>> will you solemnly swear that in the testimony you are about to give will be thtruth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you god? >> saturdays watch congress investigates as we explore major investigations in our country's history by the u.s. house and senate. we will also see historic footage from these. and examine the impact of key congressional hearings. we look at the 19 -- 1993 siege at waco and what has followed. watch congress investigates saturdays. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded these television companies and more, including spark light.

>> spark light supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas testified before the security committee on the 2025 budget request. the hearing ended shortly before the house delivered two impeachment articles to the senate. both of those articles were later dismissed.

[inaudible conversations] >> the committee will come to order. without objection the committee may recess at any >> the committee will come to order. without objection the committee may recess at any point. good morning, secretary mayorkas . thank you for joining the committee to discuss the budget that you and president biden have put forward for the homeland security. on march 1 the department celebrated its 21st anniversary. i want to thank all of the public servants who dedicate their lives to securing the

homeland. it is vital to our nation's safety and security. mr. secretary, when you took the oath of office you swore to, quote, support and defend the united states against all enemies foreign and domestic and faithfully discharge the duties of the office,". the immigration and nationality act further makes clear that you have a, quote, duty to control and guard the borders and boundaries of the united states. during their three years of secretary of failed to do this. you have breached trust. you have facilitated record numbers of migrants. we witnessed the devastating results of your agenda. i have shared this before but feel it is necessary to repeat it. you abolished working policies following the statements of your boss on his campaign trail, promises to improperly grant asylum to anyone who can.

as a result people from all over the world tested the system. they came and were released and phoned home and the mass waves began. with this increased demand the cartels took advantage and overwhelmed crossing sites at the border. you responded by removing border patrol agents from the border, marshals from the air, customs agents from airports, to process and release these record numbers of people and issue guidance to dhs law enforcement to violate laws passed by this coequal branch of government. with the border wide open processing mass waves of people there have been droves of people in the country. this has left to the loss of billions of dollars and created the crisis you finally acknowledged in recent testimony. even your counterpart the fbi director has said there is no way to ensure hamas and other terrorists are part of the

roughly 2 million got a ways that enter the country. the increase of chinese nationals in canada in 2023 adds to the threat we face at home because you chose not to enforce the law. your refusal to follow those loss is contemptible. your disregard of the request from this coequal branch of government in pursuit of the constitutional duty to conduct oversight, your false statements to this body and the american people and issuance of guidance to employees of dhs telling them to violate laws passed by congress shows a disregard for the constitution you swore to uphold. instead of acknowledging those failures and pledging to change course, your actions and directives remain unchanged. you've doubled down. the budget request reflects this obstinance. it fails to take seriously the crises threatening national security interests especially wide-open borders. for example, you request a 1.45 early and dollar cut in topline spending for the budget from

what congress enacted last year including a $245 million cut in funding for the border security operations. instead as he did in last year's budget you propose a $4.7 billion slush fund called the southwest border contingency fund which would not be used to secure the border but help you process and release more illegal aliens quickly into the interior. might i remind you that our founders, if the founders wanted the executive branch to get a slush fund it would never have detailed the funding duties of this body in the division of power. again, that is treading on the constitution. this fund will not solve the humanitarian crisis you've created. it will facilitate it will hide the truth from the american people it provides for 350 new border patrol agents. the secured order act provided enough funding for eight times that number. budget only request funding for

84,000 i.c.e. heads. by comparison in 2021 the previous administration tested 60,000 at a time when illegal crossings were at their lowest in decades. your targets for removals of illegal aliens are abysmal. in 2020 amid the covid pandemic i.c.e. remit 185,800 illegal aliens. in fiscal year 19 i.c.e. removals exceeded 267,000. last year despite more than 3.2 million inadmissible a counters at the border you only accomplished around 143,000 removals. in this budget you are only targeting 125,000. at that rate it will take 16 years to remove just the roughly 2 million got away sunny watch to say nothing of the more than 9 million encounters, many of whom have also been released. meanwhile, the chinese communist party continues to carry out multifaceted covert

espionage missions against the united states. beijing has shown if we give an inch they will take a mile. mr. secretary you have given them all miles of the southern border. while we are deeply appalled by your handling of these issues, the committee does look to work with the department on key issues. this past february the administration issued an executive order providing for more stringent cyber security as well as an emphasis on supply-chain security. we support these initiatives. your proposal recognizes that the cyber workforce is vital to protection of our homeland. strengthening the pipeline will be one of the top priorities for the remainder of the year and it is imperative that the 419 full-time employees he requested are utilized effectively. to that end we must ensure authorities and resources line with this mission. secretary mayorkas, the world is only growing more dangerous. our adversaries are expanding their capabilities and seeking

to undermine our interest even within our homeland. while parts of this request deal with some of those threats, the request as a whole fails to meet the important time we have. i now recognize the ranking member, the gentleman from mississippi, mr. thompson. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. good morning. i want to begin by thanking secretary mayorkas for being here today. mr. secretary, your testimony before the committee despite unfounded extreme attacks against you speaks to your character, integrity and commitment to the department of homeland security, its mission and its people. in what seems like a split screen, this morning the committee is holding its annual hearing on the department of homeland security budget request. this afternoon republican members will deliver to the senate their baseless articles

of impeachment in perhaps the most politicized partisan stunt this committee has ever engaged in. from the moment the secretary took office on february 2021, members of the other side of the aisle have unfairly targeted him for their own political gain. chairman green promised donors at a campaign event that he would bring an impeachment case against secretary mayorkas. he told his contributors to get the popcorn and promised it's going to be fun. according to an internal republican memo, republicans had already scheduled a committee vote to impeach the secretary prior to holding a hearing. this entire thing was a sham from the start. after two hastily thrown together so-called impeachment hearings that provided not even a shred of evidence of an

impeachable offense, republicans short-circuited their own markup and refused to let democrats offer amendments in the rush to the floor. in advance of the vote the secretary who is jewish and whose mother survived the holocaust was referred to using language the american sheet -- jewish committee has included in a's glossary of anti-semitic terms. i will insert into the record an article describing this incident. the impeachment vote failed. and another embarrassing miscalculation of house republican leadership, on a second try republicans limped their sham impeachment articles across the finish line. over two months later, republicans are still transmitting the impeachment articles to the senate having

waited until they thought the timing was politically advantageous. so much for the claims of urgency about the border. they waited, they wanted to have a dog and pony show march into the senate showing yet again what deeply unserious people they are. the senate should dismiss the baseless impeachment articles without delay. to make matters worse, in their zeal to impeach secretary mayorkas, republicans have shirked their responsibility to conduct meaningful oversight of dhs and advance its many critical missions. republicans have not yet held a single full committee oversight hearing on cyber security, domestic terrorism, aviation security, disaster preparedness and response or election security this congress. shocking for a committee or an out of 9/11

attacks which once had a reputation for rising above the partisan politics to help secure the homeland on behalf of the american people. the committee's legislative work has suffered. by this time last congress the committee had reported 49 measures and that was during a global pandemic. this congress by contrast, the full committee has reported fewer than half that number. this is what happens when republicans make someone who espouses political violence, pushes anti-semitic tropes and wants to defund the fbi, the de facto leader of their party. this is what happens when republicans prioritize the winds of extreme maga members over politics that serve the american people.

it is chaos and dysfunction by design. if you don't believe me just look at how long it took to elect a speaker. we did nothing but vote after vote after vote. to add insult to injury, democrats were accused of slowing things down and we are the minority party. we are not in charge. if republicans are looking for someone to hold accountable, they should start looking in the mirror. through it all, secretary mayorkas has remained steadfast. he continues to do his job across the departments many critical homeland security missions including border security, immigration enforcement. he has used the full range of authorities at his disposal and stretched the resources provided by congress to secure the border. under his

leadership the department has removed record levels of migrants, detained more people than congress had provided funding for and prevented unprecedented amounts of fentanyl from entering our communities. republicans talk a lot about supporting border security that talk is cheap. if republicans were serious about improving conditions along the border, they would provide the department the funding necessary to do so. instead the majority of committee republicans, a dozen in fact, including the chairman voted no on providing dhs the funds it needs to secure the border. republicans have also refused to consider the border security supplemental funding the department requested months ago starving dhs and frontline personnel of the money they need to carry out their duties.

americans are not fooled by these republican political games. they understand that where you invest your resources speak to what you really value. if republicans valued border security like they claim, they would pay for it. i want to hear secretary mayorkas today about the administration budget request for the department of homeland security. i want to ask how we can support the department, its mission, and it's 260,000 dedicated personnel. that is our responsibility and it has one i know our democratic members take seriously. mr. chairman, this committee can do better. it has done better under leadership from chairman's of both parties. i look forward to returning to better days on the committee. mr. chair, i yelled back.

>> the gentleman yields. other members of the committee are reminded that opening statements may be submitted to the record. we are pleased to have secretary mayorkas here. i would ask the secretary to please rise and raise his right hand. do you solemnly swear that the testimony will get before the committee on homeland security of the united states house of representatives will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god. let the record reflect that the secretary has answered in the affirmative. you may be seated. i would like to introduce our witness. secretary ella handwrote mayorkas is the secretary since 2021. he served as the deputy secretary of dhs and director. i thank you for being here today, sir. the full statement will appear in the record. i recognize secretary mayorkas for five minutes for his

statement. >> chairman green, ranking member thompson, other members of the committee. every day the 260,000 members of the department of homeland security carry out our mission to protect the safety and security of the american people. they protect our shores, harbors, skies, cyberspace. they stop fentanyl and other drugs from entering our country. bailey the response of maritime emergencies. they are in response to the tragic francis scott key bridge collapse right now. they help to cover and rebuild from natural disaster. all this despite a perennially insufficient budget. the dedicated public servants of dhs deserves full support. the american people deserve the results a fully resourced dhs can deliver. this is outlined in the fiscal

year 2025 budget for dhs are critical to meeting both goals. i welcome the opportunity to discuss this proposed budget and discuss this with you today. when our department was founded in the wake of 9/11, it was the primary concern. the foreign threat persists. we now also confront the terrorism related offenders and small groups already resident here in the united states. this budget provides for an $80 million increase for the security grant program. additional funds for targeted violence and terror prevention grants so they can better prevent tragedies from occurring. as loan actors and nations increasingly target our infrastructure and data this provides needed funding for cyber security and resiliency. fentanyl is wreaking tragedy in

communities across the country. dhs has interdicted more illicit fentanyl and arrested more individuals for fentanyl related crimes in the last two fiscal years than the previous five combined. the budget includes critical funding to advance the strategy including funds for nonintrusive inspection technology and targeted operations. during a time in the world including our hemisphere is experiencing the greatest displacement of people since world war ii, dhs has toughened border enforcement and is maximizing available resources and authorities. in the last 11 months we have removed or returned more than 630,000 individuals who did not have a legal basis to stay. more than in every full fiscal year since 2013. the budget would further expand these efforts. it provides funding for hiring more enforcement personnel and bolstering refugee processing.

the immigration system, however, is fundamentally broken. only congress can fix it. congress has not updated immigration enforcement laws since 1996, 28 years ago. only congress can deliver on our need for more border patrol agents, asylum officers and immigration judges, facilities, and technology. our administration worked closely with a bipartisan group of senators to reach agreement on a national security supplemental package that would make the changes that are badly needed and get the tools and resources needed to meet today's border security challenges. we remain ready to work with you to pass this tough, fair, bipartisan agreement. nunnally, extreme weather continues to devastate communities. last year fema responded to more than 100 disasters. the budget provides $22.7 billion to assist community leaders and help survivors in the aftermath of nature

disasters. additional funds to invest in resilient strategies to save lives and taxpayer money in the decades to come. essential to our success across all mission sets is the department ability to recruit and retain a world-class workforce. in addition to the frontline border workforce i mentioned, the budget includes $1.5 billion to fairly compensate the tsa workforce. the recently passed 2024 budget the welcome and helpful to many operations was enacted too late to implement an appreciable hiring search. it reduced by 20% much-needed support for cities dealing with migrant related challenges and cut critical research and development funding. i am eager to work with you to address these and other shortfalls in the weeks ahead as i'm eager to deliver the sustained funding, resources, and support that the extraordinarily talented and

dedicated public servants of dhs need and deserve. >> thank you. members will be recognized by order of seniority for five minutes of questioning. i would like to say the secretary has a hard out today. that is going to come up much faster than we would want. i understand he has a busy schedule. typically my policy is to let people go beyond five minutes if they are making a question and continuing a train of thought. unfortunately today we will not be able to allow that. as i have applied the role evenly to both sides i will now apply for today's hearing the five minutes with the gavel for both sides of the aisle. it is five minutes and five minutes only because we want to allow everyone here to get an opportunity to ask questions of the secretary. i would like to ask the staff on both sides if they would communicate this change for

today to the individuals that are not present right now. i recognize myself for five minutes of questioning. mr. secretary, you have issued guidance that directed dhs personnel to essentially disregard language meaning disregard laws passed by congress. you've created pathways for tens of thousands of migrants from very specific countries to enter the united states directly without any law passed by congress. the solicitor general and arguments before the supreme court arguing on you and your boss's behalf as well as yourself in testimony to congress have said you have prosecutorial discretion, i think is the term that gets used to disregard those laws when resources are overwhelmed. that has essentially been the argument that shall detain language cannot be adhered to because resources were overwhelmed.

is that jenny really correct. >> no it is not. let me ensure you we force the laws that congress has passed and that is the direction i have given to the workforce throughout my tenure. >> during the court trial texas versus the united states the solicitor general made it very clear that the reason the policies you've written have been written the way they've been written is because there is some form of discretion allowed to make the choice that we are not going to follow the shall detain and we can get thousands of examples of where that did not happen. we have a memorandum from you that basically says just because it says this does not mean that as a reason to detain someone. i want to ask this question. do you know how many i.c.e. detention beds were empty on average during your tenure?

