    [Senate Hearing 119-314]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                                                            S. Hrg. 119-314

                       ICE UNDER FIRE: THE RADICAL LEFT'S
                    CRUSADE AGAINST IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT

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

                                    HEARING

                                   before the

                        SUBCOMMITTEE ON BORDER SECURITY
                                AND IMMIGRATION

                                     OF THE

                           COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
                              UNITED STATES SENATE

                        ONE HUNDRED NINETEENTH CONGRESS

                                 FIRST SESSION
                                   __________

                               NOVEMBER 19, 2025
                                   __________

                              Serial No. J-119-51

                                   __________

             Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary

                    [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                            www.judiciary.senate.gov
                                www.govinfo.gov

                                   ______

                     U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

    62-971                    WASHINGTON : 2026

                           COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY

                      CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa, Chairman

    LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina    RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois,
    JOHN CORNYN, Texas                       Ranking Member
    MICHAEL S. LEE, Utah                 SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island
    TED CRUZ, Texas                      AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota
    JOSH HAWLEY, Missouri                CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware
    THOM TILLIS, North Carolina          RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut
    JOHN KENNEDY, Louisiana              MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii
    MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee          CORY A. BOOKER, New Jersey
    ERIC SCHMITT, Missouri               ALEX PADILLA, California
    KATIE BOYD BRITT, Alabama            PETER WELCH, Vermont
    ASHLEY MOODY, Florida                ADAM B. SCHIFF, California

                 Kolan Davis, Chief Counsel and Staff Director
             Joe Zogby, Democratic Chief Counsel and Staff Director

                Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration

                           JOHN CORNYN, Texas, Chair

    LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina    ALEX PADILLA, California,
    TED CRUZ, Texas                          Ranking Member
    THOM TILLIS, North Carolina          SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island
    JOHN KENNEDY, Louisiana              AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota
    KATIE BOYD BRITT, Alabama            CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware
    ASHLEY MOODY, Florida                MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii
                                         CORY A. BOOKER, New Jersey

                 Franci Rooney Becker, Republican Chief Counsel
                     Ursela Ojeda, Democratic Chief Counsel

                                C O N T E N T S

                                  ----------

                               OPENING STATEMENTS

                                                                       Page

    Cornyn, Hon. John................................................     1
    Padilla, Hon. Alex...............................................     4
    Cruz, Hon. Ted...................................................    18
    Moody, Hon. Ashley...............................................    15

                                   WITNESSES

    Boyd, Roy........................................................     7
        Prepared statement...........................................    26
    Carter-Walters, Danielle.........................................     9
        Prepared statement...........................................    29
    Cathell, Mia.....................................................    11
        Prepared statement...........................................    31

                                    APPENDIX

    Items submitted for the record...................................    33

                       ICE UNDER FIRE: THE RADICAL LEFT'S
                    CRUSADE AGAINST IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT

                                  ----------

                          WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2025

                          United States Senate,
       Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration,
                                    Committee on the Judiciary,
                                                        Washington, DC.
        The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:34 p.m., in
    Room 226, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. John Cornyn,
    Chair of the Subcommittee, presiding.
        Present: Senators Cornyn [presiding], Cruz, Moody, and
    Padilla.

                OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN CORNYN,
                 A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF TEXAS

        Chair Cornyn. Good afternoon, everyone. I want to extend my
    appreciation to Senator Grassley, Chairman of the full
    Judiciary Committee, for letting us have this hearing.
        Today's discussion centers around how radical groups
    continue to incite violent protests and impede the enforcement
    of our immigration laws. We will examine how groups, primarily
    on the left, and even elected officials at the Federal, State,
    and local level continue to vilify immigration enforcement
    officials who are simply carrying out their duties required
    under the law. We'll discuss how the mainstream media gaslights
    the public about the true scope of criminal alien activity in
    the United States.
        But first, let me take a moment to remind everyone how we
    got to this point. President Biden invited millions of unvetted
    illegal aliens into the United States. These included hundreds
    of thousands of criminal aliens, violent gang members, and even
    individuals on the terror watchlist. And where did these aliens
    go? They went to neighborhoods in major cities across the
    United States. These criminal aliens took up residence in
    States, counties, and cities that call themselves sanctuary
    cities like Los Angeles, Portland, and Chicago.
        Sadly, many of these communities have suffered for decades
    under the weight of failed policing mandates. The influx of
    millions of illegal aliens exacerbated the failure of these
    policies, resulting in skyrocketing crime. Local residents have
    begged their elected leaders to reverse course and to address
    rising crime, but to no avail.
        To add insult to injury, imagine their surprise when they
    learned that these Biden-era illegal aliens were prioritized
    for all types of public services, including housing, schooling,
    and medical care funded by their tax dollars. In some cities,
    police departments were hamstrung by budget cuts in order to
    prioritize spending on illegal immigrants. Thankfully,
    President Trump has listened to these concerns and fulfilled
    one of his most important campaign promises--to secure the
    border and remove illegal aliens from the United States.
        Aggressive immigration enforcement is not unprecedented,
    nor is it a particularly partisan issue. The reality is that
    President Obama, who was once praised for unifying the country,
    deported more than 2.5 million illegal aliens, earning him the
    title the Deporter-in-Chief at some point. But ever since
    President Trump was sworn into office and began prioritizing
    immigration enforcement, assaults and attacks on immigration
    agents and officers have skyrocketed.
        These immigration officers are law enforcement officers
    that are doing what their country has asked them to do, which
    is to enforce our laws, just like every other law enforcement
    officer. They carry out their sworn duties to uphold the law
    and arrest those who have violated our laws. And make no
    mistake, we are talking about the arrests of criminal aliens
    who have committed some of the most heinous crimes--murder,
    rape, sexual abuse, and molestation of children, aggravated
    robbery and assault, kidnapping, human smuggling, theft, and
    even acts of terrorism.
        But you don't have to take my word for it. DHS has
    published dozens of press releases highlighting the criminal
    aliens whom ICE and CBP have apprehended. These criminal aliens
    were hiding in the United States, some for years, and were
    allowed to continue terrorizing American communities. DHS has
    reported that currently, more than 415,000 illegal aliens in
    the United States already have criminal convictions, 415,000.
    Of that number, nearly 400,000 aren't even detained. They are
    still out there somewhere, in our neighborhoods, wreaking
    havoc.
        There is, unfortunately, a lot of misinformation spread
    among the American public by the news media and the social
    media, especially regarding the current laws that authorize our
    immigration enforcement officers and what they are allowed to
    do and what they are required to do, and why they have to go
    into these communities to arrest illegal aliens, especially in
    so-called sanctuary cities.
        Immigration enforcement officers are well trained and many
    with years of experience. The only reason that ICE and CBP must
    go out in our streets and seek out and arrest criminal aliens
    is because sanctuary cities simply refuse to cooperate with law
    enforcement and allow them to be transferred directly from jail
    if detained.
        According to the Center for Immigration Studies, there are
    currently 12 sanctuary States and more than 200 sanctuary
    cities and counties across the United States. Many of them have
    passed laws that prevent their police department from
    cooperating with immigration enforcement or sharing information
    about detained or incarcerated aliens or honoring DHS
    detainers. Consequently, criminal aliens are often released
    back into their communities, inevitably to reoffend, rather
    than being detained before being placed into custody. This
    practice not only defies common sense, but it makes the role of
    immigration enforcement officers much more difficult and, in
    the end, more painful for these communities.
        The mainstream media, unfortunately, has shown no
    willingness to educate the public. Instead of reporting these
    realities truthfully, mainstream media outlets like CNN, MSNBC,
    and ABC have ignored the real harm that these criminal aliens
    have caused in these communities and instead directed their ire
    toward law enforcement.
        I want to be sure, however, to praise those reporters who
    do their job honestly, who called out false statements when
    they see them on social media or otherwise. That is also an
    important function of the media, and it does not go unnoticed.
        [Poster is displayed.]
        Here is one example where Bill Melugin of Fox News points
    out a social media post depicting an infant with handcuffs on
    as false, which, of course, comes from TikTok. TikTok is owned
    by the Chinese Government, in part, and operates under the
    rules set by the Chinese Communist Party and is famous for
    their propaganda and disinformation efforts. But here is an
    example of how TikTok is sowing dissension among Americans by
    suggesting, somehow, that U.S. law enforcement officials are
    doing things like detaining an infant, and it looks like even
    putting them in handcuffs, which is obviously a false
    statement, false depiction.
        We also know that some of our Democratic colleagues have
    used incendiary rhetoric to fan the flames of public protests
    that are anything but ``mostly peaceful.'' The result has been
    widespread assaults on our law enforcement officers. Protesters
    and criminal aliens have physically attacked officers. Officers
    have been pepper-sprayed, choked, punched, or even injured to
    the point of hospitalization. Protesters have made violent
    threats against ICE officers, comparing them to fascists and
    Nazis, inciting more violence against immigration officers, who
    are, again, simply doing the job that Congress has asked them
    to do. They are enforcing Federal laws.
        They have rammed officers with vehicles, thrown teargas,
    smoke grenades, rocks, bottles, and even punched and shot at
    our ICE officers. Left-wing protesters have laid down in the
    road, in an attempt to prevent vehicles belonging to law
    enforcement from entering or leaving detention facilities, and
    even slashed the tires on Government vehicle cars, all to
    prevent ICE and CBP from doing their jobs.
        These groups have also interfered with the capture of
    illegal aliens, including facilitating the escape of a
    convicted child rapist and an alien convicted for narcotics and
    weapons possession. Some of these protesters are outright
    lunatics, and I don't use this word lightly. Anyone watching
    the news has seen protesters from every corner of the radicals'
    left base. We have seen everything from straight-up thugs
    committing physical violence to activists dressed as dinosaurs
    and rabbits, and in some costumes that I won't even hazard a
    guess as to what they are trying to represent. We have even
    seen some dancing grandmas trying to stop enforcement of our
    immigration laws, one Jane Fonda dance move at a time.
        [Video is shown.]
        Chair Cornyn. Well, suffice it to say, some of these
    activists have become so divorced from reality as to be
    characterized accurately as unhinged. But when you give
    protesters information about who is being targeted and why,
    suddenly they see the wisdom of this action.
        [Video is shown.]
        Chair Cornyn. Many of us look to law enforcement officers
    for protection in cases of robbery, burglary, or assault. Why
    can't we extend the same level of respect to law enforcement
    officers who carry out our other laws that Congress has passed,
    like our immigration laws?
        The left sometimes calls themselves the party of the
    people, but they don't seem to have much regard for their
    fellow man and woman when they engage in tactics designed to
    impede ICE and CBP from getting criminal aliens off our streets
    and out of the United States. Why is the radical left so intent
    on protecting illegal aliens over U.S. citizens who are
    suffering the consequences of violent crime? To me, that is the
    most important question that remains unanswered.
        I now recognize Senator Padilla, the Ranking Member.

                OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. ALEX PADILLA,
              A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

        Senator Padilla. Good afternoon. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Let me first say that violence against law enforcement is
    never okay. I speak for all my Democratic colleagues in the
    Committee, and the Senate for that matter, in saying so.
    Violence against law enforcement is never okay, and I will
    continue to emphasize that as we have in the past. We will
    today and in the future, if for no other reason because many of
    our colleagues on the other side of the aisle suggest and
    accuse Democrats of believing otherwise.
        But for today's hearing, let me begin with a very simple
    question. Why are we here? Are we here truly to conduct
    oversight and find ways to actually improve the situation and
    public safety in our communities? Or are we simply here to
    throw more fuel on the political fire?
        Today's hearing title tells us all we need to know. ``The
    Radical Left's Crusade Against Immigration Enforcement.'' That
    doesn't exactly set the stage for a productive, serious
    conversation about how we both protect law enforcement
    officials and improve public safety. It's the title of the next
    exercise in Republican political theater. That is really what
    is happening here. So let me once again say that violence
    against law enforcement is never okay.
        But I refuse to sit back as this Committee attempts to use
    or condone the use of law enforcement as a shield for abuses of
    power by this administration. If today's hearing was indeed a
    serious effort to protect our law enforcement, we would have
    government witnesses testifying before us today and fielding
    our questions as a Committee. But that is not the case. If
    today's hearing was a serious effort, those government
    witnesses would be providing facts and data behind the numbers
    that the Department of Homeland Security so often cites to
    claim an increase in assaults on its officers and agents. But
    even after repeated requests, months and months of requests
    from my office and from others to the Department of Homeland
    Security to back up their claims of a, is it 500 percent, is it
    1,000 percent? Now we are even hearing claims of up to 8,000
    percent increase in assaults or death threats. They have
    refused to provide them.
        Mr. Chairman, you are very well aware of this. You and I
    discussed this last week. And as far as I can tell, they have
    even refused your requests for data and statistics.
        Why am I insisting on this? Why am I making this point?
    Because that data is critical. Not only would it allow us to
    actually verify their claims, but that data would be critical
    to informing our policy response.
        So no, today's hearing is not a serious attempt to protect
    law enforcement. It is designed to fuel the propaganda machine
    and encourage even more brutal immigration enforcement
    operations. It's designed to cover up for the fact that after
    President Trump pledged to go after the worst of the worst--
    this we do know from DHS statistics--over 70 percent of those
    currently detained in ICE custody have no criminal record. If
    they were simply focused on those truly dangerous violent
    criminals, there would be no objection. There would be no
    debate. There would be no discussion. But the reality is far
    from their claims. At the same time, what we are seeing every
    day is new acts of brutality and misuse of force in communities
    across the country.
        But my guess is that today you won't be hearing about the
    Department of Homeland Security's violent takedowns of
    peaceful, hardworking, long-term immigrants who don't have that
    violent criminal record that the administration wants you to
    believe. And I am not just making this up. There is case after
    case, including a deaf DACA recipient who had his hands cuffed
    and his phone taken away so he couldn't communicate as he was
    shoved into the back of a car.
        You won't hear about the journalists who are threatened and
    assaulted, one so severely in New York they had to be
    hospitalized. You won't hear about the clergy being shot in the
    head with a pepper ball or arrested for attempting to
    administer the sacrament of communion to the faithful at a
    detention facility. And you won't hear about the 170 American
    citizens--there are probably more, but that is what has been
    documented--caught up in these chaotic immigration raids,
    American citizens caught up in these raids.
        Even as Secretary Noem lies and claims when she says that
    no American citizens have been detained, every week we read new
    reports about another American who has had their neck kneeled
    on, their door blown off, or their windows smashed, and even a
    pregnant woman in Florida, a United States citizen, who was
    thrown to the ground during an arrest and who later miscarried.
    This is happening every day across the country. Masked agents
    have become so emboldened that even a Reagan-appointed Federal
    judge recently wrote, ``In all our history, we have never
    tolerated an armed, masked, secret police carrying on in this
    fashion.''
        Now this administration ignores the fundamental rights to
    due process every day as it carries out this authoritarian
    enforcement agenda and instead has replaced it with the idea
    that if you look or talk a certain way, that's enough for you
    to be detained, or even deported, before you have a day in
    court. That is not just morally wrong, it is an attack on our
    fundamental liberties and the rule of law in the United States
    of America.
        But again, Republicans don't want to discuss any of this.
    Why? Out of fear of crossing the President and his outrage
    machine? Americans have had enough. They are sick of masked
    agents disrespecting daycares, schools, and churches,
    disappearing loved ones, and intimidating our communities.
    Americans are demanding that we do something.
        So, Mr. Chairman, it is clear to me that this hearing will
    not be a serious or constructive conversation. And for that
    reason, I refuse to give oxygen to the fire of disinformation
    and propaganda that this hearing was set up to ignite, and I
    refuse to be part of this charade.
        Chair Cornyn. Well, Senator Padilla, I think you say we are
    not discussing a lot of those items, but I think you just
    raised a lot of interesting questions that I would be happy to
    discuss and ask questions of the witnesses and get their views.
    This is not necessarily the only hearing we are going to be
    having on this topic. And I think given the fact that there is
    so much disinformation, it's important for us to get the facts
    and not just rely on misinformation, which seems to be rampant.
        I will proceed to introduce the witnesses. The first is
    Sheriff Roy Boyd of Goliad County, Texas. Everybody who knows a
    little about Texas history knows the importance of Goliad and
    the Texas Revolution. Goliad is in rural South Texas, with a
    population of around 1,000, situated halfway between Houston
    and Laredo along U.S. Highway 59. Sheriff Boyd has been a peace
    officer for 31 years and retired from the Victoria Police
    Department and Victoria Sheriff's Department before becoming
    the Sheriff of Goliad County. Sheriff Boyd also worked as one
    of the co-leaders on Texas' Operation Lone Star.
        Mia Cathell is an investigative journalist at the
    Washington Examiner, tracking activist movements in the U.S.
    and civil unrest across the country. She closely monitors
    mobilization strategies, funding sources, and the ideologies
    driving political violence. Her coverage on Antifa's operations
    has caught the attention of the White House as the Trump
    administration seeks to dismantle far-left domestic terrorism
    networks.
        Danielle Carter-Walters is co-founder and vice president of
    Chicago Flips Red and a dedicated political activist and
    community advocate. Chicago Flips Red is a grassroots
    initiative dedicated to transforming the political landscape by
    prioritizing the needs of Chicago's communities and residents.
    Ms. Carter-Walters has been a vocal critic of the city's
    sanctuary policies and the misallocation of public resources
    during the migrant crisis. In April 2025, Ms. Carter-Walters
    testified before the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on
    Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement about
    sanctuary cities, where she urged Federal and State leaders to
    end sanctuary policies and prioritize the need of American
    citizens.
        If you will all please rise, and I will administer the
    oath. Raise your right hand.
        [Witnesses are sworn in.]
        Chair Cornyn. Thank you.
        Sheriff Boyd, why don't we start with you? And if you take
    about 5 minutes or so to make an opening statement, and then I
    am sure we will have some questions for you and the rest of the
    witnesses.

