.
        Senator Portman. How about a return to the migrant
    protection protocols (MPPs)? In other words, if somebody is
    being adjudicated under the asylum they have to wait in Mexico
    until the adjudication is complete. You started that with a
    very small number of people, screening those people. Would you
    actually put that program back in place in a robust way, yes or
    no?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I have articulated quite
    comprehensively in a memorandum that we believe that that
    policy should not be in place.
        Senator Portman. OK. So that is a no too. How about
    stopping the release of people into the United States, in other
    words, the so-called catch-and-release program, without
    detaining them?
        Secretary Mayorkas. I disagree with the formulation of that
    question.
        Senator Portman. OK. So you are saying you would not follow
    the law and detain people. You would have them come into the
    United States.
        Secretary Mayorkas. No, Senator.
        Senator Portman. I understand we do not have the beds now,
    but it will take a lot of funding, with a lot of help.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Ranking Member Portman, that is a
    mischaracterization of what I said. We enforce the law.
    Individuals who are subject to detention are detained to the
    fullest extent of our capacity to detain them.
        Senator Portman. Under Title 8 people are supposed to be
    detained pending the adjudication.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Ranking Member Portman, there has never
    been enough detention capacity----
        Senator Portman. I get that. I am just saying, yes or no,
    would that be a good idea, and you are saying there is not the
    capacity to do it or that you would not want to do it?
        Secretary Mayorkas. That will not solve the challenge of--
    --
        Senator Portman. OK. How about asylum, the last-in, first-
    out idea, final adjudication at the border. Spend the money,
    have the asylum adjudication happen right away so when someone
    comes into the country they are adjudicated within a month or
    two, they go back to their country, the people back home are
    thinking, my gosh, maybe it is not worth coming to the United
    States because you are not getting into the United States for
    six to eight years, on average, which is the average you have
    told me, with a 1.6 million backlog of people waiting for
    adjudication.
        Secretary Mayorkas. That is precisely why we promulgated
    the asylum officer rule, to bring greater efficiency.
        Senator Portman. You would be for that. But would you be
    for making a final adjudication at the border because that
    policy, as you and I know--we have talked about it--it can be
    appealed to an immigration judge after the asylum officer. It
    is another bump in the road, but it does not solve the issue,
    obviously.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I would need to know more
    details about that because I will tell you that Border Patrol--
    --
        Senator Portman. But that is one you could see doing.
        Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. Border Patrol facilities
    are not equipped to address----
        Senator Portman. But we would have to spend the money to--
    --
        Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. Of individuals----
        Senator Portman. We would have to spend the money to do the
    adjudications. But you said that that is one you could
    consider?
        Secretary Mayorkas. That is something that I would
    consider, but I----
        Senator Portman. We are getting somewhere. How about
    expedited removal? We talked about the fact that you are down
    to about three or four percent, and back in your days in the
    Obama Administration you were removing a lot more people.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, the use of expedited removal
    is actually one of the elements of our six-part plan. I believe
    it is border security pillar three, the consequence regime that
    we would bring to bear----
        Senator Portman. But 59,000 now, 350,000 in the Obama
    years. Would you go back to a policy where you are actually
    removing people who do not qualify, who have had a full
    adjudication?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Yes.
        Senator Portman. That is a yes. OK. We made some progress.
    Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Chairman Peters [presiding.] Thank you, Ranking Member.
        We had a little bit of Ranking Member privilege on the
    time.
        Senator Portman. Sorry about that.
        Chairman Peters. No, that is fine, but we would really like
    to stick to five minutes, if I could ask the remaining Members.
    We have other Members with the votes coming on.
        Next up is Senator Lankford. Senator Lankford, if we could
    be strict on the five minutes I would appreciate that.
        Senator Lankford. Can do. Thank you. Thanks for deferring
    the time.
        Secretary Mayorkas, thanks. It is a long day again, as I
    mentioned, so I appreciate your time to be able to engage on
    this. I do want to be able to follow up. For the Chairman, we
    were talking before about some of the facts, getting behind the
    plan as well, and you said you are not going to publish
    everything. Senator Rosen had asked if we could do a classified
    briefing, and I think that is a great idea, so all of us can
    get a chance to be able to dig into the facts behind this and
    to be able to walk through that. That would be very helpful in
    the days ahead, to be able to walk through. Whether that is you
    or whether that is your team, because there are a lot of things
    that are missing.