>> mr. chairman, let me be very clear that we maximize the use of detention beds that are available. sometimes we are curtailed by using detention beds by reason -- if i may. >> do you know the number. >> by orders of the court. for example certain restrictions were used in terms of space and availability of beds by reason of the covid-19 pandemic. >> let me share what has been put out in documents from your department. each year of your tenure i would submit there are thousands of beds available per day roughly 9000 on average in 22. 3000 a day in fy 23. meaning while you assert that shall detain is what you want to do and what you agree the law says, we are leaving thousands of beds empty every day. this is not counting various, i think it is in california. i can't think of

the name of the facility where the courts have argued not to use those. we have not included those in the counts. it is at least 3000 a day empty and the arguments before the supreme court and in your testimony before here to congress have been that resources are overwhelmed and therefore we have to catch and release these people to the country. in your opening statement you said we need more resources. it is interesting. in that claim for more resources so we can adhere to the law you in this budget are decreasing the requested i.c.e. detention beds. that seems to me to be illogical. if the reason we cannot enforce the laws as they are written is because we do not have enough resources there are thousands of empty beds and we will ask for less beds in the budget. that does not make any sense to me. i would submit to you that

it speaks to someone of an intent to not adhere to that shall detain but that is my perception on this. let me ask you this question. just recently your last trip here you actually admitted there was a crisis at the southwest border. what changed? >> mr. chairman, nothing changed. i've recognized the enormous challenge the southern border presents ever since i began my tenure and well before that when i served as the deputy secretary. >> let me ask this question. when you came to congress and said there was no crisis at the southern border, nothing changed between then and now and you are saying it's a crisis. >> i have never minimize the challenge the southern border

presents. i did not minimize it when i served as a federal prosecutor from 1989 through 2001. >> i will gavel myself since i have five seconds left. i recognize the ranking member for his five minutes of questioning. >> thank you very much. again, welcome, mr. secretary. republicans have wasted little time playing political games with the southern border while rejecting any serious solution and voting against border security funding. if you are for it you should support resources. if you are against it i assume you vote against it because you are not for it. i don't know why it is happening but democrats historically have supported robust funding for dhs. is dhs a perfect agency? of course not. we strive for perfection but we

understand resources are important. republicans have tried to start dhs personnel of the resources needed to do their job. the chairman said not another dime for dhs. when it comes time to fund the department i guess addressing the surgeon migration and stopping fentanyl and human trafficking is not worth $0.10 to the republicans charged with overseeing dhs. republicans have ignored or voted against every opportunity to provide necessary resources to dhs. they voted no on the 2023 omnibus. they refused to consider the president's supplemental request and they called the bipartisan senate border bill dead on arrival within minutes of the text being released. disturbingly just a few weeks

ago two thirds of the republicans on this committee voted against funding dhs and border security. republicans have taken their marching orders from donald trump and he wants chaos at the border to help his chances in this election. they want a show, not solutions. democrats are united in finding solutions and providing the agents and officers of dhs with the resources needed to do so safely and effectively. mr. secretary, can you describe how the additional resources in the presidents emergency supplemental or the bipartisan senate border bill would help the department address the issues at the southern border. >> ranking member thompson the supplemental would provide vital resources needed to hire additional personnel across the spectrum of the workforce that

enforce the southern border and do so much more. the bipartisan senate legislation would not only resource the department as we are needed to address a broken immigration system but also and very importantly actually change the law and authorize us to use tools that have long been needed to address the broken immigration system. it would take a multi-year asylum process and reduce it to as little as 90 days or even less. that is a game changer in terms of deterring illegal migration to the border. >> thank you. let's go to election security. we have elections coming up this november. as you know dhs

is responsible for securing critical infrastructure including our elections. following russian attempts to interfere with the 2016 elections, officials from across the trump administration worked to counter efforts to undermine confidence in election outcomes. unfortunately after inciting a riot at the capitol because he was not reelected donald trump spent four years making legitimate election security work so politically toxic that i'm worried that the federal government is reluctant to support election officials and other stakeholders the way it should this november. last week's baseless claim about voter fraud by the former president and speaker will only make the work of election officials harder. mr. secretary, secretaries of state, local

election officials and other stakeholders rely on dhs report to administer secure elections in 2020. can you assure us that dhs will bring the full range of its resources to support the 2024 elections? >> yes i can, ranking member thompson. >> i yield back. >> i now recognize the chairman of the committee on foreign affairs and former chairman of this committee mr. mccall. >> good morning. mr. secretary he took an oath to protect the country from enemies both foreign and domestic. i believe in many respects you have violated that oath. can we start with the immigration and nationality act. it states the government shall take into custody any alien that has committed an aggravated felony. those are dangerous violent criminals. as you know, you are an

attorney as am i. shall is mandatory language. it does not say whatever you think at the time. those are words by the congress . mandatory language means you shall detain. yet in september 2021 your memo to border patrol agents titled guidance for enforcement of civil immigration law you instructed border patrol officers not to take prior criminal conduct into account when taking enforcement action. you say whether or noncitizen poses a current threat to public safety is not to be determined. our personnel should not rely on the fact of a conviction more the result of a database search alone. in other words you directed

your own agents on the ground on the border to defy the laws of congress. to release violent criminals into our country. you know what aggravated felon means under the statute but for those that don't, it includes murders, pedophiles and drug traffickers. god knows how many have been released into this country due to this policy that you issued in september 2021. my state took this up on appeal to the supreme court where justice kavanaugh asked whether impeachment would be warranted for an official who defied the laws passed by congress. president biden's own solicitor general replied, such steps would be warranted in the face of a dramatic abdication of a statutory responsibility by the

executive. in my view you have defied the law, you have defied congressional intent, the best interest of the american people and you've made this country far more dangerous not to mention the hundreds of those on the terror watch list to have gotten into this country. how do you respond? >> mr. chairman, i have three points to make. one, you mischaracterize to the enforcement guidelines. >> i read directly from them. >> secondly, we have removed more aggravated felons each month than the prior administration did. third, my enforcement guidelines mirror to a great extent in the quoted language, prior enforcement guidelines that other administrations have issued. the fact of the matter is that we enforce the law. we deem public security.

>> i'm going to reclaim my time. you are saying you enforce the law when you told your agent don't take into account prior criminal conduct. aggravated felons. do not take into account the fact they maybe have a murder conviction. that is what is under the statute. you told them don't take that into account. you can say you have the best record ever as the secretary of homeland. you can say that but nobody believes it. i have to tell you back home in my state of texas, very upset. i will close within supreme court justice and where an admiral has failed to safeguard the seas that shall be deemed an impeachable offense. i believe that is exactly the case. you have neglected not just the seas but the air, land, and sees

and you have destroyed the fabric of this nation. my last question to you is, how many persons on the terror watch list have gotten into this country? >> mr. chairman, i would be pleased to provide you with that after this hearing. >> we provide the names and backgrounds? >> let me assure you the security of the american people is our top priority. >> i now recognize mr. correa, the ranking member from california and the ranking member on border and security enforcement. >> welcome. my first question is, you did take an oath to protect our country. have you about that oath? >> i have, congressman. i believe that is the fifth time i've taken the oath of

office in my public service career. >> thank you. i'm the ranking member of the subcommittee for border security and enforcement. i have made it my mission to understand, learn the needs of your personnel at the border, all of our borders. i've been at the southern border numerous times, spoken with your men and women in green and blue uniforms. it is clear that today we are facing challenges at home and abroad like we've never faced before. my colleagues and i just returned from a trip to africa. a common issue across many countries visited was refugees. egypt today according to their president is hosting 10 million refugees. just one country alone . here we are talking about the budget. the budget for the personnel that you need. budget for the resources you need. the department of

homeland security to protect our great country. i have watched my colleagues on the other side of the aisle block the emergency supplemental request and refuse to consider the bipartisan border bill. in the last few months, my colleagues on either side of the aisle have repeatedly threatened to shut down government over the homeland security budget. secretary mayorkas, can you please explain to us in plain terms what my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, their refusal to pass emergency supplemental requests, how does that put our country's national security in danger? >> congressman, with the additional resources we would be provided in the supplemental budget request we would be able to advance significantly the security of the border. we would have additional equipment, additional

technology, additional personnel in every facet of border security. >> you talk about additional personnel. do we have a shortage of personnel at our borders? >> we do. we need additional office of field operations personnel to man ports of entry. we need additional border patrol agents. >> let me talk about that. the ports of entry. that's where most of the fentanyl coming through this country enters through the ports of entry. san ysidro accounts for about 70% of fentanyl coming into the country. yet you are telling me we are short of personnel in this critical juncture. is that what you are telling me? >> we are. we need additional field personnel to equip those ports of entry with the staff that we need to enforce the laws. >> let me go back and ask a

question that you did not finish answering that was asked by my colleague which is thousands of empty beds. how do you explain that? >> congressman, recently we have been overcapacity in the i.c.e. detention facilities. there are court cases that impose restrictions on our ability to use the beds we have been funded. >> if the laws were to change maybe some of those court cases would not apply? that would be the case? >> i would want to get back to you on that. i will share with you that -- forgive me. the bipartisan senate legislation would have funded the department of homeland security with 50,000 attention beds, far more than we are resource this year and even more so than we were resource last year. >> so how would that affect the situation that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle were talking about? all these individuals that

could be essentially held at these empty beds, so to speak, adding to these empty beds the talk about all these people being released, with a be held at these beds? >> as everyone recognizes the more beds we are funded for the more individuals would be able to detain. the supreme court has recognized the fact that the bed capacity for which we've been funded is inadequate to comply to the letter of the law. >> beyond that, the bigger picture is processing individuals at the borders that may or may not be eligible for asylum. we are critically short in those resources there. i do hope as we move forward we can address that issue. i am out of time. thank you for being here. >> i now recognize mr. higgins from louisiana, the chair of the subcommittee on border

security and enforcement for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. over the past year i have found that many members of congress failed to grasp the founders ' true meaning regarding the constitutional rid of impeachment proceedings. impeachment is not a criminal proceeding. it may include violations of the law but was never intended to be bound by specific criminal violations of statute. in many ways, impeachment proceedings are intended to be guided by principles of conduct that are far more deeply etched upon human history than any written law could ever be. embezzlement of money by an employee is a criminal act and up the trail of trust. betrayal of trust is not a statute. the house committee on homeland security advanced articles of impeachment against department of homeland security alejandro mayorkas. he has been impeached

by the people's house. these articles do not impugn the secretary's character nor list dissenting views on how to handle the crisis at the border. instead impeachment articles against secretary mayorkas carry the charge of high crimes and misdemeanors. it's important that all americans recognize the true meaning of high crimes and misdemeanors. while some of my colleagues have claimed that this charges confined to specific violations of criminal statute, let us not fail to recognize the founders original intent and well-documented debate regarding the origin and meaning of this term. article 2 section or jik of the constitution reads the president, vice president, and all civil officers of the united states shall be removed from office on impeachment for and conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes

and misdemeanors. our founding fathers used this phrase high crimes and misdemeanors having 400 years of reddish parliament historical precedent which did not limit itself to direct criminal misconduct but more importantly encompassed a neglected duty and abuse of power. this is not funny, mr. secretary . literally, mr. meaning the office and high authority that have been entrusted, enshrining this phrase in the constitution . the founding fathers put explicit trust in congress to determine what constitutes an impeachable offense and what is encompassed in high crimes and misdemeanors. impeachment was never intended to be a criminal proceeding but instead a review by the american people of a rogue executive. a mechanism for accountability

when all else has failed. secretary may orchis has not only betrayed the trust of the american people, his service as secretary has left a scar on the nation that may never be removed. the articles of impeachment brought against secretary mayorkas past the house and have been delivered this afternoon to the senate. it is vital that the senate upholds this constitutional obligation to hold a fair impeachment trial. the american people deserve accountability fo misconduct of the secretary's handling of our borders. it's incumbent upon members of congress to enforce the authority outlined by the founding fathers for impeachment years.

