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be a place of valor and generosity and grace. here, were so many innocent lives were suddenly taken, the world saw acts of kindness and heroism that will be remembered forever. ♪ c-span, powered by cable. >> a month security secretary mayorkas testified on the president's 2025 budget request and answered questions on immigration policy in the u.s. southern border during a senate appropriations subcommittee hearing for this comes nearly two months after secretary mayorkas and it was speech by the house for his handling of the board of the senate has yet to hold an impeachment trial as it waits to receive the articles of impeachment. i sent expected to occur sometime next week. [background noises]

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[inaudible conversations] good afternoon everyone. welcome to today's hearing concerning fiscal year 2025 and the budget request from the department of homeland security. calling this hearing to orderly welcome secretary of homeland security alejandro mayorkas to testify about the fy 25 request. thank you for being here on a very busy day. look forward to a serious lively discussion of the department's budget priorities for the coming year. nothing is more important in our federal budget then, supporting the 260,000 federal employees who spent every day defending our nation part i reviewed the proposed budget. i support lots of it. i've questions about other parts and i look forward to the subcommittee bipartisan work. i want to use the rest of my time to address two elephants that linger in the room.

first, this budget even with this proposed increase is not enough to secure our border anda manage the unusually high levels etof immigration to the united states that started notok in 201 but in 2022 but in 2019 that when president biden took office but when president trump was in office's budget does not provide enough money and by definition cannot update the immigration laws of this country which are outdated and broken. but do you know what did provide enough money? do you know it did update and fix our broken laws? bipartisan border built negotiated by myself, et cetera lankford, senate sinema with help from senator mcconnell and senator graham for it would have provided $20 billion in extra emergency funding to buy 50000 detention beds. to hire 4300 new asylumov officers. one hundred new immigration judges. 1500 border patrol agents part 1000 new deportation officers. the list goes on and not in addition our bill would've made a massive down payment on fixing

a broken border and immigration authorities. it would've given the power to the president to close portions of the border. to ordinary asylum claims during periods of high crossings but it would have elevated the screening standard for asylum claims. to make sure only truly meritorious claimants enter the country. it would have reduced most importantly the time to process an asylum application from 10 years in some cases to just weeks or at worst months. it would have eliminated the use of 2:30 five april at the border and greatly narrowed and refined the uses of humanitarian parole. that is just the tip of the iceberg but this would have been the most serious significant reform of immigration in 40 years. it would have been effective at greatly slowing the pace of arrivals at the southern border and making sure the system of a key to american greatness is not abused. that is why estop a lot. it's not the law because it would have made a big down payment on fixing the problem.

republicans rejecteder this bill because they did out to fix the problem. donald trump of the republicans decided to be better offe with thefo border a mess because it would help them politically but that's not me sayingow that. one honest republican senator said, the border is a very important issue for donald trump orw the fact he would communice to republican senators and congresspeople he does notbe wat us to solve the border problem because he wants to blame biden for his really appalling. i'm eager to hear about the president's budget request. we could have done something together in a bipartisan way to get the real levels of adequate funding real changes in law to protect our nation. the segment that hangs over the hearing is the political impeachment articles that are about to be sent to the senate for this on a single act of impeachable misconduct alleged by these articles. it's an embarrassment of house of representatives with these articles are laughable on their

face one article gives the secretary of a high crime a misdemeanor for failing to stop millions of noncitizens for big release into the united states. let's be clear despite congress' inability to respond to this crisis abided ministration and secretary mayorkas has a roof, expelled more migrants and three years they trump a missed ration did in four years. the annual apprehension rate is exact same between the trump administration of the bidenen ministration. other impeachment article rages about the backlog a backlog that has existed republican and democratic administrations that backlogged it is a consequence of congress unwilling to adequately fund a solution a backlog wait for itn would've been sold by the bipartisan border bill the house republicans so honestly concernedan about the state of immigration killed. what makes me a most angry about this impeachment as it attempts to personally impugn secretary mayorkas. his lifee is one of public service that youngest u.s. attorney confirmed by the senate by the former director of u.s.

cis the for deputy director of dhs. he has sought out the toughest, most controversy ladenon jobs in government. he was ine the room personally for nearly all of our four months of torturous negotiations. why? because republicans and democrats trustedth him. republicans asked for him to be in that room because they knew he would be an honest broker. we are very lucky in my mind to have secretary mayorkas in protecting our nation. he should not have to endure this process but we are glad that he is here today. we have a number of opening remarks in a way to turn over now to senator collins to be followed by senator murray to be filed by senator britts and then we will turn it over to you secretary mayorkas for opening comments. quick thank you very much play and ranking member for your courtesy. and for holding this important hearing and allowing me too make a few brief remarks.

i also went to welcome secretary mayorkas date. .i apologize i have to leave vey shortlyur as i am scheduled to speak at a very exciting and momentous congressional gold medal ceremony for rosie the riveters in just a few moments. before i leave i want to express my concern the president fiscal year 2025 budget request is not do nearly enough to address the flood of illegal migrants and fentanyl entering the united states for the u.s. border patrol reported a record 2.5 million encounters of foreign nationals entering our country along the southwest border without authorization of fiscal year 2023. the numbers only continue to rise. migrant encounters have also

grown dramatically albeit from a much lower base increasing 73% and fiscal year 2023. in november and i've discussed this with the secretary, a group of 20 romanians were arrested crossing the border into romaine illegally to were flagged as transnational organized crime matches. similarly dressed in february, three chinese nationals were intercepted attempting to cross into maine illegally. we have also seen staffing shortages as border patrol and other officers have been transferred to the southwest border. that brings me to the question i want to ask the secretary today. mr. secretary, last year i raised with you a problem

whereby cbp refused to provide services to it international ferry service between bar harbor, maine and nova scotia, canada. it is requiring the theory to pay the full annual salary for cpb officials even though the ferry only utilizes them for a few months of each year. now it appears cbp officials have informed eastport, maine town a couple hours away from bar harbor the agency cannot accommodate for, just for planned international cruise ships even cbt staffed a larger number of international cruise ship arrivals for last year.

a reduction in international cruise ship arrival. the crews ship industry is vital to many maine communities delivers millions and economic benefits to our state annually. this is the flipside of the problem that we are announcing on the southwest border creating problems on the northeast border and northern border in general. mr. secretary, what i am asking from you today is to look into the staffing issue and follow up with me too try to resolve this problem. quick thank you, senator collins. senator murphy? >> thank you for joining us today. i'm really glad we have this opportunity to talk about how we can get dhs the resources it

needs to fulfill its mission to keep our communities safe and our nation secure. hope we can all agree the department of homeland security does essential work. it should not be undermined or shortchanged by partisan infighting. fy 24 homeland funding bill that we just passed provided critica resources needs for this and other agencies far exceed what we were able to provide under very tight spending caps. for the better part of last year democrats have been a laser focused onot meeting that the departments increased operational needs and addressing the serious challenge we have at the border. murphy spent months relentlessly negotiating a set of bipartisan policy changes and resources to meet existing needs and funded new authorities were added to those policies. that package never made it out of the senate put everyone here knows why.

we must continue working together to actually address the problems we are facing and make sure dhs has the basic resources that its. means to manage our border in a humane, orderly, fair manner and carry out it's truly wide-ranging responsibility. secretary i am looking forward to hearing from you as we all are with the pressing funding needs of your department we hope all of our colleagues will work with us to meet those needs. ourra economy really depends on our ability to ensure countless goods as well as people can move through our borders in the safe, orderly, timely way. our security depends on our ability to do all of that while effectively stopping threats like drug smugglers, conventional, sex, labor traffickersop not to mention cyr attacks are very real and growing threat of white supremacy. we have got to make sure we do the utmost to make sure people are being treated humanely.

