[Senate Hearing 118-244]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



                                                        S. Hrg. 118-244

                   EXAMINING THE EFFECTS OF INCREASED  
                   MIGRATION ON COMMUNITIES ALONG THE   
                            SOUTHERN BORDER 

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

                                HEARING

                               before the

                            SUBCOMMITTEE ON
                       GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS AND  
                           BORDER MANAGEMENT 

                                 of the

                              COMMITTEE ON
                         HOMELAND SECURITY AND  
                         GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 
                          UNITED STATES SENATE 

                    ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS


                             FIRST SESSION

                               __________

                             APRIL 26, 2023

                               __________

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

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

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        COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

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

                   David M. Weinberg, Staff Director
                    Zachary I. Schram, Chief Counsel
           William E. Henderson III, Minority Staff Director
                     Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
                   Ashley A. Gonzalez, Hearing Clerk


      SUBCOMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS AND BORDER MANAGEMENT

                     KRYSTEN SINEMA, Arizona, Chair
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware           JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma
ALEX PADILLA, California             RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut      MITT ROMNEY, Utah

                   Anthony J. Papian, Staff Director
  James D. Mann, Minority Staff Director and Regulatory Policy Counsel
                  Thomas J. Spino, Subcommittee Clerk 
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
  
  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                            C O N T E N T S

                                 ------                                
Opening statements:
                                                                   Page
    Senator Sinema...............................................     1
    Senator Lankford.............................................     2
    Senator Johnson..............................................    16
    Senator Padilla..............................................    22
Prepared statements:
    Senator Sinema...............................................    33

                               WITNESSES
                       Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Douglas Nicholls, Mayor, City of Yuma, Arizona...................     6
Clea McCaa II, Mayor, City of Sierra Vista, Arizona..............     8
Francisco Garcia, M.D., M.P.H., Deputy County Administrator and 
  Chief Medical Officer, Pima County, Arizona....................    10
Kevin Hearod, Chief, McAlester Police Department, McAlester, 
  Oklahoma.......................................................    12

                     Alphabetical List of Witnesses

Garcia Francisco, M.D., M.P.H.:
    Testimony....................................................    10
    Prepared statement...........................................    49
Hearod, Kevin:
    Testimony....................................................    12
    Prepared statement...........................................    52
McCaa, Clea, II:
    Testimony....................................................     8
    Prepared statement...........................................    46
Nicholls, Douglas:
    Testimony....................................................     6
    Prepared statement...........................................    35

                                APPENDIX

Letters from Arizona Officials...................................    54
Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control Oklahoma Drug 
  Threats Data...................................................    82
Chief Wade Gourley statement on Illegal Drugs and Trafficking in 
  Oklahoma City..................................................    85
Southwest Border Apprehensions Graph Febreuary 2023 - April 26, 
  2023...........................................................    87
Dr. Garcia's Pima County Asylum Seeker Monthly Data Report 
  January 2019 - March 2023......................................    88  


 
                   EXAMINING THE EFFECTS OF INCREASED 
                   MIGRATION ON COMMUNITIES ALONG THE 
                            SOUTHERN BORDER

                              ----------                              


                       WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 2023

                                     U.S. Senate,  
                      Subcommittee on Government Operations
                                      and Border Management
                    of the Committee on Homeland Security  
                                  and Governmental Affairs,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:30 p.m., in 
room SD-562, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Kyrsten 
Sinema, chair of the Subcommittee, presiding.
    Present: Senators Sinema [presiding], Padilla, Blumenthal, 
Lankford, and Johnson.

             OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR SINEMA\1\

    Senator Sinema. The Subcommittee will come to order. I 
welcome Ranking Member Lankford, Members of the Committee, and 
our witnesses today.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ The prepared statement of Senator Sinema appears in the 
Appendix on page 33.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Today we are examining the effects of the ongoing border 
crisis on local communities. This crisis is not new. It is one 
that has progressively worsened year after year, administration 
after administration, due to the Federal Government's repeated 
failures to address our broken border and immigration system. 
While inaction continues, the price for these failures falls on 
local communities, which risks safety and endangers the well-
being of migrants.
    Last year there were more than 2.5 million migrant 
encounters on the Southwest Border, nearly a 27 percent 
increase from 2021. These are not sustainable numbers, and they 
will only increase with the end of Title 42 in several weeks. 
As we will hear from our witnesses today, border communities 
face difficult decisions when left to fend for themselves in 
the face of a problem that is not their responsibility, 
choosing how to allocate their limited finance and staff to 
manage these additional challenges. Ultimately, it leaves 
important work undone.
    Late last year, I heard from the fire chief in San Luis, a 
small community of roughly 37,000 individuals right on the 
Arizona-Mexico border. At that time, three of his city's 
ambulances were being used solely to care for migrants, leaving 
just two remaining for the community.
    The border city of Yuma, Arizona, represented today by 
Mayor Nicholls, has just one hospital, the Yuma Regional 
Medical Center (YRMC). According to Yuma Regional Chief 
Executive Officer (CEO), the hospital spent approximately $20 
million in uninsured medical bills to treat migrants between 
December 2021 and May 2022.
    Since 2019, I have secured over $1 billion in funding to 
help ease the financial burden on nonprofits and local 
communities who are providing food, shelter, and other services 
to migrants, to ensure that the migrant crisis does not become 
a homelessness crisis. However, red tape makes it difficult for 
the government to quickly move this funding to the communities 
that are most in need.
    There are, however, certain groups that benefit from the 
ongoing crisis--the cartels and criminal organizations 
responsible for smuggling people and deadly drugs across our 
border. In southern Arizona, law enforcement has seen a 
troubling new trend--cartels, using social media platforms to 
recruit and exploit American teens, some as young as 14 years 
old. They lure Arizona's children and young adults with 
promises of easy money, and they have them drive migrants and 
contraband north from the border. These teens are getting in 
dangerous, high-speed chases with police, some of them before 
they even have their driver's licenses, risking the lives of 
everyone else who happens to be on the road with them.
    My recently reintroduced bipartisan and bicameral 
legislation, the Combating Cartels on Social Media Act, will 
help keep Arizona families safe by fighting back against this 
new trend. Our act will establish and implement a national 
strategy to combat cartel recruitment activity on social media 
and online platforms, and I cannot thank Ranking Member 
Lankford enough for joining me in leading this important 
legislation.
    Today's hearing gives us an opportunity to recognize the 
full scope of the costs of the border crisis. I hope that the 
information we gather today will motivate others to join us in 
advocating for common-sense solutions to our broken border 
policies. America's border communities cannot continue to wait.
    Finally, I would like to note that there are leaders from 
all over the Southwest Border that I wish could be here today 
to tell their stories. In lieu of their attendance, I ask 
unanimous consent (UC) that the statement they submitted be 
entered into the record.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ The letters submitted by Senator Sinema appears in the Appendix 
on page 54.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Senator Lankford. Without objection.
    Senator Sinema. I look forward to hearing from our 
witnesses today.
    Now I would like to recognize Ranking Member Lankford for 
his opening statement.