cryan has reached unprecedented levels within american communities across the country. secretary mayorkas, the arrogant disregard of the security and sanctity of the american people has brought congress to this point, unspeakable pain upon the nation. his service as secretary will forever be shrouded in shameful failure and generational trauma. he is been impeached by the house and must now be tried by the senate and removed from office. mr. chairman, i yield. >> the gentleman yields and i now recognize the gentleman from louisiana and ranking member on the subcommittee counterterrorism law enforcement for five minutes. >> thank you mr. chairman, thank you secretary mayorkas for joining us today as we reveal

the fy 25 budget request. president biden's budget request reflects democrats commitment to put politics aside and work in good faith to address security challenges facing the nation. today's review is important so we can continue to find solutions, not politics, solutions that we as americans should want. we often have different approaches, but what we see here in the impeachment is nothing more than a witchhunt and opportunity to cloud the issue and evidenced by the fact that the senate has measured that would bring us to a measure of success to move the ball forward. but my colleagues in the house,

because of the directive by the former president, quote on quote, do not give president biden a victory, our jobs are not to give the president's victories, our job is to give the american people victories. the job is to fight to make sure we have a secure border. the job is here to make sure we see things through the lens not as republicans and democrats, but as americans. unfortunately, that is not happening. i would go on record as predicting the united states senate would not even take of these articles of impeachment because they are meritless and baseless and because they are purely political in nature and they are not rooted in the fairness justice or the american way. so i'm going to give it a little bit if we might because we talked about this quite a bit, so i'm going to pivot to flood

insurance. mr. sec., last time you were here before the committee i relayed my concerns about 2.0 and that it would leave many in my district especially in low and moderate income communities priced out of their homes by increases. you stated that you were reviewing and need to continue to review given the concerns that have been expressed and since then i've only seen flood insurance prices get worse given the urgency of the situation and the impact on the communities can you provide the committee with an update on how the department is taking steps to help the communities that are struggling with the risk rating? >> congressman, i will follow-up with you and provide you an update on flood insurance 2.0. taking extraordinary measures

and issued guidance and changed policies to be sure that minority and underserved communities have greater access to our grant programs to individual assistance and other resources fema provides in the wake of natural disasters and to protect communities. i will provide you an update with respect to flood insurance specifically. >> one of the things we have repeatedly asked for both this committee as well as transportation infrastructure, which i also serve, and individual meetings in my office and office of the fema administrator. what algorithm what formula is used to drive the rate? we have consistently said some

algorithm, but we have yet to be shared what that is. how do we explain to the people and the district how they are developed when we get a vague answer to that? i would appreciate if you can drill down and share with the american people what the formula is and how importantly how we can adjust it to make sure people are not being forced to make a decision about being able to live in a home that they have now paid for and they can no longer afford to ensure because the rates are higher than when they had a mortgage. this is unattainable, and i ask that you would look into that and share some meaningful answers. >> i will do so, congressman. thank you. >> the gentleman yields.

i now recognize the gentleman from mississippi. >> i want to point out what i highlighted last week, when you testified. you talked about your budget being insufficient, you seek to place the blame on congress for not giving you the resources that you need. last year in the 2022 budget, congress appropriated $61.8 billion in discretionary spending, which was more than you asked for. congress is giving you more money than you are asking for, you are repeatedly coming into these hearings and saying that you don't have the financial resources that you need to carry out the job. the chairman mentioned the detention bets, you asked for

this, and we funded the fy 2024 budget. you said you agreed with the senate, but then you come in and you ask congress only to fund $34,000, when we are currently funding $41,500. you continue to seek to place the blame on us. i'm reading the annual report on page 17 it says congressional funding for tro, detention bets have remained static for years, and the detained population is limited as a result. you talked about the fact that the court says there is inadequate funding for detention beds. how do you come in here and ask

for detention beds, but anytime you testify, you try to place the blame back on congress? we are funding more detention beds every year than you are asking for. this is a time in which you have admitted that there is a crisis on the border. we are seeing reports every day in the media about violent crime committed by immigrants who are not in custody, released into the interior, yet you come in here, and as a key part of your budget, you are asking for substantially less detention beds. i find that it especially troubling, as i look at the report that was reported in which i see that the document shows the number of non-

detained individuals have now reached 6.2 million people. i spoke just yesterday with the ice director, and i brought up what was in this report. he told me, mr. secretary, that report is old, that number is one and 7 million. by the end of this physical year, that number is expected to grow to 8 million. we see a record number of people that you, as the secretary, or allowing to come into the country, but we are seeing you do nothing to ask for more detention beds. i find that troubling. i have to believe i'm not the only member of this committee that finds it troubling that we

are not asking for a sufficient number of detention beds. i had the opportunity to ask you last week, before you testified, about this news article reported by fox news. i provided you some of the content when we met last week. i wanted to show this to you. this is january 8, 2024. border patrol agents, 85% of illegal immigrants have been released into the united states. it goes on in the first paragraph, alejandra mae arcus admitted to border patrol agents that the current level of release is above 85%. he made the statements after meeting privately with agents, and there were forces in the room who heard that, it goes on to say there were at least

three ages agents who verified that with fox news. secretary, did you make the statement that was reported on january 8, 24? >> congressman, as i mentioned last week, i do not recall that exchange, let me assure you, the southern border is our highest priority. >> your time has expired. i now recognize the general from michigan, they subcommittee for maritime security.>> thank you, mr. chair.>> mr. secretary, clearly you have a tough job, you are faced with a migration challenge, and a deeply broken immigration system, and limited resources, to address the challenges. unfortunately, my republican colleagues do not seem to want to help to fix that problem.

i admire your efforts to expand programs for migrants in countries facing extreme conditions, like haiti, and cuba, to restore family reunification programs. america is a nation of immigrants. and yet, we have a broken immigration system. 1979, growing up in poverty, i was fortunate to have gotten admission into a program in the united states, to study. that would have changed my life. i went to the american embassy,

i stood in line, only to deny my student visa. the embassy continued to deny it for more times, and the fifth time it was approved. our immigration is creating a stressful environment for families, technology companies are unable to find a skilled workforce, countries like canada and australia are taking away some of our skilled workforce, because of our broken immigration system.

i want to see an orderly immigration process that benefits the united states, that benefits our economy, and helps create american jobs. how do you think congress can help you to achieve that?>> the president presented congress with a comprehensive legislative package to advance legislation, to advance bipartisan legislation. it hasn't been reformed since 1996. it is long and outdated.>> thank you, mr. secretary. i want to give you an opportunity to respond.

this question you may not have adequate time to respond to, if you so choose to do.>> congressman, with support the funding of 41,500 beds, we support the funding of 50,000 detention beds that the legislation provided, it is most regrettable that the bipartisan legislation has not advanced. we urge congress to advance it, it would advance our border security immeasurably.>> mr. chair, i yield my time. >> thank you. i just have a few seconds, mr. secretary. i want to follow-up with what the chairman was talking about. he is citing the detainment

language. even in the quote that he read, he said that aggravated felonies shall not be the only consideration when deciding whether or not to seek detention. can you explain what your guidance was, in the face of the reality that there are insufficient beds to comply with the letter of the law?>> the direction to law enforcement was to use their discretion, their experience, to determine who resents the greatest public safety threat to detain those individuals. i recognize mr. bishop, the gentleman from north carolina.>> mr. secretary briefly testified about the actions, efforts of dhs. let me just ask you about the results of your more than three years of tenure.

do you consider the results of your administration of the department of homeland security to be a success? >> i'm incredibly proud of the work of the men and women. so do you consider it a success? >> i'm incredibly proud of everything they do?>> do you consider it a success? >> i consider it a success advancing the safety and security? do you consider it to be a success? in november 2022, i asked you if you worked to maintain the border security, you said yes, and it's getting more secure every day. do you still say so? >> with the resources and authority that we have been provided, it is as secure as we can make it.>> at your orders, [ inaudible ] of a variety of

crimes occurred, including the beating of a young woman in georgia. the statute gives you the authority to parole aliens into the united states on a case-by- case basis, for urgent humanitarian reasons, or for significant public benefit. what was it? humanitarian reasons, or public benefit? >> corpsmen, we abide by the law, we applied our parole processes, the public safety of the american people is our highest priority, i will be pleased to share the case details with you on any case. subsequent to this hearing, i do not have the details today. >> i'm not asking for the details, i'm asking for a simple fact. was it urgent humanitarian reasons, or significant public benefit that under your orders mr. ibarra was paroled into the united states? >> my answer remains the

same.>> you would have to review something before you could provide case details? or you just can't say it in this forum? >> the former. >> so no, you don't know? as i said, i do not have details in respect to that individual's case. i would be pleased to provide them to you.>> the houde - - the heritage foundation oversight project has released this document that is allegedly a flyer distributed at a nongovernment organization in expo, which reads in part a reminder to vote for president biden when you are in the united states. we need another four years of his term to stay open. rcm has denied that this is

authentic. there are competing reports. what actions are they taking, given the millions of entries? noncitizens are being prevented from registering and voting unlawfully.>> individuals who are not citizens of the united states cannot vote. >> that's not what i asked, i asked what actions dhs is taking to make sure that does not occur.>> state and local election officials monitor the eligibility of individuals. we do not oversee the election enrollment process. what we do is enforce our borders.>> how can congress and the american people have

confidence that they will not turn on the votes of noncitizens who have registered and voted unlawfully?>> election security is a priority. we have made election security a priority.>> you asked for less detention beds, you explained that you did that based on the level of beds needed, in the bipartisan bill. how is that bipartisan? is there another republican in the senate or house who supported that bill? >> corpsmen, we continue to support the bipartisan legislation that the senators worked on for months. >> your time has expired.

>> thank you, german, think you mr. secretary. our country faces a range of threats, extremists, cartels, organized crime, natural disasters just to name a few. you have been diligent doing your job to protect the american people in the face of these challenges. republican colleagues in the house have been playing politics, culminating in a political impeachment that has no legal basis. sorry that some of our colleagues have made you the target of political attacks, instead of getting you the tools that you need, to do your job and keep people safe. many of us are still willing to put politics aside, work with you, and work with each other on a bipartisan basis.

the presidents budget requests $52 billion, and hundreds of millions of dollars more for staffing and technology to secure the southern border. it also proposes 4.7 billion proposes $4.7 billion for agency funds to provide resources to the department, for resources along the border. this is the right thing to do. i hope our republican colleagues will support this funding, unlike last year, when they delayed action on the presidents supplement the funding report for the border for months, while they wasted time with impeachment. it is excusable that our republican colleagues did not pass the final fiscal year 2024 hunting for nearly six months, forcing the department to work under reduced operations and over straining the department, i hope fiscal year 2025 will be

different. funding the department of homeland security is also radical, because our nation faces an increased threat from the rise of domestic violent extremists. we heard from you, the secretary, and from the fbi director last november, during the worldwide threats hearing, the top domestic terrorism threat that we face continues to be from racially, ethnically motivated violent extremists. the group engaged in a plot to kidnap the governor of michigan, and some of the groups who stormed the capital on january 6 in a violent attempt to overturn an illegal, unlawful election. many of these individuals are shamefully inspired by and scapegoated by members of this congress, and by former president trump. the government accountability office has shown that domestic terrorism cases have increased

dramatically in recent years. with this alarming fact in mind, i would like to turn to the secretary, what does the department of homeland security see in respect to the threat of violent extremists as we grow closer to the election? what steps are the department taking to address any potential threats to officials and the public at large?>> we are, as we've expressed previously, in a heightened threat environment. indeed, individuals are drawn to violence because of ideologies and false narratives, antigovernment sentiments, they are significant concerns of ours. we disseminate information and analysis to law enforcement and other officials, we distribute

grant funding, and we are grateful for support. we want to enable local communities to protect and guard themselves. we have a targeted violence prevention grant program that enables communities to deploy best practices in the identification of an individual who may be drawn to violence, and intervene before tragedy occurs.>> thank you, mr. secretary, for that, as we saw on january 6, it was often law enforcement in uniform who are on the receiving end of these assaults, and this violence, we do everything we can to support them against the spread. thank you very much.>> i now recognize mr. gimenez.