continue our long tradition of welcoming people from across the world seeking safety. and opportunity for a better life. we have seen throughout history immigrants to make our nation stronger. we look forward to your testimony today and the opportunities you ask your questions. quick thank you chairer murray. senator britt? >> chair murphy before i start just a point of personal privilege. provenge give you apublic congr. our two teams faced off in the final four. i am incredibly proud of the crimson tide. allyo of the players in the positive impact they made both on theai tournament and have for the state. everybody from grant nelson who john hoeven always tells me is from north dakota. he does not let me forget that. nick pringle, mark sears, mark

sear's mom who may be a true mvp. it's an incredible job but at the end of the day came out victorious. pretty incredible. never miss an opportunity to sit roll tide at the tip my hat say congratulations go huskies. >> alabama to the credit gives her closest gave in two years. they only beat by 14 points left back will take up or we will be back next year. ththank you for holding this hearing thank you mr. secretary for testifying today. i am pleased we were able to avoid a year-long continuing resolution when it came to fy 24 homeland security appropriations bill. the fy 24 bill took incremental steps to start moving away from merely managing the border crisis created under this administration's. action included significant steps to strengthen our border security and immigration enforcement on our nation's

interior right there at the border. in particular it was great to see fy 24 funding for over 2000 2000border patrol agents as wels additional ports of entry's officers. the final bill important include a 22% increase in detention beds. a major increase in funding was also something i was pleased to see. disappointingly present by an fy 25 budget request for the department of homeland security does not follow this model. it is said repeats the same mistakes of his previous budget request. once again this administration has proposed cutting dhs based isbudget. the fy 25 presidential budget requests will cut basic funding by more than one point to 5 billion. a reduction of 2% from the fy 24 levels. at a time when our country

undoubtedly faces national security and a humanitarian crisis of historic proportions under southern border this is completely nonsensical. considering president biden has proposed increasing the epa budget by roughly 20%'s, it clearly shows where this administration's priorities are. it is clear this administration budget requested recent years are designed to manage the border crisis that created will not actually solve the problem. nor will border policy legislation that does not take away president biden's ability to continue to abuse tools and loopholes that fuel and facilitate the entry of inadmissible aliens into the united states. and clearly un- present abuse of the presidential authority but the truth is, we have a president who could take executive action. if he wanted to he would. if reports were saying today are accurate the present has finally after over 1100 days in his

administration admitted he does have the authority. unfortunate rather than reversing course this is an adequate budget request for the apartment of homeland security only doubles down on the failed policies of the last three years. across the board the administration is failing to put its money where it matters. this includes ongoing fentanyl crisis.y, fentanyl is responsible for more than 200 deaths every single day and is the number one cause of death for americans ages 18 through 45. i want to commend the brave men and women the u.s. coast guard who are on the front line each and every day to interdict fentanyl and other deadly drugs the numbers are increasingly shocking. fy 23 ice homeland security investigation seized nearly 42000 pounds of fentanyl. cbp seized an additional 27 pounds of fentanyl. almost all of it at the southern

border. these numbers are roughly double the amount seized in the previous year. a president biden's budget request includes many references to commitment to countering fentanyl its funding request is sorely lacking. the request includes no new funding for non- intrusive inspection equipment at ports of entry. only marginally new investments. increasing marginally new investments for technology and staffing. the cartels continue to evolve theirma activities to stay ahead of our best efforts. a budget the basically minimal new investment to combat fentanyl will fail to make the progress we need in order to protect american families and communities from this poison. mr. secretary for the fourth year in a row this administration, security budget the veils to provide sufficient resources to allow the men and women of the department to protect our nation and the many threats it faces.

at a time when migrant encounters continue to set record after record the number of migrants release into the interior of the united states is overwhelming the ability of local communities to absorb them fentanyl endangers criminals continue to flit our nation and killerer citizens. it's unacceptable this response is to cut basic funding for the department of homelandun securi. i look forward to working with the department and my colleagues from the appropriations committee to enact a budget for fy 25 that builds on the steps taken and fy 24 to strengthen our border security. increased immigration enforcement correct on the cartels that are trafficking these substances into our country. thank you, mr. chairman, you'll back my time for. >> thank you very much senator britt over to secretary mayorkas for opening comments. >> cherries murphy, murray, ranking member britt, does distinguish memos of this committee. every day 2,068,000 men and women of the department of

homelandou security carry out or mission to protect the safety and security of the americann people. they protect our shores, harbors, skies, cyberspace,d borders and leaders. they stopped fentanyl and other deadly drugs entering our country. they leave the response to maritime emergencies as we speak, their gauge and response of the tragic princess scott key bridge collapse in baltimore. they help communities recover rebuild after a natural disaster. they combat the scourges of human trafficking, forced labor on my child sexual exploitation is so much more. all of this despite parentally insufficient budget. dedicated public servants of dhs deserve full support the american people deserve the results of fully resource dhs couldck deliver. the funding opportunities outline thell president's fiscal year 2025 budget for dhs are critical to meeting both goals i

welcome the opportunity to discuss this proposed budget and how it some the key proposals with you today. when our department was founded in the wake of 911 the threat of foreign terrorism against high visible targets was our primary concern. the foreign terrorist threat persists the u.s. continues to be in a heightened threat environment. we know also confront the terrorism related threat of radicalized offenders small groups already resident here in the united states. this budget provides $80 million increase to our department's nonprofit security grants program in additional funds for targeted violence and terrorism grants so dhs can better help communities prevent tragedies from occurring. as lone actors and nationstates increasingly target our critical infrastructure and our data the president's budget provides needed funding to improve our cyber security and resiliency.

fentanyl is wreaking tragedy in communities across the country. dhs is interdicted more illicit fentanyl and arrested more individuals are fentanyl related crimes in last two fiscal years that in the previous five combined. we must do more. the presidents of budget includes critical funding to advance our strategy. including funds for nonintrusive technology targeted operations. during that time when the world, including our hemisphere is explains the greatest displacement of people since world war ii dhs is tough in our border enforcement is maximizing our available resources and authorities. in the last 11 months we have removed or return more than 600 30,000 individuals who did not have a legal basis tone state. more than every full fiscal year since 2013. the president's budget would further expand these efforts. it provides $25.9 billion for

cbp and ice including funds for hiring more enforcement personnel. separate tuna $65 million would be used by u.s. cis to bolster refugee processing as we continue to expand lawful pathways and ensure protection remains accessible for those who qualify under our laws. our immigration system however is fundamentally broken. including our asylum system that is so significantly impacts the security of our borders the processes we administer at them. only congress can fix our broken and outdated system and only congress can address our need for more border patrol agents asylum officers and immigrationr judges. facilities and technology. our administration work closely with the bipartisan group of senators to reach agreement on anational security supplemenl package. one that would make the system changes that are needed and give dhs the tools and resources

needed to meet today's border security challenges. we remain ready to work with yu to pass this tough, fair, bipartisan agreement. finally, extreme weather continues to devastate communities but let me turn fma for a moment chairs and ranking member to senators kennedy and heidi smith. i'm tracking very closely the extreme weather that struck louisiana and mississippi flooding and mississippi tornado is touching down in louisiana. our fema person are ready to deploy the needs of your situate willlo require. last year of treatment responded to more than 100 disasters for our budget provides $22.7 billion to assist community leaders help survivors in the aftermath of natural disasters in additional funds to invest in resilient strategies that will save lives and taxpayer money in the decades to