                    STATEMENT OF ROY BOYD, SHERIFF,
               GOLIAD COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE, GOLIAD, TX

        Sheriff Boyd. Thank you, Senator.
        To the Honorable Chair and Members of the Senate Committee
    on the Judiciary, my name is Roy Boyd. I'm the Sheriff of
    Goliad County, which is a rural South Texas county, about
    halfway between Laredo and Houston, as the Senator said.
        I'm here to discuss the current situation with regards to
    law enforcement and the enforcement of the laws, and more
    specifically, the implementation of the 287(g) Task Force
    Model, and the need to expand the program and change our model
    of conducting law enforcement operations across the United
    States of America.
        Here is why these efforts are important to the future of
    our Nation and the safety of our citizens. While illegal
    immigration has been a historical issue along the U.S.-Mexico
    border, this changed more than a decade ago, when the cartels
    seized control of the border regions of Mexico and changed
    their business model to include smuggling of people. When this
    happened, the cartels began controlling who came across the
    border and began torturing and killing anyone who attempted to
    violate their control by crossing into the U.S. without paying
    the cartels.
        This control gave rise to a new way for the cartels to
    conduct business throughout the United States and beyond. In
    Mexico, the Federal Government leases territories to criminal
    organizations in what they refer to as the plaza system. The
    Mexican Government allows cartels to conduct limited smuggling
    and trafficking activities in exchange for a monthly fee, with
    any activity above and beyond requiring additional payments to
    government officials as a tax on excess illicit commerce.
        The cartels have replicated this Mexican Government's
    program in the--with geographic control throughout the United
    States. I witnessed this firsthand when I was the chief deputy
    for Victoria County Sheriff's Office, which is next door to
    Goliad. The Gulf Cartel took control of the cocaine trade in
    Victoria and surrounding counties. They then leased the sole
    distribution rights for the dealing of pure cocaine to the
    Houston chapter of the Mexican Mafia. The Gulf Cartel then sent
    out people onto the streets to tell the other dealers that
    unless they were authorized distributors of pure cocaine, they
    would have to cut their product, by at least 50 percent, with
    inert material.
        After operations were underway, the cartel sent people back
    out on the streets to purchase cocaine from nonauthorized
    distributors, for the purpose of testing the product for
    purity. If the cocaine was without inert product, the dealer
    was given a warning about violating the cartel's control of the
    product within the plaza.
        During this time, we began to receive word from local
    cocaine dealers that local cocaine dealers were disappearing.
    Many families were not reporting their missing loved ones to
    the authorities out of fear of retribution from the cartel and
    the Mexican Mafia. In total, our contacts on the streets
    advised that at least 10 drug dealers had refused to dilute
    their product and had been disappeared, never to be seen again.
    Only one family went public and sought justice for their son.
    We never found him or discovered what became of him or his
    remains.
        The other aspect of this new business model was that
    cartels began using illegal aliens smuggled into the United
    States as part of their logistic workforce. When people are
    smuggled into the U.S., they must pay a fee to the cartels in
    order to gain safe passage. In our area, most illegal aliens
    are smuggled into Houston for transport across the eastern half
    of the United States. Once in Houston, they are given the final
    amount that they owe the cartels and their contractors for
    being here. From there, the illegal aliens end up in various
    forms of indentured servitude across our Nation. However, as
    part of that obligation of the cartels, these people have to be
    willing to provide labor and other services to pay off their
    final debt.
        We have interviewed many illegal aliens who have been
    smuggled into Texas during our investigations. What we found is
    that some will pay off the debt with money over a period of 8
    to 13 years. Some will pay off the debt by smuggling other
    illegal aliens or drugs into the United States. Some will move
    illegal aliens and drugs from one area of the interior to
    another. Others will be placed into forced prostitution or will
    be called upon to provide material support in the unloading or
    moving of drugs in any areas in which they reside.
        If you think these indentured people can just decide not to
    cooperate once they are here, that is not the case. The cartels
    have a vast intelligence network and keep records of the people
    they smuggle to include family member information. I've had
    illegal aliens involved in criminal activity tell me that they
    had no choice but to commit the criminal acts in order to
    prevent their family members from being placed into bondage and
    doing unspeakable acts in their home countries.
        What this means is that millions of illegal aliens now
    residing in the United States are part of the logistical
    support operations for illicit cartel activities throughout our
    country. If our goal is to dismantle cartel operations in the
    United States, we must never be able--we will never be able to
    do so unless we deny them the logistical capacity to conduct
    business in a manner that generates an acceptable stream of
    revenue to be moved from the United States into their home
    countries.
        In order to take the initiative in what can only be deemed
    as asymmetrical warfare against the cartels and their business
    partners, law enforcement must change their mindset and must
    change their methodology. We must look at what we have been
    doing in the past and ask if the billions of dollars we have
    spent are accomplishing the primary goals of the missions of
    the programs implemented. In most cases, I will speculate that
    with an honest assessment, we will find that most of the
    Federal dollars being pumped into law enforcement programs is
    remaining in urban areas where expense versus return is not in
    balance.
        According to ICE.gov, as of November 14, 2025, there were
    1,167 local and State law enforcement agencies in, 40 States,
    that had signed memorandums of agreement for at least one of
    the 287(g) programs. Only 605 of those agreements are for the
    participation in the Task Force Model, which is a model that
    allows local and State law enforcement to conduct field
    immigration enforcement under the supervision of ICE. With more
    than 18,000 local law enforcement agencies in the U.S., 605
    agencies assisting ICE in the field is insufficient to hinder
    the profit margin of the cartels.
        If we are to succeed in this monumental task, this effort
    of defeating the cartels, we must restructure our law
    enforcement efforts. We must disregard those who stand in the
    way of change, ignore the anti-American media outlets working
    against the interests of Americans, and create a new chain of
    command and organizational structure that allows for the
    synergy throughout the full spectrum of law enforcement and
    streamlines the functionality in a manner that demands results
    and accountability while ensuring funds are being utilized in
    accordance with their intended purpose. This purpose must be to
    defund and prosecute organized criminal activity throughout
    America, which will not happen if we fail to enforce our
    immigration laws and deport those who have violated our
    sovereignty and have placed themselves at the disposal of
    organizations who victimize our citizens.
        The presence of Mexican cartels in the United States has
    changed how domestic criminal organizations function. It has
    created a negative impact that is becoming more pervasive day
    by day. Street gangs, motorcycle gangs, and other domestic
    criminal organizations have all been relegated to the status of
    mere contractors and subcontractors for the cartels. As such,
    they are beholden to act as they are commanded by their
    masters. Furthermore, hostile foreign governments and
    organizations have joined to work alongside cartels in an
    effort to undermine the safety and security of the United
    States from within.
        As a law enforcement professional who has witnessed the
    evolution of the influence of foreign organized crime in the
    United States, I fear that if we fail to act swiftly and with
    purpose, we shall find ourselves on the path that mirrors the
    never-ending violence and instability found in Mexico.
        In the words of Pyotr Wrangel, the general of the White
    Russian Army in 1919, fighting the Bolsheviks, ``We must have
    the courage to see things as they are, to look at the situation
    squarely in the face and be ready for fresh ordeals.''
        Thank you for your time and your consideration.
        [The prepared statement of Sheriff Boyd appears as a
    submission for the record.]
        Chair Cornyn. Ms. Carter-Walters, if you would proceed with
    your opening statement, please.