i find it amazing our democratic colleagues are always throwing money at issue, it's always money, except the real culprit here has been over 64 actions taken by the executive branch that actually caused the problem at the border, not once have i ever heard any of our democratic public colleagues ask why don't we start constructing a wall again? why don't we reinstitute the remain in mexico policy? that would take care of 70% of the problem we had. secretary mayorkas, i believe in 2020 when we had a record number of encounters at the border, only surpassed by fiscal year 2022, where we had another record encounter at the border, surpassed again in 2023, we have another record for encounters at the border. do you expect on the record in 2024?>> i strongly encourage

congress to pass partisan legislation, which would make a significant difference and advance our interests at the border. >> have you ever asked the president to reconsider some of his 64 actions that have led to the crisis we have at the border right now? >> congressman, we are facing the largest displacement of people around the world, including in our atmosphere.>> have you ever asked the president of the united states to reconsider any of the 64 executive actions that he has taken, to address the crisis at the border?>> i am not familiar with the report to which you refer, i assure you, they are not the cause of the largest displacement of people in the world, including in our hemisphere, including a significant number of people in cuba, which you and i have

expressed personally experienced.>> this has been in place for about 60 years. it doesn't make sense to me that somehow now they are all fleeing the authoritarian regime in cuba, you and i left that resume a long time ago. again, are you familiar with the presidents executive order to stop the construction of the wall at the southern border?>> i certainly am. have you advised that it's a good idea to start construction of the southern wall, to stop the flow of illegal immigration? >> kurtzman, i do not believe it is.>> okay, thank you, i only have certain time, thank you, you said no. have you ever talked to the president about reinstituting the remain in mexico policy? many experts have said it would probably take care of 70% of the problem. have you ever consider that?

a program was cemented in january 2019, i believe. in 2019, i believe, the number of encounters at the southern border went up by almost 100%, if i have my data correct. >> the number of encounters in 2020 are far less than the number of encounters in 2021, would you say that is correct? >> if you recall what occurred in 2020, two points, number one, the covid-19 pandemic, number two, remain in mexico, in order to implement it, we relied on the sovereign nation of mexico's agreement, they have unequivocally stated they will not support any implementation of remain in mexico, the success of which is quite dubious.>> interesting point. the only reason they won't support this, they did support the remain in mexico policy,

and you unilaterally withdrew it, it wasn't because of mexico asking you to stop it, you just did it. all right, i only have 56 seconds left. we are currently witnessing disorder and chaos in haiti, the united states has evacuated citizens and is collaborating with regional partners to address the violence. are haitians being admitted that have not received a viable back ground check? >> comes in, we screen and vet individuals before prolonging them into the united states. thank you, i use my time. >> in the past, mr. secretary, we have pressed on and never giving you a chance for a break. i want to offer a break if you need it, or we can press on. thank you very much, mr. chairman, i am prepared to press on, i may revisit that at some point, with your

indulgence.>> certainly. last time we went four hours straight and never got a break, and i felt bad about that, so i wanted to offer. i now recognize mrs. jackson- lee for her five minutes of questioning. okay, we will go with mr. ivey, i'm sorry. the gentleman from maryland. fire away. >> i appreciate it. secretary mayorkas, thank you for being here today, the work that you do, i've been listening to my colleagues on the other side talk about treading on the constitution, it seems to me the impeachment proceeding that was moved forward out of this committee was the true scar of the constitution, and really did tread on the constitution. it's interesting to me, if we

go back, almost before you got into the job, there was an article of impeachment. there was a movement to move you from office. talks to a group of voters, they said this would be fun, referencing to you, and get the popcorn. then we came to the actual hearings that were held, there were two of them, i had a little experience with the impeachment proceedings, and the house, when i worked on the judiciary committee staff. we didn't remove anybody from office. we gave people due process, and a chance to present evidence and the like, and it was taken in a much more serious matter. we heard another one of my

colleagues trying to reconstitute what the standard is for impeachment, you know, the language is pretty plain, treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors, there has been an effort to try to recalibrate that, because there is no evidence of you committing treason, bribery, high crimes or misdemeanors, but they lowered the bar. i want to read something briefly from one of your pressed man - - i want to read something from the homeland security secretary under the bush administration. he said, referencing the effort to impeach you, back in january, i can say with confidence that for all of the investigating the homeland security house has done, they have failed to put forward evidence, that is why they are holding him to the high crimes and misdemeanors standard for impeachment. they make the unsupported argument that he is daylight in

his duty. that issue, the issue of trying to get something done instead of continuing on with the theatrics of impeachment, former secretary, dave said i don't agree with the aspects of immigration strategy, there has been difficult policy work and hard fought compromise. here today, we have discussed a bipartisan senate bill. we are moving forward to put together an impeachment proceeding. you are working on the senate, with an actual bipartisan bill to address the problem at the border. that was killed by house republicans when former president trump gave the word

he didn't want it to move forward, and we haven't had any work done on finding a bipartisan effort to address these concerns. a lot of statements are being made in here today about the problems at the border, the budgets and the issues along those lines, we have already addressed some of the budgetary issues. i do want to say this, i think it is critical for the senate, after we are done with this, the theatrics will be over. we will ask the senate to remove you from office after a trial. i think the senate has made it clear that is not going to happen, and it shouldn't, in fact, there shouldn't even be a trial, this is such an adult created process. it's the first time in 150+ years where there has been an effort to remove the cabinet

thus far, they should throw it out and make the statement that this is not the procedure that we expected from the representative's, it was certainly what i expected when i got here. i saw how it was done in the 80s, i saw how it was supposed to be done, this is not how it was supposed to be done. i want to conclude on this note. a couple members on the house republican caucus, this isn't just an impeachment. >> tillman, your time has expired. keep it on a tight schedule. >> thank you, i appreciate it. so i recognize the gentleman from the great state of texas.>> comes in, as i articulated earlier in this hearing - - >> yes or no is fine. >> with the funding that we have, it is as secure as it can

be.>> we know that this is not a budget issue, it is a policy issue.>> a terrorist attack in the united states of america, is that imminent? >> let me assure you, the safety and security of the american people is our highest priority. >> is it imminent? >> same answer. >> is a terror attack on the united states of america imminent today? >> let me assure you, we have been vigilant. >> have you briefed the president of a terror attack that is imminent? >> comes in, let me>> mr. secretary, are you the principal adviser on matters of homeland security? >> i am one of them. you have you briefed the president that there are known or suspected terrorists at large in the united states? >> as i have previously, let me

assure you of the safety and security of the american people. so i want to remind you that you are under oath. have you briefed the president of the united states that there are people that match the terror watch list that are still at large inside our country? >> comes in, i will repeat my answer. >> is that i know? have you not briefed the president? > mr. secretary, let me ask you a question about your previous testifying in november. i asked you then, i said is every - - you did not give me an answer, i will ask you again. those that have matched the terror watch list and have attempted to, or have entered this country illegally, are they detained, 100% of them?>>

guzman, let me assure you once again, that individuals that pose a threat to our national security or the safety of the american people are the highest priority for detention, - - are they all - - >> mr. secretary, are they all detained? christopher wray sat right next to you and had the courage to answer this question, and he said no. do you have the testimony from november 2023? not every single person who matched the terror watch list has been detained. do you agree with that testimony?>> if you are referring to the terrorist screening dataset, we make public safety and national security determinations. >> mr. secretary, it's very important that you answer this question, the american public deserves to know the answer. are there people who have matched the terrorist screening watch list or any acronym you choose to use still at large, and not apprehended and not detained in this country as of

today? >> congressman, if we determined that an individual on the terror screening data set is a threat to national security or public safety, they are a priority for detention. do i understand they are a priority, that doesn't mean they are detained. are you going to testify, honestly, under oath today, i want to remind you, you are under oath, are there people still at large that match the terror watch list? >> congressman, if an individual is on the terror screening dataset, and they pose a threat to national security or public safety, they are a priority for detention.>> is our country at risk of a terror attack?>> congressman, we are in a heightened threat environment. >> is that a yes? so we are in a heightened threat environment, as director ray and i have both testified, and it is therefore why

personal of the department - - have you briefed the president of the united states on that heightened threat? >> comes in, i have briefed the president on the threat landscape that the united states is facing, and that is driving the vigilance of 268,000 men and women in the department of homeland security. >> mr. secretary, you've said earlier to my colleague, mr. bishop, that you would be willing to share the details on any case, but you have not. we are repeatedly asking for those details, specifically asking for details on the terror watch list, and yet your department has not done that. will you brief us in the next seven days on the actual metrics and details for the terror screening database? will you brief us who those people are? >> congressman, i will be please to follow-up with you, any appropriate setting.

>> i yield back. >> the chair now recognizes mr. goldman for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman, secretary, thank you for being here once again to endure the unwanted, uncalled for attacks from my republican colleagues. i want to get into what they've been saying. it is truly shocking that we are where we are. my colleague from florida says all democrats want to do is throw money at the problem. mr. pflueger just said this is a policy issue, it is not a money issue. okay, is the senate bipartisan bill that you worked on, along with the second most conservative republican senator in the senate, an independent, and a democrat endorsed by senate republican leadership, was it a policy bill? or was it an appropriations bill?>> grossman, it is an

appropriation bill, and an immigration reform bill, fixing what everyone agrees is a broken system. it would provide us with new legal authorities that are much- needed, and would really advance the security of the border. one of those critical revisions is in the asylum process. i know this is not under your peer review. do you have any sense of how many asylum applicants ultimately are granted asylum in this country?>> congressman, it depends on the demographics, of course, but as a general rule, i believe it is approximately 25%, that ultimately received asylum, but i would want to verify that statistic, and probably shouldn't share it.>> understood. it takes at least five years,

perhaps as many as 10 years for a case to be completely adjudicated, is that right? >> it takes many years, until eight cases finally adjudicated.>> let's say that we had an asylum processing system that could process any applications within 90 days, to six months. am i correct that means 75% of the people who apply for asylum would not get asylum, and would not be returns to their own country? >> that would enable us to remove them far more quickly, you are correct, and that would make a difference in our ability to enforce the southern border of the united states. >> is it your view that if that were the case, there would not be an incentive for anyone who knows that he or she might not

qualify for asylum, to come to this country, knowing that person would be able to make an application, get a work authorization, and stayed for at least five years to work? is that correct? >> it is correct. >> that, of course, creates tremendous incentive for people to come across the border. the problem is not the fear standard or the policy of asylum, the problem is that we don't have the resources to process asylum applications as expeditiously as is necessary. no one over here is talking about throwing money at the problem, we are talking about solving the problem. in the senate, they tried to solve the problem, not just with appropriations, but with a policy bill. unfortunately, republicans have put politics over border security.

they want chaos in order to win an election, rather than to solve the problems. let's quote donald trump, who said that he sabotaged the bipartisan deal to secure the border, because "it made it much better for the opposing side." he has stated that he "killed the deal." senator langford said a topper public and told me if i tried to move a bill that solves the border crisis during this election year, he will do whatever he can to destroy me, he said i do not want you to solve this during the presidential election. there was a policy bill, there was a policy change that would have significantly addressed the problems at the border, and instead, you all on the other side of the aisle sabotaged it, where you baselessly impeached the secretary who is trying to

solve our problems at the southern border, because you want to win it, you want to win in november. your time is expired. the jones time is expired. i now recognize the gentleman from new york, chairman of the subcommittee of cybersecurity, for five minutes of questioning. >> i will remind my colleague that the only will that has passed the house that addressed the border crisis was hr two, nothing actually passed the senate. we have acted, the senate has not, if they want to send us a bill, let them. secretary, i want to ask a question about the nonprofit security grant program. anti-semitism is on the rise. this program protects a lot of americans, and has been essential in securing places of worship. the current request is full

fiscal year 2025, $385 million. seeing what we have seen, knowing what you know, the risk on the ground, $385 million, is that enough? >> we make trade-offs under the fiscal response ability act. we certainly believe the nonprofit security grant program is in dire need of additional funding for precisely the reason we express. we are indeed in a heightened threat environment. anti-semitism and violence born of it continues to be on the rise, as do other violent acts born of hate.>> so you think it's enough to protect the americans? can we believe it is a significant advance in the protection of our communities across the country.

so i want to move now to cyber workforce. a report was kind of startling. for the action on operative technology, the response team it is below the need what we need. >> let me express my deep gratitude. >> they only have 11 employees

that cover ot. we are seeing cyber attack after cyber attack. there is a workforce problem, a workforce shortage. it's not good, not good enough. you oversee the agency, there needs to be more focus on cybersecurity.