come. essential to our success across all mission sets his art departments ability to recruit and retain a world-class workforce. in addition to the frontline workforce i mentioned the president's budget includes $1.5 billion to maintain our commitment to fairly compensate tsa workforce. continuing the long overdue fiscal year 2023 initiative we work together to implement. look forward to further discussion to these critical missions and our department's needs are about the coming and current fiscal years. recently passed 2024 budget, welcome helpful to many of our operations was enacted too late to implement an appreciable hyaline search for free just by 20% much-needed support for cities dealing with migrant related challenges. cut critical research and development funding the compounding effects which are department will feel for years. i am eager to work with you to address these and other

shortfalls in the weeks ahead as i eager to deliver together the sustained funding, resources and support extraordinarily talented and dedicated public servants of dhs needad and deserve. thank you. >> thank you very much mr. secretary thank you for your comments. we will begin rounds of around the fiveminute questionsl begin. first a personal question for you. jeff was nominated to be the chief financial officer of dhs last year for his nomination has been pending for some time before the senate put his nomination is especially important to the nominations committee. doesn't make sense to have an agency dislodge the cfo for this long. i assume you would agree with me his confirmation, the ability to get a cfo is of the utmost importance? >> it most certainly is.

i have worked very closely with him for about seven years now. previously massive deputy secretary. let me say unequivocably he is pure gold as a public servant. i should also note that woman over my left shoulder and tipton is serving as our chief financial officer is also pure gold wouldn't senate confirm cfo for the stabilization it provides our department. >> you heard me testify to the amount of resources that would have been allocated in the emergency supplemental. that included $20 billion surge to 50000 detention beds to hire over 4000 new asylum officers to attack the backlog. 1500 new border patrol agents and officers. talk for a moment what kind of those resources would have

allowed you? both republicans and democrats come together and support of the bipartisan supplemental package. my first encounter with the the immigration immigration in the 1990 as a federal prosecutor in california. i learned then fundamentally broken and it remained so. this piece of bipartisan legislation would have been the most transformative change to our broken immigration. not only for the resources thatt provided before the changes in law that it delivered. it would have brought such extraordinary fairness and speed to a system that is suffered backlogs and interminable timelines in the processing of claims it would have lost up our personnel. in an unprecedented fashion as you have commented.

it would have allowed us to adjudicate asylum claims that nowse take more than seven years to run to the courts sometimes less than 90 days. absolutely transformative not only from an efficiency perspective but also fundamentally from aha security perspective. >> let me ask you specifically about how you achieve increased deterrence. there is a perception here by loading up detention beds you can have an appreciable impact. with the bipartisan bill tried to do at your in other urging was to provide more immediate certainty on asylum claims to adjudicate those claims it a handful of days or weeks instead of what happens today, five years or 10 years. that is just the right thing to do for the country for that is fair to have that outcome at the border rather than 10 years later. tell us a little bit about the

elements of this bill including that elements that would've had an impact? would have stopped people from ever contemplating i can only be achieved in changes by law not just funding levels so fundamentally it would have changed dramatically. i see a broken asylum system when it's encountered at the border and make a claim for asylum their claims ultimately adjudicated. sometimes more than seven years. our backlog is immense it is been great year-over-year for well more than a decade. what happens is in those seven years they work. sometimes they have the distant children. gain a sense of footing in the united states before their claim to stay here is even been

adjudicated. under the bipartisan legislation the multitier process as little as 90 days and sometimes even quicker. given the denial rate for most asylum claims of the calculus of the siding should i take that dangerous journey? should i place my life savings in the hands of smugglers only to be turned around upon arrival in the united states within 90 days. an absolute game changer.e >> finally i may ask about a topic we spent a lot of time to talk about relative to the fentanyl trade. the fentanyl trade between united states and mexico is eight circle. fentanyl comes into the united states and money and guns leave the united states. that is why on a bipartisan basis we have provided additional money for outbound inspections so that we are catching not all but an

appreciable amount of guns andnd money as it leaves the united states made this trade can only work at the guns and the money leave and the fentanyl comes back. what percentage of traffic today is subject to outbound inspection? what is a realisticgu projection for how we expand outbound in this fiscal year? we still have to get the precise numbers to subsequent to this hearing. let me say at u.s. customs and border protection and homeland security investigations, the investigative arm of immigration and customs enforcement are working in tandem to address the outbound flow of both money and guns. in fact, operation without a trace will provide data to you. it'sn extraordinarily effective operation. to curtail guns and money. we also have deployed transnational criminal investigative units to mexico to

work with our law enforcement partners and mexico to address this issue. we are of course very well and closely aligned with our united states department of justice. >> great, look for to that update. senator britt to pick quick thank you chair murphy. mr. secretary, one of the criticisms we have heard from you repeatedly when it comes to title 42 expulsions is that expulsion does not result in the delivery of a real consequence. in the way deportation or renewables two. removal is of course the ultimate consequence for violating our immigration laws. that being the case do you agree with me the approximate 1.3 million illegal aliens in the united states who have received due process and have been given their final orders of removal. an immigration judge should be expeditiously removed from the united states? >> ranking member britt i am not

familiar with the numeric figure that you cite. an individual has been provided due process he was a big order of removal should be removed from the united states. when we adjudicate the fact they do not have a lawful basis to remain in the united states that should be removed directs absolute thank you for your time i'm glad we agree on that. over a three-year period and the bite administration has removed fewer people and total for the first three years so not the last 11 months the first three years. removed fewer than trump an obama removed in each individual year of third ministration. i am hopeful we can have the appropriate resources there and more able to remove a 1.3 million people who have been given due process. andop on that note, if you had more ice officers, more funding for officers they are would that be a helpful tool in being able to remove these individuals that have been given the due process? >> two-point 58, ranking member

britt. and your response to your question the answer is yes. more personnel would assist us but not just the officers and agents themselves but the support personnel and the respect to the data that you cite i should note we have removed on a monthly basis more aggravated felons, residents in the united states unlawfully than in the prior administration. on a monthly basis. >> okay. obviously we are not talking about or talk about the people given due process and are set to remove it. we need to go ahead and remove them that serves as a deterrent and talk about what we were discussing before. as you're probably aware it with respect to due process syracuse university found in 2021 approximate 200,000 immigration court cases were dismissed because dhs felt to file a notice to appear with the court. are you aware that stole times are the number of cases

dismissed for the same reason during all of the years before fy 24 up till fy 2020 combined? >> ranking member my understanding is that number may or may not be accurate. we are looking into that. numbersa one. number two is not so that notice to appear was not filed with the notice to appear might have had a deficiency. that has been an issue for years and the department of homeland security. and in fact we have used technology to improve the accuracy and correctness of notices to appear. i think we have data with respect to the success of those notices to appear that is more current. >> does dhs intend to re- issue the notice to appear in this the cases? >> yes most certainly it's our responsibility. >> excellent. there are more than its 7 million migrants on the non- detained docket what we are talking about so double the number at the start of this

administration. when you look at that and look at the records of shattering numbers of people have entered this country illegally and released into our interior do you believe that represents an increased risk to public safety inan this country? >> i think it is a powerful reflection of an absolute broken immigration system. and let me share with you data to evidence the fact this has been years along in the making. 2010. >> i only have a minute 50 seconds left too. i'm going to have to continue moving on. i do and to say isis detained more than 32000 migrants here with criminal convictions for another 11000 with pending criminal charges. some of these criminal records -- like those of criminal or records have been released by ice into the united states for a couple of examples forim and i want to make sure we get out there. there've been 4700 with convictions for assault. 450 of whom have been released. there have been 5200 with