                 STATEMENT OF DANIELLE CARTER-WALTERS,
             VICE PRESIDENT, CHICAGO FLIPS RED, CHICAGO, IL

        Ms. Carter-Walters. Good afternoon, Chairman and Members of
    the Subcommittee. My name is Danielle Carter-Walters, vice
    president of Chicago Flips Red. Thank you to President Donald
    J. Trump for giving regular citizens like me the courage to
    speak up. And thank you to this Subcommittee for letting me
    share what is really happening in our city.
        Chicago Flips Red support the work the President is doing,
    and we fight for the people of Chicago every day. We have also
    been targeted for doing what's right. Our founder, Zoe Leigh,
    and our advisor, Jessica Jackson, were attacked after speaking
    out about stolen property in poor neighborhoods. And I recently
    faced pushback in Cook County Court for trying to protect my
    community.
        Even with all of this, we stand with the men and women of
    ICE, officers who risk their lives daily. These officers get no
    help from Governor Pritzker or Mayor Brandon Johnson. ICE has
    found dangerous criminals in Chicago, violent felons, child
    traffickers, drug smugglers, and cartel members, all hiding
    under sanctuary city protection. ICE has stopped fentanyl
    shipments, broken up trafficking groups, and removed criminals
    who were hurting our neighborhoods. This work is especially
    needed in the Black communities that are still recovering from
    the crack and the AIDS crisis of 1980s and from the damage
    caused by the `94 crime bill orchestrated by ``Jim Crow Joe
    Biden,'' and put into law by Bill Clinton.
        But instead of helping ICE, our State and city leaders
    block them. They refuse to share information, ignore detainers,
    and even threaten to arrest Federal officers for just doing
    their jobs. Some judges have also joined in. They have made
    unfair rulings meant to scare ICE agents. One of the worst
    examples was when a judge ordered Agent Greg Bovino to report
    to court every day, as if he were the criminal. That was not
    justice. It was political games backed by the fake news media.
        While this is happening, Mayor Johnson, Governor Pritzker
    are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on illegal aliens
    while regular Chicagoans struggle. Schools are crowded, crime
    keep rising, and families can't afford food or rent. Yet our
    leaders still put illegal aliens first. Over 56,000 illegal
    aliens are living in Chicago homes, while our veterans and
    homeless sleep outside. Cartel gangs like MS-13, Tren de Aragua
    now have presence in our city. Fentanyl, guns, and human
    trafficking are flowing through neighborhoods that used to be
    filled with working families. ICE tries to stop this, but the
    judges, the Illinois attorney general, the Chicago Teachers
    Union, certain clergy members, the Mayor, and the Governor
    block them every step of the way. This is not compassion. This
    is failure. This is a betrayal of the people they were elected
    to protect.
        Chicago is broke. We are in a billion-dollar deficit,
    overpriced contracts, and shrinking middle class. Mayor Johnson
    blames the Government in Washington, but the truth is simple.
    Sanctuary policies have brought chaos and corruption to our
    city. So we--the people of Chicago, we demand this; a Federal
    review of how Illinois blocks ICE from doing their job, a
    criminal investigation into judges who target ICE officers
    unfairly, a full check of all the money spent by State and the
    city on migrant programs, police, Cook County, and Federal
    agencies working together again with ICE, and an end to the
    sanctuary city policies that put our safety at risk.
        Sanctuary should mean safety for Americans. In Chicago, it
    now means giving up our rights and our security. To every
    leader still defending these harmful policies, your time of
    pretending to serve the people is over. We will speak up, we
    will stand up, and we will not let corruption decide the future
    of our city. We will take our city and State back because it's
    for we, the people.
        Thank you.
        [The prepared statement of Ms. Carter-Walters appears as a
    submission for the record.]
        Chair Cornyn. Thank you. Ms. Cathell.

    STATEMENT OF MIA CATHELL, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST, WASHINGTON
                        EXAMINER, WASHINGTON, DC

