Transcripts For CSPAN Acting DHS Sec. Wolf Testifies On Law Enforcement Deployed To Protests 20240712

Happening and answering our questions. Your full written testimony will be entered into the record. Part, i am going to read my Opening Statement and then there will be a two minute video. Will begin by saying the federal protective Service Officer David Taft Underwood was 53 when he was shot that guarding a Federal Building in oakland, california during a protest. His partner was also shot, but thankfully survived. Protestsrts of the involving 8000 people turned chaotic and violent as demonstrators smashed windows, looted stores and broke into a bank. The suspect that killed the four,puty a few days of his antipolice views drew him to oakland. He saw the protest as an opportunity for more bloodshed. David dorn was a retired police chief in st. Louis. He responded to the alarm going off at a shop owned by his friend during a night of antipolice protest. Chief dorn 77 years old, father of five, grandfather of 10, died on june 2 in the anarchy unleashed in st. Louis. Unfortunately, the violence did not end there. Yesterday morning, protesters in portland broke into a Police Association building and started a fire inside. Protesters flashed tires. It was the 69th straight day of what we are told are peaceful protest. According to the department of Homeland Security, 277 attacks on police and federal officers have occurred during these feeds these peaceful protests. At least 140 officers have been injured in portland alone. 113 officers have suffered injuries to their site after protesters deliberately attempted to blind them with lasers and other weapons. At least 930 nonfederal Law Enforcement officers have been injured. One has died. At least 38 federal officers xxed. Been do personal information about them were put online as a means of intimidation. At least 21 federal court houses been vandalized the summer. Protesters in nashville broken to city hall and lit fires. A woman charged this week was caught on video holding a poster reading, f the police. Protesters in denver broke into a courthouse amplifiers. Protesters in minneapolis burnt down a police station. The same thing in seattle. A peaceful protest in oakland in july intensified after protests set fire inside of a course house. During a peaceful protest in madison, at least one individual world the gasoline bomb into the City County Building which holds the cities 911 dispatch center. That included the beating of two individuals. One of them is a state lawmaker. These peaceful protests include arson and assault. They have left a mark on our cities, culture and country. As a journalist recently wrote, for large metro areas like chicago and minneapolis, to small cities like fort wayne and green bay, the number of boarded up, damaged or destroyed buildings i have observed, commercial, civic, and residential, is staggering. Keeping count is impossible. One might think a major Media Organization like the New York Times would use their journalist resources to tally up the wreckage for posterity. Roughly six weeks later, such a tally is nowhere to be found. While police were tied up with peaceful protests, homicides elsewhere were skyrocketing. By the end of july, homicides are up 53 in chicago. In minneapolis, murders are up 86 . In milwaukee, 84 . New york, 29 . Seattle, 42 . Philadelphia, 33 . New orleans, 36 . Denver, 46 . Those numbers measure the loss of human lives. Many are black lives that dont seem to matter much to the movement. Some are children. Some are children. Their lives have been cut short. Children whose lives matter. Their names matter. In chicago alone, child victims include a 15yearold, another 15yearold was shot in the head. Michael ike, 14yearold rhonda jones junior, 10yearold lena nunez, sevenyearold natalia wallace, shot in a backyard party. Threeyearold nick i james, killed when someone shouted her father in traffic. Whenyearold sincere gaston, killed when somebody shot his mothers car. That is just since memorial day. In one city. These people died because criminals kill them. They may have also died because police were constrained and prevented from doing their job to protect them. When you encourage disdain for police, you encourage criminals. When you do little or nothing to stop riots, you unleash anarchy. When you encourage criminals and unleash anarchy, people die. All of us suffer. With that, i have a twominute video i would like everybody to watch. Its not easy to watch. What thethe reality of protest have devolved to. [video clip] [indiscernible] in milwaukee democrat was assaulted by protesters. I had my bell rung. 10 people punched and kicked the politician while he was on the ground. Video shows carpenter later collapsing near the capital. [indiscernible] senator peters. Thank you. Acting secretary wolf, i appreciate you being here today. I know you have an awful lot on your plate. I appreciate that time is precious. You have a very challenging role, especially in these unprecedented times. Im extremely disappointed with some of the recent actions this dhs has taken. They have put at risk your ability to effectively protect the homeland. However, dhs chose a response to the situation on the ground that is an acceptable. Instead of working together with state and local partners, you sent a surge of federal agents who did not have proper training to deescalate the situation. Their tactics caused additional chaos. I am concerned federal property is distracting the threat posed by domestic terrorism. Last year, the Committee Held the first ever hearing focused on White Supremacy violence and domestic terrorism threats. We have seen far too many attacks in this country