the budget requests, 116 million for implementation, staffing and technology. it could do great things for our defense, cyber defense. i would like to see more from the agency, pushing back on these duplicative rules that are proposed.

you've said it before, this rule is duplicative. we've been saying it's bad, i think you need to tell the president this will has to stop.>> the gentleness time is expired. mr. garcia will hold. i now recognize the german from new jersey, mr. menendez, for five minutes of questioning. >> thank you, gentlemen, thank you secretary. it's important to address the things that have been said here. first it has been said that you violate your oath, chairman mccall has said you have made this country much more

dangerous, i disagree with that, you and everyone else there works every single day to keep this country protected. the chairman also said that you destroyed the epic of this country, i wholeheartedly disagree. inc. you again for your service to this country. mr. bishop questioned the success of your administration. i want to refer back to what the former homeland security secretary said about the sham impeachment hearings that we have had here. house republicans are ducking difficult policy work and hard- fought compromise. i have a couple quick

questions. we discussed the remain in mexico policy, you have said that requires the cooperation of mexico, we also heard about building a wall, former president trump said that mexico would pay for that wall. has school agreed to pay for the building of a wall? >> know it has not, congressman. >> think you for clarifying that point. and moving on to the substantive questions you came on to discuss, you have spent a minutes amounts of time and resources preparing for the impeachment proceeding that came through this committee, and a proud to say you are still standing, and you will continue to keep sending, and just a reminder that republicans have been more successful at removing their own members from positions, like us former speaker mccarthy, and now the process that seems to be under way for removing speaker johnson. you keep hanging in there while they keep removing their own members from positions of

leadership. i want to go into fentanyl, which is an issue of grave concern to many of us. i want to talk about your work combating fentanyl in our country. the department of homeland security is on the front lines, executing present bidens plan. i commend you and the public servants who have arrested more drug traffickers in the last two fiscal years than in the past five combined. the president asked for supplemental funds last year, it's now april, and they have refused to provide these funds to help combat drug trafficking. how is the supplemental funding in support of your ongoing efforts to combat fentanyl? >> the request would provide important streams of funding. at least one is for personnel, war investigators, more support staff for those investigators, and their ability to investigate and apprehend traffickers, and work

domestically and nationally, but also, to resource much- needed technology, specifically the non-improved sieves - - the nonintrusive technology is infective through primary avenues through which smugglers seek to move fentanyl into the country. she absolutely. democrats look forward to getting you those resources he can continue that important work. the department has done a committal job stopping fentanyl from entering our country. it is worth noting that we have arrested more drug traffickers in the last two years than in the previous five combined. how does the budget request for fiscal year 2025 build on the successes of the last two years? >> congressman, it continues to fund our personnel, so that we can continue not only to implement the strategic operations that we have underway, but also to build on

those operations and develop new ones, and deployed personnel to different countries, source countries, and our transnational criminal initiative units, where investors work with international partners to target chemicals used to produce fentanyl, and the product itself. i now recognize the gentle lady from georgia. >> we do not have a country without a secure border, and we cannot have a safe country, we cannot protect our own democracy without protecting our elections, that is a fact. the open border is the number one issue across america, in poll after poll, and that is exactly why this committee impeached you. mr. secretary, the oversight

project released a bombshell report last night on your connection to the dark money and geo industrial complex of illegal immigration. i know you saw this from one of my colleagues earlier. they found flyers throughout the resource center, the refugee camp in mexico telling illegal aliens, reminder to vote for president biden when you are in the united states. we need another four years of his term to stay open. eyewitnesses saw the fires also being handed out to migrants, who are using rcm for assistance, in coming to the united states. in an audio recording, the founder of rcm, we maybe should subpoena her to the committee, agreed that they need to help as many people as possible before president trump gets re- elected.

you are familiar with their work, we know that you served as a former board member of this group that funds illegal immigration. they are very proud of you, mr. secretary. they congratulated you on the nomination. they're telling illegal citizens to vote for joe biden, that's your boss. this is corruption at the deepest level, as a matter of fact, i would call it treason. it is treason, because these people have declared war on our

citizens by raping our women, our children, and murdering people , link lincoln riley, you are familiar with her, right?>> i am familiar with the case. so you should have deported her, so that she could be alive today, her parents would have appreciated that. kayla hamilton, who is really raped and murdered , you, mr. secretary, have allowed 10 million illegals, probably higher than that, we don't know, to invade our country. you have allowed the hotels to make millions and millions, in fact, you are probably the best business partner they could have. they make all of this money in human trafficking and drug trafficking. you have allowed approximately 300 americans to be murdered every single day from fentanyl that comes across our border, and now you are encouraging

ngos to steal elections through your budget. oting in our elect. we are supposed to be hereelect. talking about your budget. we are talking at how money is being used to make sure people coming to our country are able to get a social security number in which they can register to vote. and on that note mr. mayorkas i dated chuck schumer hold your impeachment trial in the senate. that's exactly what we should be focused on right now. mr. chairman i yield the remainder of my time picker accidentally yields. a recognize mr. garcia the gentleman from california for five minutes of questions for a quick thank you, mr. chairman thank you mr. senator for being i'm sorry had to listen to misinformation right now and throughout this hearing. i also come up for the record you're here. you're doing a very difficult job but you know some folks are trying to remove you from office. we know that is not going to happen. the impeachment sham again she was dead on arrival in the

senate. since i look forward to continue to do a very difficult job for the country and for the administration for it now, want to note since you last testified we know donald trump has become the presumptive nominee of his party. immigrants like you and me remember and understand that no dangerous rhetoric the way he talks about immigrants like us. going to go back to 2016 i think it's important to put those back into the record. quote went mexico since its people they are not sending their best. they are not sending you, they're not sending you, the setting people have lots of problems and they are bringing those problems with them for the bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, their rapist. it's interesting you and i both know noncitizens are 60% less likely to actually commit crimes and citizens. xena phobic rhetoric to demonize migrants that are trying in many cases searching for a better life and running away from extreme violent positions in their home countries.

this writer guido's continued trumps calls immigrants to enter the country often times animals suggested this recently. he said and i quote this is a quote democrats say please don't call the animals, they are humans. trumps" i said no they are not humans their animals. dehumanizing rhetoric and it is wrong and unacceptable. no mr. secretary, does this type of rhetoric fueled violence here in the united states? >> congressman, i'm going to refrain on relying on the words of a particular candidate. >> i appreciate what i will say is is rhetoric is wrong and disturbing and his policies are actually worse. we know president trump said he would immediately launch the largest domestic deportation operation in american history. what to note and talk a little bit about something donald trump is also trying to characterize as we talk about migrants. he at one of his main

lieutenants, stephen miller has promised large-scale rates using national guard troops even sending national guard troops from republican led states into neighboring states led by democrats. but we are seeing and now in texas there's real risk of air but certainly we see national guard is being used this way in the future. your opinion what the national guards being used in texas? >> i'm sorry can repeat? workspace and were seen on texas do you think there's risks additional risks we can see national guard being used in a way that could be dangerous at the border? >> congressman the deployment of national guard can be an effective force multiplier when it is coordinated with federal authority specifically unites his border patrol. when it is not, it presents a risk to our efforts to secure the border bricks thank you mr. secular we just saw that

recently play out very dangerous and disturbing way. want to also note something about the way the incumbent present abuse migration and though he views the world. i think it's important to point out. we don't 2006 and donald trump launches campaign pointing out mexicans are essentially rapists and murderers. we have seen that already been 2010 told members of congress and the oval office he discussed protecting immigrants from african countries but did not when it migrants what he called that is his quote not mine. suggest the u.s. and bring more people from countries such as norway, apparently they are nice immigrants. must not forget to write over and over 2 billion muslims coming from this country as well. all the while he continues to pull extremism and violence by claiming falsely won the 2020 election. drum continues with his view of the world to attack a legal immigration system that actually works.

there is a hiring freeze of u.s. citizenship and custom immigration service. in his administration is used every possible way disqualifying and denying visas. mr. secretary can you tell us how polished like denying visas undermine the situation of the border? >> congressman individuals to qualify for visas significantly contribute to the well-being and advancement of this country. that is quite evident especially in the economic arena producing of skilled workers, nonskilled seasonal workers, agricultural workers and many other avenues we are enriched by them. >> thank you think i'm out of time so i yield back break of judgment yields are not recognized mr. gonzalez a gentleman from texas for five minutes of questions were good thank you chairman thank you, senator for being here do not want to talk about you and talk with the men and women who serve under you. and the particulars of the

threats they are dealing with. transnational criminal organizations tda the venice when the gangs are growing in influence. they are growing in criminal activity throughout the country. i believe there are significant threat to our homeland is not just regionals not just miami, was not just new york, it's all over the place mike question is on hsi at what's homeland what'y investigation doing to tackle? >> congressman. homeland security investigations and our sister agencies and the in thefederal government have an unprecedented attack gently transnational criminal organizations but domestic operations here as well. i can provide details subsequent to this hearing but details of that gig progress hsi part of the transnational anti- gang task force? >> i believe it is.

>> is something i believe is important is every leverage every lever of government tools at the federal, state, local level to go after these criminals i am talking hardened criminals, at actors in our communities but how do we find them? how do we prevent them from committing crimes being part of that hsi will be in the forefront of a lot of that. i represent a large part of west texas. oil and gas is a big part of that. i was on a recent swing through west texas bay are seeing a rising amount of oil theft and i bring this up because some of this is tied -- make a lot of it's tied to the open border crisis. some of these actors are not american citizens so what do you do with someone you pull them over if they're not a u.s. citizen clearly this is where homeland security should have a role to play in this. so once again do you know if hsi

is part of the permian basin oilfield task force? >> congressman i will have to find out i do not know the answers that specific question for. >> i think it would be important if they are not that they look into this. once again interconnection how to use every lever at every tool and part of that if you pull someone over there not a u.s. citizen, homeland security has a role to play meant to determine who is this person? where they hear what you do with them? what i'm seeing now in some cases a local law enforcement will just release them there is no one to turn them over to you. you can see the train wreck coming a mile away we have apprehended someone who once again i'm not talking about all people i'm talking about a bad actor who would been apprehended committing a low-level crime or another crime and all the sudden a year later, a month later they commit a serious crime i want to get ahead of that i believe hsi

was going to be a big part of working with the fbi and the local and state taskforces in order to get that done. i would ask you bring that to your attention. energy is critical infrastructure it is important we protect that. i am seeing this grow. we went to this a year ago there were three that brought it up. every county brought it up at everett sheriff i am talking to is bringing it up. i am seeing the threat grow for it i'm seeing it expand. my last question is on the increase in chinese nationals that we see. the numbers are astronomical. specifically in california and some of those areas.

and we have, in fact, made strides in the removal of chinese nationals who do not qualify for relief in the united states. >> i think there needs to be more of that and i think it needs to be more public. there needs to be more highlighting to have fact if you come illegally from china, we are going to send you back w. that i am going the yield back and i appreciate it. >> gentleman yields. >> i now recognize the gentleman of new york for five minutes of question. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> mr. secretary, i want to remind my colleagues you were a political refugee born in

havana, cuba. came to the united states of america, graduated from high school and became a prosecutor for nine years as assistant united states attorney, you were appointed to youngest u.s. attorney and deputy secretary of homeland security and now you have achieved the position as secretary. i want to thank you for your public service to our country. i'm new at congress. i just got elected in february and i was watching what was going on down here. you kind of tune it out a bit, all the back and forth and one of the things that i've talked about in my campaign and every problem we face in our country is complicated, nothing is simple and you cannot solve complicated problems in an environment of fear and anger where everybody is yelling and screaming at each other. it's impossible. you can never get to the meat and bones that's necessary and

that's why i was excited by the senate bill, the bipartisan compromise that you worked on along with senator lankford and murphy and sinema and my colleagues, let's say they get everything they want. let's say trump gets elected, i hope those things don't happen, but under no circumstances will they get enough votes in the senate to actually pass a bill. you will have to do something bipartisan under any circumstances. and you can't get a bipartisan bill under any circumstances unless people work together. so it's great that we got more money for customs patrol border agent in 2024 appropriation and we got more detention beds but turned senate bill we would have gotten more custom and border patrol officers as well. and we would have gotten more

detention beds and we would have gotten money for the wall and we would have gotten money for technology and we would have gotten money for a whole bunch of other things and there would have been serious policy changes so i just want to use my last half of my time to ask you, the thing i'm most interested in and excited about is this idea that we have to reduce the time it takes to adjudicate asylum cases. it seems like that's the most important thing we have to do because right now we've got all of these people, the crisis, so many people coming over the bored, seems like it's calm for now, they'll be a surge now and the summer, but if people have to wait five, six, seven, eight years and get work permit that's going to encourage more people to come. if we can cut the period i think you said 90 days, i heard six months from other people, if we

can cut period to adjudicate asylum cases of which 80% of the people will be denied asylum and many of whom will be then deported immediately, it'll discourage other people from paying the coyotes. can you explain to me to reduce the time, what is it going take from this body to reduce the time it takes to adjudicate the asylum cases from what is now years to a matter of months. >> congressman, you are correct that reducing that would change the risk calculus of migrants. the senate bipartisan legislation would have delivery on that with changes to the system, policy changes to the system as well as ample resources for us to implement those fixes. >> could you tell us some of the policy changes that would happen that would make asylum process,

we have another 45 seconds, that would make asylum process happen more quickly because everybody when they get adjudicated 70, 80% are denied. we can stop that from happening. what are the policy changes? >> raising the fear standard, shrinking disparity between that national threshold screening standard and the ultimate merits standard. it also resourced congressman our system with 4300 asylum officers to adjudicate those cases much more swiftly. >> well, i want thank you again for public service. i'm saddened, it's upsetting, it's not productive. we have serious business to do. these are serious problems. we don't want people creating crimes and breaking the law. we have to work together to solve it. >> gentleman yields.