                 STATEMENT OF SENATOR LANKFORD

    Senator Lankford. Senator Sinema, thank you so much for 
having this hearing. It is an incredibly important topic. I 
have had the privilege of being down along the Arizona border 
with you a couple of times, to be able to see firsthand what is 
happening there. I had the opportunity to be able to meet some 
of our witnesses that we have today in that same area as well, 
and it is incredibly important that we get these issues on the 
record as part of the congressional record as well. Thanks for 
continuing to be able to work on this.
    Last Congress, we took a look at the issues facing our 
ports of entry (POEs) along the Southwest Border in two 
separate hearings. During those hearings, we discussed numerous 
issues around the ongoing border crisis and what is happening 
in the ports of entry around drug interdiction. Now we are 
dealing with the Title 42 issue, and the Title 42 status now 
expiring, if a court does not intervene, on May 11th, which is 
coming incredibly quickly, which will make the worse border 
situation in American history even worse.
    The United States Customs and Border Patrol Protection 
(CBP) has encountered more than 5 million migrants at the 
Southern Border since January 2021. CBP has seized more than 
35,000 pounds of fentanyl along the Southern Border since 
January 2021. In the first 6 months of this fiscal year (FY), 
CBP has seized nearly the same amount of fentanyl it did during 
the entire fiscal year 2022. CBP has seized more than 350,000 
pounds of meth along our Southern Border since 2021. That is 
the primary killer in my State, in Oklahoma.
    Based on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) 
projections, we will likely see between 11,000 and 13,000 
migrants cross the border per day once Title 42 expires on the 
11th of May, and based on current trends, the fentanyl and hard 
narcotics that are being interdicted at the border will 
continue to skyrocket.
    While I am glad that we are catching a lot of these deadly 
drugs, we also understand that there is a tremendous number 
that we are not catching as they are coming across the border. 
As Senator Sinema has rightfully noted, the situation has 
significant impacts on our border communities, but also not 
just our border communities, but as has been often said, every 
State is a border State now with the movement of illegal drugs 
into our country.
    Just last week, Mayor Eric Adams claimed that the national 
government has turned its back on New York City due to the 
significant number of migrants who have resettled there. He is 
facing a $4.2 billion budget shortfall, and in his own words, 
``Every service in New York City is going to be impacted by the 
asylum-seeker crisis.''
    Here in Washington, D.C., Mayor Bowser has declared a state 
of emergency over the number of recent border crossers who have 
arrived, and has urged the White House to activate the D.C. 
National Guard in response, which the White House has not 
chosen to actually do.
    Both this Administration and the Trump administration 
activated the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) at the 
border to address the border crisis. However, DHS Inspector 
General (IG) and Government Accountability Office (GAO) have 
raised concerns about the need for more oversight and 
transparency regarding FEMA's use of taxpayer dollars at the 
border with how they are actually being used.
    The effects of this crisis are readily apparent in my home 
State. In 2021, which is the last year where we have complete 
data, Oklahoma reported 604 methamphetamine-related deaths, and 
almost 300 fentanyl-related deaths. Most of those drugs came 
across the border from Mexico.
    CBP has done some really good work recently through 
Operation Blue Lotus to stop dangerous drugs from entering the 
country. It had some good success with Blue Lotus. However, CBP 
told my staff, in a recent briefing, that they will terminate 
Operation Blue Lotus to interdict drugs coming across the 
border on May 11th. They have told us that it has nothing to do 
with Title 42 ending, but that is way too coincidental that the 
same day Title 42 ends, CBP is also ending, through 
instructions from the White House, Operation Blue Lotus to 
interdict drugs along our border. While CBP says it is 
coincidental, it is hard to believe.
    Addressing the upcoming surge when Title 42 terminates will 
require significant manpower and intelligence support, and we 
assume that CBP will be strained at that moment and so they 
will be literally pulling people off the line, interdicting 
drugs, to deal with the quantity of migrants coming.
    Between 2017 and 2021, fentanyl deaths in Oklahoma grew by 
more than 450 percent. Between 2020 and 2021, fentanyl deaths 
doubled.
    While all of us are aware of these drugs on our 
communities, the border crisis has some other very unique and 
concerning impact on Oklahoma and in increasing labor 
trafficking as well. This is not a surprise. We have tracked it 
for years. A New York Times investigation recently found that 
unaccompanied minors have been placed in severe labor 
trafficking situations all across the country. This is an 
affront to the rule of law and shows just how inhuman our 
current border policies are.
    The Office of Intelligence of the U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection recently informed my staff there has been a 
significant uptick in the number of migrants who are paying the 
cartels a deposit to cross the border, and then are forced to 
work off the rest of their debt they owe to the cartels while 
they are in the country.
    In Oklahoma, some of these migrants will end up working in 
horrible labor trafficking conditions at marijuana farms across 
the State. A spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics 
recently stated, ``Specifically related to the marijuana 
industry here in Oklahoma, we have had some workers who have 
not been paid, who are living in deplorable conditions. On some 
of these farms they would meet the definition of labor 
trafficking, human trafficking, but they won't verbalize a 
complaint because of the fear and the desperation of that 
job.''
    Last December, four Chinese nationals were brutally 
executed on an illegal marijuana farm in Oklahoma. While 
investigators have not released to us the immigration status of 
those Chinese nationals, NBC News reported that law enforcement 
officials have reported a rise in black market operators using 
human trafficking victims, including Chinese nationals, to grow 
and trim marijuana sold in legal dispensaries. Continued 
reports in the media and prior investigations by this Committee 
have found that our open borders are facilitating labor 
trafficking across the country.
    One of our witnesses today will speak to another impact of 
the border crisis on communities in Oklahoma. Chief Hearod, of 
the McAlester Police Department, will share a story about an 
illegal immigrant who tragically killed one of his police 
officers recently. This individual should have been stopped at 
the border and prevented from entering without status.
    While our border security failed in this instance, this 
illegal immigrant was able to remain in the United States 
because the Biden administration has handcuffed U.S. 
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers by forcing 
them to process recent border crosser rather than find and 
remove illegal immigrants.
    Strong border security does not begin or end at the border. 
It requires interior enforcement to ensure that those who break 
the law and cross the border illegally face consequences and 
are deported. Let me show you one quick chart on this, to be 
able to show you graphically what I mean by this.
    This chart\1\ shows the number of people that are being 
encountered coming across our border since 2015. It is the 
orange line, and you can see that great acceleration. The blue 
line are actually ICE removal numbers, how many people ICE has 
actually removed from the country. You will notice, in 2020, 
the numbers started skyrocketing for the number of people 
coming into the country illegally, but since 2021, the number 
of removals has plummeted, almost to zero.
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    \1\ The chart referenced by Senator Lankford appears in the 
Appendix on page 82.
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    Literally, at the moment we have record numbers of people 
illegally crossing the border, we also have almost no one in 
the country actually being removed by ICE. Literally, people 
are coming in and almost no one is being removed by ICE in the 
interior of the country.
    I hope this Administration strengthens a proposal that it 
has put out for comment. We have yet to be able to hear that 
they are going to actually implement the proposal they put in 
place to be able to deal with asylum requests coming across the 
border. They have received comments, they have closed the 
comment period, but we have yet to see if they are, No. 1, 
going to actually enforce this rule, or if they are going to 
continue to be able to strengthen this rule.
    I am interested today to hear from our witnesses about the 
impacts of the border crisis on the communities they serve, and 
I do appreciate very much all of these individuals traveling a 
very long distance to be able to be here as a part of this 
hearing today.
    Senator Sinema, I would ask for two other pieces of 
information to be entered into the record. One is the Bureau of 
Narcotics from Oklahoma\2\ on the drug threats in Oklahoma, our 
specific data, and the other one is a letter from Wade Gorley, 
the police chief in Oklahoma City,\3\ about what is happening 
in our State, specifically in drug use, and how this has 
rapidly spiked in the days ahead.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ The statement from Bureau of Narcotics from Oklahoma appears in 
the Appendix on page 83.
    \3\ The letter from Wade Gourley appears in the Appendix on page 
85.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Senator Sinema. Without objection.
    Senator Lankford. Thank you, and I do appreciate our 
witnesses here, and I appreciate the hearing today.
    Senator Sinema. Thank you, Senator Lankford.
    It is the practice of this Committee to swear in witnesses, 
so if all of our witnesses would please stand and raise your 
right hand.
    Do swear that the testimony you will give before this 
Committee will the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the 
truth, so help you, God?
    Mr. Nicholls. I do.
    Mr. McCaa. I do.
    Dr. Garcia. I do.
    Mr. Hearod. I do.
    Senator Sinema. Thank you.
    We will now hear from our witnesses. I will ask each of our 
witnesses to keep their remarks to 5 minutes. Your full written 
statements will be entered into the hearing record.
    Our first witness today is Mayor Douglas Nicholls. Raised 
in Yuma, Mayor Nichols has been serving as the mayor of Yuma, 
Arizona, since 2014. He began his third term as mayor in 
January 2023. He serves as the Founder and Chairman of 
4FrontED's Governing Board, an internationally focused 
organization of regional mayors and elected local officials 
that include States on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. 
Additionally, he serves as President of the Arizona League of 
Cities and Towns, and is on the Arizona Commerce Authority 
Board of Directors. In 2021, he was appointed to the 
Environmental Protection Agency Local Government Advisory.
    Doug, welcome. It is great to see you again, and you are 
now recognized for 5 minutes.

 TESTIMONY OF DOUGLAS NICHOLLS,\1\ MAYOR, CITY OF YUMA, ARIZONA

    Mr. Nicholls. Thank you very much. Chair Sinema, Ranking 
Member Lankford, and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for 
the opportunity to testify today about the impacts of increased 
migration along the Southern Border.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Nicholls appears in the Appendix 
on page 35.
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    Yuma is located at the southwest corner of Arizona, along 
the Colorado River, adjacent to Mexico, and we directly feel 
changes in migration, which brings us great concern over the 
termination of Title 42.
    Historically, illegal migration in Yuma has had its peaks 
and valleys. In 2006, the Yuma Border Patrol Sector experienced 
a record of 146,000 interdictions of undocumented individuals 
crossing the border. The National Guard was deployed to 
construct the first barrier, and the Operation Streamline was 
enforced. This reduced our numbers to below 10,000 in 2007.
    In 2019, we saw a large migration of Central American 
families. The Yuma Sector could not accommodate the increase, 
and migrants were released on the streets of Yuma. This caused 
me to proclaim my first emergency proclamation.
    Nongovernmental organizations (NGO's) spent more than 
$700,000 and used 93,000 pounds of food and clothing. Yuma 
Regional Medical Center treated 1,300 patients at a cost of 
$810,000, with only one-third of that cost being reimbursed by 
the Federal Government.
    Policies like Remain in Mexico protocol reduced the flow, 
and as Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) became rampant, 
Title 42 took effect, and interdictions in the Yuma Sector were 
less than 9,000 people for the 2020 fiscal year.
    In 2021, President Biden lifted the migration Executive 
Orders (EO). There was an immediate increase in migrant 
crossing. Border Patrol was overwhelmed, and the migrants were 
again released on Yuma streets.
    In March, the Regional Center for Border Health began 
coordinating transportation for the migrants. They received 
funding for most of their efforts through FEMA. However, some 
reimbursements have been withheld.
    The migrant crossing numbers in the Yuma Sector reached 
260,000 in fiscal year 2021, and a new record of 310,000 in 
fiscal year 2022. This year, year-to-date, Yuma Sector has had 
120,000 migrants and 8,000 known gotaways.
    In December 2021, the migrant volumes peaked at 1,500 a 
day. Yuma Sector could not process migrants fast enough, and 
intermittently stopped picking up migrants. Many migrants 
traveled into Yuma, and then I proclaimed a local emergency to 
prevent disaster, of large groups of people without resources.
    The attempt to repeal Title 42 in December 2022, resulted 
in similar volumes, which led to local emergency declarations 
by Yuma County, the cities of San Luis and Somerton.
    I want to street the migrant crisis has negatively impacted 
Yuma far beyond what might meet the public eye. The 
agricultural industry is impacted by migrants entering fields. 
The crops they enter must be destroyed to maintain food safety. 
This costs the farmer $10,000 per acre, and does not account 
for the wages lost by the workers.
    In 2022, Yuma Regional Medical Center had a dramatic 
increase in migrant patients for emergency care, intensive 
care, and maternity care. These efforts have resulted in $26 
million of unreimbursed care.
    The economic growth of Yuma is compromised by this crisis. 
An Italian company looking to invest would not consider Yuma 
because of this crisis. Up to five times a day, our Chamber and 
our Visitors Bureau answer calls asking, ``How safe is it in 
Yuma?'' We are not able to determine this loss of economic 
activity.
    On May 11th, Title 42 is slated to be lifted. The daily 
volume is expected to double over 1,000 people per day. U.S. 
Border Patrol, or an NGO, will not be able to handle the flow 
and become overwhelmed, which leaves migrants on the streets of 
Yuma. This crisis is a Federal issue. The Federal Government 
needs to own the entirety of the situation and not push it off 
to local governments and NGO's.
    There are a few actions that I would suggest that would 
provide relief in the short term. President Biden could declare 
a state of emergency and send a message of no more trafficking. 
FEMA should take over the migrant sheltering and utilize their 
capabilities and resources. No migrant should be released into 
a community with less than 1 million residents, as the NGO 
response is unsustainable in smaller communities. The National 
Guard can provide transportation as needed. The asylum judicial 
process would become faster with assignment of more judges to 
the border or utilization of videoconference.
    Implementing policies from the past, like Operation 
Streamline, will impact the flow, reducing the burdens on 
communities as well as DHS.
    Thank you for your time.
    Senator Sinema. Thank you.
    Our next witness is Mayor Clea McCaa II. Mr. McCaa is in 
his first term as mayor. He was elected in 2022. He is a Sierra 
Vista native. Elected politics, of course, as a second career 
for a mayor. As a commissioned officer, he served in the United 
States Army for 30 years before his retirement as a colonel, 
and for much of his career he stayed close to home, stationed 
at our very own Fort Huachuca.
    Mayor McCaa is very active in his community. He serves as 
the senior pastor of the Sierra Vista 1st Church of God in 
Christ, the chaplain for the Sierra Vista Police Department, 
and the Buena High School football team. He is the founder of 
the Sierra Vista Dream Center, and finally, he is a past 
President of the Greater Huachuca Area NAACP.
    Mayor, it is great to see you in D.C., and thank you for 
hosting us in your city recently. It is wonderful to have you 
here with us, and you are recognized for 5 minutes.