at the hands of white supremacist terrorists. Attacks that have taken the lives of our far too Many Americans. Americans were murdered in Shopping Centers or wallet as worship by domestic terrorists with ties to white supremacist movements, your department failed to respond with the same urgency that we saw on the streets of portland. When one federal Protection Services officer was tragically murdered and another was seriously wounded in the mind of duty earlier this year, it was by americans with ties to boogaloo boys, a movement rooted in white nationalism. You still have not released a complete plan to combat white supremacist violence, nearly a year after a released of the strategic framework for countering terrorism and targeted violence. I want to know why your agency is not focusing on the threat posed by whites as premises violence with the same sense of urgency. I want to know why you run office of intelligence has no trouble sharing intelligence on journalists with police in portland but makes excuses for i applaud congress to make sure that they have the resources they need to stay safe in the line of duty and return home to their families safe. Let me be clear. The decisions the administration has made in recent months have put dhs personnel at unnecessary risk. Because you chose to escalate conflicts, you risk officer safely, the safety of american civilians. More than ever, we need leadership at the department of Homeland Security. We need coordination with state and local officials. We need to focus on the most prevalent and deadly threats that are facing our country. I continue to hold the department can juggle its complex mission. What i have seen so far, it calls into question the administrations priorities when it comes to National Security. I look forward to speaking with you today and continuing to Work Together to protect our National Security and the security of the American People. Thank you. Please stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear that the testimony that you give will be the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so hope you got . Please be seated. Chad wolf is the acting secretary of the department of Homeland Security. Hes been serving in this position since november 2019. Mr. Wolf previously held other leadership roles and serving as chief of staff of the department. Acting secretary wolf. Thank you again for the opportunity to testify today. While Many Americans are aware of the missions of the department of Homeland Security, many are not as familiar with the Important Mission of the federal protective service. Fps has protected federal property for almost 50 years and does so at 9000 Properties Around the country. This responsibility was provided through the secretary of Homeland Security by the United States congress. Federal properties in portland have been attacked by violent criminals, opportunists, and anarchists. I want to be clear. And went, we see nonviolent protests. The department is aware of the National Dialogue taking place around racism and law around racism and Law Enforcement practices. We continue to support and defend every americans right to exercise their First Amendment rights. The violent activity i will refer to today is not associated with those protests. The violent activity we see occurring between midnight and 5 00 began roughly around may 28 with the mayor of portland announcing an 8 00 to 6 00 curfew from a 30th to june 2. On june 1, due to the level of violence, the portland mayor asked the governor of oregon to activate the National Guard to help protect facilities in the city. Over the course of june, dhs monitored the situation in portland closely, began deploying additional officers into portland to protect federal facilities. Despite surging 20 additional officers throughout june, it was clear we were overmatched. In early june, at the request of officials in portland, i directed additional Law Enforcement aspects to protect federal properties and officers. Our officers have faced assaults from bricks, baseball bats, sledgehammers, molotov cocktails, fireworks, excel or rinse, ieds, and other violent weapons. Federal officials in portland have made 99 arrests. Dhs officers have experienced 277 separate injuries. They range from minor to serious to include several who may have permanent eye damage. I would like to play a short video of what our officers have faced. [video clip] [indiscernible] unfortunately, what was absent was the help from local Law Enforcement personnel. Dhs and doj officers were given little to no assistance provided to protect federal properties. Violent opportunists used as a staging ground to prepare for their nightly assault on the courthouse. Local officials did not allow all did not allow Law Enforcement to make any arrests if the violence was directed at federal property. Mayor of7, the portland directed all federal Law Enforcement agencies be prohibited from accessing the Portland Police bureau Emergency Operation center. On july 22, city council specifically directed all members of the Portland Police bureau shall not provide, request nor willingly receive Operational Support from dhs and doj Law Enforcement agencies. Law enforcement officers, civil Law Enforcement officers were abandoned due to the dangerous policies by local officials. Assistanceration and our federal officers receive in any other city or cross the country did not exist in portland. I shall briefly address offered inaccurate statements. Law enforcement officers are not a Occupying Force and are not serving the general domestic Security Agency. They have been deployed for an extended period of time to one city, portland. To protect federal property. Law