[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                    
          
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        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.
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    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.
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    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.
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    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.
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    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.
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    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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