convictions for drug crimes were to have a 61 which have been released. there've been 1100 convictions for weapons crimes, 92 of which have been released for there but 1200 with convictions for sexual assault. forty-six of whom have been released. there been 490 convictions for homicide, 50 of whom have been released. so iha am hopeful we can agree when we have this type of chaos at our border it does increase the risk for public safety here in the country fit with my last 42 seconds i do it to ask you a quick question. when it looks at the ch and the program what we are seeing. we have got data that says it approximately 97.6% of applications received under that ch envy program. that is indicative of applicants

nott receiving the individual's case by case consideration that is required by the law. and your response to that? do you feel there is a blankets giftre of the program to the interior? do you feel those are mindfully looked at individually? >> ranking member of those cases are reviewed on an individualized basis. in response to your earlier point i look forward to providing the data which reflects an increased focus on individuals for the interior of the united states who do not have a lawful basis to stay. and who have suffered a criminal conviction because our success rate is far greater than in the prior administration. >> thank you at senator murray and i want to thank you for coming for the community today secretary mayorkas.

all you have to see it's what's gone on, on the southern border. you know we are in a situation that needs immediate repair. immediate fixing. immediate overhaul, whatever you want to call it. when i visit with the folks in montana is kind of like oregano philosophy for them for illegal immigration there k with illegal immigration needs to end. it needs to end it yesterday. i have made clear both the president, you and congress need to step up to address this in a very proactive way but should have done a long time ago. we are seeing a high number of encounters of the southern border. we all talk about fentanyl coming into this country. and quite honestly all that up to the northern border by the way it is affected canada and a big, big way this poison is killing a lot of people. as the chairman of this committee pointed out a couple

months ago congress had its opportunity to do something about this on the board and the northern border with montana being a northern border state that is important. i think you know they'll go to the weakest link in the fence. congress decided to put politics with at the last 60 days i can tell you the week after he failed to pass that bill at times 6500 people coming across thei border. they could have been stopped if we would've passed this bill we chose not to. if you want to see how it's played politics with come to montana and turn on the tv. the fact is the border needs to be fixed. we need to step up as congress. the administration needs to step up, you need to step up. we are able to do that we can fix it. continue due diligence on the border to make it happen. after congress missed their

opportunity to help fix this problem by changing the asylum rule breaking technology and manpower to the southern border i called on you and president biden future executive powers to do whatever you could do to secure that border. colleagues have talked about here. so my question for you is does the administration have any plans to use any additional executive powers to address the situation of the southern border? >> senator, we continue to consider what additional executivee actions we could take that could survive legal scrutiny and have impact on border security. i should note the effort to close the borders is something the prior administration tried. the real enduring solution is

the bipartisan piece of legislationd, that was negotiatd intensely over several months. we are and continue to look at what executive actions we can take. >> it is apparent the status closed has not worked in is not working correctly. i would alsoo say this proposal for funding for homeland security is an adequate and we need to work on this. i would say the same thing about the defense subcommittee budget. it is an adequate. i don't know about the others. we have got to figure out a way to fix this. the threats at the southern border and the threats we see through the defense committee are entirely connected. if we see folks coming across the border they are not necessarily looking for from the countries we are soon they from we had folks who potentially could be terrorist threats.

they get in a country is no longer. i would call to work together in a bipartisan way to get that up to a point they will do the job the american people expect the southern border and the northern border and the department of homeland security whether it's a hurricane in louisiana are people coming across the border need the resources to get this done. the national border counsel which are represented thousands of border patrol agents that keeps our borders safe. they endorse that bill with congress decided to play politics with two months ago. it would drop illegal border crossings nationwide. it would allow toat detecting ad apprehending those who want to cross our border illegally. you talk about the border bill

andd how important it was to get across. let's just assume for a second in an ideal world that week, is congress people stop taking instructions from those who want to take policy and past good policy is there anything else that needs to be done if we were to pass that border bill the chairman of this committee and lankford and sinema negotiated out? >> that bipartisan bill would've been transformative in advancing the security of our border provokes anything else he to beo be done other than that? >> in the immigration system at large. the legal immigrationed system there are many other fixes that need to be made. from a border security perspective this was an extraordinary measure. extraordinary projects thank you and think it mr. chairman i have a few more questions we will present for the record and thanks.

we will present for the record and thanks. thank you for beingcu here. i too am concerned about the border as we all are. i am going to talk to you about the other border that is a little harder to identify. that is what happened. i want to talk about the coast guard. i am concerned about our coast guard. we are asking our coast guard men and women to do more. to take on more whether it is trying to intercept across the southern waters in the border areas on our waters. i note in your testimony before the committee today you do not reference the coast guard at all in her oral comments. you do mention in your written testimony the expansion the

coast guard will take it in the endo pacific region. i recognize that. but i will tell you mr. secretary, i worry about what we are putting on our united states coast guard in terms of enhanced admission in addition to what you want to do in the endo pacific. you have got it arctic that is wide open and getting wider and more open all the time. you know the resources we have to cover that huge expanse are not sufficient. and yet i look at this budget i am not sure who is not advocating for our coast guard but sometimes i think our coast guard does not advocate for their budget sufficiently enough. i am very worried whether or not the coast guard belongs and the department of homeland security. i look at your chart here a lot of boxes. here's the coast guard hanging

out at the very, very bottom kind of on its own. i look at the budget and i feel like it's almost orphaned within the department. and our reality is the ported py priorities justt continue. let me ask about this. we are in a place where again the demands are even greater. we did not see the coast guard included in the board or national security supplemental funding request. that disappoints me a great deal. we have seen the coast guard resources basically being cannibalized for lack of a better word. for finding other agencies within the ihs of budget.

and then again the budget anticipates an expanded area of emphasis in the end of pacific. while i think the efforts in the arctic are left languishing.- you know as well as i do the issue with the icebreakers. we were able to prevent another unforced error just a couple weeks ago when it comes to meeting thehe commitment by securing the funding to procure the commercially available ice breaker. that funding had been taken from us in the prior fiscal year. we had to fight to keep it in. we were successful with that. we aren't looking at the security qatar line. admiral fagan states the top acquisitionke priority. at the fy 25 budget reflects zero funding for the program. in fact the program received one

or $50 million. we worked hard to limit that i appreciate working with the chairman on this. she understands very, very well. fy 24 come f white 25 would have been the second year in a row. i would like you to share with the committee whether or not you feel our coast guard is receiving the necessary budget support given increased operation that they face. and seconds if you can speak to the issue of the icebreakers. whether or not pcs is viewed as a top acquisition priority. and give it to me a little more broadly. coast guard budget being reduced at dhs level?

those of us following coast guard are feeling. i'm going to let you talk now. i have taken four minutes to shape it up for you. please help me out and worried about our coast guard. more and more is being asked of the united states coast guard. remarkably they perform more and more every single day. as this hearing is proceeding there up to baltimore responding to the collapse or. >> it will be in louisiana too. they were in hawaii on search and rescue mission following the tragic fires. let me assure you with respect to your institutional point, i believe very strongly the united states coast guard belonged in the department of homeland security from a a mission perspective. number two i fight vigorously for the budget of the nine states coast guard.