enforcement officers are not stormtroopers or thugs, they are civil Law Enforcement officers who were clearly marked uniforms, are properly trained and establish practices and operate within their authority. Suggested Law Enforcement officers should not be in portland if not invited. Tole our preferences always partner with local and state Law Enforcement enforcing federal law is not buying ventilation is not by invitation. We cannot be directed to ignore criminal activity in action and we will never shy away from our statutory duty. July 14, i placed phone calls to the governor of oregon. I offered to the full resources of the department to assist them in ending the violence at the federal courthouse. Their answer was dark was stark. No thank you. Fortunately, the governor felt better about this decision and reached out two and half weeks later to offer Police Support to address the violence. As of today, the full augmented dhs posture remains in portland. They wont main until be are assured that other federal rules facilities in portland will no longer be attacked. While we have seen a noticeable decrease in violent activity directed at the federal courthouse in recent days, make no mistake, there continues to be violence in portland. Over seven days, police have declared a riot on four different occasions. Last bottles and lasers have been directed at police officers. Numerous arrests have been made. The Police Association building has been set on fire. While this violence is not directed at the federal courts have federal courthouse, dhs officers remain on alert. I look forward to your questions. Thank you secretary wilkie. Ator scott has i yield my time. I want to thank you for what you do every day. I was governor for eight years and learned three things. People care about three things, jobs, education and they want to be safe. The video you showed come of the things we have seen are disgusting. Do you think it is a peaceful protest when people use lasers to blind Law Enforcement officers . Absolutely not. A peaceful protest when people throw bricks at Law Enforcement . Absolutely not. Is it a peaceful protest when people start fires around buildings . Absolutely not. Would you call the attack on the Federal Building a peaceful protest . No. Do you have an obligation in your job to defend federal property . It is an obligation and a direction from the congress. It says we shall protect those facilities, it does not say we can. We see peaceful protest in portland every day. That are peaceful protests do not make the news. There are no arrests or injuries. That usually occurs in the early evening, very different than what the video shows. Wheren you read things politicians say all of these protests in portland were peaceful, you see the video, you see what is happening to officers, how do you feel . I would say i have strong feelings about that. Are doing what folks either intentionally or unintentionally as they are confusing two different activities. Peaceful protest thing in violent activity we see between midnight and 5 00. Law enforcement officers are doing their very best. Some of what you saw in the video. Very difficult circumstances. They are behind a perimeter, they are inside that courthouse, they only come out to defend the courthouse as its getting attacked. I mentioned some of the language, stormtroopers, gestapo, i think most reasonable americans and Law Enforcement know that is a lie. Were you surprised when the mayor into the governor didnt provide support to do the job of protecting federal property . Thateryone understands oregon and portland, there is an environment there are protesting. We appreciate that. What we saw throughout june and july is going beyond that. Becoming very violent. When you dont hold individuals accountable, or allow them to attack a courthouse and stepped back across the street to rearm to come back night after night, it emboldens them. Ant we see in portland is environment. If you go back to 2018, we had a dhs ice facility for 28 days was laid siege to buy individuals. Portland police and local officials did nothing. We finally had to send in federal Law Enforcement assets to take that building back. What should congress be doing to be helpful . Talk about the people who have lost their vision. How many . Video saw a bit from the was that green laser. That is a new tactic we have seen that our federal protective Service Officers have seen in portland. It is very powerful. This is not the laser that your cat or dog may chase on the ground. This is a very powerful laser. It hits their eyes, it will heat up the nucleus of the eye and give you permanent damage. We have been able to address that with eye protection, but we have three officers that will likely lose some portion of their vision. Sympathy have you heard a lot of sympathy for them . They say these people who throw bricks and start fires, have you heard any of them say i am worried about your Law Enforcement officers . That is disappointing. I talk passionately about what we do in ports in portland because officers putting their lives on the line getting injured. But i do not hear his appreciation for that. The Ranking Member certainly did that in his Opening Statement, but i hear very little of that. I hear that from the oregon congressional delegation. Law have not mentioned dhs enforcement officers, the injuries they have had protecting a courthouse. Very similar to protecting the u. S. Capitol. Someone walked up to the u. S. Capitol and tried to burn it down, you would arrest them. That is all we are trying to do in portland, protect federal facilities. How many Law Enforcement officers lost their lives. Their lives . Protectingunderwood, a courthouse