        Ms. Cathell. My name is Mia Cathell. I am an investigative
    journalist at the Washington Examiner. I've been closely
    covering civil unrest in the U.S. since the 2020 racial justice
    riots. Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the
    opportunity to be here, before you today, to testify about this
    important issue.
        When the uprisings against ICE erupted on the West Coast in
    June, we saw uniform signage, tactical gear, and boots-on-the-
    ground activists deployed to Los Angeles, the epicenter of the
    unrest, almost instantaneously. These certainly were not
    spontaneous riots. They were well coordinated, and in fact,
    well funded. What we uncovered was an orchestrated operation,
    and those at the forefront of the anti-ICE resistance have
    received ample funding.
        Chief among them is the Coalition for Humane Immigrant
    Rights of Los Angeles, or CHIRLA for short. CHIRLA, a 501(c)(3)
    nonprofit, is part of a sprawling anti-ICE activist network in
    the Los Angeles area, serving as rapid response to deportation
    sightings. CHIRLA instructs its followers, via Bluesky, to
    report ICE encounters to the Los Angeles Rapid Response
    Network, abbreviated LARRN. CHIRLA co-founded LARRN, in late
    January, with the expressed intent to counter the incoming
    Trump administration's immigration policies.
        Here's how it works. In response to reports of immigration
    enforcement called in over its hotline, LARRN sends out cells,
    comprised of immigration lawyers, legal observers, and activist
    organizers in order to mobilize counter-efforts against ICE.
    This rapid response model is replicated elsewhere across the
    country, using crowdsourced surveillance software, some quite
    sophisticated, or simply social media to track ICE activity in
    the region and alert activists, as well as illegal immigrants,
    to nearby ICE agents.
        CHIRLA has acquired its funding from Federal and State
    sources. According to CHIRLA's tax filing from fiscal 2023, the
    group reported receiving about $34 million in government
    grants. In its capacity as a legal services provider, CHIRLA
    helps illegal immigrants, including those convicted of crimes,
    avoid deportation. Grant records show that Homeland Security,
    the very Agency CHIRLA's protesting, has awarded the anti-
    deportation group several six-figure grants since 2014, as part
    of an immigration aid program that financially supports
    organizations actively working to remove barriers to
    naturalization.
        CHIRLA has also received generous taxpayer funding from the
    State of California. In 2023, the State's Department of Social
    Services awarded CHIRLA about $3 million for an initiative
    providing free legal services to immigrants, such as
    application assistance in cases seeking immigration remedies.
    That is deportation relief.
        In 2022, CHIRLA received $1.37 million from California's
    Social Services Department, specifically to provide pro bono
    defense services in removal proceedings. CHIRLA's deportation
    team, nicknamed Warriors for Justice, was bankrolled by the Los
    Angeles Justice Fund, a public-private partnership between
    liberal grantmaking foundations, the city of Los Angeles, and
    Los Angeles County. These grantees formed a removal defense
    pipeline in the county.
        Another far-left agitator group fomenting anti-ICE unrest
    is the foreign-funded Party for Socialism and Liberation, whose
    chapters mass-mobilize their forces in major U.S. cities, many
    of them so-called sanctuaries or safe havens welcoming illegal
    immigration. At the time of the Los Angeles riots, PSL
    activated its followers, from all corners of the country, to
    take to the streets, rise up in solidarity, stage parallel
    protests, and force ICE out of LA, a rallying cry that has
    since been repurposed for cities targeted by Federal
    immigration authorities. PSL's San Antonio arm explained to
    local press at the time that the more cities that oppose ICE
    operations through these pressure campaigns, the more difficult
    a Federal crackdown becomes.
        PSL chapters, such as the ones operating in Washington, DC,
    and Milwaukee, continue to convene ICE OUT rallies to stop the
    raids. Most recently, PSL led an emergency march in Charlotte,
    where activists were seen waving Mexican flags, to drive out
    Border Patrol and ``defeat the deportation machine.'' PSL
    Charlotte began circulating call-to-action material days before
    Border Patrol made landfall in North Carolina. A coalition of
    local and national organizations sponsored the protests,
    including 50501, one of the organizers behind the nationwide No
    Kings movement. Left unchecked, these powerful actors work in
    tandem to advance agendas harmful to the safety and security of
    the Nation. Their shared objective is to obstruct the
    enforcement of U.S. immigration law, legislation that Congress
    enacted.
        Simply put, the men and women of ICE are law enforcement
    officers tasked with carrying out their congressionally
    mandated duties. They are under increasing threat of targeted
    attacks and hostile demonstrations that often devolve into
    violent clashes. At this rate, I fear more political violence
    is to come unless Federal officers take further steps to
    protect our Federal officers.
        Thank you.
        [The prepared statement of Ms. Cathell appears as a
    submission for the record.]
        Chair Cornyn. Thank you very much.
        We will have a round of questions, and it looks like our
    Democratic colleagues are boycotting the hearing, so Senator
    Moody and I will have a chance to ask questions we would like,
    and I think there is a lot to cover.
        First of all, Sheriff Boyd, I know you were very active as
    a leader of Operation Lone Star in Texas. Would you describe
    what that is?
        Sheriff Boyd. So in the State of Texas, you have Operation
    Lone Star, which is a State-initiated program that helps to
    focus State law enforcement to go out and to conduct anti-
    smuggling operations and to help secure the border in Texas, to
    provide assistance to our Border Patrol. And that's been going
    on since about 2021.
        But then you have the Operation Lone Star giant, which is a
    grant from the State of Texas that provides funding to local
    agencies, such as ourselves, in order to pay for overtime and
    equipment needed to go out and combat transnational criminal
    activity across the State of Texas.
        And then what we have formed is the Operation Lone Star
    Task Force, which is now at 61 agencies across the State of
    Texas. And we come together and we work in unison with our
    partners at ICE, Border Patrol, Homeland Security, Texas
    Department of Public Safety, and Texas Parks and Wildlife, and,
    of course, the Texas Department of Agriculture under
    Commissioner Sid Miller. And we go out and we help conduct
    enforcement operations to help secure Texas against the
    criminal predations of foreign entities.
        Chair Cornyn. Well, Sheriff, can you explain for people who
    are listening why, if these are Federal immigration laws that
    are being violated by people illegally entering the country,
    why is it necessary for local and State law enforcement to work
    alongside of Customs and Border Protection, the Border Patrol,
    and ICE to deal with this problem?
        Sheriff Boyd. Just to give you a little bit of perspective,
    so during the first Trump administration, the Goliad County
    Sheriff's Office, on average, arrested 77 people a year. In
    2021, we arrested 252. We thought that was a phenomenal number.
        Chair Cornyn. How far are you from the border now?
        Sheriff Boyd. A hundred and eighty miles----
        Chair Cornyn. Okay.
        Sheriff Boyd [continuing]. Halfway between Laredo and
    Houston.
        Chair Cornyn. Okay.
        Sheriff Boyd. So from there, by 2024, we arrested 502
    people. It climbed every single year. It now is on the path
    declining since the second Trump administration has come in.
    But the problem is that we have allowed tens of millions of
    people to come into this country illegally, and they are
    beholden to the cartels, and they are moving around. And
    there's no way for our Federal partners to be able to tackle
    this monumental problem without the assistance of local and
    State law enforcement. And as a law enforcement official, it is
    my duty to stand up and make sure that the citizens of my
    community, in my State, are safe, and as part of that, I am
    there to help the Federal partners that we have to achieve the
    goals given to them by the duly elected administration under
    President Trump.
        Chair Cornyn. And of course, that job is even harder when
    the Federal Government's policy is basically not to enforce
    immigration laws, correct?
        Sheriff Boyd. That was exactly why we had the problem under
    the Biden administration in the first place, because the laws
    were not being enforced, and so we were being overrun by
    transnational criminal activity being directed by the cartels.
        Chair Cornyn. I think some people who don't live in Texas
    or don't understand the nature of the border thought that this
    wave of folks from Mexico and Central America and around the
    world would be welcomed with open arms by local border
    communities, which are overwhelmingly Hispanic. Can you explain
    what your experience has been?
        Sheriff Boyd. What the reality is, is those folks do not
    come across and stay in those border communities. Yes, the
    border communities were not happy with this massive surge of
    criminality coming across the Rio Grande or across the border
    in other areas, but what you'll find is those individuals were
    being moved in by the cartels. They--when they got here, they
    are not free to go. They are indentured servants. They go where
    they've been assigned to go to. And those individuals would
    come up and, in our area, go to Houston for distribution all
    across the eastern half of the United States, same as the
    cartel does with drugs, they did with people. And they moved
    them all throughout the U.S.
        And so it wasn't a--it's not so much a border problem,
    which is part of the problem we've had is describing it as a
    border problem. The real problem is it's now a problem for the
    entirety of the United States of America, thanks to the tens of
    millions of people allowed to come across under the previous
    administration.
        Chair Cornyn. So, is it fair to say this is a problem that
    is not limited to the border but extends throughout the
    country?
        Sheriff Boyd. This is a national security issue of the
    highest level, sir, and it is coast to coast, border to border.
        Chair Cornyn. So, Ms. Carter-Walters, we are going to get
    to her in a minute and Ms. Cathell because there are a lot of
    questions I want to ask. I am sure Senator Moody does as well.
    But one of the things you talked about, or that was mentioned,
    is so-called sanctuary cities don't cooperate with Federal law
    enforcement officials. And my understanding is the Department
    of Homeland Security will issue a detainer on illegal aliens in
    the Goliad County Jail or any other jail. And in those
    jurisdictions where they do cooperate with Federal law
    enforcement officials, the transfer of those individuals can
    occur there in the jail, and ICE isn't relegated to raiding
    populations in other places. It can happen on a much more
    orderly way. But you mentioned the 287(g) agreement. Could you
    describe that further?
        Sheriff Boyd. So under the 287(g) program, which provides
    limited Federal authority to local law enforcement after we've
    received our training on it, you have three different programs.
    You have the jail enforcement model, which is that allows us--
    if we arrest somebody on a State offense and they come into the
    jail, that provides somebody who has been trained access to the
    database in our jail to find out if that person who's already
    in jail is in this country legally or illegally. And there's a
    system we go through, and ICE verifies everything.
        The next program, which is what you were talking about, was
    the Warrant Service model. It is the Warrant Service Officer
    model, which may sound like you're going out and knocking on
    doors, but that's not the case. What it does is it grants those
    who are trained in the jail the authorization to transfer
    somebody who's in jail on State custody from State to Federal
    custody at the request of ICE. It also allows us to transport
    them from a facility that is not a contract facility for
    incarceration to another jurisdiction that is a contract
    facility for incarceration for Federal crimes.
        The last program is the Task Force Model program. And what
    that does is that allows us, my deputies in the field, myself
    included, to go out and when we're conducting our business and
    we come across somebody that we believe is in this country
    without authorization, gives us the ability to contact ICE, to
    go through a verification process. ICE then tells us, yes, you
    are correct, that individual is in the country illegally, gives
    us the authorization to detain them. We detain them, we take
    them, and then we get them transported to a federally approved
    contracted facility for them to be housed at before they move
    on to where they're going to have their deportation hearing.
        Chair Cornyn. So in the absence of cooperation by the local
    or State jurisdiction to transfer those prisoners from State or
    local government custody to the Federal Government, are those
    individuals simply just released into the community?
        Sheriff Boyd. You are absolutely correct, Senator. In those
    jurisdictions, which we refer to as sanctuary jurisdictions,
    those individuals then, once they make bond on their State
    charge, they're going to be allowed to return back out onto the
    streets within that community. If you're not part of the Task
    Force Model, it may stop you for not having--you know, for
    having a violation of traffic enforcement, and just because
    you're in this country illegally, you'd still get released and
    be driving around on the streets of America, even though you're
    not supposed to be here.
        Chair Cornyn. Thank you. Senator Moody.

                OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. ASHLEY MOODY,
                A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF FLORIDA