and i have encouraged the leadership of the coast guard across the country. not just in headquarters for them to fight for the budget as well. i can only echo the concerns you have expressed that the coast guard is underfunded it is specifically underfunded when ir comes toem execution of the arcc strategy. russia has between 30 and 50 vessels capable of navigating to the arctic region. they vary in capability but there are strongly capable vessels we fight with two antiquated vesselsth and you are coast guard personnel work magic with them. i will be eager to work with you two plus up the coast guard's budget. we work under statutory gaps. there are trade-offs. i would welcome the opportunity to work with you to increase the coast guard budget quite quite

significantly. we are incredibly grateful i was $140 million to obtain the commercially available icebreaker. that is the tip of the spirit of what we needed. >> i would like to talk to you the one polar class that's in that water apparently polar star suffered some damage. i just learned about this i do not know what the is going to be it as a reminder to me as an arctic nation when we have operational polar class vessel and it does not get to the arctic we are woefully behind. mr. chairman i want to work with you on this. and what we can do to better help our coast guard. i note important to us 12 or. >> absolute thank you for yourmo commitment and vigilance i look forward to working with you. >> thank you again mr. secretary. let me just say i've been very frustrated by recent reports on

the overuse of isolation from that general population ice officials including northwest isa processing center in tacoma. washington researchers found over the last five years half of the 10 longest emplacements and administrative segregation across isis national population were at that facility. i want to stress how concerning it is ice continues to use this practice so frequently and reportedly does so without consistent and accurate accuratedocumentation of its us. its contractors are following isa policy on the use of administrative segregation? >> this is an issue i am underway in reviewing with immigration and customs enforcement.

the use of segregation sometimes is at the request of the individual detainee. by reason of circumstance and the facility. sometimes it's a safety and security of our personnel or other detainees. it's a case specific issue. i'm meeting and as well as the workforce. i need about three weeks to circle back with you and give you a full report on the path ahead. i know it is an issue of concern to you and others as well. >> i would absolutely like to commit to an independent investigation conducted by an entity outside of the department to inspect the conditions and practices atea that facility. you be willing to do that? i'll be very pleased to consider that if i may we have eight new leader of the office of detention and office that was created specifically for this

purpose. her name is michelle. she would be extraordinarily capable and conducting this review if that would be of satisfactory to you and be pleased to discuss it with you for. >> i will talk with you about that. i strongly caution ice needs to take these unsafe inhumane conditions we have seen documented over the last two decades very seriously. as we consider renewing the contract at that facility expires in 2025 i will continue toyo talk with you about that. >> secondly, over the last six months the presidents are purey sought support fromer congress o fund critical needs on our border. most vulnerable people in our hemisphere is the critical work of the agents and officers who safeguard our border and critical resources to the protection and seizure of narcotics including fentanyl

preventing these threats from entering our communities but most rose that include the bipartisan effort and they sent it to combine both policy changes and new resources. given the recent fy 24 appropriations provided to the department along with ever evolving threats on our border are there additional resources the department needs and fiscal year 24? >> there are chair murray. we continue to believe the resources and theth legislative changes that were contained in the bipartisan legislation are greatly needed by our department and would really advance our mission. >> okay, thank you. our committee will work with you on that as we move through this year's and process. on a different topic habitat restoration project in my own state of washington and throughout the country are key to recovering our endangeredll species like salmon and upholding our tribal rights.

however the current standards for fema do not differentiate between requirements for important habitat restoration projects and development projects like a parking lot or a strip mall. as a result of that habitat restoration projects pose a minimal risk to people or structures often experience a very lengthy permitting delays in millions of dollars in cost increases. in someri cases local partners have given up on pursuing any kind of habitat projects entirely because of these rules. how can we work with their office to ensure these important projects can move forward in a timely and cost-effective manner?te >> chair murray i am not tracking this discrete issue. iha will pay close attention t it. >> if we get back together on that it's become a real challenge for us. finally i know the senator from alaska asked about the coast guard also critical to my

states. they are continuing to try to modernize their fleet, replace older vessels. there working far beyond their expected service life's many programs like the offshore patrol qatar require investments to adequately accommodate their needs. so many capitol investments needs across the service how does yourve fy budget prioritize those investments to make sure the coast guard continues to have the assets in capability it needs to execute its mission? >> a chair murray i remember it very well when you and i visited a coast guard facility in your jurisdiction as i served as deputy secretary fy 25 budget does provide two additional to begin that process. i do believe senator makowski is correct that we need to fund the coast guard at a greater level than historically has been the case. two additional cutters to

begin that process, but i do believe that senator murkowski is correct that we need to find the coast guard at a greater level than historically has been the case. >> very good. i will mention quickly, i am out of time, but i childcare. it is an issue near and dear to me. we just provided new authority in the appropriations bill moste certainly. >> thank you. >> senator kennedy. mr. secretary,y. i don't hate anybody. i look for grace wherever i can find it, and i certainly don't hate you. my chairman talked about the woolly mammoths and i'm glad he

brought that up. the chair man's immigration bill was negotiated by two members of my party, senator langford and senator mcconnell. they are both good men. the chairman said that the republicans who negotiated this billme trusted you and wanted yu there, and i'm not doubting his word. it gives me no joy to say this, but most republicans don't trust, and the vast majority of the american people don't trust you.

that's why you've been impeached. now my democratic colleagues or going to try to sweep your impeachment under the rug and violate 200 years of senate precedent. i don't think they will be able to sweep the issue, maybe your impeachment, but not the issue under the rug as big as the united states of america. again it gives me no joy in saying this, i think well more than a majority of the american people think that as a result of your behavior and president biden's behavior, our southern border is an open, bleeding wound. i think they believe that our southern border is chaotic. i think a vast majority of the

american people believe that a lot of it is political. i think ak vast majority of the american people think that it is chaotic by design and that all of this is intentional. and i think a vast majority of the american people who don't trust you believe in illegal immigration, they don't believe in the illegal immigration and they think you do and they think president biden does, and they think that's why the border is open, and they think that your attitude and president biden's rdattitude is while they may be polar under president biden if they are stupid enough to believe you and the president when you say that it's not your

problem. i think that needed to be said. isn't that a fact, mr. sec., that the number of illegal immigrants that you and the president allow into the country count for congressional district reapportionment? isn't it true, mr. sec., that the number of illegal immigrants that you and president biden have allowed into the country counts for allocating electoral votes? >> same answer. i don't understand your question. the notion that we intend to

allow illegal immigration is nothing short of preposterous. >> so you do understand the question. >> it is disrespectful to the extraordinary hard work that we perform and far more importantly that the personnel in the department of homeland security and across thend administration perform to stem illegal immigration and build orderly pathways and invest in a working system, and we only wish that the bipartisan legislation about which i've not heard a critical term -- >> you are using up my time. you do this every single time, every single time and it's the fact that you know it and i know it. at the a number of people that you allow into the country illegally, the number of people are counted for reapportionment,

and the more people that you allow, into the country illegay the more are counted for counting electoral votes. now maybe that is a coincidence, but that is fact. and you know that, and you've done nothing for four years, zero. >> absolutely false. >> in fact, the only people i know in this country who are better off today than they were four years ago are illegal immigrants, and that is as a result of your policy. i don't hate you for it. i don't hate anyone, but that's why you've been impeached and my colleagues may try to cover it up, but they can't cover up the facts.