in oakland. We have had numerous injuries across the country. We have numerous ones. Senator peters. Acting secretary wolf, thank you again for great testimony. We are concerned about the men and women who put their lives in jeopardy every day and protect job they doct the and understand it is a tough job. Acting secretary wolf talked about the local officials and their unwillingness to be part of securing their city. Certainly the images we saw are disturbing. It is hard for me to believe vocal officials would sit by idly and not be engaged in that. As i asked you when we requested this hearing, it would have been wonderful to hear both sides of the story, to have folks from oregon, the mayor, the governor, police chief, other officials that were engaged we are going to be looking at the actions that occurred in portland. We need a complete picture. There are always two sides to every story, and we need to hear the that story. To hear that story. Would you agree that the department foam and securitys ability to conduct its mission of securing our nation depends on partnerships and trust . Trust is critical in this complex mission that you have that i talked about in the opening. Trust nice be established with state and local officials needs to be established with state and local officials. When you think of the topics you deal with, election security, protecting our borders, natural disasters, all those things are under your purview, dont you believe we need to have a relationship with local officials in order to effectively conduct that mission . I agree 100 . So why did that not occur here . Again, we have been talking with Portland Police for over 60 days. We continue to ask them to get involved. What we do see is local police and state police making arrests if violence is directed at Portland Police facilities or city facilities. If the violence is directed specifically at the federal courthouse, they would not engage. They would not make arrests. These violentals, individuals, are staging in two parks. Sety night, they have tents up and this is where the state out of pure and they do that on city street. That is on the curb. They are on city streets as they attacked the courthouse. As we continue to engage with them, we had over the course of 60 days city Council Passed resolutions that prohibited Portland Police recording mating with federal Law Enforcement, from coordinating with federal Law Enforcement. Even in an area with Portland Police talk together, to make sure you do not have blue on blue incidents, that is not occurring in portland because of city council resolutions. I would like to read a statement by a former dhs secretary. He served under president bush. He recently stated that the departments actions are putting public trust at risk and its response in portland shows there was no respect for or coordination with the wishes of local authorities. He went on to say, i believe this is a dangerous precedent to set as our country faces so many threats that require these partnerships. Is the former secretary wrong . Respect hisly service to the department and country. On this point, he is wrong. How is he wrong . I am happy to walk you through exactly coronation we try to do with Portland Police. The mayor, i reach out to the mayor on several occasions to offer coordination, to understand what is occurring on the ground, the events occurring between midnight and 5 00 a. M. Every morning. Secretaryelieve chernoff and others really understand what is going on in portland. Have confused the peaceful protesting we see between 6 00 and 7 00 p. M. Until 10 30 at night. We have no concerns there. It happens across the street from the courthouse. There are no incidents. What we see at midnight to 5 00 a. M. Is violent activity where we get no support from state and local officials. As a result of what is happening in portland, i have heard a lot from state and local officials concerned about what they have seen. Given the understandable concern being expressed following the images we have seen, what are you doing to work with officials and communities participating in operation legend to build trust and critical relationships necessary for us to accomplish the mission . Answer that two different ways. What we see in portland is different than any other city across the country when we talk about protecting federal property. We see a cooperative relationship between federal, state, and local officials, whether it is chicago, seattle, or any other major city. Individuals targeting facilities. State and local Law Enforcement partner with us. That is different to what has been occurring in portland for over 60 days. You are saying portland is a one off. You are not seeing this all across the country, anarchy and chaos. I have been clear about directed events at federal facilities. Portland is very different. We do see targeted attacks in atlanta, seattle, and other places. Two federal facilities have been damaged. What we see in those places is state and local Law Enforcement partner with us to protect the facilities and hold those attacking those accountable. Accountable. Operation operation legend is to target violent street crime that you see in major metropolitan areas, criminal gangs, illicit narcotics, firearms. Dhhs are partnering with the department of justice on that, but it is very different activity than what we are doing in portland. [indiscernible] something you will commit the resources necessary to combat . Department we are responding specifically what is going on in portland and other facilities around the country. I had the opportunity to develop the departments strategic framework in september 2019. 