>> thank you, mr. chairman. do we have a problem at the southern border? >> we certainly have a very significant challenge? >> previously you characterized as not a crisis, are you going to say today that there's a crisis at the southern border? >> congress i said repeatedly it's a crisis and never minimized the severity regardless of words that are used. >> i appreciate the evolution with 200,000 fentanyl deaths, 1.7 million noncitizens being parole intoed the country and migrant crises and multiple cities including new york city how grave is the crisis at the southern border. it requires solutions and i strongly support and urge congress to pass the senate's bipartisan -- >> we will get into a moment, mr. secretary. my colleague from the other side of the aisle from the county to my west mentioned how some solutions are complicated.

and i find it disingenuous why it's pointed as budgetary reasons and i want to talk about president biden's policy choices specifically his executive orders were thed or rescinded. i think the clerk may have a copy of 64 different, we will get you, mr. secretary, 64 different executive orders that president biden issued that has either rolled back trump-era border policies that many agree are successful or implemented some that wrote sr. made your job more difficult. there were 7.6 million encounters at the southwest

border. 200% in 20% less of a time. should the department of homeland security endeavor to have less alien encounters at the southwest borders? >> in between ports of entry we are drive to go reduce the number of encounters, yes, indeed, we are. >> congressman, the source of the challenge in new york city is varied. one source of that is a public official's decision to deliberately -- >> i reclaim my time, mr. secretary. the question was does less

encounters at the borders lead to less -- remain in mexico policy which president biden announced he was rescind the remain in mexico policy. what do you think went through the mind of that migrant who now know if he or she made it to the southern border that they would be granted entry, more likely to be granted entry into the country. >> congressman, i believe that the remain in mexico policy throughout its duration, i believe, and i will verify this approximately 70,000 migrants ran through it in the two years it was in operation. and so, i do not -- i think that you are overemphasizing -- >> let me ask you a different question about remain in mexico.

why do it, why repeal remain in mexico, what is the value of border security by repealing the policy? >> congressman, it was not an effective policy. it was causing a tremendous amount of human tragedy south of our border and because it was bad policy it was rescinded. >> so your testimony the increase, the 200% increase of migrant encounters at the southwest border in 20% less time is because of covid? >> no, congressman. i have not testified to that. the situation and the reasons for it are quite worried. the fact of the matter the world is experiencing the greatest displacement of people since world war ii and our hemisphere is not spared that reality. >> i'm going to reclaim my time. president biden should go back to successful trump border

policy, hr2. >> secretary, i appreciate your presence here today as i do millions of americans and members of this committee who are here seriously to do the work of the american people. first of all, speak the obvious since my colleagues want to attribute more money, more money to democrats, i'm proud of my legislation 32.08 which has passed this committee, cyber workforce legislation that has been drafted and which the committee favorably reported in july it appears and would also address the question that mr. gaberino is speaking about

workforce issue if we would pass a number of legislative initiatives we might move you along further and this bill in particular talks about cyber workforce which is one of my very serious issues. let's train them, let's give them internships or access and list put them to work. you did that, at least a portion of the battle where you would have staff that could begin working at homeland security. it is a place that i have heard people, are interested in working primarily to defend their nation, so let's see if we can do something constructive in this committee but i do want to address the question of dealing with the articles of impeachment, will follow and systematic refusal to comply with the law, it's always

difficult for someone to ask to detail failing, do you believe mr. secretary that you have failed to comply with the law? and where would you do better in n complying with the law on behalf of the american people? >> congresswoman, i've been in public service, i think, about 22 years. i've taken the oath five times, maybe six. i've adhere today the oath to which i have sworn and i have abided by the law each and every step of the way. >> when your question is asked over and over again and this is for the american people if you're still tuning in about whether the southern border is secure, they need that answer and i would ask the question as someone who believes that you do the best of what you have and you work hard and that we owe the american people the duty of a secured border, what more

would you do if that was the question and the answer was that we need today do more, what more would you do to secure the border if you felt that was necessary and if you want today tell the american people this is what i needed to have? >> congressman we are dealing with a fundamentally immigration broken immigration system and that's the fundamental problem and i would encourage congress to pass bipartisan legislation that would bring tremendously advancing reform to the broken immigration system and it would also resource our department to execute those reforms advantageously. >> it seems a simple proposition to me and throughout the entire questioning i hear no offering of a resolution by my friends on the other side of the aisle, there's absolutely nothing to answer the second article of impeachment, breach of public

trust and that is that we know that congress has the power of impeachment and that you should be removed for the breaching of trust, then what is that breach, what is your belief is a breach of trust? >> congresswoman, i'm not aware of any and let me assure you that i do not spend time on the impeachment proceedings. i focus my time extensively on the work of the homeland security. >> we do know that iran, for example, is a major proponent of terrorism and they decided to exercise that definition by bombarding israel with 300 of the missiles that they decide to use the drones that they decide to use against an ally for this

horrible attack. what then would you give as an answer did we the united states generate an attack on israel, was that our doing? >> no it was not, congresswoman. we most certainly are. >> and you haven't seen anybody stand up and resign and say i'm frightened, i do want to do this work, i don't want to protect the homeland, have you seen that occur today? >> i have not and people risk their lives every single day on behalf of our country, the oath in the department and other departments and, of course, in our branches of the military. >> the general lady's time has expired.

>> general lady is not recognized. >> there's no reason -- >> thank you. >> secretary mayorkas, your open border policies has been -- clearly the administration's policies have emboldened countries like iran like attacks on israel. can you tell me confidently that this committee that no current or former iranian revolutionary guard, court members or members of islamic terrorist organizations have been granted parole into the united states? >> congressman let me assure you that an individual that poses threat to security is a priority for detention and removal. >> what about anyone from the people's liberation army of the chinese communist party? >> same answer, congressman.

>> mr. secretary, i want to switch violation for americans on free speech. four months ago the assistant secretary of cyber for dhs testified that the oversight subcommittee that i quote countering disinformation that threatens the homeland and providing the public with accurate information in response are critical to fulfilling dhs congressionally mandated missions, unquote, secretary mayorkas do you believe congress has given dhs the authority to use censorship to counter disinformation? >> congressman, we do not censor censor free speech, we abide by the first amendment. >> i quote again, likely significantly encourage social media forms to content moderrizing decisions and thereby violating decision and did you know agency was

pressuring social media form to censor americans? >> congressman, no we do not censor speech. we do not pressure flat forms to do so and i believe the trial courts ruling was reversed in part by the appellate court, i cannot speak further because i believe the litigation continues. >> foi show that dhs argued that agency has the authority to regulate misinformation and disinformation and malinformation however the content of these documents has been redacted. i question members regarding this and was not satisfied with the response so i'll ask you, what congressional authority does dhs has in the mdm space? >> oh, let me give you some real-life examples of the work that we do, congressman because i'm sure you will support it.

when human smuggling organizations spread disinformation with respect to the policies of the department of homeland security we publish accurate information with respect to our policies. when criminal organizations domestically in the wake of a natural disaster spread disinformation to victims to have natural disaster to deceive them and fall prey, we provide accurate information with respect to what fima does and does not do. if you don't make it to the voting booth on tuesday, don't worry you can vote on wednesday, we actually communicate accurate information with respect to the election process in coordination with state and local officials.

that is the work that we do and making sure they do not fall prey to criminals that do not seek to enforce the law. >> mr. secretary, is dhs able to touch each individual that nefarious actors are touching? and i respect what you just told us but my concern is and i hope this is happening but is dhs able to reach out all the bodies with the right information to oppose the negative information? >> we -- we seek to disseminate the accurate information as broadly as possible. >> social media forms? >> we have web pages that disseminate and broadcast that and we use force multipliers, our state partners, state and

local law enforcement, et cetera, congressman. >> that's fine. >> i now recognize mr. swawell. >> mr. secretary, welcome back and thank you and the men and women at your department for what they are doing during for this especially vulnerable time for the homeland. i know it's probably not comfortable for you to have any of us reference to bring what speaker johnson brought to the floor but i want to get dates right, was it february 13th when speaker johnson was finally able to get the votes to impeach you? was that the date? >> i don't -- i don't -- >> i think it was february 13th and by the way second-serve impeachment if we are using tennis analogy, the first one was a fault, they couldn't get

the faults and in pickle ball you would have gotten one serve and that is it. today it's april 16th, so i'm not great at math but i think that's two months have the impeachment articles as we sit here today and sent over the senate for trial are you aware? >> i don't know whether something has occurred while i have before testifying before the committee congressman? >> i want to bring it up because we were told urgency, crisis at the border and we have to do this now and bring one of our colleagues suffering and going through cancer treatments and can be pivotal votes. it's been two months, two months and it's still not over at the senate. i don't think it's the urgency that we were told. it seems like it was more the former president wanted us to do

this and so speaker johnson and we seemed to go wherever, border policy, funding ukraine. it's not really america first agenda, it's me, me first when it comes to the former president and these guys get dragged along and that's why the articles as we sit here today have still not been sent over but i want to talk a little bit about disinformation, does russia or china or iran or venezuela have a right to free speech in our elections as you see it? >> i'm not sure i understand your question. >> well, americans have a right on social media forms to speak freely about our election but do you see adversaries as having a right to pollute our public forum when it comes to speech? >> congressman, one of our -- one of the threat streams attacking the integrity of our

elections is disinformation from adverse nation states that includes people's republic of china, russia, iran and north korea. >> and i al find it interesting, you know, my colleagues some of them don't like that you're going after just information but one of the staffers provided with a july 11th, 2011 transcript in this room when the former president donald trump was president and you have a number of republican members who are arguing that that it's actually disinformation that's the problem. you have multiple republican members saying that disinformation is our foreign adversaries tool of choice is mr. rogers on this committee at the time said. mr. perry, we know mr. perry

from january 6th, he also goes into identifying foreign disinformation as being the problem, so, again, what we want the department to do is not to choose sides because we know our adversaries first and foremost they want chaos so they can go to their authoritarian states and say this is why democracy doesn't work and they are undermining it but would you say that when you look at disinformation and when you see disinformation that it doesn't have a straight line as far as benefiting one party or the other that our adversaries really more than anything really