  TESTIMONY OF CLEA McCAA II,\1\ MAYOR, CITY OF SIERRA VISTA, 
                            ARIZONA

    Mr. McCaa. Thank you, ma'am. Good afternoon to the Chair, 
Senator Sinema, Ranking Member James Lankford, and 
distinguished Members of this Committee. I appreciate the 
opportunity to address this Committee regarding the issues that 
our city is having from the optics of a mayor, community 
leader, pastor, husband, mentor, and a father.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ The prepared statement of Mr. McCaa appears in the Appendix on 
page 46.
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    Sierra Vista, Arizona, has a population of 45,000, and is 
located about 20 miles north of the U.S. border with Mexico. 
Sierra Vista does not feel like much of a border town. It is a 
military community, home of the Army Installation Fort 
Huachuca, which is the home of the Buffalo Soldier. It has a 
diverse, well-traveled population who have settled there, often 
by the choice of a quiet, safe lifestyle with a wealth of 
outdoor recreational activities. I would like to say, it is the 
best city in this country, and I stand by that remark.
    The nearest port of entry is about 45 miles away, located 
in Naco, Arizona, and it is rare for dangerous border issues 
you sometimes read about to impact Sierra Vista. In fact, some 
of the national rhetoric on border issues makes it harder for 
us to attract visitors and businesses to our city because 
people assume the area is more dangerous than it really is. I 
want to add that any false perceptions about violent crime in 
our community.
    But a recent trend of young people being recruited as so-
called ``low car drivers'' does pose a very real danger to our 
residents and visitors, which fuels these narratives about 
violence near the border. Often using social media, cartels in 
Mexico recruit residents in the United States to travel south 
to the border, pick up migrants, which the cartel calls 
``loads,'' and transport them, travel north, to exchange for 
money.
    Sometimes Sierra Vista does lie in the path of most of 
these load car drivers, who need to travel through our 
community to proceed north. In 2020, the Sierra Vista Police 
Department responded to 19 vehicle pursuits in our city, and in 
2022, they responded to 38, which doubled.
    These load car drivers, who are often teenagers and young 
adults, are encouraged to drive recklessly through our town to 
discourage pursuits. This has created extremely dangerous 
situations to include a load car driver speeding through an 
elementary school zone and crashing into a bicyclist, which was 
about 200 yards away from my mother's house. Two other 
incidents resulted in serious accidents in major intersections 
in our town. One occurred north of our city, which ended in a 
fatality.
    The Sierra Vista Police Department has seen an increase in 
felony case submissions to the Cochise County Attorney's Office 
from 343 in 2020, to 588 in 2022, which is a 71 percent 
increase. I want to reiterate that this increase does not stem 
from the violent crimes some may fear plague communities near 
the border. It is largely because of these load cars.
    These incidents tie up a significant amount of not only our 
police department's time and with our limited manpower but all 
the law enforcement agencies that are in our region.
    I grew up in Sierra Vista, and graduated from the local 
high school, Buena High School--Go Colts. I have also since 
raised my family there, in this extraordinary community, and it 
is a wonderful place to call home.
    But recently I have found myself worrying about my family 
members' safety in a way I never had before. I have a 16-year-
old daughter who is a novice driver, and I have encouraged my 
family members to take different routes, to take city routes, 
city streets, and not go on the highways, to avoid these load 
car drivers, because load car drivers have no regard for human 
life. I have also advised my mother to stay off of roadways. I 
am a pastor. I have advised my parishioners to stay off the 
highways because of these load cars drivers.
    I am not alone feeling this way. My citizens have witnessed 
this reckless, dangerous behavior of these drivers, and many 
others have seen the headlines, the damage and harm they have 
caused. One incident that is etched in my mind is a load car 
driver hit a 65-year-old woman going to a birthday party. Her 
son was trying to go to the birthday party as well and passed 
the accident. He did not know that was his mother. We had to 
tell him that that was his mother. Her name was Miss Wanda.
    I leave you with this final statement. I serve the citizens 
of Sierra Vista to keep them safe, enhance the quality of life, 
and support or law enforcement responders. Today I urge you to 
take many actions on the matter approving legislation to combat 
the cartels who commit activity on social media. Thank you.
    Senator Sinema. Thank you so much, Mayor McCaa.
    Our next witness is Dr. Francisco Garcia. Dr. Garcia is the 
Deputy County Administrator for Health and Community Services 
and the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for Pima County. In this 
capacity, he oversees the Pima County Office of Emergency 
Management (OEM). This office has played a critical role in 
managing migrant releases, keeping the community safe, and 
ensuring that migrants are treated fairly and humanely.
    Prior to government service, Dr. Garcia achieved the rank 
of tenured distinguished Outreach Professor of Public Health 
and Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Arizona, 
which we will forgive you for, Dr. Garcia. As a proud Sun Devil 
I will let it go.
    He is a Head Start alumnus, first-generation high school 
and college graduate, and a native of the U.S.-Mexico border. 
Francisco's lived experience informs his approach to problem-
solving and public policy and administration.
    Dr. Garcia, welcome. You are recognized for 5 minutes.

 TESTIMONY OF FRANCISCO GARCIA, M.D., M.P.H.,\1\ DEPUTY COUNTY 
 ADMINISTRATOR AND CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, PIMA COUNTY, ARIZONA

    Dr. Garcia. Thank you, Chair Sinema, Ranking Member 
Lankford, Members of the Committee. We appreciate the 
opportunity to speak to you today.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ The prepared statement of Dr. Garcia appears in the Appendix on 
page 49.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The 130 miles of Pima County's border with Mexico is the 
longest of any county in this country. Since its creation in 
1864, Pima County has had a close relationship with the people 
and government of Mexico. Nearly half the population of Pima 
County, myself included, are immigrants from Mexico, or the 
descendants of Mexican immigrants. Cross-border trade and 
tourism, and the movement of Americans and Mexicans back and 
forth across the border is a significant part of our culture, 
our economy, and our heritage.
    After the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, and 
changes in economic conditions in Mexico, along with the rise 
of Mexican drug cartels in the late 1990s and into the 2000s, 
the county's relationship with the U.S.-Mexico border has 
become more complex. Federal efforts to interdict the illegal 
flow of drugs and immigrants into the United States has had a 
series of cascading effects on Pima County. Those are all well-
documented and well-known to the Members of this Committee. 
However, I want to focus on the most recent border policy 
changes that have severely strained the resources of Pima 
County, the city of Tucson, and our region's nongovernmental 
and interfaith organizations.
    Just before noon on Good Friday, 2019, Catholic Community 
Services and other members of the local interfaith community, 
came together to ask the city of Tucson and Pima County for 
assistance setting up temporary emergency shelter for people 
seeking asylum. The asylum-seekers were about to be released in 
Tucson by Federal agencies after being granted the opportunity 
to make their case at a U.S. immigration court elsewhere in the 
country. Shelter capacity was already over. The county and the 
city agreed, and at 9 p.m. that evening, we received the first 
busload from ICE. At that time, I thought it was going to be a 
temporary Band-Aid and our involvement would be for a couple of 
months.
    Here we are, 4 years later, and Pima County is still 
heavily involved in assisting with the sheltering, feeding, 
medical screening, and transportation of thousands of asylum-
seekers per month.
    Since 2019, Federal agencies have brought to Tucson and 
released more than 150,000 individuals seeking asylum from 
several dozen countries. This December, county and community 
assistance was stressed to the breaking point with 15,000 
record releases that month. Federal agencies have signaled that 
we may expect twice that number after May 11th. If that 
happens, we will be overwhelmed and there will be many hundreds 
of people per day left to fend for themselves on the streets of 
Pima County.
    The question we get asked the most is why is Pima County is 
assisting local charities in this gargantuan effort? For me, as 
a child of the border, and for many in the county, the answer 
is because it is the right and humane thing to do. But the best 
answer is because Pima County is a local government charged 
with providing for the safety, health, and welfare of our 
residents.
    Having thousands of people with limited resources and 
limited English skills, trying to figure out how to get to 
other parts of a country that is unfamiliar to them, with no 
food, little money, no place to sleep, is deleterious to the 
health, safety, and welfare of everybody in this county. We are 
obligated to protect the people of Pima County by assisting 
these asylum-seekers to quickly and efficiently move on to 
their final destinations and their sponsoring organizations or 
families.
    On average, the vast majority of asylum-seekers, when 
assisted, are able to leave the County in 24 to 36 hours. 
Without assistance, they would likely linger for days. With 
scorching summer heat on its way, it is unacceptable to leave 
these individuals to suffer and struggle on their own in our 
community.
    The net effect of our efforts has been masking of a crisis. 
Few in Tucson, Pima County, or Arizona know Federal entities 
are dropping off hundreds of people each day to local county-
supported shelter operations. Pima County's role in managing 
this hidden crisis is working with the city of Tucson and 
humanitarian partners to meet the complex needs of these 
individuals.
    We could not do any of this without Federal resources, and 
those resources come from you. The Federal investment is the 
key to everything. We in Pima County are fully aware that 
comprehensive immigration reform has been elusive, but Pima 
County does not want to be, nor should it be, in the business 
of sheltering and caring for people seeking asylum in the 
United States. That should be a function of the Federal 
Government.
    If the result of this hearing and the other congressional 
action is that the Congress and the Executive take this burden 
off our hands and stop releasing asylum-seekers in our 
communities that will be welcomed by the people of Pima County. 
But absent that sort of direct Federal engagement, I implore 
you, at a minimum, to find a better and easier way to fund the 
local governments and organizations who are shouldering this 
burden on behalf of the Federal Government.
    Thank you again for your time today. Mr. Shane Clark, our 
Office of Emergency Management (OEM) Director, and I look 
forward to your questions.
    Senator Sinema. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Garcia.
    Ranking Member Lankford, I would like to recognize you to 
introduce our next witness.
    Senator Lankford. Thank you. It is my pleasure to introduce 
Chief Kevin Hearod. As I mentioned in my opening statement, 
Chief Hearod serves as the Chief of Police for the McAlester 
Police Department in my home State of Oklahoma. He began with 
McAlester Police Department back in 1995, worked through the 
ranks, since then serving as a narcotics task force and then 
more recently as captain on patrol and in the Criminal 
Investigation Division.
    Chief Hearod is a lifetime resident of Pittsburg County and 
a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, which my daughter has 
graduated OSU, and we can talk about that later. I am excited 
to have him here today. He has a difficult story to be able to 
tell, but also a story of what is happening in a community that 
is not right on the border but is definitely affected by what 
is going on.
    Thank you for your willingness to speak here today.