2019, outlining the dangers we are seeing in violent white supremacist extremism. We have a plan that you referred to in your Opening Statement. Security from fema. Also communities that will also protect them. Our cybersecurity over Security Agency works with partners and making sure those are short up against violent attacks. What you really need to do is implement the plan. None of it is actually implemented. It comesf urgency when to creating a plan. What is your timeline . When will we see actual, concrete action . Are implementing many of the initiatives in that strategy. Datel give you an exact and when we can get the Implementation Plan up. We will provide that as quickly as possible. [indiscernible] the people i represent understand they have a responsibility to met they are putting themselves in danger, and it is appreciated. To back up a second, the tragic murder of george floyd was something i think all of us thought was horrible. Then we had protests and demonstrations around the country in response to that and in support of Racial Justice and equality. Majority ofvast americans support those demonstrations. If they are peaceful. I think we have the right as americans to protest. We can never let that be taken away. What we saw in those videos and what youve explained today and we have all seen on our tv sets and online is troubling. Rioting, the the physical damage, the arson, the looting. It breaks my heart to see store owners, particularly in underserved communities who have worked hard to create a small business, see it destroyed. You can drive through almost any major city in america and see stores that are boarded up. You can see it in washington, d. C. You will see stores and shops boarded up. The arson that we saw on the videos is dangerous to everybody seen unfortunately we have it accompany some of these peaceful protests. Portland is an exception in terms of Federal Buildings attacks on Federal Buildings. The one question i would ask you is what have you learned . Coordination with local and state officials has been a huge problem, lack of coordination, i should say. It sounds like that is getting better, like the governor and others are working more closely with you. The protection of the courthouse and Federal Building in general is clearly within your mission set, but where there are things that were done or things that happened that you learned from in terms of potential for future conflicts like this . Thank you for the question. It goes back to the ranking about theuestion partnership between federal Law Enforcement and state and local Law Enforcement. What we have seen is, across the country, it works in city after city. What we saw in portland was the lack of that. It allowed violent individuals to continue to attack a federal facility night after night with no repercussions, with no one holding them accountable. They became more emboldened night after night, and we started seeing some of the weapons they used became more and more sophisticated. At first it was bricks, frozen water bottles, canned food, things that can be hard things that are hard that can be thrown at an officer. There is no consequence to them doing that, so they come back with commercial grade fireworks, then i. E. D. s, then power tools. They keep coming back. There is no accountability. The Lesson Learned is making sure there is Close Partnership with state and local officials. We see that in every other city and around the country. Not want to have this accelerate. Of the situation earlier makes sense. I want to ask you about operation legend. What have wes more lawned as a federal enforcement function . Was there nothing . Could that information have been provided in a way that was more propelling to get that cooperation . I find it extraordinary that cooperation was not there. I know local Law Enforcement and state Law Enforcement typically have be able to coordinate and Work Together. Even without direction. To thatu can get back as far as what has been done to make this relationship work better. Operation legend came up a moment ago, and i will look to clear some confusion about that. This has been something that has been confusing in my own state. My understanding is that upration legend is a follow to operation relet list pursuit, which is about violent crime. It is not about these protests. It is not about what we have been talking about otherwise today. It is apparently part of operation legend where we see and help from dhs. I understanding is several dhs personnel will be part of the new operation legend or the expansion of operation relentless pursuit in cleveland. Violence we have seen in our about violentg crime, is a big concern. We have seen an uptick. Risees this week are a 24 since last year and reported homicides. Cleveland is one of those. Helpingod that we are cleveland cut down on violent crime. The mayor would also like to see a reduction of violent crime. There was is confusion and concern in ohio about this program because of a lack of communication with the u. S. Attorney, with others. Me he read about operation legend as an example. So did i. My question to you is what can we do to reduce the confusion about this . This is concerned this has to do with federal agents coming in. It was about violent crime. Without having information upfront and proper groundwork, it created more confusion than it should have. Could you distinguish operation legend from the situation and portland and tell us how the dhs can do a better job and cooperating with local Law Enforcement, as well as federal personnel, including the u. S. Attorneys . What were doing in portland is protecting a federal facility that has been under attack or was under attack for over 60 days. Operation