        Let me give you one issue that came out on the plan as I
    walked through the plan. In your plan that you lay out it says,
    in the executive summary that ``DHS will detain single adults
    when appropriate.'' That is in your executive summary--``will
    detain single adults when appropriate.'' When you actually go
    through the plan there are no details on what that means for
    ``when appropriate.'' It is just in the executive summary.
        Can you help me understand the ``when appropriate'' you are
    going to detain single adults?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator Lankford, the detention
    capacity does not meet the numbers that we are encountering,
    and that is a challenge that has been experienced by
    administration after administration. We have to take a look at
    smart and effective enforcement and how we should use detention
    authorities to have the greatest public safety impact.
        In the criminal justice system, in which I worked for 12
    years, detention was used, No. 1, if no condition or
    combination of conditions can ensure the safety of the
    community, or no condition or combination of conditions could
    ensure the individual's future appearance in proceedings. Those
    criteria would be applied here, given the disparity between the
    number of individuals who are eligible for detention and the
    detention capacity that we have. Detention has been misused in
    the immigration system for many years.
        Senator Lankford. Here is my challenge with that, and you
    and I have talked multiple times. My challenge with that is you
    said detention is used when you are not sure if they are going
    to show up for hearings. The vast majority of individuals that
    we are releasing out are not showing up for hearings. We can
    show the statistics--not recent. We can walk back through for a
    long period of time.
        The second part about this is, last time I was down in Rio
    Grande Valley, just a few months ago at this point, the last
    time I was there, talking to some of the Border Patrol, they
    were expressing their frustration that they had actually picked
    up some individuals that were wearing camouflage, that told
    them they were in the Nicaraguan military, and within 24 hours
    those individuals had been released. They were single adult
    males who admitted they were in the Nicaraguan military,
    wearing camouflage, but they were released into the country.
    There was a lot of frustration.
        On the detention side of it, in the budget that you
    actually requested you requested 5,000 fewer Immigration and
    Customs Enforcement beds and 2,500 fewer family detention
    units. It is hard for me to process when you are saying we are
    limited on space but literally your budget asks for even less
    space and we have this large number of individuals that are not
    showing, and single adult males that clearly could be a risk
    here.
        All three of those I am trying to be able to figure out,
    based on what you just said.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Because, Senator, actually I would
    respectfully disagree with the data evidence. The majority of
    people show up for their hearings, especially when they are
    represented by counsel, because the system is extraordinarily
    complex. The percentage of people who do not show up for the
    hearings are often misinformed about their obligations and
    responsibilities, are not necessarily intentional absconders. I
    believe that the appearance rate is over 85 percent for those
    who are not represented. The fact of the matter is, in our
    system we have misused detention for many years.
        Senator Lankford. But you requested 5,000 fewer beds for
    single adults----
        Secretary Mayorkas. Yes.
        Senator Lankford [continuing]. And 2,500 fewer for family
    units.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Yes.
        Senator Lankford. Was there a reason for that?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Because we are increasing our use of
    alternatives to detention, and we are using detention when it a
    public safety imperative or an imperative to ensure the
    continued appearance of individuals in immigration enforcement
    proceedings.
        Senator Lankford. Let us do a couple of things with this,
    and I am going to you have you follow up with some questions
    for the record, and that is this number of people that actually
    show up for the hearings. Because I have seen a number very
    different than that, individuals that are actually showing up
    for hearings on this. I understand with counsel versus without
    counsel, but we have 1.5 million people that the court has
    actually ordered them a final order of removal and they are not
    being removed on that. But then there are a lot of folks,
    obviously we do not know from the past year because they were
    given either six or eight years to be able to show up for a
    hearing, so we will not know for six or eight years if they
    actually show up for that hearing. That is a whole different
    issue.
        I do want to follow up, and I see the time so I am going to
    honor this. I do want to follow up because DHS has vehemently
    disagreed with the DOD Inspector General on the 28 individuals
    that were Afghan refugees that came through that we have lost
    track of, that also had shown up as a positive for the
    improvised explosive device list from DOD, that those
    individuals, we do not know where they are now. They are in the
    country somewhere. We understand that number could be as high
    as 50, and we want to be able to get information. DHS has said,
    ``We vehemently disagree with that.'' I want to know what is
    the answer to that, because at this point we just have a
    statement that we have 28, maybe up to 50, people that had had
    IED fingerprints but they are in the country somewhere.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Lankford.