i've gone over my time. i'm sorry, mr. chairman. >> senator peterson. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. sec. it's wonderful to see you today and i will see you nextt week but when you come before my kennedy, the homeland governmental affairs committee. it's good to have an opportunity to ask you questions. i've always appreciated your candor, your professionalism and dedication to the mission so thank you for the work that you do each and every day. inha this year's appropriation bill i was able to secure initial funding with the help of my colleagues here including great help from chair murphy for the northern border coordination said center. at this center is going to play a critical role coordinating efforts to better secure the nation's northern border. so my question for you is how

does the department plan to use the funding to address the threats that exist on the northern border? >> we are very grateful for the funding and the concept of the coordination center because what it does is allow us to take a step back and look at the northern border at large and decide where we need to allocate the resources and how and make sure we are being strategic as well as tactical as possible. i've asked to meet with our cbp team to get to the coordination center moving, and i've already spoken with the team about how we can use it to reallocate staffing because i know that yu and other senators on this committee have expressed concerns with regards to staffing the northernream borde. >> thank you. we definitely have to make sure we have the people there and the coordination so i appreciate your efforts scentingt up the

center as quickly as possible. mr. secretary, i was pleased to see the notice of proposed rulemaking published as was required by my instant reporting for critical infrastructure act. this legislation, as you know very well, and the implementing will in havecritical a structuro sothat that can help companies prevent similar attacks. however, fy 24 appropriations were set at $24 million below the requested level. so my question for you is how well this impact the department's ability to implement this critical program, and are there other resources necessary in order to execute this as was intended by congress? >> this is a transformative piece of legislation and it is going to, when implemented and

enhance any cybersecurity of the country. i just met with cybersecurity professionals from companies all over the country yesterday to talk about the notice of proposed rulemaking that we issueda and to solicit their feedback. one of the response ability as we will have as a department is to receive the cyber incident reports toem be able to analyze and assess them and communicate to the community, the public and the private community, our findings and our best practices to fund is insufficiently is going to handicap our ability to realize the full benefits of this transformative legislation. we do need to be properly resourced. it's a very significant undertaking. >> we are going to work to make sure that happens and i totally concur. i know that senator murkowski as

well as chair mary share their concerns about funding particularly with infrastructure icebreakers and congress et cetera. but as you know, coast guard plays a vital role in the great lakes as well, and unfortunately the coast guard is facing personnel shortages that are impacting their activities for example, personnel shortages recently entered essential operations at seven small stations on the coast in michigan. so my question for you, does the president's budget included includenecessary resources to as the coast guard workforce challenges and and sure that it has personnel that are needed to effectively serve michigan as well as the entire great lakes region? >> chairman peters, i've got to take a look at the budget and confer with coast guard about the implications of the budget

for michigan specifically and the facilities the coast guard staffs. forgive me for not knowing today geographic specificity that i will circle back with you. >> i appreciate that, and we can follow up with you. i was pleased congress provided sustained funding to ensure the frontline staff receive the pay and benefits equivalent to the counter parts throughout the federal government. the department's 25 budget request if granted would ensure the tsa personnel continue to receive equivalent pay and benefits and i look forward to working with my colleagues to deliver the pay on the benefits that they deserve as they keep us safe every single day at airports across the country. a question for you has tsa continued to screen record numbers of passengers, how does this pay increase and improve the operations, workforce morale and retention as well as your

recruitment efforts? >> iss have spoken with the administrator on a number of occasions. they increased a set of monumental impacts positively of course on both recruiting and attention as well as of course morale. >> thank you mr. sec. and mr. chairman. >> senator highsmith. >> thank you, mr. chairman. senator, it is my understanding that the delivery ofof the first originally planned for 2024 may now occur no earlier than 2028 due to delays. the committee also has concerns regarding the accuracy of the security cutters estimated procurementy cost. if in its size and complexity, it's a lot of moving parts. however, i'm hearing great progress is beingac made right w between the shipbuilder in my

state and the coast guard in getting the security program on track that this is very good news since the icebreaking fleet is the largest in the world and the u.s. only has one. nearly 50-year-old operational heavy icebreaker. theee success of the program is vital to the national security and economic interests in the region. i hope the department and coast guard are working to support the shipbuilder however possible so that we may get these assets in as soon as possible. with that being said, i would like to receive assurances that progress will continue to be made. so, please give me your position on the status of this program. >> senator, i am familiar with the challenges we had with of the development and execution of

the contract with the security cutter. we are fully invested in that security. it is for the reasons you identified, very important to the united states coast guard, to the arctic strategy, to the national security. we are working very closely with the contractor to make this relationship work and to develop that as quickly as possible. we are fully vested in it. >> thank you for that and the u.s. coast guard in september, 2023, informed me of what it calls temporary operational workforce adjustments across the nation and response to its workforce shortfalls and reported nearly 10% of that. this included the temporary reduction of capabilities and workforce andac coast guard stations in mississippi. i have been assured the search

and rescue capabilities remain sufficient and that it's only temporary but i questioned whether that is realistic. as recently as last wednesday, the commandant stated that the coast guard should expect to see additional adjustments due to the shortages thates will limit its ability to conduct its congressionally directed mission. the coast guard missed the recruiting goals for the last four years, and while i recognize that it's spread to nearly all of the armed services the coast guard on what i want to hear about from you today. there is significant requests for funding to support recruiting and retention initiatives in the president's budget request, but i would like yourat thoughts on the root caus of this workforce retention crisis, what steps are you taking to address the concerns of the young americans when they

see how some of the servicemembers were treated when they receive a vaccine. what about when they hear from their veterans and family and friends of the unnecessary woke agenda ofce many senior leaders? this is a messaging and cultural problem at the very least, but i want to know if you have even begun to address these issues rather than just throw money at them. >> senator, i am working with leadership across the department. you've correctly identified under the recruiting challenges that the different branches of the military are experiencing and it's not exclusive to the military. i speak with law enforcement leaders on a regular basis in different parts of the country, and it's a difficult recruiting andar retention environment for law enforcement as well.

we do need funding so that we can engage in the recruiting efforts that are needed and we are looking at creative ways to recruit young people both to the coast guard and our law enforcement agencies within the department of homeland security. >> can you give me some examples of what you're actively doing now, can you describe what you're doing? >> if i may give you one precise example, we are taking a look at what our presidents gave and it's not the college campuses. to sensitize people about the valor of public service in the united states coast guard and the law enforcement agencies and having a physical presence to recruit them as one of the elements of the effort. >> i think i'm out of time. thank you mr. chairman.

>> senator baldwin. >> thank you mr. chairman and good afternoon mr. sec. the work that our customs and border protection and homeland security can do at the southern border is essential to keeping families across the country in wisconsin safe. i am eager to discuss how appropriators continue to support this critical mission. so between 2019 and 2021, opioid overdose deaths into wisconsin o by a staggering 97%. in no small part due to synthetic fentanyl. in february, the senate passed the sendoff fentanyl act, a bipartisan bill i cosponsored to help protect the communities from the damaging effects of fentanyl and illicit substances crossing the borders.

