[House Hearing, 118 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]





 

  EVERY STATE IS A BORDER STATE: EXAMINING SECRETARY MAYORKAS' BORDER 
                                 CRISIS

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

                                HEARING

                               before the

                     COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                    ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                               __________

                           FEBRUARY 28, 2023

                               __________

                            Serial No. 118-1

                               __________

       Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security
                                     

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


                                     

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

                              
                           ______
           
             U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 
 51-887PDF                 WASHINGTON : 2023
                               

                     COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY

                 Mark E. Green, MD, Tennessee, Chairman
Michael T. McCaul, Texas             Bennie G. Thompson, Mississippi, 
Clay Higgins, Louisiana                  Ranking Member
Michael Guest, Mississippi           Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas
Dan Bishop, North Carolina           Donald M. Payne, Jr., New Jersey
Carlos A. Gimenez, Florida           Eric Swalwell, California
August Pfluger, Texas                J. Luis Correa, California
Andrew R. Garbarino, New York        Troy A. Carter, Louisiana
Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia      Shri Thanedar, Michigan
Tony Gonzales, Texas                 Seth Magaziner, Rhode Island
Nick LaLota, New York                Glenn Ivey, Maryland
Mike Ezell, Mississippi              Daniel S. Goldman, New York
Anthony D'Esposito, New York         Robert Garcia, California
Laurel M. Lee, Florida               Delia C. Ramirez, Illinois
Morgan Luttrell, Texas               Robert Menendez, New Jersey
Dale W. Strong, Alabama              Yvette D. Clarke, New York
Josh Brecheen, Oklahoma              Dina Titus, Nevada
Elijah Crane, Arizona
                      Stephen Siao, Staff Director
                  Hope Goins, Minority Staff Director
                       Natalie Nixon, Chief Clerk
                     Sean Jones, Legislative Clerk
                            C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              
                                                                   Page

                               Statements

The Honorable Mark E. Green, a Representative in Congress From 
  the State of Tennessee, and Chairman, Committee on Homeland 
  Security:
  Oral Statement.................................................     1
  Prepared Statement.............................................    10
The Honorable Bennie G. Thompson, a Representative in Congress 
  From the State of Mississippi, and Ranking Member, Committee on 
  Homeland Security:
  Oral Statement.................................................    11
  Prepared Statement.............................................    13
The Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, a Representative in Congress 
  From the State of Texas:
  Prepared Statement.............................................    14

                               Witnesses

Ms. Rebecca Kiessling, Private Citizen:
  Oral Statement.................................................    18
  Prepared Statement.............................................    21
Mr. Mark Lamb, Sheriff, Pinal County, Arizona:
  Oral Statement.................................................    28
  Prepared Statement.............................................    30
Dr. Robert J. Trenschel, DO, MPh, President and Chief Executive 
  Officer, Yuma Regional Medical Center:
  Oral Statement.................................................    30
  Prepared Statement.............................................    32
Mr. David J. Bier, Associate Director, Immigration Studies, CATO 
  Institute:
  Oral Statement.................................................    34
  Prepared Statement.............................................    35

                             For the Record

The Honorable Mark E. Green, a Representative in Congress From 
  the State of Tennessee, and Chairman, Committee on Homeland 
  Security:
  Letters........................................................     2
The Honorable Bennie G. Thompson, a Representative in Congress 
  From the State of Mississippi, and Ranking Member, Committee on 
  Homeland Security:
  Statement of Human Rights First................................    99
  Statement of First Focus Campaign for Children.................   108
  Letter Submitted by CHIRLA--Coalition for Humane Immigrant 
    Rights.......................................................   115


  EVERY STATE IS A BORDER STATE: EXAMINING SECRETARY MAYORKAS' BORDER 
                                 CRISIS

                              ----------                              


                       Tuesday, February 28, 2023

             U.S. House of Representatives,
                    Committee on Homeland Security,
                                            Washington, DC.
    The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:02 a.m., in 
room 310, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. Mark E. Green 
[Chairman of the committee] presiding.
    Present: Representatives Green, Higgins, Guest, Bishop, 
Garbarino, Taylor Green, Gonzales, LaLota, Ezell, D'Esposito, 
Lee, Strong, Brecheen, Thompson, Jackson Lee, Payne, Swalwell, 
Correa, Thanedar, Magaziner, Ivey, Goldman, Garcia, Ramirez, 
Menendez, Clarke, and Titus.
    Chairman Green. The committee will come to order. The 
purpose of this hearing is to receive testimony from an array 
of witnesses impacted in different ways by the crisis at our 
Southern Border. I now recognize myself for an opening 
statement.
    Good morning and welcome to the Committee on Homeland 
Security's first official hearing of the 118th Congress. I want 
to thank all of our witnesses for being here today for this 
important hearing titled, ``Every State is a Border State: 
Examining Secretary Mayorkas' Border Crisis''. The homeland, 
our homeland, faces an unprecedented crisis along our Southwest 
Border. This crisis threatens the safety of all American 
families, no matter where they live in the United States. 
Criminals, weapons, trafficked persons, and illicit narcotics 
are pouring across our borders in record numbers. Make no 
mistake, this crisis is a direct result of Secretary Mayorkas' 
open borders policies, policies he began implementing on Day 1.
    In 2021 alone, the administration eliminated or began to 
shut down 89 successful border security policies, leading to 
the current chaos. The Mayorkas border crisis is enriching 
cartels and human traffickers. Violent cartel and gang activity 
is significantly increasing throughout the United States, and 
illegal drugs continue to pour over the border in massive 
quantities.
    The picture you see behind me is of a woman who was raped 
and scalped by the drug cartels. Her body was dropped at an 
elementary school in Texas. Today, you are going to hear how 
the cartels move people into our country for a price. In many 
cases, that price is paid with forced criminal activity 
operating from stash houses inside the United States. When the 
illegal alien trafficked by the cartels refuses to comply, this 
happens to them.
    Further, the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 
to 45 years old is now fentanyl. Our country now faces record 
fatalities from drug overdoses eclipsing 100,000 deaths, 71,000 
from synthetic opioids alone. As a result, families and 
communities have been utterly devastated.
    Our first witness today, Rebecca Kiessling, lost two sons, 
Caleb, 20 years old, and Kyler, 18 years old, to fentanyl 
poisoning in 2020. Sadly, there are thousands of parents just 
like Rebecca who are grieving the loss of their children to 
this deadly drug.
    In my hands are letters written to this committee from 
grieving parents across our Nation who have lost a child to 
fentanyl poisoning. Some of these moms are here today. No 
parent should have to go through what Rebecca and these other 
parents went through. I ask unanimous consent to enter these 
letters into the record. So ordered.
    [The information follows:]
              Letters Submitted by Chairman Mark E. Green


    Jack William McCarthy, 19, passed away on Saturday, September 25, 
2021 at his home in Birmingham, Michigan. Jack had ordered 4 
``prescription pills'' and his Snapchat dealer gave him ``something 
extra''. That is the one that killed him. Jack came downstairs to get 
coffee to revive himself, and died sitting up by the coffee maker. It 
was enough fentanyl to kill 4 men.
    Jack grew up in Birmingham and attended Westmaple Nursery, Quarton 
Elementary, and Derby Middle School. He played soccer, baseball, 
football, and enjoyed skateboarding, listening to music, fishing, 
learning guitar, making videos, and hanging out with his friends. Jack 
graduated from Ernest W. Seaholm High School in 2020, where he was 
involved in wrestling and developed a passion for UFC fighting. He had 
just begun his sophomore year at Oakland University, earned a spot on 
the Dean's List, and was undecided on his major.
    In the short 19 years Jack was with us, he has touched so many 
lives. Jack was very charismatic. His beautiful smile along with his 
quick wit could wipe away a bad day in an instant. Jack was extremely 
polite, respectful, and genuinely interested in others. He cared deeply 
about the people in his life, listened intently, and was very 
inquisitive. Jack valued all the relationships he formed throughout his 
19 years. One of his favorite pastimes with ``the boys'' (his friends) 
was hitting up Detroit Wing Company for buffalo wings with bleu cheese 
dip.
    He was also very proud of his Irish heritage and he had planned to 
visit Ireland in the future. Jack liked to explore new places and has 
traveled to Europe, Florida, Washington DC, South Carolina, Illinois, 
New York, Alabama, and Arizona.
    As much as Jack loved going out with his friends, he very much 
cherished his family time. Jack often expressed his desire to have his 
own family one day. His version of the perfect Saturday consisted of 
grabbing a morning nitro cold brew from Starbucks with his sister, 
Samantha, sharing funny dog Tik-Toks and Instagram reels with his mom, 
working out, and caring for his aging labradoodle, Roxy. He was always 
so happy when his ``Nanas'' would drop in for visits and absolutely 
loved to top the day off by viewing UFC Fight Night with his dad. His 
dad James co-founded FentanylFathers for Awareness education in high 
schools.
                                 ______
                                 
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
                                 
Drew Swan, 24. Opioid Epidemic Victim. Died April 3, 2013, Plantation 
        Florida/DrewSwan.com.
    Childhood.--My first-born son Drew was born in Rochester, MI on 
April 10, 1988. It was the happiest day of my life. I thought, ``even 
if I die, I will live on through him.'' I experienced the same thrill 
when his only brother Jack was born the following year. Jack's arrival 
completed our little Swan family of four, and we created a 
serendipitous life together as we went along. We homeschooled our 
children in idyllic Oconomowoc, Wisconsin while I ran a small business. 
At age 11, Drew took a standardized test and scored ``collegiate 
level'' in 21 of 22 categories. Drew was also an exceptional athlete. 
As a freshman at Arrowhead High School, Drew led his football team 
caught interceptions, earned a State championship swim team title, and 
was named the MVP of the varsity tennis team. Drew achieved a Life 
Scout from Boy Scouts of America and balanced his extracurriculars with 
singing in the school choir. I shall never forget hearing his solo part 
during The Christmas Shoes song performance at his winter concert where 
we watched him proudly. Drew painted as well. Because he knew I liked 
Van Gogh, he replicated Starry Night to near perfection and presented 
it to me. What a gift! Drew was voted ``Best Looking'' in his high 
school and was runner up for Student Body President. It was in high 
school that Drew sustained an athletic injury and was put on pain meds. 
Later he was given some unprescribed Oxycontin at a party--and he 
became hooked on opioids.
    Drew's College Years were spent at UW-Milwaukee double-majoring in 
English and Business. Drew studied 1 year abroad in Australia, where he 
made wonderful friends from around the world and wrote music. His 
addiction eventually caught up with him when he arrived back in the 
United States as he could no longer afford it--and he called me for 
help. Drew interned for me at my digital sales office in Michigan--and 
helped me start GODclick.com, accurately predicting--in 2010--that 
``Programmatic was the future of digital advertising.'' Later I ended 
up doing an intervention for Drew in Milwaukee at his college 
graduation, and a week later, after a strong encouragement from his 
brother Jack, he entered treatment at Rosecrance in Illinois. Upon 
successful completion, Drew moved to halfway house in Florida and 
supported himself with retail and waiter jobs. I helped him get his own 
apartment.
    Final Years.--Drew created a blog site and became a beautiful 
writer. He was planning entrepreneurial adventures, had started ``The 
Progressive Group'' and his future looked extremely bright. I spent a 
wonderful long weekend with him in February 2013, at Disney World. In 
March we grabbed ``DrewSwan.com'' to publicize his writing, and I sent 
him a calendar of photos we took of him at Epcot with ``Women Around 
the World'' along with his own business cards. Drew was volunteering at 
his local church and began helping homeless people get their clothes 
dry cleaned before interviews. He was proud of himself, and so was I. 
Unfortunately, in March he attended a rave in Miami and relapsed on a 
``Molly''. My last conversation with him was March 31. He spoke to his 
brother April 1, and his mother April 2, saying he ``had to get back on 
track.'' He died in his sleep from an unprescribed pill he got from a 
roommate in a government-assisted sober house on April 3. The Swan 
Family party was over. We were absolutely gutted with the loss of Drew. 
My wife and I brought awareness to the epidemic running for Congress in 
2018 and getting a mention in the SOTU address that year. The $6B 
budget that resulted was spent on PSAs, but the death decline was 
negligible. Jack became a Doctor of Emergency Medicine hoping to save 
other ``Drews.'' It has taken 10 years to come to terms with the loss, 
but we finally settled on a go-forward solution to cope with our loss: 
warning kids directly, and in person, about how fentanyl kills. Drew's 
brother Jack and I started ``FentanylFathers.org'' with the goal of 
presenting Fentanyl Education Awareness to all U.S. high school 
assemblies through a volunteer workforce of 600,000 bereaved parents 
that have been created over the last 3 years. We're both preventing 
overdose deaths for unaware students, and grief for unsuspecting 
families. This ministry aims to act as a solution-driven program for 
change, with a goal of having every student hear our message and 
graduate alive.
                                 ______
                                 
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
                                 
                            zachary's story
Zachary Quentin Sahouri Sept. 26, 1993--Dec. 23, 2021
    On December 23, 2021, at 9 o'clock a.m., I received a phone call 
that left our family shattered. Zachary, our 28-year-old son, had died 
from an accidental overdose of cocaine/fentanyl. His two siblings, 
Sophia and Landon, and my husband, Raed, and I would have to learn a 
new way of living. But how?
    School was very easy for Zach. His creativity was magical and he 
excelled in his academics. He enjoyed fishing and frogging as well as 
riding his dirtbike. He loved basketball and spent many hours in the 
driveway with family and friends. In high school, Zachary played 
basketball and ran track. He became an outstanding hurdler!
    Music was a gift of Zach's. He played many instruments. When he put 
his mind to something, nothing stopped him. Whether he was at home 
jamming with his friends or at the corner karaoke bar, Zach played and 
sang his heart out, getting lost in the music, and forgetting the 
pressures and pain that come with life.
    Zachary shared his love with others, even as he battled his own 
demons in private. He was always ready to be a listening ear or to 
offer sympathy and kind words when people needed them. Race, religion, 
wealth, and status were not important to Zach. He loved people for who 
they were, not what they had. He was true to his values, non-
conforming, stubborn at times, eccentric in some ways, but always 
accepting of others, even if their beliefs and lifestyles differed from 
his own. He loved being around older people and found humor and delight 
in their quirks. Zach had two cousins with significant disabilities, 
one with Autism and the other with Down Syndrome. Zach never judged 
them, but treated them with kindness and a loving sense of humor. While 
Zach attended Michigan State University, he had a job working with kids 
and young men with disabilities, but it was more than a job--he hung 
out with them, shot hoops, went bowling, and did other things that 
friends often do together. I believe Zach was starting to realize he 
had a gift working with individuals with disabilities, as he was very 
proud and excited to have been hired by a company 1 week before his 
death. He was looking forward to starting up work in this field again.
    Zachary had always been highly active and sometimes impulsive but 
that had been his personality since he was a toddler. His grandma used 
to say, ``he is so precocious'' as he wanted to try everything and was 
quite fearless. Smoking marijuana started in Zach's early teens. 
Although we were very concerned and would talk with him, he would deny 
there was a problem. His grades were top-notch, he had no attendance 
issues, and active in sports so it was easy to be manipulated by his 
words, ``I don't have a problem.'' We wanted to believe him but knew a 
problem was developing. He agreed, his senior year to receive help. At 
the end of his first semester of senior year, he was expelled for 
having a small bag of weed in his car. This was pure devastation for 
Zach as school was important to him. He attended Michigan State 
University, for 3 years, his dream since he was a child, but dropped 
out his senior year. He did not leave Lansing but worked in the 
restaurant industry. We learned, a year before his death, that his drug 
use had progressed to cocaine. His lifestyle was changing and although 
he kept in contact with his family more than weekly, he rarely came 
home. The disease of addiction had become stronger than we could have 
ever imagined and ultimately led him to choices out of his control. 
Zachary never accepted that he had an addiction or needed help. He was 
far too proud and deemed it as a sign of weakness.
    Zachary appreciated the small things in life, the gifts that many 
of us take for granted. He was captivated by the waves of the ocean, 
the beauty of a sunset, and the warmth of a bonfire. Zach didn't talk 
about God often, but God saw him for what he was, a beautiful boy, a 
beloved son, a loyal and steadfast friend, and a talented, 
compassionate, and sensitive young man who simply wanted to love and be 
loved.
                                 ______
                                 
 [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
                                 
    To whom it may concern,
    After a weekend away with my husband, a missed call from Cuyahoga 
Co ME appeared on my phone. At that second I knew my life would change 
forever. As it turned out, my son had overdosed and was pronounced dead 
at 8:06am July 25, 2022.
    Here's the kicker--my son was given a lethal dose of fentanyl laced 
in his recreational bump of cocaine. There were 13 different toxins in 
his toxicity report including a dog dewormer . . . he actually was 
brought back to life after being administered 12 mg of narcan. Trevor 
was transported to the hospital and released to a 21-year-old 3 hours 
later. Was he just a number? Did he get narcan to take with him? Why 
wasn't he pink-slipped for 48 hours? Why wasn't a family member 
contacted? He could've survived if the right people were involved. 
Instead he was dropped off at his home and died alone. I found a text 
on his phone around the time of 11:30 pm `` Al I'm di''--did he know? 
We have been living this hellish nightmare for 7 months--31 weeks.
            Say his Name,
         Trevor J Reiderman Forever 25 11/13/1996-7/25/2022
                               Kimberlee Buss (heartbroken mother).
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

Robert Bruce Snodgrass, 6/4/99-10/26/21
    Dear Members of the Committee on Homeland Security: On a Thursday 
morning in October, Sandy Snodgrass was given the news that no parent 
should ever have to hear. Her son, Robert Bruce Snodgrass, was found 
dead. He had died from a fentanyl overdose.
    Bruce was Sandy's only child. When he was young they lived in 
Southern California, exploring beaches, mountains, and deserts so Bruce 
could do what he loved--be outside. When he was a teenager, they moved 
back to Alaska, where Sandy grew up. ``Alaska was Bruce's true home,'' 
she said. But while a student at Service High School, Bruce started 
using drugs in earnest. After many difficult years, Bruce turned 18. He 
was repeatedly arrested and then broke his terms of release, adding 
charges and time to his cases. Eventually, when he was using, he ended 
up camping in the forests of Far North Bicentennial Park, homeless but 
with a home he could have gone to, if he'd been clean and sober.
    In summer 2021 Bruce said he wanted to get clean. Sandy immediately 
secured an immediate bed in a medical detox facility and then 
transferred to the inpatient Chanlyut program, run by the Cook Inlet 
Tribal Council. Bruce graduated, moved home with his mom and embarked 
on outpatient treatment. The substance abuse treatment program gave him 
a mountain bike, and he found joy riding around Anchorage trails. His 
daily schedule revolved around intensive outpatient meetings and 
counseling. Then came the day in October when Bruce left, saying he was 
going for a bike ride. ``Be careful out there,'' she told him. 
According to police, Bruce was found dead at 11:38 a.m. Oct. 28, in the 
Carrs parking lot on DeBarr Road. A dog walker noticed his body and 
called the police. The police officer who met Sandy at the location 
where the body was found had come from notifying a different family 
about an overdose death.
    Sandy's son couldn't be saved, but she is doing everything in her 
power to ensure this doesn't happen to another family. She believes 
that there needs to be education about the lethality of all street 
drugs because of the potential that they could be contaminated by 
fentanyl. According to the CDC, the No. 1 cause of death in Americans 
who are 18-45 years old is fentanyl overdose.
    She wants to get this message out to young people so they can avoid 
the same fate that her son endered.
                                 ______
                                 
 [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
                                 
Tia Mastromatteo, was born on December 17, 1965 and entered into 
        Eternal Life on May 7, 2022.
    She was found dead in her home by a friend. The autopsy found that 
there was a significant amount of Fentanyl in her system.
    The Massachusetts Examiner said she died of acute Fentanyl toxicity 
and that her death was accidental.
                                 Joe Mastromatteo, her dad.
                                                  Fentanyl Fathers.
    Born in Pontiac, Michigan on December 17, 1965, she attended St. 
Joseph School through 8th grade and attended Lake Orion and Zion 
Christian High schools. Tia earned her bachelors degree at Oral Roberts 
University and a master's degree in special education from Lesley 
University. Tia worked as a special education teacher for both 
Marshfield and Weymouth Public Schools. She loved her profession, her 
students, and the relationships she built throughout the years.
    The most important part of Tia's life was her family. She loved her 
children more than anything and there wasn't anything she wouldn't do 
for the people she cared for. Tia was devoted to her son, Tommy, and 
always made sure he was cared for and loved. Tia was also a selfless, 
generous, and loving person. Her life lessons and example are part of 
her legacy that continue through her family. She will be missed by all 
the lives she touched.

    Chairman Green. Last week, along with Vice Chairman Guest 
and Subcommittee Chairman Higgins, I led a group of Members to 
the border where we saw this crisis first-hand. While touring 
the El Paso port of entry, we witnessed a car attempting to 
smuggle illicit narcotics into the homeland. If not for our 
brave CBP officers, these drugs would have headed straight to 
American homes.
    However, Secretary Mayorkas asserts that he has maintained 
operational control of the border. He has said as much in this 
committee under oath. He and the administration, and I am 
guessing you will hear this disinformation from some of our 
colleagues across the aisle today, that fentanyl seizures are 
up, which they are, and that fentanyl is thus not getting into 
the country. The implication is somehow that all the fentanyl 
comes through ports of entry. However, I have here a photo of 
232 pounds of fentanyl seized inland, missing the ports of 
entry, bypassing the ports of entry. That is enough to kill 50 
Americans. I would like to also enter this into the record. 
Unanimous consent. So ordered.*
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    * Image was not available at the time of publication.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Well, here is just one video from a rancher on the border. 
Let us play the video, please. What you see here, camera 
footage of waves of drug cartel runners wearing camouflage, 
carpet shoes, carrying backpacks of fentanyls and other drugs. 
They walk into the country, go to drop sites, load it into 
vehicles, and the drugs are shipped all over the United States. 
The cartels are very strategic. They neutralize CBP by having 
mass waves of coyote-paid people overwhelm the crossing sites, 
causing CBP to thin the rural areas so that they can process 
the mass waves of people at the crossing sites. Then the 
cartels pour across the border.
    If fentanyl is being stopped at the crossing sites, why has 
the street price of a hit of fentanyl gone from $95 in January 
2021 to $28 just last month? It is supply and demand. Simple 
supply and demand. This data comes from sheriffs in my home 
State of Tennessee, hundreds of miles from the border.
    Mayorkas was lying when he said he had operational control 
of the border, and the fentanyl is killing Americans. Let me be 
clear. Mayorkas lied and Americans are dying.
    Here are the images, just a few images, and I say just a 
few because there are hundreds just like this, fentanyl 
seizures in my home State of Tennessee: Weapons, cash, drugs.
    I would like to take a moment, too, and recognize the 
sacrifices of the hard work and courageous, overworked, 
understaffed front-line agents and officers who stand guard at 
our Nation's border every day, often in dangerous and 
unforgiving environments, while being constantly villainized by 
this administration and the hard left.
    I want to thank the Democrats, who at least in the private 
halls of this building, will admit this is a crisis. I want to 
let the American people know that there are some on the other 
side of the aisle in quiet whispers who will say it is a 
tragedy. I just wish they would say it out loud because this is 
killing Americans. We must reestablish control of our Southern 
Border and take it back from the murderous drug cartels.
    I would also like to thank our State and local leaders who 
have an essential role in defending our Nation's homeland, such 
as our second witness, Sheriff Mark Lamb of Pinal County, 
Arizona. Pinal County is not considered a border county. The 
county is 55 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, yet the sheriff 
has had to devote most of his resources not to protecting his 
community, but to recovering and apprehending illegal border 
crossers who are being trafficked. This is a direct result of 
Secretary Mayorkas, who since Day 1 has opened the border to 
bad actors, including transnational criminal organizations.
    Finally, I would like to welcome the third witness I 
invited, Dr. Robert Trenschel. The president and CEO of Yuma 
Regional Medical Center, Dr. Trenschel manages the only acute 
care hospital in the area. As a former health care CEO, I know 
how tough that is in normal times. But in a 12-month period, 
from December 2021 through November 2022, Dr. Trenschel 
estimates that his team has delivered over $26 million in 
uncompensated care to migrants. That is an astronomical figure. 
It is happening all across the country. Clearly, it is worse in 
his border town. But with 4.7 million migrants who need health 
care, everyone pays higher insurance premiums, as this care has 
ultimately got to be paid for.
    Under President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas, every State 
is a border State. In my home State of Tennessee, there were 
27,734 fentanyl deaths in 2021. In North Carolina, 4,041, 77 
percent of which were fentanyl. In New York State, there were 
4,946 opioid deaths, again, much of which is attributed to 
fentanyl. All these States are not on the Southwest Border, but 
they are severely impacted by the Mayorkas border crisis.
    All of these States have at least one representative who 
sits on this committee. This hearing should be a wake-up call 
for committee Members to end the madness and work together to 
secure our Southern Border. Our colleagues across the aisle 
must acknowledge the humanitarian tragedy at our borders and 
the increasing threat that the Mayorkas border crisis places on 
every Congressional district in this Nation. We are the 
Committee on Homeland Security. We must secure our homeland 
now.
    [The statement of Chairman Green follows:]
                  Statement of Chairman Mark E. Green
    Good morning, and welcome to the Committee on Homeland Security's 
first official hearing of the 118th Congress. I want to thank all of 
our witnesses for being here today for this important hearing, titled 
``Every State is a Border State: Examining Secretary Mayorkas' Border 
Crisis.''
    The homeland--OUR homeland--faces an unprecedented crisis along our 
Southwest Border. This crisis threatens the safety of all American 
families, no matter where they live in the United States. Criminals, 
weapons, trafficked persons, and illicit narcotics are pouring across 
our borders in record numbers. Make no mistake: this crisis is a direct 
result of Secretary Mayorkas' Open Borders policies, policies they 
began implementing on DAY ONE.
    In 2021 alone, the administration eliminated or began to shut down 
89 successful border security policies, leading to the current chaos. 
The Mayorkas border crisis is enriching cartels and human traffickers. 
Violent cartel and gang activity is significantly increasing throughout 
the United States, and illegal drugs continue to pour over the border 
in massive quantities.
    The picture you see behind me is of a woman raped, and scalped by 
the drug cartels. Her body was dropped at an elementary school in Texas 
to make a point.
    Today you're going to hear how the cartels move people into our 
country for a price. In many cases, that price is paid with forced 
criminal activity operating from stash houses inside the United States. 
When the illegal aliens trafficked by the cartels refuse to comply, 
this happens to them.
    Further, the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 45 
years old is now fentanyl. Our country now faces record fatalities from 
drug overdoses, eclipsing 100,000 deaths, 71,000 from synthetic opioids 
alone.
    As a result, families and communities have been utterly devastated. 
Our first witness, Rebecca Kiessling, lost two sons, Caleb (20 years 
old) and Kyler (18 years old) to fentanyl poisoning in 2020. Sadly, 
there are thousands of parents, such as Rebecca, who are grieving the 
loss of their children to this deadly drug.
    In my hand are letters written to this committee from grieving 
parents across our Nation who have lost a child to fentanyl poisoning--
no parent should have to go through what Rebecca and these other 
parents went through. I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record 
these letters . . . so ordered.
    Last week, I, along with Vice Chairman Guest and Subcommittee 
Chairman Higgins, led a group of Members to the border, where we saw 
the crisis first-hand. While touring the El Paso port of entry, we 
witnessed a car attempting to smuggle illicit narcotics into the 
homeland. If not for our brave CBP officers, these drugs would have 
headed straight for American homes.
    However, Secretary Mayorkas asserts that he has maintained 
operational control of the border, he has said as much to the committee 
under oath. He and the administration, and I am guessing you will hear 
this disinformation from some of our colleagues across the aisle today, 
that the fentanyl seizures are up, which they are, and that fentanyl is 
thus not getting into the country. The implication is somehow that all 
the fentanyl comes through ports of entry. Well, here is just one video 
from a rancher on the border. This is camera footage of waves of drug 
cartel runners wearing camouflage, carpet shoes, and carrying backpacks 
of fentanyl and other drugs. They walk into the country, go to drop 
sites, load into vehicles and the drugs are shipped all over the 
country. The cartels are strategic. They neutralize CBP by having mass 
waves of coyote-paid people overwhelm the crossing sites, causing CBP 
to thin the rural areas to process the people at the crossing sites. 
Then, they pour across the border. If fentanyl is being stopped at the 
crossing sites, why has the street price of a hit of fentanyl gone from 
$95 on the street in TN in Jan. '21 to $28? It's supply and demand. 
This data comes from sheriffs from my home State of Tennessee. Mayorkas 
was lying when he said he had operational control of the border. And 
the fentanyl is killing Americans. Let me be clear: Mayorkas lied and 
Americans are dying.
    Here are images from law enforcement in Tennessee. Seizure after 
seizure. Mr. Secretary--I thought you had operational control of the 
border?
    I would like to take a moment to recognize the sacrifices and hard 
work of our courageous, overworked, and understaffed front-line agents 
and officers who stand guard at our Nation's borders every day, often 
in dangerous and unforgiving environments while being constantly 
villainized by this administration and the hard left.
    I want to thank the Democrats who at least in the private halls of 
this building will admit this is a crisis. I want to let the American 
people know that there are some who in quiet whispers say it's a 
tragedy. I just wish they would say it out loud, because this is 
killing Americans. We must reestablish control of our Southern Border 
and take it back from the murderous drug cartels.
    I would also like to thank our State and local leaders who have an 
essential role in defending our Nation's homeland--such as our second 
witness, Sheriff Mark Lamb of Pinal County, Arizona. Pinal County is 
not considered a ``border county'' in the traditional sense--the county 
sits 55 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. Yet, the sheriff has had to 
devote most of his resources not to protecting his community, but to 
recovering and apprehending illegal border crossers who are being 
trafficked. This is a direct result of Secretary Mayorkas, who since 
Day 1 has opened the border to bad actors, including transnational 
criminal organizations.
    Finally, I would like to welcome the third witness I have invited, 
Dr. Robert Trenschel, the president and CEO of the Yuma Regional 
Medical Center. Dr. Trenschel manages the only acute care hospital in 
the area. As a former health care CEO, I know how tough that is in 
normal times. But, in a 12-month period, from December 2021 through 
November 2022, Dr. Trenschel estimates that his team has delivered over 
$26 million in uncompensated care to migrants--an astronomical figure! 
This is happening all across our country, clearly it's worse in his 
border town. But with 4.7 million migrants who need health care, 
everyone pays with higher insurance premiums as this care has to 
ultimately be paid for.
    Under President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas, every State is a 
border State. In my home State of Tennessee, there were 2,734 fentanyl 
deaths in 2021. In North Carolina, there were 4,041 overdose deaths, 77 
percent of which were related to fentanyl. And in New York State, there 
were 4,946 opioid deaths--again, much of which is attributed to 
fentanyl. All of these States are not on the Southwest Border--but they 
are severely impacted by the Biden border crisis. And all these States 
have at least one representative who sits on this committee.
    This hearing should be a wake-up call for committee Members to end 
the madness and work together to secure our country. Our colleagues 
across the aisle must acknowledge the humanitarian tragedy at our 
borders and the increasing threat that the Mayorkas border crisis 
places on every Congressional district in this Nation. We are the 
Committee on Homeland Security. We must secure the homeland now. With 
that, I yield back and recognize Ranking Member Thompson for his 
opening remarks.

    Chairman Green. With that, I yield back and recognize the 
Ranking Member for his opening remarks.
    Mr. Thompson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I am 
pleased the committee is holding its first hearing of the 118th 
Congress. However, I would note that while Republicans are 
using this hearing to criticize Secretary Mayorkas for the 
challenges at our border, challenges, I might add, that go back 
decades and will never be addressed without fixing our broken 
border system, the majority has offered no solutions of its 
own.
    Republican leadership said it would bring a border bill to 
the House floor during the first days of the new Congress. But 
their bill, which would have effectively ended asylum in this 
country, was so extreme it didn't have the votes to pass and 
was pulled from the schedule. The gentleman from Texas, Mr. 
Gonzalez, a Republican member of this panel, who represents a 
border district, called the bill anti-American and not 
Christian, and I agree. America has long welcomed those coming 
to our shores seeking protection from persecution, and we are a 
better Nation for it. Turning our backs on asylees would be 
turning our backs on who we are as a country.
    It would also be bad for border security since having a 
system for people to apply for asylum helps border management 
and allows law enforcement to focus on real border security 
threats. After failing to deliver the meaningful and ready-to-
go border bill Republican leadership promised and still have no 
plan to address the situation at the border, several 
communities call hearings like this one. Committees call 
hearings like this one today.
    Unfortunately, I am concerned that this hearing won't help 
us move toward a solution for better border management, but 
rather may be used by some as a platform for divisive rhetoric 
and anti-immigrant fearmongering. I hope that is not the case. 
We are better than that, and at least we should be.
    Instead, we need to look at the facts and work together 
toward solutions. The fact is Democrats are focused on 
investing in border staffing, infrastructure, and technology, 
especially at ports of entry, where the vast majority of 
fentanyl is trafficked. Over 90 percent of fentanyl seizures 
occur at our ports of entry or border checkpoints, and those 
responsible are overwhelmingly American citizens, not 
immigrants.
    The fact is, despite tough talk on border security, 
Republicans voted against necessary funding, opposing $7.2 
billion in Border Patrol operations, including for hiring $65 
million for 300 more Border Patrol agents and $60 million for 
additional personnel at ports of entry. If you really want to 
help with border security, help us increase the number of 
people working at the border as part of the ultimate solution.
    Certain Members on the other side of the aisle have even 
suggested defunding the Department of Homeland Security, the 
very department that is working to secure our borders. That 
kind of talk may score political points in certain circles, but 
it flies in the face of good old-fashioned common sense.
    The fact is the Biden administration is working to deal 
with the fallout of the prior administration's failed border 
policies while treating people humanely and with dignity. The 
administration is implementing a six-pillar plan for 
immigration and border security, which includes surging 
resources, increasing efficiency, imposing consequences for 
violators, bolstering the capacity of NGO's and State and local 
partners while going after cartels and smugglers, and working 
with countries in the region.
    The administration has also created a new legal pathway for 
Cubans, Venezuelans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans, who make up 
almost a third of those currently being encountered at the 
border to encounter the United States on a 2-year parole after 
an application is made and approved providing this open pathway 
is already showing results at the border. Border Patrol 
encounters with nationals of those four countries declined by 
95 percent in January.
    The fact is, the Biden administration is working to reunite 
hundreds of families who remain separated years after the Trump 
administration took children from their parents at the border, 
a policy that will be a permanent stain on our country's 
conscience. Certainly more remains to be done. I believe the 
solution to our long-standing border challenges is for Congress 
to finally fix our broken immigration system and explain legal 
pathway--expand legal pathways of migration for vetted 
individuals who want to contribute to our society. Doing so 
will allow border personnel to focus on real threats to the 
Homeland Security, put human smugglers out of business, and 
help ensure migrants are treated with dignity, goals everyone 
should agree on.
    But the question remains do we want to finally overcome our 
border challenges or do we want to use this issue for partisan 
attacks? I guess we will see in today's hearing.
    I thank the Chairman and look forward to our discussion 
today. I yield back.
    [The statement of Ranking Member Thompson follows:]
             Statement of Ranking Member Bennie G. Thompson
                           February 28, 2023
    I am pleased the committee is holding its first hearing of the 
118th Congress. However, I would note that while Republicans are using 
this hearing to criticize Secretary Mayorkas for the challenges at our 
border--challenges, I might add, that go back decades and will never be 
addressed without fixing our broken immigration system--the Majority 
has offered no solutions of its own.
    Republican Leadership said it would bring a border bill to the 
House floor during the first days of the new Congress, but their bill, 
which would have effectively ended asylum in this country, was so 
extreme it didn't have the votes to pass and was pulled from the 
schedule. The gentleman from Texas, Mr. Gonzalez, a Republican Member 
of this panel who represents a border district, called the bill ``anti-
American'' and ``not Christian''--and I agree.
    America has long welcomed those coming to our shores seeking 
protection from persecution, and we are a better Nation for it. Turning 
our backs on asylees would be turning our backs on who we are as a 
country. It would also be bad for border security, since having a 
system for people to apply for asylum helps border management and 
allows law enforcement to focus on real border security threats.
    After failing to deliver the ``meaningful'' and ``ready-to-go'' 
border bill Republican Leadership promised, and still having no plan to 
address the situation at the border, several committees called hearings 
like this one today.
    Unfortunately, I am concerned that this hearing won't help us move 
toward a solution for better border management but rather may be used 
by some as a platform for divisive rhetoric and anti-immigrant 
fearmongering. I hope that's not the case. We are better than that, or 
at least we should be.
    Instead, we need to look at the facts, and work together toward 
solutions.
    The fact is Democrats are focused on investing in border staffing, 
infrastructure, and technology, especially at ports of entry, where the 
vast majority of fentanyl is trafficked. Over 90 percent of fentanyl 
seizures occur at ports of entry or border checkpoints, and those 
responsible are overwhelmingly American citizens, not migrants.
    The fact is, despite tough talk on border security, Republicans 
voted against necessary funding, opposing $7.2 billion for Border 
Patrol operations, including for hiring; $65 million for 300 more 
Border Patrol agents; and $60 million for additional personnel at ports 
of entry last year. Certain Members on the other side of the aisle have 
even suggested defunding the Department of Homeland Security--the very 
Department that is working to secure our borders. That kind of talk may 
score political points in certain circles, but it flies in the face of 
good, old-fashioned common sense.
    The fact is the Biden administration is working to deal with the 
fallout of the prior administration's failed border policies while 
treating people humanely and with dignity. The administration is 
implementing a six-pillar plan for immigration and border security, 
which includes surging resources, increasing efficiency, imposing 
consequences for violators, bolstering the capacity of NGO and State 
and local partners, going after cartels and smugglers, and working with 
countries in the region.
    The administration has also created a new legal pathway for Cubans, 
Venezuelans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans--who make up almost a third of 
those currently being encountered at the border--to enter the United 
States on a 2-year parole after an application is made and approved. 
Providing this orderly pathway is already showing results at the 
border--Border Patrol encounters with nationals of those four countries 
declined by 95 percent in January.
    The fact is the Biden administration is working to reunite hundreds 
of families who remain separated years after the Trump administration 
took children from their parents at the border--a policy that will be a 
permanent stain on our country's conscience.
    Certainly, more remains to be done. I believe the solution to our 
long-standing border challenges is for Congress to finally fix our 
broken immigration system and expand legal pathways of migration for 
vetted individuals who want to contribute to our society. Doing so will 
allow border personnel to focus on real threats to homeland security, 
put human smugglers out of business, and help ensure migrants are 
treated with dignity--goals everyone should be able to agree on.
    But a question remains: Do we want to finally overcome our border 
challenges or do people want to use the issue for partisan attacks? I 
guess we'll see.