        Senator Moody. Thank you, Senator Cornyn, and thank you for
    holding this hearing.
        [Poster is displayed.]
        I think one of the biggest mistakes we could make right
    now, in the history of our country, is to not examine this
    pattern of completely ignoring our laws under one
    administration, and in fact, not only emboldening and
    permitting, in fact, funding anarchist behavior under one
    administration, and then when an administration comes in to try
    to right the ship, restore the country, repair the damage, we
    get behavior that is not only obstructionist, subversive, but
    illegal, all in the name of what? For the life of me, if we
    want to ensure the devolution of our free State, our free
    Nation, a Nation under a rule of law, this is the quickest way
    to do it.
        And shockingly, we have not only funded and permitted this
    type of behavior, we now have lawmakers in Congress, Senators
    complicit in this, advocating it. As of yesterday, they were
    putting out a video encouraging Government officials to ignore
    orders. Our enemies, our adversaries across this world are
    laughing at what is happening right now. And not only have
    they, are they doing this and encouraging the behavior, they
    are obstructing us in trying to fix this every step of the way.
    And it's not just happening in our cities. They just shut down
    the Government for 43 days, shut it down.
        And at what point are Americans going to catch on and
    understand that these are not lawmakers of yore? These are
    people that are here that do not, in any way, shape, or form,
    want our country to continue as the country it was founded to
    be 250 years ago, a Nation under a rule of law made by the
    people, the people's law. And every time they are ordering a
    Government official to ignore it, ignore orders, they are
    telling them, ignore those that were elected by the people,
    ignore the law of the people. And so somebody in this place has
    to call that out because that is the quickest way to lose this
    Nation.
        And I want to say thank you for being here today and
    testifying. We have a law enforcement officer that was on the
    frontlines and saw--I was the attorney general of Florida, and
    when the sheriffs came to me and said, the Biden administration
    is telling us to release people here illegally that are in our
    jails, they've committed crimes, and instead of taking them
    from us, as they are required to do under the law, and
    deporting them back to their home countries so that they can't
    continue to victimize Americans, they are telling us to release
    serious felony offenders back into the communities. And so they
    had to, because Biden was not following the law. And that
    happened time and time again, drug traffickers, burglars,
    people--and did it shock the Nation when we kept seeing crimes
    being committed? If they were paying attention, it shouldn't
    have because the sheriffs and law enforcement officers around
    this Nation were being told, by the Biden administration, to
    push them back into our communities.
        Let me tell you another thing that I had to file suit on to
    get information when we found out. Historically, when we picked
    up people internationally that were trafficking drugs, killing
    Americans, when they were brought to our country to be
    prosecuted and put in prison for that, as soon as they served
    that sentence, they were deported because they were picked up
    in international places, because they were drug traffickers.
    Who would have ever released them into our country when their
    only skill is drug trafficking, in the middle of a drug crisis?
    Oh no, the Biden administration did. They started taking
    Federal prisoners in Federal prisons for drug trafficking here
    illegally, and instead of deporting them when their sentences
    were over, they released them back into your communities in
    America. And their only skill was pushing drugs into your
    communities. That's their skill.
        So thank you for testifying as what was happening. Now, we
    have agents being directed, rightfully so, by this
    administration, to go into communities and arrest those people
    that are here illegally that have been committing crimes, many
    that were forced to be released by the Biden administration.
    And this is what we get. This is what we get, people
    threatening, harassing, victimizing law enforcement trying to
    go out and arrest those people that the Biden administration
    pushed into your communities.
        And it wasn't just when they emptied the jails into your
    communities or they emptied the Federal prisons into your
    communities. They kept letting everyone just walk into our
    country, hundreds of thousands of people every month, and push
    them in mass quotas to release into our country. They called it
    their discretion to parole, no vetting done. They kept saying,
    there is nothing happening at the border. Our border is secure.
    They testified to Congress, under oath, that our border was
    secure, and then they blamed Congress that they couldn't do
    anything else.
        How long did it take for President Trump to shut down the
    border? They have released zero in the last 6 months. Compare
    those same 6 months to the Biden administration, hundreds of
    thousands of people pushed into our country, barely vetted.
    This is what's happening when we are trying to make sure that
    our communities are safe.
        That is why I am introducing an act called the HALO Act,
    which would give these men and women, who took an oath to
    protect our communities and put American safety ahead of their
    own, a buffer zone while they do their jobs. They should not
    have to tolerate this. If they tell someone to step away
    because they are trying to do their duties that we as the
    American people have asked them to do, that we as the American
    people have asked them to do and put their lives on the line to
    do, they shouldn't have to deal with this. And I hope every
    single one of my colleagues understands that without men and
    women that take that oath and serve on that very thin line, we
    don't have a country under a rule of law. We ask them to do
    incredibly dangerous jobs. We could give them the space to do
    it.
        I also believe there is absolutely no way that these groups
    should be funded with American tax dollars. Talk about our
    adversaries laughing. That is like pouring acid on the fibers
    that bind us together as a Nation, that create that strength.
    We are now going to take tax dollars and weaken that, going
    against the men and women trying to ensure safety, funding the
    people that are threatening and harassing them?
        Ms. Cathell, I thank you for your testimony. And what you
    have said today is that American tax dollars have gone to this
    subversive network. Is that correct?
        Ms. Cathell. That's correct.
        Senator Moody. And Ms. Carter-Walters, what you are saying
    today--and thank you so much for being here today. I have often
    said that the very people that the folks across the aisle
    profess to want to protect are the very ones they are hurting
    with their insane, undermining policies. And it is so
    refreshing to hear someone, a resident of a place where this is
    happening, speak out and say, if they were looking out for
    Americans, the country that they swore to come in and
    represent, the people, and not the criminals, this country
    would look very different. Thank you for your bravery and your
    courage to come here today. I don't know if that makes you any
    more popular in your community, but you are certainly
    representing what our Founders imagined for a Nation under a
    rule of law. And I am grateful to you.
        Do you believe that Federal funding should go to States and
    cities that are sanctuary cities, that refuse to enforce the
    law and refuse to work with Federal law enforcement?
        Ms. Carter-Walters. No, I don't believe that. And I just
    want to say, it's not surprising that we don't see no Democrats
    here because that's what's happening in Chicago. They don't
    care about the American citizens or want to hear what we have
    to say, so thank you for giving us a voice. This right here,
    what you see is typical. This is what we deal with in Chicago,
    every day, with the Democratic Party.
        Senator Moody. Well, you know, I think when we watched,
    under President Biden, the man-made disaster, the man-made
    emergency that was President Biden and his administration,
    there was such damage, such recklessness, such incredible
    policies that were forced upon the American people that they
    didn't want and they didn't want in their communities. You had
    States declaring emergencies. And what did that do when the
    sanctuary States declared emergencies because of what Biden
    did? They got more Federal funding.
        So you have my commitment. I am going to work on
    legislation that would restrict and eliminate Federal funding
    going to sanctuary cities and sanctuary States that will not
    work with Federal men and women of law enforcement, these
    States that almost invite a criminal organization to base
    itself and take over cities and States, like you are
    experiencing right now. You have my commitment. I am going to
    file legislation to make sure we put an end to that.
        And let me just end--and I know, Chairman, I have gone way
    over my time, but let me just end by thanking you, Sheriff, for
    your service. My husband is a career law enforcement officer.
    What they have had to endure over the last 4 years is
    unconscionable. It is unconscionable that any person in
    Congress would allow that to happen. I apologize to you. I
    thank you for your service, and may your commitment to the rule
    of law, and what you expect of this great Nation from its
    leadership, and what you expect in terms of its continued
    strength in the future for the next 250 years, may your service
    continue to inspire other men and women to follow in your
    footsteps. Thank you so much.
        Sheriff Boyd. Thank you, Senator.
        Chair Cornyn. Senator Cruz.

                  OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. TED CRUZ,
                 A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF TEXAS