legend is not directed at federal facilities or protection of federal facilities. Homeland security investigation is partnering with doj as they go out into different cities, specifically in chicago, where we are most engaged. Hsi deals with weapons trafficking and violent crime. We are partnering with hef, Marshals Service in specific cities like chicago that across the country as well. Regarding operation legend, it is my understanding that most initiatives are being run by u. S. Attorneys and federal various cities. I will take it back to make sure that communication is there. I would appreciate your looking into it but also talking what how we can better in ohio. You do not take the lead in that. It is more a doj responsibility. Rather than having been told about it and havent got the explanation. And people show up are not sure what the purpose is. It makes it harder. Dohope is that we can better. I want to end with saying i hopefully you will communicate i hope you will communicate to the people doing their jobs that we understand the sacrifices they are making and appreciate it. Thank you for having this hearing. I would echo the Ranking Members observation that it would be good to build on this hearing but also hearing from state and local officials. I want to thank you for your testimony today, and i hope you will pass on my thanks to the men and women who work so bravely to defend our country. I want to take a moment to mourn the loss of David Patrick underwood, the federal protective Service Officer killed in the line of duty in oakland. Ar country is undergoing muchneeded reckoning about our history and reality of Racial Injustice following the killings of george floyd, breonna taylor, and others. As we continue working to address longstanding and must conduct strong oversight of the federal government response in places like washington, d. C. And portland, oregon. That is why todays hearing is so vital. The Washington Post and politico reported the dhs office compiles intelligence reports about journalists involved in the protest. Waived the requirements be subject to a review by the internal rights watchdogs, the office for civil rights and Civil Liberties. That is troubling. Trust, as on public embodied by the see something i might Say Something campaign. The American People expect dhss activities will be done in a manner consistent with our values, so it is this appointing to hear the dhss internal mechanisms are being circumvented or arbitrarily discarded. I have heard you say the matter is being investigated. The office of the Inspector General is performing that investigation. You mentioned two issues. Explaine a moment to the open Source Reporting Program at dhs has been in existence since 2011. There were three instances i was made aware of, information being put out that also identified media or press. As soon as i was made aware of what was occurring, i stopped the program. I stopped the practice and removed the individual in charge of that directorate. Let me stop you for a minute. Is it the only investigation going on . Yes. That specific issue, we have internal. We havent oversight function looking at that. If you have another internal investigation, given his apparent involvement in the waving of the requirements of the dhs activities and Civil Liberties oversight, will mr. Cuccinelli recuse himself from matters related to that investigation . The oig investigation is separate and apart from anything he would be involved in. An internal investigation is somehow separate. It was preliminary. What to go back to the question you mentioned, we have raw intelligence reporting and finished intelligence product. Removed himself if there was an issue with a finished intelligence report. There was a disagreement between see rcl and the office of intelligence and analysis, it would come to the deputy secretary to resolve. We left it with the undersecretary to resolve that. Crcl plays a role with that and regarding collection requirements of raw intelligence. It is important to separate those things. We will followup with you on that. It is a concerning report. I want to move onto Something Else. To protectel work buildings and their occupants. It is critical that they take all possible steps to deescalate confrontations, to protect themselves and others. I want to build on senator portmans line of questions about what dhs could have done better. Two of your predecessors at the department, who both served under a republican administration, have expressed concern that that was not what happened in portland. Deescalation was not what happened. Secretarys first dhs says the way dhs officials were acting was not defusing the situation. It exacerbated it. Another former dhs secretary said dhs has taken a belligerent, aggressive tone toward protests and their actions have poured gasoline on the fire of a situation that now threatens to undermine public trust in the department. Have you spoken with former secretaries . Do agree with them that dhs should seek to deescalate tension instead of increasing them . I have spoken to both former secretaries. I walked them through specifically what was going on in portland. They asked a number of questions. At the end of that conversation, they thanked me and said they did not know all the facts and that informs their decision moving forward. We absolutely have to deescalate. Specifictraining in assets are trained on deescalation techniques. When you look at a five hour period every night, we are inside the federal courthouse 90 to 95 of that time. We only come out with there are fires being set. We see anywhere from 500 to 5000 individuals. You do have to disperse the crowd. Tactics try to deescalate the