    Chairman Green. Thank you, Ranking Member. Other Members of 
the committee are reminded that opening statements may be 
submitted for the record.
    [The statement of Hon. Jackson Lee follows:]
               Statement of Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee
                           February 28, 2023
    Chairman Green and Ranking Member Thompson, thank you for convening 
this important hearing providing the opportunity to discuss and 
highlight the facts as concerns our Nation's border security and the 
urgent need for comprehensive and humane immigration reform.
    Comprehensive immigration reform that expands the pathways for 
migration and treats migrants with dignity is one of the most important 
issues that facing our Nation.
    Democrats are seeking out root causes, focusing on the facts, and 
advocating for solutions that treat migrants with the respect, dignity, 
and compassion that recognizes their innate humanity and value.
    Republicans have chosen to turn their backs on immigrants, 
demonizing them as criminals and drug smugglers.
    Democrats are following the Biden administration's lead, 
implementing practical reforms that add efficiency and dignity to the 
intake process.
    Republicans are trying to score political points with extreme 
rhetoric to keep their false narrative of a border crisis alive.
democrats support border security investments, while republicans voted 
                              against them
    Democrats are looking for meaningful solutions--advocating 
investments to bolster staffing, infrastructure, and technology 
throughout ports of entry as well as creating and expanding legal 
pathways to live and work in the United States.
    Democrats passed the fiscal year 2023 Omnibus Appropriations bill, 
which included funding for 300 additional U.S. Border Patrol agents, 
125 Customs and Border Patrol officers and related personnel, and more 
than $400 million for non-intrusive inspection (NII) systems to 
identify attempts to smuggle drugs across legal ports of entry.
    These investments that Democrats overwhelmingly supported can 
restore Border Patrol's mission to one of national security, rather 
than managing peaceful migration.
    Only two House Republicans that are currently serving voted for the 
fiscal year 2023 Omnibus bill that made these critical investments.
    Republicans are advocating for senseless investments in a border 
wall without evidence that a border wall will act as a deterrent.
democrats support comprehensive immigration reform, republicans have no 
                     plan for comprehensive reform
    However, security along the border and within the Nation as a whole 
cannot be settled solely by building barriers; a more strategic and 
thoughtful plan of action is necessary.
    Without enactment of comprehensive immigration reform supported by 
proper investments along the border, our Nation's security will remain 
vulnerable.
    And while America's borders are dynamic, with constantly-evolving 
security challenges, any and all measures undertaken to implement and 
enforce border security must be done in a manner that allows actors to 
use pragmatism and common sense.
    Instead of focusing on where the real problems are rooted (such as 
increasing funding, resources, and coordination amongst various 
immigration agencies and stakeholders at the local, State, and Federal 
level), House Republicans continue their refusal to act responsibly to 
minimize the continuing harm caused by our outdated and inhumane 
immigration system.
    The unworkable proposals put forth by Republicans like Rep. Chip 
Roy, would have shut down asylum to everyone, including those fleeing 
communist totalitarian regimes and unaccompanied minors, a measure seen 
as so draconian it was tabled after it created backlash among less 
extreme Members of the Republican conference.
   the united states is a nation of immigrants that believes in the 
                           fundamental rights
    Mr. Chairman, as the United States has always been a nation of 
immigrants ever since its inception centuries ago, it is vital for us 
to remember our core values when addressing immigration issues today.
    During the first 100 years of our Nation's existence, immigrants 
were of the utmost importance to our young Nation and were welcomed.
    It was during this time that Emma Lazarus wrote the poem that now 
is forever enshrined on the Statue of Liberty:
    ``Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to 
breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore, send these, 
the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden 
door.''
    Sadly, today the Republican party does not hold the same reverence 
and desires for the benefits of immigration as our forebearers.
    Instead, Republicans have created false narrative that centers upon 
a dichotomy between safety and security on the one side and 
humanitarianism and compassion on the other.
    This is the United States of America.
    Democrats recognize that we can maintain the highest level of 
security in the world while also treating immigrants with the utmost 
compassion, respect, and humanity.
 most fentanyl is smuggled through ports of entry by american citizens
    Conversely, Republicans have chosen to reduce the complexity of 
legitimate asylum claims by demonizing all immigrants as criminals, 
especially as regards the trafficking of fentanyl.
    Republicans conflate the issues of migrants seeking asylum through 
our legitimate legal processes with the very real scourge of fentanyl 
trafficking and ignoring their legitimate reasons for migration.
    To be clear, the fentanyl crisis is very serious.
    According to the CDC, more than 70,000 people died of overdose from 
synthetic opioids alone in 2021--a number representing more lives lost 
than the combined equivalent of U.S. military personnel killed during 
the wars in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
    However, the evidence does not support the Republican theory that 
immigrants are responsible for trafficking fentanyl into the United 
States.
    According to the DEA, most of the fentanyl is smuggled over land 
across the U.S.-Mexico border into the United States along the Southern 
Border, by American citizens who are employed to smuggle the drugs 
over.
    During a briefing with reporters, Homeland Security Secretary 
Alejandro Mayorkas said it was ``unequivocally false that fentanyl is 
being brought to the United States by non-citizens encountered in 
between the ports of entry who are making claims of credible fear and 
seeking asylum.''
    Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the agency responsible for 
interdicting illicit drugs along the U.S. borders, has reported that 
the vast majority of its fentanyl seizures along the Southern Border 
have occurred at ports of entry, where officials screen returning 
American citizens, foreign travelers, and commercial trucks.
    The Republican narrative that immigrants are bringing fentanyl into 
the United States while seeking asylum is flat wrong.
                      who is immigrating and why?
    While Republican narratives seek to characterize immigrants as 
criminals, in reality they are mainly people seeking a better life as a 
result of political unrest and poverty in their countries of origin.
    Those who are coming to the border include Ukrainians fleeing the 
unprovoked war with Russia; Venezuelans fleeing a dictatorial regime 
where hunger, poverty, violence, and political unrest have surged; 
immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua who face similar poverty, 
violence, and unrest; and those Afghan soldiers who were our allies and 
aided American soldiers during the War in Afghanistan but who were 
unable to be evacuated when Afghanistan fell to the Taliban.
    I intervened on behalf of one Afghan soldier who was detained while 
seeking asylum, Mr. Abdul Wasi Safi.
    Mr. Safi served bravely and courageously alongside American 
soldiers in the War in Afghanistan.
    He fought for American democratic values, the values of freedom, 
peace, democracy, civil rights, and civil liberties for all.
    When the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan more quickly than 
anyone expected, he fled his country through three continents facing 
dangerous conditions to seek asylum at the Southern Border of the 
United States and was subsequently taken into custody by Customs and 
Border Patrol.
    Working with all the Federal agencies involved and a top-notch 
legal team for Mr. Abdul Wasi Safi, I was able to ensure that all 
government orders against Mr. Safi were lifted and he was freed.
    The United States of America has a responsibility to keep our 
promise to those like Mr. Safi, who bravely helped American soldiers in 
their time of need, and help him in his time of need as he seeks asylum 
in the United States.
    Instead of recognizing his patriotism, Republicans would prefer to 
frame Mr. Safi and all immigrants seeking asylum as criminals.
    biden administration solutions: parole program and humanitarian 
                         exception to title 42
    Congressional Democrats understand the complex reasons that 
immigrants seek to come to the United States and are prepared to work 
with Republicans to create a plan that both ensures the security of our 
borders and expands legal pathways for immigrants that come to our 
borders in legitimate need.
    The Biden administration spearheaded the creation of a new legal 
pathway for up to 30,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans 
per month to receive a 2-year parole into the United States and are 
allowed to apply for work authorization.
    Immigrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela are fleeing known 
authoritarian regimes that refuse to engage with the United States.
    In addition, people from these countries who cross illegally 
between ports of entry are expelled to Mexico and are ineligible for 
the parole program encouraging participation in the program.
    Further, the Biden administration has put in place Humanitarian 
Exceptions to Title 42 that allows migrants to use a smartphone 
application, known as CBP One, to apply for a humanitarian exception to 
Title 42.
    Under Title 42, migrants who are apprehended at the Southern Border 
can be expelled without any legal process.
    Migrants who use the app can claim a humanitarian exception and 
must arrive at a specific port of entry for an appointment to interview 
with Customs and Border Patrol regarding their claim.
    Over 20,000 individuals have scheduled appointments via the app so 
far.
    These common-sense reforms address the root causes of the increase 
in migrants from certain countries at our borders and help to add 
order, efficiency, and dignity to the process of seeking asylum.
    House Democrats are prepared to work with House Republicans to 
craft legislation to put in place innovative solutions that respond to 
the modern-day legitimate root causes of the surge of migrants seeking 
to enter the United States.
    Our current immigration law, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 
1990, was established over 30 years ago and is not equipped to deal 
with the realities before us today.
    As a Nation, it is important that we strive to come together and 
bridge the political divide in order to pursue meaningful immigration 
reform.
    Working together, with respect for the different beliefs and values 
of both House Democrats and Republicans, we can uphold the ideals that 
define our country.
       immigrants contribute to our nation and the state of texas
    Mr. Chairman, few ideas are more central to who we are as Americans 
than the notion that people should be judged based on their own merits 
as individuals and not judged or labeled as criminals and rapists based 
on their race or nationality.
    Immigrants make invaluable contributions to American innovation, 
the American economy, and the American Dream.
    Immigrants bring new ideas and fresh perspectives to our companies 
and our communities.
    Immigrants are workers and taxpayers who complement the domestic 
workforce and make contributions large and small to our everyday lives, 
and they are also our neighbors.
    In Texas, immigrants are part of the social fabric.
    Texas immigrants own 43,500 homes in Texas and pay $340,500,000 in 
annual mortgage payments and their households contribute $2,234,800,000 
in Federal taxes and $1,265,200,000 in State and local taxes each year.
    Annually, these households generate $10,519,000,000 in spending 
power in Texas and help power the national economy.
    Rather than recognize the value immigrants provide, and working 
with Democrats to expand legal pathways, Republicans have continued to 
support the MAGA Republicans radical inhumane, and racist immigration 
policies that only seem to weaken the U.S. economy and undermine our 
national security and moral standing in the world.
    The Governor of Texas insists on following the MAGA Republican line 
and playing political games by busing migrants to the Vice President's 
home rather than recognizing the humanity that all people, especially 
those in crisis, deserve.
    This politically charged response to the humanitarian crises 
spurring immigrants to venture to our border illustrates a refusal on 
the part of some to tackle the issues in a meaningful way and is not 
indicative of the compassionate system that House Democrats are 
striving to create.
                     immigrants make america safer
    Immigrants make invaluable contributions to this country.
    Immigrants help build strong neighborhoods, support local 
businesses, and contribute taxes to help power the Nation.
    Immigrants enrich American communities and contribute to their 
safety and security in numerous ways.
    Immigrants directly lower the crime rate by committing fewer 
crimes.
    According to data from the Census Bureau's American Community 
Survey, immigrants are half as likely to end up in the criminal justice 
system and behind bars.
    In general, the pattern of native-born Americans having the highest 
criminal conviction rates followed by illegal immigrants and then with 
legal immigrants having the lowest holds true across all classes of 
crimes including violent crimes, property crimes, homicide, and sex 
crimes.
    In addition, immigrants also lower crime by economically 
revitalizing neighborhoods.
    According to data from the Census Bureau's Current Population 
Survey, immigrants increase State and local tax revenues by over $250 
billion per year--52 percent higher than the benefits that they receive 
and a net fiscal contribution of tens of billions annually.
                   democrats are focused on solutions
    Taking into account the significant contribution immigrants make to 
our communities, and to State and local tax revenues, we are failing 
immigrants by not to examining our approach to immigration in the 
United States.
    Democrats are prepared to address the root causes of migration, 
improve border security, and create additional legal pathways for 
people to enter the United States.
    Democrats are focused on coordination between Federal, State, and 
local governments working together to put forth and implement viable 
solutions and processes to create a common-sense immigration plan that 
meets the needs of our time.
    As a nation of immigrants, the United States has set the example 
for the world as to what can be achieved when people of diverse 
backgrounds, cultures, and experiences come together.
    We can and should seize this historic opportunity to pass 
legislation to ensure that we have in place adequate systems and 
resources to secure our borders while at the same time preserving 
America's character as the most open and welcoming country in the 
history of the world and to reap the hundreds of billions of dollars in 
economic productivity that will result from comprehensive immigration 
reform.
    Fundamentally, we must live up to basic principles of humanity by 
addressing comprehensive immigration reform.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I yield back my time.

    Chairman Green. I am pleased to have a distinguished panel 
of witnesses before us today on this very important topic. I 
ask that our witnesses please rise their right hand.
    [Witnesses sworn.]
    Chairman Green. Thank you. You may be seated. Let the 
record reflect that the witnesses have answered in the 
affirmative. Thank you.
    I would now like to formally introduce our witnesses to 
everyone today. Ms. Rebecca Kiessling is a family law attorney 
from Michigan, who tragically lost her two sons, Kyler and 
Caleb, to fentanyl poisoning. We extend our condolences and 
thank her for being here. The Honorable Mark Lamb is sheriff of 
Pinal County, Arizona. Sheriff Lamb oversees a county the size 
of Connecticut, and has worked diligently to keep its 
population safe from the many effects of the border crisis. Mr. 
Robert Trenschel is president and CEO of the Yuma Regional 
Medical Center in Yuma, Arizona. Dr. Trenschel brings nearly 20 
years of health care experience and medical management 
experience, and currently oversees the hospital overflow 
created by the flow of illegal migration. Dr. David Bier, am I 
pronouncing your name correctly? Beer, like the beverage. Cool. 
Mr. Bier is the associate director of Immigration Studies at 
Cato Institute focusing on border security and immigration. I 
thank all the witnesses for being here today.
    I now recognize Ms. Kiessling for 5 minutes to summarize 
her opening statement.

        STATEMENT OF REBECCA KIESSLING, PRIVATE CITIZEN

    Ms. Kiessling. Chairman Green, Ranking Member--pardon me? 
Chairman Green, Ranking Member Thompson, and distinguished 
Members of the committee, I'm Rebecca Kiessling. I'm a mother. 
I'm the mother to Caleb and Kyler as well as three teenage 
daughters.
    Our family's been through a lot. I lost my two sons, Caleb 
was aged 20 and Kyler was age 18, on July 29, 2020. It was 
absolutely a perfect storm. There was also a 17-year-old girl, 
Sophia Harris, who died along with them. The drug dealer, 
Lorenzo Bravo, was spared by Narcan. He ended up getting 8 to 
15 years for killing 3 people because to the law enforcement, 
this was a breakthrough case.
    My former law partner, her husband is a sheriff's deputy. 
He's a detective in the next town over. He tells me he's got a 
stack, every day there's a stack of dead people, and there's no 
leads. But in our case, there was a lead. The drug dealer was 
there, and he was another addict. So because he survived, they 
had leads to who he got it from and they actually could try to 
start tracing it back. The law enforcement made it clear to me 
that this fentanyl came from Mexico. It came from our Southern 
Border.
    I didn't know what fentanyl was. I didn't know what Narcan 
was. I had heard of the opioid epidemic. I thought, you know, 
people are getting prescription drugs and getting addicted and 
then getting it on the streets and that it affects their 
ability to work. I didn't know that people were dying. I didn't 
know that my boys were taking anything that could kill them. 
They didn't think that they were either. They thought that they 
were safe with pills. I'm going to read some statements from my 
sons that they wrote shortly before their deaths, and you'll 
see that that's exactly the case. But the Government knew, the 
Government's known for years and years.
    The year my son Caleb was born, 2020, there were roughly 
20,000 drug-related deaths in the United States. The year they 
died--I'm sorry, it was 2000 was the year he was born. The year 
that they died, 2020, there were over 100,000; for 2021, almost 
110,000. The CDC I saw yesterday says that fentanyl deaths rose 
22 percent from 2020 to 2021.
    I mean, it's unbelievable. You would think that one death 
from fentanyl coming across our Southern Border would be enough 
to sound the alarm. My kid's story was high-profile because 3 
young people died. There was another child from our home town 
who died the same day. It wasn't in the news, you won't hear 
about it because it was just 1 death, so it wasn't like 
extraordinary.
    I found out from the funeral home that they have tons of 
these cases regularly. I'm from Rochester Hills, Michigan. We 
were, you know, in Money magazine ranked in the top 10 cities 
to live in America a few years ago. Our school is top 5 in 
Michigan.
    But this all started at the schools. The law enforcement 
are doing all they can, but they usually don't have leads. You 
have to stop it from its source.
    Now, if we had Chinese troops lining up along our Southern 
Border with weapons aimed at our people, with weapons of mass 
destruction aimed at our cities, you damn well know you would 
do something about it. We had a weather balloon from China 
going across our country. Nobody died and everybody's freaking 
out about it. But 100,000 die every year and nothing's being 
done. Not enough is being done. Numbers are going up, not down.
    You talk about children being taken away from their 
parents. My children were taken away from me. A hundred 
thousand Americans every year are hearing their children--
200,000 because it's both parents, right--are having their 
children taken away from them. This should not be politicized. 
It's not about race. Fentanyl doesn't care about race.
    You say--you talk about welcoming those girls on our 
border, seeking protection. You're welcoming drug dealers 
across our border. You're giving them protection. You're not 
protecting our children.
    I'm in support groups on Facebook where there's thousands 
of parents who have lost their children. Every day faces are 
added. It's dehumanizing. It's demoralizing. There's parents 
who are--they paint the chairs purple and they kind of make 
shrines for their children. I see those purple chairs, because 
purple is the, you know, color for a drug death.
    I don't use the term drug overdose because this was not an 
overdose. This was murder. My children got fake Percocets that 
were fentanyl. There was no Percocet in it at all. It's a 
homicide, not overdose.
    But they have these purple chairs. I saw that and I thought 
I don't ever want to have purple chairs. I don't need a 
reminder. I don't want to remember my sons for how they died. I 
want to remember them for how they lived. But I'm here 
testifying today because there are other people who need to 
remember. I don't need a purple chair in my house. Congress 
needs a purple chair. The White House needs a purple chair to 
never forget about all of those who are being slaughtered. This 
is a war. Act like it. Do something.
    My son Kyler, shortly before he died, this is what he 
wrote. I want to share their writing so they can have a chance 
to testify. He wrote his goals.
    ``No. 1, stay away from drugs and alcohol. It's not worth 
it. Two, surround myself with good influence people. Three, 
stay away from nicotine. Four, treat people with more respect. 
Don't burn bridges. Five, find another method to cope that 
works for me. Six, get closer with Jaden. Seven, start doing 
something physical to get in shape. Eight, start working a lot 
to stay focused. Nine, finish school.'' And he did. The day 
before he died, he graduated. ``Ten, have a better relationship 
with my parents. Eleven, do anything and everything to better 
myself and my health. Twelve, listen when told to do something. 
Thirteen, don't F up probo or I'll have a felony on my record. 
Fourteen, report to any and every drug test. Fifteen, don't 
follow in my birth mom's steps. Sixteen, be there for my 
brother, my only blood brother. Seventeen, I can do anything 
that I put my mind and effort to.''
    I'd like to have the photos of my sons shown. I have just a 
few photos that see--tend to put a face to this issue. This is 
not just a concept.
    We also found Caleb's testimony he wrote out weeks earlier 
because he wanted to start speaking in schools and to tell 
other kids why not to do drugs, why not to ever try it. He 
said, ``My name is Caleb Kiessling. I'm 20 years old. I have 
dabbled in drugs. I've never touched crack, meth, or heroin as 
I have grown up watching my birth mother ruin her life and 
watch all her friends pass away from heroin overdoses. And I've 
also grown up hearing how destructive those three substances 
are, so I've stayed away from them and do not see myself ever 
trying them again.'' He thought he was safe. He didn't want to 
die. He says, ``I was an athlete. I played soccer from a young 
age all the way up until my junior year. I got A's in school, 
was student counsel president, and ended up graduating early. 
And I've held a full-time job since I was 16 years old. I'm 
extremely intelligent. I have my parents to thank for that. As 
they stressed, I keep my nose in a book teaching me that 
knowledge is true power and is the only thing nobody could ever 
take from you.
    ``Before I got caught, I had already realized that my life 
needed to change. I'd been in the process of signing on with 
the Navy. I scored in the 90th percentile on the PCAT test. I 
have too many routes available to me not to succeed. So even if 
the military isn't my path, I'm going to have a good future. I 
can feel that in my bones. I'm built to succeed.
    ``My issues have only made me stronger. My shortcomings 
don't even begin to define who I am and don't even begin to 
speak to what I've been through and overcame. I can only claim 
just a little credit for it because it's by the Lord's grace 
and protection that I'm alive and here to tell my story. He has 
watched over my whole life, even when I refused to accept his 
presence in existence.''
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Kiessling follows:]
                Prepared Statement of Rebecca Kiessling
    Mr. Chair and Members of the committee, I'm Rebecca Kiessling, 
mother of Caleb (forever 20) and Kyler (forever 18), as well as mother 
to 3 teenaged daughters. I'm also an attorney, activist, and 
international speaker. I testify on other types of legislation in State 
legislatures all over the United States and always dreamed of 
testifying at a Congressional hearing one day, but I never thought it 
would be on this topic. My sons Caleb and Kyler were killed on July 29, 
2020 by fentanyl poisoning along with 17-year-old Sophia Harris, when 
the fake Percocets they were given turned out to be deadly fentanyl--
murder pills. My son Kyler had five times the amount in his system 
which would have been enough to kill.
    I miss Caleb and Kyler so much!!! Life is so unfair. I remember 
telling them so many times as they played Call of Duty--even just days 
before they died--``Life isn't like a video game. You don't get another 
chance.'' We had so many good times together. I want to remember them 
for how they lived, not how they died. I try to remember the good times 
and positive things and I like to share stories of happy memories. But 
I've been asked to testify since the story of their deaths actually 
made national news, with three young people being killed at once. So 
here I am sharing the most painful story, retelling how they died in 
order that other lives may be saved and other moms, dads and their many 
friends may be spared the pain of such a senseless slaughter.
    The year Caleb was born--2000, there were approximately 20,000 
drug-related deaths in the United States. The year they died--2020, 
there were over 100,000. And according to the CDC, ``in 2021, 106,699 
drug overdose deaths occurred.'' The problem I have with that 
statement, that phrase ``drug overdose'', is that my 2 sons didn't die 
from overdosing on the drug they thought they had. They didn't die from 
an overdose of Percocets. ``A drug overdose is taking too much of a 
substance, whether it's prescription, over-the-counter, legal, or 
illegal.'' As with most drug deaths now, my sons died from fentanyl 
poisoning, which is an extremely important distinction. The death rates 
have skyrocketed not because people are taking too much of their ``drug 
of choice,'' though of course some do. Instead what's happening with 
the drug epidemic is that the substances are not what they think 
they're getting and the drug dealers are giving them fake pills with 
deadly fentanyl, or fentanyl added to cocaine, heroin, meth, Marijuana, 
and even planted in their drinks. It's put in every drug available on 
the streets. And, as we've seen in numerous news reports, it's even 
being hidden in candies such as Skittles, Nerds, and Sweettarts, coined 
``rainbow fentanyl'' which has been seized in more than two dozen 
States.
    China and the Mexican cartels are not trying to create drug 
addicts--they trying and succeeding at killing off our people--
primarily young men. If we were in a traditional war with over 100,000 
dying each year from guns and bombs, our citizenry would be demanding 
that Congress and the President put an end to the war. But because too 
many people see children like Caleb and Kyler as ``drug addicts'', 
ending this war is not made the top mission. One pill can kill--that's 
the name of a campaign to raise awareness because it's often a first-
time experimenting with drugs that a child dies from fentanyl. In many 
drug seizures, 3 out of 5 pills had a lethal dose of fentanyl.
    Since 1999, drug deaths have increased 450 percent, primarily 
because of fentanyl poisoning. The world is a different place now . . . 
According to the CDC, the rate of drug deaths involving synthetic 
opioids other than methadone--meaning fentanyl--increased 22 percent 
between 2020 and 2021. One death from fentanyl coming over the border 
should be enough to sound the alarm, yet, it's just getting worse.
    Almost 2 months after their deaths, I received their autopsy 
reports. I tried avoid seeing certain things by scanning down for the 
toxicology reports, but unfortunately I read some very disturbing 
items. Would you want to read how much your child's brain weighed? 
That's the further horror a mom goes through because fentanyl freely 
flows across our borders and into suburbia, killing our children. As 
far as toxicology--both had fentanyl in them. Kyler had 11 ng/mL (ng = 
nanograms) of fentanyl in his blood and Caleb had 2.7 ng/mL. I'm told 
that 2.0 is enough to kill. Both had pulmonary edema--excess fluid in 
the lungs--which is what fentanyl does. My boys suffocated from 
fentanyl toxicity. And yet, inexplicably, both autopsy reports 
concluded, ``cause of death: drug abuse. Manner of death: 
undeterminable.'' In the many Facebook support groups I'm in made of 
thousands, other parents who've lost their children have said their 
reports indicate cause of death to be drug toxicity, or fentanyl 
toxicity. They got an accurate scientific report, but in my county, 
they make a value judgment--drug abuse. Why is the Oakland County 
Medical Examiner's office making this kind of non-scientific 
conclusion? How many of these fentanyl deaths are even being accurately 
reported? I called and was mocked--``You don't like it? What are you 
going to do about it? You want me to sugarcoat it? Your sons wouldn't 
have died if they weren't abusing drugs.'' No, they wouldn't have died 
just a few years earlier because fentanyl wasn't being hidden in drugs.
    This is the prejudice which exists and I believe the reason so many 
are still dying every day. I've actually had strangers come to my 
Facebook page to say that it was my sons' choice--that they wouldn't 
have died if they weren't doing drugs, and others telling me that drug 
use SHOULD be a choice for anyone to make. But you can't be pro-choice 
when it comes to drugs, when life is at stake. Any addiction is an 
illness and we need to protect people when they are most vulnerable to 
exploitation and death.
    My sons wanted to be free and to live their lives healthy. Kyler 
graduated high school the day before they died, and the day after their 
deaths, we found a paper on which Kyler wrote out these goals just 
weeks before his death:
    ``1. Stay away from drugs and alcohol. It's not worth it.
    ``2. Surround myself with good influence people.
    ``3. Stay away from nicotine.
    ``4. Treat people with more respect. Don't burn bridges.
    ``5. Find another method to cope that works for me.
    ``6. Get closer with Jaden (his girlfriend.)
    ``7. Start doing something physical to get in shape.
    ``8. Start working a lot to stay focused.
    ``9. Finish school!!
    ``10. Have a better relationship with my parents.
    ``11. Do anything and everything to better myself and my health.
    ``12. Listen when told to do something.
    ``13. Don't f--up probo or I'll have a felony on my record!!
    ``14. Report to any and every drug test.
    ``15. Don't follow in my birth mom's footsteps. (He loved her 
dearly though.)
    ``16. Be there for my brother, my only blood brother.
    ``17. I can do anything that I put my mind and effort into.
    ``Learn from this experience and never never come back. This is not 
the lifestyle I want.''
    We also found Caleb's testimony he'd written out weeks earlier, 
because he wanted to begin speaking in schools, to tell kids why not to 
try drugs. Here are some excerpts, so he essentially has the 
opportunity to testify here in Congress from the grave:
    ``My name is Caleb Kiessling. I'm 20 years old. I've dabbled in 
more drugs than I have fingers, ranging from weed all the way up to 
cocaine. I've never touched crack, meth, or heroin as I have grown up 
watching my Birthmother ruin her life and watch all of her friends pass 
away from heroin overdoses, and also I've grown up hearing how 
destructive those three substances are so I've stayed away from them 
and do not see myself ever trying them.
    ``My drug use stems more from dealing with a lot of mental and 
emotional pain on a daily basis rather than from addiction in the 
classic sense of the word. I have chronic anxiety and depression which 
comes about for seemingly no apparent reason and can be almost 
crippling some days, leaving me emotionally unable to force myself out 
of bed. I started dealing with these issues around 13 years old.
    ``I was an athlete (I played soccer from a young age all the way up 
until my Junior year of high school when I tore my ACL,) I got all A's 
in school, was student council president, and ended up graduating 
EARLY, and, I've held a full-time job since I was 16 years old.
    ``I am extremely intelligent. I have my parents to thank for that 
as they stressed I keep my nose in a book, teaching me that knowledge 
is true power and is the one thing nobody can ever take from you. Try 
me on just about any subject and I will at least have a limited 
knowledge on it.
    ``Before I got caught, I had already realized that my life needed a 
change and I had been in the process of signing on with the Navy. I 
scored in the 90th percentile on the PICAT test. I have too many routes 
available to me not to succeed so even if the military isn't my path 
I'm gonna have a good future. I can feel that in my bones.
    ``I'm built to succeed and my issues have only made me stronger. My 
shortcomings don't even begin to define who I am and don't even begin 
to speak to what I've been through and overcame.
    ``I can only claim just a little credit for it because it is by the 
Lord's grace and protection that I am alive and here to tell my story. 
He has watched over my whole life, even when I refused to accept his 
presence and existence.
    ``If I had to describe myself and the person I am, I'm very 
balanced in knowledge whether it be book, street, or life wisdom. I'm a 
hard worker and have no issues making money. I'm the most loyal of the 
loyal. I'm there for my family and friends; I have never turned my 
back. I'm very trustworthy. My people can come to me with anything, no 
matter what it is. I'm the young lion of my pride, the young wolf of my 
pack in a sense. I'm quiet and serious but can get goofy in my element.
    ``I'm very respectful of other people and treat everyone with 
dignity. I'm not violent by nature but will go to war if you push me 
and mine.
    ``I am by no means impressionable and will not just believe 
anything I am told. I have a way of reading a person and can smell b.s. 
a mile away. I keep my circles small. All the friends I keep I consider 
family and know I can trust them even with the heaviest of things.
    ``I am by no means perfect. I have my issues which I will never 
deny. But I also do not regret my issues or my shortcomings as I have 
learned and become stronger for them.
    ``The Lord has blessed me with the qualities of a great man and 
despite the obstacles I have faced, I am well on my way to becoming 
just that.''
    My son thought he was safe by taking pills. He didn't want to die. 
He was murdered by fentanyl. Please don't let my boys' deaths be in 
vain. I hope hearing from them helps to humanize the massive losses 
from our border crisis.
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]



    Chairman Green. Rebecca, we are going to need to move to 
our next witness. OK? I know you are--I mean, I can't imagine, 
none of us here can imagine. I am so sorry. But there will be 
questions and you will get to share more in a moment, OK?
    Ms. Kiessling. OK. Thank you.
    Chairman Green. Sheriff Lamb, I now recognize you for your 
testimony. Thank you. You have 5 minutes.

     STATEMENT OF MARK LAMB, SHERIFF, PINAL COUNTY, ARIZONA

    Sheriff Lamb. Chairman Green, esteemed Members, thank you. 
I'm going to go through this quick. I hope I don't sound like a 
livestock auctioneer here. My heart goes out to Rebecca and so 
many other families.
    I am the sheriff of Pinal County, Arizona. My county is 
located between Phoenix and Tucson. It is approximately the 
size of the State of Connecticut. We are not a border county. 
However, we are 52 miles from the border at our closest point 
through the desert. We have an Indian reservation on the south 
end which actually runs into Mexico and the cartel for decades 
has pushed people through and it hasn't changed recently.
    We are also 71 miles off the border on the I-10 Interstate. 
This is important because the I-10 Interstate is one of the 
main arteries for human and drug trafficking into America. The 
drugs that make it into your States come through my county at 
one point.
    Let me give you some of our statistics just to show you how 
much this affects us. We have had a 377 percent increase in the 
last 2 years for traffic stops involving human smuggling and 
trafficking. We have had a 461 percent increase in pursuits 
involving human smuggling, putting my citizens at risk.
    Now, the drivers are predominantly American, but oftentimes 
they are juveniles being actively recruited by the cartels on 
social media, paying them thousand dollars per person that they 
transport into my community. A lot of what we see are not 
layups, you hear the term ``layups,'' layups for people that 
come through the border, turn themselves into Border Patrol, 
and claim asylum.
    What I deal with in the Tucson sector in my county is we 
deal with the gotaways. Those people you hear about, the 
gotaways, that's in our county. These are people that are going 
to be dressed in camouflage clothes, carpet shoes, and 
backpacks like this. They're littered throughout my desert. I 
just picked these up Sunday morning and this is what I see 
all--every day. This is the sign of somebody who's trying to 
come in undetected and illegally into this country.
    The problem is, is that we are allowing the weak policies 
that we have in place here on a National level and the lack of 
fortitude to secure our border has created an opportunity for 
the cartels. Not only do we deal with the criminal element, we 
deal with the humanitarian element.
    Every summer we spend our helicopter, our resources. It's a 
drain of my resources. My K-9s are dedicated solely to 
interdiction. I have an anti-smuggling unit. My helicopter, we 
had 10 events yesterday alone. One of them was a 9-1-1 call. We 
had a gentleman we had to go find that the cartel left for dead 
a year or so ago. When we found him, he was laying under a palo 
verde tree. We had to give him three bags of IV to bring him 
back. While we were doing that, there were 7 more 9-1-1 calls 
on the board for lost, injured, or left-behind smugglers.
    The people are being tricked and trapped into coming here 
by these cartels because of our policies or lack of. When they 
come here, the women are being raped. We had a woman we caught 
a while back that had a baggie full of pills and we said what 
are these pills? She says, well, when I came across the border, 
I knew I'd be raped multiple times. These are morning-after 
pills.
    Have we lost our moral compass so bad that we put politics 
in front of people? They are raping the women, raping the 
children, using them as pawns, oftentimes putting them in the 
sex trade here in America. Slavery is as prolific, is super 
prolific nowadays. They are extorting the men.
    The cartel knows this. How many times can they sell you a 
pill? Once. How many times can they sell you a woman? Hundreds. 
How many times can they sell you a child? Hundreds. This is 
what the cartel is doing.
    I don't want to dwell on that, but I want to get onto the 
drugs. In our county, we have seen a 600 percent increase in 
fentanyl in my community. In 2018, we had zero M30 fentanyl 
pill seizures. In 2019, we had around 700 pills. In 2020, we 
had over 200,000 pills. In 2021, we had over 1.2 million pills. 
This last year, we had over 1.4 million pills come into my 
community. I hope that one of you will ask me about xylazine, 
which is something we're now finding in our communities.
    I want to get on to the children because I think this is 
important, because this is what deals with Rebecca and so many 
other families. In the State of Arizona in 2021, we lost 44 
children to poisonings under the age of 17. Seven were under 
the age of 1 year old. If that doesn't mobilize the forces of 
this country to stop this problem, I don't know what will. This 
is what we deal with on a daily basis, and I hear that 90 
percent come through the ports. Those numbers are not what 
we're seeing. It's 50-50, 52-48.
    The fact that they think they can bring it through our 
borders is not something to brag about, that we catch it. 
Because what that tells me is the cartel is so confident that 
they're going to get those drugs through your borders, they 
come right through our front door. We have said the amount of 
seizures we've had have saved probably this entire country 
multiple times over. This is something that we need to address.
    I know I'm over time. I just want to say thank you to the 
partners that we have with Border Patrol ICE. I thank you for 
the Stonegarden funds, which allow us to help you in your 
mission. We've got a tremendous amount of work to do.
    I will tell you, the lines of communication were severed 
when this administration took over. We have zero communication 
with the Federal side, which is disappointing, something we 
lost when this administration came in.
    I would also just like to say in closing, that we've got to 
do better on saying the messaging. The media, the politicians, 
you got to stop saying this is a manufactured crisis. The 
statistics I've given you say otherwise. You have to stop 
saying that the border is secure because the border is not 
secure.
    With that, I will turn it back over to the Chairman. I 
thank you and I appreciate the opportunity to be here, and look 
forward to answering questions.
    [The prepared statement of Sheriff Lamb follows:]
                Prepared Statement of Sheriff Mark Lamb
    Chairman Green, and Members of the committee, thank you for the 
opportunity to testify before you. As Sheriff of Pinal County, Arizona, 
I must share with you the critical and life-threatening issues 
pertaining to border security that my agency is facing.
    Pinal County sits just 55 miles north of the U.S./Mexico Border at 
its closest point. And Interstate 10, a busy smuggling corridor, 
crosses into my county 71 miles north of the border. We are not a 
``border county,'' rather a pass-through community. A high percentage 
of the drug and human smuggling plaguing our country must come through 
my county on its way north into Phoenix and ultimately the rest of the 
United States.
    Over the last 2 years, human smuggling/trafficking incidents in 
Pinal County are up 377 percent, and vehicle pursuits related to human 
smuggling are up 461 percent. The drivers are typically American 
teenagers, recruited on social media by the cartels. Their passengers 
are not ``give ups'', the people who self-surrender at border or at 
entry points. The majority of the people we see and deal with are being 
trafficked by the cartels. The people we deal with are the ``got-
aways'' we always hear about. They are adult military-aged men wearing 
camouflage clothes, carpet shoes, carrying backpacks and oftentimes 
drugs. They have eluded Border Patrol by walking through the desert for 
several days and have no intentions of giving up. Many of them have 
been deported before, have criminal records, or work directly for the 
cartels. Their goal is to enter our country undetected and illegally.
    This is an incredibly dangerous journey. My agency's resources are 
often used on humanitarian missions to recover the undocumented 
individuals who become injured along the way and are left behind to die 
in our summer heat by the cartel coyotes.
    Many people from around the world who seek a better life are being 
tricked and trapped into the human trafficking business by cartel gangs 
who are taking advantage of this administration's inability to take 
action. Our Nation's weak border security policies are practically 
hand-delivering these people to the cartels, to be caught up in a form 
of modern slavery, indebted to their traffickers indefinitely.
    If it's not humans being trafficked, it's drugs. The number of 
fentanyl pills my deputies have seized along this same route since 2020 
is up 610 percent.
    Despite our best efforts to stop these drugs before they enter any 
further into our communities, the sad realization is we are only 
catching a fraction of these smuggling attempts. We are having very 
little impact on these transnational criminal organizations' bottom 
line.
    What we miss unfortunately has a ripple effect on the rest of the 
country. These things were not designed to stay in my county. They only 
pass through on their way into North Carolina, New York, Alabama and 
every other State in this country. What is in my backyard today will be 
in all of your front yards tomorrow.
    Fentanyl poisoning is one of the leading causes of death in 
children across the United States, including my home State of Arizona. 
American teenagers are dying in their beds from a synthetic pill they 
purchased on social media. No State, no community, nobody is immune 
from the reach of this terrible poison. Even my own family has been 
deeply affected. This is truly a crisis.
    And while we are pleased to be able to partner with Border Patrol 
through the Operation Stonegarden (OPSG) Program, and our local and 
State partners stand beside us in our mission, unfortunately that is 
where the partnerships end. The lack of communication on the Federal 
level leaves us to wonder if our efforts are in vain.
    Our biggest frustration stems from being told by this 
administration and the media that there is not a crisis at our Southern 
Border, and the lie that our Southern Border is secure. Clearly, our 
statistics tell a different story. And that story is that the border is 
not secure.
    Our Federal Government must put forward a real and honest effort 
into curbing these epidemics, before more innocent American lives are 
lost.
    I look forward to answering your questions. Thank you.