        Senator Scott, I have been trying to have everyone be true
    to five minutes because of the votes as well as the time for
    the Secretary, so you are recognized for five minutes.
        Senator Scott. Sure. Again, thank you, Secretary Mayorkas.
    The toll that the Biden administration's failure to secure
    borders has had on American families is pretty devastating. Due
    to the massive influx of migrants illegally crossing, doing so
    because of President Biden's words and policies, it shows it is
    just an open invitation to illegally enter our country.
        Our CBP agents are stuck in processing and unable to
    properly patrol the border. Criminal cartels are exploiting
    this. Illicit narcotics like fentanyl, which is made,
    trafficked by Mexico, and supplied by Communist China, they are
    flooding across the border.
        One of the Americans lost to fentanyl was a young man, a
    member of our armed services. I heard the story of this tragic
    death when I was visiting the Southern Border in Arizona. This
    young man returned home on leave to see his mother, to
    celebrate her birthday. While there he met up with some old
    friends and was offered a Xanax to help with his anxiety. The
    pill he took was laced with fentanyl and it took his life. His
    mother unfortunately found him dead the next day in his room,
    covered in vomit. This young man made a bad decision, a poor
    decision taking that pill, but it should not have cost him his
    life.
        Too many American families know what this terrible loss is
    like. Fentanyl is the primary drug responsible for more than
    100,000 American deaths in 2021.
        What you said earlier is that this was going up before, but
    it has gone up 20,000 more deaths than we saw in 2020. If you
    knew that it was going up, you took this job, what have you
    done that is pushing it down, and when are we going to see a
    reduction? Because these are moms and dads and kids, and, I
    mean, it is devastating to families.
        Secretary Mayorkas. The number of overdose deaths in the
    United States from 2015 through 2021, from 2015 to 2016 it rose
    10,000. From 2016 through 2017 it rose--these are approximate
    numbers--was 8,000. From 2017 to 2018 it rose 17,000.
        Senator Scott. I agree, it went up. What have you done?
        It was 30,000 in 2020.
        Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. And 50 percent more in
    2020 over 2019. What we have done is we have enhanced and
    intensified our use of technology, non-intrusive inspection
    technology at the ports of entry. We have deployed forward
    operating labs at the ports of entry, and we have interdicted
    more fentanyl this year than in 2020----
        Senator Scott. When we will see a reduction?
        Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. For example.
        Senator Scott. When will we see a reduction?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, it is my hope that we see a
    reduction as quickly as possible. There have been too many
    tragic deaths, as the one that you identified of that soldier.
    The fact of the matter is we have to address demand in this
    country, and that is a fundamental challenge that we have, as a
    Nation, and is a nonpartisan challenge. Way too many people
    have died.
        Senator Scott. Securing the border would have an impact.
        Next let us talk about Cuba for a second. My understanding
    is you are part of the Biden administration that is talking to
    the illegitimate communist Cuban regime, and my concern is that
    you are going lift sanctions, you are going to take them off
    the terror watch list. Part of your conversation is that--I
    mean, this is a horrible regime. I could not get the Biden
    administration to say anything. We talked about this last time,
    about the 1,300 peaceful protesters that in prison they are
    trying to kill, including kids, and I asked you last time if
    you were going to do something and you still have not.
        But what are the conversations? Are you guys going to
    eliminate sanctions? Are you going to take them off the terror
    watch list? Are you guys going to stand up and do something for
    these poor kids and these people that, all they did was
    peacefully protest in this country and the regime is trying to
    kill them.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator Scott, I am not involved in
    discussions with the Cuban regime, and I would respectfully
    request that you respect my humanity, because I stand before
    this Committee as an individual, a member of a family who fled
    Communist Cuba. My father lost so very much and he wanted to
    raise my sister and me in a democracy in, quite frankly, the
    greatest country in the world.
        I do not take steps to relax policies against an
    authoritarian and oppressive regime.
        Senator Scott. You are not going to do anything to reduce
    sanctions or take them off the terrorist watch list.
        Secretary Mayorkas. The discussions that I understand have
    taken place are with respect to the migration accords that have
    been in place for many years between our two countries, and
    what exactly the terms of the discussions are is not something
    of which I am intimately familiar nor something that I would
    disclose in an open forum, given the sensitivity of diplomatic
    discussions.