i was also proud to vote to advance the bipartisan border security bill that would have amongfe other things invested in high-tech border security, disrupted the deadly flow of fentanyl into the country and i'm sorely disappointed to see the partisan politicssr take hod and the senate didn't pass the bipartisan compromise that we so urgently need. i know you've gotten an another question on this topic before i was able to return from presiding on the floor, but i would likeke to give you an opportunity to speak specifically to how this bill that we didn't pass, but that was negotiated over a month would have bolstered your efforts and the resources you

need to secure the border and stem the flow specifically of fentanyl coming into the country. can you please speak to that? >> thankce you, senator. we have interdicted more fentanyl in the past then in the last five years combined. we have arrested more individuals. that requires not only a dedication of personnel and effective strategies, but also the ability to harness technological advancements most notably the nonintrusive inspection technology. the importance of funding personnel is not only to secure the ports of entry where 90% or more of the fentanyl is smuggled in commercial trucks and passenger vehicles but also to be able to deploy people in the international arena to plus up the criminal investigative units in different countries in latin

america to deploy individuals in different parts of the world to work with our allies. but the bipartisan, i should say and the bipartisan legislation would have given us funds without technology, would have given us funds for our personnel, what have been transformative in pulsing of our capability to interdict more fentanyl and address the smugglers and traffickers that deal. >> thank you mr. secretary. i want to switch to a different topic, but it bears certainly on the fentanyl issue. the current trade policy allows nearly 3 million packages into the united states daily, and almost none are inspected so long as they claim that the value of the product is less

than $800. the trade policy is being abused. abused by companies from china thate make products, wreaking havoc on american manufacturers and retailers. worse, the loophole is used to ship fentanyl and its precursor chemicals directly into american communities, killing children and the tearing families apart. i've offered legislation to lower the $800 threshold and to bar china from using the so-called de minimis channel. however, if chinese exporters simply lie about the origin of the shipment or its contents, it doesn't matter what threshold congress ultimately says. the shipments will keep coming and thee destruction will continue.

we need cbp to dramatically improve its inspection of shipments to protect the communities and our fiscal year 2024 appropriations bills calls what steps are you taking to address this issue and how can this committee help? >> senator, i share your concerns with regards to be de minimis exception. there are three lines of effort that i've undertaken specifically. one is for the first time to engage with my counterpart for the people's republic of china about the scourge of fentanyl and the fact that it's a precursor forun the chemicals ad the pill presses and other equipment used to manufacture. number one. number two, i think it was yesterday, it might have been the day before, i spoke with the

industry on a plan that announced with respect to the to minimize exception and of the law enforcement strategies that we are employee and to increase the impact on the reality that drugs and other contraband are making their way through, packages valued either accurately or inaccurately and lower than $800 in value. and third, we are taking a look at how we can harness artificial intelligence to be a force multiplier of the personnel. >> senator? >> thank you, chairman murphy. it's nice to be back in the homeland security subcommittee and a great to see the senator there withon you. you will both be great partners and thank you for being a great partner. i appreciate that. andis welcome, mr. sec. i'm going to cut through the chase because this was always something when i had the lead on

our side, the number of border agents always putting more money, we put more money in this last time for 150 new border agents in 2025 and asked for 250 254, 150 officers on the entry and processing coordinators. i would like to say i don't think the solution to the border issue into bringing these astronomical numbers bound is to keep adding more people to the process of more people because that obviously is not going to have the desired result, but i would like to know without a significant amount of funding that you were granted, what is thek number of border agents right now, is it going up, you're allowed to have 21,370 i are you on where that? >> we are hiring actively, senator. i will have to get to you with a specific number. i concur with you that it is not just personnel that is going to solveu the challenge at our

southern border, which is why the bipartisan legislation not only included additional resources, but also fundamentally needed legislative changes that would have really changedd the system and the number of people we encounter. >> how is the morale, is that an issue when you're trying to recruit? it's got to be. >> morale has been an issue in our department of homeland security ever since i joined and well before then. we are very focused on workforce well-being and our hope is the well-being of our treasured employees is strengthening and improving despite the stresses haand the strains they overgrown their difficult work. >> i would assume you would know if you were close to the allowable amount of agents. are you close to that number or far away,? >> we are close, but i don't want to misspeak and cite a

figure that would not be accurate and i would provide that with swiftness. >> we will follow up. i do have a question about the drugs and also surveillance, automated surveillance, but i do want to get to this one, seven airports that lost the tsa law enforcement reimbursement program, all of our seven commercial airports relied on for various law enforcement services, small airports just aren't able to provide the manpower here and obviously we were relying on this. what do you say to those airports across the country where there is a cut and now 150,000-dollar budgets and holds in the budgets to try to do this, what is the reasoning behind that? certainly it doesn't sound likee a safety issue or like it is making our airports more safe. >> i think, senator, are you speaking to the fact we sometimes rely on a smaller

airports to provide the security thpersonnel instead of us? >> yes. >> with respect to the airports in your jurisdiction i will have to follow up with you on that. from a fundamental policy perspective, if we had the resources we would devote the personnel. >> you have had of the resources in the past into these were just cut this year. the airport was notified may be a month ago maybe when we passed this last bill that their help with law enforcement agents. so the law enforcement agents would then come in and help the tsa do whatever the local law enforcement would be doing and apparently we are missing that. it seems like a pretty critical aspect. >> i addressed this issue and believe i am disappointed to hear that it remains an issue.

i will circle back after i address it internally. >> senator baldwin asked about fentanyl and i don't want to act like that is a do minimus question. it's not, but the autonomous surveillance tower issue is something i think would be helpful if you've got manpower shortages and people coming between the ports, there obviously are. apparently the budget is not reflecting any kind of a plus up in that area that would fortify and help us interdict in those areas. what's your position on the autonomous surveillance towers and how helpful they have been and would be as force multipliers? >> senator, the automated surveillance towers have been force multipliers. they have been ineffective. we are focusing right now our resources on the noninclusive inspection technology given the

fact that the great majority comes in through the ports of entry. i did ask about how many trucks were being. do you have an update or does that sound like the same figures last year. >> i'm striking outt here. >> thank you mr. chairman and mr. sec., thank you for being here today for your testimony. as you know, and you may have already addressed this since i missed much of the questioning, but as you know, the national

security supplemental was introduced last fall and included a billion dollars to be used for fentanyl introduction. most of this would have gone to the nonintrusive inspection technology as you pointnt out mt of the fentanyl coming in is coming in at the ports of entry. sadly, donald trump came out against the very excellent a bipartisan package that was negotiated by chair murphy and others. the senate failed to pass bad and drafted out the billion dollars that would have helped with fentanyl introduction. can you talk about how the lack of those supplemental funds will affect the ability to find fentanyl and other drugs at the border? >> senator, the bipartisan legislation would have resourced so significantly to address not only the number of individuals

encountered at the southern border to be able to process them more expeditiously for removal but would have also been transformative in terms of our ability to detect, interdict and prosecute the attempt to the smuggling of fentanyl because 90% or more of it comes through the ports of entry and the ability to operationalize the latest technology at every single port of entry would have been extraordinarily significant. >> it's very disappointing that that became a political campaign issue rather than something in the best interest of the country. sec., the last time you were before this committee, we discussed my interest in getting data on the number of migrants who have gone across the northern border in new hampshire, and you committed to working with me on this. this is an issue that i have

heard from law enforcement in my state as well as other organizations like the aclu. and unfortunately, the agency didn't provide our office with this information for a number of months. you and i have had several conversations about this waiting to share it until weeks after releasing the same information publicly to the new hampshire aclu, which would have been fine except the numbers that were released publicly are not the same numbers that the staff released to my office and in fact we heard from your staff, the staff at the homeland security who indicated that number is provided to our office less accurate than those released by the agency and that in fact there is a ovdifferent number than both of those that is now listed on the cbp public portal. so, help me understand how this happened and what we can do to

address it so we have the same information that's available to our office and to the local community so they have reliable information that they need in order to address concerns of the northern border. >> senator, i'm very sorry to hear your concerns with respect toey both of the timeliness and accuracy of the data we have provided to you. i will look into that a very quickly, very quickly. >> thank you. i won't hear from you by the end of the month or the beginning of -- >> before the end of the month. >> thank you. i appreciate that. >> i was worried you were going to say before the end of the week but i will respond. >> i will give you more leeway than that. in january we had a severe winter storm that damaged the coast guard facility so now the coast guard no longer has births for all its vessels. i appreciate the funding issues that exist with trying to repair

