[House Report 117-473]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


117th Congress    }                                  {    Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 2d Session       }                                  {    117-473

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

 
  RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE PRESIDENT, AND DIRECTING THE SECRETARY OF 
 HOMELAND SECURITY, TO TRANSMIT TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COPIES 
 OF ALL DOCUMENTS IN THEIR POSSESSION REFERRING OR RELATING TO CERTAIN 
            ASPECTS OF BORDER POLICIES OF THE UNITED STATES

                                _______
                                

 September 19, 2022.--Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be 
                                printed

                                _______
                                

 Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, from the Committee on Homeland Security, 
                        submitted the following

                             ADVERSE REPORT

                             together with

                             MINORITY VIEWS

                      [To accompany H. Res. 1328]

    The Committee on Homeland Security, to whom was referred 
the resolution (H. Res. 1328) requesting the President, and 
directing the Secretary of Homeland Security, to transmit to 
the House of Representatives copies of all documents in their 
possession referring or relating to certain aspects of border 
policies of the United States, having considered the same, 
report unfavorably thereon without amendment and recommend that 
the resolution not be agreed to.

                                CONTENTS

                                                                   Page
Purpose and Summary..............................................     1
Background and Need for Legislation..............................     2
Hearings.........................................................     2
Committee Consideration..........................................     2
Committee Vote...................................................     2
Committee Oversight Findings.....................................     3
C.B.O. Estimate, New Budget Authority, Entitlement Authority, and 
  Tax Expenditures...............................................     3
Statement of General Performance Goals and Objectives............     3
Section-by-Section Analysis of the Legislation...................     4
Minority Views...................................................     5

                          PURPOSE AND SUMMARY

    H. Res. 1328 requests the President, and directs the 
Secretary of Homeland Security, to transmit to the House of 
Representatives copies of all documents in their possession 
referring or relating to certain aspects of border policies 
affecting individuals who arrived at the Southwest land border 
of the United States since January 20, 2021.

                  BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

    A resolution of inquiry is a simple resolution requesting 
the President, or directing the head of an executive 
department, to provide to the House specific information in the 
possession of the administration.
    Clause 7 of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives provides that a motion to discharge the 
Committee to which the resolution was referred upon 
introduction is privileged in the House if the Committee has 
not reported the measure back to the House within 14 
legislative days after its introduction.
    The Committee notes that consideration of this resolution 
of inquiry is to comply with rule XIII. It does not affect the 
Committee's obligation or commitment to conduct oversight and 
require documentation from the administration on issues within 
the Committee's jurisdiction.
    Representative Peter Meijer of Michigan introduced this 
resolution of inquiry on August 30, 2022. The need for such a 
resolution is obviated by information regularly and publicly 
published by the Department of Homeland Security as well as 
transmitted to the Committee through regular communications, 
hearings, and briefings during the course of the Committee's 
usual oversight of the Department's Southwest border 
operations.

                                HEARINGS

    No hearings were used to develop H. Res. 1328 in the 117th 
Congress.

                        COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION

    The Committee met on September 14, 2022, a quorum being 
present, to consider H. Res. 1328 and ordered the measure to be 
adversely reported to the House by a recorded vote of 18 ayes 
and 16 noes.

                             COMMITTEE VOTE

    Clause 3(b) of rule XIII requires the Committee to list the 
recorded votes on the motion to report legislation and 
amendments thereto.
          1. A motion by Mr. Thompson of Mississippi to 
        adversely report H. Res. 1328 was agreed to by a 
        recorded vote of 18 ayes and 16 noes (Rollcall No. 36).

                                          Committee Record Vote No. 36
                              Thompson (MS) Motion to Adversely Report H. Res. 1328
                                         Agreed to: 18 ayes and 16 noes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Majority Members                     Vote                Minority Members               Vote
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ms. Jackson Lee................................          Aye   Mr. Katko..........................           No
Mr. Langevin...................................          Aye   Mr. McCaul.........................           No
Mr. Payne......................................          Aye   Mr. Higgins (LA)...................  ............
Mr. Correa.....................................          Aye   Mr. Guest..........................           No
Ms. Slotkin....................................          Aye   Mr. Bishop (NC)....................           No
Mr. Cleaver....................................          Aye   Mr. Van Drew.......................           No
Mr. Green (TX).................................          Aye   Mrs. Miller-Meeks..................           No
Ms. Clarke (NY)................................          Aye   Mrs. Harshbarger...................           No
Mr. Swalwell...................................          Aye   Mr. Clyde..........................           No
Ms. Titus......................................          Aye   Mr. Gimenez........................           No
Mrs. Watson Coleman............................          Aye   Mr. LaTurner.......................           No
Miss Rice (NY).................................          Aye   Mr. Meijer.........................           No
Mrs. Demings...................................          Aye   Mrs. Cammack.......................           No
Ms. Barragan...................................          Aye   Mr. Pfluger........................           No
Mr. Gottheimer.................................           No   Mr. Garbarino......................           No
Mrs. Luria.....................................          Aye   Mrs. Flores........................           No
Mr. Malinowski.................................          Aye
Mr. Torres (NY)................................          Aye
Mr. Thompson (MS), Chairman....................          Aye
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                      COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS

    In compliance with clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII, the 
Committee advises that the findings and recommendations of the 
Committee, based on oversight activities under clause 2(b)(1) 
of rule X, are incorporated in the descriptive portions of this 
report.