    Chairman Green. Thank you, Sheriff Lamb. I now recognize 
Mr. Trenschel for 5 minutes to summarize his opening statement.

STATEMENT OF ROBERT J. TRENSCHEL, DO, MPH, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF 
        EXECUTIVE OFFICER, YUMA REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

    Dr. Trenschel. Good morning, Chairman Green and Members of 
the Homeland Security Committee. Thank you for inviting me here 
today to give you a first-hand account of the impact that open 
borders have had on our hospital and community over the past 
year and more.
    Yuma Regional Medical Center is a 406-bed hospital that 
offers a full range of acute care services. The closest 
hospitals that do what we do are located 180 miles away in 
Phoenix or San Diego. Given our geographic location, our 
hospital and health system holds a deep responsibility of 
keeping local families close to home for care whenever 
possible. For many who live here, traveling out of town for 
care is simply an unbearable challenge. They depend on us to be 
here. Our mission to meet the needs of our community is always 
at the forefront of every decision.
    I also want to acknowledge the work and heart of our staff 
at Yuma Regional Medical Center who continue to care for 
patients each and every day. They provide the same high level 
of care for every patient. We do not treat anyone differently, 
and we take pride in that. If your mother or grandchild walk 
through our doors, or if a migrant walks through our doors, 
they would receive the same level of care.
    Over the last approximately year-and-a-half we've had a 
highly significant number of migrants cross the border into our 
community. Our hospital saw an increase in the number of 
migrants seeking care beginning in the late fall/early winter 
of 2021. They arrive to our hospital room in a multitude of 
ways. Some patients come to us via Border Patrol, who typically 
release them from custody upon arrival. Other patients walk in, 
take taxis, some even come by Uber.
    As I've said, we are the only acute care hospital in the 
area, which means diversion to another facility is not an 
option. We are it.
    Some migrants come to us with minor ailments, but many of 
them come in with significant disease. We've had migrant 
patients on dialysis, cardiac catheterization, and in need of 
heart surgery. Many are very sick. They have long-term 
complications of chronic disease that have not been cared for. 
Some end up in the ICU for 60 days or more.
    One of the largest cohorts we have seen are maternity 
patients who present with little or no prenatal care. These 
higher-risk pregnancies and births result in higher 
complication rates and longer hospital stays. Due to a lack of 
prenatal care, many of these babies require a stay in our 
neonatal intensive care unit, some for a month or more at a 
time.
    There are language and cultural concerns with migrant 
patients and we work through those. But when you consider the 
volume and associated case management that come with it, 
resources have to support this as well.
    Migrants often require three times the amount of human 
resources to resolve their cases and provide them a safe 
discharge as defined by CMS. That effort includes assistance 
with locating families, making sure they have a safe place to 
go when they are discharged, arranging and sometimes purchasing 
durable medical equipment when needed. We have paid for 
emergency air transport when they need a higher level of care. 
We've paid for hotel rooms, taxis, and car seats. We do these 
things because it's the right thing to do from a humanitarian 
perspective. But it also allows us to open a hospital bed 
sooner for another patient in our community.
    None of these expenses are included in the $26 million 
figure. Our reality is this: We have delivered over $26 million 
in uncompensated care to these individuals in the 12-month 
period of time from December '21 to November 2022. That's an 
auditable figure. Let me assure you it is not an approximation. 
That number comes from a detailed review of unpaid patient 
bills directly attributed to migrant patients.
    Twenty-six million dollars in uncompensated care is simply 
an unsustainable business model. While this is a huge number 
that we have validated, the point is that any number is not 
acceptable. It is an unsustainable model to have a hospital 
like ours bear the entire burden of paying for migrant health 
care. No business or service can survive on-going, large-scale 
expense without any off-setting revenue. Because of this surge 
of migrant care, we've had to hire additional staff at a time 
when health care labor post-pandemic is higher than ever.
    Every dollar in uncompensated care has a direct impact on 
our hospital. Migrant patients are receiving free care. They 
have no ability to pay. We have no ability to bill anyone. We 
don't know their final destination. We don't know anything 
about them.
    Let me put this into perspective. Twenty-six million 
dollars is equal to the benefits and salaries to support 212 
bedside nurses. The city of Yuma has 100,000 people. We've had 
300,000 people cross the border in Yuma in 1 year. That's three 
times the population of Yuma coming across the border. We are 
the only hospital within a 3-hour radius, which means they come 
to us.
    We've contacted our State and Federal leaders. No one has a 
solution. They're willing to listen and are empathetic, but, so 
far, we have no solutions or any reimbursement for the care.
    We've been at this for well over a year now. On behalf of 
our entire hospital care team, I'm here seeking your leadership 
and support to find a payer source for the care we have already 
provided and will continue to provide in the future, and to put 
long-term solutions into action that will support our daily 
commitment to be here for our community for years to come. One 
hospital should not and cannot bear the health care costs of a 
national migrant problem that is deeply impacting Arizona and 
our community. We need a revenue source for this patient 
population so we can sustainably provide high-quality care to 
all comers and remain viable for the future. Thank you.
    [The prepared statement of Dr. Trenschel follows:]
                 Prepared Statement of Robert Trenschel
    Good afternoon. I'm Dr. Robert Trenschel, the president and CEO of 
Yuma Regional Medical Center. Thank you for inviting me to be here 
today to give you a first-hand account of the impact that open borders 
have had on our hospital and community over the past year and more.
    I have been in Yuma, AZ for close to 8 years as CEO. I bring over 
30 years of experience in health care administration. Yuma Regional 
Medical Center is a 406-bed hospital that offers a full range of acute 
care services with the exception of transplant surgery, neurosurgery, 
and burn. The closest hospitals that do what we do are located 180 
miles away in Phoenix or San Diego. Given our geographic location our 
hospital and health system holds a deep responsibility of keeping local 
families close to home for care whenever possible. For many who live 
here, traveling out of town for care is an unbearable challenge. They 
depend on us to be here. Our mission to meet the needs of our community 
is always at the forefront of every decision. I also want to 
acknowledge the work and heart of our staff at Yuma Regional Medical 
Center who continue to care for patients each and every day. They 
provide the same high level of care for every patient. We do not treat 
anyone differently and we take pride in that. If your mom, or 
grandchild walked through our doors--or if a migrant walks through our 
doors--they would receive the same level of care.
    Over the last approximately year and a half we've had a significant 
number of migrants cross the border into our community. Our hospital 
saw an increase in the number of migrants seeking care beginning in the 
late Fall/early Winter of 2021. They arrive to our hospital emergency 
room in a multitude of ways: some patients come to us via Border Patrol 
who typically release them from custody upon arrival, other patients 
walk in, take taxis, and some even come by Uber. As I've said we are 
the only acute care hospital in the area--which means diversion to 
another facility is not an option. We are it.
    Some migrants come to us with minor ailments but many of them come 
in with significant disease. We have had migrant patients on dialysis, 
cardiac catheterization and in need of heart surgery. Many are very 
sick. They have long-term complications of chronic disease that have 
not been cared for. Some end up in the ICU for 60 days or more. One of 
the largest cohorts we have seen are maternity patients who present 
with little or no prenatal care. These higher-risk pregnancies and 
births result in higher complication rates and longer hospital stays. 
Due to a lack of pre-natal care, many of these babies require a stay in 
our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit--some for a month or more at a time. 
There are language and cultural concerns with migrant patients. We work 
through those but when you consider the volume and the associated case 
management that comes with it, resources have to support this as well. 
Migrants often require three times the amount of human resources to 
resolve their cases and provide them with a safe discharge as defined 
by CMS [CMS-3317-F]. That effort includes assistance locating their 
families, making sure they have a safe place to go when they are 
discharged, arranging and sometimes purchasing durable medical 
equipment when needed. We have paid for emergency air transport when 
they need a higher level of care; we've paid for hotel rooms, taxis, 
and car seats. We do these things because it's the right thing to do 
from a humanitarian perspective but it also allows us to open a 
hospital bed sooner for another patient in our community.
    None of these expenses are included in the $26 million figure. Our 
reality is this: we have delivered over $26 million in uncompensated 
care to these individuals in the 12-month period of time from December 
2021-November 2022. That is an auditable figure. Let me assure you, it 
is not an approximation. That number comes from a detailed review of 
unpaid patient bills directly attributed to migrant patients: $26 
million in uncompensated care is not a sustainable business model. 
While this is a huge number that we have validated the point is that 
any number is not acceptable. It is an unsustainable model to have a 
hospital like ours bear the entire burden of paying for migrant health 
care. No business or service can survive on-going large-scale expense 
without any offsetting revenue. Because of this surge in migrant care 
we've had to hire additional staff, at a time when health care labor, 
post-pandemic, is higher than ever.
    Every dollar in uncompensated care has a direct impact on our 
hospital. Migrant patients are receiving free care, they have no 
ability to pay, we have no ability to bill anyone. We don't know their 
final destination, we don't know anything about them. We cannot 
pprovide completely free care to the residents of our community so the 
situation is not fair and is understandably concerning to them. Let me 
put this into perspective: $26 million dollars is equal salary and 
benefits to support 212 bedside nurses. The city of Yuma has 100,000 
people and we've had over 300,000 people cross the border here. That's 
three times the population of Yuma coming across the border. We are the 
only hospital within a 3-hour radius--which means they come here. We've 
contacted our State and Federal leaders and no one has a solution. They 
are willing to listen and are empathetic to our situation, but so far, 
we have no solutions or reimbursement for the care. We've been at this 
for well over a year now. On behalf of our entire hospital care team, I 
am here seeking your leadership support to find a payor source for the 
care we have already provided and will continue to provide into the 
future and to put long-term solutions into action that will support our 
daily commitment to be here for our community for years to come.
    One hospital should not, and cannot, bear the health care costs of 
a national migrant problem that is deeply impacting Arizona and our 
community. We need a revenue source for this patient population so that 
we can sustainably provide high-quality care to all comers and remain 
viable for the future. Thank you.

    Chairman Green. Thank you, Mr. Trenschel. I now recognize 
Mr. Bier for 5 minutes to summarize his opening statement.

  STATEMENT OF DAVID J. BIER, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, IMMIGRATION 
                    STUDIES, CATO INSTITUTE

    Mr. Bier. Chairman Green, Ranking Member Thompson, and 
distinguished Members of the committee, thank you for the 
opportunity to testify. For more than four decades, the Cato 
Institute has produced original research on immigration, 
showing a freer, more orderly, and more lawful immigration 
system creates a freer, wealthier, and safer country. We see 
people as the ultimate resource, that given the freedom to 
thrive people, regardless of birthplace, are a benefit to our 
society.
    Unfortunately, the U.S. immigration system is so narrow and 
so backlogged that most people who want to come to this country 
have no legal way to do so. They have no line. As a result, the 
United States ranks in the bottom third of wealthy countries 
for its immigrant share of the population.
    This restrictive system is harming our communities, from 
the largest cities to the smallest towns. The worker shortage, 
averaging nearly 10 million open jobs per month, has cost the 
United States nearly $1 trillion in lost productivity in the 
last year alone.
    Population decline is eroding tax bases in cities both 
large and small. Nearly three-quarters of America's counties 
had more deaths than births in the last year. U.S. population 
growth is the lowest it has ever been in our entire history.
    This restrictive system also causes illegal immigration, 
which can tear apart communities when employees, employers, and 
spouses of U.S. citizens are deported.
    Immigrants are not undermining the safety of U.S. 
communities. Just the opposite. Census Bureau data show that 
legal and illegal immigrants are half as likely to end up 
behind bars as U.S.-born residents. During the 1990's, when the 
immigrant population grew faster than it had at any point in 
over a century, crime fell rapidly. It fell faster and further 
in immigrant-dense communities.
    About 350,000 immigrants serve in protective occupations as 
police officers, detectives, and private security. Immigrants 
work with police to solve crimes. About 315,000 immigrants 
right now are awaiting status based on their cooperation with 
local investigations. There are countless examples of U.S. 
communities turned around by the economic revitalization 
brought by immigrants. Immigrants increase State and local tax 
revenues by over $250 billion per year, more resources to keep 
communities safe.
    The committee is right to investigate the scourge of 
Fentanyl deaths. But immigrants are not the cause. Fentanyl is 
overwhelmingly smuggled through ports of entry, largely by U.S. 
citizens. U.S. citizens accounted for 86 percent of convicted 
fentanyl traffickers in 2021. Despite arresting over 700,000 
illegal entrants so far this year, less than 1 percent of CBP's 
fentanyl seizures have come from people carrying it across the 
border illegally.
    The restrictions on trade and travel that started in 2020 
have only exacerbated the problem. Because fentanyl is 50 times 
more potent than heroin, it can supply the same market with far 
fewer trips. So, with fewer trips and more scrutiny, in 2020 
and 2021, traffickers switched from heroin to fentanyl, and 
fentanyl deaths doubled.
    Border policies have failed victims by making drugs more 
potent and deadly. Congress should focus on helping drug users, 
not banning immigrants.
    The crackdown on asylum under Title 42 has also failed to 
secure the border. Now that requesting asylum is no longer an 
option, evasion of Border Patrol has increased five-fold from 
2019 to 2023. Forcing immigrants to cross in more remote, more 
rural areas of the border has led to more suffering and death, 
which is straining rural hospitals. We have seen repeatedly 
that closing off legal options to immigrate creates illegal 
immigration, while opening them up reduces it. The 
administration's new parole sponsorship programs for Cubans, 
Haitians, Venezuelans, and Nicaraguans are already working to 
reduce illegal migration by those populations by over 90 
percent. These programs empower ordinary Americans in every 
community to help fix the border. Congress should work with 
them. Thank you.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Bier follows:]
                  Prepared Statement of David J. Bier
                           February 28, 2023
RE: Every State is a Border State: Examining Secretary Mayorkas' Border 
        Crisis
    Chairman Green, Ranking Member Thompson, and distinguished Members 
of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify.
    My name is David Bier. I am the associate director of immigration 
studies at the Cato Institute, a nonpartisan public policy research 
organization here in Washington, DC. As a policy advisor for a former 
Member of the House, I am honored to be invited to speak with you today 
about the challenges that America's outdated immigration system poses 
for local communities in every State.
    My testimony will show that immigrants are not the cause of those 
challenges. Instead, America's restrictive immigration system and 
border crackdowns on asylum seekers are only adding to them. A legal, 
vetted, and orderly system of legal immigration would restore order and 
benefit cities and towns across this country.
      restrictive immigration policy burdens american communities
    For more than four decades, the Cato Institute has produced 
original research on immigration law and border security. This research 
has shown that a freer, more orderly, and more lawful immigration 
system would benefit Americans in a multitude of ways, freeing both 
immigrants and Americans to contribute more to this country, 
economically and socially. We see people as the ultimate resource: that 
given the freedom to thrive, people--regardless of birthplace--are a 
benefit to our society and the world.
    Unfortunately, America's current legal immigration system is highly 
restricted by every measure--compared to demand, compared to other 
similarly-developed countries, and compared to America's own history. 
Outside of the immediate family of U.S. citizens and green card 
holders, a person's chances of being able to immigrate legally are 
extremely low. To briefly review the four available permanent 
immigration options:
    1. The capped family sponsored system is so backlogged that 
        millions of sponsors will be dead before the immigrant receives 
        a green card.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ David J. Bier, ``1.6 Million Family Sponsored Immigrants Will 
Die Before They Can Immigrate,'' Cato Institute, March 2022, https://
www.cato.org/blog/16-million-family-sponsored-immigrants-will-die-they-
can-immigrate.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    2. Employer-sponsored green cards also have a backlog of over 1 
        million, and they are virtually impossible to obtain for those 
        without very high wage offers.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ David J. Bier, ``1.4 Million Skilled Immigrants in Employment-
Based Green Card Backlogs in 2021,'' Cato Institute, March 2022, 
https://www.cato.org/blog/14-million-skilled-immigrants-employment-
based-green-card-backlogs-2021.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    3. The world has a refugee population over 20 million, and the 
        United States accepted barely 25,000 through its refugee 
        program last year--0.1 percent.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ ``Figures at a Glance.'' UNHCR, https://www.unhcr.org/figures-
at-a-glance.html. State Department, ``Admissions & Arrivals,'' Refugee 
Processing Center, April 2021, https://www.wrapsnet.org/admissions-and-
arrivals/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    4. The diversity green card lottery is available to immigrants if 
        they are not from the main origin countries and have a high 
        school degree or experience in a skilled job, but it offers 
        entrants just a 0.2 percent chance of receiving a green 
        card.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ ``Diversity Visa Program Statistics,'' State Department, 
February 2023, https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/
immigrate/diversity-visa-program-entry/diversity-visa-program-
statistics.html.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    This constrained system is a total rejection of America's founding 
traditions. In the late 19th and early 20th century--before Congress 
closed the doors to legal immigrants--the United States permitted a 
much higher annual rate of legal permanent immigration, commonly 
exceeding 1 percent of its population--over three times the legal rate 
in recent years and the equivalent of 3.3 million people annually 
today.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ David J. Bier, ``Over 100 Million Immigrants Have Come to 
America Since the Founding,'' Cato Institute, October 2018, https://
www.cato.org/blog/over-100-million-immigrants-have-come-america-
founding.


    Compared to its peers, the United States ranks in the bottom third 
of wealthy countries for foreign-born population share.\6\ Even if tens 
of millions of immigrants arrived and stayed in the United States over 
the next decade, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand would still have 
more immigrants per capita than the United States. It would take 75 
million immigrants arriving tomorrow for the United States to overtake 
Australia.\7\ In reality, over the last decade, the immigrant share of 
the U.S. population increased by just over a half of a percentage 
point, and it did not increase at all from 2017 to 2021.\8\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\ David J. Bier, ``America's Foreign Share Is In The Bottom Third 
Among Richest Nations,'' Cato Institute, September 2020, https://
www.cato.org/blog/americas-foreign-share-bottom-third-among-richest-
nations.
    \7\ David J. Bier, ``US Foreign-Born Share Ranks Low & Is Falling 
Among Wealthy Countries'', Cato Institute, July 2022, https://
www.cato.org/blog/us-foreign-born-share-ranks-low-falling-among-
wealthy-countries.
    \8\ ``SELECTED CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NATIVE AND FOREIGN-BORN 
POPULATIONS,'' Census Bureau, February 2023, https://data.census.gov/
table?q=foreign+born&tid=ACSST1Y2021.S0501.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    As a result, Sweden, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, and Cyprus have all 
surpassed the U.S. foreign-born share in the last two decades.\9\ This 
situation isn't surprising because Congress has refused to update its 
legal immigration system for the last 33 years--a time before the world 
wide web.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \9\ David J. Bier, ``US Foreign-Born Share Ranks Low & Is Falling 
Among Wealthy Countries'', Cato Institute, July 2022, https://
www.cato.org/blog/us-foreign-born-share-ranks-low-falling-among-
wealthy-countries
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    America's restrictive immigration policies are harming American 
communities in every part of the country. The worker shortage--which 
now numbers over 10 million open jobs--has cost the country nearly $1 
trillion in lost productivity over just the last year.\10\ It is 
undercutting America's competitive edge in international trade and 
technological development, sending good-paying jobs for Americans 
abroad.\11\ Population decline is eroding tax bases in cities both 
large and small. Nearly three-quarters of America's counties had more 
deaths than births in 2021,\12\ and U.S. population growth is the 
lowest that it has ever been in our history.\13\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \10\ ``Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey,'' BLS, February 
2023, https://www.bls.gov/- jlt/. ``Occupational Employment and Wage 
Statistics,'' BLS, February 2023, https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/
oessrcst.htm.
    \11\ Madeline Zavodny, ``Immigration, Employment Growth, and 
Economic Dynamism,'' NFAP, February 2023, https://nfap.com/research/
new-nfap-policy-brief-immigration-employment-growth-and-economic-
dynamism/. Britta Glennon, ``How Do Restrictions on High-Skilled 
Immigration Affect Offshoring? Evidence from the H-1B Program,'' NBER, 
February 2023, https://www.nber.org/papers/w27538.
    \12\ ``Over Two-Thirds of the Nation's Counties Had Natural 
Decrease in 2021,'' Census Bureau, March 2022, https://www.census.gov/
newsroom/press-releases/2022/population-estimates-counties-
decrease.html.
    \13\ Luke Rogers, ``COVID-19, Declining Birth Rates and 
International Migration Resulted in Historically Small Population 
Gains,'' Census Bureau, December 2021, https://www.census.gov/library/
stories/2021/12/us-population-grew-in-2021-slowest-rate-since-founding-
of-the-nation.html.


    Besides the negative economic effects of population decline, social 
capital is lost when churches, basketball leagues, book clubs, and 
community centers lose members and participants, and American families 
are harmed when they cannot reunite with immigrant family members stuck 
abroad. Population decline can even increase crime rates.\14\ 
Immigrants fill an essential part of the social fabric that makes 
America strong, healthy, and vibrant. American communities suffer when 
the U.S. Government interferes to force worker shortages, population 
decline, and family separation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \14\ Meghan E. Hollis, ``Homicide, Home Vacancies and Population 
Change in Detroit,'' Michigan Applied Public Policy Research Program, 
2017, https://ippsr.msu.edu/sites/default/files/MAPPR/
Homicide_Vacancies_PopChange.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Another unfortunate side effect of America's restrictive 
immigration system is that millions of people who want to contribute 
their skills and hard work cannot do so legally, which leads to 
violations of the law. Congress has created a situation where illegal 
immigration is the only way to enter the country for most immigrants, 
so it is not surprising that illegal immigration is common.
    The lack of legal status for many immigrants fractures communities 
across the country. Entrepreneurs, small business owners, and farmers 
see workers that they thought were legally employed ripped away 
overnight.\15\ American families are shattered when spouses of U.S. 
citizens are deported and banned from ever returning to this country. 
U.S. workers can even see their employers be shut down if the owners 
are arrested for lacking documents or hiring immigrants without 
documents. It took years for Postville, Iowa to recover after a massive 
enforcement raid removed a significant portion of the town.\16\ Dozens 
of homes were foreclosed. Restaurants closed. The social disruption 
lives on.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \15\ Alejandro Lazo, ``After 20 Years in U.S., Indiana Restaurant 
Owner Is Deported,'' Wall Street Journal, April 2017, https://
www.wsj.com/articles/after-20-years-in-u-s-indiana-restaurant-owner-is-
deported-1491443231.
    \16\ Courtney Crowder and MacKenzie Elmer, ``A decade after a 
massive raid nabbed 400 undocumented workers, this tiny town fights to 
reclaim its identity,'' May 2018, Des Moines Register, https://
theworld.org/stories/2017-04-20/massive-ice-raid-town-didnt-stop-
undocumented-labor-or-illegal-immigration.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Laws that were better reflective of the social and economic reality 
in the United States would reduce violations of the law, allowing the 
country to benefit from immigration without the downsides and costs 
associated with illegal immigration.
               immigrants make american communities safer
    Immigrants contribute to the safety and security of American 
communities in numerous ways. First, they directly lower the crime rate 
by committing fewer crimes. According to data from the Census Bureau's 
American Community Survey, immigrants are half as likely to end up in 
the criminal justice system and behind bars (Graph).\17\ This is true, 
even for immigrants in the country illegally, despite thousands of 
those immigrants being incarcerated solely for immigration offenses 
that U.S. citizens cannot commit.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \17\ Michelangelo Landgrave and Alex Nowrasteh, ``Illegal Immigrant 
Incarceration Rates, 2010-2018: Demographics and Policy Implications,'' 
Cato Institute, April 2020, https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-
analysis/illegal-immigrant-incarceration-rates-2010-2018-demographics-
policy.


    The lower crime rates create safer communities for Americans to 
live. During the 1990's, when the immigrant population grew faster than 
any time in over a century, crime fell rapidly across the country.\18\ 
Immigrant-dense cities saw crime fall further and faster than elsewhere 
in the country during that time.\19\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \18\ Lauren Brooke-Eisen, Oliver Roeder, and Julia Bowling, ``What 
Caused the Crime Decline?,'' Brennan Center for Justice, February 2015, 
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/what-caused-
crime-decline.
    \19\ Wadsworth, T. (2010), Is Immigration Responsible for the Crime 
Drop? An Assessment of the Influence of Immigration on Changes in 
Violent Crime Between 1990 and 2000. Social Science Quarterly, 91: 531-
553. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2010.00706.x. STOWELL, J.I., 
MESSNER, S.F., MCGEEVER, K.F. and RAFFALOVICH, L.E. (2009), IMMIGRATION 
AND THE RECENT VIOLENT CRIME DROP IN THE UNITED STATES: A POOLED, 
CROSS-SECTIONAL TIME-SERIES ANALYSIS OF METROPOLITAN AREAS. 
Criminology, 47: 889-928. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-
9125.2009.00162.x
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Immigrants also directly affect the crime rate through their 
participation in or cooperation with law enforcement. There were over 
80,000 immigrants serving as detectives and police officers in 2021, 
and about 350,000 immigrants in protective service roles including 
corrections officers, bailiffs, private security, firefighters, and 
other similar positions.\20\ Training more police officers is a proven 
way to reduce crime,\21\ yet many cities are finding it difficult to 
fill open jobs. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, for instance, there are 160 officer 
jobs unfilled.\22\ In 2015, the Nashville Police Chief Steve Anderson 
convinced legislators in Tennessee to open police recruitment to 
noncitizens with military service to help address the shortage, and 
other departments are opening to immigrants as well.\23\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \20\ ``MDAT,'' Census Bureau, February 2023, https://
data.census.gov/mdat/#/search?ds=ACSPUMS1Y2021&cv=CIT&rv=OCCP&wt=PWGTP.
    \21\ MacDonald, J.M., Klick, J. and Grunwald, B. (2016), The effect 
of private police on crime: evidence from a geographic regression 
discontinuity design. J.R. Stat. Soc. A, 179: 831-846. https://doi.org/
10.1111/rssa.12142.
    \22\ Daphne Duret and Weihua Li, ``It's Not Just a Police Problem, 
Americans Are Opting Out of Government Jobs,'' The Marshall Project, 
January 2023, https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/01/21/police-
hiring-government-jobs-decline.
    \23\ Simone Weichselbaum, ``Desperate for Recruits, Police Consider 
Non-Citizens,'' The Marshall Project, February 2019, https://
www.themarshallproject.org/2019/02/14/desperate-for-recruits-police-
consider-non-citizens.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Even if they don't or can't serve directly, immigrants aid law 
enforcement through cooperation with authorities. Immigrants to New 
Jersey helped turn around the South Paterson, an area once beset by 
crime and corruption. The Paterson police commissioner pointed to the 
willingness of immigrant business owners to work with police as one 
major reason for its lower crime rate.\24\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \24\ Zahra Hankir, ``Immigrants are reviving Paterson, N.J., from 
its difficult past,'' Los Angeles Times, September 2019, https://
www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-09-25/immigrants-are-reviving-
south-paterson-n-j-from-its-difficult-past.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    There are countless examples of immigrants helping law enforcement 
to stop criminals or prevent crimes. Two foreign students stopped a 
sexual assault at Stanford, testifying against the rapist at trial.\25\ 
Another immigrant lost his life stopping a rape in Virginia.\26\ A 
video filmed on a Dominican immigrant's phone was the basis of a 
homicide conviction in South Carolina.\27\ A Colombian immigrant in 
Miami drove his van between an officer and an active shooter, saving 
the officer's life.\28\ A major source of funding for local police 
comes from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) 
Program. Byrne was a New York city officer killed guarding a Guyanese 
immigrant who had repeatedly reported criminal activity by U.S. 
citizens in his community.\29\ The immigrant then again risked his life 
to testify against Byrne's killers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \25\ Tobias Salinger, ``Hero grad student describes catching 
Stanford rapist: `The guy stood up then we saw she wasn't moving','' 
New York Daily News, June 2016, https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/
hero-grad-student-describes-catching-stanford-rapist-article-1.2664718.
    \26\ Stuart Anderson, ``The Immigrant Who Died Defending A Crime 
Victim,'' Forbes, 2018, https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/
2018/11/02/the-immigrant-who-died-defending-a-rape-victim/
?sh=3fc89a3c2c0d.
    \27\ ``Feidin Santana, Who Recorded Police Shooting Of Walter 
Scott, Speaks Out,'' NBC News, April 2015, https://www.nbcnews.com/
news/latino/feidin-santana-who-recorded-man-shot-police-officer-speaks-
out-n338171.
    \28\ CHARLES RABIN AND DAVID OVALLE, ``Man who saved Miami officer: 
`How could I not?','' Miami Herald, April 2015, http://web.archive.org/
web/20170318151546/ http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/
article18631896.html.
    \29\ ``Witness in New York Police Killings Passes Lie Detector 
Test, Leaves Town,'' AP News, September 1989, https://apnews.com/
article/db245e3b1b1b56708d004398c6f90c6c.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Immigrants without legal status also can help stop crimes. An 
unauthorized immigrant acting as a convenience store nightwatchman 
stopped a burglary in Texas.\30\ Another in New Mexico chased down a 
child abductor, returning a 6-year-old girl to her parents.\31\ It is 
not even uncommon. About 100,000 immigrants have obtained legal status 
through their cooperation with law enforcement over the last 
decade,\32\ and local agencies have more than 315,000 requests pending 
for unauthorized immigrants to receive status based on their 
cooperation with them right now.\33\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \30\ David Bier, ``Donald Trump Is Wrong--Immigrants Don't Commit 
More Crimes,'' Time, September 2016, https://time.com/4509413/
presidential-debate-donald-trump-immigration/.
    \31\ Jeri Clausing, ``Man who saved girl says he's illegal 
immigrant,'' NBC News, August 2011, https://www.nbcnews.com/id/
wbna44206940.
    \32\ There is an annual cap of 10,000 U visas.
    \33\ ``Number of Service-wide Forms Fiscal Year To Date,'' USCIS, 
October 2022, https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/data/
Quarterly_All_Forms_FY2022_Q4.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Immigrants also lower crime indirectly. One important mechanism is 
by economically revitalizing neighborhoods. Based on data from the 
Census Bureau's Current Population Survey, immigrants increase State 
and local tax revenues by over $250 billion per year--52 percent higher 
than the benefits that they receive and a net fiscal contribution of 
tens of billions annually.\34\ Tax revenue from new arrivals allows 
cities to expand police forces, clean up streets, and make other 
improvements that lower crime. Research published in the Journal of 
Criminal Justice has shown that just filling abandoned buildings makes 
residents less likely to commit crimes.\35\ Over the last two decades, 
refugees and asylum seekers went into the lower-cost and higher-crime 
West Side of Buffalo, for example. They took over vacant lots and 
businesses, and crime fell there by 70 percent.\36\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \34\ ``Current Population Survey,'' Census Bureau, 2018.
    \35\ ``ABANDONED BUILDINGS: MAGNETS FOR CRIME?,'' DOJ, 1993, 
https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/abandoned-
buildings-magnets-crime.
    \36\ Emma Sapong, ``Bangladeshis transforming Buffalo, one block at 
a time,'' The Buffalo News, December 2015, http://web.archive.org/web/
20160305082034/, https:/buffalonews.com/city-region/east-side/
bangladeshis-transforming-buffalo-one-block-at-a-time-20151212/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    This point is worth reemphasizing: immigrants have just as much of 
a stake in safe communities as Americans. When immigrants do commit 
crimes, their victims are usually other immigrants.\37\ If we want to 
root out the bad apples, we should want to create policies that make it 
easier for immigrants to cooperate with law enforcement. That means 
providing a path to citizenship for law-abiding immigrants, and 
assuring that future immigrants have a lawful way to enter and reside 
in this country.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \37\ ``The Gang Murders in the Long Island Suburbs,'' New York 
Times, July 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/12/nyregion/ms-13-
murders-long-island.html.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
             immigrants are not driving the fentanyl crisis
    The committee is right to pay particular attention to the scourge 
of fentanyl overdoses. But immigrants are not the cause. Fentanyl 
trafficking is funded by fentanyl consumers, and nearly 99 percent of 
the users are U.S. citizens.\38\ It is not surprising that research has 
shown that ``increases in immigration are associated with significantly 
lower homicide and lower overdose death rates overall and across 
substance type.''\39\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \38\ Altekruse SF, Cosgrove CM, Altekruse WC, Jenkins RA, Blanco C. 
Socioeconomic risk factors for fatal opioid overdoses in the United 
States: Findings from the Mortality Disparities in American Communities 
Study (MDAC). PLoS One. 2020 Jan 17;15(1):e0227966. doi: 10.1371/
journal.pone.0227966. PMID: 31951640; PMCID: PMC6968850.
    \39\ Ben Feldmeyer, Diana Sun, Casey T. Harris, Francis T. Cullen, 
``More immigrants, less death: An analysis of immigration effects on 
county-level drug overdose deaths, 2000-2015,'' Criminology, September 
2022, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1745-9125.12318.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    U.S. citizens are also the primary smugglers of fentanyl. In 2021, 
they made up 86 percent of convicted fentanyl traffickers.\40\ Cartels 
employ U.S. citizen traffickers because smuggling is significantly 
easier at ports of entry than between them, and U.S. citizens have 
legal access to the United States and are subject to less scrutiny at 
ports of entry.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \40\ David J. Bier, ``Fentanyl Is Smuggled for U.S. Citizens By 
U.S. Citizens, Not Asylum Seekers,'' Cato Institute, September 2022, 
https://www.cato.org/blog/fentanyl-smuggled-us-citizens-us-citizens-
not-asylum-seekers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    For this reason, from fiscal year 2019 to January 2023, 93 percent 
of fentanyl seizures by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have 
occurred at ports of entry or vehicle checkpoints, not along illegal 
migration routes.\41\ The graph below provides a more detailed 
breakdown of the location of fentanyl seizures for fiscal year 2023 (as 
of January). CBP officers at U.S.-Mexico ports of entry have seized 
8,165 pounds of fentanyl so far this year (94 percent). But of the 6 
percent seized by Border Patrol, at least 88 percent of this was seized 
from vehicles at checkpoints or at traffic stops. Far less than 1 
percent of all CBP's seizures were carried across the border.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \41\ CBP, ``Drug Seizure Statistics fiscal year 2023,'' February 
2023, https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/drug-seizure-statistics.


    Although CBP's data obviously does not include the fentanyl that 
escapes their detection--both at ports and between them--CBP's seizures 
provide a sample to estimate the rate at which people who evade 
detection are carrying fentanyl. Assuming that all fentanyl without a 
reported seizure location was carried over, Border Patrol still would 
have seized just one pound of fentanyl outside of vehicle searches for 
every 13,700 people that it has arrested crossing the border in fiscal 
year 2023.
    CBP has not estimated the quantity of fentanyl successfully 
smuggled through ports of entry, but for several years, it has 
calculated the probability of seizure for cocaine at ports of entry. In 
2020, it estimated that CBP seized just 2 percent of the cocaine 
entering the country at ports.\42\ Given its potency, significant 
amounts of fentanyl are even easier to conceal than cocaine. By 
contrast, CBP estimates that it interdicts a majority of the people 
crossing the border illegally.\43\ Thus, it is more than 90 percent 
easier to enter the country legally with hard drugs than cross the 
border illegally with them.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \42\ Department of Homeland Security, ``Department of Homeland 
Security Border Security Metrics Report: 2021,'' April 2022, https://
www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2022-06/
2022_0427_plcy_border_security_metrics_reportFY2021_%282020_data%29.pdf.

    \43\ Department of Homeland Security, ``Department of Homeland 
Security Border Security Metrics Report: 2021,'' April 2022, https://
www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2022-06/
2022_0427_plcy_border_security_metrics_report_FY2021_%282020_data%29.pdf
 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The story that Border Patrol seizes less fentanyl because the 
agency cannot interdict drug smugglers is wrong. Rather, it seizes so 
much less because the economics dictate the location of fentanyl 
smuggling. By contrast, because marijuana is so bulky, pungent, and 
generally easier to detect, traffickers usually bring it around ports 
of entry.\44\ The graph below shows how Border Patrol seizes far more 
marijuana smuggled between ports of entry than CBP at ports of entry, 
while the reverse is true for hard drugs that are easier to 
conceal.\45\ The drug type determines the location of smuggling, which 
determines the location of seizures, not Border Patrol's inability to 
stop smugglers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \44\ DEA, ``2017 National Drug Threat Assessment,'' October 2017, 
https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2018-07/DIR-040-17_2017-
NDTA.pdf.
    \45\ David J. Bier, ``How Legalizing Marijuana Is Securing the 
Border: The Border Wall, Drug Smuggling, and Lessons for Immigration 
Policy,'' Cato Institute, December 2018, https://www.cato.org/policy-
analysis/how-legalizing-marijuana-securing-border-border-wall-drug-
smuggling-lessons#less-marijuana-smuggling.