        Senator Scott. Are you going to say anything publicly about
    the peaceful protesters that are in prison that the communist
    regime is trying to kill?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Oh, I have. I certainly have.
        Senator Scott. Will you send that to me?
        Secretary Mayorkas. I have condemned the oppression against
    the peaceful protesters on the streets of Cuba. In fact, my
    father held me, as an infant, on the streets of Cuba when the
    authoritarian regime took over. I would respectfully request
    you understand my background, you understand why I am here in
    the United States, and because so much of that background,
    Senator, is why I have served in the United States government
    for more than 20 years, 12 of which were as a Federal
    prosecutor and more than nine of which have been in the
    Department of Homeland Security.
        Senator Scott. I respect the fact that you are here. I am
    glad you are here. I hope you will start enforcing the rule of
    law.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Scott.
        Folks have been real good about five minutes. As you know,
    we have five minutes, because of time restraints. Senator
    Johnson, you are recognized for your questions.
        Senator Johnson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Secretary,
    thank you for staying for a second round. During my first round
    we were talking over a little bit, you were quoting some
    statistics related to the Return to Mexico policy. Can you
    repeat that? I think you were talking about rapes related to
    Return to Mexico.
        Secretary Mayorkas. The human rights organization prepared
    a report that identified more than 1,500 individuals subject to
    the Remain in Mexico program under the prior administration who
    had victimized by murder, rape, torture, and other----
        Senator Johnson. 1,500 told. How many individuals in total
    were part of that Return to Mexico policy? Do you know?
        Secretary Mayorkas. I do not have that data at my
    fingertips.
        Senator Johnson. Are those same groups, are they tracking
    the number of people, for example, sex trafficked during your
    Administration, with the millions of people coming into this
    country illegally? Do you have a feel for that?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, let me just say that one
    individual----
        Senator Johnson. I understand that. Let me ask you, do you
    know what the trafficking charge is nowadays, what the range
    is, how much people are paying to come into this country to the
    coyotes?
        Secretary Mayorkas. The number ranges.
        Senator Johnson. And is?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Several thousand dollars.
        Senator Johnson. How do you think young women pay off that
    human trafficking charge?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Oh, Senator, I am very well aware----
        Senator Johnson. You are aware that they sell children? We
    had testimony before this Committee, under my chairmanship, $84
    one child was sold for. Are you aware of that?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I am aware of all sorts of
    horrors that the cartels and the smuggling networks commit,
    which is why we have so many different law enforcement
    operations to address that scourge, those heinous crimes.
        Senator Johnson. Again, if we did not have that massive
    flow we would be able to reduce those human depredations.
        What happens when somebody who has gotten a notice to
    report does not report?
        Secretary Mayorkas. They become an enforcement priority.
        Senator Johnson. Have you apprehended anybody that did not
    report?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Oh, I am sure we have, and----
        Senator Johnson. Approximately how many?
        Secretary Mayorkas. I cannot----
        Senator Johnson. I mean, has it been tens of thousands,
    because tens of thousands have not reported. Correct?
        Secretary Mayorkas. I can get you the data that you are
    requesting, Senator, and certainly more promptly than
    apparently we provided questions for the record (QFRs) to this
    Committee.
        Senator Johnson. So totally switching topics here, I have
    always been puzzled by the emphasis on the threat of white
    nationalists. By the way, I am opposed and I condemn white
    nationalists, white supremacists, OK. But when we had 17,815
    murders in this country in 2020, I am kind of puzzled by why
    that is--everybody, you, Christopher Wray, the Chairman keeps
    talking about that as the greatest threat to this Nation. I
    would say something that is causing 17,815 homicides a year is
    kind of a big threat.
        How many murders were associated with the white
    supremacists last year?
        Secretary Mayorkas. I do not have that data but, Senator,
    just to be precise, Director Wray of the Federal Bureau of
    Investigation and I have spoken of domestic violent extremism
    as a great terrorism-related threat. That is not to say that
    crime in our cities is not----
        Senator Johnson. Again, I have heard----
        Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. That is not to say----
        Senator Johnson [continuing]. This testimony repeatedly and
    it like the greatest threat to our homeland security is white
    supremacist terrorism.
        Secretary Mayorkas. That is inaccurate, Senator.