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE ESTIMATE, NEW BUDGET AUTHORITY, ENTITLEMENT 
                    AUTHORITY, AND TAX EXPENDITURES

    The Committee finds the requirements of clause 3(c)(2) of 
rule XIII and section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 
1974, and the requirements of clause 3(c)(3) of rule XIII and 
section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, to be 
inapplicable to this resolution. Accordingly, the Committee did 
not request or receive a cost estimate from the Congressional 
Budget Office and makes no findings as to the budgetary impacts 
of this resolution or costs incurred to carry out the 
resolution.

         STATEMENT OF GENERAL PERFORMANCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

    Pursuant to clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the objective of 
H. Res. 1328 is to request the President, and direct the 
Secretary of Homeland Security, to transmit to the House of 
Representatives copies of all documents in their possession 
referring or relating to certain aspects of border policies of 
the United States.

             section-by-section analysis of the legislation

    The resolution requests the President, and directs the 
Secretary of Homeland Security, to transmit to the House of 
Representatives copies of all documents, memoranda, analytical 
products, advisory legal opinions, notes, reports, briefing 
materials, intelligence assessments, audio recordings, records 
(including telephone and electronic mail records), 
correspondence, communications, and other materials, both 
classified and unclassified, in the possession of the President 
or the Secretary referring or relating to certain aspects of 
border policies of the United States for individuals who 
arrived at the border at the Southwest land border no later 
than 14 days after the date of adoption of this resolution.
    The resolution requests the following:
          1. Department of Homeland Security policies 
        implemented and data collected regarding individuals 
        who arrived at the Southwest border from January 20, 
        2021, including the total number of encounters by U.S. 
        Customs and Border Protection (CBP) broken out by 
        demographic; the total number of individuals who 
        reported to U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement 
        (ICE) post admission into the United States; the total 
        number of unaccompanied minor children transferred to 
        Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) custody; 
        the total number of individuals denied admission into 
        the United States; the reimplementation of the Migrant 
        Protection Protocols; the guidance on acceptable valid 
        identification for migrants traveling within the United 
        States; the use of Title 42 to prevent the spread of 
        communicable diseases to suspend persons and property 
        from the United States; the guidance relating to COVID-
        19 for individuals encountered at the Southwest border; 
        and the deployment of new existing technology on the 
        Southwest border;
          2. the total amount of illicit narcotics seized by 
        CBP;
          3. the treatment of unaccompanied minor children who 
        have been encountered crossing the Southwest border, 
        including the Department's screening and vetting 
        procedures to determine a migrant's age and information 
        regarding transportation of unaccompanied minor 
        children;
          4. any activity within the Department to track 
        transnational criminal organizations that have engaged 
        in human trafficking along the Southwest border, 
        including intelligence assessments and incidents in 
        which the Department interdicted criminals at the 
        Southwest border;
          5. incidents in which a child could not be located 
        after being released into the United States pending a 
        removal hearing with or to an accompanying adult;
          6. communication with the Government of Mexico 
        regarding unaccompanied migrant children crossing the 
        Southwest border; and
          7. policies and procedures when children are 
        interdicted at the Southwest border and found to be 
        trafficking illicit commodities.

                             MINORITY VIEWS

    President Biden and his administration have created a truly 
catastrophic humanitarian crisis on our Southwest border. 
Tragically, this crisis has resulted in hundreds of migrant 
deaths this year, with no end in sight. For almost 2 years, 
Homeland Security Committee Republicans have been sounding the 
alarm about this unprecedented crisis. However, the Biden 
administration has chosen to downplay and even ignore this 
problem, and to mislead the American people about its severity 
at every turn.
    The administration has not been forthcoming regarding the 
existence or severity of the crisis, nor with the disclosure of 
information in a timely manner. For instance, this Committee 
repeatedly asked for information regarding known or suspected 
terrorists (KSTs) encountered at the border. The Department of 
Homeland Security took almost a year to release this 
information and chose to release it via the media before 
informing the Committee. The Department also continues to 
either completely ignore or severely delay responses to 
official letters from Committee Republicans asking for 
information regarding specific policies at the border. This is 
also true for Questions for the Record (QFRs) submitted to the 
Department after hearings.
    The United States continues to experience historic levels 
of migrant encounters and deadly narcotics crossing the border. 
As of August 2022, there have been nearly 3.4 million migrant 
encounters at the Southwest border, with an additional 900,000 
known ``got-aways'' who evaded U.S. Border Patrol agents. 
Additionally, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has 
seized enough fentanyl this fiscal year to kill almost 2.4 
billion people, over seven times the U.S. population.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\``Drug Seizure Statistics,'' U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 
(last modified Aug. 15, 2022), available at https://www.cbp.gov/
newsroom/stats/drug-seizure-statistics.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The porous Southwest border has also increased our 
homeland's vulnerability to terrorist threats. As of July 31st, 
66 individuals whose names appear on the terror watchlist have 
been stopped trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border between 
ports of entry this fiscal year.\2\ That is more than double 
the number of encounters in the last 5 years combined.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\``CBP Enforcement Statistics Fiscal Year 2022,'' U.S. Customs 
and Border Protection, (last modified Aug. 15, 2022), available at 
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/cbp-enforcement-statistics.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The American people deserve complete transparency into 
decisions made by the Biden administration that have encouraged 
and facilitated illegal border crossings, criminal activity, 
and the flow of dangerous drugs like fentanyl and 
methamphetamine into the United States. This resolution seeks 
that transparency.

                                                        John Katko.

                                  [all]