     TESTIMONY OF KEVIN HEAROD,\1\ CHIEF, McALESTER POLICE 
                DEPARTMENT, McALESTER, OKLAHOMA

    Mr. Hearod. Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator Sinema 
and Senator Lankford for inviting me.
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    \1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Hearod appears in the Appendix on 
page 52.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    On March 16, 2023, the McAlester Police Department was 
preparing for a funeral to pay our respects and honors to 
former Chief of Police Dale Nave. He was the Chief of McAlester 
for almost 20 years and hired a large percentage of the 
officers that work there today. Before the funeral that 
morning, Shift Commander Captain Richard Parker failed to 
report to duty. He was found in his house, deceased.
    After several hours at Richard's house, I sent several 
officers to escort Captain Parker to the medical examiner's 
office in Tulsa. On March 17th, I sent five officers to escort 
Captain Parker from the medical examiner's office to a funeral 
home in Wetumka. Our officers were met by officers from several 
agencies that joined in the escort.
    As the procession was traveling south on U.S. 75 through 
the city of Glenpool, Martin Rivas Rodriguez lost control of 
his vehicle as he was traveling north on 75. His vehicle jumped 
the guardrail and collided with Joseph Barlow's patrol unit, 
one of my officers. The collision hit with such great force it 
destroyed the front of Joseph's police car. All of my officers 
tried to get Joseph out of the car, but the damage was too 
extensive. Joseph was eventually cut out and transported by 
ambulance to St. John's Hospital in Tulsa.
    Mr. Rodrigues was arrested for driving without a license, 
and that is when it was discovered that he was an undocumented 
immigrant. Joseph passed away from the injuries sustained in 
the wreck on March 20th. Joseph was kept on life support 
machines for 2 more days because he was an organ donor. On 
March 22nd, five of Joseph's organs were harvested including 
his heart, his liver, and one of his lungs. These organs went 
to five other people.
    This tragedy was a great loss to our department and to our 
community. Joseph was an Army veteran and he had only worked 
for the police department for less than 2 years. Joseph left 
behind a wife and a 1-year-old son, Jason Hudson.
    In my career I have worked patrol shifts, investigation 
divisions, and narcotics units. Drugs are obviously the 
greatest threat to my community. Twenty-three years ago, while 
assigned to a narcotics unit, I was sent to Quantico, Virginia, 
to get certified to be able to disassemble clandestine labs 
safely. At that time methamphetamine was the main drug of 
choice in Oklahoma. People were buying and stealing 
pseudoephedrine and converting it to methamphetamine.
    About 20 years ago, Oklahoma made it illegal to purchase 
pseudoephedrine over the counter. It could only be purchased 
from pharmacies, and the purchaser had to show identification. 
This led to the end of clan labs in our area, and it has been 
many years since the last working clan lab was discovered in 
Pittsburg County.
    My agency works very closely with the Drug Enforcement 
Agency (DEA), and the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and 
Dangerous Drugs (OBN). These agencies have informed me that the 
narcotics that are present in our communities come from Mexico. 
Methamphetamine is still the most prevalent drug, but Fentanyl 
is becoming more widely used.
    OBN told me that they seized 830.7 pounds of 
methamphetamine and 2.01 pounds of fentanyl in the year 2020. 
Last year that number jumped to 3,549.39 pounds of meth and 
122.72 pounds of fentanyl. That is enough fentanyl to kill 
every Oklahoma citizen seven times.
    This places a great strain on law enforcement and the 
community. As the number of drugs available increase, 
unfortunately the number of accidental overdoses also increase. 
In 2019, Oklahoma recorded 883 overdose deaths and in 2021, the 
number jumped to 1005. My department has had to supply every 
officer for the past 5 years with Narcan. Fortunately, many of 
my officers have been able to administer Narcan on several 
accidental overdoses and prevent many people from dying. 
Obviously, when there are more illegal drugs in the community 
there is an increase in other crimes, especially in property 
crimes.
    In my career I have met thousands of people in need of 
assistance from law enforcement. Many of these have been the 
victims of crimes and some were just stuck in a bad situation 
and needed help. Many of these people have been undocumented 
immigrants. This part of our community is particularly 
vulnerable. In my dealings with this community, I have become 
aware of several reasons for this vulnerability including 
language barriers and a lack of trust in the police department, 
as well as other people taking advantage of them because of 
their reluctance to involve the police in their matters. I have 
personally met many victims that were hesitant to talk to the 
police, and I assume there are many more in McAlester that have 
been victimized and have not reported their crimes.
    Thank you.
    Senator Sinema. Thank you, Chief Hearod.
    I think I can speak on behalf of all of us on the Committee 
when I express my condolences to you and the law enforcement 
community in your area for your tragic loss. Thank you for 
being here today.
    We will now begin the question portion of the hearing. Each 
Member of the Committee will have 7 minutes. I recognize myself 
for 7 minutes. I will start with Mayor Nicholls.
    Mayor Nicholls, since 2019, Yuma has twice been so 
overwhelmed by the flow of migrants across the border that you 
have deemed it necessary to declare a state of emergency. Can 
you tell us what goes into determining that a state of 
emergency must be declared? What considerations are made as a 
part of that process and what thresholds must be met?
    Mr. Nicholls. Thank you very much. The ability to declare 
an emergency comes from our city charter. We are an Arizona 
Charter City, and in there it refers to the great danger of 
life. It does not actually require the loss of life but a 
threat to life, and it does not limit that just to residents or 
anyone specific. It gives me a lot of latitude.
    But it is easy to see, as you track these numbers--and I 
have a great relationship with the local Border Patrol, and 
they show me the stats as they are coming through and some of 
the stories you are hearing, that in both of these situations 
we were going to end up with people on the streets that would 
not have resources, that would not have shelter, that would not 
have food, no way to receive them. To me that is an 
endangerment to life. Given that I wanted to prevent that, 
raise the attention, and potentially find solutions, and that 
is why we declared the local emergencies when those situations 
arise.
    Senator Sinema. Mayor, I appreciate your response. I think 
a lot of folks who are not familiar with the Arizona-Mexico 
border do not realize that it is markedly different than other 
border communities in other States. The city of Yuma has no 
shelters, and if I remember correctly, from my last visit, just 
one bus stop.
    Is the city of Yuma able or have the capacity to provide 
assistance to migrants, particularly during the summer months?
    Mr. Nicholls. The city of Yuma itself does not. We have one 
homeless shelter but it is specifically for more of the 
resident homeless. The transitional sheltering that migrants 
require, that does not exist in our community. I checked on 
this on my way to this meeting--we have two buses a day that 
come, that bring people to other communities for those 
transportation options, but those buses are generally mostly 
full anyway. If you release 50 people it could take days to get 
out of town.
    Senator Sinema. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor.
    Mayor McCaa, in your testimony you talked about the dangers 
posed by the load car drivers. These are the folks who drive at 
high speeds while smuggling humans or drugs. When this occurs, 
how does it impact law enforcement resources in your community, 
and can you tell us a little bit about how this impacts the 
residents of Sierra Vista--your daughter, your mother, your 
parishioners? What else does it mean for other residents 
throughout Sierra Vista?
    Mr. McCaa. Thank you for the question. One thing is it is 
tough to track border-related crimes within a city limits 
because most originate out in the county. Not being able to 
track the crime presents its own problems, such as how to 
migrate it.
    But when the load car and the pursuits happen, they all eat 
up our on-shift manpower for our police force. There are times 
that we only have four and five officers on staff, and it takes 
all of them to clear intersections or even to stop the vehicles 
through town, or to get the vehicle stopped and make the arrest 
safely. If we get a load car vehicle stop, at least one, or 
even more officers are tied up with the arrest for about 3 to 4 
hours. During the day, load car pursuits can pull our 
detectives off their assigned tasks, and even our high-level 
staff off their assigned tasks.
    One thing, Border Patrol checkpoints have put a significant 
damper on pursuits. Having these checkpoints creates stash 
houses within our city limits, where migrants are housed until 
the checkpoints go down, to transport those migrants north. 
Stash houses pick up when the checkpoints are up, and they go 
down when the checkpoints are not there. Pursuits are less 
violent crime on the roads when the checkpoints are up. 
Checkpoints do not stop the pursuits; they deter them.
    With the increase of pursuits in Sierra Vista and the 
increase of public safety coverage, pursuits currently have 
moved to our east, which creates load cars going east. But 
those do not deter from Sierra Vista because they take wrong 
turns and come through our town.
    The pursuits are still constant regardless of where they 
are in the county. Pursuits can start far away and come in 
because Sierra Vista is the main artery going north.
    Drugs, as the Committee says, the border issue, is the most 
significant thing that affects Sierra Vista. It carries on from 
property crimes, crimes like shoplifting, the drugs come across 
the border, then they go to Tucson where they are cut up, and 
they bring them back down.
    One thing, Senator Sinema, I want to stop worrying about if 
my daughter can get back home from volleyball practice. I want 
to stop worrying about if my mother gets back home from bible 
study. I want to stop worrying about--that is what keeps me up 
at night. That is what I worry about--when is the next citizen 
that is going to serve as a fatality because of these load car 
drivers. Thank you, ma'am.
    Senator Sinema. Thank you, Mayor.
    Dr. Garcia, Pima County has been an incredible partner to 
the city of Tucson and local nonprofits. Working 
collaboratively, Pima County has gotten over 130,000 migrants 
released into the county since April 2021, from CBP custody. 
Somehow, even with 130,000 releases, the county, in coalition 
with the city and local NGO's, have avoided street releases.
    When considering the process of receiving migrants, what is 
the most significant challenge that Pima County faces, and what 
is the most urgent need for reform, and how does this impact 
your employees?
    Dr. Garcia. Chair Sinema, thank you for the question. On 
four separate occasions we have nearly averted what would have 
been the release of dozens of people onto the streets in 
Tucson. This occurred most recently when we had the massive 
flow of 15,000 migrants in the month of December, and due to 
the terrific coordination with Border Patrol and the city, as 
well as our NGO, we were able to tap into resources and stand 
up hotels that were staffed by city and county staff in order 
to address that immediate need.
    It is the massive and unrelenting flow and volume of 
asylum-seekers that is the most taxing and that is the biggest 
challenge for us. For city and county staff, for humanitarian 
staff and volunteers it is unrelenting and exhausting. Only 
comprehensive immigration reform is going to fix that. Short of 
that, we need to de-incentivize the entry of people in between 
the ports of entry, because that is what is causing so much of 
the havoc.
    Senator Sinema. Thank you all for your answers.
    I would now like to recognize Senator Johnson for 7 minutes 
of questions.

              OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR JOHNSON

    Senator Johnson. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for 
holding this important hearing to highlight the impact that 
this border crisis is having on our communities and local 
counties.
    I will put up my chart,\1\ just a quick little description 
of what the keys are here. The gold color is single adults 
being encountered--this is average encounters per month, or 
number of encounters per month--blue is family units, and red 
is unaccompanied children.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ The chart referenced by Senator Johnson appears in the Appendix 
on page 87.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    You will notice, back in 2014, I became Chair of Homeland 
Security, I guess that was 2015, so I made multiple trips down 
to the border. The first trips were during the border crisis of 
2014, when President Obama declared it a humanitarian crisis 
when 2,000 people were being apprehended. Back then we called 
it apprehensions. Now we just call them encounters because we 
encounter, process, and disperse. You can see that under 
President Trump we had another surge. I think the worst month 
was approaching 4,000 per day. Now we have what has happened 
over the last couple of years, this explosion.
    We have had DHS Secretary Mayorkas in front of our 
Committee a number of times. I have pressed him repeatedly in 
terms of what the real numbers are, in terms of total numbers 
coming into this country, encountered, processed, dispersed, 
known and unknown gotaways, and I never get a straight answer. 
But I also asked him, ``Would you admit this is a crisis?'' and 
the most I have gotten out of him is he says it is a challenge.
    I want to ask each one of you. Is this a crisis for your 
city, for your county? We will start with you, Mayor Nicholls.
    Mr. Nicholls. Thank you, Senator. Yes, this is a crisis. I 
do not know how you look at these numbers, and when you triple 
or double the previous high, how that does not create a concern 
that would be called a crisis.
    Senator Johnson. By the way, we are down a little bit in 
the last couple of months, but we have been over 8,000 people 
per day average compared to 2,000 when President Obama called 
that a humanitarian crisis.
    Mayor McCaa, is this a crisis?
    Mr. McCaa. Yes, sir, it is a crisis. Sir, we have, I think 
I am safe to say, about four or five pursuits a day going 
through our town.
    Senator Johnson. Deputy Administrator Garcia, is this a 
crisis?
    Dr. Garcia. Senator Johnson, 150,000 asylum-seekers 
processed in Pima County from 2019 to the present, yes, this is 
a crisis. It is using up resources that we need to use for 
other purposes, even with the Federal support.
    Senator Johnson. Chief Hearod, is this a crisis?
    Mr. Hearod. Yes, Senator, this is a crisis. The more that 
are allowed to come in, and obviously I am a long way from the 
border, but the more drugs that we have to deal with, the more 
crime that we have to deal with in our city.
    Senator Johnson. In the last fiscal year--and I asked 
Secretary Mayorkas here, and he claimed not to know the 
answer--but in the last fiscal year I believe there were 890 
dead bodies found on the Southwest Border. I would imagine you 
have encountered that and had to deal with that tragedy.
    The human toll, obviously the loss of life is enormous. But 
the sex trafficking, the human trafficking, the involuntary 
servitude, the flood of deadly drugs just amplify the extent 
that this is a crisis.
    What I want to talk a little bit about is the history of 
this. When I first started going down to the border, back in 
2015, 2016, 2017, even during the 2019 crisis, I was surprised 
when I talked to local sheriffs, mayors that it seemed like 
most of the people coming across did not linger. They shot 
right through the city because they did not commit crimes, they 
did not want to get caught. They just wanted to get to their 
final destination. Is that the same thing happening now, or are 
they lingering? Is there more crime? Those of you who were in 
your positions back then, in 2014 through 2016, is there a 
difference today versus what it was the previous two peaks.
    I will start with you, Mayor Nicholls.
    Mr. Nicholls. Thank you, Senator. We do not see the large 
perceived violent crimes in our community. People are moving 
through. The problem we have, and the reason we declare 
proclamations of emergency, is because the transportation 
opportunities to leave the community, which is what the 
migrants are trying to do, do not exist, and that is where the 
emergency comes to play.
    Senator Johnson. Again, the Administration claims this is a 
success. They are getting pretty efficient at processing and 
dispersing. Correct? To all points.
    Mr. Nicholls. That is correct. That is what I would say is 
the difference between 2014 and now, is in 2014, there was a 
desire to stop the flow, and now it is looking to accommodate 
the flow.
    Senator Johnson. Is there any way we know who these people 
truly are? Obviously I do not know who the known and unknown 
gotaways are, but even when you are processing people, last 
time I was down on the border, Customs and Border Patrol were 
told they were given a goal of about 8 hours, from first 
encounter to on a bus, on a plane someplace headed throughout 
America. Mayor McCaa.
    Mr. McCaa. Sir, your question is?
    Senator Johnson. Do we know who these people are? Is there 
any possible way that we know who these folks are?
    Mr. McCaa. Sir, we do not know who these people are. Most 
of the people that we apprehend are young people, young adults, 
as young as 14 years old. They are recruited from Phoenix, 
Tucson. They even come down from north--I think the furthest 
one we had was from Massachusetts. They get an app on their 
phone that is supported by, I guess, the cartel. They are given 
a point where to pick up their car, where to pick up the load, 
and head north. It is said just ``speed north to avoid the 
pursuits.''
    Senator Johnson. Mr. Garcia, again, they are passing 
through your counties and your cities so quickly. Do you have 
evidence of the sex trafficking? I think it is pretty obvious. 
The Secretary had no idea to the extent of it, but I do not 
know how these young women are paying off their human 
trafficking fees. I think we can only imagine the horror of it. 
But do you see evidence of that?
    Dr. Garcia. Senator Johnson, it is a complicated question. 
I have been managing this on behalf of the county in some form 
or fashion since 2013, and have experienced some of the same 
things that you have. Currently, we do not see that kind of 
evidence, in part because we are very efficient about moving 
folks through the community. We have to rely on our Federal 
partners to do the kinds of security clearances pre-release 
that they do. We are not in that business, so we trust that the 
individuals that are handed over to us, in civil society, are 
individuals who have undergone vetting.
    Senator Johnson. Chief Hearod, you are back away from the 
border so you are where they are being dispersed to.
    Mr. Hearod. Correct.
    Senator Johnson. One of the things I found quite disturbing 
is the stash houses. Some of these would be close to the border 
where they basically keep these people--they kidnapped them, 
and they hold them for ransom to their relatives in Central 
America or Mexico or whatever. What are you seeing in terms of 
the human toll of some of the sex trafficking, the human 
trafficking, that type of thing, in Oklahoma?
    Mr. Hearod. We do see some of that. We see, in these 
communities, that these people will be taken advantage of 
greatly, a lot of times by people in that same community. They 
know they do not want to come talk to the police. They are 
afraid to talk to the police because they put the fear in them 
that the only thing we are going to do is try to deport them. 
They do not ask for help. They are basically indentured 
servants or they have to split their check, or they are paid 
below minimum wage, those types of things. We run into all of 
that. We also run into them when they are breaking the law, and 
they get arrested, and then we have a hard time trying to 
figure out who they are. Then they make bond and they are gone. 
They never show up for court. We do not know where they are, 
where they went.
    Senator Johnson. OK. Again, thank you all for your service, 
for dealing with something you should not have to deal with. 
Again, Madam Chair, thank you for holding this hearing.
    Senator Sinema. Thank you, Senator Johnson.
    It seems evident from our witnesses' testimony today that 
the cartels have a different strategy of which type of migrants 
they are bringing through different ports or different parts of 
the country. We are seeing very different individuals coming 
through the Yuma area than we are seeing come through the 
Cochise County area, which is different again from where we 
seeing in the Pima County area.
    I am going to recognize myself for another round of 
questions. Oh, I am going to recognize Senator Lankford for his 
questions, and Senator Lankford, I am going to go vote, if you 
will also chair while I am gone.
    Senator Lankford. I can.
    Senator Sinema. Wonderful. Thank you.
    Senator Lankford [presiding.] Total chaos will break out as 
I take over the chair.
    Senator Sinema. Typical.
    Senator Lankford. Typical, yes.
    Pardon me. I just ran to vote and came back, so we are all 
multitasking here, coming back and forth. Thanks again for 
being here. Chief Hearod, thank you for coming to share your 
story. Please tell the families thank you as well. This was not 
only a sacrifice for you to be able to come tell a very 
difficult story that just happened a few weeks ago, but also 
for the families to say yes. From my wife and I and from our 
family and from all of Oklahoma, we appreciate what you are 
doing and how you are handling a very difficult issue, and for 
how the families are handling this and continue to be able to 
tell the story.
    Mr. Hearod. Thank you, sir.
    Senator Lankford. You had several references in your 