    Border Patrol also does not seize any more fentanyl when arrests 
fall. It is noteworthy that despite a 42 percent drop in arrests in 
January, Border Patrol seized almost no fentanyl (just 4 pounds) not at 
vehicle stops or checkpoints, the same amount as the prior month.\46\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \46\ Customs and Border Protection, ``CBP Enforcement Statistics 
Fiscal Year 2023,'' February 10, 2023; CBP, ``Drug Seizure Statistics 
FY2023,'' February 8, 2023; CBP, ``Border Patrol Seizes $4 Million in 
Narcotics in One Day,'' January 27, 2023; CBP, ``Border Patrol Agents 
Seize Over $500,000 Worth of Fentanyl,'' October 19, 2022; CBP, ``Del 
Rio Sector Agents Seize over $100,000 in Mixed Narcotics,'' October 24, 
2022; Chief Agent Gloria I. Chavez, Twitter, November 15, 2022; John 
Modlin, U.S. Border Patrol Chief TCA, Twitter, November 21, 2022.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Qualitative assessments based on law enforcement intelligence also 
indicate that trafficking organizations understand that hard drugs are 
more easily smuggled through ports. The Drug Enforcement 
Administration's (DEA) National Drug Threat Assessment 2021 has said 
drug traffickers ``exploit major highway routes for transportation and 
the most common method employed involves smuggling illicit drugs 
through U.S. POEs in passenger vehicles with concealed compartments or 
commingled with legitimate goods on tractor-trailers.''\47\ DEA 
testified that its investigations have found that ``the vast majority 
of fentanyl is coming in the ports of entry.''\48\ CBP and other 
agencies have made similar assessments.\49\ It is exactly because these 
ports of entry are both scarce and incredibly valuable that cartels war 
for control over them.\50\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \47\ DEA, ``2020 National Drug Threat Assessment,'' March 2021, 
https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2021-02/DIR-008-
21%202020%20National%20Drug%20Threat%20Assess- ment_WEB.pdf.
    \48\ Foreign Relations Committee, ``COUNTERING ILLICIT FENTANYL 
TRAFFICKING,'' February 2023, https://www.foreign.senate.gov/hearings/
countering-illicit-fentanyl-trafficking.
    \49\ Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, 
Subcommittee on Government Operations and Border Management, ``Federal 
Government Perspective: Improving Security, Trade, and Travel Flows at 
the Southwest Border Ports of Entry,'' November 17, 2021, https://
www.hsgac.senate.gov/hearings/federal-government-perspective-improving-
security-trade-and-travel-flows-at-the-southwest-border-ports-of-entry.
    \50\ Salvador Rivera, ``Murders pile up as cartels battle for 
control of Tijuana's drug-trafficking corridor,'' Border report, August 
2022, https://www.borderreport.com/immigration/border-crime/murders-
pile-up-as-cartels-battle-for-control-of-tijuanas-drug-trafficking-
corridor/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The reasons for the ease at which drugs enter through ports is 
multifaceted. Only 6 percent of commercial trucks and 1 percent of 
passenger vehicles are scanned for any drugs.\51\ CBP reports of drug 
interdiction arrests indicate that it is most often the driver's 
behavior that tips off agents to conduct a search, meaning that 
interdiction is dependent on a factor almost entirely outside of the 
agency's control.\52\ The motivation for traffickers to innovate to 
evade detection is much stronger than the motivation to innovate to 
detect drugs crossing, which results in increasingly sophisticated 
smuggling techniques that quickly defeat interdiction efforts.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \51\ Nick Miroff, Scott Higham, Steven Rich, Salwan Georges, and 
Erin Patrick O'Connor, ``Cause of death: Washington faltered as 
fentanyl gripped America,'' Washington Post, 2022, https://
www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2022/dea-fentanyl-
failure/.
    \52\ Angelina Hicks and Alex Riggins, ``Border Patrol seizes $3.7M-
worth of fentanyl hidden in truck near Campo,'' San Diego Tribune, 
2022, https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/story/
2022-07-19/border-patrol-seize-3-7-million-pounds-of-fentanyl.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Even when a drug is easier to detect, the massive difference 
between the cost of production abroad and its value in the United 
States means that trafficking organizations can respond to greater 
interdiction simply by increasing production and smuggling more. From 
2003 to 2009, for instance, Border Patrol more than doubled its 
staffing and built hundreds of miles of fences. As a result, Border 
Patrol marijuana seizures doubled, but cartels simply smuggled more to 
compensate, and the effort made no difference to the availability of 
Mexican marijuana in the United States.\53\ In fact, the effort 
backfired. During Border Patrol's hiring surge, the potency of 
marijuana increased by 37 percent.\54\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \53\ ``Marijuana smuggling into the United States has occurred at 
consistently high levels over the past 10 years, primarily across the 
U.S.-Mexico border'' https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2018-07/
DIR-017-13%20NDTA%20Summary%20final.pdf.
    \54\ P. 12, https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2018-07/DIR-
017-13%20NDTA%20Sum- mary%20final.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Fentanyl trafficking itself developed as a border-evasion measure 
to supply the market for heroin and other opioids. It had initially 
little natural demand because the fentanyl experience is so 
fundamentally different from heroin.\55\ But fentanyl has 50 times the 
potency of heroin, which means that the same weight can supply 50 times 
as many consumers, creating a massive economic incentive for smugglers 
to prefer it to heroin.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \55\ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6114137/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Despite fentanyl's built-in economic advantage, it took the massive 
restriction in imports and travel during the pandemic--particularly the 
U.S. policy of limiting travel with Mexico--to force U.S.-Mexico border 
traffickers to shift from heroin to fentanyl. Within 2 months of the 
pandemic, fentanyl seizures overtook heroin by weight, and by the time 
the restrictions were lifted, fentanyl was accounting for over 90 
percent of the seizures.


    Tragically the shift toward fentanyl and away from heroin caused a 
spike in fentanyl deaths. From 2019 to 2021, fentanyl deaths nearly 
doubled as trade and travel were restricted with Mexico. Unfortunately, 
additional efforts to restrict the trade in fentanyl will likewise 
backfire. There are already synthetic opioids many times more powerful 
than fentanyl that cartels could switch toward if fentanyl trafficking 
becomes more difficult. For instance, the Tennessee Department of 
Health reported a four-fold increase in deaths in 2021 from Nitazenes--
synthetic opioids 10 to 20 times more potent than fentanyl.\56\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \56\ Roberts A, Korona-Bailey J, Mukhopadhyay S. Notes from the 
Field: Nitazene-Related Deaths--Tennessee, 2019-2021. MMWR Morb Mortal 
Wkly Rep 2022;71:1196-1197. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/
mmwr.mm7137a5.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    This process of enforcement increasing the potency of prohibited 
items is called the ``Iron Law of Prohibition.'' It occurred under 
Alcohol Prohibition when liquor dominated wine and beer, and it has 
repeatedly played out under drug prohibition: Crack cocaine as a 
substitute for powdered cocaine, heroin as a substitute for 
prescription drugs, and fentanyl as a substitute for heroin. To stop 
drug deaths, policy makers must focus on demand, not supply.


    The drug war and restrictive border policies have failed people 
with addictions and their families. Government should stop 
criminalizing drug users, which pushes them away from services that 
could help them, and Congress should legalize overdose prevention 
sites, places where people can intervene to reverse an overdose.\57\ 
States should allow users to protect themselves against overdoses by 
legalizing fentanyl test strips, which most States criminalize as 
``drug paraphernalia.''\58\ Physicians should be empowered to treat 
addiction by weaning addicts off these potent drugs and by issuing at-
home prescriptions for methadone.\59\ These are all ideas that have 
worked in other countries to reduce deaths.\60\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \57\ Jeffrey A. Singer, ``Overdose Prevention Centers: A Successful 
Strategy for Preventing Death and Disease,'' Cato Institute, February 
2023, https://www.cato.org/briefing-paper/overdose-prevention-centers-
successful-strategy-preventing-death-disease?au_hash=4jaxI1ucCsjQ6Jr- 
B3YilVA9nAl4Whs3s425lPUjvKIM.
    \58\ Jeffrey A. Singer, ``Fentanyl Test Strips Save Lives, Yet Most 
States Ban Them As `Drug Paraphernalia','' Cato Institute, January 
2023, https://www.cato.org/blog/fentanyl-test-strips-save-lives-yet-
most-states-ban-them-drug-paraphernalia.
    \59\ Jeffrey A. Singer, ``New Evidence That Take-Home Methadone Is 
Safe and Effective,'' Cato Institute, July 2022, https://www.cato.org/
blog/new-evidence-take-home-methadone-safe-effective. Jeffrey A. 
Singer, ``Harm Reduction: Shifting from a War on Drugs to a War on 
Drug-Related Deaths,'' Cato Institute, December 2018, https://
www.cato.org/policy-analysis/harm-reduction-shifting-war-drugs-war-
drug-related-deaths.
    \60\ Methadone is prescribed on a take-home basis by primary care 
providers since the 1960's in the United Kingdom, Australia, and 
Canada.
    There are 147 overdose prevention centers in 91 locations in 16 
countries, including Canada, Mexico, and Australia.
    In Switzerland, heroin can be prescribed to treat addiction.
    Portugal decriminalized drugs: Rebecca A. Clay, ``How Portugal is 
solving its opioid problem,'' APA, October 2018, https://www.apa.org/
monitor/2018/10/portugal-opioid.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Restricting immigration also has another side benefit for drug 
cartels: they can charge immigrants to cross illegally into the United 
States.\61\ Two migrants in Tijuana were stoned to death and another 
shot for failing to pay a fee this week.\62\ Migrant smuggling has now 
become a $13 billion industry.\63\ The United States could immediately 
remove this profit from the cartels by creating legal ways to enter the 
country.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \61\ Christina Aguayo, ``Border Patrol: Cartels cash in on billion-
dollar human smuggling business,'' Border Report, October 2021, https:/
/www.borderreport.com/immigration/border-crime/border-patrol-cartels-
cash-in-on-billion-dollar-human-smuggling-business/.
    \62\ Salvador Rivera, ``2 migrants stoned to death by smugglers 
along border wall in Tijuana,'' Fox 5 San Diego, February 2023, https:/
/fox5sandiego.com/news/border-report/2-migrants-stoned-to-death-by-
smugglers-along-border-wall-in-tijuana/amp/.
    \63\ ``Smuggling Migrants at the Border Now a Million Dollar 
Business,'' New York Times, July 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/
25/us/migrant-smuggling-evolution.html.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                restrictive border policies create chaos
    Because nearly all potential immigrants have no legal pathway to 
enter the United States, it is no surprise that many choose to cross 
illegally. For many countries, the only ticket out poverty is a ticket 
to the United States. For instance, 92.7 percent of people born in 
Haiti who live above the developed world poverty line live in the 
United States.\64\ Immigration reduces poverty because U.S. free 
institutions and technology allow immigrants to be far more productive 
here than in their home countries. If America is the best hope to live 
a free and dignified life, immigration will continue regardless of the 
laws on the books. Congress should focus on channeling immigrants 
toward lawful ways to enter rather than swim upstream against the law 
of supply and demand.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \64\ David J. Bier, ``Immigrating to the U.S. Is The Main Way To 
Escape Poverty in Dozens of Countries,'' Cato Institute, February 2023, 
https://www.cato.org/blog/immigrating-us-main-way-escape-poverty-
dozens-countries.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Restrictive border policies have only created more problems. Since 
at least the Border Patrol's 1994 Strategic Plan, Border Patrol has 
made an intentional effort to drive cross-border traffic out of urban 
areas and into more rural areas where it is more hazardous to 
cross.\65\ Following this shift, the Government Accountability Office 
(GAO) found that ``the strategy has resulted in an increase in deaths 
from exposure to either heat or cold.''\66\ As a result of this 
deliberate and on-going strategy, more migrants are crossing the border 
in perilous conditions and straining in rural hospitals, as the 
committee will hear about today.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \65\ ``Border Patrol Strategic Plan 1994 and Beyond,'' Immigration 
and Naturalization Service, February 2023, https://
www.documentcloud.org/documents/355856-border-patrol-strategic-plan-
1994-and-beyond.
    \66\ ``INS' Southwest Border Strategy: Resource and Impact Issues 
Remain After Seven Years,'' GAO, August 2001, https://www.gao.gov/
assets/gao-01-842.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The border walls have greatly exacerbated the risks. The Mexican 
government has found that border walls or fences were responsible for 
80 percent of injuries by border-crossing Mexicans returned by the 
United States last year.\67\ In 2021, trauma surgeons in California 
found themselves overwhelmed with the hundreds of wall-related 
injuries, which increased by 460 percent following the wall 
construction.\68\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \67\ Salvador Rivera, ``Taller border wall has led to more migrant 
deaths and injuries, Mexican diplomat says,'' Border Report, January 
2023, https://www.borderreport.com/immigration/the-border-wall/taller-
border-wall-has-led-to-more-migrant-deaths-and-injuries-mexican-
diplomat-says/.
    \68\ Liepert AE, Berndtson AE, Hill LL, et al. Association of 30-ft 
U.S.-Mexico Border Wall in San Diego With Increased Migrant Deaths, 
Trauma Center Admissions, and Injury Severity. JAMA Surg. 
2022;157(7):633-635. doi:10.1001/jamasurg.2022.1885.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The last administration constructed a wall so high that rather than 
merely increasing the risk of capture for immigrants, it significantly 
increased the risk of death. The 30-foot height was reportedly based on 
field tests to determine the height at which the average person would 
become disoriented and stop climbing.\69\ But even lower fences are a 
danger. A pregnant woman died from falling from an 18-foot fence in 
2020.\70\ A number of those injured have been in Yuma, Arizona, 
including two men who died in 2020 and 2021.\71\ In 2018, two teenage 
girls also suffered life-threatening injuries after falling from the 
Yuma fence.\72\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \69\ ``Opinion: Border walls lead to injuries and death. It's a 
sinister way to enforce immigration laws,'' San Diego Union Tribune, 
April 2022, https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/commentary/
story/2022-04-29/border-wall-death-immigration-laws.
    \70\ Nick Miroff, ``Pregnant Woman Dies after Falling from Border 
Wall,'' Washington Post, March 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/
immigration/pregnant-woman-dies-border-wall/2020/03/12/8519752a-647b-
11ea-912d-d98032ec8e25_story.html.
    \71\ RICHARD MONTENEGRO BROWN AND JULIO MORALES, ``Border Wall 
Falls Claim Two Lives in Imperial County Two Days Apart,'' Calexico 
Chronicle, September 2021, https://calexicochronicle.com/2021/09/10/
border-wall-falls-claim-two-lives-in-imperial-county-two-days-apart/.
    \72\ Jennifer Lothspeich, ``2 migrant teens severely injured after 
fall off border wall near Yuma,'' CBS8, December 2018, https://
www.cbs8.com/amp/article/news/2-migrant-teens-severely-injured-after-
fall-off-border-wall-near-yuma/509-4333071a-7790-4d2c-bf23-
75b07d442619.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    At least 28 deaths have occurred from fence falls from 2019 to 
2022.\73\ But by pushing immigrants out into even more remote areas, 
the wall can also indirectly cause more deaths. A total of 853 
immigrants died crossing the border in 2022--the most on record.\74\ 
This topped the prior record of 560 deaths in 2021.\75\ About 60 deaths 
in 2022 were in Yuma County, Arizona.\76\ In 2021, Border Patrol 
reported that it rescued 12,578 people in serious physical distress, 
triple the number in 2018.\77\ Since 1990, when the first fences were 
built in San Diego, Border Patrol has recorded almost 11,000 
deaths,\78\ and independent auditing of its count by the Government 
Accountability Office has found that Border Patrol systematically 
undercounts migrants deaths, excluding--for instance--half the migrant 
deaths in Tucson, Arizona, which are tracked by local authorities.\79\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \73\ ``Border Militarization,'' Southern Border, February 2023, 
https://www.southernborder.org/
border_lens_border_militarization#target.
    \74\ CAMILO MONTOYA-GALVEZ, ``At least 853 migrants died crossing 
the U.S.-Mexico border in past 12 months--a record high,'' CBS, October 
2022, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/migrant-deaths-crossing-us-mexico-
border-2022-record-high/.
    Jeanna Vazquez and Scott LaFee, ``Study: Unprecedented Increase in 
Number of Border Wall Falls and Trauma,'' UC San Diego Health, April 
2022, https://health.ucsd.edu/news/releases/pages/2022-04-29-study-
unprecedented-increase-in-number-of-border-wall-falls-and-trauma.- 
aspx#:?:text=At%20UC%20San%20Diego%20Health%2C%20there%20were%2067%20cas
es- %20of,2019%20to%2016%20'since%20then.
    \75\ Joel Rose and Marisa Penaloza, ``Migrant deaths at the U.S.-
Mexico border hit a record high, in part due to drownings,'' NPR, 
September 2022, https://www.npr.org/2022/09/29/1125638107/migrant-
deaths-us-mexico-border-record-drownings#:?:text=More%20than%205- 
60%20migrants%20died,border%20are%20largely%20to%20blame.
    \76\ Adam Klepp, ``SPECIAL REPORT: Tracking every migrant death in 
Yuma County,'' KYMA, October 2022, https://kyma.com/news/2022/10/26/
special-report-tracking-every-migrant-death-in-yuma-county/.
    \77\ ``Border Rescues and Mortality Data,'' CBP, February 2022, 
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/border-rescues-and-mortality-data.
    \78\ ``U.S. Border Patrol Southwest Border Sectors Deaths by Fiscal 
Year,'' CBP, March 2019, https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/
assets/documents/2019-Mar/bp-southwest-border-sector-deaths-fy1998-
fy2018.pdf. ``Illegal Immigration,'' GAO, August 2006, https://
www.gao.gov/new.items/d06770.pdf. ``Border Rescues and Mortality 
Data,'' CBP, February 2022, https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/border-
rescues-and-mortality-data#:?:text=In%20FY%202021- 
%2C%20CBP%20components,in%20Custody%20(Not%20Reportable).
    \79\ ``Southwest Border: CBP Should Improve Data Collection, 
Reporting, and Evaluation for the Missing Migrant Program,'' GAO, April 
2022, https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-22-105053. ``Border Rescues and 
Mortality Data,'' CBP, February 2022, https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/
stats/border-rescues-and-mortality-data. ``U.S. Border Patrol Southwest 
Border Sectors Deaths by Fiscal Year,'' CBP, March 2019, https://
www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2019-Mar/bp-southwest-
border-sector-deaths-fy1998-fy2018.pdf. ``Illegal Immigration,'' GAO, 
August 2006, https://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06770.pdf.


    The inability to board lawful transportation options to the U.S. 
border creates treacherous conditions for travelers. The combination of 
homelessness and governmental indifference toward crimes against 
migrants in Mexico has created the ideal environment for all manner of 
predation. Abductions of migrants number in the tens of thousands 
annually, according to Mexico's National Human Rights Commission.\80\ 
Rapes of migrant women in Mexico are common, underreported, and rarely 
investigated.\81\ All these factors mean that many migrants cross in 
need of urgent medical attention, and Border Patrol policies force them 
to cross in areas with the fewest resources.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \80\ ``IOM and Mexico's National Human Rights Commission Sign 
Cooperation Agreement to Fight Human Trafficking and the Kidnapping of 
Migrants in Mexico,'' IOM, September 2010, https://www.iom.int/news/
iom-and-mexicos-national-human-rights-commission-sign-cooperation-
agreement-fight-human-trafficking-and-kidnapping-migrants-mexico.
    \81\ ``Mexico: Invisible victims. Migrants on the move in Mexico,'' 
Amnesty International, April 2010, https://www.amnesty.org/en/
documents/amr41/014/2010/en/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    It is not just taxing for local hospitals. The Border Patrol's 1994 
Strategic Plan treats the lack of transportation infrastructure in 
rural areas as a reason to push traffic there.\82\ But when Border 
Patrol releases asylum seekers in small towns along the border, it can 
take days for them to get a bus to their final destinations. The lack 
of buses led to a backup of migrants with nowhere to live and forced 
Yuma's mayor to declare a state of emergency.\83\ If immigrants could 
enter legally, they could line up transportation in advance, travel 
directly to their final destinations, and fix this issue.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \82\ ``Border Patrol Strategic Plan 1994 and Beyond,'' Borderdom 
Productions, February 2023, https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/
355856-border-patrol-strategic-plan-1994-and-beyond.
    \83\ Alicia Caldwell, ``Yuma, Ariz., Declares State of Emergency 
Over Migrant Crisis,'' Wall Street Journal, April 2019, https://
www.wsj.com/articles/yuma-ariz-declares-state-of-emergency-over-
migrant-crisis-11555534393.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The mere fact that a person entered illegally means that Border 
Patrol must take them into custody for processing. When capacity is 
reached, they end up unexpectedly releasing migrants onto the streets--
often at night with no warning and no transportation lined up.\84\ 
These types of releases have occurred under every administration.\85\ 
Sometimes pregnant women or nursing mothers are forced to sleep on the 
streets.\86\ These are all avoidable problems if legal migration 
pathways were available.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \84\ Alan Gomez, ``Local governments spend millions caring for 
migrants dumped by Trump's Border Patrol,'' USA Today, September 2019, 
https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/nation/2019/09/23/border-crisis-
trump-administration-real-cost-tax-money/1739727001/.
    \85\ Cora Currier, ``HOW A CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY HELPED HUNDREDS OF 
MIGRANTS THE BORDER PATROL DROPPED AT A GREYHOUND STATION,'' The 
Intercept, June 2019, https://theintercept.com/2019/06/01/border-
patrol-migrants-greyhound-bus-station/.
    \86\ ``Migrants inundating San Antonio bus station,'' Express News, 
March 2019, https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/migrants-
inundating-San-Antonio-bus-station-13727999.php.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Another problem is of greater importance to localities: the 
inability for people to work legally after their release from Border 
Patrol custody.\87\ Although asylum seekers are eligible to receive 
employment authorization documents 6 months after applying for asylum, 
this process can often take much longer, given the time it takes to 
prepare an asylum application and the time to process the employment 
authorization request.\88\ The mayor of New York City has labeled this 
one of the most urgent immigration issues facing his city.\89\ Research 
has found that banning asylum seekers from working has negative 
employment effects long after the ban is lifted.\90\ Lacking the right 
to work, asylum seekers must often either work illegally or depend on 
charity or city services.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \87\ `` `At Least Let Them Work', The Denial of Work Authorization 
and Assistance for Asylum Seekers in the United States,'' Human Rights 
Watch, November 2013, https://www.hrw.org/report/2013/11/12/least-let-
them-work/denial-work-authorization-and-assistance-asylum-seekers-
united.
    \88\ ``Historical National Median Processing Time (in Months) for 
All USCIS Offices for Select Forms By Fiscal Year Fiscal Year 2018 to 
2023 (up to January 31, 2023),'' USCIS, February 2023, https://
egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/historic-pt.
    \89\ Berndatte Hogan, ``Eric Adams wants to put thousands of 
migrants to work in New York,'' New York Post, September 2022, https://
nypost.com/2022/09/13/eric-adams-wants-to-put-southern-border-migrants-
to-work-in-ny/.
    \90\ Francesco Fasani, Tommaso Frattini, and Luigi Minale, ``Lift 
the Ban? Initial Employment Restrictions and Refugee Labor Market 
Outcomes,'' Cato Institute, November 2020, https://www.cato.org/
publications/research-briefs-economic-policy/lift-ban-initial-
employment-restrictions-refugee-labor.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  restricting asylum is not a solution
    Title 42 and restrictions on applying for asylum also creates 
additional health hazards for migrants. Returning migrants to Mexico 
has created a flow of migrants more in need of medical attention 
because the policy alerts criminals in Mexico to the fact that they may 
have U.S. connections. When they recross the border, these victims 
often need health care. Human Rights First has tracked over 13,000 
publicly-reported murder, torture, kidnapping, rape, and other violent 
attacks on migrants and asylum seekers returned to Mexico in the last 2 
years alone.\91\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \91\ ``TITLE 42: `HUMAN RIGHTS STAIN, PUBLIC HEALTH FARCE','' Human 
Rights First, December 2022, https://humanrightsfirst.org/library/
title-42-human-rights-stain-public-health-farce/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Migrants who seek asylum generally turn themselves into Border 
Patrol, avoiding more dangerous crossings in remote areas and making 
them easier to process. Evasion leads to more deaths and injuries in 
remote areas. Also, smugglers (usually U.S. citizens) sometimes drive 
recklessly to avoid the Border Patrol and risk the lives of the 
passengers, and bystanders, leading to more hospital trips.\92\ At 
least 93 people have died during Border Patrol pursuits since 2010.\93\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \92\  Rafael Carranza, ``Human smuggling attempt leads border 
agents on chase, ends in crash and barricade in Yuma,'' AZCentral, 
November 2019, https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/border-
issues/2019/11/22/smuggling-attempt-ends-chase-barricade/4271538002/.
    \93\  Cindy Ramirez, `` `Severity of crime' must be considered in 
Border Patrol pursuits,'' El Paso Matters, January 2023, https://
elpasomatters.org/2023/01/24/border-patrol-vehicle-pursuit-policy-goes-
into-effect-in-may/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The number of chases doubled from 150 in 2021 to 300 in 2022, and 
the number of deaths during pursuits increased from 2 in 2019 to 14 in 
2021 and 22 in 2022.\94\ From 2015 to 2018, there were about 11 
injuries for every death resulting from Border Patrol chases, implying 
that hundreds of people have been injured across the border in the last 
2 year in this way.\95\ Smugglers also abandon migrants in deserts 
where they can need to be airlifted to hospitals.\96\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \94\  ``Fact Sheet: The Deadly Trend of Border Patrol Vehicle 
Pursuits,'' ACLU Texas, February 2023, https://www.aclutx.org/en/fact-
sheet-deadly-trend-border-patrol-vehicle-pursuits.
    \95\ Kavitha Surana, Brittny Mejia, James Queally, and Agnes Chang, 
``Trapped in a Deadly Chase,'' ProPublica, April 2019, https://
features.propublica.org/border-crashes/death-injuries-in-high-speed-
border-patrol-chases/.
    \96\  Christina Aguayo, ``Border Patrol: Cartels cash in on 
billion-dollar human smuggling business,'' Border Report, October 2021, 
https://www.borderreport.com/immigration/border-crime/border-patrol-
cartels-cash-in-on-billion-dollar-human-smuggling-business/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Anti-asylum policies are not just bad for the safety of immigrants 
and residents--they are also bad for security. Since Border Patrol 
initiated the Title 42 policy that banned asylum for most crossers, 
evasion almost immediately exploded. The number of gotaways--detected 
successful crossings--grew four-fold from calendar year 2019 to 2022. 
The country has seen more crossings, more arrests, more illicit 
entries, and less security under the anti-asylum policy of the last 3 
years.


    A major reason for this change is that when someone is returned to 
Mexico--and not processed for asylum or returned to their home 
country--they have little choice but to attempt to reenter illegally. 
The recidivism or re-encounter rate started to spike under the Remain 
in Mexico policy, which sent people back to wait for hearings. That 
policy had a lifetime re-encounter rate of 33 percent (as of June 
2021).\97\ Under Title 42, the situation deteriorated further with a 1-
year re-encounter rate exceeding 50 percent in 2021.\98\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \97\  ``Explanation of the Decision to Terminate the Migrant 
Protection Protocols,'' DHS, October 2021, https://www.dhs.gov/sites/
default/files/2022-01/21_1029_mpp-termination-justification-memo-
508.pdf.
    \98\  Sean Leong, ''Immigration Enforcement Actions: 2021,'' DHS, 
November 2022, https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2022-12/
2022_1114_plcy_enforcement_actions_fy2021.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Nor is this due to insufficient enforcement of Title 42. In fact, 
Title 42 has encouraged more crossings. Encounters of the demographic 
group most targeted under Title 42--single adults from the Northern 
Triangle and Mexico--have increased four-fold, even though they have 
been expelled more than 90 percent of the time.


    Although Border Patrol certainly does encounter some genuine 
threats, asylum provides agents with a mechanism to sort out those with 
nothing to hide.\99\ It would be better if asylum seekers were 
processed at ports of entry where they could enter legally, but it is 
important to understand the full context for the Border Patrol 
resources available relative to the flows. Even with the massive 
increase in arrests under Title 42, each Border Patrol agent averaged 
fewer than 1 arrest every 3 days in 2022.\100\ As the graph below 
shows, the extremely low rates of arrests per Border Patrol agent from 
2009 to 2020 were a departure from the norm for the period since 1965.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \99\  See for example: John Washington, ``Border Patrol agents are 
trashing Sikh asylum-seekers' turbans,'' Arizona Luminaria, August 
2022, https://azluminaria.org/2022/08/02/border-patrol-agents-are-
trashing-sikh-asylum-seekers-turbans/.
    \100\  Encounters: ``Nationwide Encounters,'' CBP, February 2023, 
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/nationwide-encounters.
    Staffing (2021): ``On a Typical Day in Fiscal Year 2021, CBP . . . 
,'' CBP, May 2022, https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/typical-day-
fy2021#:?:text=Employed%2064%2C272%20men- 
%20and%20women,19%2C536%20Border%20Patrol%20agents.


    Legal pathways including asylum would allow Border Patrol to focus 
on true threats to Americans, but these threats should not be 
exaggerated. For instance, CBP has reported a dramatic increase in 
encounters whose information appears on the Terrorism Screening 
Dataset.\101\ There were 98 such encounters in 2022. According to 
nonpublic data obtained by the media, 93 percent of the terrorist 
database hits were for Colombians.\102\ These people could be former 
FARC revolutionaries, but the evidentiary bar for inclusion in this 
dataset is so low that it is impossible to conclude much from this 
statistic. CBP even says that the data include people supposedly 
associated with people supposedly associated with terrorist groups or 
activities.\103\ As importantly, matches can occur based on biographic 
information like a person's name and date of birth, leading to numerous 
false positives. One false positive was reported in the media just this 
month.\104\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \101\  ``CBP Enforcement Statistics Fiscal Year 2023,'' CBP, 
February 2023, https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/cbp-enforcement-
statistics.
    \102\  Anna Giaritelli, ``Nearly 100 FBI terror watchlist suspects 
nabbed at southern border,'' Washington Examiner, October 2022, https:/
/www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/nearly-
100-fbi-terror-watch-list-suspects-caught-southern-border.
    \103\  ``CBP Enforcement Statistics Fiscal Year 2023,'' CBP, 
February 2023, https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/cbp-enforcement-
statistics.
    \104\  Adam Shaw and Bill Melugin, ``Iranian illegal immigrant 
caught at border not on terror watchlist after further vetting: DHS 
official,'' Fox News, February 2023, https://www.foxnews.com/politics/
iranian-illegal-immigrant-terror-watch-list-caught-southern-border-
sources.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Unlike Border Patrol, CBP ports of entry officers encounter 
thousands of people on the terrorist watch list every year.\105\ It is 
telling that none of these encounters have produced any convictions for 
a plot to attack the United States.\106\ In fact, over the last four 
decades, not a single American has died in a terrorist attack carried 
out by a person who entered the country illegally mainly because no 
such attack has ever occurred.\107\ The threat of terrorism is not a 
reason to eliminate asylum, and the entities that needs more resources 
to deal with terror suspects is ports of entry, not Border Patrol 
stations.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \105\  Justin Fishel and Luke Barr, ``Fact Check: State Department 
says `no credible evidence' terrorists entering through southern 
border,'' ABC News, January 2019, https://abcnews.go.com/politics/fact-
check-state-department-credible-evidence-terrorists-entering/
story?id=60209995.
    \106\  Alex Nowrasteh, ``Terrorists Are Not Crossing the Mexican 
Border,'' Cato Institute, March 2021, https://www.cato.org/blog/
terrorists-are-not-crossing-mexican-border.
    \107\  Alex Nowrasteh, ``Terrorists by Immigration Status and 
Nationality: A Risk Analysis, 1975-2017,'' Cato Institute, May 2019, 
https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/terrorists-
immigration-status-nationality-risk-analysis-1975-2017.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 illegal immigration is a policy choice
    Creating legal pathways for immigrants to live and work in the 
United States can restore Border Patrol's mission to one of national 
security, not managing peaceful migration. Legal pathways can 
dramatically reduce illegal immigration and related problems. Here are 
five examples:
    1. The Bracero guest worker program from 1954 to 1965 was expanded 
        to direct Mexican farm workers to enter the United States 
        legally. The program reduced border apprehensions by more than 
        the number of Braceros admitted legally because workers were 
        willing to wait to come legally.\108\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \108\  David J. Bier, ``How Guest Workers Affect Illegal 
Immigration,'' Cato Institute, December 2022, https://www.cato.org/
policy-analysis/how-guest-workers-affect-illegal-immigration#2-main-
bracero-era-1954-1964-relative-visa-openness-strengthened-enforcement.


    2. Wet Foot, Dry Foot as applied at U.S.-Mexico land ports of entry 
        from 1995 to 2017 allowed tens of thousands of Cubans to enter 
        the country legally with a status known as humanitarian parole, 
        and the U.S.-Mexico border had almost no issue with Cubans 
        crossing the border illegally. Remain-in-Mexico and Title 42 
        ended this policy, creasing a massive illegal immigration 
        problem by Cubans.\109\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \109\  David J. Bier, ``How the U.S. Created Cuban and Haitian 
Illegal Migration,'' Cato Institute, February 2022, https://
www.cato.org/blog/how-us-created-cuban-haitian-illegal-migration.


    3. Following the Earthquake in 2010, the United States stopped 
        deporting Haitians, and U.S.-Mexico land ports of entry stopped 
        detaining Haitians requesting asylum and let them enter legally 
        into the United States. As a result, from 2010 to 2016, nearly 
        all Haitians entered the country legally. In late 2016, CBP 
        reversed the non-detention and non-removal policy, and in 2018, 
        it covertly capped asylum requests at ports of entry, causing 
        more to cross illegally. Title 42 ended all asylum at ports of 
        entry, and nearly all Haitians entered illegally, culminating 
        in the disaster in Del Rio when Haitians were trapped in a 
        detention camp without food for weeks.\110\ In early 2022, CBP 
        began processing Title 42 exception requests at ports of entry, 
        and Haitians returned to entering the country legally as they 
        had before.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \110\ ``Report of Investigation,'' DHS, June 2022, https://
www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2022-Jul/202112280-
cbp-closing-report-public-redacted-final.pdf.


    4. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainians began to 
        show up at the U.S.-Mexico border by the tens of thousands. CBP 
        granted them exceptions to the Title 42 policy and let them 
        into the country legally. In May, it improved on this policy 
        when it created the Uniting for Ukraine parole program, which 
        has already allowed over 117,000 Ukrainians to fly directly to 
        the United States if they lined up a U.S. financial 
        sponsor.\111\ This policy reduced the flow of Ukrainians to the 
        U.S.-Mexico border by over 90 percent.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \111\ Julia Ainsley, ``U.S. has admitted 271,000 Ukrainian refugees 
since Russian invasion, far above Biden's goal of 100,000,'' NBC News, 
February 2023, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/us-admits-
271000-ukrainian-refugees-russia-invasion-biden-rcna72177.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    5. The administration recently created new parole programs modeled 
        on the Uniting for Ukraine program for Venezuelans (in October 
        2022) and Nicaraguans, Cubans, and Haitians in January 2022. 
        These programs have also diverted a substantial number of 
        immigrants away from illegal immigration. Reuters reported in 
        mid-January that Cubans ``previously flocking to Nicaragua to 
        head overland had largely changed strategies, many opting 
        instead to try their luck with the parole program.''\112\ 
        Illegal entries from these four countries fell by 86 percent in 
        a single month.\113\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \112\ Alexandre Meneghini and Dave Sherwood, ``A Cuban fishing 
village ponders its options as U.S. policy shifts,'' Reuters, February 
2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/cuban-fishing-village-
ponders-its-options-us-policy-shifts-2023-02-08/.
    \113\ David J. Bier and Alex Nowrasteh, ``Biden's Plan to End the 
Border Crisis Is Already Working,'' The Daily Beast, February 2023, 
https://www.thedailybeast.com/bidens-plan-to-end-the-border-crisis-is-
already-working.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In January 2023, CBP also rolled out its CBP One phone app that 
allows people to submit requests for an exception to the Title 42 ban 
on asylum at ports of entry. The app has had a temporary effect on the 
number of illegal crossings from countries other than those with the 
parole sponsorship program, but CBP has capped the number of Title 42 
exceptions at such a low number that asylum seekers are already 
realizing that the app may not be viable legal path for them.\114\ CBP 
should open more asylum appointments at ports of entry to reduce 
violations of the law.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \114\ Andrew Castillo, ``Asylum seekers face decision to split up 
families or wait indefinitely under new border policy,'' Los Angeles 
Times, February 2023, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-02-
24/asylum-seeking-families-consider-separation-shortage-mobile-app-
appointments.
    ``DEFENDANTS' MONTHLY REPORT FOR THE MONTH OF DECEMBER PURSUANT TO 
THE COURT'S PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION,'' UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR 
THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA LAFAYETTE DIVISION, January 2023, 
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.lawd.188754/
gov.uscourts.lawd.188754.174.0.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Illegal immigration is a choice that policy makers select when they 
restrict lawful ways to enter the United States. Congress should work 
with the administration to expand on these successful initiatives to 
eliminate illegal immigration and help address the needs of communities 
across this country.