situation. I am just about out of time. I would appreciate material from your department about the types of deescalation training that you do, and i also would what workeder and what did not work. We have seen disturbing video here today. There is also disturbing video where federal authorities are using batons on people who appear to be peaceful. Those are the types of things that together can escalate along with tactical decisions your forces may make. I would appreciate following up with you. Thank the professional men and women for their service and thank their families for us too. The video we see with the baton hitting the navy veteran that is not dhs Law Enforcement. Andhat is why coronation clarity coordination and clarity and wearing clear identification makes a difference. Senator paul. Black lives do matter, but saying it does not make it so. Slogans painted in the street do not save lives. The majority of lives being lost in our cities are young black men. It is unconscionable. It has been going on decade after decade. I visited the southside of chicago. I have been to the most violent precinct in our country. I have visited with pastor brooks, who is trying to save lives one at a time through christ, through counseling, through showing a strong male role model acting in a peaceful way. I have been to ferguson. I was there after the riots. Whot with Business Owners lost their businesses, the majority of whom are africanamerican. Pastor brooks was recently thatviewed and lamented rioters burnt down the local pharmacy. Now people in his community were having to drive 15, 20 miles into the suburbs to get prescription drugs. T is unconscionable it is not an easy problem to fix. People have tried to fix it. It is going on in our cities and it is made worse by lawlessness. It is made worse by mayhem. There is an Inconvenient Truth that we have to face. All these cities are run by democrats and have been for 50 years. Every one of our major cities, run by democrats. Policers, mayors, chiefs, all democrats. You can say it is coincidence or you can say, all of them . If you look at the murder rate, the top 10 cities that have the highest murder rate in our country, every one of the mayors is a democrat. We have to get to the bottom of this. If you live in those cities, we have to figure out some kind of constructive way to make it better. You have to first realize the democrats have failed every one of these cities. If your city is under attack and you have Young Children being shot, the chairman mentioned the names of the Young Children. In louisville, twoyearolds being shot through windows and doors. Who is running the cities . We have to do something about it. Painting graffiti and throwing molotov cocktails is not getting you anywhere. If you live in portland, instead of throwing molotov cocktails, instead of trying to burn the federal courthouse, you should be burning signatures have gathering signatures. Maybe we should be recalling the mayor of chicago, who has allowed this to go on. It has been going on decade after decade. Black lives do matter. Do somethingtter, about it. Those at the receiving end of this, young black men dying in the cities, rise up and say, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again. Quit electing the people allowing your cities to go to rot and ruin, allowing a local drugstore to be burned down, allowing businesses to be burned down that will leave the community and never come back. It is a disaster in our country and people need to let the blame accrue were it will accrue. To the people who have been running these cities for 50 years. With regard to who should do this, my preference is that it be done locally. The constitution reserves Police Powers to the state and Police Powers should be exercised in the state. It should be a rare exception that we have federal officers in our state taking part of things even a serious as arson. I understand when there is mayhem and chaos somebody has to protect Federal Buildings. My preference would be that, if that has to happen, that they stay at the Federal Buildings, arresting only those committing violence when they are committing violence. We are a rare aware and careful that allowing federal police and people to federalize Police Forces and send it into our cities, that there are dangers to that. One of the dangers of federalism was not to let the executive branch in our state. We need to be wary of the possibility for harm by federalize and police power, sending them into these situations. Disasters been already. Perhaps not your department, but images of the young man being shot with a rubber bullet who had his skull fractured and maybe ultimately will be disfigured from this while he was simply holding up a speaker, those are terrible symbols. It is hard to be a policeman. Federal authorities have not necessarily been steeped in the training it takes to be able to try to and knock it in the we have to acknowledge this is a chaotic situation and has not been peaceful protesting. Someone must do something. That the more constructive way of doing this would be to assess who are the officials, who are the political officials that run these cities and how they let us down. It is time and time again democrats, for 50 years, running our cities and letting us down. If you are a family that lives on the south side of chicago, you need to ask yourself, who is inside of this city and why are they not doing something to protect my children . How come children are still being shot in chicago . Why are my local officials doing nothing . The answer is democrats have done nothing for our cities for 50 years and the people who live in our cities need to make a reassessment of