testimony as well to methamphetamine and fentanyl. You also 
reference that it is the understanding that this dominantly 
coming out of Mexico. The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics has done 
a lot of work on this. I have put some of that information into 
the record today as well.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ The information referenced by Senator Lankford appears in the 
Appendix on page 82.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    What are you hearing from the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics 
and from your own sources in McAlester on the source of the 
drugs that are coming into Oklahoma?
    Mr. Hearod. The sources of our drugs starts in Mexico, and 
it works its way across the border, either as a drug product or 
maybe as a precursor, that once it gets into Texas, typically 
for us, then it is converted into a drug, or made into 
methamphetamine, or the fentanyl is already brought in.
    Typically, where I live, it comes through Dallas, Texas. 
The cartels, the mules carry it through Texas, through Dallas, 
come up the 69 highway, and distribute it in McAlester is one 
place. We are between Tulsa and Dallas, and that is typically 
where we get it from.
    Senator Lankford. You have been with the department more 
than two decades.
    Mr. Hearod. Yes.
    Senator Lankford. Have you seen an increase in the drugs 
coming into McAlester in the past few years?
    Mr. Hearod. Definitely, sir. Like I said, 20 years ago I 
worked narcotics, and we worked a lot of labs. I can tell you 
today that methamphetamine is cheaper today than it was 20 
years ago, and the only reason for that is because it is more 
available.
    Senator Lankford. We have heard a lot in the news lately 
about human trafficking, labor trafficking, individuals being 
able to move in and out, to be able to work for the cartels. 
Are you experiencing that anywhere in Pittsburg County or 
anywhere around McAlester?
    Mr. Hearod. The big problem that we run into is people in 
these communities gather together, and like I was saying 
earlier, they do not trust the police, so they get taken 
advantage of by other people in that community, or not 
necessarily in that community but they get taken advantage of 
by other people because they do not trust us. They are told 
that if they report a crime, the first thing we are going to do 
is try to deport them or arrest them for being there. They get 
victimized, and we see a lot of that.
    We do see a lot of crime from people, obviously not driving 
with a driver's license and not being able to drive very well, 
and then we have accidents and there is no insurance. We run 
into a lot of that stuff and it escalates.
    Senator Lankford. OK. You talked about a lot of the drugs 
are coming into the area through Dallas. How are the dealers 
and individuals within the community, how are they connecting 
with this? Is this a cartel that you are seeing a presence of, 
or what are the connections here?
    Mr. Hearod. A lot of times it is connected to the cartels, 
is the information that I am getting. It will be where an 
immigrant will start a business, start a construction company. 
This happened not too long ago in our recent past. We caught a 
fellow that had his own construction company, had several 
people working for him, constantly going back and forth to 
Dallas, occasionally going back and forth to Mexico, and used 
people in his construction company to distribute the drugs.
    Senator Lankford. Are you seeing the same thing in some of 
the illegal operations that are growing marijuana in the State? 
We have some that have a licensed facility and then some of 
them are illegal, that they are actually transporting the 
marijuana outside the State that are there. Are you sensing a 
connection of individuals that are illegally trafficked into 
the State to be able to work in some of these operations?
    Mr. Hearod. In my specific community we do not have any of 
the big growers. I have seen those, talking to OBN, I have seen 
them. Obviously it made the news media. I have seen the effects 
of that. I have seen that happen. But in my particular 
community I have not seen that. We have lots of dispensaries 
and a few small grows, but they are indoor grows and mom-and-
pop type stuff.
    Senator Lankford. I want to make a couple of quick comments 
to be able to get on the record and to be able to remind 
everybody that is here as well. The comments that you are 
making are part of the congressional record, and will be pulled 
by staff and others that are researching what to do about this 
in the days ahead. All of your written comments and your oral 
comments and questions are exceptionally helpful, not just to 
this panel but as we are going through different pieces in the 
days ahead, trying to pull a piece of legislation together, 
this congressional testimony gets pulled as a part of the 
permanent record of what needs to be done. I do appreciate any 
recommendations that any of you have.
    I know Mayor Nicholls, in particular, you outlined in your 
oral testimony earlier some specific recommendations that you 
would say these are the things that the Federal Government 
needs to do. One of those was dealing specifically with the 
issue of asylum. You had mentioned that individuals coming to 
be able to pursue asylum, we have to get to judges faster. We 
need to have courts that are closer to the border. Why would 
that be?
    Mr. Nicholls. Senator what is really happening is people 
are being released pending a future court date, which could be 
3 to 4 to 5 years down the road.
    Senator Lankford. Oh, let me make it worse.
    Mr. Nicholls. OK.
    Senator Lankford. If an individual crosses in Yuma, 
Arizona, as you know because you have seen this process, as 
they cross the border, Border Patrol, they go through the 
process with them of saying where would you like to make your 
asylum claim, to be able to go through that. They are told, for 
instance, if they selected New York City right now, and said, 
``I am going to go to New York,'' they are released on their 
own recognizance to make it to New York, however they want to, 
or connecting with other organizations. The next date for their 
first hearing, not their determination if they receive asylum, 
the next date available in New York City right now is in 2033, 
is the next available date. They will wait 10 years before they 
do the first hoop. The next hoop is 8 years after that.
    Currently an individual crossing in Yuma that says, ``I 
want to request asylum,'' it will be 18 years before final 
determination. I hate to interrupt you, but it is worse than 
you think.
    Mr. Nicholls. That is a lot worse than I thought. I was 
just told the other day there are 660,000 people waiting across 
the border when Title 42 is rescinded. They will come through 
within a month, and when they come through they will be tacking 
on time to places like New York City.
    Senator Lankford. Yes, it will be very significant.
    You outlined that in 2022, 310,000 people were encountered 
coming across the border in the Yuma Sector. But I want to just 
reiterate with that comment, Yuma has about 100,000 people. Do 
I remember that correctly?
    Mr. Nicholls. That is correct.
    Senator Lankford. Yuma has a population of 100,000. In 1 
year they saw more than 300,000 people cross the border 
illegally there. So I want people to understand the scope of 
what you are dealing with as a challenge there, and I cannot 
imagine the challenge on city services and for all that is 
happening, individuals that are moved over to other places, to 
Tucson or wherever it may be, to be able to try to manage what 
is actually going on there. But it is incredibly significant.
    I also want to remind folks, as well, I have had 
conversations with Secretary Mayorkas on the specific issue of 
individuals that are crossing the border and how much 
information we know about these individuals. Because remember, 
as you all know, they are processed usually within 24 to 36 
hours at this point and then released into the country on their 
own recognizance.
    I have asked Secretary Mayorkas, ``How many of these 
individuals do we know their criminal history?'' and they have 
gone back to be able to examine and look at it, and we do not. 
We know if they are on the Terror Watch List, but we literally 
do not know any criminal history for any of these other 
individuals other than are they on our Terror Watch List, or do 
we have a criminal history in the United States for these 
individuals. These are folks that are coming from literally all 
over the world. In many areas of the border, people that cross 
the border, they are literally from Eastern Europe, they are 
from Africa, they are from Central America, they are from South 
America, they are from Asia, they are from all over the world.
    The last time I was in Yuma there was a significant number 
of folks--in fact, if I remember correctly, the particular 
month I was there was in January, last time I was in Yuma. 
There were more people that had crossed illegally that month 
from Uzbekistan into Yuma than there was from El Salvador. By 
the way, El Salvador is closer than Uzbekistan. But there are 
literally people coming from all over the world here, and we 
have no criminal history, no background, no information on 
those individuals.
    What have you seen there in Yuma as far as the people 
staying longer than, let us say, 48 hours?
    Mr. Nicholls. Generally they do move through very, very 
fast, but we are seeing, this year to date, 112 different 
countries represented in the flow. So I do not remember how 
many countries there are in the world, but 112 is a very 
significant percentage of that.
    Thankfully, because of our nonprofit, when Border Patrol 
releases, they release to the nonprofit, and they help 
facilitate within the day of moving people, most of the people, 
to regional airports to get on their way. With the ending of 
Title 42, that process is probably going to hit its capacity, 
and then that is when the releases to the streets of Yuma 
become a reality.
    Senator Lankford. OK. Thank you.
    I am going to recognize another border State, Senator 
Padilla, for his questions.