    Chairman Green. Thank you, Mr. Bier. Members will be 
recognized by order of seniority for their 5 minutes of 
questioning. An additional round of questioning may be called 
for after all Members have been recognized.
    I now recognize myself for 5 minutes of questions. Before I 
start, I just want to share a few things because it has been 
talked about this being a decades-long problem. It has been. 
There is no doubt there has been a problem. But in the entire 
previous administration's 4 years, 2.4 million encounters and 
in just 2 years, we've had 4.7 million encounters, 1.2 million 
gotaways. I can do that math, 5.9 million people. Twenty-five 
States in the United States have populations less than 4.6 
million. Let that number sink in.
    The removal of the policies on Day 1, the Executive Orders 
that were written, and reversing policies implemented that 
solved many of this, or, you know, really began to solve this 
problem were done away with, and a surge of people came to our 
border. The drug cartels have taken advantage of the situation 
by the neutralizing effects that I talked about in my opening 
statement.
    It was also mentioned earlier about the humanitarian 
problems from previous administrations. I remember sitting in 
this committee right over there when I was a freshman, and 
there was this big to-do about two migrant deaths. We weren't 
in charge at that time, but it was a big hullabaloo because 
there were two migrant deaths. Any death we should make a big 
deal out of it. In the past 2 years, under this 
administration's policies, under my Mayorkas' reckless 
behavior, reckless, you know, border policies, 1,400 migrants 
have died. Here's one just floating, floating in the river. 
Fourteen hundred, we talk about it was a humanitarian crisis in 
the previous administration. Nothing now? Fourteen hundred, 
over 1,400. Yes, this is Mayorkas' failure.
    Mr. Lamb or Sheriff Lamb, I would like to start with you 
today. Mr. Bier was mentioning some statistics about who's 
carrying the drugs into the country. Those carpet shoes you 
showed earlier, do you think those are counted in his 
statistics? The video that I showed earlier of all--there's 
this parade of people carrying drugs into our country, are they 
counted in his statistics?
    Sheriff Lamb. Mr. Chairman, no, sir. I find it comical that 
a lot of researchers and politicians like to tell us what's 
going on on the border, but they don't ever come down to the 
border to actually see it in person. We're telling you 
statistics that we see every day. Here's the remnants of it. 
This tells you everything you need to know. I've got thousands 
of these in hundreds of spots throughout my county.
    Chairman Green. Those aren't in the statistics, and they're 
certainly not coming through the ports of entry, are they, 
Sheriff Lamb?
    Sheriff Lamb. No, they are not coming through the ports of 
entry.
    Chairman Green. Thank you. Rebecca, I really appreciate you 
being here and I know the difficulty of you being here. One of 
our fellow witnesses today, Sheriff Lamb, mentioned and talked 
about the flow of fentanyl. He's 55 miles from the border. 
You're in Michigan, I think, right? Quite a ways from the 
border. Do you mind elaborating a little bit on how it has 
impacted your community? I mean, you shared your story, but you 
are with other parents who have lost their children. Can you 
share the story of how it is impacting your community?
    Ms. Kiessling. Well, I'll tell you, in the support groups, 
you know, there have been some parents who have committed 
suicide, siblings who have. It's devastating families. It's 
been very difficult for my daughters. One daughter, she went 
off to Michigan State and came home after a semester. It was 
just too painful. Now she is attending in our hometown at 
Oakland University.
    One of my son's friends was waiting tables at the same 
restaurant where my daughter was. I went to eat there last 
summer and he came up to me and he said that he had been 
friends with both my sons, but really good friends with Kyler. 
I remember they had worked together for a while. He told me 
that he got clean from drugs after my sons' deaths. He said he 
completely stopped doing marijuana, in fact, like he would he 
stopped doing any kind of drugs. He said, I want you to know 
that your sons' death started a movement in our home town.
    He said so that when people show up with pills, they're 
ostracized and they're, you know, they're condemned, you know. 
But I think, you know, for how long? How many of the kids in 
the high schools now know about my sons' deaths?
    Chairman Green. I now recognize the Ranking Member for his 
question.
    Mr. Thompson. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Ms. 
Kiessling, I am sure I express the sentiment of every Member on 
this committee about your tragic loss. I am a grandfather and 
it would be difficult for any loss for a child or grandchild.
    So, Mr. Bier, there is a comment that our immigration 
system has been broken for many years. Is what we are seeing at 
the border now a consequence of that broken system? If it is, 
can you kind-of share your thoughts on it?
    Mr. Bier. Absolutely it's a consequence of our broken legal 
immigration system. If people have a legal opportunity to come 
to this country, then they do not choose the illegal option. So 
what we're seeing at the border is a direct consequence of the 
decades-long restrictions on legal immigration and legal 
pathways to come to this country.
    We have, for example, no year-round temporary work visa for 
people to come do year-round work in lower-skilled industries, 
and that is what is driving all of this. Ultimately, what funds 
smuggler fees and payments, what brings people to the border, 
whether they're seeking asylum or not, ultimately, the 
financing comes from jobs in the United States where there's 
economic demand for people. If we had a legal way to fill those 
jobs, we would not see the crisis that we're seeing at our 
Southern Border.
    So we have countless examples of instances in which we have 
stopped illegal immigration by opening up legal channels. We 
did so in the 1950's with the Bracero guest worker program, 
which, despite its flaws, reduced the amount of illegal 
immigration by over 90 percent and kept it very low. It was 
done away with, and what replaced it was decades of illegal 
immigration to U.S. farms.
    Mr. Thompson. Thank you much. You know, as I said in my 
opening statement, fixing our broken immigration system will 
not only help migrants fleeing persecution and poverty, but it 
will also help us manage our border human smuggling, put them 
out of business, free law enforcement to focus on drug 
smugglers, and strengthen our economy. I represent a 
predominantly agricultural district in Mississippi. The migrant 
labor force is a key to that economy staying healthy. If we 
can't create a system that allow those individuals to come, 
whether it is ginning cotton, whether it is picking, harvesting 
sweet potatoes or whatever, it is a challenge for our farmers.
    So somewhere we need to put a system in place to make that 
happen. I look forward to working with this committee on trying 
to get that comprehensive immigration reform system put 
together.
    Can you explain how more legal pathways to this country 
would be helpful not just to migrants, but to America?
    Mr. Bier. Oh, absolutely. First of all, we are dealing with 
a significant inflation crisis in this country. The lost 
productivity that I talked about, the $1 trillion in lost 
productivity from unfilled open jobs in this country over the 
last year would go a long way to reduce prices of goods and 
services across the economy. When employers can't fill 
positions, that is lost productivity that comes right out of 
consumers pockets.
    So the most important economic phenomenon is the fact that 
we are turning away economic growth by turning away immigrants. 
If we want to fill these positions, if we want to expand 
growth, if we want to bring down inflation, one of the best 
ways to do so would be to have a legal immigration process for 
people to enter the country lawfully.
    Of course, at our borders, we are seeing serious problems. 
There's no question there are issues at the border as a result 
of illegal immigration. But with a legal immigration platform 
for people to apply and cross legally, those problems would be 
greatly dissipated.
    We talked about car chases that are injuring Americans. 
We're talking about recruitment of teenagers to take part in 
smuggling activities of persons. Those problems would also 
dissipate under a legal immigration system that actually worked 
and served the needs of American communities.
    Mr. Thompson. OK. Well, if we go another round, I might 
have another question. I yield back.
    Chairman Green. The gentleman yields back. I now recognize 
Chairman Higgins from Louisiana for 5 minutes of questioning.
    Mr. Higgins. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, it is 
nauseating to listen to some of this. It is really stunning. I 
don't know where they find these people that don't get it. Like 
breed these people in laboratory experiments or something. They 
are disconnected from reality.
    It was just a couple of years ago we had the border under 
control. Whine on about broken immigration systems. What 
Western nation, who? Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, 
Mexico? All of them have much more restrictive immigration 
programs and laws than the United States of America. We are the 
most generous, compassionate, wealthy Western nation in the 
world for immigration.
    We want citizens of every land to come to this country 
legally. Our border is wide open and out of control and 
Americans are dying because of it.
    I know Secretary Mayorkas is watching this or having his 
team of attorneys watch this. Good. Because over the course of 
the next year, this committee is going to lay out the case 
against you, sir.
    If I could arrest you for violations of Louisiana revised 
statutes, I would. Louisiana Revised Statute 1432, negligent 
homicide. Louisiana Revised Statute 1424, principle to any 
criminal action. I would charge you with thousands of murders 
as principle, too. 18 U.S. Code 1001, you certainly knowingly 
and willfully lied to this body again and again and again about 
our border.
    Section 242, Title 18, under color of law, you have 
deprived Americans of their very life, including this young 
lady. The picture behind me, that is Sami. She is just a little 
girl dead from fentanyl. It came under your watch, Secretary 
Mayorkas. Remember her name.
    I am going to see to it that you have plenty of time in the 
course of your remaining life to remember the names, the 
200,000 Americans who are dead because of fentanyl coming 
across a border that you have blown wide open.
    Sheriff Lamb, thank you for being here, sir. I am sure you 
understand my passion having to listen to this nonsense. We 
could fix our border in 1 week. Am I right, Sheriff? If we had 
policy coming out of the White House that allow you to enforce 
the law and empower the Federal agents on our border that are 
tasked with securing the sovereignty of our Nation against the 
criminal cartels that control 100 percent of the Mexican side 
of our Southern Border. Could we do it, Sheriff Lamb? Had we 
done it before us recently at 2019?
    Sheriff Lamb. Yes, Mr. Higgins, we could do that. Maybe a 
week might be tight, but 30 to 60 days, we could definitely fix 
this. We're America, we can stop this when we decide we want to 
stop it.
    Mr. Higgins. When we make a decision to enforce existing 
law, we can flip this thing around. Sheriff Lamb, in my 
remaining minute there is a very disturbing development that we 
have been watching over the course of the last year or so. 
These guys crossing the border are increasingly violent. Your 
men, your deputies are encountering that. Will you characterize 
the demeanor and purpose of a typical gotaway that you 
encounter in your town and expound upon the increased violence 
that you are witnessing from these men?
    Sheriff Lamb. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Higgins. Absolutely. We 
are seeing increased violence more and more. The ranchers along 
the border very fear for their lives every day. These are 
military-age men that are avoiding detection at all costs. Many 
have paid between $6,000 and $12,000 to come here, and that's a 
lot of money to them. They're not going back and they're not 
going to go down without a fight.
    We've had traffic stops where they've tried to run my 
deputies off the road. While we're trying to stop a load 
vehicle, a secondary vehicle will try to run them off the road. 
We had one such vehicle we chased all the way back to Phoenix 
to find it was a female with a 1\1/2\-year-old child and a 5-
month-old child in her car with her. Violence is absolutely an 
option for these people. They have zero regard for human life.
    Mr. Higgins. Thank you, sheriff. Mr. Chairman, I yield.
    Chairman Green. The gentlemen yields. I now recognize Mr. 
Payne from New Jersey.
    Mr. Payne. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member. We 
are the most compassionate, generous country in the West. Tell 
that to the young people that are still looking for their 
parents that were separated under the previous administration.
    Mr. Bier, and I know my friends on the other side don't 
like to hear it, but fentanyl and other hard drugs are smuggled 
through ports of entry into the United States by, 
unfortunately, U.S. citizens. These drugs are usually hidden in 
vehicles, cargo run, a person, in the hopes that it won't be 
detected by CBP as they process people and goods into the 
country.
    What policy changes can we make to allow personnel at ports 
of entry to focus on interdiction of drugs?
    Mr. Bier. Well, the most important policy change that can 
be made in this area addresses the demand for drugs. 
Ultimately, if U.S. consumers are willing to pay for illicit 
narcotics to come into the country, the black market will 
supply it. We've seen that for the last century of prohibition, 
whether it's alcohol prohibition, whether it's drug 
prohibition, we have seen this phenomenon. Unfortunately, 
during the pandemic, when we greatly restricted trade and 
travel, it forced the sheet from heroin to fentanyl, which is a 
far more potent and more deadly substance.
    So I do not believe that there is a solution to fentanyl 
smuggling at ports of entry. At the end of the day, the black 
market is supplying drugs to U.S. consumers who are paying for 
it. As long as we focus on supply and ignore the drug war 
victims and not address their needs, not provide them with 
options to protect themselves against fentanyl, wouldn't it be 
great if fentanyl test strips were legalized Nation-wide so 
that people can know what they're ingesting, so they're not 
ending up like victims that we've heard about today? We need 
options. We need physicians to be able to actually treat 
addiction in this country and not be prohibited from, for 
example, prescribing methadone to their patients.
    So there are options out there. I do not believe that 
restricting trade and travel and trying to crack down on 
immigration or even on U.S. citizens' travel abroad is the 
solution to the pandemic of fentanyl poisonings.
    Mr. Payne. So you are saying that the demand is so great 
that there is always going to be opportunities for people to 
try to benefit on that. Is that correct?
    Mr. Bier. Absolutely. For example, marijuana is trafficked 
between ports of entry. We know this has been the case for 
decades. We ended up during the early 2000's increasing the 
Border Patrol, doubling the size of the Border Patrol. We 
doubled the amount of marijuana seizures. But the amount of 
marijuana in the United States did not go down because the 
difference in cost of production in Mexico and elsewhere is so 
low, it's easy to just smuggle some more. So it didn't work. In 
fact, it backfired in that case as well, because marijuana 
potency, according to the DEA, increased by more than 30 
percent as a result of that crackdown.
    So we see it again and again and again. Crackdowns produce 
higher-potency drugs which are more dangerous to drug users. We 
need to focus on protecting drug users, not more crackdowns, 
not more border crackdowns, not more banning of asylum. That's 
not the answer to this problem.
    Mr. Payne. Thank you. With that, Mr. Chairman, I'll yield 
back.
    Chairman Green. The gentleman yields back. I now recognize 
Mr. Guest from Mississippi.
    Mr. Guest. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Chairman Green. Past Chair Guest.
    Mr. Guest. Sheriff, thank you for being with us today. I 
see in your testimony you talk specifically about fentanyl 
pills, that seizures were up 610 percent since 2020. You heard 
Mr. Bier just testify a few moments ago that the solution to 
the drug problem is we must protect drug users. That the 
solution is we need to legalize fentanyl strips.
    What in your opinion is the solution to the drug problem? 
Is the solution not to close the border to stop the drug from 
ever entering the country and not to try to make it easier for 
people to use and consume illegal drugs?
    Sheriff Lamb. Yes, Mr. Guest. Well, I agree with you, you 
have to curb demand. This is like mopping the bathroom floor 
without turning off the tub water. You've got to turn off the 
tub water if you're ever going to curb demand.
    Right now, fentanyl in Arizona is 16 percent higher than it 
was all of last year. So think about what that's going to be by 
the end of this year.
    Mr. Guest. Let me ask you, we just returned from the 
border. There was a group of 11 Members of this committee who 
went to the border. That is my fourth border visit in 
approximately 18 months. Every time I've been to the border, 
Sheriff, I've heard these two statements. One is that it is the 
worst that the border has ever been. The conditions of the 
border, both for immigrants coming across the border, human 
traffic smuggling, drug smuggling. Also we hear that those 
front-line individuals, yourself, Federal law enforcement, 
State and local officials, feel as though the Federal 
Government has abandoned them, that this is no longer a Federal 
problem and now has dumped this problem in the laps of you and 
other local officials.
    Let me ask you, do you share that same opinion that, No. 1, 
the border is worse than it's ever been in your history of law 
enforcement; and then, No. 2, the feeling that the Federal 
Government has abandoned you and the men and women who serve 
under your command?
    Sheriff Lamb. Absolutely. It is far, far worse than it's 
ever been for us. I do share the opinion that the Federal 
Government has abandoned us. We have no line of communication 
outside of Arizona. We feel they've turned their back on not 
only the Border Patrol agents, but they've sent a clear message 
to us in law enforcement they're not interested in solving 
this. Every effort that States like Arizona and Texas make to 
try to fix this problem on their end because the Federal 
Government is failing, they try to thwart that as well. So we 
do feel abandoned.
    Mr. Guest. Let me ask you, Sheriff, we know that in early 
May Title 42 will be ending. Title 42 under the public health 
emergency has been a way in which we've been able to return 
immigrants to their country of origin very quickly. We know 
that DHS's own numbers, their internal numbers, which they've 
shared with us and which have been shared publicly, said that 
they believe that as many as 14,000 immigrants a day will enter 
the country once Title 42 expires. My public school math, 
14,000 immigrants a day at roughly 30 to 31 days, depending on 
what month, you're looking at 425,000 immigrants a month.
    Last December was the worst month we had ever had, 250,000. 
So we would be looking at adding another 175,000 in addition to 
the 250 once Title 42 goes away, assuming that the numbers DHS 
has provided is correct. What would that do to your community?
    Sheriff Lamb. Well, it will demolish our community and it 
will demolish communities like Yuma and not just mine. What 
happens in my backyard today will be in your front yard 
tomorrow, no matter what State you are in, so.
    Mr. Guest. Explain that statement. Very powerful statement. 
What happens in your backyard or today will affect our front 
yards tomorrow. Explain that statement, please.
    Sheriff Lamb. They estimate that 50 percent of all illegal 
drugs in America come through Arizona's borders. I would say 
that 90 percent of that comes through Pinal County on the I-10 
Interstate or I-8 Interstate on its way to Phoenix. Then it 
gets transported out to the other States. So when I say what 
happens in my backyard today will be in your front yard 
tomorrow, that's what I refer to. That's not just drugs. It is 
also humans being trafficked for slavery.
    Mr. Guest. Let me ask you this, Sheriff. We have had 
testified before this committee before, Secretary Mayorkas has 
testified on several occasions. He's told both myself and 
Congressman Bishop to my right that the border is secure. He 
has also said that in Senate hearings. He said that in 
interviews that he has given to the media.
    You there being just 50-some-odd miles from the Southwest 
Border, do you agree with that assessment? Do you agree with 
Secretary Mayorkas that the border is secure?
    Sheriff Lamb. I'd like to preface this first by saying I 
tragically lost my son and my granddaughter in December in a 
car accident. I got a handwritten note from Secretary of 
Mayorkas which touched my heart deeply. But I do not agree with 
his sentiment that the border is secure. It is not secure. It 
has never been more unsecure.
    Mr. Guest. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
    Chairman Green. The gentleman yields back. I now recognize 
Mr. Correa.
    Mr. Correa. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ms. Taylor, first of 
all, I want to say my heart goes out. I pray for you and your 
family. Back home fentanyl is touching everybody that I know.
    I live in Santa Ana, California. We are about 100 miles 
away from the border. It is touching us.
    You know, just a few years back, I was having a 
conversation with my daughter who was in high school, talked 
about drugs. She said, oh, Daddy, the drugs all over the place 
in my high school. I said, maybe I should send you to the 
private school. She said, oh, no, Daddy, there is more drugs 
there because there is more money there.
    Drug abuse, bottom line, we all have to come together and 
make sure we don't lose another death. That is what we have to 
work for.
    So as I said, I am about 100 miles away from the border. I 
have been to the San Ysidro-Tijuana border crossing about four 
times in this last year. I don't publicize it because my job is 
to find what the facts are, to make sure we drill down and 
coming up with a solution.
    When I was there, Mr. Chairman, I also saw a couple of 
interesting drug busts. Saw a woman being led from the border 
crossing on foot from her car. She had a baby in her arms, 
walking with a 5-year-old child. Looked at the port director 
and I said, what is that about? He said, we just arrested her, 
truck full of drugs.
    When I walked into the holding area where the cells were, 
looked at another young lady also having been arrested for a 
truck full of narco. They said this was an interesting one. 
That's a Marine Reservist whose life is about to change.
    I met with the port director. I met with officers in green 
and blue uniforms, and they had one basic message for all of 
us: Give us the tools we need to do our job.
    No. 1, we have all known it for years, we don't have enough 
agents out there. They are suffering from morale issues. Why? 
Because they do double shifts, forced double shift, forced.
    They need dogs to sniff out the drugs. The most effective 
technology we have are drug-sniffing dogs. They are not there.
    Finally, we have these neat things called scanners. They 
said, we need more of these. So not just on secondary, but 
every car that comes through that border is checked for drugs. 
We have known what they need. We just haven't done our job of 
getting them the resources.
    Sam Ysidro, 99 percent of the trade through that port is 
good stuff. We need to focus on that 1 percent. Sheriff, our 
statistics are kind-of there. The port director told me that in 
San Ysidro, depending on the time line you measure, anywhere 
from 50 percent to 70 percent of all drug seizures in one port. 
San Ysidro, 70 percent. We know what the solution is. Let us 
fix it.
    Less than 2 minutes I have got left. Mr. Bier, you talk 
about immigration challenges. I would say the problem we have 
is at the border we have a lot of challenges: Fentanyl, drugs, 
no doubt, but we also have a thing called refugees all over the 
world right now. I was down there about 6 months, 9 months ago. 
Look at the Ukrainian refugee challenge. There is no more 
Ukrainian refugee challenge at the border because we fixed how 
to take care of them. Now we have the Russians at the border 
along with everybody else, undocumented.
    We have 11 million undocumented workers in this country. 
Many have been here 20 to 30 years. No hope of adjustment of 
status. In the AG area, 50 percent, 50 percent of all the 
workers in the AG industry, undocumented. Let us deport them 
all and see what happens to our food chain.
    More workers, Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Bier, I have a lot 
of questions, but I guess would getting our border officers the 
resources they are screaming for, would that help stopping 
fentanyl at the border? Thank you.
    Mr. Bier. Of course it's going to allow them to interdict 
more. The most important thing to do with the asylum crisis and 
to free up Border Patrol's resources so they can interdict as 
well is to process people at ports of entry. So doing double 
duty, providing more officers----
    Mr. Correa. Let me interrupt you, but that is exactly what 
the border officers told me. Let us focus on that 1 percent. 
Give us the tool.
    Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I yield.
    Chairman Green. Thank you. The gentleman yields back. I now 
recognize Mr. Bishop, Chairman Bishop from North Carolina.
    Mr. Bishop. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Bier, I guess I 
should say congratulations. Behold your handiwork. This is what 
you wanted. This is what you have advocated for for years. This 
is what the President wanted. This is what Secretary Mayorkas 
wanted, what Minority members here have relentlessly pursued. 
You have advocated an open and uncontrolled border, mass 
immigration. You are in charge.
    Mr. Bier. No, no, I certainly haven't. I don't know where 
you're getting that. Where are you getting that?
    Mr. Bishop. I will ask you a question when I'm ready.
    Mr. Bier. Quote something.
    Mr. Bishop. I will. Mr. Mayorkas has been willing to flout 
U.S. immigration law to achieve the mass immigration that they 
and you favor. No, the migrants don't become citizens in law, 
but they certainly come to the United States and they are 
released into the United States. You consider that to be a good 
thing because you think it will reduce poverty and improve the 
economy. Let me tell you how that works.
    There was an article in the New York Times on Saturday, I 
am sure you read it, ``Alone and exploited, migrant children 
work brutal jobs across the U.S.'' Carolina Yoke, who came to 
the United States on her own last year to live with a relative 
she had never met. The number of unaccompanied minors entering 
the United States climbed to a high of 130,000 last year, three 
times what it was 5 years earlier. This summer is expected to 
bring another wave.
    Guess what? The Federal Government is supposed to be in 
touch with them and place them with sponsors through the 
Department of Health and Human Services. But although the HHS 
calls the minors it sends out a month after they go to live 
with these sponsors, many of whom they don't know, some of whom 
are sponsoring 20 children or more, the agency could not reach 
more than 85,000 children. Overall the agency lost immediate 
contact with a third of migrant children. By all means, let us 
bring more in, so more end up in the situation of Carolina 
Yoke. Carolina Yoke. Probably.
    Or you could go to the article from last July. Smuggling 
migrants at the border is now a billion-dollar business. You 
say, well, it is because they are illegal. If they weren't 
illegal, then the Mexican cartels wouldn't be able to charge 
them the fees that generate $15 billion in revenues. I would 
like to ask you how you understand that if they have a 
pervasive control of the Mexican side that the Border Patrol 
tells me they have, how come they couldn't continue to charge 
the fees that they are torturing people over and placing 
children in indentured servitude in the United States? Why 
couldn't they continue to do that in a failed narco state of 
Mexico?
    Mr. Bier. Well, we actually have experience with legal 
immigration of Mexicans in Central America.
    Mr. Bishop. You are not going to answer the question about 
why they have continued to charge the fees?
    Mr. Bier. We have H2A guest worker programs that allow 
people to come and they're not controlled by the cartels. We 
should expand those guest worker programs and allow people to 
come legally----
    Mr. Bishop. My question to you, sir----
    Mr. Bier [continuing]. And they are not to use those fees--
--
    Mr. Bishop. My question to you, sir--I am not going to let 
you filibuster my time.
    Mr. Bier. You asked me a question.
    Mr. Bishop. I am going to let you answer on my time.
    Mr. Bier. You asked me a question and you attacked me.
    Mr. Bishop. I am going to let you answer my question, if 
you answer my question. But that question is, what would 
prevent cartels from charging legal immigrants if they were 
coming across en masse?
    Mr. Bier. Well, we already have experience with this, sir. 
We have legal immigration. It's just extremely unusual and 
constrained. We have no year-round guest worker program.
    Mr. Bishop. Right.
    Mr. Bier. We have a seasonal guest worker program.
    Mr. Bishop. I am not talking about guest worker programs. I 
have asked the question twice. You don't want to answer it, 
that is fine.
    Mr. Bier. That's legal immigration, sir.
    Mr. Bishop. Let me say this. Let me say this. In January of 
this year, in January 5, in Culiacan, there was open warfare 
between the Mexican military and the Sinaloa cartels. The 
Mexican military sought to arrest Ovidio Guzman. They burned 
cars. They had Sinaloa soldiers running around on narco tanks, 
firing 50-caliber weapons at military aircraft in the air. That 
is a cartel that you are strengthening with your ideology, sir, 
and the Members of this committee, the Minority who have 
advocated for this relentlessly, and the President of the 
United States and Secretary Mayorkas. If you think it can't 
occur in the United States, just keep going.
    You can come back then when you are advocates--you know, 
the other thing you said that is remarkable to me is what you 
think we need to do is have more legalization of fentanyl 
across the United States. That sounds like a great plan. I 
would suggest you go read ``San Fransicko'' by Michael 
Shellenberger about what has happened in that city. It is 
outrageous. It is as misguided as any policy I have ever seen 
in the history of mankind and in the name of humanity----
    Mr. Bier. I said we should adopt it.
    Mr. Bishop [continuing]. In the name of humanness, I don't 
want to hear any more of your economic arguments. I am 
concerned about Carolina Yoke and those other people who have 
been distributed across the country to people they don't know, 
to homes that don't care for them, to go work in factories as 
children. That is not the way it's supposed to be, but it is 
the result of what you have advocated.
    My time has expired.
    Mr. Bier. It's not the result of what I've advocated at 
all.
    Chairman Green. The gentlemen's time has expired. I now 
recognize Mr. Thanedar from Michigan.
    Mr. Thanedar. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My 
colleagues across the aisle have focused almost single-handedly 
on the Southern Border today. We have heard very little about 
challenges we face at our Northern Border, which is more than 
twice as long as our Southern Border and critical to our 
economy.
    In my district in Michigan, many businesses and individuals 
rely on being able to travel and ship goods regularly across 
the border. Ensuring Customs and Border Protection has the 
personnel and resources needed to keep ports of entry open and 
process people and goods efficiently is essential.
    Unfortunately, a shortage of pathways for immigration has 
made our borders very difficult to manage. CBP has had to rely 
on temporary duty assignments to surge employees where they are 
most needed, which has often pulled resources away from the 
Northern Border.
    As an immigrant myself, I am a proud example of how 
immigrants contribute to American society. I was fortunate to 
have the opportunity to come to the United States to pursue my 
Ph.D. in chemistry and then gain citizenship. As a business 
owner, I have created hundreds of jobs and helped drive 
innovations. Unfortunately, this American dream is available to 
far too few. Our immigration system remains extremely 
restrictive, despite a major need for workers among American 
businesses.
    Even worse, we often hear rhetoric scapegoating immigrants 
for increasing crime and taking American jobs when all 
available evidence shows that immigrants, in fact, make us 
safer and grow our economy.
    When I was applying for a student visa, my visa was denied 
four times. At the fifth time, and I introduced the same papers 
that they denied the fourth time, they approved my visa. When I 
asked why the visa officer changed her mind, I was told that 
she was in America on a vacation and another agent looked at my 
papers and approved them.
    Chairman Green. I am glad you didn't give up, sir.
    Mr. Thanedar. Yes. Mr. Bier, would expanding pathways for 
legal immigration make it easier for CBP to manage the Southern 
Border and, in turn, allow for more personnel and resources to 
focus on the Northern Border as well?
    Mr. Bier. Oh, absolutely. We've already seen it in action 
with the Ukrainian crisis. We had tens of thousands of 
Ukrainians showing up. We created a parole process for them so 
they can fly directly from Europe to the United States with 
U.S. sponsorship. That program has worked great. They expanded 
it to Venezuela and Haiti and Nicaragua and Cuba. It's also 
reducing the number of crossings from those countries now that 
we have a legal immigration process set up for them.
    Just to give you one other example, there was a story about 
an Afghan who showed up at our border. We hear about these 
people who travel thousands and thousands of miles to get here. 
He won the diversity visa lottery. He had the opportunity to 
come legally, and as a result of the pandemic, they shut down 
all the visa processing, so he never got his green card and 
then he showed up at our Southern Border.
    So, the consequences of restricting legal immigration are 
real for our border communities. If we can get legal 
immigration right, we can fix this problem. We need people. 
You're absolutely right.
    Mr. Thanedar. Thank you, Mr. Bier. I yield back.
    Chairman Green. The gentleman yields; I now recognize Mr. 
Gimenez from Florida.
    Mr. Gimenez. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On January 29, I had 
a meeting with Secretary Mayorkas, where I asked a number of 
simple questions. He was upset that I was amazed that he didn't 
have the answer, but he said he had the answer right at his 
fingertips. So on the 31st, I sent him a letter saying, 
according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, over 4.5 
million migrants encounters have occurred at the Southwest 
Border since President Biden took office. How many of those 
individuals encountered are currently residing in the United 
States and where are they residing? What is the process for 
choosing a location to release individuals, and what sort of 
information is given to those local authorities?
    Second question, how many of these individuals have 
authorized work permits? Do those who receive work permits 
receive Federal Government assistance? If so, how many and how 
much per individual? Do those individuals who do not have 
authorized work permits receive Federal Government assistance? 
If so, how many and how much per individual?
    Finally, according to CBP sources, over 1.2 million known 
gotaways have evaded the CBP. How many of those have since been 
located by CBP? What are the current steps being taken by the 
Department of Homeland Security in processing individuals who 
have been captured and detained? How many immigrants who were 
unknown to DHS have been detained and departed over the past 2 
years?
    He said he had all that information. I asked for the answer 
to come back in about a week. I have sent this on January 31. 
Mr. Chairman, I have yet to receive a response from something 
that apparently they had at their fingertips.
    But luckily for me, today I got a call from a friend of 
mine who has some of the answers, and here are some of the 
answers. He said that he was speaking to a friend of ours or a 
friend of his down in Miami, who recently sent $20,000 to Cuba 
to have a migrant come over to Mexico. Then they were 
transported across the borders, so it was $20,000.
    When the migrant came across, he was immediately given a 
cell phone, he was given a plane ticket, and he was given 
$1,600 a month for 6 months in Federal assistance. Now, since 
he hasn't answered me, now I got to multiply 4.7 million times 
$1,600 times 6 months. It is costing the U.S. taxpayer 
something north of $45 billion. So it definitely impacted the 
United States of America.
    I want to shift gears here and, Ms. Kiessling, I really 
sympathize with what happened to you personally. I had a death 
in my family about 4 years ago from drug overdoses. I used to 
be a paramedic in the city of Miami where, you know, we saw a 
lot of drug overdoses due to heroin. Never saw anything like 
fentanyl and, you know, the deadly kind of a drug that fentanyl 
is.
    Now, you are absolutely right. Fentanyl has killed, drug 
overdoses has skyrocketed. Over 100,000 Americans probably per 
year are dying of fentanyl. Now, can you imagine if a foreign 
adversary came across the border every single day, killed 200 
Americans, and then scurried back, you know, across the border, 
how we would react to something like that? Well, it is 
happening every single day.
    We have the terrorist organizations, which are the Mexican 
drug cartels, which are profiting immensely from human 
trafficking. Before, in the Trump administration, they made 
about $500 million a year. Now they are making $13 billion a 
year on human trafficking.
    But worse than that, they are killing Americans. You know, 
about, you know, a little bit over 20 years ago, a terrorist 
organization came over and killed about 3,000 Americans. We 
went and traveled 15,000 miles and waged 15 years of war to get 
rid of that terrorist organization. We are doing absolutely 
nothing about a terrorist organization that is killing far more 
Americans every single year, and we are doing nothing about it. 
So I asked the Secretary of--I am sorry, the director of the 
FBI if he considered them to be a terrorist organization, and I 
guess because of some bureaucracy, we just can't label them a 
terrorist organization.
    But, you know, we should be doing a heck of a lot more. We 
should be making them pay for what they are doing to us. While 
I agree with an all-and-above solution to our drug problem here 
with the users, et cetera, I also think that the people that 
are supplying that weapon that is killing 100,000 Americans 
every year need to pay the price.
    Thank you. I yield my time back.
    Chairman Green. The gentleman yields; will now recognize 
Mr. Swalwell from California for his 5 minutes.
    Mr. Swalwell. Chairman, if it is OK with you, actually I 
was going to let Mr. Ivey go ahead of me and then I will go the 
next round. You good with that, Mr. Ranking Member? OK.
    Chairman Green. The Chair recognizes Mr. Ivey.
    Mr. Ivey. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Ranking 
Member. Thank you, Congressman Swalwell. I appreciate the 
chance to address the committee on this today.
    I heard a lot of comments this morning. Negligent homicide, 
perhaps a military strike in Central America are two of the 
things I have heard. I am not ready to go there, I must say, 
and I hope the United States isn't there either.
    I think, Mr. Bier, I appreciate your testimony. I will come 
back to you in a moment. But one point I wanted to make 
initially, and with the chart here behind me, is that there are 
things we can do short of military options or, you know, trying 
to prosecute the Secretary for negligent homicide. The 
Democrats have already taken steps to do that.
    So with respect to the omnibus bill, which is behind me, it 
is in the blue chart, you can see it up on the monitor, those 
are the amounts that we passed last Congress. I wasn't here 
yet, but that was an omnibus bill. I say we, based on Democrats 
we had 216 Democrats voted for this bill. Only 9 Republicans 
joined in. I don't think any of them are on this committee. Two 
hundred Republicans voted against it.
    So, the talk we are hearing about the things that need to 
happen and get done, part of that goes to the need to have 
resources to address it, like more border agents, for example. 
Mr. Correa talked about the need for surveillance at the 
border, the ability to check vehicles as they come across ports 
of entry. As, Mr. Bier, as your testimony points out, I think 
it is like 86 percent of the fentanyl and narcotics come across 
through points of entry as opposed to the other border areas. 
So why don't we focus on that?
    Well, the bill we passed helps to do that. We can go 
through all of these. I am short on time, but the point I want 
to make is on the left side, under the blue, is the money that 
was passed in the omnibus bill, primarily by Democratic votes. 
The red side is the Republican legislation that has been 
offered.
    I just mentioned most Republicans voted against the omnibus 
bill that passed last year and is actually sending resources to 
the border to help address many of these issues. I know the 
Biden administration has said that more is going to come when 
the budget proposal comes out on March 9. Under the red, 
though, as you can see, it is goose eggs all the way down the 
page. That comes from H.R. 29, which was supposedly the 
Republican leadership bill on addressing this issue.
    Just for those of you that don't know, the leadership bills 
are supposed to be statements of that party's focus. These are 
top priority bills. We need to pass these things to address the 
key problems facing the American people. So I picked H.R. 29 
because that was designated by House Republicans.
    We looked at other bills, too, and they haven't put out any 
money for that either that we can find. But I thought H.R. 29 
was representative. They call it the Border Safety and Security 
Act of 2023. They put up no funds for any of the types of 
things and the programs you all are talking about are 
challenges. I know you have different views about what the 
cause of the problems are and all of that, but I think almost 
all of them require additional resources.
    So from that old movie, I forget, ``Jerry Maguire'' I think 
it was, show me the money. Your budget shows your priorities. 
The budget priorities stated by the Republican Caucus so far is 
that they want to talk about, let me get this right, 
prosecuting Mr. Mayorkas for negligent homicide. They want to 
talk about removing Mr. Mayorkas from office. But fixing the 
border crisis, which is what I thought this hearing was going 
to be about, we don't get much conversation about that.
    Mr. Bier, I have only got a minute. Let me come to you 
quickly. We just talked a moment ago about the 86 percent of 
U.S. citizens are actually carrying the fentanyl across the 
border. Is that right?
    Mr. Bier. That's right, in 2021.
    Mr. Ivey. That is on page 7 of his testimony. By the way, 
your testimony had 115 footnotes. So, in contrast to a lot of 
the episodic and, you know, that kind of stuff, your testimony 
is clearly documented with data, which I think is an important 
way to figure out what sort of policies we should be enacting. 
Ninety-three percent of the fentanyl that was seized came 
through ports of entry, is that correct?
    Mr. Bier. That's right.
    Mr. Ivey. With respect to the legalization, you were 
accused of wanting to legalize fentanyl. I didn't see that in 
anything you wrote. I did see you talk about legalizing 
fentanyl test strips. Is that part of it, sir?
    Mr. Bier. That's right. Legalizing test strips would enable 
drug users to make sure that they are not taking fentanyl, 
which would have prevented the deaths that we're hearing about 
today.
    Mr. Ivey. Yes. By the way, we have had some of those deaths 
in Maryland. We are not on the border, but Prince George's 
County, where I am from, Montgomery County, Mr. Trone and I, he 
put a bill together to address that in part. I support it. I 
believe it is a bipartisan bill. Hopefully, the Republicans on 
the committee will support that as well.
    I see I have run out of my time. I will come back, though. 
I want to talk to you about the impact of what you have seen in 
Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua from an immigration standpoint, 
and the change in the legislation that really addressed the 
problem there in the ways that you are talking about.
    Mr. Bier. Thank you.
    Chairman Green. The gentleman's time has expired. I now 
recognize Ms. Greene from Georgia.