>> grateful and it's not an easy place to sit and i'm confident that there will be a swift acquittal if it ever gets sents to the senate. i yield back. >> i now recognize the gentleman of new york for five minutes of questioning. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. secretary, thank you for being here this morning, now this afternoon. have you heard hr2? >> congressman, it's been a while since i had but i certainly reviewed the legislation. >> and any parts of hr2 that you agreed with? >> congressman, i'd have to review it again. >> it was the most comprehensive border security bill that had passed out of the house of representatives in decades, you're the secretary of homeland security, you're not certain or sure of any of the items in that legislation that you would agree with? >> congressman, let me assure

you that i support the senate's bipartisan legislation. >> i'm not asking about the senate's bipartisan legislation. i'm asking about hr2. the only piece of border security legislation that has been passed through the house of representatives. we continue to talk about this bipartisan legislation, this magical legislation that has yet to make it out of the senate that doesn't have the support to make it out of that but we still have the administration, the secretary of homeland security telling us that we should support legislation that can't get passed. you don't remember any part of hr2 that you support? >> congressman, i can share with you some of the grave -- >> i'm asking for the parts that you support because my point is that back in may house republicans out of this committee passed hr2, the secure the border act. we sent it over to the senate. that should have begun the -- the negotiation. that should have been the starting point to secure our

border. i've heard colleagues on the other side of the aisle say that people in america are, quote, freaking out, that there's chaos, yes, people are freaking out. yes, there is chaos because joe biden and the homeland security has left our borders wide open. that's why people are freaking out and there is a solution. it was hr2. do i agree with everything in there? absolutely not. i would assume that you don't agree with a lot of things there either and democrats didn't agree with a lot of things but you know what it was the only piece of legislation that we actually have. it's the perfect starting point. so my colleagues on the other side who are talking about this magical piece of legislation, we have it, it's hr2, so let's start there. now i'm going to take it back home. so time after time this committee has listen today the devastating impact that the border crisis has, of course, because of the policies that have been implemented by you and

president biden. you have helped make every state a border state every county a border county and every city a border city including my home in new york. now a democrat mayor who i don't agree with on everything but i agree with him on this, he said that, quote, this issue will destroy new york city. now i'm proud to have served in the nypd as detective and it's devastating to see the horrific challenges that law enforcement are faced with throughout this country. i mean, just recently we saw nypd cops who were attacked by illegal migrants who just got done robbing a target. months ago we saw nypd officers brutally attacked in manhattan and were state of the union. we saw in the bronx recently where there was a 911 call made

with a person with a gun when cops made their way into the bronx it was illegal migrants who had squatted there illegally and had illegal guns and illegal narcotics and then just says after in my district in roosevelt field mall, arrested by the national county police department and guess what the address that they gave, the home in the bronx where the guns and the narcotics were found. can you tell me at what of the budget request would better support law enforcement? >> congressman, quite a number of parts. the additional personnel request, the funding for additional law enforcement personnel in the department of homeland -- >> do you neglect in hr2 there was money in there for additional law enforcement? >> in addition, congressman,

the -- the grant funds that we are seeking to distribute to state and local law enforcement through the homeland security grant program, the urban area security initiative and other programs. >> so everything that you just mentioned was part of hr2? so it seems like you do know what you agree with in that legislation and to my point that is exactly where we should start. i urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle let's work on this as americans, hr2 is our starting point. >> gentleman's time expired. i now recognize ms. clark from new york.

>> we are grateful for that. i want to respond to a false allegation raised by some of my republican colleagues about noncitizens voting in federal elections. first of all, federal law all right prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections and there's absolutely zero evidence that there's significant violations of that law. republicans efforts to make it harder to vote low-income and minority voters and will do nothing to make our elections more secure. instead we should focus on the real threats to our election security which include foreign interference efforts which i know secretary mayorkas is committed to addressing and additionally i'm deeply disturbed by congresswoman green's attack originally known

as hebrew society. baseless conspiracy theories, antisemitic murder of 11 individuals at the tree of synagogue in its during and disgraceful to see the same kind of misinformation repeated in this committee so i wanted that on the record. mr. secretary, last month sisa issued notice of proposed rule making for cyber recording and i congratulated on this important milestone. vhs must redouble its efforts to harmonize incident rules across government. the department's cyber reporting council circ will play a critical role in that process. secretary mayorkas issued a report containing recommendations regarding the

harmonization cyber incident reporting last september, what actions has the ciirc taken to promote harmonization and what can they be doing to promote harmonization? >> thank you very much for your question. we are working with federal departments and agencies across the administration to execute on the imperative of harmonizing reporting rules. not only that, congresswoman, we are working with our international partners so that harmonization would not be restrict today the domestic environment but the international arena as well. >> that's good news. as part of the infrastructure investment and job's act congress provided $1 billion in grant to state and local and tribal to strengthen cyber defenses. this is based on bipartisan legislation i authored with my colleague on this committee. unfortunately this funding

expired in fy2025 which means they cut cybersecurity spending even as they continue today face serious cybersecurity threats. it's my hope that they would work together to extend the vital program. secretary mayorkas, do you agree with me and state and local governments will continue to need federal support as they defend cyber interruptions and would you commit to working with me and this committee to reauthorize the state and local cybersecurity program? >> i do and i will. >> wonderful. mr. secretary, just one other note of concern and that's with the nation of haiti. you should have received a letter, cced on the letter regarding the concern about individuals being returned at this stage who could be sentenced to harm's way into famine and the myriad of

challenges that that nation natn continues in this moment. >> the general lady yield? >> yes, i will yield. >> thank you very much. i wanted to follow your line of questioning very quickly which is very important line of questioning and that is to ensure that we get fixed with the secretary what is broken, sometimes we have equipment, technology that is not working correctly. i'd like to submit into the record unanimous consent healthcare.gov, planning and oversight processes underscore the need to improve contract management, will you continue to prove -- continue to access getting out equipment refunded or improved so that we can work with equipment that will help

you do the job? >> yes. >> so ordered and sent into the record. >> i thank you for yielding. >> absolutely. >> i now recognize general lady ms. lee from florida for five minutes of questioning. >> secretary mayorkas i would to continue the discussion about cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency and in specifically chemical facility program that is overseen by sisa. the cbap program, can you tell us how your budget continues to provide support for the cbap program? >> congresswoman, i will have to remind myself of the specific funding for that program. that funding is very important and of course it has been in tremendous peril recently. it enables us to ensure that high-risk chemical facilities

are as secure as they need to be. >> and would you agree that a continuation of that program is an important part of -- of the mission to protect critical infrastructure? >> i would, congresswoman. >> and would you also encourage friends ands partners over in the senate that would take up the bill and currently awaiting their consideration and action? >> congresswoman, i look forward to reviewing that bill again but we do, indeed, consider the cbap's program to be very important. >> and i would like to then return to the subject of sisa and its role in election's infrastructure and help state and local officials to protect infrastructure specifically there could you describe what sisa does to state and local defend threats from foreign adversaries and domestic adversaries to that infrastructure? >> congresswoman, one of the things we do is provide training with respect to the threat to be

able to identify the threat. we share best practices, we have marked election security as one of the six priority areas in some of our homeland security grant programs to ensure that state and local jurisdictions devote needed resources to a fundamental need of our country and that is to safeguard the integrity of our election processes. >> and moving to the question of breaches and cyber-attacks, what efforts is sisa making to bolster its own internal cybersecurity? i know they were victim to a recent cyber-attack, can you describe for us the efforts internal to sisa on cybersecurity? >> congresswoman, so that is a priority for the the president as a whole, our chief information officer and that

team is consistently working day in and day out to enhance our security. in addition sisa works to enhance the cybersecurity of the federal civilian domain. it issues binding operational directives based on what it learns from particular incidents to ensure that agencies and departments are patching or protecting themselves against detected vulnerabilities. this is a very significant mission area of ours, the cybersecurity vector is not unfortunately diminishing. >> related to hsi, i would like to go to that subject which you addressed earlier as it related to some transnational gang activities but specifically within your budget i would like to discuss hsi and related to child exploitation and help

investigators combat human trafficking, does it not? >> yes, it does. >> would you explain for us the types of activities and roles that hsi takes specifically as it relates to exploitation and trafficking of children? >> congresswoman, i named crimes of exploitation one of our six mission priorities in the department's history. tomorrow i will be with hsi launching a new campaign against online sex child exploitation and abuse, this is a scourge not only nationwide but global in nature. more than 36 million tips were presented to enforcement authorities across the world, domestically more than 63,000 of them reflected eminent or great threat, the extent of this crime cannot be overstated.

the work of hsi in combating it is heroic both in decimating, education and awareness and investigating the crimes and rescuing victims and holding perpetrators accountable. >> thank you, mr. chairman, i yield back. >> the general lady yields back. >> good afternoon, mr. secretary, my colleague have initiated the conversation that i wanted to have with you as well. having discussions with hsi, dps out of the state of texas, one to have biggest issues they are confronted with ability to navigate aggregated data with criminals that are moving in the sex trafficking space. are you comfortable with the amount of money that you're asking for in a cyber risk, cyber threat domain because two entity that is work very well

together and my concern is that the right hand is not talking to the left. we need to expand the ability for our agents to process the data and the budget proposal is only $5 million for the new ai office, are you happy with that number? >> congressman, we are pleased with receiving additional funding when it comes to crimes of exploitation i must tell you that if i add a wish list, the amount of money would be greater, the amount of personnel that we would dedicate to this would be greater. this scourge, this heinous crime is of extraordinary breath and depth of depravity and we work every day, it is remarkable what our personnel do to combat this with our state and local partners as well as our international partners. this is one of the top issues that is raised when i am engaging in the international

arena with our partners as well as european colleagues. >> i hate to speak to the body itself but i think we are really hungry and have a good appetite for expansiveness of ai in this space. this is where i'm going to tell you to be hyperaggressive in order to save women and children that are in this problem set. >> congresswoman -- congressman -- >> third time. i was hoping you weren't going to do that. we go into the pronouns. >> congressman, three strikes and i'm out. we are harnessing in the mission to combat child exploitation at the same time ai presents a risk because the perpetrators use it to advance their depraved criminality and

so congressman, this is something that we are harnessing for good and fighting against bad. >> that's where i was going earlier. do we have the abilities to touch individuals that are being touched by bad actors, i'm hoping that we do. aggressive problem set. i'm going to roll right on you, to immigration, and the senate bill -- just give me latitude on this one. i think you're the 14th homeland security if i counted is that correct, you're number 14? >> i'm the seventh confirmed. >> seventh confirmed. i don't know where i got 14. i think it was wikipedia, whatever. okay. mr. hunter, secretary hunter was in front of border -- it is our

job to pass legislation but subject matter experts in immigration live underneath your umbrella. i consider you, are you expert in immigration, sir? >> i certainly am admiring of those who know much more than i. >> my ask was and mr. swawell and ramirez were in agreement with this, it seems that the frontline operators are the best to address the immigration issue and where the blockade is, where the choke point is. the homeland security department itself. here is the problems and congress can't get anything done

for the last 20 something years. we will submit it, this is the best course of action, has homeland security done that? >> there are two powerful examples. number one on his first day in office, president biden presented legislation to congress. secondly i had the privilege and the honor of sitting bide the bipartisan group of senators who worked out a compromised that i urged congress to pass. >> thank you, mr. chairman. yield back. >> the gentleman's time has expired. >> secretary mayorkas, thank you for being here to speak on the fy25 presidential budget request. the president's budget request reflects the administration priorities, correct? >> it does, congressman? >> i would like to talk about the threats to homeland and dhs that we see according to your budget request. i was pleased last year that you acknowledged the threat that

unmanned aircraft system posed at our southern border saying in part that, i quote, drones are being used in a myriad of ways and number of different ways to create a public safety risk, closed quote. you and i agree on this point. the cartels use the drones at the border and it is alarming from using them to track the movement of border patrol agencies to providing overwatched for human smuggling to transporting narcotics and outfitting them with the explosive payloads while for each drone that the cbp flies the mexican cartel flies 17 based on the last information i got. this issue hasn't improved since last year, in fact, last month in the senate hearing commander general gio testified that the number of drone incursions alarmed him saying that has, quote, talked to cbp who are

responsible for uas incursions at the border and they put the number of incursions at thousands. he went onto say that he sees the potential of a threat posed by drones to the national defense only growing. secretary is counting the elicit use of drones at the border, priority for dhs and cbp. >> congressman, certainly is. >> very concerning and confusing to me this is your budget request for cbp's counter uas program. you see it right behind me. zero. not one penny. not one penny and the threat sun believable as the use of drones for bad actors in our borders evolve and continues to bring threat to homeland it is unconscionable that you wouldn't request a single penny for cbp to carry out uas mission, you

requested zero, thousands of uab flights into u.s. air space by mexican cartel have the -- we've got the ability to block, drop or intercept these drones moving on, i want to revisit the ice detention bed issue that my colleagues have mentioned today as illegal aliens continue to pour across the southern border your fy25 budget request funding for 34,000 ice beds half of the 60,000 beds requested by the trump administration in fy21. in may of '21 you testified in the house subcommittee hearing that you are, quote, concerned about the overuse of detention closed quote. is it safe to presume that this is why you want to cut bed space and release illegal aliens on the streets of america? >> congressman, it is not my desire to cut detention beds and

i should say returning the uas authorities we are seeking to harness artificial intelligence to amplify the strength of our counter uas capabilities. >> i will tell you on the uas, we have the technology in huntsville policewoman where we can drop them, block them or intercept them. it's being used in ukraine and in israel, the only thing that capability you have to request it to make sure that it happens so i promise you, i hope that we can come to a reason because when those uav's are coming in to america setting down, dropping fentanyl, being stuffed full of cash and flying back to the mexican cartel it is totally unacceptable and i take your word that you are doing something about it. >> congressman, the greater the