              OPENING STATMENT OF SENATOR PADILLA

    Senator Padilla. So obviously many communities along the 
southern border have stepped up and provided the services for 
asylum-seekers arriving at our border. We know it is not easy, 
but in the spirit of that safe, orderly, humane process that we 
want to provide as many asylum-seekers as possible, it has not 
just been government doing the job but, in fact, as you 
referenced a minute ago, a lot of nonprofit organizations and 
NGO's that are participating here.
    I know in California, the State I represent, the Federal, 
State, and local governments have worked collaboratively with 
the NGO's to ensure that migrants have access to services they 
may need upon arrival in the United States. Since I have come 
to the Senate, I have fought to ensure that there is robust 
Federal funding for the Emergency Food and Shelter Program 
(EFSP) to support these local efforts.
    The first question is for Dr. Garcia. In you testimony, you 
mentioned that for the past 4 years Pima County has relied on 
Federal grants to provide these services. Can you just 
elaborate a little bit more on what services are reimbursed by 
the Federal Government to aid Pima County, and if you are 
informed enough maybe you can speak to the timeliness of 
reimbursements.
    Dr. Garcia. I appreciate the question, Senator Padilla. One 
of the things that I made a point of is that we can do none of 
this absent Federal support.
    Currently, the kinds of services that we are providing for 
these asylum-seekers, who, again, are in our community about 24 
to 36 hours, the vast majority, is housing through both 
congregate and non-congregate settings. We provide food. We 
provide the medical kinds of clearance for those folks. We 
provide security, transportation, and related logistics. These 
folks have complicated needs. Some of them are very easy to 
move through. When you have a family of three it is going to 
take more effort. Some of the folks have resources and are 
awaiting family on the other end. Some folks may have fewer 
resources and just a telephone number.
    Civil society organizations, Catholic Community Charities, 
as well as a variety of others are on the front lines, trying 
to connect these people with resources in order to get them to 
the final destination.
    The issue of timeliness, critically, unfortunately, the 
current FEMA EFSP kind of funding strategy really does not 
allow us to plan for much more than 3 months at a time. You can 
imagine that this operation, which ranges from $1 to $1.5 
million a month, is hard to plan for on a month-to-month basis. 
We need a longer time horizon. We need more reliable 
reimbursement. In the past, under the FEMA EFSP program, 
certain agencies have had a hard time getting that funding even 
up to a year.
    Senator Padilla. Based on your experience and what you have 
observed, you talk about some of the funding, whether it is 
reimbursement on a timely basis or not for housing, for 
transportation, et cetera. Are there any other gaps or areas of 
funding that the Federal Government does not cover that 
counties could sure use, particularly if we are looking at 
numbers increasing in the near future?
    Dr. Garcia. Sir, in the human services are one of the 
critical things that will go away as Title 42 and the public 
health emergency is elapsed will be some of the coverage for 
medical screening and related services. We believe that we have 
a responsibility, before a person boards a bus or boards an 
airplane, to make sure that that person is safe to travel, for 
their own sake, for the sake of other passengers, for the sake 
of our community. Some of those resources may be going away 
with the lapsing of the public health emergency.
    Senator Padilla. Thank you.
    Now I think a little bit of a greater context for the 
hearing today, and then back to a specific question. You know, 
since I have arrived at the Senate, and been part of many 
efforts and conversations, working toward modernizing our 
nation's immigration laws, right. Everybody says we need 
comprehensive reform, we need comprehensive updating to the 
process, in so many ways. Some people like to focus efforts on 
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients and 
dreamers more broadly. Others, workers in the agricultural 
sector and farm workers and others.
    You know, there are a bunch of categories of immigration 
laws that need to be modernized, and whether we do it 
comprehensively or in another fashion, oftentimes I am met 
with, ``Well, I am happy to do that but we have to address the 
board,'' ``I am happy to do that, but Biden and the border,'' 
and so here we are, once again talking specifically about the 
border.
    Now one of the specific elements in this greater 
immigration conversation is asylum. United States law is very 
clear. Individuals, with some exceptions, do have the right to 
seek asylum at our border. It does not mean it is automatically 
granted, but it is lawful to seek asylum at our border, whether 
they arrive at a port of entry or not. I do not see anybody 
shaking their head in the negative at the table.
    But despite the way it is often discussed, this is a legal 
pathway enshrined in U.S. law. But unfortunately, physically 
coming to the border is often the only option for many 
individuals because there are such limited ways to apply for 
admission into the U.S. from other countries. It is one of the 
many things that is broken in our more comprehensive system.
    In fiscal year 2022, we only admitted 25,465 refugees, down 
from over 200,000 when the U.S. refugee program first began. 
Only 140,000 employment-based green cards are available to 
individuals in any given year, and only 55,000 diversity visas 
are granted.
    Dr. Garcia, how would increasing pathways to the U.S. for 
migrants benefit counties in planning and anticipating new 
arrival?
    Dr. Garcia. One of the critical pieces that we are missing 
is the ability to do long-and medium-term planning for the flow 
of folks who are coming across our border and who we are in the 
position of having to serve. We need predictability both in 
terms of the numbers. We need predictability in terms of the 
types of folks that are coming in. All that will serve us well 
in order to move folks efficiently to whatever that next 
location is that they need to go.
    Senator Padilla. I will end with I appreciate your 
responses here. My takeaway is if we expand the numbers of 
people being able to lawfully come and make that process a 
little bit easier, clearer, that benefits everybody, and it 
takes at least some of the pressure off those who seek to 
migrate unlawfully.
    Thank you very much. Thank you.
    Senator Sinema [presiding.] Thank you, Senator Padilla.
    We will now start a second round of questioning, so I will 
go back to Mayor Nicholls and Dr. Garcia.
    The end of Title 42, as you know, is just 2 weeks away, and 
I have expressed multiple times serious concerns about the 
Federal Government's preparations or lack thereof. What are the 
most important actions that DHS must take and investments that 
they must make to ensure that this change in policy does not 
negatively impact your communities?
    Mr. Nicholls. Thank you, Senator. I just will mention 
again, we share your concerns, your grave concerns. I was just 
notified that the anticipated people waiting currently to cross 
the border, waiting for the end of Title 42, is 660,000 people, 
and there are record numbers of people coming through the Darin 
Gap. So there is no relief in sight. It is only a bigger wave.
    Some of the immediate actions would be let us learn from 
the Del Rio experience. It took days to get resources to that 
part of the State of Texas. Let us pre-position some of those 
resources today. Let us pre-position ambulances and containers 
with food and supplies and medical supplies, medical 
professionals, mobile shelters and buses. Transportation is the 
single biggest thing that could help alleviate the issue on the 
communities at the border, but then again, it does just 
translate it into the rest of the country.
    You need to have increased staffing to continue to 
decompress the duties of our badged individuals, who do a very 
critical element of the process. Sheltering operations, I 
believe, really need to be taken over by actual FEMA activities 
and/or the National Guard. Funding is important, but there are 
limits to organizations, and we need to recognize that. We 
talked about transportation.
    Then some diplomacy with Mexico, to try to turn these 
caravans around, to have denial before they get to the border, 
and if there are processes that need to happen, maybe we can 
facilitate those asylum discussions into Mexico.
    Then really just the implementation of things that have 
worked in the past, like Operation Streamline would be one of 
those things that we could modernize and get it out, and things 
are in place to make that happen. Thank you.
    Senator Sinema. Dr. Garcia?
    Dr. Garcia. Sure, Senator Sinema. Mayor Nicholls really 
hits all the high points. The most important piece that I 
believe would be beneficial is clear and accurate communication 
with our Federal Government partners. We know that the folks 
who are charged with Federal enforcement are in a difficult 
position. Our communities are also in a difficult position. It 
is of common mutual interest for us to coordinate that 
response. That means that being able to give us predictability 
wherever it is that we can, in terms of the flow of people. 
That means also us being able to have honest conversations 
about capacity limits and about alternate strategies that are 
short of releasing people on the street.
    Finally, I would say that more than anything, at least for 
us in Pima County, one of the continued concerns will have to 
be the predictability and stability of the funding stream that 
supports us, so that we can achieve some degree of efficiencies 
of scale as we are confronting, literally, hundreds of 
thousands of people.
    Senator Sinema. Thank you. I would like to follow up on the 
funding issue, because I saw Mayor Nicholls shaking his head at 
that same time.
    You know, every several months we have had a debate here in 
the U.S. Senate about whether or not to continue providing this 
funding. One argument is that the funding provides immediate 
needed relief to border communities who are bearing the brunt 
of the Federal Government's failure to address this crisis. 
Another school of thought believes that providing this funding 
is just imply smoothing the way for an increase in more rapid 
flow of migrant traffic into the United States of America. 
Frankly, I think both of those are true, right. Both of those 
are true statements.
    Could you both just talk a little bit about, separate from 
the politics of the issue, what it would look like on the 
ground, in a small, rural farming community such as Yuma, and 
throughout Pima County, as you mentioned, Dr. Garcia, the 
largest county bordering U.S.-Mexico, if we did not have that 
funding for our local governments and our NGO's?
    Mr. Nicholls. Thank you, Senator. For our NGO's, in 
particular, they do not have a deep war chest to go to, to pull 
continual funding out of. So I believe, in the short term, they 
would shut down, just for the lack of ability to pay their 
employees, cover expenses, pay for buses. Those things are 
critical to managing what is there today.
    But it is true the problem is it is being managed, and so 
the urgency does not seem to follow the money. If there is an 
urgency tied to the dollars, so the decisionmakers are putting 
solutions forward while we are taking care of the dollar aspect 
that is a more sustainable path than just continuing to feed 
money. But to cutoff the money, you would end up with releases 
to the streets of Yuma, up to 1,000 people a day. You would 
have buses with maybe 50 seats available a day, leaving town. 
So you have 950 people a day that are trying to find ways out 
of town.
    Yuma is not adjacent to much, so you are not going to be 
able just to walk to the next town. We are 180 miles away from 
the Phoenix metro area, about 150 miles away from the San Diego 
area. So those people are going to get orphaned into the 
community, and at that rate of release I cannot even begin to 
fathom what that kind of impact would be on food, on 
sheltering, particularly as we enter the 120-degree temperature 
ranges, on just life and safety for those people alone.
    Dr. Garcia. Mayor Nicholls is absolutely on point. That day 
that resources stop flowing to communities, communities have to 
stop being able to assist with the transit of these 
individuals. That means that we will have a humanitarian 
disaster as those bodies are piling up in our communities.
    Understand that currently a certain amount of decompression 
happens along the border, so that people are being moved from 
Yuma to Phoenix, Yuma to Tucson, gosh, even from El Paso into 
Tucson, depending on what the flow of folks are. Absent Federal 
support, we will have a humanitarian crisis. We need to be able 
to move folks efficiently to wherever their final destination 
is. We need comprehensive Federal immigration reform that 
addresses some of those push factors that are pushing people 
from their countries. That is not something we, as locals, will 
be ever able to solve. That is something that is in the 
province of this Congress and the Executive.
    Senator Sinema. Thank you. I think that is an important 
message for us, as the policymakers, to understand that simply 
cutting off the funding does not solve the problem. It creates 
a crisis for local communities and still leaves us with 
policies that are ineffective. Thank you.
    Chief Hearod, though McAlester is not on the border, your 