and replace facilities like the coast guard, but it's a challenge and concern i know that they are now looking at gupotential facilities to lease but that is not a long-term solution so can you work with our office with the coast guard and help us figure out what we can do to ensure the coast guard has what they need to continue to operate inth new hampshire? >> i most certainly will. >> they are important not just to maritime safety and security but also thewh environmental missions in the state. in light of the tragic events in baltimore, do you know if the coast guard is doing anything to address a potential for those kind of events to happen in other ports along the seacoast? >> it's not only the coast guard

that is looking at this, but we are as a department. oneal of the areas of focus or e two areas of focus on the one hand is port security writ large, and on the other is the resiliency of our supply chain, which obviously is impacted by the tragedy in baltimore, so we are looking at that from a number of perspectives. physical disasters such as the one that the baltimore bridge suffered but also cyber attacks and other threats. so indeed we are taking a holistic view of the situation. >> well, thank you and fortunately we didn't have the same kind of catastrophe in new hampshire or boston that we have had similar accidents affect both the memorial bridge in new hampshire and theth tobin bridge in boston that have shut down traffic for a significant period of time. so unfortunately, as we know this is not an isolated incident

even though the drama of what happened in baltimore is certainly worse than we have seen in some other places. and finally, one of the provisions that was and that negotiated a border bill that it was important to us in new hampshire with the northern border was the stone garden funds, which are reduced in the budget bills that just past, but in addition to the funding being reduced, there were provisions in the border bill that would have committed to a certain percentage going to non-southwest border states. again, an issue that is important to us even though we don't have the challenges at the northern border that we do with the southern border there are still issues around law enforcement and communications

that the stone garden funds have been critical tohe helping us with. so, will you commit that you will take a look at the funding that has been passed and see if we can and ensure that the northern border states also receive proportionate shares of okthe funds? >> i will, senator, and that was disappointing to see the reduction in the stone garden funds. >> thank you mr. chairman. >> thank you. i have a few wrap up questions and then we will get you on your way. >> thank you mr. chairman and mr. secretary. when we look at the number of individuals that are detained, roughly on average there's been about 39,000 detained this yea. my question goes to the fy 24 appropriations bill that was passed a few weeks ago and the funding level that was submitted and passed for detention. is that somethingde that we need to continue in your opinion for

fy 25 to allow you to be able to detain the numbers of individuals you need to? >> yes, senator. >> thank you very much. whenen you look at encounters coming across the border, we know there's been a lot of discussion about the known got a ways and people that we see but we don't know who they are, where they are going or what their intentions are, the fbi director warned that he is increasingly concerned that terrorists may seek that opportunity to enter the u.s. and he's concerned about what that does in the interior of the homeland, so i know that is something you probably pay close attention to as well. is that something that you would agree with when we look at what is happening in the interior it just increases threats across the homeland? >> we are indeed very concerned about it. the safety and security of the american people is our highest priority. the bipartisanan legislation wod

have provided us additional staffing that would have strengthened the security of the southern border. >> and look, i am a big believer we've got to do our job right now so as i look at fy 25, it is fimy goal to make sure we get these dollars and the right places as possible. i would love to see congress start to do our job on time. i think that the american people deserve it and i think every time we drag our feet they are the ones that pay the price. the last time we actually passed all 12 bills on time was 1997. i think it's not only fiscally irresponsible but morally irresponsible. you need to know what your budget is and when you look at something like a supplemental, you have to have the base funding first. my goal is to make sure in fy 25 we stretch every dollar and put it where it matters and where it can help you and help the courageous men and women that work in the department of homeland security do their jobs.

im laser focused on that and i really do appreciate the work that cbp and ice have done in their seizures. i think they've grown when it comes to fentanyl and other drugs they continue to face more and more, which obviously we know that that means that is less than can get into the homeland. however i know we can't simply sees our way out of it. i would like to know from you where would we be best to direct dollars and what are you doing to disrupt andnd dismantle that transnational criminal organizations and kind of the flow of that is there a place more agents and others that would help disrupt that even more? >> ranking member, more personnel, certainly one element for the answer more hsi agents, more support personnel for the agents, more customs and border protection officers and agents,

more funding for technology. i am listing the different things that the bipartisan legislation would have delivered. >> okay. when we look at the coast guar, i strongly support the coast guard and i'm proud of that mobile is the home of the coast guard aviation training center and i'm proud of the offshore patrol being built in alabama. however that is just one of the pieces of a large coast guard shipbuilding strategy. i'm concerned with many other acquisition programs that seem to be playing to these various issues and i'm especially concerned about the status of the waterways commerce program into the polar security cutter program, which have been faced with significant delays in recent years. i know you've heard a lot of my colleagues speak about this on botht sides of the aisle. i'm just taking a look at it. you look at the waterways, commerce, which was intended by congress to be a small business

shipbuilding program. its faced legal challenges and other significant contracting challenges in recent months. as the daughter of two small business owners, i think it is important to me that the entire defense baseha particularly as t pertains to shipbuilding that they are giving consideration and given every fair opportunity to compete. i think that's what we need when we look at things that have just come down and of the naval intelligence that was just declassified looking at the shipbuilding saying they can build 232 times faster than we can. i think as many people as we have encouraging that particularly from the small business perspective, i think s that is better for america. so, mr. sec., will you commit to engaging your leadership and looking into the current state of play when it comes to the waterways commerce program and what options should bebe considered even if it means three competing the program to ensure the coast guard receives

the shipbuilding assets they need and in a timely manner and cost-effective schedule. >> i certainly will engage with the coast guard and look atth ts program and to be in touch with you. >> i appreciate that and one last thing, when we look at the alleged killer of lincoln o'reilly who entered illegally in 2022 and then was released under dhs under a grant of parole, i'm sure your department has taken a look at that and can you explain what specific either humanitarian reason or reason of significant public benefit as you all know one of those two things had to be used to authorize his release into the country. can you explain that for this panel as well? >> ranking member, we were -- there was no derogatory information of which we were aware in our holdings to compel the detention of this

individual. it's a tragic circumstance. our hearts break. i know all our hearts break for the family of ms. riley, and we expect the individual to be prosecuted correctly to the fullest extent of the law. >> thank you mr. sec. i appreciate that. >> thank you, senator. two final questions for you. one, relative to the coast guard academy in new london connecticut, last time i was there i was talking to cadets about a serious need to upgrade the academy's living quarters specifically the old chase hall barracks the oldestt section tht was built in the 1930s requires some really significant investors but there's also a lot of stories of heating, ventilation, air conditioning. you are having a conversation with senator highsmith about the difficulty of recruitment and one of the ways that we convince

young men and women to come joined the coast guard to make sure they have adequate living conditions. so i was a little worried to see that this was not in the request, the upgrade of the annex, it is an unfunded priorities list. we assume you care deeply about the living conditions and would ask for your commitment to work with them to make sure the project gets funded expeditiously. >> most certainly. >> thank you for that and lastly i'm sure she will submit the question for the record but i would notice senator collins did in her opening statement ask you a question regarding cbp staffing of international cruiseship arrivals and i would ask that you add to that to the questions you take for the record and hopefully have a response to senator collins sometime next week. with that, we are going to keep the record open for a week.

that means we will ask that any additional questions from colleagues on the committee be in by the end of the day next wednesday and with that, the hearing stands adjourned. [inaudible conversations]

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