    Ms. Greene. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We have one job in the 
Federal Government and that is to protect the United States of 
America, our national security, and all Americans, their life, 
their liberty, and their pursuit of happiness. Since the Biden 
administration has taken over, there has been a direct result 
in the number of deaths in this country from fentanyl.
    I want you to know that in 2020 there were 4.8 thousand 
pounds of fentanyl seized by CBP. But in 2021, fiscal year 
2021, it increased to 11.2 thousand pounds of fentanyl was 
seized by the CBP. That is a direct result of Biden 
administration failure policies.
    Now, here we are and to date, fiscal year 2023, they have 
already seized 12.5 thousand pounds of fentanyl. The Biden 
administration is failing this country by not protecting our 
border and securing our border and stopping Chinese fentanyl 
from being brought into our country illegally by the cartels 
and people are dying every single day because of it.
    Fentanyl deaths have doubled, doubled, between 2 years from 
April 2019 to April 2021. Those are the statistics we have. 
Fentanyl deaths doubled from 32,754 to 64,178. This is a 
complete failure.
    I want you to know it is affecting every single State in 
the country. In Georgia, fentanyl deaths have gone up by 230 
percent. In rural northwest Georgia, my district, the 14th 
district, we are up 350 percent.
    Fentanyl does not discriminate on your skin color, your 
gender, your politics. Fentanyl kills everyone. It kills police 
officers, first responders, and tragically, fentanyl is now the 
No. 1 cause of death of young Americans ages 18 to 45. This is 
unforgivable. The Biden administration is responsible for this, 
and they have blood on their hands because they refuse to 
secure our border.
    Today we have a witness with us. Ms. Kiessling, I just want 
to tell you I am so sorry, from one mother to another, for the 
death of your two sons that died from fentanyl poisoning. That 
should never have happened. Should never have happened to you. 
It should never happen to any family. It happens to families at 
home, where I live. It happens to pretty much everyone we know.
    I want to ask--no, first, I want to thank you for being 
brave to come here and share your grief with our committee. 
But, Ms. Kiessling, would your sons be alive today if our 
government would secure our Southern Border?
    Ms. Kiessling. Absolutely. The year Caleb was born in 2000, 
there were 20,000 drug-related deaths. The year they died, it 
was five times as many. I appreciate you using the term 
``fentanyl poisoning,'' because that's what it was. It wasn't 
an overdose. They had no idea that they were doing anything 
that could kill them. It's because fentanyl got into this 
country.
    I heard this man over here from the Cato Institute, you 
know, talk about, well, it's because of demand. What I'm 
hearing him say is, they asked for it. What the hell? 
Seriously, are you kidding me?
    We need to protect our children. They didn't ask for that. 
This wasn't demand that they wanted the fentanyl. They didn't 
want fentanyl. They thought they were getting Percocets. OK, 
he's absolutely clueless. Like total disconnect from what's 
happening.
    You know, and to say, oh, let's just give them strips or 
let's give them rehab. You know what? My kids got the Federal--
my son Kyler went to Federal rehab. It was a flophouse. It 
wasn't real rehab. You're wasting your money where you're 
sending it. I'm telling you. It's a waste of money because it 
wasn't real rehab.
    The Government paid for their drugs under COVID. They 
encouraged them not to stay home. All these young people in our 
support groups, we all talk about it, how they paid for their 
drugs with the Federal funds under COVID that gave them 
incentive not to work. Healthy young people.
    Ms. Greene. Thank you, Ms. Kiessling. This Government has 
failed you and it is failing American families. It is failing--
most of all it is failing our children and our young people. 
Thank you very much.
    Chairman Green. The lady's time has expired. I now 
recognize Mr. Swalwell from California.
    Mr. Swalwell. Thank you, Chairman. Let me start with 
Sheriff Lamb. Thank you, sir, for your service in a very hard 
and challenging part of the country. I have got two brothers 
who are deputy sheriffs. My dad was deputy sheriff. I know it 
is a thankless job. I guess I just want to ask, if you had 
20,000 more Border Patrol agents surged across the Southern 
Border, would that make it easier or harder for you to do your 
job?
    Sheriff Lamb. Thank you, Mr. Swalwell, for the kind words 
as well and for your family service. Absolutely, 20,000 more 
Border Patrol agents would make a world of difference. I would 
love more deputies, too. So, yes, staffing does matter.
    Mr. Swalwell. If you were able to have more technologies, 
whether it is drone technologies, sensor technologies, to work 
with CBP to monitor and track the border, would that also help?
    Sheriff Lamb. Yes, sir. We spend a lot of money on 
helicopter fuel. We spend a lot of resources there. Where I'm 
at, if I have a regular drone, a gap to be with line of sight, 
honestly, in my area, I need a drone that's a military-style 
drone that I can fly for 50 miles. So, would love to have a 
drone.
    Mr. Swalwell. Do you agree that we need to crack down on 
any employer who hires an undocumented individual because by 
hiring somebody who is undocumented, it incentivizes migration?
    Sheriff Lamb. I've heard a lot of talk about a lot of 
things, but I think we are underestimating the amount of lost 
tax revenue that goes on every year from all the people in the 
country illegally. We are all paying taxes, and we're footing 
the bill for a lot of things. There's a lot of lost tax 
revenue. I do agree that on some levels there should be some 
crackdowns, but we also need to balance that out with the 
amount of employment that is needed in this country. This is 
your job. This is what you guys are good at.
    You know, and, respectfully, I would say the last 2 years, 
one party had command of Congress, Senate, and the Presidency 
and could have passed an immigration bill and didn't do so. Now 
here we are again, now back wherein both parties are split. So 
I think there's a lot of help we could do.
    Mr. Swalwell. You are right. In 4 years before that, 
another party had exactly what you described. I don't want to 
disvalue the benefit of an immigrant work force because my next 
point is that wouldn't you agree that having a legal 
immigration system, where people who go through the legal 
process go to the front of the line, would be a preferred way 
to adjudicate those who want to come to the United States, 
follow the rules, work, pay those taxes?
    Sheriff Lamb. One hundred percent agree. I've lived in the 
Philippines. I've lived in Panama. I lived in Argentina. I 
agree that you have to create a common-sense oath to fill jobs 
to give these people an opportunity. Me, along with every other 
law enforcement and all these people set up here, we want 
people to come here and make a better life. We just want them 
to follow the process.
    Mr. Swalwell. That is right. What I just described to you 
was essentially the 2014 President Obama-Republican deal in the 
Senate, where 68 Republicans and Democrats agreed on the 
framework that I just laid out. It is my hope that we can get 
back to that, because I agree with you, I think most Americans, 
they want to have a border that is safe and secure. They want 
to have, you know, immigrants come to this country and work the 
jobs that have a necessity to be filled. They want to make sure 
that there is a background check and that the legal process are 
the ones that go to the front of the line. It seems to be that, 
you know, the politics of this overtakes the solutions.
    On the point of fentanyl, Ms. Kiessling, I, too, want to 
share my sympathy for you and your family as someone who knows 
people who have also died. But I believe that the biggest 
culprit here, and I think the Republican colleagues of mine 
agree, is really going after China. I think China has blood on 
its hands. I don't think President Biden has blood on his 
hands. I think China has blood on its hands for the fentanyl 
crisis because, as a number of people have said, overwhelmingly 
these fentanyl is coming through points of entry and 
overwhelmingly it is U.S. citizens. The fentanyl we know is 
coming from over in China. I think internationally, we should 
all work to apply more pressure on China to account for what it 
is doing.
    Finally, I think Ms. Greene is just divorced from reality 
when she wants to use the fentanyl seizures as a way to beat up 
on the President. Because, Sheriff Lamb, you said earlier today 
that you are literally saving the country with the number of 
people that you have saved with those seizures. Where I come 
from, and my brothers make a big seizure that get guns and 
drugs off the streets, we don't use that to make a political 
point. We use that to give an attaboy, you know, to the police 
officers for what they did. So I am going to give you all an 
attaboy for what you have done. Thank you, because you have 
taken a lot of fentanyl off the streets and you have made us a 
lot safer because you have done it.
    Yield back.
    Sheriff Lamb. Thank you, Mr. Swalwell.
    Mr. Higgins. The gentlemen's time has expired. We recognize 
Mr. Gonzalez from Texas for 5 minutes of question.
    Mr. Gonzalez. Thank you, Chairman. I am a retired Navy 
master chief. I spent 20 years in the military. I spent 5 years 
in Iraq and Afghanistan. I fought in two wars. I know what war 
looks like. I know what war smells like. I know what war feels 
like. We are at war.
    We are at war with China every single day. I just got back 
from Taiwan. I spent 10 days in the Pacific. Every single day, 
China attacks us via cyber and our allies. Every single day, 
China partners with drug cartels and they poison our children 
with fentanyl. This is intentional. You see it over and over 
again. We got to act like we are at war. We can't have a 
Presidency that views it as competition. It is not competition 
when China is killing our children. It is not competition when 
China is poisoning our country.
    My first question is to Sheriff Lamb. You know, Arizona is 
very similar to Texas. This is our third year of this crisis. I 
feel as if Arizona is about a year behind, especially in some 
of the rural areas. I know my good friend Juan Ciscomani is 
working on this issue. But one of the questions I have for you 
is, I have got a bill, Security First Act, that designates 
cartels as terrorist organizations. In your opinion, do you 
think cartels are terrorizing migrants?
    Sheriff Lamb. Absolutely. You can ask the people that have 
been decapitated, chopped to pieces, enslaved in the sex trade, 
the families who have lost loved ones. That strikes terror into 
the fear of a lot of people and the people that live along that 
border, so that it would be the definition of a terrorist 
organization and I agree that they would qualify as one.
    Mr. Gonzalez. You know, literally, every single day I get a 
text message or I get a call from my constituents saying things 
are out of control. Yesterday I got a picture of imagine if you 
are in your back--imagine if you are in your house and five 
people walk through your yard. Not who cares if they are 
American citizens or not? They walk through your area, right? 
They intrude on your area.
    My question to you is, what is happening in Arizona? 
Because it seems it is starting to get more traction, people 
are hearing to see what is happening in other parts of the 
Texas--or other parts of the country outside of Texas. But once 
again, the terror for us has not stopped. What I am seeing is 
our constituents, the people that I represent in Del Rio, in 
Eagle Pass, I mean, earlier today, I was with a gentleman named 
Mr. King from Del Rio that was walking me through it. He goes, 
hey, Tony, I got two young kids, 3- and 5-year-olds, and every 
day I am under this attack. What is happening in Arizona?
    Sheriff Lamb. Well, the ranchers can't even let their kids 
out on their own to ride the range. You know, we have families 
that are concerned every day. My son fell into an addiction 
with fentanyl. Luckily, he overcame it and was clean before he 
ended up passing away in a traffic accident. This is affecting 
every American family, and Arizonans are not immune from that.
    Mr. Gonzalez. My next question, also to you, Sheriff, is 
this is what I am seeing, too, is the cartel manipulates our 
legal system. I am very concerned with unaccompanied children. 
This is something that really isn't getting a lot of attention. 
I am curious if you have come across any situations where folks 
were connecting with a fake parent, if you will. I know a lot 
of that falls in the Border Patrol area, but when it comes to 
unaccompanied children, what are you seeing in Arizona?
    Sheriff Lamb. Yes, I'm part of the Alliance. I'm the 
chairman for the Alliance to Combat Transnational Threats where 
we work with our Federal partners. I will tell you, contrary to 
a common belief, the majority of children are being separated 
by the cartels, not by the American government. We had, I 
believe, 130,000 unaccompanied minors last year alone, and they 
are many cases being released back to cartel members because 
there's no way for them to know where they came from or prove 
that these are family members. So it's absolutely happening.
    They're taking advantage, like you said, of our policies 
here. They're very astute to what we believe and what we're 
trying to do.
    Mr. Gonzalez. My next question is in regards to funding. 
One of my colleagues brought up funding earlier. I sit on the 
Appropriations Committee, and Operation Stonegarden funds is an 
area of, look, money will never solve this problem. Throwing 
more money at the problem doesn't solve it. But if you put--if 
you put resources toward areas that work, you can tackle the 
problem correctly.
    I pushed for 3 years to increase Operation Stonegarden 
funds. Like I said, that program needs to be refined. They need 
to kind-of take the gloves off, allow them to do some things. 
But can you speak to Operation Stonegarden? How is that?
    I know in Texas, one of our counties in Brewster County, 
Sheriff Dodson, he was able to add an extra deputy, you know. 
In that area he represents, it is larger than Delaware. Imagine 
getting an extra deputy. But how is it in Arizona with 
Stonegarden funds?
    Sheriff Lamb. We appreciate Operation Stonegarden. It gives 
us the ability to work with Border Patrol on a daily basis. It 
funds my helicopter, my fuel, and all these things that we not 
only use for border security, but we use for search and rescue 
to save not only smugglers left behind, but to save other 
citizens that have been hurt while they're hiking or whatever.
    Sheriff Lamb. Thank you, Sheriff. Chairman, I yield back.
    Chairman Green. The gentleman yields back and the Chair 
recognizes Ms. Jackson Lee for 5 minutes.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Mr. Chairman, thank you so very much. I 
certainly do appreciate the leadership of my Ranking Member 
over the decades, I can almost say. I certainly hope that you 
will join him, as I know you have great leadership as well. We 
have spoken about some issues that we want to work on.
    Just for the record, Mr. Chairman, we are crafting a 
fentanyl bill that we hope will draw bipartisan support and we 
will be happy to share it with this committee and the 
committees that I am working with, along with the Ranking 
Member.
    To the witnesses let me thank you for the sacrifice that 
you have made to even be here today. If we didn't have the 
opportunity to speak to the American people, we would not have 
the opportunity to be guided by the American people because we 
are public servants.
    I certainly want to say to Mrs. Kiessling, and I hope I am 
with adequate pronunciation, that you have my deepest sympathy 
to have the loss and to experience what you experienced. We 
make a promise here, as I have done sitting on this committee, 
that we will put you first and we will find every solution that 
we can to keep dangerous criminals, but also to ensure the 
protection of the American people. So my deepest sympathy to 
you and I thank you. Your story is needed in this room today.
    I also want to thank Sheriff Lamb for certainly 
representing law enforcement across America. We all have law 
enforcement in our communities and I can assure you they are 
our neighbors as well as our protectors.
    I just came back from the border briefly with a senatorial 
deposition and talked to the men and women at CBP. Stood by, in 
fact, walked to the point of demarcation between the United 
States and Mexico, watched individuals with day passes, I will 
just use that as a parochial term, coming legally across. But 
at the same time, watching canines and also being shown a small 
vehicle driven by an American young woman, unfortunately, that 
was loaded down with drugs, I think in this instance marijuana.
    The CBP felt very comfortable with their ability to detect 
and to find the amount of drugs coming through the legal points 
of entry. My concern was this young woman, 19 now, has got a 
life ruined. They even said to me she probably got $100. I am 
hoping not. I am just stunned that she was not in college or 
somewhere else that would have been more productive. But I 
think it sets the narrative that is actually the facts of what 
we need to deal with in keeping the borders safe.
    We know that we have a very extensive border. What you see 
in San Diego, you may not see in Yuma, you may not see in El 
Paso, you may not see in Brownsville, Laredo, and otherwise.
    So I want to indicate that, first of all, the app way is 
working, not out of my speculative lips, if you will, but out 
of experts that are at the border. It is working. It is 
challenging. You have to have the languages, you have to make 
sure people have access to it, are in places where they could 
actually connect. But all teams have set up individuals 
handling the apps. More resources are needed for those handling 
the apps and receiving the information, but that process seems 
to have some merit.
    So, I see this has Secretary Mayorkas in here. Let me 
compliment the Secretary for being an immigrant and rising from 
his meager beginnings and serving us with great passion and 
assertiveness and firmness about securing the American border.
    I want to go to you, Dr. Bier. Our colleague, Congressman 
Ivey, offered a wonderful array of support that we gave to the 
system of immigration, $1.88 billion that Democrats did. I 
remember about 2004, I offered and worked with then-Senator 
Kerry for a major contribution. So, I only have about 10 
seconds left. Let me ask you about the Democrats' approach, but 
more importantly, that one question about our migrant mothers 
and children bringing over drugs to make us unsafe. Or is there 
another scheme that is being used to bring over those drugs? I 
will yield to you right.
    Mr. Bier. Asylum seekers are not bringing drugs. They're 
the ones we heard about who turn themselves in, who request 
asylum. You're talking about the ones who are waiting at ports 
of entry to be able to use a phone app in order to apply for 
asylum. They're not bringing drugs either. We need a process 
for them to free up law enforcement resources to interdict 
people who are coming to do harm.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Do you believe that this process that 
Governor Abbott is using $4 billion and putting the National 
Guard at the border is enhancing any great safety in that 
particular small area? Would you just give a general assessment 
on that?
    Chairman Green. The Chair will allow another 30 seconds.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Mr. Chairman, you are very gracious. I am 
sorry. I read the clock wrong. I am so sorry.
    Mr. Bier. Look, very quickly, I think ultimately what the 
Texas Governor has to deal with is a very difficult situation. 
But we are seeing a lot of people being arrested for very minor 
crimes and being locked up. They're not getting into the 
immigration process as they should and are entitled to under 
our laws.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. I thank the gentleman. I thank the 
Chairman.
    Chairman Green. For an academic curriculum for our military 
DOD schools that is based on the life of Martin Luther King, I 
appreciate your partnership in that.
    I now recognize Mr. LaLota from New York.
    Mr. LaLota. Thank you, Chairman. I want to say thanks to 
our witnesses for being here, especially to you, Ms. Kiessling, 
for having the courage to share your story. I am the father of 
three wonderful daughters, and I couldn't imagine what you have 
gone through, so I appreciate you sharing that with us. 
Hopefully, it provides us the perspective and the courage as 
well to tackle this problem as well.
    I represent a suburban district on Long Island. We are 
about 2,000 miles north of the Southern Border. But because of 
the country's open borders and my State sanctuary city 
policies, New York State has, too, become a border State. But 
just this past week, I had the opportunity to visit the border 
down in El Paso to witness first-hand what is going on with the 
1.2 million gotaways and the 100,000 fentanyl poisons that we 
have had over the past year--1.2 million gotaways. That is more 
people than 8 different States. The reality is our Federal 
Government has no idea where these people are. But what we do 
know is that 100,000 people died from fentanyl poisonings last 
year. That is 250 per day, the equivalent of a commercial 
airliner crashing every day.
    We know that that fentanyl is being made in China and being 
smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border. Sheriff Lamb, you noted 
that the impact of the border crisis isn't just in your State, 
isn't just in the United States' border States, but across the 
United States. In my home county of Suffolk, like I said, 2,000 
miles north of the Southern Border, recently we saw 400 deaths 
due to fentanyl poisoning. I think that we all agree that more 
must be done to stop these illegal substances from entering 
outer communities.
    So my question is to you, Sheriff. What resources do you 
need to find and seize the illegal drugs that are coming across 
our borders so that we can best fight this scourge that is 
killing so many Americans? What impact, if any, in your 
opinion, would a wall or a fence or other physical barrier do 
to help you do your job, sir?
    Sheriff Lamb. I'll answer the second thing first. The wall 
absolutely works. I mean, I have a wall around my house. It's 
not stopping anybody, but it's certainly deterring them from 
coming into my yard. It is a piece of border security. We got 
to put that together with the right amount of personnel, the 
right equipment, all of that works together to do it.
    My county will always have a problem because we have an 
Indian reservation that actually goes into Mexico. There will 
be--they won't build a wall there. So even in the good times, 
we still have people coming through.
    What we could do is continue to fund or increase the 
funding for Stonegarden. It gives us the ability to really help 
Border Patrol. I would love to see a lot more equipment 
available for local law enforcement to be able to do it. For 
us, it's still going out and doing it the old-fashioned way, 
and that's traffic stops and getting people that are trying to 
be trafficked through the deserts, the cartels' activities 
through there.
    Mr. LaLota. Can you speak or share also of any of the 
technology that you could use to help do that job better, sir?
    Sheriff Lamb. Absolutely. Thank you, sir. I would love to 
have a drone, a drone that was a military-type drone, because 
the expense, I need one that flies 50 to 100 miles that we can 
monitor our desert areas. Because within the desert areas south 
of my county is where the cartels are pushing people who have 
criminal records. I don't know if most people know, in the last 
year, I think it's the last year, even if it was 2 years, 
there's been over 40,000 people apprehended that had criminal 
convictions here in America for crimes and that they are also 
wanted by law enforcement. So, think about the amount of people 
that are getting by us that we're not--that are actually 
criminals already.
    Mr. LaLota. Thank you for your dedication to this issue, 
Sheriff. It matters to your county, but it matters way north in 
my county as well.
    Chairman, I yield back.
    Chairman Green. The gentleman yields. I now recognize Mr. 
Magaziner from Rhode Island.
    Mr. Magaziner. Thank you, Chairman. If you all indulge me, 
this is my first time speaking on this committee, so I am going 
to just speak for a moment at a high level.
    My hope is that this committee will work together on a 
bipartisan basis to enact smart policies to protect Americans 
against anyone who would do us harm, including by improving our 
security at our borders and points of entry. Everyone on this 
committee is going to have a decision to make: Whether we are 
going to work together to get things done or if we are here for 
partisan grandstanding.
    This committee, as I understand it, has a reputation for 
being one of the more bipartisan committees in Congress 
historically, where Members do work across the aisle in the 
interest of protecting the safety of the American people. I 
hope that that will continue. That is one of the reasons that I 
chose to join this committee as a freshman.
    It is disappointing to me that already I hear not all and 
not most, but a few Members using their time to take shots at 
the other side or the President or other political figures 
instead of having a productive conversation about solutions. I 
hope that will not be the tone going forward because there are 
plenty of things that we can do to improve safety and security 
at the border that I think we can all agree on.
    We should all agree on securing the border in ports of 
entry by improving technology, by making sure there are 
adequate resources available, by finding ways to collaborate 
across agencies and with friendly nations to crack down on 
human trafficking, drug smuggling, and cartel activity. Making 
the asylum process more efficient, so that those who are doing 
the right thing and looking to do the process the right way 
don't run into a wall of unnecessary red tape and delays; and 
addressing the root causes of migration that are causing the 
vast majority of people to come here.
    We also have a real and pressing crisis with the opioid 
epidemic and particularly fentanyl that is ravaging our 
country, and we should attack that problem where it exists. I 
am glad that there has been discussion today about the fact 
that over the last couple of years, more than 90 percent of 
fentanyl seizures have occurred at legal ports of entry with 
American citizens, unfortunately, making up more than 80 
percent of those apprehended. I don't say that to point fingers 
at anyone. I just say that to make sure that we focus our time 
and attention on where the problems are most severe, so that we 
can save the most lives. So, we need to do everything that we 
can to ensure that we stop fentanyl and other drug trafficking 
by employing the technology and the manpower where it is needed 
the most.
    At the same time, we can't lose sight of the fact that the 
vast majority of migrants who are coming here seeking entry to 
the United States at the Southern Border are doing so because 
they are fleeing violence and persecution. These are human 
beings who are running away from something in the vast majority 
of cases, and they deserve to be treated with humanity and 
respect. Those are our national values.
    So, I hope as a committee, we will endeavor to work 
together in a sober way to address these and the other 
challenges that our homeland faces. I hope that going forward, 
we will not lose sight of the fact that the intelligence 
community has been clear that domestic extremism is one of our 
other most serious threats. Over the last 3 years, 80 Americans 
have been killed by violence motivated by domestic extremism, 
with white supremacy and anti-Government extremism being among 
the most common motivating factors; that we need to redouble 
our efforts to strengthen our infrastructure and our 
cybersecurity.
    We just saw in the last few weeks reports of Vladimir 
Putin's regime attempting to shut down the electric grids and 
LNG facilities through cyber attacks in this country in the 
wake of the invasion of Ukraine a year ago. That is a sobering 
reminder of how much damage can be done to our country if we 
let our guard down.
    So, this work is important. We owe it to the American 
people to focus on all of the threats to the homeland, 
including those at the Southern Border. I look forward to 
working with my colleagues to do just that.
    Just expanding on the fentanyl crisis, Dr. Bier, I would 
ask you once again, in your judgment, where is the biggest 
source of the problem from a Homeland Security point of view, 
and what can we do as a committee on a bipartisan basis to stop 
the flow of these deadly substances into our country?
    Mr. Bier. Well, the heart of the problem is at the ports of 
entry. We know this from a lot of different lines of evidence. 
First of all, we have a very large sample size of people who've 
been interdicted crossing illegally. Those people are bringing 
hardly anything fentanyl-wise into the country.
    The other thing to look at is it's not that Border Patrol 
cannot interdict drug traffickers. For example, marijuana, 75 
percent of marijuana arrests or seizures occur between ports of 
entry, and that's because the drug is too bulky in most cases 
to bring it through the ports. DEA's own investigations have 
found that it comes through ports of entry. They testified the 
vast majority come through legal ports of entry.
    We also know because the cartels themselves are telling us 
this because they're warring over control of the ports of 
entry, they would not be fighting a war over the control of a 
port of entry if it was not the most valuable place for drugs 
to enter the country.
    Chairman Green. The gentlemen yields back. I now recognize 
Mr. Brecheen of Oklahoma.
    Mr. Brecheen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you to the 
witnesses. Thank you for the impassioned plea to change a 
system that is leading to the death of hundreds of thousands of 
Americans.
    As we have talked about today, this is something that is 
impacting all of us. I have got a young adult that I was close 
to many years ago. He was actually a part of my church youth 
group. I got word 2 weeks ago that he had, through an 
addiction, sad addiction, I had not been around this young man 
for years, he had actually overdosed 2 weeks ago. Within, you 
know, a text message exchange of condolences to his father, you 
know, the father's response was nobody should have to go 
through this. So, Ms. Kiessling, nobody should have to go 
through what you are experiencing.
    In 2021, there were 299 fentanyl overdose deaths in my 
State of Oklahoma. In 2018, that figure was only 39 to your 
point earlier. That is a staggering almost 700 percent increase 
and we know it is attributed to what is happening at the 
Southern Border. Just this month, an illegal alien pled guilty 
for an illegal drug operation in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with 3,500 
grams of fentanyl powder, 1,300 grams of fentanyl pills were 
discovered from his home. That is enough to kill all the 
residents of Oklahoma City, 650,000 people.
    Two weeks ago, a young man, as I described, you know, that 
I was close to years ago, passed away. It hits home. In 
addition to that, in my district, in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, 
there was a 21-year-old named Zach Sanders experimenting with 
pills, took a pill laced with fentanyl, and he died of a drug 
overdose in January 2021. After his death, his mother sponsored 
a billboard in that city, in Bartlesville, with a photo of Zach 
and the words that said, ``Check your pills. Fentanyl kills.''
    You know, what is happening is astounding. Bartlesville 
Police Department, the city had 12 overdose cases in 2021. In 
just the first 10 months of 2022, they had 53 confirmed 
overdose cases. We know by the national statistics, the 
majority of deaths, 18 to 45 years of age, is fentanyl and the 
climb of overdoses in correlation to fentanyl.
    I am going to hold up a graphic here. It is a penny. 
Sheriff Lamb, this is a question to you. You know, from what we 
know, it is two milligrams, which is demonstrated here, of 
fentanyl sized against the penny. That is technically a lethal 
dose, enough to kill. We know that last year, 13,000 pounds, 
13,000 pounds of fentanyl was seized in 2023. That is enough to 
kill 333 million Americans 9 times over.
    So, Sheriff Lamb, my question to you in your estimation, 
describing this, describing--to Ms. Kiessling's point, your 
children were thinking it was Percocet and ended up being 
fentanyl, what percentage of what you are seeing, from your 
experience, boots on the ground, is coming from the cartel of 
this problem?
    Sheriff Lamb. One hundred percent, sir. One hundred 
percent's coming from the cartels. This is also, the fentanyl, 
it doesn't take much at all. They're putting it in everything. 
They're putting in the cocaine, the heroin, the hence the 
marijuana. They're putting in everything.
    I wanted to mention the Xylazine. I hope I can take just 1 
second.
    Mr. Brecheen. Hey, that is a horse tranquilizer, right?
    Sheriff Lamb. It's a horse tranquilizer.
    Mr. Brecheen. I grew up in the horse industry. I am 
interested in hearing what you have to say about this.
    Sheriff Lamb. It's not approved for human use, but here's 
what is alarming, it's a nonopiate opioid, which means that 
naloxone and Narcan will be ineffective on it. The Phoenix Fire 
Department is starting to see it. Other States' departments are 
starting to see it. So, the cartels are starting to add 
Xylazine into the fentanyl and it will be impervious to the 
Narcan or the naloxone that we often administer to each other 
and to other people who are suffering from a poisoning of 
fentanyl.
    Mr. Brecheen. So the cartels run the gamut. So, as a 
colleague said earlier, that you agree that we need to see them 
as a terrorist organization. In terms of seeing them as a 
terrorist organization, are they not the new form of organized 
crime in America, the new mob that we know? As I was on the 
border last week and right across from the suburbs of El Paso 
that we are hearing about operational city-wide control by the 
cartel. Why should we not be concerned that that is moving into 
America like the mob was able to take hold of control of areas 
in the United States?
    Sheriff Lamb. Mr. Brecheen, we should be concerned as 
Americans. That violence will spill over, it has spilled over, 
and it will continue to spill over into America. It'll affect 
American lives. I mean the fentanyl already is. The DEA, I 
forgot to tell you, the DEA is now saying that 75 percent of 
the fentanyl doses they're finding are lethal doses. That's a 
staggering number and it's going to affect a lot of American 
lives.
    Mr. Brecheen. Then quickly, Mr. Chairman, to Mr. Bier, do 
you think we have an invasion at our Southern Border?
    Mr. Bier. There's certainly a problem at our Southern 
Border, yes.
    Mr. Brecheen. Would you define as an invasion?
    Mr. Bier. No, not under our Constitution. Constitutionally, 
an invasion is a military action by a foreign government.
    Mr. Brecheen. So, Mr. Chairman, I will just say Article IV, 
Section 4, guarantees to every State a republican form of 
government and protect those States against an invasion. So the 
witness was very careful in knowing that I probably knew the 
Constitution the way he answered that question.
    Mr. Thanedar. James Madison agrees with that definition as 
well. He wrote about what constitutes an invasion under our 
Constitution as well.
    Mr. Brecheen. I yield. Thank you.
    Chairman Green. The gentlemen yields. I now recognize Mr. 
Garcia from California.
    Mr. Garcia. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank our 
witnesses, all of them. Thank you very much for being herein, 
especially Ms. Kiessling. I am, of course, like everyone on the 
committee, very sorry for your loss.
    I do want to start just my remarks by just making something 
just crystal clear. Democrats care about human trafficking and 
taking it on. We care about a safe and secure border. We agree 
that we need to prosecute and take on drug cartels, and we 
deeply care about the fentanyl crisis, which we know is 
happening. It is a serious issue taking on and really causing 
damage to communities across the country. But in listening to 
some of our colleagues here today, it is also pretty apparent 
that we also care about something that many of our Republican 
colleagues do not care about, and that is an orderly and humane 
immigration system.
    Now, I am an immigrant myself. I came to the United States 
as a young child and I became a U.S. citizen in my early 20's. 
I benefited from the last time our country actually passed an 
immigration reform system, which was actually over 35 years 
ago. In fact, it was Ronald Reagan, a Republican President, who 
signed that bill that allowed me and my family to become U.S. 
citizens. So I appreciate that.
    I am also a small group of Members of Congress that are 
immigrants, and certainly on this committee. I like to say that 
becoming a U.S. citizen was the proudest day of my life. I know 
first-hand that immigrants, like myself and like my mom, who 
cleaned houses and worked in clinics, cleaning clinics, are 
patriotic Americans. I consider myself an American patriot. I 
also know that real patriotism, American patriotism, is 
actually about helping people.
    We also know that folks that are coming to our country are 
seeking help, many are desperate. They are coming because in 
the tradition of America, this is a place where we afford the 
American Dream to so many from across this world. We are a 
Nation of immigrants. So these broad attacks that we are 
hearing today on immigrants today, I believe is un-American.
    Immigrants are not all drug dealers as some would suggest. 
We also, as immigrants, agree that, of course, we need to 
secure our borders and have an orderly process at our border. 
We want to work with our colleagues to also understand that our 
ports of entry are also places where fentanyl is clearly coming 
in in huge numbers. But we also need to have conversations 
around drug treatment programs, mental health care, and access 
to care, none of which is happening today at this committee. 
What I don't want to do is conflate asylum seekers with the 
flow of drugs.
    Mr. Bier, I want to thank you for your work that you have 
done on this topic. I would ask you to remind us once again 
what the percentage is of all the folks that are arrested by 
Border Patrol possessing fentanyl. What is actually that 
percentage?
    Mr. Bier. Zero-point-zero-two percent.
    Mr. Garcia. So, not even 1 percent. Correct, sir?
    Mr. Bier. Way less than 1 percent, less than one-tenth of a 
percent.
    Mr. Garcia. I think that is an important point because you 
wouldn't know that by hearing from so many of my colleagues 
here, particularly on the other side of the aisle at this 
committee. Is it also true that 91 percent of drug seizures at 
checkpoints are from U.S. citizens?
    Mr. Bier. That's right.
    Mr. Garcia. So, contrary to the myth that is being, I 
think, proposed today by the Chairman and so many others, a 
vast majority of the fentanyl entering the United States is 
actually by U.S. citizens at legal ports of entry. Is that not 
true?
    Mr. Bier. That's right.
    Mr. Garcia. So, Mr. Bier, consistent with your own 
research, I believe immigrants are also less likely to commit 
crimes in this country. Isn't that also true?
    Mr. Bier. That's right. According to the Census Bureau, 
immigrants, both legal and illegal immigrants, are half as 
likely to end up behind bars and convicted of crimes in this 
country than U.S.-born residents.
    Mr. Garcia. It is pretty clear that just listening to some 
of our colleagues today, you wouldn't know any of those facts 
to be true. All of that is actually true. It is documented and 
I think it is important to continue to raise those not just in 
this committee, but across the country. So, thank you, sir.
    I want to note that the Biden administration has also 
fought for resources to increase a secure border, as we know 
this, to modernize our infrastructure and technology, support 
border agents, improve screening at our legal ports of entry. 
In fact, as we know, the infrastructure bill included $430 
million for Customs and Border Protection of which most 
Republicans in Congress voted against. So I think it is 
important that at this moment we work together to deploy these 
resources.
    Today, I especially find it troubling that my colleagues 
are willing to discuss fentanyl at the border, but we don't 
have witnesses discussing all these treatment programs, drug 
addiction programs, or ways to help people that are suffering 
or that need mental health support.
    This conversation in front of us in this committee is 
broken and wrong. The American people are being misled by many 
Members of this committee and, in the process, are demonizing 
vulnerable people, including immigrants across this country.
    I hope we can work together to build a just and humane 
immigration system in our country, one that respects asylum 
seekers. I hope that we can get serious about addiction and 
universal health care. But, unfortunately, those are not the 
conversations that we are having here today. I am hopeful at 
the next committee, at the next meeting that we have, that we 
are not using this committee for political stunts and for 
misinformation.
    Mr. Chairman, I yield back my time.
    Chairman Green. The gentlemen, yields. The Chair recognizes 
Ms. Laurel Lee from Florida.
    Ms. Lee. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate you holding 
this hearing and I appreciate each of our witnesses for being 
here with us today to discuss this important topic. Since 
President Biden took office, one simple fact has become clearer 
and clearer every day: Border security is national security. 
This is an issue that affects each one of our communities. It 
is an issue that is endangering our neighborhoods, our 
families, and our children.
    In my own community, authorities in Polk County recently 
confiscated 11 pounds of fentanyl. Following this drug bust, 
our attorney general announced that authorities had seized 
enough fentanyl in just a few months to kill every single 
Floridian. Our responsibility here is very serious, and I 
appreciate you all sharing your insights with us today.
    Sheriff, I would like to begin with you and return to the 
subject of your staff, your resources, and the effect this is 
having on your operation. As a former prosecutor and judge in 
Florida, I understand the very broad set of responsibilities 
that our local sheriffs have that include investigating all 
types of matters, everything from bank robberies to murders, 
rapes, and things that are happening in the community. Can you 
tell us, please, how this border crisis is diverting the 
resources that you have and the deputies that you have away 
from the other important functions that you are tasked with 
serving in your community?
    Sheriff Lamb. Absolutely. Thank you, Ms. Lee. I just wanted 
to comment real quick that just because they're American 
citizens doesn't mean they're not correlated with the cartels 
and doing their work. The cartels do that on purpose. So, we 
can sit in here and make it an immigration issue when it's 
really about human trafficking and drug trafficking into 
America, and those people that come here are being victimized.
    We end up paying the price on the resource level. I have to 
dedicate my helicopter. We had 10 events yesterday alone where 
we worked with Border Patrol: one a 9-1-1 call, the other 9 of 
them were groups of people trying to come into this country 
illegally in camouflage clothes, carpet shoes. I have my 4 K-9 
units dedicated completely to interdiction, catching drugs and 
people on the way in, and money and guns on the way back to 
Mexico. I have an anti-smuggling unit. We have Stonegarden 
units. These are all units that should be dedicated to my 
community to continue to protect them. However, because the 
Federal Government is not getting the job done on the border, 
and this is no knock on our troops, the troops, the Border 
Patrol, ICE, they're phenomenal, they do their job, but they've 
become babysitters because of the amount of people coming in. 
Then we end up picking up the slack, and it has a tremendous 
impact on our resources.
    Ms. Lee. One thing that I want to be sure we share with the 
public here today, as a prosecutor, I worked on cases that 
involved human trafficking, the trafficking of women and 
children. I would like for you to share with us what you are 
seeing in your community around this horror of human 
trafficking.
    Sheriff Lamb. Absolutely. We see every day, we can go out, 
my guys are out working today, we'll probably stop 3, 4, or 5 
vehicles piled with people, sometimes up to 15 to 20 people in 
a single vehicle that are being trafficked by the cartels, 
often being extorted because they couldn't pay the full amount 
at the border or being put into the sex trade. So, yes, these 
are the impacts that we're seeing, and we're seeing that number 
increase every day exponentially. It's not OK as Americans to 
allow people to be put into the sex trade, whether it's women 
or children. The cartel is doing it, and they're using American 
citizens to do it.
    Ms. Lee. Thank you. Ms. Kiessling, I would like to now take 
just a moment with you. As the mother of a school-aged child, I 