detention capacity, the greater our ability to detain more people, the bipartisan senate legislation funded 50,000 detention beds and that's a powerful example. >> thank you, mr. secretary. mr. secretary, at the beginning of 2022 you testified to congress that you had operational control of the border, then the following hearings you backtracked to alter the definition of operational control, now in 2024 in a hearing last week you testified that we have a crisis at the southern border, are you finally admitting to what the american people have known to be true that your border policies don't work? mr. chairman, i yield back. >> i now recognize the gentleman from oklahoma. i've minutes of questioning. >> i thank the chairman, mr. secretary i'm really concerned about real id compliance. i want to shift the narrative to discus that which would be part of budget implementation, real id under your administration

says by 2025 there would be compliance. it was designed, supposed to build confidence, identity of travelers post 911 to protect citizenry. under your leadership of the department is going to start implementing this, transportation security administration, tsa will be prohibited from accepting driver's license and identification cards that don't meet certain standards, federal standards. you said that you continue to work closely with u.s. states to meet the real id requirements so here is where i'm going to take this. i've heard from two illinois state lawmakers that illegals in the states, they have verification are now able to complete driver's license. in illinois illegal aliens can get compliance driver's license and subsets on the website and

required by the state of illinois as an option. it can be obtained by this illegal but it comes under the parole which is been something that's been implemented by you in this administration and so with that parole this employment authorization document box can be checked and in my opinion and i think most americans would say this totally undermines compliance given lack of background checks given to who these people are. lack of information. you can do some background checks but you have -- responsibility to understand who these people really are. we don't. i think this is a glaring fault in the system and so i'm going to go to a quick question to you yes or no. should illegal aliens get real id driver's license? >> congressman, i look forward following up with you, that's been a program -- >> because i have a limited time, yes or no, should real id,

should illegal aliens have the option in your opinion to get real id compliant driver's license? >> congressman, i look forward to following you. >> i wished you had a no. next question, should illegal aliens vote in illinois and new york are voting, should illegal -- >> it is my understanding that illegal aliens cannot vote in federal elections. >> are they allowed to vote? the answer is yes in new york and in illinois they are allowed to vote and so whether it's federal elections, my question to you a while ago, i love your answer, should they be allowed to vote? >> congressman, the policy issue is outside of homeland security. >> i need to move on for time, i'm sorry. mr. secretary, you have continued that the entire quote, the entire hemisphere is gripped with a level of migration, you said in opening statement, i think this avoids accountability

for the invasion of southern border and shifts the blame on random events but if that narrative is to be under or -- or followed, what are those events? i look around the world and i go to south america was there tsunami, was there a hurricane that i was not aware of but the answer is no. it ultimately, those who have the context to have wizard of oz, the wizard is standing tat microphone saying, disregard the man as the curtain is being pulled by the little dog, disregard the man standing behind the curtain pulling levers and spinning wheel. the migration is because there's an advertisement under this administration come in to this country, you know, i come from the sooner state in oklahoma. history designates legal in the 1880's. this was not for illegals. history will remember this time in the past 3 years as biden's

run for illegals paid for by u.s. taxpayers. taxpayers are being asked to get the treasurer and the children's treasure of the future for this. once these people have a child there's cash payments on earned income tax credits, food stamps once they have a child, food stamps once they have a child again medicaid on top of the food stamps so here is where i'm going with this, does your budget propose which i will contend it does especially slush fund allow for dollars to two into countries so far as panamá for nongovernment organizations to promote people coming to the country and telling men go north, go north. >> i now recognize mr. crane

from arizona for five minutes of questioning. >> thank you, mr. chairman. .. .. .. how we've been able wie margin that we have but we could all come together, look at the data, hear the stories in the district, listen to the family members that have been destroyed because of your dereliction of duty and we all agree you needed to be impeached. indeed the lead could did you swear to defend and upend the constitution of the united

states? >> you cited. >> how many times have you done that? >> i certainly can identify five. are you aware of article four, section four? do you know what that article is? >> more than five instances. >> okay great. article four, section four are you familiar? >> since you're not going to answer it's called the invasion clause. do you know what it says? >> the federal government will protect and defend each state from invasion. since you don't seem to be getting it, i have our staff bring up this graph. this is you, this is the last administration. again, you, last administration. that looks like an invasion on the graph. we've heard from the people that sat here and testified in the chambers of other family members

being raped and murdered by people that were not supposed to be here and your administration allowed them to be here and didn't keep track. tell me how you haven't allowed in invasion into this country. >> i'm incredibly proud to support the men and women of the department of homeland security and enforce the laws of the united states every single day many of whom risked their lives to secure -- >> despite your leadership yes they do and i'm proud to know many of them as well. they are great people but we all know what the morale is like in the border patrol right now and it's horrible. i hear from border patrol agents every day. my question is how have you not violated your oath to protect and defend the constitution of the united states specifically article four, section four that says you as homeland security

will protect each state from invasion, again you, last administration. how can you make that argument? >> i work every day to advance the security of the border and support the men and women in the department. >> you may be working every day but it seems as if you are working for the other side of the dial, and that is what the american people see and that is exactly why they supported us impeaching you and why you have so many members of this congress that's often divided to come together to impeach you. let me ask you this question do you think our enemies are stupid? >> you can launch whatever falls into portable -- >> do you think the adversaries are stupid? >> the adversaries very in capability and we address the defense of the united states and

interest of the united states accordingly. >> know you're not, you are not doing that. as a matter of fact do you think it is possible some of the adversaries the most dangerous ones like the chinese, north korean north koreans might have unconventional what warfare through the southern border without a uniform, without firearms with instruction to wreak havoc in the country once they are here, once you've allowed them to be here do you think that is possible? >> over the last 11 months we have removed or returned to 630,000 people more than any fiscal year since 2013. >> bragging about how much you've returned but you don't want to brag about how many you've lived in, do you? >> individuals who claim asylum are in enforcement proceedings and if they do not qualify for relief under our wall we seek to

remove them. >> thank you mr. chair and i yield back. >> the members of the committee may have some additional questions for you, and we but ask that you respond to those in writing and i think that there were several that at the time kind of fell now i will let those members send those to you for you to follow up on. the hearing will be held open for ten days, and i think the ranking member has unanimous consent request and closing statements so i will let you do those together. >> thank you mr. chairman. i ask unanimous consent portions of the july 18, 2018 hearing transcript be inserted in the record. >> so ordered and you are recognized for your closing

remarks. >> i would like to thank the secretary for agreeing to testify before the committee today despite these attacks against him. you have done what i consider a good job defending this administration given the strengths that you have to operate from in terms of resources. the secretary's willingness to appear in support to demonstrate his character as a truly dedicated public servant. i am not sure i can say the same thing for colleagues on the other side of the aisle who prefer ranting while steadfastly refusing to provide authority and resources the department needs. you can't have it both ways. you can't look at the dhs employees in the face and claim you support them when you refuse

to put your vote where your mouth is yet this is exactly what my republican colleagues have done this entire congress. it's appalling. the dhs received funding for fiscal year 2024 due to overwhelming democratic support just like in 2023 yet republicans try to claim that it is you that is undermining border security. the hearing which was supposed to be about the dhs budget has become yet another make up order hearing. i did not hear one republican colleague raise concerns about whether they would have the funding needed to respond to and increasing number of national disasters nor did they engage with the work to defend against

legitimate threats to our 2024 election instead choosing to waste time drumming up sentiment with unfounded allegations nor did they want to discuss how the department is responding to domestic terrorist attacks that have left american communities scared and outraged. my republican colleagues seem more interested in pretending to be outraged than doing the hard work of government. this is simply not the way to get things done. it takes complete and utter compromise like we saw in the senate where they drafted a bipartisan bill that would impose the toughest set of border security reforms.

it tells the people all they need to know it would have helped president biden. i appreciate your willingness to engage with this political circus and again advocate for the need of the department. the other thing i want to mention is that we didn't get to talk about ai.

tribal security is as you know within part of our mission we share with a couple other committees. it's a new frontier that we have to be front and center to defend all our systems so i look forward to working with the department on the defenses going forward. i want to assure you that it's this committees value by some members of the committee. with that, mr. chairman, i yield back. closing statement. >> before i start i would like to clarify a couple of things that have been addressed in today's hearing, and i will be brief, mr. secretary. the fact that immigration laws

haven't been updated doesn't mean we don't get to follow the immigration laws on the books and i would agree with you we desperately need enough data to the immigration laws. those don't occur in this committee. that actually happens over the judiciary. so i appreciate that needs to be addressed but that doesn't allow you variance of any kind. it doesn't excuse the violation of the law. i'd also like to clarify something that is quite frankly dishonest at least disingenuous suggested because someone, or a group of this side of the aisle over the side of the aisle boats one way or another on the budget to increase border security. for example, if you vote against a budget that decreases the

customs and border patrol and you turn around and vote for, it is dishonest to say that the cited that voted that way voted for the customs and border patrol. we've heard that many times today. that is dishonesty. i guess that sells everybody the truth about what's going on. another point i would like to clarify the impeachment hearings were two hearings. a ten month, five phase investigation of oversight with subpoenas that were never complied with. so this notion that there were two hearings is just paul's. in addressing border security, the process is pretty simple in the constitution and the rules and the house and the senate. we passed the bill and send it

to the senate, they could amended and we go to the conference committee. we do that every year, the leadership in the senate if they really wanted to do something they would pick bill upset over the years ago. in terms of the budget discussion today in ai and all this other stuff, multiple members talk about this and i want to make sure i clarify because you don't get to say this happened and this happened and to tell the american people the people on the slide of the e aisle didn't talk about ai. cybersecurity, you just, it's somewhat infuriating people can say something that's not true and everyone is going to believe it so i want to correct the record on that. the 2025 budget request i think undermines the country's ability to handle national security.

now and i think this idea of cutting a slush fund that you get to decide on your own is contrary to sending it to you guys. that is what the founders envisioned so we are creating slush funds. it's just against the whole foundation of the constitution. that's why things like that aren't supported in this budget but others that get voted on on authorizations. underfunding in the facilities i think is going to result in an increased flow of migrants across the border when we catch and release and do those kind of things it is motivation. people come because it is an incentive to come. that's why it's important for us not to see cuts to those. we know a lot of the dollars are going to do nothing but continue the policies that you've been doing which is ushering more

people in. the interesting number to me if you look at the curve on the got a ways as you pull people off the border in the process, the got away number decreases a little bit because they are not out there to see the known got a ways so they don't see them because they are not out on the border. they are processing people, so that unknown number increases massively. that's the speculation on my part, is good common sense. they have no clue how big it is that we brought it in many times and have shown the videos from ranchers where folks are wearing camouflage. you've seen i'm sure mr. sec. they've been piled up to arizona just inside of the border. the backpacks which we know are full of fentanyl. during your tenure a record

number crossed into the country, too many of whom have connections, many of whom have connections with criminal organizations. you're from california originally. the good reporting on how the cartels have linked up in san francisco and created this nexus is shocking, and it all happened on your watch. most recently of course, and it's been mentioned here and illegal alien murdered a college student burgled by your department in the country and left a trial of crime in his path. one of thousands that have been murdered revelries victimized. the most gut wrenching part is that it could have been prevented if you and your administration had chosen to enforce the laws on the books

simply because they were not followed. a number of known got a ways we talked about already, the number trailed off because we are not looking anymore. i don't want to imagine that a number it just scares me to death. he talked about that when he was here testifying. you claim it will address the issues but if we look at the numbers it doesn't add up to 350 new border patrol agents. that's why all the authorizations we've sent over have been significantly higher than that despite what's been said here today. others like to misrepresent what really happened. when you testify in the senate and senator o-uppercase-letter asks how you will reach your goals you could give a sizable

number but the truth is morale at dhs is at an all-time low because the working conditions these are your policies that have created that. we've been committed to providing strong oversight to the department most importantly the actions you've taken as a leader. we've investigated the policies and failures. we look forward and hope we can work together on those issues i mentioned beginning with cybersecurity ports, vulnerability of the supply chain. a lot of those areas we do agree on and where there is overlap and we do agree we move those things forward as quickly as we can so i look forward to doing that with you and your team. the committee is focused on strengthening the cyber workforce and i have a bill i personally am helping put together and we will get a copy of it to make sure she gets all i is on it and others from your department will want your help

on that. that ends my comments for the day and i think you for coming and understand the emotions of being here today. without objection the committee stands adjourned.

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