        Senator Johnson. Would you agree with me that the 17,815
    homicides in 2020 probably represent the greatest threat to
    human life, all those crimes?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, difficult to now say what
    presents the greatest threat domestically. With request to
    homicides I would say gang violence, which I prosecuted----
        Senator Johnson. Which, by the way, gang violence is fueled
    by illegal immigration. We have things like MS-13 and those
    gangs coming through our open border. Correct?
        That is a huge problem, right?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Gangs are a huge problem. Street gangs
    are a huge problem. I prosecuted the MS-13. I also prosecuted
    other gangs, such as----
        Senator Johnson. Again, that is one more of those flows. I
    mean, we talk about human trafficking. We talk about sex
    trafficking. We talk about drug trafficking. We talk about gang
    members coming up from Central America, part of the drug
    trafficking trade in some cases, but just gang members
    themselves.
        I was always amazed, because we had a hearing on MS-13,
    that it was not really related to drugs. It was a gang that is
    unbelievably violent. That is certainly associated with Central
    America. Correct?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, I would respectfully submit
    that the migrant population that is encountered at the border
    should not be painted with a broad brush of violent criminals.
        Senator Johnson. An open border allows those individuals as
    well. The 4 to 700,000 known got-aways, some of those people
    probably would be gang members, right? But I am out of time.
    Thank you.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Johnson.
        There is a vote about to be called again. I have deferred
    my questions to the end. Senator Hawley, I know you will be
    within five minutes as well, so you are recognized.
        Senator Hawley. That is a lot of confidence, Mr. Chairman.
    OK, thank you.
        Mr. Secretary, more seriously, can we come back to this
    disinformation board? You said earlier this week, on CNN, that
    Ms. Jankowicz was absolutely neutral--those are your words--
    politically absolutely neutral. Do you stand by that?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, she has an obligation to be
    nonpartisan and neutral in the execution of her
    responsibilities in her current position at the Department of
    Homeland Security. She has an obligation to be that, and if she
    fails in that obligation there will be consequences.
        Senator Hawley. Let us take a look at how she has been
    doing. Here is Ms. Jankowicz again talking about her political
    opponents, I guess she refers to them as, views them as. She
    says, ``Trump talking about how he would put out the fire in
    Portland is the language of authoritarianism. It means the
    violent clearing of protesters, arrests without cause, abuse of
    human rights. That is not law enforcement. That is
    lawlessness.''
        That was September 29, 2020.
        Or here is another selection out of many I could have
    chosen from her book, a book she wrote, also published in 2020.
    She says this, quoting, ``The President's supporters in
    Congress are homegrown purveyors of disinformation.'' These
    would be the people that people in my State, for instance, have
    elected. ``They do not want to remind the American people of
    these inconvenient truths. They choose instead to shout lies
    through a megaphone, capitalizing on their constituents'
    unfamiliarity, ambivalence, or polarization.''
        One more time. ``The President's supporters in Congress are
    homegrown purveys of disinformation.''
        Does this sound like somebody who is neutral to you?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, let me share with you that I
    am not focused her past comments.
        Senator Hawley. Wait a minute. Why in the world would you
    not be focused on her past comments?
        Secretary Mayorkas. If I may, because I am focused on the
    mission upon us and ahead of us.
        Senator Hawley. You hired her for this job and you have not
    looked at her record and you are not concerned about it?
        Secretary Mayorkas. That is not what I have said.
        Senator Hawley. You just said that you are not concerned
    about her past comments.
        Secretary Mayorkas. What I said is I am focused on the
    mission ahead and accomplishing that mission.
        Senator Hawley. You have chosen her to accomplish that
    mission with these statements. Do you regard her as neutral?
        Secretary Mayorkas. She has an obligation, while an
    employee of the Department of Homeland Security, to execute----
        Senator Hawley. So you have complete confidence in her.
        Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. To execute her
    responsibilities in a nonpartisan way.
        Senator Hawley. Based on her record you have complete
    confidence that she is going to do that?
        Secretary Mayorkas. I have confidence in that, and if she
    fails in executing that obligation, as all individuals in the
    Department of Homeland Security has----
        Senator Hawley. Wow.
        Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. Then there will be a
    consequence to that.
        Senator Hawley. Wow. That is exceptional, particularly
    given that you told me a few minutes ago, in our earlier round,
    that you were not aware of the many comments that I read to you
    then, one after another after another after another, when you
    hired her for this job. So clearly you did not do your due
    diligence, and now you are telling me that you are not
    concerned about her, frankly, outrageous and vitriolic
    statements that are partisan in the extreme.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Because, Senator----
        Senator Hawley. I cannot believe I am hearing this.
        Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. Let me share with you
    something. She was hired by the Department of Homeland
    Security.
        Senator Hawley. You said that you are responsible for that.
        Secretary Mayorkas. I am the Secretary of Homeland
    Security----
        Senator Hawley. Indeed.
        Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. Therefore, I bear
    responsibility.
        Senator Hawley. Indeed. Why do you not fire her?
        Secretary Mayorkas. She is going to execute her
    responsibilities in a nonpartisan way and accomplish the
    mission for which she has been hired.
        Senator Hawley. Why do you not just dissolve this board? I
    mean, you have not heard a single Senator support this board.
    It is an abomination, it is unconstitutional, and frankly, it
    is embarrassing. The fact that you have chosen this person to
    lead it is appalling. Why do you not just dissolve it?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator, this board, this working group
    provides a very important function.
        Senator Hawley. No, it does not.
        Secretary Mayorkas. We have been executing our mission to
    address disinformation that threatens the security of the
    homeland for years.
        Senator Hawley. What does this board add? Dissolve it.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Allow me to answer your question. We
    have lacked sufficient guardrails, policies, and standards to
    guide that work, to ensure that that work, which has been done
    for nearly 10 years, is done in a way that does not infringe on
    people's right of free speech----
        Senator Hawley. OK.
        Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. Right of privacy, civil
    rights, and civil liberties.
        Senator Hawley. OK.
        Secretary Mayorkas. That is what this working group is
    going to do.
        Senator Hawley. OK. They are going to put the guardrails in
    place. Just so we understand, you have chosen Ms. Jankowicz,
    who says that the distinction between free speech and
    censorship is false, who says that the President's supporters
    are homegrown purveys of disinformation, who has called herself
    the ``Mary Poppins of misinformation.'' You have chosen her to
    create guardrails for the entire Federal Government for free
    speech.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator----
        Senator Hawley. I mean, that is exceptional.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Senator----
        Senator Hawley. That is amazing.
        Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. The Deputy Executive
    Director is a career employee. The individuals from the Office
    of General Counsel (OGC)----
        Senator Hawley. So she will not really be in charge?
        Secretary Mayorkas [continuing]. The individuals from the
    Office of General Counsel, the Office for Civil Rights and
    Civil Liberties, the Office of Privacy, Customs and Border
    Protection, Federal Emergency Management Administration,
    Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Office of
    Planning, Policy, and Strategy. These individuals, many of whom
    will be career employees, will work together to make sure that
    the Department has the policies, standards, definitions, and
    practices in place to allow the operators to do their work, to
    tackle disinformation that threatens the security of the
    homeland, without infringing on fundamental rights.
        Senator Hawley. I have no idea that what word salad means,
    but what I do know is you have hired an anti-free speech
    radical to lead this board. That is an abomination.
        Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Hawley.
        I have deferred my questions to the end of the hearing. We
    are nearing the end, Secretary Mayorkas. I know it has been a
    really long afternoon for you.
        But I want to start off by first thanking you for your
    support on Ranking Portman and my incident reporting
    legislation. I am happy we were able to get that passed into
    law, and now, as you know, CISA has begun the rulemaking
    process.
        My question for you sir is, does this budget request
    include enough funding to ensure that the rulemaking is going
    to occur both thoroughly and quickly? Certainly attacks are
    happening today. We need to get this information. We need to
    get this rule passed as quickly as possible. Can you give me an
    update on your thoughts as to how quickly we can move this
    forward?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member
    Portman, I want to thank you both for championing this critical
    piece of legislation. It is going to make a significant
    difference in the cybersecurity of our country.
        We are already working to implement the legislation. We
    anticipate promulgating a notice of proposed rulemaking, the
    implementing regulation for the statute that you both and
    others, of course, championed.
        The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is
    working with FEMA to develop the notice of proposed rulemaking,
    and we have already begun to confer with members of the private
    sector to understand some of the critical issues that they
    have, to make sure that the statute's objectives are ably met.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you. Every year more applicants
    apply for disaster mitigation assistance than we available
    funding, but yet we know that mitigation projects save both
    lives and money. In fact, every dollar of Federal money that we
    spend on mitigation before a disaster saves, on average, $6.
    Just common sense. If we are prepared before a storm we are
    going to be a lot better off than picking up all the pieces
    after the storm.