        Senator Cruz. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        I thank Senator Moody for her impassioned remarks, with
    which I fully associate myself.
        One year ago this month, the American people delivered a
    political earthquake, casting off the disaster of the Biden-
    Harris Democrat administration. There were many aspects in
    which their policies were harmful, but none more so than 4
    years of open borders, more than 12 million people coming
    illegally into this country, 3 million got-aways. Got-aways, we
    know, are statistically much more likely to be criminals, to be
    murderers, to be rapists, to be child molesters, to be gang
    members, to be terrorists.
        [Posters are displayed.]
        It was not accidental. It was deliberate. And every single
    day of the Biden Presidency, Americans were victimized,
    Americans were murdered, women were raped, children were
    brutalized by violent, criminal, illegal aliens that our
    Federal Government deliberately released into our communities.
        Ms. Carter-Walters, you pointed out the city of Chicago has
    been savaged by these policies. And I have to say, this hearing
    is a powerful illustration of the Democrats. They are AWOL.
    Every single chair on the Democrat side of the aisle is vacant,
    and they are representing beautifully what Democrat policy was
    for 4 years protecting our communities. My home State of Texas
    saw a greater invasion than any State in the country.
        Now, a year ago in January, President Trump came into
    office, and the result was stunning. This invasion ended not in
    a year, not in 6 months, but overnight. Illegal border
    crossings dropped more than 99 percent, instantaneously. All
    three of us were at the State of the Union address where
    President Trump pointed out, he said a year ago, Joe Biden said
    he could not secure the border without new legislation from
    Congress. Now, we have seen illegal border crossings drop 99
    percent. As Trump said, it turns out we didn't need new
    legislation, we just needed a new President. We needed a
    President who would follow the damn law and not release violent
    criminals into our communities.
        Sheriff Boyd, it is good to see you. You are the Sheriff of
    Goliad County in South Texas. You lead Operation Lone Star.
    Tell us the difference between right now with an administration
    that follows the law and the preceding 4 years with an
    administration that released violent criminals in your county
    and every community across the country.
        Sheriff Boyd. It's night and day, Senator. The quality of
    life for the people of South Texas has drastically improved.
    And you're absolutely right, the numbers show it. Turns out you
    didn't need new laws, all you needed to do was have the right
    people in charge and free up Border Patrol to do what it is
    that they love to do, and that is protect America.
        And under the leadership of Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks,
    they have gone out and done exactly that, and it has made a
    world of difference in our lives. We went from arresting
    smugglers on a regular basis--in my small rural county, we
    arrested--from 2021 to 2024, we arrested 98 people for
    smuggling and over 120 people for engaging in organized
    criminal activity directly tied to the Mexican cartels. We're
    no longer catching people for smuggling because it's hard to
    smuggle what Border Patrol won't let across the river.
        Senator Cruz. For the first time in modern history, for the
    past 6 months, not a single alien apprehended at the border has
    been released into the interior. Sheriff, has the zero-release
    policy dramatically reduced the burden on your deputies and on
    your county?
        Sheriff Boyd. Yes, sir, it has.
        Senator Cruz. ICE conducted over 100,000 arrests, arrests
    of murderers, of rapists, of child predators, of gang members,
    and beyond them, the gang captains and cartel operatives who
    spread violence in our communities like a plague. We are
    systematically apprehending the predators who roamed free,
    deliberately, under the Democrats' policy.
        Sheriff Boyd, in Goliad County, is your county and is South
    Texas safer with these arrests and these violent criminals
    being deported?
        Sheriff Boyd. It is. In the last 3 weeks alone, we've been
    working a joint operation with ICE and Border Patrol, and we've
    picked up 54 people detained for ICE that were in this country
    illegally. Eleven of those had a criminal history here in the
    United States of America. Nine of those had been previously
    deported. And so it has made a world of difference. We have
    focused from what's coming in to getting what's already here
    and getting it out.
        Senator Cruz. You know, and I got to say what is amazing. A
    year into it, the Democrats could have come together and said,
    you know what? We heard the American people at the ballot box a
    year ago. We heard that they didn't like violent criminals
    being released in our communities. They could have showed up at
    this hearing and said, okay, it was a mistake to ignore Federal
    immigration law and release criminals. You know what they did
    instead? Instead, the Democrat base is protesting right now for
    open borders. It is saying, `we want to go back to open
    borders. We want the invasion'.
        Put the next poster up.
        [Poster is displayed.]
        `We want the invasion to come back'. It is difficult to
    think of a policy that is more harmful to our communities than
    releasing violent criminals into our communities. And I, for
    one, am glad we have an administration that will now enforce
    the law and keep our communities safe.
        Thank you to each of the witnesses. Thank you for the work
    you are doing. I hope and pray we will never go back to another
    administration that for partisan political purposes says, `we
    are going to release gang members and murderers and rapists
    into your community, and we are going to look the other way as
    Americans are murdered and sexually assaulted.' I hope never
    again that happens. Thank you.
        Chair Cornyn. Thank you.
        I want to explore a little bit more, Ms. Carter-Walters,
    not only what is happening in Chicago but what is happening in
    the sanctuary jurisdictions around the country. And I agree
    with my colleagues. The fact that our Democratic colleagues
    aren't here, they don't care enough to actually engage but want
    to just rely on talking points and misinformation about what is
    going on in your community and other sanctuary communities,
    that's a telling development here today, but it is consistent
    in my experience with their attitude about the violence, the
    crime, the drugs that occurred in communities all across our
    country but particularly in sanctuary communities.
        So in your experience, does the activities of illegal
    immigrants in sanctuary cities, does it focus on the gated
    communities, the areas of the affluent and the well-heeled, or
    rather, does it focus on vulnerable minority communities, for
    example?
        Ms. Carter-Walters. Yes, it's focused on the Black
    communities, the vulnerable communities, exactly my community,
    and just--and they were placed all in our buildings. So the
    place that was on--that happened with the raid--ICE raid
    happened on 75th and South Shore Drive, Tren de Aragua had
    taken over that building. And the fake news failed to mention
    that, prior to that, a couple of months earlier, that one of
    those Tren de Aragua gang members had shot--executed another
    illegal alien, shot him in the head and buried his body in
    concrete in one of those apartment buildings on 75th and South
    Shore Drive.
        But they didn't show that. All the fake news showed was ICE
    officers coming into the building and saying and lying, saying
    that they are arresting American citizens. Well, when you
    saturate our communities, American citizens' communities with
    Tren de Aragua and illegal alien gang members, then what do you
    think that's going to happen? Then when ICE come in and have to
    do the raid to get them out of our communities because that's
    what we wanted and that's what we voted for, then you're going
    to have American citizens that's going to have to be detained
    for a minute so they can separate us and make sure we are safe.
        And I just want to commend the officers because they did a
    phenomenal job. They made sure that no one was hurt, no
    American was killed, or they didn't put our lives in danger.
    They actually helped us. And what the Democratic Party did,
    Mayor Brandon Johnson did, was put our life in danger when he
    saturated our community and apartment buildings with illegal
    alien gang criminals.
        Chair Cornyn. Now, Tren de Aragua is a violent Venezuelan
    gang, correct?
        Ms. Carter-Walters. Yes.
        Chair Cornyn. And you are saying in the absence of law
    enforcement by local and State officials in places like
    Illinois, Chicago, Illinois, that they pretty much rule the
    roost in those communities. They can do basically whatever they
    want to do with impunity.
        Ms. Carter-Walters. Yes, because the police officers are
    told to stand down, just like you saw when they were blocking
    ICE officers in, and the police chief told them to stand down.
    They wouldn't even allow officers to help Federal officers, ICE
    officers. They wouldn't even help them. So you can imagine what
    it's like for just American citizens, regular citizens, what we
    have to deal with when we call the police and complain about
    what's happening in our communities with illegal aliens. We
    don't get no help. The police come, and they say it's nothing
    they can do about it because they have standdown orders.
        Chair Cornyn. So not only are the immigration laws not
    being enforced, it is actually worse than that. Local law
    enforcement in these sanctuary jurisdictions are told don't
    cooperate, even when the life and property and of American
    citizens is being jeopardized by those illegal immigrants who
    are not being detained and not being deported. Is that right?
        Ms. Carter-Walters. Yes.
        Chair Cornyn. And Ms. Cathell, thank you to the Washington
    Examiner for allowing you to come testify today. And I know you
    are an investigative reporter, not a political advocate, so but
    we need accurate information so Congress can decide what the
    proper policies may be. And I agree with Senator Moody, we need
    to do even more to make sure that the Federal taxpayer, or the
    State taxpayer, is not funding organizations which encourage or
    facilitate attacks on law enforcement, including ICE and CBP
    officers.
        But you mentioned in your remarks the Coalition for Humane
    Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. And what is the acronym for
    that?
        Ms. Cathell. CHIRLA.
        Chair Cornyn. Okay. And it sounds like a pretty benign
    organization, but how are they funded again? Is this a
    combination of sources, both tax dollars to these so-called
    NGO's, non-government organizations that are providing services
    to people who are in the country illegally, or is it more than
    that?
        Ms. Cathell. In addition to tax dollars, CHIRLA also
    receives funding through ActBlue as a standing campaign on
    ActBlue, which is the Democratic Party's primary fundraising
    platform.
        Chair Cornyn. Now, that is news to me. ActBlue is an
    internet-based fundraising program which allows individuals to
    contribute money to Democratic candidates for office. But are
    you saying that the Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights of
    Los Angeles also raises money on this political fundraising
    website?
        Ms. Cathell. Yes, many NGO's have active campaigns on
    ActBlue.
        Chair Cornyn. Well, that's news to me, but we will
    certainly look into it.
        I think, Sheriff Boyd, let me go back. You know, even
    though, as Senator Cruz pointed out, the border is far more
    secure than it has been in years, there is still a lot of
    people in the country that don't belong here because they have
    simply thumbed their nose at our laws and committed various
    offenses against American citizens and even other illegal
    immigrants who have been in the country. But I know that on
    October the 1st, your office and the Splendora Police
    Department helped ICE locate and arrest an illegal alien female
    from Mexico who was wanted for intentional homicide in her home
    country. Could you talk a little bit about that particular
    case? I think it is a public matter of public record, so maybe
    you can just fill in some of the details.
        Sheriff Boyd. Yes, sir. We sent some of our folks up to