community has experienced devastating effects of illicit 
narcotics, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, as you 
described in your opening statements. My colleagues and I have 
just introduced new bipartisan legislation called the Fentanyl 
Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act. 
Our legislation will enhance sanctions on drug cartels and 
others who are aiding and abetting the flow of fentanyl from 
Mexico to Arizona.
    Incidentally, on a recent trip to Mexico, I, Senator 
Cornyn, and others learned that the main corridor of fentanyl 
into the U.S. is through Arizona's border. So our goal is to 
cutoff the financing sources for the drug cartels that they are 
using to purchase the precursor chemicals from China, 
manufacture them in Mexico, and then bring them up through 
Arizona into the U.S.
    What impact would a law such as this have for your officers 
and your community if the Federal Government were able to use 
this new tool to disrupt the finances of drug cartels?
    Mr. Hearod. Anything that would slow fentanyl coming into 
the United States would be a boom to law enforcement, 
especially on the local level. We run into fentanyl 
occasionally in McAlester. Right now I do not have officers in 
the task force with the DEA or with OBN, just because of 
staffing. But just on a regular basis, making traffic stops, 
working small cases, possession charges and stuff like that, we 
do come into contact with fentanyl. More than not, when we come 
into contact with fentanyl it is on an accidental overdose, and 
we have to deal with the Narcan, that I discussed earlier.
    So it would obviously make our job safer, because Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says 2 milligrams is 
enough to kill somebody. So it does not take much, and it 
usually disguised as something else. We do not know it is 
fentanyl until it is too late.
    Senator Sinema. Thank you.
    Senator Lankford, I recognize you for another around of 
questions.
    Senator Lankford. Thank you. Chief Hearod, I just want to 
be able to give context. We are talking about different towns 
and such here. McAlester is a community less than 20,000 people 
in Oklahoma.
    Mr. Hearod. Yes, sir.
    Senator Lankford. So when we talk about the effects of what 
is happening on the border and the effects of illegal drugs 
that are moving in, this is not New York City.
    Mr. Hearod. Correct.
    Senator Lankford. This is a community of less than 20,000 
people and it is just really a remarkable community and a lot 
of great families and people that are there, that are being 
directly affected based on the lack of enforcement on our 
southern border.
    Mr. Hearod. Thank you, sir. Exactly. Our community is, like 
you said, less than 20,000. Most people know everybody else. 
You either know them or you are related to them, or you know 
them through somebody else one or two degrees. Everybody is 
affected. If it is somebody's son accidentally overdoses, 
everybody in the community is just devastated by that.
    Like I say, it does not take a great deal of narcotics to 
come in and really change the dynamics of our community--drop 
the prices, the overdoses, all the illegal activity just booms. 
People breaking into your cars, breaking into your house, 
stealing your stuff to sell it for drugs or trade it for drugs.
    Senator Lankford. Yes. I think what most people do not 
realize is a lot of the theft, a lot of the burglaries that 
happen are individuals that are actually drug addicted as well 
and they are trying to be able to feed a habit. It is not just 
what is happening in the drugs on the street, it is affecting 
lots of other folks as well.
    Mr. Hearod. The majority of the property crimes you can 
relate back to drugs, 100 percent.
    Senator Lankford. Mayor McCaa, thank you for your testimony 
on this as well today. I want to ask a more specific question. 
Did you talk already about social media and some of the effects 
of that? Sorry, I was in and our during the vote series as we 
are both trying to be able to come back and forth. You were 
talking specifically about social media being used to be able 
to recruit individuals in different communities, including 
yours, to be able to then drive loads of people, as they were 
referred to, that are coming into the country illegally.
    Mr. McCaa. Yes, sir.
    Senator Lankford. The dangers of that. What do you need the 
social media companies to do to be able to take responsibility 
for what is how their platform is being used? They seem to have 
filters and algorithms for everything, but they are not 
filtering out this algorithm.
    Mr. McCaa. Perfect, sir. We need this filter. I just got a 
text from Sheriff Anneals. We just had two load car pursuits, 
yesterday, five per car. Each one is going for $3,000 a head. 
So attracting these young people on the social media platform 
is how they are doing it. We need to shut it down, basically. I 
do not know how to do that. I do not know what this entails. 
But it was just two yesterday. I have not gotten the numbers 
for today, but it is every day this is happening, and it is 
done by social media. They pinpoint a car to steal or a rental, 
and then pinpoint the load, the load shows up, they pick them 
up, speed north.
    Senator Lankford. We were talking before about push factors 
and the Federal responsibility. Dr. Garcia, you brought this up 
as well. I would only say there is a significant push factor, 
but the challenge is, when we talk about the Federal 
responsibility and push factors, is that as we have seen on the 
border of late, more than 150 countries that are coming. Now 
they are predominantly coming from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, 
El Salvador, Venezuela. We have a certain group of countries 
that we have had a higher number from, of late--Haiti. We 
understand some of those factors, but we literally have 
individuals from all over the world that are coming now, in 
incredibly high numbers.
    The folks that are coming in from many areas of the world 
are not coming in based on poverty in that area. It is economic 
opportunity here in the United States.
    Part of the pull factor, I would say from this, is the 
ability to be able to cross the border and then to be able to 
stay, and at this point, as I had mentioned before to Mayor 
Nicholls, we have individuals that they cross the border, 
request to go to New York City for their asylum hearings, and 
they are here for two decades before that process is complete. 
So whether they qualify or not, they still get to be in America 
for two decades in the process. That is a pretty significant 
pull factor, when you have the opportunity to be able to come 
into the United States of America, make just a declaration at 
the border, and then be able to travel anywhere in the country 
you want to be able to travel for the next two decades, and to 
be able to have a work permit in the process. That is a pretty 
big pull factor that has to be resolved.
    Most of the individuals that are crossing the border also 
already have a family member here or a contact here somewhere, 
and I am sure that you all have experienced that as well in the 
individuals that you have interacted with, that most already 
have a relationship here. So it is not just I cross the border, 
I am fleeing from injustice somewhere else, I am reconnecting 
with family that is already here. That is not the definition of 
asylum. That is economic opportunity. That is family 
reunification. But it is not the definition of asylum.
    So one of the things that we are trying to be able to go 
through, and what the Administration, thankfully, has started 
to be able to take on of late, is to be able to look at this 
issue of asylum. And I know Senator Padilla brought this up a 
while ago, on the asylum issues. I just want to be able to 
clarify a couple of things in this while we are talking about 
asylum and to get some things on the record.
    One of them is, asylum, the definition is, I cannot find a 
safe place in my home country. Then if you cannot find a safe 
place in your home country, in most of the world you cross into 
the next safe country. That is the way it works. For instance, 
in Canada, if you cross the Canadian border and say, ``I would 
like to request asylum,'' the first question they are going to 
ask you is, ``Did you cross from The American side? If so, did 
you request asylum in the United States before you came to 
Canada?'' If you say, ``No, I did not request asylum in the 
United States before I came to Canada,'' they say, ``Thank you 
very much,'' and they push them right back here, or they push 
them back to the country of their original origin. That is 
Canadian law.
    That is true in most areas of Europe as well. If you 
actually cross into that country they are going to say, ``Did 
you request asylum in the country before you came into this 
country?'' If you are coming into Yuma from Uzbekistan, you 
have crossed into quite a few countries before you got to our 
border, to be able to cross into. But that is not being applied 
right now in the United States. They are not applying that.
    We are also not applying whoever is the last in is first up 
in the hearing. If you just crossed the border, we could have 
the next hearing is you, but right now instead we are saying, 
``Well, we will put you in the queue, and 18 years from now is 
when you are actually going to get your hearing.'' That is a 
problem, obviously, because that encourages people to be able 
to come. If they knew they were next in the queue, and that the 
asylum definition actually was consistent with what most of the 
world is, for how they are handling asylum, that would be very, 
very different for most individuals, I believe, that we would 
be able to handle that differently.
    We also have a very low screening threshold. The first set 
of questions that we ask at the border is just, ``Are you 
afraid in your country?'' And if they say, ``Yes,'' they are 
in, in the process. So we literally call it the magic words 
they just have to be able to say to cross the border, and then 
they are into this two-decade-long process to be able to come 
in.
    Now most of those individuals, when they get to the end, 
actually do not qualify for asylum if they actually stayed in 
the process, but they do not find out for a decade or more that 
they actually do not qualify because the screening threshold is 
so low.
    Then the last piece of this is if they do not qualify for 
asylum, and a court does what is called a final order removal, 
saying you crossed the border, you requested asylum, but you 
actually do not qualify, we are actually not deporting those 
individuals. We say to them, ``You need to leave on your own,'' 
and they do not.
    All of those factors together are much larger issues of a 
pull factor to be able to pull people to the United States. 
When you have one of the greatest economies, and quite frankly, 
the greatest nation on God's earth, you have a lot of people 
around the world that are interested to be able to come. And 
when they have family connections that is one more piece to be 
able to say, ``Gosh, you should come,'' to be able to come 
through the process.
    So I want to just be able to put that on the record, that I 
think this is one of the most significant issues we have to be 
able to deal with is how we handle asylum, how we handle E-
Verify, and quite frankly, what this Administration is going to 
do at the end of Title 42, which they have known about the end 
of Title 42 now for 2 1/2 years, that it was coming--2 1/2 
years everyone knew this was coming. Now it is in 2 1/2 weeks.
    So the question is, what is this Administration going to do 
to be able to handle the hundreds of thousands of people that 
may flood across the border at that point? What policies are 
they going to put in place, or after 2 1/2 years, are they just 
going to ignore it?
    Now I am not going to ask any of you to address that. That 
is not your area. That is up here in D.C. But you are just 
suffering the consequences where you are.
    I just want to be able to say thank you very much for being 
here, making the long trip, and putting so much on the record 
today. It is very helpful to be able to have that dialog.
    I yield back.
    Senator Sinema. Thank you, Ranking Member Lankford, and I 
want to thank all of our witnesses for traveling here from 
Arizona and Oklahoma to be here with us today. Like Senator 
Lankford said, your comments on the record are important to the 
work that we are doing to try and build a bipartisan pathway 
forward to address these issues and relieve the burden on local 
communities as a result of the Federal Government's failure to 
address this issue.
    We have reached the end of the time for today's hearing, so 
I want to express again my appreciation for your time and your 
testimony. I want to thank my colleagues on the bench for their 
participation.
    This was a very important and, of course, a very timely 
hearing. I know there were many questions that I and others did 
not have the opportunity to ask, so I will be submitting 
questions for the record so that we can continue examining this 
critical need.
    The hearing record will remain open for 15 days, until 5 
p.m. on Thursday, May 11th, for the submission of Statements 
and questions for the record.
    Senator Lankford. May I just comment how ironic it is that 
May 11th is when that closes?
    Senator Sinema. I was thinking the same thing, Senator 
Lankford. I thought, wow, that is going to be quite a day. 
Maybe get them in on the 10th, if you would like.
    Thank you all again for your participation, and this 
hearing is adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 4:05 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]

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