think it is very important that part of what we do today is 
share with parents your story. If you would, what would you 
like to share with other parents, parents of school-aged 
children, about what happened to your sons and what you think 
our communities and our schools need to know about this crisis?
    Ms. Kiessling. Thank you. I was a very active parent, 
starting with the problem with vaping in middle school. I went 
to the schools and, you know, they're putting the drugs in 
vaping. It's not just nicotine, but they put things like molly, 
all kinds of things go into the vaping. These kids are getting 
it at a young age. That was their first addiction. I did 
everything a parent should do.
    There weren't resources at the school. My friend, I 
mentioned her, my former law partner's husband is a sheriff's 
deputy, he's a detective. He said when there's identity theft, 
they have a huge packet for everybody. They have stuff on the 
sheriff's website, everything you need to know how to restore 
your identity. There's nothing on fentanyl, there's nothing on 
Narcan, there's nothing that parents need to know.
    When I asked for resources, we had a sheriff deputy in the 
school every day. Again, this is a top 5 school in the State of 
Michigan. They said, well, there's a program. You can take your 
kids to, you know, the jail and have them visit. That was it. I 
mean, there were no resources. I asked them for resources, for 
information for drug addiction. They had nothing. There was 
nothing for parents like me.
    You know, I tried. It's not for lack of trying. My kids 
grew up, their birth mother was a drug addict. She died 6 
months after them. Their uncle died a month after them. He was 
actually doing fentanyl on purpose.
    My son had 4 times--I'm sorry, 5 times the amount of 
fentanyl in his system that was enough to kill. Again, this is 
not an overdose. This is poisoning. It's murder. It's homicide. 
Please use that language. Please don't say overdose. You know, 
you need to have Narcan in your home.
    The Federal program that the State had for the money that 
they were getting from the Federal Government for rehab was not 
real rehab. It was just a flophouse. We need real rehab.
    Ms. Lee. Thank you for being here and thank you for sharing 
your story. Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Chairman Green. The gentlelady yields. I now recognize Mrs. 
Ramirez from Illinois.
    Mrs. Ramirez. Thank you, Chairman. We have heard a lot of 
fearmongering and name-calling today. I have to say, every time 
our undocumented community is referred to as illegals and 
criminals, it shows how my Republican colleagues choose to 
recognize or not recognize someone's basic humanity. It is a 
choice, a policy choice with real consequences. As the only--
only--Member of Congress in a mixed-status family, you are 
saying that my family, my husband and I, should be broken 
apart.
    Today's hearing is called, ``Every State is a Border 
State,'' and it is clear that the intention is to stoke fear 
and hate. I am proud to represent the people of Illinois, Third 
Congressional District, all people, regardless of their status. 
Twelve million of our neighbors are still lacking legal status 
and they are facing deportation right now.
    To be absolutely clear, and I want to make sure it is on 
the record, we need humane, comprehensive immigration reform, 
and we need it now. We need to uphold the right to asylum. In 
the mean time, we need protections in place against 
deportation, and we need work permits issued for all 12 million 
people.
    Mr. Bier, there are approximately 600,000 DACA recipients. 
They pay $6.2 billion in Federal taxes and $3.3 billion in 
State and local taxes every single year. DACA recipients, like 
my husband Boris, aren't children anymore. Many of them are 
parents themselves. They are homeowners. They are teachers. 
They are child care workers. They work in our hospitals. These 
numbers don't even count the many undocumented immigrants who 
are not DACA recipients, who pay payroll taxes, who pay into 
Social Security, but can't claim the benefits themselves.
    I strongly support protecting and expanding Social 
Security. At a time when some of my colleagues on the other 
side of the aisle would even consider cutting Social Security, 
what are the consequences of deportations on our country's 
ability to keep Social Security solvent?
    Mr. Bier. The Social Security Administration estimates that 
we have a shortfall of about 70 million people that we will 
need by 2050 to keep payments in line with the revenues that 
they're receiving. So, deporting 10 million people would 
certainly not be in the interest of maintaining Social Security 
payments.
    Obviously, people who are in this country are paying taxes. 
You've mentioned the payroll taxes. The vast majority of these 
people are working through borrowed identification or other 
means by which they ultimately do pay taxes. So, it's not the 
case that all people who are working under the table, that's 
not how it happens in most cases.
    Mrs. Ramirez. Thank you. So, let us talk about the border. 
For those of you that know me, know my story well, my mother 
crossed the border 39 years ago, pregnant of me. If it weren't 
because she crossed the border, escaping poverty, nearly dying, 
escaping rape, and all the things that she experienced, this 
woman here wouldn't be the first Latina in the Midwest in 
Congress. So first, I want to say thank you to all of the 
people who courageously risk everything so that they can escape 
poverty and save their lives coming to a place where we call 
America that we love so much.
    Many immigrants arriving at the Southwest Border are 
fleeing dire situations right now, and they are making that 
journey through jungles and through deserts to the border 
extremely vulnerable. Recently, the administration proposed a 
rule limiting migrants' eligibility to apply for asylum with 
CBP's One app. Now, let me ask you, if they travel through 
another country before arriving to the U.S. border and did not 
seek asylum first, like a similar measure that was attempted 
with the Trump administration and the courts didn't allow, what 
would happen to an asylum seeker who did not have access to a 
smartphone or couldn't use the CBP One app application?
    Mr. Bier. Well, if they cross the border illegally, because 
that would be their only other option, then they would be 
removed. The administration is talking about removing people to 
Mexico again, possibly removing people to their home country if 
they can. In either case, what we've seen under Remain in 
Mexico in Title 42 is that when you ban asylum and you send 
people back to Mexico, they recross the border illegally. It 
creates a more dangerous and less secure border. We keep 
hearing about these evasions. Well, if people can request 
asylum and enter this country legally, then we do not have this 
problem.
    Mrs. Ramirez. Thank you, Mr. Bier. I would just end in 
saying that we have to stop criminalizing people and we have to 
get to the root cause of the problems. That is what I intend to 
do in this committee.
    I yield back, Chairman.
    Chairman Green. The gentlelady yields. I now recognize Mr. 
D'Esposito of New York.
    Mr. D'Esposito. Thank you, Chairman. First, I want to 
comment that this past weekend we made a trip with the Homeland 
Security Committee. This was my second trip to the border. At 
no point in speaking to local business owners, at no point in 
speaking to educators, and no point in speaking to farmers or 
law enforcement, at no point did they ask what party we were 
from. So, the claims of my colleagues from the other side that 
we are politicizing this is absolutely ridiculous. The fact of 
the matter is, is that we want to give people the opportunity 
for the American Dream, but we want them to come through the 
front door and we want to do it the right way.
    The Biden border crisis is more than illegal immigration. 
Criminals, weapons, illegal narcotics are coming across the 
border in alarming numbers. In fact, the vast majority, 74 
percent, of MS-13 members that the Department of Justice have 
prosecuted from 2016 to 2020 were unlawfully present. Sadly, 
Long Island is all too familiar with the destruction of violent 
gangs like MS-13. Just last month, an MS-13 member pled guilty 
for the murder of an 18-year-old in Cow Meadow Park in my 
district, in March 2021, and the attempted murder of a Nassau 
County Police Department detective.
    Sheriff Lamb, I want to first thank you for your service. 
As a former NYPD detective, I committed, like you, my career to 
keeping our streets safe, and I know the value of every single 
layer and level of law enforcement. Can you talk about the 
differences between your relationship now with the Federal 
Government during the current Biden administration versus the 
last administration?
    Sheriff Lamb. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. D'Esposito, and 
thank you for your service as well.
    Night and day difference. Night and day difference. We 
always have a great working relationship with Border Patrol, 
ICE agents, but it stops outside of the State of Arizona that 
did. As a sheriff, I went to the White House 10 times under the 
last administration, not for political reasons, but to address 
these same issues. We felt like we had a seat at the table. We 
no longer feel like we have a seat at that table.
    Mr. D'Esposito. Thank you. In what ways do you believe our 
country's current border policies incentivize gangs and other 
criminals to enter this country, specifically in the cartel and 
their involvement?
    Sheriff Lamb. You know, we can talk politics all day, but 
when we ask people why they came here, they said because Joe 
Biden said we could. This is the reality of what we deal with 
every day. So, clearly, the policies that have been--whether 
you call them open borders or not, they are affecting people 
coming here, and the cartels are taking advantage and marketing 
to people in other countries to come. By default our lack of 
policies or weak border security is actually bringing those 
people to the doorsteps of the cartels to be enslaved, to be 
taken advantage of. Like the--Ms. Garcia mentioned, these are 
good people, many of them, but they're being taken advantage of 
by the cartels that our policies have encouraged.
    Mr. D'Esposito. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you again for 
your service.
    As you know, New York City Mayor Eric Adams had to beg for 
Federal assistance for putting arriving aliens in hotels and 
building make-shift shelters throughout the five boroughs at a 
rate of $65,116 per individual. Our mayor estimates that New 
York City taxpayers will need to spend $2.8 billion, $2.8 
billion with a B, in the next fiscal year to deal with the 
rapid influx.
    Doctor, according to your testimony, as CEO of the Yuma 
Regional Medical Center, your hospital has seen a massive 
influx of migrants seeking care starting in the fall of 2021. 
It is similar to the educators that we spoke to across the 
border and, quite frankly, the ones that I am talking to across 
Long Island that are having budget shortfalls because they 
don't budget for the new individuals coming to the school in 
the school year. How many of these migrants have no way to pay 
for the care provided in your facilities? Can you speak to the 
true cost of Joe Biden's border crisis on the American economy?
    Dr. Trenschel. We've not received any compensation for any 
of the migrants that we've provided care to. The border policy 
has been significant for us. As I said, Yuma's got a population 
of 100,000 people. We've had 300,000 people cross the border 
and we're the only hospital they can come to. All that care 
provided to them is for free. It impacts our organization 
significantly. Those are dollars we would normally put back 
into the community, put back into resources to serve additional 
folks.
    Mr. D'Esposito. Well, Doctor, I guess you would probably 
agree, it is not free. We are paying for it. It is definitely 
not free.
    Dr. Trenschel. Correct.
    Mr. D'Esposito. Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Chairman Green. The gentleman yields back. The Chair 
recognizes Mr. Goldman from New York.
    Mr. Goldman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Sheriff Lamb, do you 
believe that Donald Trump won the 2020 election?
    Sheriff Lamb. Well, Joe Biden is the President now.
    Mr. Goldman. No, what do you believe?
    Sheriff Lamb. I believe that he lost the election. I mean, 
there's questions about how our election integrity--I don't 
know how that relates to homeland security, but I have 
questions and I----
    Mr. Goldman. Wait, sorry, you don't know how election 
integrity relates to homeland security? Is that your testimony?
    Sheriff Lamb. My testimony is it does relate because we're 
seeing how bad it's been under the last 2 years. So yes, it has 
a correlation.
    Mr. Goldman. Election integrity?
    Sheriff Lamb. What's that?
    Mr. Goldman. You said you don't believe election integrity 
relates to homeland security. Is that your testimony?
    Sheriff Lamb. I don't know how this election, the question 
of whether I think the last President won or lost it, is about 
this today. Election integrity absolutely matters.
    Mr. Goldman. OK.
    Sheriff Lamb. I believe that there are a lot of Americans 
that have questions about election integrity. My job is to make 
sure that we ensure that we have safe and secure elections.
    Mr. Goldman. Do you believe that there was fraud in the 
2020 election?
    Sheriff Lamb. There's always fraud in every election.
    Mr. Goldman. Really?
    Sheriff Lamb. There's significant--whether--however many 
people it is, there are people that vote for people that are no 
longer--that are deceased. There are people that vote when they 
don't live in a certain residence.
    Mr. Goldman. You are right. So, let me ask you this 
question. Do you think that there was fraud that had a material 
impact on the results of the 2020 election?
    Sheriff Lamb. As a law enforcement official, I have seen 
zero evidence that would show me otherwise.
    Mr. Goldman. Right. Do you believe that those people who 
invaded the Capitol on January 6 were ``very loving Christian 
people''?
    Sheriff Lamb. I think that there were a lot of good people 
there that were exercising their First Amendment right. I think 
they have in many ways been lumped in with a group of people 
that had bad intentions.
    Mr. Goldman. OK. So, you would agree that not everyone at 
the Capitol on January 6 would be considered a loving person?
    Sheriff Lamb. I agree that there were people that violated 
the law and I think those people are being held accountable.
    Mr. Goldman. OK. Because you have been quoted as saying 
that the rioters who were there on January 6 were very loving 
Christian people. Did you see the videos that day on January 6?
    Sheriff Lamb. Yes, sir. I've seen a lot of videos where 
there were a lot of good people that were not rioting. You're 
saying that the rioters, that's different than the people who 
are coming in exercising their First Amendment rights. Those 
people----
    Mr. Goldman. So, you don't support----
    Sheriff Lamb [continuing]. Had every right to exercise 
their First Amendment right.
    Mr. Goldman. You don't support the rioters who beat the 
police and invaded the Capitol. Is that right?
    Sheriff Lamb. Absolutely not. I am a rule of law guy. If 
you broke the law, you should be held accountable.
    Mr. Goldman. So, do you support then the 950 prosecutions 
that the Department of Justice has brought arising out of the 
events of that day?
    Sheriff Lamb. Well, I know nothing of those 950 
prosecutions. I wasn't there for them. I don't know the details 
of those cases. So, for me to come and say that I support every 
one would be a little bit naive because I don't have the 
information.
    Mr. Goldman. Sure. Do you support the 10 convictions that 
the DOJ has obtained for seditious conspiracy?
    Sheriff Lamb. I am unaware of the 10 convictions nor do I 
know anything about those cases.
    Mr. Goldman. Really? Because they involve the Proud Boys 
and the Oath Keepers. Are you familiar with those 
organizations?
    Sheriff Lamb. I am aware of the Proud Boys and the Oath 
Keepers.
    Mr. Goldman. Have you ever interacted with them or spent 
any time with them?
    Sheriff Lamb. I know what you're alluding to. I went to a 
2A rally and had some people come shake my hand, who I now--
somebody says they're Proud Boys. They had no indication of 
that.
    Mr. Goldman. Did you host a rally for your future Senate 
run where there were Oath Keepers and Proud Boys there?
    Sheriff Lamb. No, I did not host a rally. There was a 2A 
rally where I mentioned that I was strongly considering a 
Senate run where I have now learned that there were some Proud 
Boys there.
    Mr. Goldman. Would you agree with me that seditious 
conspiracy is a conspiracy to overthrow the Government through 
violence?
    Sheriff Lamb. I'm not sure what the code says exactly, but 
that sounds pretty familiar.
    Mr. Goldman. OK. Would you agree that the violent overthrow 
of our Government is a threat to our national security?
    Sheriff Lamb. Absolutely.
    Mr. Goldman. I asked that question because you have been on 
record as questioning many things about the 2020 election, many 
things about the January 6 events, and you just said that 
election integrity is not directly related to the subject of 
our hearing today, which is our homeland security. I am happy 
to hear that you agree with me that the conspiring to overthrow 
our Government, as members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers 
were convicted of, is a threat to our homeland security and is 
a threat to our national security.
    Last question. Do you think that the Mexican drug cartels 
were created in 2020?
    Sheriff Lamb. No.
    Mr. Goldman. They have been around for a long time, haven't 
they?
    Sheriff Lamb. Yes.
    Mr. Goldman. OK, I yield back. Thank you.
    Chairman Green. The gentlemen's time has expired. The Chair 
recognizes Mr. Ezell from Mississippi.
    Mr. Ezell. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the 
opportunity to discuss how the Biden administration's failure 
to secure the border affects not just the States along the 
Southern Border, but also spreads through communities in 
Mississippi and across our Nation.
    Sheriff Lamb, first, I want to thank you for your service 
and your willingness to testify today. As a former sheriff, I 
applaud the work that your deputies and yourself are doing, and 
I know the increase in drug seizures has been great and a big 
burden upon you. However, as we both know, the more illicit 
drugs that are caught, the more we are missing.
    Based on your experience, how have the drug trafficking 
networks expanded their operations since 2020?
    Sheriff Lamb. They've expanded their operations 
tremendously. As we heard earlier one of the Members mention, 
they were making about $500 million a year. They are now making 
about $13 billion a year. They're doing it large in part on 
taking advantage of these people that are trying to come make a 
better life for themselves. They are paying cash up front, 
which is only emboldening the cartels and giving them a lot of 
money on hand to be able to buy weapons and increase their 
footprint along our Southern Border.
    Mr. Ezell. Thank you. What action should the Federal 
Government take to stop the flow of illegal drugs into our 
communities?
    Sheriff Lamb. We should secure our Southern Border. That 
includes continuing building the wall where it hasn't been 
built, increasing the amount of Border Patrol agents we have, 
increasing technology, turning on the technology that is there 
that has been--not been turned on for political reasons. These 
are all things that need to happen so that we can continue to 
get back to securing our border and helping these people who 
are being trafficked and the drugs from killing American lives.
    Mr. Ezell. Thank you for that. Unfortunately, fentanyl 
poisonings continue to surge. In a single year, fentanyl deaths 
more than doubled in my home State of Mississippi. In your 
testimony, you call the I-10 corridor that runs straight 
through my district--and I would like to hold up this photo of 
an I-10 seizure in Jackson County, Mississippi, which is over 
1,000 miles away from the Southern Border. Here you can see 29 
pounds of mixed heroin and fentanyl which was found in a single 
traffic stop. Clearly, border counties are not the only ones 
affected by this crisis.
    Does your department have the resources it needs to handle 
the surges in smuggling and traffic incidents?
    Sheriff Lamb. No, sir, we do not have the resources. We do 
the best we can with what we have. We're proud of what we do 
stop, but there's a lot more that needs to be done.
    Mr. Ezell. When you come in contact with a human drug 
smuggler, how does your department determine where these 
criminals are heading?
    Sheriff Lamb. Through a series of questions. We have a lot 
of guys that are very skilled at what they do in interdiction, 
recognizing things that don't line up in their statements. Then 
we start to work that back and figure out where it came from. A 
lot of them, as you can imagine, don't like to talk to us and 
don't like to tell the truth, but we do the best we can to find 
out where they came from.
    Mr. Ezell. One problem that we had in Jackson County, which 
is still a problem, if we end up taking one of these folks that 
we have arrested to the hospital, do you have to spend 
resources and manpower on sitting on that person that is in the 
hospital?
    Sheriff Lamb. Mr. Ezell, yes. In the case that they 
committed a crime, let's say they ran from us and we pursued 
them, there was a crime, we would have to sit on them until we 
could book them in. In a case where there was no crime 
committed, we would not have to go sit with them. They would be 
turned over to Border Patrol and Border Patrol would likely 
take that.
    Mr. Ezell. But that would take a man off of his duties on 
patrol and have to sit in the hospital.
    Sheriff Lamb. Yes, sir, it would.
    Mr. Ezell. Well, thank you for your answer. The Biden 
administration has allowed the crisis at the border to persist. 
As we have shown today, every State is a border State.
    With that, Mr. Chair, I yield back.
    Chairman Green. The gentlemen yields. The Chair now 
recognizes Ms. Clarke from New York.
    Ms. Clarke. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank our Ranking 
Member, I thank our witnesses for their testimony here today.
    The mission of the Homeland enterprise is vast and complex. 
It is important for the success of the Homeland mission that we 
focus on the challenges of law enforcement in the midst of an 
urgent migrant crisis. The conflation of the opioid and 
fentanyl crisis with asylum seeking is quite unfortunate. It 
distracts from the real work of surging resources and personnel 
required to win against drug cartels and drug dealers. As the 
daughter of immigrants, I find it extremely distasteful to sit 
here and look at how we have used the plight of our fellow 
Americans to exploit what is clearly xenophobia.
    Ms. Kiessling, I am deeply sorry for your loss. But I know 
that with the proper resources dedicated to drug programs, drug 
rehabilitation, education, some of the things that you 
mentioned to some of my colleagues that you did not have access 
to in your child's high school, we could save many more lives. 
I hope that you will become a more vocal advocate for 
delivering those resources to your community because I will 
stand shoulder to shoulder with you in making those resources 
available.
    Dr. Trenschel, you have a hospital that could do great work 
in that space. I hope you, too, will become an advocate for the 
type of treatment that our Nation needs to get past what has 
been a decades-long addiction crisis.
    Our decades-long broken immigration system needs reform. I 
am hopeful that when we clear the air of the smoke that has 
been--the smokescreen that is been erected by those who would 
use our crisis of addiction to demonize those migrants who have 
risked life and limb seeking safety and freedom in one of the 
greatest nations in the world, that we will get down to the 
business of a 21st-Century immigration system in the United 
States of America.
    Mr. Bier, you mentioned that immigrants to be key 
contributors to our economy, and having a restrictive 
immigration system only leads to millions of people who want to 
contribute their skills and hard work to do so illegally, which 
leads to violations of the law. How can we ensure that 
immigrants who are big contributors to the American economy can 
have lawful pathways while they are awaiting legal status 
without the fear of being ripped away overnight and sent back 
to the dangerous conditions from which they have escaped?
    Mr. Bier. We have to start by looking at what's causing 
people to come to the border. Of course, when you look at Cuba 
and Venezuela, these are socialist governments that have 
destroyed their economies and trapped people in poverty for 
many years now. Nicaragua is going in an authoritarian way. 
We've seen what's happening in Central America with the 
violence and crime there. Mexico, we hear all the testimony 
about the cartels and the violence that is occurring. People 
are coming because they're being driven out, not because they 
really want to leave their homes. So we need processes and 
procedures that allow them to apply to come legally, and that 
will free up resources for law enforcement to come.
    We've already seen successful programs to do this, whether 
it be the Ukrainian program we talked about earlier or the 
programs for Venezuela and these other countries that were just 
rolled out in January, saw a massive drop in people arriving. 
That's because people know if they can apply legally, if 
there's a viable shot, they will go the legal route because of 
all of the risk coming illegally to this country.
    Ms. Clarke. Thank you very much. Not to mention Haiti.
    Mr. Bier. Of course. Right, I'm sorry.
    Ms. Clarke. With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Chairman Green. Thank you. At this time, I will recognize 
the gentleman from the great State of Alabama, Mr. Strong.
    Mr. Strong. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To the witnesses, I 
thank each of you for joining us here today.
    As my colleagues mentioned, last weekend several of us were 
able to make a trip to the Southern Border and witness first-
hand this administration's border crisis. This trip confirmed 
what we already knew to be true: our Southern Border is in 
crisis. It is hard to imagine anyone could reach a different 
conclusion.
    The impacts are felt all around the country. My district 
specifically has seen a drastic rise in the number of fentanyl-
related deaths. We are also seeing more drugs on the streets, 
which many local law enforcement officers attribute to the 
Mexican cartels and this administration's immigration policies.
    I have spent almost 4 decades as a firefighter-emergency 
medical technician and have personally worked over 100 
overdoses. I believe it is no coincidence that the last 2 years 
have seen a drastic uptick in these calls.
    I have several photos here to share with you today. Each of 
these are from drug busts in Madison County, Alabama, within 
the last 6 months. I am proud of the tireless work of the law 
enforcement officials to get these drugs off the streets of our 
community.
    These three pictures alone amount to enough fentanyl to 
kill the entire population of Alabama. This is from only two 
seizures in Madison County, each of which originated in Mexico. 
You will notice that in these pictures, STAC team badge number 
12. That right there is Officer Billy Clardy's badge. He went 
to Sparkman High School. We went to school together. He was 
killed in Huntsville, Alabama, on December 6, 2019, working to 
protect North Alabama from these drugs and was killed by a drug 
dealer.
    This issue is not a Republican issue. It is not a 
Democratic issue. It is an American issue, North, South, East, 
West; rich, poor; Black, White, Latino, Indian. Drugs do not 
discriminate. Every family has been affected one way or the 
other. Fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, human smuggling is rampant at 
the Southern Border. No American is safe.
    Ms. Kiessling, I am sorry for the circumstances that have 
brought you to this United States--to this hearing. No parent 
should have to experience what you have. As a father, my heart 
goes out to you. You may have seen reports that a province in 
Canada will decriminalize possession of several drugs, 
including heroin, morphine, fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, 
and MDMA. Do you think this is the right approach to take?
    Ms. Kiessling. In Oregon, they've been legalizing or 
decriminalizing a bunch of different drugs. Fentanyl is not 
something that you can just control like that. Fentanyl is used 
for anesthesia and surgery. So, you have to have an 
anesthesiologist present to make sure someone doesn't die. OK? 
What, are we going to have a country full of anesthesiologists 
provided for all of them?
    I heard him say, oh, you know, let's make fentanyl strips 
available. You know, so many of the children that are dying are 
young. They have no knowledge of anything like this. You think 
the drug dealers get--they're trying to kill off our children. 
The reason why they're adding this new drug in, the sedative 
for--you know, tranquilizer for horses, is because they don't 
want them to be saved by Narcan. They're trying to kill off our 
population. This is a war.
    Mr. Strong. Thank you. You mentioned that drugs were indeed 
from Mexico. Does it make you feel better to hear this 
administration says there is no crisis at the Southern Border?
    Ms. Kiessling. Complete ignorance. That's absolutely 
clueless to say something like that.
    Mr. Strong. Thank you. Sheriff Lamb, thank you for being 
before us. I have had an opportunity to meet you once before. 
In your testimony, you highlighted the importance of local law 
enforcement in dealing with the crisis at the border. Over the 
last several years, some of my colleagues across the aisle have 
called to defund law enforcement and police. What would that 
mean for local efforts at the border if law enforcement 
agencies did not receive--if they were to start cutting 
funding?
    Sheriff Lamb. That's a great question, sir. If you cut out 
the local funding, it would be even worse of a problem. A lot 
of the stops you're seeing and a lot of the busts, the drug 
busts, are happening on a local level because it's getting 
through the borders. So, even though they say 90 percent is 
happening at the checkpoints, in Arizona, it's 52 and 48 
percent.
    Mr. Strong. Yes.
    Sheriff Lamb. So, the majority of ours is--half of it is 
still coming through between the checkpoints.
    Mr. Strong. Thank you. Dr. Trenschel, as you are well 
aware, we have an opioid crisis in the United States, 
particularly with fentanyl's rise in popularity. Prior to the 
border crisis, how often would you say that you have treated 
patients for fentanyl poisoning?
    Dr. Trenschel. It's definitely gone up since the borders 
were opened. I don't have those specific numbers, but it's 
definitely an increase.
    Mr. Strong. Thank you. Within the last 2 years, have you 
experienced an increase in treating patients with fentanyl 
poisoning?
    Dr. Trenschel. Yes, we have.
    Mr. Strong. Could you please describe what the treatment 
for fentanyl poisoning entails and the average cost to treat--
--
    Chairman Green. The gentlemen's times has expired.
    Mr. Strong. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Chairman Green. I need to move on. I now recognize Ms. 
Titus from Nevada.
    Ms. Titus. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You know, we have heard 
a lot about fentanyl, which is tragic certainly, everybody 
agrees with that, and also other illegal drugs brought by 
criminals, brought by drug dealers, brought by cartels. This is 
a crisis at the border. But I want to go back to something Mr. 
Swalwell brought up a little bit, just for emphasis.
    I would like to remind this hearing and these folks who are 
here that when this came up for us to consider putting more 
resources into fighting this drug-carrying over the Southern 
Border, there are all but two--two--Republicans who are 
currently serving in this Congress voted against the 
appropriations bill. All but two voted against it.
    Now, that appropriations bill had critical provisions to 
help DHS manage the border. It included $400 million for 
inspection systems to detect drugs. I would like to hear from 
those people who think this is such a big problem, why they 
didn't vote for the resources to go after it, so we wouldn't 
have tragedies like the deaths from fentanyl. We wouldn't have 
the cartels coming over here. We wouldn't have the crisis at 
the border. We would be doing something about it. But no, only 
two Republicans voted for those resources in the appropriations 
bill to deal with these questions, these problems, these crises 
that you all have mentioned and harped on throughout this 
hearing.
    I would like to change the subject just a little bit to 
talk about the immigrant communities in this country. I live in 
Las Vegas. It is an international city. People from all over 
the world come there and people from all over the world live 
there. We have growing populations from Asia as well as from 
Latin America. They work back of the house, front of the house, 
gardening. They are contributing members to the community. I 
have a lot of mixed-status families. You will have one person 
who is a citizen, one person who is a DREAMer, one person on 
TPS, and one person who may not even know what their status is, 
but they are all contributing to the economy.
    Mr. Bier, would you talk a little bit about some of the 
ways, positive ways that immigrants who come here do make 
contributions to our economy, to our culture, to our society in 
general?
    Mr. Bier. Of course. I mentioned $250 billion in State and 
local tax revenues that are paid by these people. They work at 
higher rates. They are employed in occupations that actually 
create jobs for other U.S. workers. So, if you look at a 
restaurant, you'll see the immigrants. A lot of times they'll 
be working in the back of the restaurant creating jobs for 
Americans in the front of the restaurant. The same thing goes 
on across the entire economy.
    These people are contributors. They're expanding the 
economy by trillions of dollars every year. That's helping 
bring down the cost of goods and services because the more our 
economy grows, the more items are available on the shelves of 
every store in America. That's a benefit directly to Americans.
    Ms. Titus. I just met with the National Franchise 
Association and the Latin Chamber in Las Vegas and we were 
talking about how franchises often help people become more 
prosperous and contribute to the community because they fund 
the Little League teams and things like that. Most of the 
franchises in Las Vegas have been opened in the last several 
years by immigrants. Women, immigrant women are going into 
small businesses and building those numbers, just as you said.
    Mr. Bier. We know that immigrants are twice as likely to be 
entrepreneurs than U.S.-born residents. It's part of their 
culture, right? If you're willing to get up and be 
entrepreneurial enough to come and change what country you're 
living in, you are willing to take another risk to start a 
business and contribute in that way, which also benefits 
consumers by having another option available to them.
    Ms. Titus. Could you mention briefly, you said it before, 
but about the guest worker programs that could go all year that 
might be helpful to areas dependent on tourism, like Las Vegas?
    Mr. Bier. Oh, absolutely. So, we have two seasonal guest 
worker programs for nonagricultural and agricultural. But you 
cannot get a guest worker visa for industries like dairy and 
livestock that are year-round and have a need throughout the 
season.
    Of course, also in Las Vegas, you're dealing with tourism. 
Again, they're ineligible for these visas because of the fact 
that you have to show it's a seasonal nature, a temporary job. 
So that restriction is ultimately creating this process, why 
people come over to fill those jobs, they're coming in 
illegally because there's not a legal option available to them.
    Ms. Titus. It is no longer just a season in Las Vegas, it 
is a year-round.
    Mr. Bier. Yes, absolutely. It's, you know, the growth of 
tourism industry in many places desperate for workers. You're 
seeing--I've seen it, I'm sure every Member of this committee 
has seen it, the decline in service as a result of the worker 
shortage throughout the country.
    Ms. Titus. Thank you very much. I yield back.
    Chairman Green. The gentlelady yields. Without objection, 
the gentleman from Arizona, Mr. Ciscomani, is permitted to sit 
on this panel and ask questions of the witnesses.
    Mr. Ciscomani. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank 
you to my fellow Members of the committee for allowing me to 
wave onto this committee as a guest to have the opportunity to 
discuss such an important issue to my community. I want to 
thank the panel as well for taking the time to be here with us.
    A little background, I was born in Mexico. I am an 
immigrant myself. First time I was on Capitol Hill was in 2003 
as an intern and I still had a green card at that time as an 
adult. I am back now 20 years later as a Member of Congress. 
Only in America can we have these kind of opportunities. This 
is the land of opportunity. Like Mr. Garcia and Mrs. Ramirez, 
we enjoy the opportunities this country offered us and our 
parents. That is why I am so proud to be here, so proud to be 
an American, and so proud to be an immigrant as well, serving 
in Congress today.
    I really believe that we can have a conversation about 
immigration and about border security. I care about both. I 
have lived both, obviously, being an immigrant and also living 
in the border community. Today I think it is important to focus 
the issue of what we are talking about.
    My case and my question for the sheriff--thank you for 
being here, Sheriff Lamb, and I appreciate your time in making 
the trip up here. It is always good to see you at home, but 
always nice to see you here as well. It is around the area that 
we have been discussing around fentanyl.
    In Arizona, fentanyl trafficking has taken its toll on our 
communities. More than 8,600 pounds of fentanyl have been 
seized along the Southwest Border in our first 4 months in this 
fiscal year. This is enough to kill more than 1.9 million 
people. Could you speak on the impact that this has on our 
young children and those who are true victims?
    I want to take the chance real quick to, ma'am, offer you 
my deepest condolences. I am a dad of 6, 3 boys and 3 girls. I 
can't imagine the pain that you have gone through, and I thank 
you for your bravery and being here. I have actually spoken to 
two different mothers this last week that have lost their 
children to this tragic crisis.
    Sheriff, would you mind speaking on the fentanyl issue, 
please?
    Sheriff Lamb. Yes, sir. Thank you. It's always great seeing 
your honor, Mr. Ciscomani.
    Yes. The fentanyl is the leading cause of death not just 
amongst Americans between the ages of 18 and 45, it is the 
leading cause of death amongst children in Arizona. Forty-four 
children in 2021 died from fentanyl poisonings, 7 were under 
the age of 1, 2 were under the age of 5. Those are some 
staggering statistics. In my county, we are at 73, in 2021, 
people that were poisoned, not just children. Now that is--the 
number is currently sitting at 61. Until we get all the numbers 
back in from the medical examiner, we will exceed that 73 as 
well. So, it's a big problem for our children.
    Here's the key point, and it's been mentioned earlier: it 
is 100 percent preventable. In our jail I do a ton of reentry 
programs. I help people with mental health addiction, drug 
addiction. We work tirelessly because inevitably the sheriff's 
office, we are your de facto mental health institutes, and we 
have to deal with more addiction issues than most people do. So 
we work hard to try to stop it, but it is affecting our 
children.
    Mr. Ciscomani. Thank you, Sheriff. I will take one more 
question. I want to be respectful of the time. Right on the I-
10 that goes through your entire county, I call that, and many 
others, too, the artery of our State for trade, for commerce, 
for transportation between the two major cities in the State, 
also for trafficking. One of the things that we have been 
seeing is an increase in high-speed chases in this area, many 
that are starting in Cochise County and then go through Pima 
County and also Pinal County, where lives are being lost not 
only of bystanders and innocent drivers, but also of those 
being trafficked in these infamous rollovers that we are seeing 
an increase on. Would you mind touching on that as well, 
please?
    Sheriff Lamb. Absolutely. One of the statistics we had is 
461 percent increase in the last 2 years for pursuits involving 
human trafficking. A lot of times these are kids driving, so 
they run and they have 10 people in their car. A lot of times 
they'll lose control of the vehicle, causing the injury and 
death to not just themselves sometimes or innocent citizens, 
but also to those people that are just trying to come here to 
make a better life. They become the victims of this as well.
    Mr. Ciscomani. Thank you, Sheriff. Again, thank you to the 
panel and thank you to my colleagues.
    Mr. Chair, I yield back.
    Chairman Green. The gentlemen yields back. The Chair 
recognizes Mr. Garbarino from New York.
    Mr. Garbarino. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Ranking 
Member, for having this hearing, and all of our witnesses have 
been here for quite a long time today. We really appreciate it. 
But this just shows, I think, I have been here, this is my 
third year here and this is probably one of the best attended 
hearings from Members with all the questions. So I think you 
can all understand how important this issue is.
    I am from New York, as you heard, Long Island, and as we 
have heard today that fentanyl does not discriminate. No 
family, no community, no region is safe from the threats 
presented by trafficking a fentanyl across the border. In 2021, 
Suffolk County, where I am from, lost 425 residents to 
overdoses from opioid pain relievers, including fentanyl. New 
York State Health Commissioner reported last year that three-
quarters of all overdose deaths in New York State now involve 
fentanyl.
    Sheriff Lamb, you mentioned in your testimony the number of 
fentanyl pills seized by your deputies increased by 610 percent 
since 2020. I know my colleague, you just answered a couple of 
questions about what your deputies are doing. Can you get a 
little more involved into what some of the technologies your 
team has found useful in detecting these pills that the cartels 
are bringing over?
    Sheriff Lamb. Absolutely. Thank you, sir. There is a lot of 
technology you can use that will test the density of the 
vehicle to be able to see if they're packing it inside the 
vehicles. But a lot of this stuff is very rudimental. We had a 
vehicle that we stopped that had three trays of food in it. Our 
deputies were searching the car, moved one of the trays, it was 
heavier than it probably should have been, they stuck a stick 
inside the tray. It only went down about this deep in a tray 
this deep. So, then they scraped the food back only to find 
three trays had 227,000 fentanyl pills in those trays of food.
    We also stopped a car that had a driver. The passenger in 
the front seat was dressed as a nun. She had a veil over her 
face. She had a Bible on her lap. Our investigation ended up 
revealing that she had 8 pounds of granular fentanyl, which 
would kill millions of people, underneath her dress in that 
traffic stop. They will use every tactic they can.
    Mr. Garbarino. So what do you need from us? What kind of 
tools can we send you?
    Sheriff Lamb. Well, I'm a big States rights guy. I would 
love for the Government to back off and let the States do our 
deal. But we would love----
    Mr. Garbarino. But, I mean, if we could send you some 
technology or some, you know, some actual, you know--what 
technology could we do? Not rules, not, you know, mandates. But 
what could we give you? What could Congress send you that would 
help you do your job?
    Sheriff Lamb. Sir, I appreciate you asking that. I would 
love--we could use drones. We could use some of these--the, I'm 
not sure, the thermometer--the thermal machines that actually 
read the thermal of the vehicle.
    Honestly, we could just use more funding for resources, 
getting our guys out on the streets. A lot of this is stopped, 
just like I mentioned earlier, with good old-fashioned police 
work, and the guys not willing to give up.
    Mr. Garbarino. I appreciate that. I am not sure if the 
clock started, but I guess I----
    Chairman Green. I think it started. Yes, I think your time 
is up.
    Mr. Garbarino. I will yield back. Thank you.
    Chairman Green. All right. The gentleman yields. I think 
the Ranking Member wanted to add something to the record, so I 
now recognize Mr. Thompson for the purpose of placing something 
into the record.
    Mr. Thompson. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I ask 
unanimous consent to submit statements from the First Focus 
campaign for children, Human Rights First, and Coalition for 
Human Immigrant Rights.
    Chairman Green. So ordered. Thank you, Mr. Chairman--or Mr. 
Ranking Member.
    [The information follows:]
    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    
    