        That is why I authored the STORM Act, which has been signed
    into law. We have already provided funding for it, which is
    going to help States set up a revolving loan fund for hazard
    mitigation projects. Additional funding for that program was in
    the bipartisan infrastructure law.
        My question for you, Mr. Secretary, is DHS provides this
    vital funding to mitigate the risk of natural hazards and
    improve the nation's resilience. Can I have your commitment
    that both the DHS and FEMA will work with my staff to fully
    implement the STORM Act program as quickly as possible so that
    we can have our local communities engage in these mitigation
    projects as quickly as possible?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Yes, I will, Mr. Chairman. The STORM
    Act is really going to make an impact as well. I concur with
    your assessment of the importance of mitigation, and I know the
    STORM Act enables the Department of Homeland Security, through
    FEMA, to work with tribal and State governments to make
    capitalization grants with that goal in mind.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you. Mr. Secretary, the Arab-
    American community in my home State of Michigan has long
    endured lengthy and intrusive screening when traveling, which
    certainly deeply affects people's families, it affects their
    businesses, and even their ability to enjoy family vacations
    that many take for granted. I know you heard directly from the
    Arab-American community in Michigan when you were with me
    there. Thank you for making that trip, and you heard that
    message loud and clear.
        My question for you is that President Biden pledged that
    the Department of Homeland Security would review the use of the
    terrorist watch list and the no-fly list while on the campaign
    trail. Can you provide an update on the progress of your review
    and when you expect changes to be implemented?
        Secretary Mayorkas. Mr. Chairman, I will have to get back
    to you on that. I know that work is underway. Certainly,
    following our trip to your State of Michigan, I followed up on
    what I heard. As you well know, you made the announcement with
    respect to the designation of community relations officer. But
    the status of a review of the watch list, the no-fly list, and
    the redress avenues is something I would have to look into. I
    do not know right now.
        Chairman Peters. I appreciate your commitment to do that. I
    know you are working on it, and we will look forward to working
    closely with you in the weeks and month ahead.
        I want to first thank Ranking Member Portman for holding
    this hearing with me today. Secretary Mayorkas, I certainly
    appreciate you appearing before the Committee today to share
    the Department of Homeland Security's priorities for the
    upcoming fiscal year. I would also like to thank you for your
    service to our country and your willingness to tackle
    challenges that are before you.
        While there is no doubt that the Department faces
    challenges, I look forward to working with you to ensure DHS
    has the tools it needs to address the serious threats that face
    our Nation.
        Finally I want to take this opportunity to once again thank
    the men and women who serve our country every day at the
    Department of Homeland Security to keep our nations safe. This
    Committee is thankful for the work of everyone at the
    Department, and we look forward to working closely with you to
    support the Department's mission.
        Ranking Member Portman, if you want to say a few closing
    words?
        Senator Portman. First, as I said earlier, thank you for
    your patience and hearing us out. I think we are at a very
    difficult point on the border, where if we do not make changes
    quickly to provide for an alternative to Title 42 we will be
    even more overwhelmed. The Border Patrol already feels
    overwhelmed.
        So I know, Mr. Secretary, that we have some differences of
    opinion on policy, but at least on one area, fixing asylum, it
    seems there might be some opportunity for progress, which would
    help as an alternative.
        But we have to do something. It is just not fair to the
    people on the border, to the people all over this country who
    are affected by this, and to those who want to come here
    legally, because this is a country that is the most generous in
    the world in terms of legal immigration, and we support legal
    immigration. But it, in fact, is being jeopardized, and
    certainly any reform is being jeopardized by the reality of the
    border.
        Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Mr. Secretary, for
    being here, and to the men and women at DHS, all the way
    through ICE, Border Patrol, the Border and Protection folks at
    the ports of entry, thank them for all they are doing to help
    protect our country.
        Secretary Mayorkas. Thank you both very much.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I know this has
    been a really long afternoon, but thank you for being here.
    Thank you for the answers to a lot of questions and your
    thorough answers. We look forward to continuing to work with
    you. You have a very difficult job, a tough mission, and we
    appreciate your willingness to engage with us on a regular
    basis and in a very frank way. So thank you for that.
        The record for this hearing will remain open for 15 days,
    until May 19th, at 5 p.m., for the submission of statements and
    questions for the record.
        This hearing is now adjourned.
        [Whereupon, at 5:18 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]

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