    assist ICE in the Houston office, to go out into the field and
    help them out with conducting investigations and identifying
    and tracking down people that are in the country illegally. One
    of the individuals that they wanted to track down was a female
    from Mexico who was wanted for homicide. If I'm not mistaken,
    she murdered her boyfriend in the front yard of their house.
    And she had escaped to the United States of America to avoid
    prosecution. She was here for some time, and in 2024, she was
    actually apprehended, but the Biden administration ordered her
    to be released back into the United States instead of deporting
    her for the Interpol warrant that existed for her murder.
        Chair Cornyn. Now, why would they do that?
        Sheriff Boyd. Your guess is as good as mine, but I assume
    cause those were the people they really wanted to, you know,
    bring into this country. So chaos brings opportunity for more
    control, so why not have people here that cause chaos? But we
    were able to locate her and get her identified at a house in
    the Colony Ridge area, which, of course, Colony Ridge is a
    community in Texas that is known for a high concentration of
    people who are gathered here illegally in the country. We were
    able to get her and take her into custody and so turned her
    over to the Federal agencies. So under this administration, she
    will no longer be roaming the streets of Texas as a wanted
    murderer.
        Chair Cornyn. I would like for you to expand a little bit
    on some of your earlier testimony about the connection between
    the cartels, which are the criminal organizations that operate,
    in this case, in Mexico, some of them in Central and South
    America as well. I once heard somebody explain what their
    business model is, and they were called commodity agnostic.
    Could you explain what that means to you?
        Sheriff Boyd. Yes, sir. Basically, if it will make them
    money, they are willing to do it. They really don't care. They
    have no conscience. There is no right or wrong in the cartels'
    world. There is only making money and having power within
    Mexico, and so that is what they are after. It doesn't matter
    if it is illicit tobacco products, which is a big deal for the
    cartels, not only in the United States but in Canada, but if
    it's stolen vehicles, which in the State of Texas under the
    Biden administration, we went from about 60,000 stolen vehicles
    a year to over 100,000 vehicles stolen a year, in an effort to
    support the smuggling operations of the cartels. It doesn't
    matter if it's drugs, if it's people, whatever is going to make
    them money is what they are going to do.
        Illegal gambling, many of the eight-liners that we have,
    they--the gambling rooms that we have across the United States
    have connectivity to the cartels as part of their money
    laundering organizations.
        Chair Cornyn. And of course, that includes--and you have
    covered this, but just to emphasize, it also includes smuggling
    things like fentanyl, which has killed hundreds of thousands of
    Americans over the years that primarily comes from Mexico and
    making money with the drugs but also human trafficking. Every
    individual that they smuggle across the border, they get paid,
    right?
        Sheriff Boyd. That is absolutely correct. They get paid an
    upfront fee, but they also get paid additional fees while
    they're here in the United States. And as I've articulated
    before, you know, we found that it takes about 8 to 13 years
    for people to pay off that debt once they're here.
        One of the things that Senator Moody touched on was about
    our enemies laughing at us, but that goes right along with, you
    know, the cartels have been doing the same thing for quite some
    time. And you bring up fentanyl. You'll notice that our
    fentanyl deaths have drastically reduced under the Trump
    administration. The fentanyl coming in this country has
    drastically reduced, not just because of the fact that Border
    Patrol has really tightened up the border across the United
    States and Mexico, but also the fact that the cartels--our
    intelligence tells us the cartels have curtailed their fentanyl
    production because they are afraid that the administration may
    come into Mexico and come after them as a result of killing so
    many Americans.
        And so all the cartel is doing right now is they're biding
    their time. And if they can get to a point to where Trump is
    going to be out of office and we're going to have a weak
    administration, they will immediately fire back up the fentanyl
    production, and we will see the same tragedy happening over
    again if we don't fix this problem right now. Now is our
    opportunity to defund and dismantle the cartels, and if we
    don't take advantage of it, it's our own fault.
        Chair Cornyn. So I think sometimes people think that
    illegal immigration and smuggling of drugs stops at the border,
    but you mentioned the logistical support that other criminal
    organizations and gangs, for example, provide. What happens
    once the drugs are smuggled in the United States through this
    logistical support that you mentioned?
        Sheriff Boyd. You have to look at----
        Chair Cornyn. And is this isolated in any geographic area,
    or is it nationwide?
        Sheriff Boyd [continuing]. It's pervasive. It's all the way
    across our Nation. It's in--you got to look at the New
    Generation Jalisco Cartel is in, I believe, 56 countries at
    this point in time. But when it comes to the distribution of
    product, they are pervasive all across the United States and
    Mexico. They have submitted their organization, solidified
    their business model. Look at them like you would look at a
    large department store across the United States. They have
    employees, they have contract employees, they have distribution
    networks all throughout the United States. It's like a spider
    web, and that's the problem. We have to deny them their
    logistical capacity to conduct their business here in the U.S.
    if we're going to get rid of the cartels.
        Chair Cornyn. Well, for example, Ms. Carter-Walters, I know
    in Chicago, I either read in the paper or I see on TV or social
    media the number of violent deaths and murders that occur in
    Chicago on a regular basis over the weekend. But Sheriff Boyd,
    would you say that a significant number, some or most or all,
    perhaps maybe not all of the criminal activity, including
    violent deaths in places like Chicago, are tied to illegal drug
    trafficking?
        Sheriff Boyd. Absolutely. And if you look across the board
    in law enforcement, what we know in law enforcement is this,
    that at least 95 percent of all of the Class 1 crimes in the
    United States of America that are committed--that's your
    burglary, robbery, sexual assault, homicide--those things are
    tied directly to the Mexican cartels and the products they push
    into this country because people commit crimes based off of
    greed, based off of their addiction, and based off of
    territorial disputes. Those things across the United States,
    doesn't matter where you're at, tie right back to Mexico.
        Chair Cornyn. So I think sometimes, people want to
    differentiate or distinguish between local criminal conduct,
    particularly by gangs and the like, but what you are saying is
    there is a direct connection, or even a pipeline, for the
    criminal conduct of the cartels in places like Mexico and what
    happens in places like Chicago. And I suppose that these
    organizations, they fight for market share and fight even among
    themselves. And is that, in part, responsible for the gun
    deaths that you see in places like Chicago on a regular basis?
        Sheriff Boyd. It is based off of those markets that are
    going to have a higher value. You're going to have organized
    crime come in and try to vie for the rights of those
    territories. And sometimes the only way to get those rights
    pulled away from one organization is to take them out, and
    you'll see a lot of that violence.
        But like I said, that crime is tied directly back to
    Mexico. If somebody breaks into your house tonight, they're
    probably trying to feed an addiction, an addiction, probably,
    to drugs that they got from a dealer who works for an
    organization that is a subcontractor for a contractor that
    works directly for the Mexican cartels. So most of our major
    crime leads right back to Mexico.
        Chair Cornyn. So you really can't separate domestic crime
    and law enforcement from what is happening at the border and by
    virtue of these criminal organizations that we call cartels.
        Sheriff Boyd. They are one and the same.
        Chair Cornyn. Well, let me thank all of you for your
    willingness and courage to testify. You can tell that this
    topic is not universally popular because sometimes the truth
    hurts. People don't want to hear it. And rather than engage in
    reasoned debate and discussion and trying to drill down to what
    are the facts and what is disinformation, they just decide to
    ignore it altogether and stick their head in the sand. And
    unfortunately, you have seen some of that here today. But I
    very much appreciate all of you being willing to come and
    having the courage to tell us what we need to hear in order to
    help make our communities safe.
        And I know sometimes, President Trump gets criticized for
    dispatching the National Guard or other Federal law enforcement
    officials to some of these communities to quell the violence
    and to back up and assist local law enforcement, but it strikes
    me that the reaction by the residents of those communities is
    much like that expressed by Mayor Bowser here in Washington,
    DC, when she welcomed the National Guard coming in and backing
    up local law enforcement, which has had a dramatic impact and
    reduction on crime including carjackings, assaults, and robbery
    and murder in the District of Columbia.
        And why it is that political leaders, the governors and
    mayors in some of these places like Illinois, ignore that and
    somehow hide behind these well-funded organizations which help
    sponsor and encourage and facilitate the demonstrations like we
    have seen against ICE doing the job of enforcing the law that
    Congress has passed.
        If people have a disagreement with the law, then there is a
    forum for them to come and talk about that and to petition
    their elected representatives to change the law. But these are
    laws that have been passed, on a bipartisan basis, by Congress.
    And these heroic law enforcement officials are doing that in
    communities all across the country, and they don't deserve to
    be vilified or attacked or assaulted or even criticized, I
    believe, for doing the job we have actually asked them to do.
        So thank you all for being here. I appreciate your time and
    your testimony. We are going to leave the record open for a
    short while here in case there are any other questions that
    Members of the Committee may have. And they may come your way,
    so keep an eye out for those if that happens.
        I know frequently we have conflicting Committee assignments
    and other activities, so even some Senators who want to be here
    couldn't be here, so you may well see those follow-up questions
    for the record.
        So thank you very much. This hearing is adjourned.
        [Whereupon, at 4:04 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
        [Additional material submitted for the record follows.]

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                                A P P E N D I X

    The following submissions are available at:

      https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-119shrg62971/pdf/CHRG-119shrg
        62971-add1.pdf

    Submitted by Ranking Member Padilla:

     American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), statement.................     2

     American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial
        Organizations (AFL-CIO), ICE Under Fire, statement............    13

     American Immigration Council (AIC), ICE and Public Safety,
        statement.....................................................    15

     Black, Pastor David, statement...................................    19

     Coalition, statement.............................................    23

     Interfaith Alliance, ICE Under Fire, The Radical Left's Crusade
        Against Immigration Enforcement, statement....................    28

     Quesada, Chief Ruben, statement..................................    32

     Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, statement..........    36

                                     [all]