                                ------                                

                    Statement of Human Rights First
                           February 28, 2023
                      i. about human rights first
    Human Rights First is an independent, non-profit organization that 
for more than four decades has pressed the United States to take a 
leading role in promoting and defending human rights. Established in 
1978, Human Rights First's mission is to ensure that the United States 
is a global leader on human rights. The organization works in the 
United States and abroad to promote respect for human rights and the 
rule of law. The organization's work includes advocacy and action to 
uphold the right to seek asylum and to counter the anti-democratic 
extremist movement that represents an existential threat to our 
democracy. The organization also partners with many of the Nation's 
leading law firms to provide pro bono legal representation to refugees 
seeking asylum, and over the years has helped thousands of refugees 
receive asylum in this country.
                              ii. overview
    Human Rights First is alarmed at the scale and dangers presented by 
orchestrated rhetoric that paints migrants and people seeking asylum at 
the U.S. border as a threat or an ``invasion.'' Human Rights First's 
experts on extremism and antisemitism have repeatedly warned that this 
rhetoric leads directly to increased violence, and threatens our 
multiracial democracy. One invited witness has a history of 
perpetuating disinformation and bigoted rhetoric. As outlined below, 
lawmakers must refuse to provide a platform for this rhetoric. Rather, 
they must call out this racist fear-mongering and counter 
disinformation with reliable and accurate data regarding the right to 
asylum, the U.S. immigration system, and current conditions at the 
border.
    We cannot allow bigoted narratives and disinformation to dominate 
critical conversations aboutimmigration policy and our Nation's asylum 
laws. Instead of prolonging, codifying, using, or resurrecting unjust, 
inhumane, and dysfunctional policies aimed at decimating asylum that 
were initiated under the Trump administration, the Biden administration 
and Members of Congress should uphold U.S. refugee law, the human right 
to seek asylum, and U.S. commitments under international refugee law. 
This includes abandoning efforts to ban or deny asylum to refugees who 
are otherwise eligible for asylum under U.S. law.
    Instead, the United States should lead by example, uphold refugee 
law at home, and take the other steps outlined at the end of this 
statement.
           iii. anti-immigrant narratives pose violent threat
    Bigoted and dangerous rhetoric targeting immigrants is now 
commonplace among a growing number of elected officials who use fear-
mongering as a political strategy. Portraying asylum seekers as violent 
``invaders'' or pawns in a malevolent and orchestrated takeover, these 
narratives represent merely the most recent adaptations of white 
supremacist conspiracy theories. This rhetoric encourages violence, and 
it is a threat to our communities. Congressional hearings should not be 
a mechanism to further mainstream extremist ideology.
    The mainstreaming of this racist rhetoric is most obvious in terms 
of the Great Replacement conspiracy theory. This conspiracy theory 
centers around the idea that there is a cabal of malevolent elites--
often depicted as Jewish people--whose secret goal is to disempower or 
eliminate white people by ``replacing'' them through non-white 
immigration and/or intermarriage, with people who will be amenable to 
the malicious demands of the powerful cabal. The most common mainstream 
version of this conspiracy theory is currently the ``voter 
replacement'' conspiracy, suggesting that immigrants are pawns in a 
political scheme to replace native-born American voters. Similarly, 
xenophobic extremists have a long history of describing peaceful 
migrants and asylum seekers as ``invaders,'' nefariously ascribing to 
them a collective and violent intent. Multiple members of this 
committee have used this rhetoric, claiming immigrants are ``replacing 
your culture'' and suggesting that migrants and asylum seekers are akin 
to a military invasion.
    These narratives often rely on a vitriolic combination of 
disinformation and bigoted stereotypes. Immigrants are often portrayed 
as criminal or violent, even when extensive research shows native-born 
Americans are much more likely to commit crimes than are immigrants. 
For example, immigrants are increasingly blamed for the devastating 
growth of fentanyl usage across the country, despite data that reveals 
that fentanyl is most likely to enter the United States through legal 
points of entry by U.S. citizens. This propaganda often depicts people 
of color, playing on harmful racist stereotypes.
    The rise of anti-immigrant rhetoric and conspiracies represents a 
direct threat to Black, Brown, immigrant, Jewish, and other targeted 
communities. For example, 11 people in Pittsburgh and 23 people in El 
Paso were murdered by white supremacists animated by fears of supposed 
immigrant ``invaders.'' As these horrifying attacks demonstrate, we 
cannot divorce this ``invasion'' rhetoric from its violent and racist 
origins.
    To prevent this hearing from serving as a vehicle to further 
popularize racist and violent rhetoric, lawmakers must effectively 
challenge the disinformation, bigoted stereotypes, and conspiracy 
theories on which these narratives rely. That is, lawmakers must 
proactively and repeatedly counter such statements on the public 
record, ensure the voices of targeted communities have representation, 
and support efforts to protect the rights of migrants and asylum 
seekers.
    iv. xenophobia and anti-immigrant extremism threatens democracy
    Xenophobic conspiracy theories and bigoted disinformation campaigns 
about the Southern Border directly target our democracy, reflecting a 
convergence of anti-democratic and anti-immigrant extremist networks. 
By claiming that generations of immigrants are pawns in a malevolent 
power grab, they call into question the legal status of American 
citizens with recent immigrant heritage in an attempt to delegitimize 
our democracy.
    Advocates of ``voter replacement'' conspiracy theories suggest that 
malign actors encourage immigration to ``replace'' native-born American 
voters. Fox News host Tucker Carlson suggests that anyone whose family 
came to this country after the 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act 
is not a ``legacy American,'' but part of a ``great replacement'' and 
therefore less worthy of citizenship and the right to vote. Carlson did 
not come up with this himself. A network of anti-immigrant actors has 
long-argued that a ``purpose'' of Federal immigration policy since 1965 
has been to transform the racial and ethnic demographic composition of 
the country, and that immigrants are pawns of the Democratic Party. 
Today's advocates of ``voter replacement'' are merely extending a 
decades-long assault against the basis of citizenshjp for generations 
of Americans.
    The witnesses invited to this hearing reflect the nexus of the 
anti-immigrant and anti-democratic networks. For instance, Sheriff Mark 
Lamb is a regular in xenophobic networks, including those hosted by the 
Foundation for Immigration Reform, (``FAIR''), and is featured in a 
right-wing documentary entitled ``Border Battle,'' which argues that 
the United States is ``at war'' on the Southern Border. He has also 
worked with the country's leading election denial organization True the 
Vote, been affiliated with the antisemitic conspiracy theory QAnon, and 
linked to the anti-government ``Constitutional sheriffs'' movement, 
which argues that sheriffs do not have to enforce certain laws.
    It is no coincidence that anti-immigrant attacks have become more 
prominent at the same time that election denial and other anti-
democratic conspiracy theories have been mainstreamed. Proponents of 
these conspiracies are driven by the idea that the American electorate 
should be predominantly white and Christian. Using disinformation and 
fear-mongering, they portray any deviation from this imagined Christian 
and white electorate as the result of a malicious conspiracy. The 
normalization of this ideology by Members of Congress is a threat to 
all of our communities, as well as our democracy.
  iv. vigilante activity threatens migrant and border community safety
    Reports of vigilante activity on the border are increasingly 
prevalent, including evidence of collusion with local and Federal law 
enforcement, and warrant the immediate attention of this committee. 
Paramilitary border vigilantes intend to usurp the role of law 
enforcement and have been accused of assaulting and kidnapping 
migrants, impersonating law enforcement, illegal weapons possession or 
use, and even murder. Their members paint conspiratorial and dangerous 
anti-immigrant rhetoric that furthers disinformation and increases the 
threat to migrants. These border vigilantes sometimes overlap with 
other extremist movements in the broader anti-democratic far right, 
especially anti-government militias and QAnon conspiracy theorists. The 
continued presence of these actors on the border--and the violence they 
perpetuate--threatens the safety of migrants, local residents, and 
local and Federal law enforcement agents.
    Last month, Human Rights First endorsed a letter from Senators 
Markey, Warren, and Booker to Attorney General Merrick Garland, 
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, and Acting 
Commissioner of U.S. Borders and Customs Troy Miller, urging them to 
investigate paramilitary activity on the border and provide Congress 
with detailed information as to the Federal Government's efforts to 
address this threat from domestic extremists. Human Rights First 
believes this committee has a responsibility to ensure that the 
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice 
(DOJ) are effectively carrying out their responsibilities to protect 
and defend the public, including from the threat posed by paramilitary 
border vigilante activity. The committee should request that both 
departments provide responses to all of the questions and data requests 
in this letter, which include but are not limited to all internal 
information about paramilitary border vigilante activity and/or 
investigations, as well as any information regarding internal policies 
relevant to Border Patrol agent interactions or sympathies with 
paramilitary border vigilantes and/or relevant disciplinary action.
  vi. the right to asylum is legal, politically popular, and morally 
                                 right
    The right to seek asylum is a fundamental human right enshrined in 
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Refugee Convention and 
Protocol prohibit the return of people to persecution. U.S. law 
specifically provides ways for people in search of refuge to seek 
asylum at U.S. ports of entry and after entering the United States. 
Despite the U.S. Government's legal obligations to refugees, people 
seeking refuge in the United States have--for years now due to 
inhumane, illegal, and counterproductive policies--been prevented from 
seeking asylum at U.S. ports of entry due to use of the Title 42 policy 
and similar predecessor policies, and often expelled under Title 42 if 
they try to seek asylum after crossing the border into the United 
States.
    Despite the tone and rhetoric prior to and surrounding this 
hearing, let us be clear: the majority of American voters, across party 
lines, believe that the United States should provide asylum to people 
fleeing persecution or violence in their home countries.\1\ 
Furthermore, lawmakers of both parties also believe the right to asylum 
should be protected. Indeed, recent anti-immigrant legislation was 
undercut by bipartisan opposition because Republicans and Democrats 
have expressed a desire to uphold the right to asylumn.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ In a November 2022 poll conducted by the U.S. Immigration 
Policy Center, 87 percent of Democrats, 74 percent of Independents and 
57 percent Republicans expressed support for asylum. Another February 
2022 poll by the National Immigration Law Center Immigrant Justice Fund 
found that a majority of voters across the political spectrum supported 
asylum and wanted the Biden administration to end the Title 42 policy.
    \2\ In response to concerns raised about his bill, the ``Border 
Safety and Security Act of 2023'' (H.R. 29), Representative Chip Roy 
insisted, ``No one's trying to ban asylum.'' GOP Members of Congress 
have expressed serious concerns about hard-line legislation like H.R. 
29, indicating the broader popularity of the right to asylum.
    See e.g., Rep. Tony Gonzales (``Trying to ban legitimate asylum 
claims--one, it's not Christian, and two, to me, it's very anti-
American. So a lot is at stake,''); Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (``Are we 
stupid? Come on. This country was based on good minds. Look at Albert 
Einstein, we gave him a piece of paper to come in . . . We are letting 
the Albert Einstein of this modern time slip away.'').
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Proponents of unjust anti-asylum policies often refuse to 
acknowledge the factors pushing people to leave their countries in 
search of refuge, or the fact that the vast majority of the world's 
refugees are hosted by countries other than the United States. In 
reality, the human rights situations in many countries in the Americas 
have deteriorated in recent years, pushing people to flee in search of 
protection, safety, and stability. For example:
   In Cuba, where freedom of expression, association, and other 
        basic hmnan rights are sharply restricted, repression has 
        increased over the last few years, as security forces responded 
        violently with an extended wave of brutal repression to the 
        country's largest protest in over 20 years in July 2021 against 
        economic difficulties and lack of fundamental freedoms.
   In Haiti, violence and political instability escalated after 
        the 2021 assassination of the president, and in late 2022 the 
        U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, U.N. High Commissioner 
        for Refugees and the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Haiti 
        all warned that people should not be returned to the country 
        due to the dire and dangerous conditions there.
   In Nicaragua, over the last year, political persecution 
        continued to escalate against civil society, journalists, 
        activists, church leaders, nuns, and ordinary people--who live 
        in fear and cannot safely engage in public assembly or 
        religious worship--and further intensified during the year with 
        a crackdown against civil society in connection with November 
        2022 elections--a situation that UNHCR stated ``may be 
        characterized as a massive violation of human rights'' in 
        January 2023 guidance.
   In Venezuela, in recent years, the human rights situation 
        has grown significantly worse due to harsh crackdowns on 
        political opposition, the ruling party's reliance on widely-
        condemned elections to control all branches of the government, 
        horrific use of torture, and a severe humanitarian crisis.
   Human rights violations have continued or escalated in other 
        countries as well, including in Guatemala where the rule of law 
        has deteriorated, concerns of authoritarianism are rising, and 
        persecution has escalated against journalists, Indigenous and 
        human rights activists, and judicial officials combating 
        impunity for human rights violations, as well as in Honduras, 
        El Salvador, and other countries, as Human Rights Watch 
        documented in its recent annual report.
    Many people fleeing these and other places have fled to other 
countries in the Americas. In fact, of the 7.1 million people who have 
fled Venezuela in search of safety and stability, about 6 million are 
hosted in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and other countries in Latin America 
and the Caribbean. Costa Rica is hosting about 200,000 or more 
Nicaraguans, and experienced a five-fold increase in total asylum 
claims in the first 6 months of 2022, as compared to the year before. 
Mexico hosts about 500,000 refugees and asylum seekers, though many 
face grave threats to their safety there. The United States is more 
than capable of humanely receiving, and fairly processing the asylum 
claims of, the portion of people seeking refuge here from repression, 
persecution, and violence.
  vii. inhumane, counterproductive policies banning asylum remain in 
                                 place
    Two years since President Biden took office, his administration has 
taken some important initial steps toward ending Trump administration 
policies that subvert refugee law and endanger the lives of people 
seeking asylum. These steps include President Biden's February 2021 
Executive Order directing review of Trump administration policies and 
the Secretary of Homeland Security's termination and re-termination of 
the notorious Remain in Mexico (RMX) policy.
    Despite these steps forward, some of the most inhumane and 
dysfunctional Trmnp administration policies have continued in force or 
remain on the books due in part to lawsuits filed by State politicians 
aligned with the prior administration and the slow pace of agency 
regulatory action. Yet, the Biden administration has also taken steps 
backward, recently expanding and proposing use of Trump policies in the 
face of border arrivals and orchestrated, politically-driven anti-
immigrant rhetoric.
    In October 2022, the Biden administration expanded its use of the 
Trump-initiated Title 42 policy to turn away Venezuelans and used its 
creation of a new parole initiative for Venezuelans to try to justify 
this denial of access to asylum--a move that promptly triggered 
condemnation by the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the International 
Organization for Migration (IOM), and UNICEF. On January 5, 2023, the 
Biden administration announced a new parole initiative for nationals of 
Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela but--again--improperly 
accompanied this positive initiative with the expansion of use of Title 
42 to expel nationals of all four countries without allowing them to 
seek asylum. In other words: some Venezuelans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, 
and Cubans (those who can submit an on-line application, which presents 
language, technological, and other barriers to access; have a U.S.-
based sponsor who meets income requirements; and can afford a plane 
ticket to the United States) can apply for temporary parole into the 
United States; those who do not have been, and will be, immediately 
expelled under Title 42 if they attempt to enter the United States to 
seek refuge.
    Simultaneously, last week the Biden administration published a 
proposed rule that would ban asylum for many refugees based on their 
manner of entry into the United States and transit through third 
countries on their way to reach safety--an approach repeatedly 
initiated by the Trump administration and repeatedly found unlawful by 
the courts. During the year that the Trump administration's transit ban 
was in effect, it resulted in the denial of asylum to refugees with 
well-founded fears of persecution, the separation of families, and 
deprivation of a path to citizenship for refugees left only with 
withholding of removal due to the transit ban. Moving ahead with this 
misguided approach would breach President Biden's campaign promise to 
end restrictions on asylum seekers traveling through other countries, 
and endanger many Black, Brown, Indigenous, LGBTQ+, and other asylum 
seekers. It would also advance the agenda of anti-immigrant groups, 
including the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which was 
designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and had 
praised the Biden administration's plans to impose an asylum ban as a 
``good first step,'' as well as NumbersUSA which embraced the proposed 
rule's provisions to ban asylum as ``great.''
    Last month, Human Rights First joined a diverse \3\ coalition of 
nearly 300 organizations in a letter to the Biden administration, 
urging it to abandon its plan to issue the proposed asylum ban. Nearly 
80 Members of Congress echoed that call, in a bicameral letter to 
President Biden. Faith-based organizations had also called on the Biden 
administration to uphold asylum and abandon plans to propose an asylum 
ban.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ The diverse coalition of prominent labor, LGBTQ, faith, and 
civil rights signatories include: ACLU, Amnesty International, CHIRLA, 
Community Change Action, FIRM Action, HIAS, Haitian Bridge Alliance, 
Immigration Equality, Immigration Hub, Indivisible, International Mayan 
League, MoveOn, IRAP, IRC, NILC, National Immigrant Justice Center, 
PFLAG National, Refugee Council USA, The Leadership Conference on Civil 
and Human Rights, UndocuBlack Network, UnidosUS, and the Welcome with 
Dignity campaign.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In addition, a recent Reuters report indicates that the Biden 
administration is also planning to fast-track asylum screenings in 
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody at the border, undercutting 
any meaningful opportunity for an asylum seeker to explain their case. 
The report indicates that credible fear interviews would be conducted 
through expedited removal in CBP custody--similar to a Trump-era policy 
known as the ``Prompt Asylum Case Review'' program and ``Humanitarian 
Asylum Review Program,'' or PACR/HARP. PACR/HARP was a due process, 
humanitarian, and refugee protection fiasco. Notably, President Biden 
directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to terminate PACR/
HARP in his February 2021 Executive Order. Asylum seekers detained in 
CBP custody have frequently reported being provided insufficient or 
inedible food and water; lack of access to showers and other basic 
hygiene; and inability to sleep because of lack of adequate bedding and 
cold conditions.
    Conducting credible fear interviews in CBP custody will drastically 
exacerbate the deficiencies of the expedited removal process, which 
continues to result in the deportation of refugees to persecution and 
torture.
    The Title 42 policy is still in place due to litigation in 
Louisiana by State leaders aligned with the prior administration to 
force the continuation of this policy through the courts. In April 
2022, the CDC directed that the policy be terminated. Public health 
experts have repeatedly stressed that the policy harms, rather than 
helps, public health and bolsters racist tropes that paint migrants and 
refugees as disease threats. Analysis of CBP data and statements by 
border officials themselves have confirmed tliat the policy actually 
spurs repeat entries, inflates border statistics and pushes people 
seeking asylum to attempt to cross the border as it is used to turn 
them away from ports of entry. A D.C. District Court rnling that 
vacated the Title 42 policy for violating U.S. law is currently stayed 
by the Supreme Court while it considers the request of the Trump-
aligned State attorneys general who initiated the Louisiana litigation 
to intervene in the separate D.C. District Court case. On January 30, 
2023, the Biden administration indicated that it plans to end the 
public health emergency related to COVID-19 on May 11, 2023, which 
would automatically terminate the Title 42 policy.
    There is a more humane, effective, and legal way forward, as Human 
Rights First has explained in its most recent set of recommendations, 
which are outlined below.
 viii. trump policies inflicted chaos at the border--continuing those 
                      policies is no ``solution''
    The policies initiated under the Trump administration inflict 
chaos, dysfunction, and massive human suffering. It's past time to 
ensure a firm and final end to these ineffective and inhumane policies. 
The last thing that Congress or the Biden administration should do is 
to attempt to prolong, codify, or resurrect policies that inflict 
disorder, family separation, and massive human rights abuses on people 
seeking refuge.
    Such policies arc not actual ``solutions,'' but tools to deny 
access to this country to Black, Brown, Indigenous, LGBTQ+, and other 
people seeking asylum from persecution. As noted above, these 
dysfunctional policies have spurred repeat entries, separated families, 
pushed people seeking asylum to cross outside ports of entry, and 
inflated border statistics. The Biden administration recently touted 
the pairing of parole initiatives with an expansion of its Title 42 
policy as a success given the recent decline in arrivals at the border. 
However, the denial of asylum, grave human rights abuses, and disorder 
and chaos inflicted by Title 42 are the opposite of a success. The 
provision of pathways and the restoration of access to asylum are the 
decisive and durable drivers in discouraging irregular crossings. A 
more humane and effective approach would be to strengthen parole and 
other safe pathways, which provide alternative routes to the United 
States, without the imposition or use of deeply damaging, 
counterproductive policies like Title 42 and asylum bans.
    The real problem is that the United States is flouting its own 
asylum laws and the Refugee Convention by systematically closing its 
doors and turning people away to danger.
   ix. examples of human suffering inflicted by anti-asylum policies
    Policies that ban, block, or turn away refugees seeking asylum have 
caused massive human suffering. Human Rights First has tracked over 
13,480 kidnappings, torture, and other attacks against asylum seekers 
and migrants impacted by the Title 42 policy during the 2 years since 
President Biden took office. A 34-year-old Haitian asylum seeker, 
Jocelyn Anselme, was murdered in Tijuana in May 2022 while blocked from 
seeking asylum under Title 42.
    In its latest report, issued in December 2022, Human Rights First 
found that the continuation and October 2022 expansion of the Title 42 
policy has inflicted terrible human rights abuses, including for Black, 
Brown, Indigenous, and LGBTQ+ persons, women, and children; subjected 
asylum seekers to refoulement to persecution and torture in the 
countries they fled; endangered faith-based, humanitarian, and legal 
aid workers assisting asylum seekers impacted by the policy; and pushed 
asylum seekers to attempt dangerous crossings to reach safety. Fiscal 
Year 2022 was the deadliest year for border crossings since the U.S. 
Government began record-keeping on border crossing deaths in 1998.
    Some examples from Human Rights First's research of the harm caused 
by anti-asylum policies--including Title 42, the asylum transit ban, 
and the conduct of credible fear interviews in CBP custody--are below.
   Asylum seekers expelled or blocked from seeking U.S. 
        protection due to the Title 42 policy include a Guatemalan 
        lesbian transgender woman who was raped by Mexican police 
        officers in Piedras Negras in October 2022, soon after CBP 
        officers turned her away from protection under Title 42; a 13-
        year-old girl who was nearly abducted at gunpoint in Juarez 
        after her family fled political persecution in Venezuela but 
        was expelled under Title 42; and a transgender Honduran asylum 
        seeker who was kidnapped and raped after DHS repeatedly 
        expelled her to Mexico.
   During the period that the Trump administration's transit 
        ban was in effect, asylum seekers who were denied protection 
        and ordered deported due to the ban included a Venezuelan 
        opposition journalist and her 1-year-old child; a Cuban asylum 
        seeker who was beaten and subjected to forced labor due to his 
        political activity; a gay Honduran asylum seeker who was 
        threatened and assaulted for his sexual orientation; and a 
        Congolese woman who had been beaten by police in her country 
        when she sought information about her husband, who had been 
        jailed and tortured due to his political activity.
   Asylum seekers who underwent credible fear interviews in CBP 
        custody under the Trump administration--many of whom were also 
        subjected to the asylum transit ban--were denied a meaningful 
        opportunity to present their asylum claim and many were ordered 
        deported, including a 16-year-old girl who fled trafficking and 
        sexual exploitation, an Indigenous Guatemalan woman who was 
        sexually assaulted because of her ethnicity, and a Central 
        American woman fleeing domestic violence by an abuser who 
        killed one of her children.
              x. recommendations for upholding refugee law
    Instead of seeking to prolong, use, or resurrect inhumane and 
counterproductive policies that were part of the Trump and Stephen 
Miller agenda, the Biden administration and Congress should work 
together to:
   Uphold refugee law at U.S. borders without discrimination, 
        including to restart and maximize (rather than restrict or 
        ``meter'') asylum at ports of entry, take all steps possible to 
        end the Title 42 policy, and ensure people seeking asylum have 
        prompt access to ports of entry--not limited to CBP One, but 
        also assured to people approaching ports of entry to seek 
        asylum. Restoring asylum at ports of entry after years of 
        blockage is essential not only to uphold refugee law, but also 
        to end the counterproductive consequences of Trump policies 
        that, by restricting and blocking access to asylum at ports of 
        entry, have long pushed populations that previously sought 
        asylum at ports of entry to instead attempt to cross the 
        border.
   Enhance support for human rights and refugee hosting 
        capacity in other countries in the Americas, including through 
        efforts to support development of strong asylum systems, 
        reception capacities, access to employment, and protection of 
        rights and safety of refugees and migrants in Mexico and other 
        countries in the Americas.
   Ramp up, speed up, and strengthen regional refugee 
        resettlement, improve parole and other safe migration pathways 
        in the Americas, but never use the existence of such pathways 
        to deny access to asylum.
   Implement effective, humane refugee reception structures, 
        coordination, funding mechanisms, and case support to address 
        the lack of dedicated humanitarian and refugee protection 
        structures that has long hampered the U.S. response to people 
        seeking refuge at its own borders.
   Rescind--and do not resurrect--Trump policies, including the 
        asylum entry and transit bans, and other fatally flawed 
        policies of the last administration that punish or block 
        refugees from protection, abandoning the harmful asylum ban 
        plan.
   Upgrade asylum adjudication processes so they are accurate, 
        fair, properly staffed, and prompt, including: improve the new 
        asylum rule process so it leads to efficiency rather than 
        rushed and counterproductive inaccurate adjudications, fund 
        sufficient asylum adjudication capacities to address asylum 
        backlogs and ensure timely adjudication of new cases, and 
        support and champion funding for legal representation.
   Stand firm against anti-immigrant rhetoric and efforts, and 
        firmly reject attempts to exploit Congressional hearings as 
        opportunities to platform bigoted, anti-immigrant conspiracy 
        theories. Reject and oppose anti-asylum Congressional proposals 
        including efforts to force continuation or enactment into law 
        of the Trump administration's cruel, racist, and 
        counterproductive policies. Draconian policies will not appease 
        perpetrators of xenophobic, racist rhetoric, but will inflict 
        massive human suffering, create more dysfunction, and subvert 
        refugee law globally.
   Demand accountability and transparency from DHS and DOJ 
        regarding investigations into paramilitary border activity. 
        Request that both the Department of Homeland Security and the 
        Department of Justice provide Congress with detailed 
        information regarding any internal data and/or policies they 
        have regarding the paramilitary border activity.
    Human Rights First has detailed these steps in its comprehensive 
updated recommendations paper, and outlined them in a brief summary, 
both issued in January 2023.
                                 ______
                                 
   Letter Submitted by CHIRLA--Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights
                                 February 28, 2023.
Chair Mark Green,
Committee on Homeland Security, Washington, DC 20515.
Ranking Member Bennie Thompson,
Committee on Homeland Security, Washington, DC 20515.
Re: Hearing `` ``Every State is a Border State: Examining Secretary 
Mayorkas' Border Crisis.' '''

    Dear Chair Green and Ranking Member Thompson: On behalf of the 
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), the largest State-wide 
immigrant rights organization in California, I submit this statement 
for the record for today's hearing entitled `` ``Every State is a 
Border State: Examining Secretary Mayorkas' Border Crisis.'' As an 
organization serving the immigrant community for the past 35 years, 
CHIRLA has worked to gain and maintain both trust and credibility as a 
reliable source of accurate information of events both in California 
and south of the U.S.-Mexico border. We strive to ensure that Federal 
policies protect immigrants, promote family unity, and help achieve a 
just society fully inclusive of immigrants.
    Since 2017, CHIRLA has monitored the implementation of harmful 
border policies such as, ``Remain in Mexico'' policy (Migrant 
Protection Protocols, MPP) and more recently Title 42. CHIRLA, along 
with multiple border organizations, bears witness of these policies' 
impact on immigrants who intend to exercise their legal right to seek 
asylum, as well to the abuses suffered by them while in Border Patrol 
custody.
                                title 42
    Border expulsions are currently being carried out through section 
265 of Title 42 under the pretext of protecting public health. It was 
invoked by the Trump administration at the outset of the COVID-19 
pandemic as one of their many anti-immigrant efforts to hermetically 
seal the border. The Biden administration not only continued using this 
policy--in part due to court order--but it has expanded it. Over 1.8 
million expulsions have been carried out since the pandemic began. 
However, nearly half of those expulsions were of the same people being 
apprehended and expelled back to Mexico multiple times. As reported by 
American Immigration Council, this is because Title 42 has led to a 
significant increase in repeat crossings at the border. In fact, 1 in 3 
apprehensions since Title 42 expulsions began have been of a person on 
at least their second attempt to cross the border.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/guide-
title-42-expulsions-border.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                      continuing family separation
    On April 6, 2018, then Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the 
``Zero Tolerance'' policy, separating thousands of families until 
enjoined by the ACLU's class action lawsuit Ms. L v. ICE. In all, over 
5,000 families were separated, and not all have been located to date. 
President Biden's Family Reunification Task Force has reunified a few 
dozen of the hundreds who remain separated.
    DHS's implementation of MPP and Title 42 policies, described above, 
have separated countless more families by leaving immediate family 
members in different detention facilities, different border cities, or 
even different countries. Thousands of families living in dangerous 
border camps or other precarious conditions have chosen to send their 
children across the border alone, as Title 42 restrictions do not apply 
to unaccompanied children.
    Jewish Family Service of San Diego and the American Civil Liberties 
Union of San Diego & Imperial Counties have documented continuing 
family separations in the California borderlands, including separations 
that are distinct from those covered in the Ms. L v. ICE lawsuit. In 
July 2021, the organizations sent a letter to DHS calling on Secretary 
Mayorkas to stop separating families seeking asylum.\2\ In August 2022, 
a second letter was sent, led by the Center for Immigration Law and 
Policy and Jewish Family Service, to seek accountability and justice 
for Lucy and her family:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ https://www.aclu-sdic.org/en/press-releases/stop-splitting-
families-at-the-border.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Lucy was beaten by U.S. Border Patrol and separated from her 
daughter (10), her son (18), and her stepson (18), the latter of whom 
was immediately deported back to El Salvador. Lucy, who is 4'9'' tall, 
was charged with assaulting the officer and then forcibly separated 
from her daughter and sons. The government later asked the court to 
dismiss the charges against Lucy and her son, which the court did, but 
did not facilitate reunification of the family even after the criminal 
cases were dismissed. This family had been separated for 5 months and 
it took advocacy ACLU-SDIC, UCLA CILP, from JFS, that Lucy and her son 
were released from DHS custody in Imperial Valley, finally reunited 
with each other, served at the SDRRN Migrant Shelter, and then reunited 
with Lucy's 10-year-old daughter who was staying with a cousin in L.A. 
JFS is continuing with legal representation for Lucy and her son 
through the duration of their immigration proceedings.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ https://www.aclu-sdic.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/
2022_08_15_lucy- _letter_final_redacted.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    CBP also regularly separates non-parental caregivers, like 
grandparents, aunts, uncles, and adult siblings, from children at the 
border, rendering the children ``unaccompanied'' and often expelling 
the caregiver to Mexico or removing them to their home country. In 
April 2021, an estimated 10-17 percent of all unaccompanied children in 
ORR custody had been separated from non-parental caregivers at the 
border. Thousands of children have been separated from non-parental 
caregivers, although the government does very little tracking.
                      pregnant people in detention
    Al Otro Lado has also documented over a dozen cases of women 
expelled with newborn U.S. citizen children after giving birth in 
Border Patrol custody. Border Patrol officials did not give these 
mothers a chance to obtain U.S. birth certificates for their children 
before expulsion, rendering their infant children functionally 
stateless.
    The ACLU-SDIC and Jewish Family Service of San Diego have also 
documented inhumane conditions for women who give birth in CBP custody 
and continue to call on CBP to end CBP's detention of pregnant people 
beyond the time necessary to process them and where pregnant people are 
taken directly to an offsite medical provider, process them there and 
release them as soon as possible after medical treatment to avoid 
detention in a carceral setting.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ https://www.aclu-sdic.org/en/press-releases/aclu-and-jewish-
family-service-respond-to-oig.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                        border wall construction
    Additionally, as a result of Title 42 and the lack of access to 
seek asylum at ports of entry, and related to the 30-foot fence 
addition, the University of California, San Diego, has documented a 
tremendously concerning spike in border-related injuries. At UC San 
Diego Health, there were 67 cases of trauma-related incidents due to 
falls at the border wall from 2016 to 2019. The number jumped to 375 
between 2019 and 2021. Fatalities also increased, zero before 2019 to 
16 since then. First author Amy Liepert, MD, medical director of acute 
care surgery at UC San Diego Health said: ``This is an unseen public 
health crisis happening right now and it has significantly affected 
major local health care providers in San Diego.''\5\ The Mexican 
government recently released a short report on the number of Mexican 
nationals who are injured or lost their lives at the border, some 
highlights:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ https://health.ucsd.edu/news/releases/Pages/2022-04-29-study-
unprecedented-increase-in-number-of-border-wall-falls-and-trauma.aspx.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
   In 2022, 42 Mexican nationals lost their lives while trying 
        to cross the Tijuana-San Diego border.
   During the last 3 fiscal years, at least 646 Mexican 
        nationals were hospitalized or died in their attempt to cross 
        this border.
   Only 20 percent of Mexican nationals hospitalized in 2022 
        after attempting to cross the border suffered injuries 
        unrelated to the wall (dehydration, heat stroke, among others). 
        The remaining 80 percent suffered bruises, fractures, 
        lacerations, or even more serious and permanent injuries when 
        falling off the wall.\6\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\ https://consulmex.sre.gob.mx/sandiego/index.php/boletines/856-
increasing-number-of-mexican-nationals-injured-or-dead-in-their-
attempt-to-cross-the-border.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                chirla's perspective on policy solutions
    All these policies, current and past, were first created and 
implemented by the Trump administration in a cruel and xenophobic 
effort to keep immigrants from coming to our country. More recently, a 
global pandemic was weaponized against these immigrants who were 
scapegoated as disease carriers in accordance with age-old and 
discredited racist tropes. These policies violated international and 
domestic laws, and they disproportionally harm Black, Indigenous, and 
Latinos, particularly from Central America, Africa, and Haiti. Further, 
they force people to remain in danger by pushing them to seek dangerous 
alternatives, including via smugglers, instead of being able to safely 
access the asylum system.
    We echo our partners demand that CSP complete stop detaining people 
known to be pregnant, this would resolve the now-documented 
deficiencies in the agency's tracking of childbirths and detention of 
U.S. citizen newborns, as well as other longstanding abuses and 
mistreatment suffered by pregnant people in their custody.
    We know the border wall and its expansion has not stop people from 
coming to the United States but has only made the journey even more 
dangerous and deadlier. Those funds could be redirected to increase 
capacity to process people at the Ports of Entry. Regarding border wall 
construction in San Diego, Friendship Park is more than a gate and 
walls. We support maintaining and increasing regular and unrestricted 
access to Friendship Park, including access to the Binational 
Friendship Garden of Native Plants, the area immediately surrounding 
the Monument, and the beach area.
    It is extremely disappointing that the Biden administration 
continues to rely on immigration policies straight out of the previous 
administraion's xenophobic playbook. We believe that this 
administration has a legal and moral obligation to welcome people with 
dignity, to stop criminalizing and vilifying immigrants, and to stop 
further border militarization. The level of unwillingness by Congress 
to oversee the administration's use of resources to support those 
fleeing danger is a disgrace for this country. It is an embarrassment 
to the United States, a Nation that claims to champion human rights 
everywhere except in its own backyard. To that effect, Congress and DHS 
need to work together, alongside all levels of government and 
community-based organizations, to appropriate and allocate the 
necessary resources to create a robust and humane welcoming system that 
does not rely on punitive detention, incarceration, and 
criminalization.
    Thank you for considering CHIRLA's statement.
    Please contact our General Counsel, Carl Bergquist, 
[email protected], and our Southern Region Policy Manager, 
Esmeralda Flores [email protected], should you have any questions.

    Chairman Green. I want to thank the witnesses for being 
here. This concludes our first full hearing in this Congress. I 
want to thank the Members for their time and their congeniality 
through most of this. We have differences of opinion very 
clearly, but I think everyone wants what is best for our 
country.
    To our witnesses, Ms. Kiessling, thank you for sharing your 
heart and the tragedy that occurred to you.
    Sheriff, the challenges you are facing, I appreciate your 
time today.
    Dr. Trenschel, really appreciate you. We spent probably 
more of the time, and appropriately so, on the human costs. But 
as we go forward throughout this Congress, there will be more 
opportunities to delve into the financial costs of what is 
going on as well.
    Mr. Bier, I appreciate you. I appreciate your passion. 
Thanks for being here.
    You know, we have heard a lot today that the crisis is due 
to a lack of resources. Before I close, I want to make the 
point that, you know, the budget didn't decrease in January 
2021. The number of people on the border didn't decrease on 
January 2021, but a massive surge of people came across our 
border then. What changed was the removal of some significant 
policies that had been shown to work, and I think it is very 
important to stress that.
    I think resources are needed and I agree with the comments 
from both sides of the aisle on that issue. But I want to 
stress the massive wave of 4.7 million, 1.2 million gotaways, 
more than the past two administrations combined didn't happen 
because we cut the budget or we cut the people. It happened 
because the President cut the policies.
    With that, we will stand adjourned. What we are going to 
do, just before I adjourn us, we are going to take a 15-minute 
break. We have to reset for the votes on the oversight plan. It 
looks like votes on the floor are delaying a little bit, so we 
will be able to knock that out.
    So for this hearing today, again, thank our witnesses, 
thank our Members. We stand adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 1:14 p.m., the committee was adjourned.]