who has been in charge of our cities. The only question i would like to finish with would be the idea of police power and that police power should primarily reside within the states and not the federal government. Do you have a comment on that . I would say that federal protective service through laws that congress has passed has given specific authority to protect federal facilities. When we talk about everywhere in the country outside of portland, any arrests that need to be made because there are individuals targeting or mating violence are usually done by state and local Law Enforcement. That is who needs to arrest these individuals and work with the u. S. Attorney to charge these individuals. For 60 days in portland we did not see that occurring. Nobody was holding these individuals accountable. Night after night they would do their violent acts and nobody would hold them accountable. The dhs has been put in a position where we had to start making arrest and holding these individuals accountable. All of the arrests took place on federal property or within one to three blocks of federal property. There seems to be a feeling that we were across the city. We were only targeting individuals that we know and violentbased on activities and criminal activities. Senator wilson . Thank you, mr. Chairman. [indiscernible] it hasto talk about been one year since the domestic terror attack in el paso where 23 americans lost their lives after a white s the Latino Community. According to the fbi White Supremacists are the nations most significant domestic threat. Statistics show that racial accounts for the majority [indiscernible] instead ofly, assessing the root causes of violence, this administration is using the domestic terrorism label to come down on Peaceful Protesters exercising their First Amendment rights. To justify federal Law Enforcement in portland [indiscernible] have accused demonstrators made up of students, veterans, mothers, and nurses fighting for Racial Justice [indiscernible] Peaceful Protesters and terrorists is a tactic commonly used in autocratic societies, not in democracies. [indiscernible] whether it is violence targeting the Latino Community in el paso, the Jewish Community at the tree of life synagogue, or any other americans. Just yes or no, acting secretary, do you agree with the fbis assessment that the top threat we face from domestic terrorists comes from racially motivated violent extremists, particularly White Supremacists . Yes, senator. What i would agree with, and i have been on record, our strategy in september 2019 does support a growing threat from domestic individuals here in the u. S. To include white supremacist extremism growing here. We have seen the number of incidents rising. As i outlined to a question from the Ranking Member, the department is taking a number of initiatives to address that. Let me comment on a comment you made that i disagree with. Dhs Law Enforcement in no way is cracking down on Peaceful Protesters in portland. I would like to claim my time back in followup. And followup. This administration the dhs gutted the dhs budget. Department have the resources it needs to prevent White Supremacists from escalating hateful rhetoric into violence . Increasedd we have the number of funding to our Grant Program for targeted terrorism come out targeted violence and terrorism prevention. We have a number of individuals dedicated to this mission. From dhss perspective, we do not investigate these. What we do is training information sharing, and outreach to make sure they have the resources they need to respond to this. The department is doing that in a fulsome way. We have a Great Program going out. We have increased the number of staff in that office. Strategyplementing our to address all forms of violence extremism. That is good to hear. Can you tell us about the amount of dollars you have spent sending federal Law Enforcement agents to portland that could have otherwise gone to combating violent extremism across our country . I do not have the specific dollar figure of assets being deployed to portland. We deployed assets to portland because a federal courthouse was being set on fire every night. Can you supply the budget for us . We will provide that to the committee. I appreciate it. I want to move to talk about. Ocket daca while you sent Law Enforcement to cities without the consent of leaders, dhs is taking steps to harm our dreamers, hundreds of thousands of them nationwide. Nevada is home to 13,000 Daca Recipients. Owners, first responders, medical professionals. Contributees, they toward the Community Every day. The u. S. Supreme court cited against the ministrations against theided administrations request to end the daca program and declare that the matter be remanded to dhs so it may consider the problem anew. In other words, you, as acting secretary, have the power to protect dreamers by preventing daca from being terminated. Memo, you stated you are making changes to daca and directed personnel to take all appropriate action to reject all pending and future initial request for daca, to reject all pending and future applications and to shorten daca renewals. Ignores theearly u. S. Supreme Court Decision u. S. Citizenship to continue to process daca applications. You went on saying, i have concluded the daca policy presents serious policy concerns that may warrant a full rescission. Again, the decision to pursue rescission of daca programs lies in your hands, and i urge you to consider how your actions to resend the program will affect theerfect lives of americans in the midst of the covid19 pandemic. More than 200,000 Daca Recipients have been working in areas dhs identifies as part of the essential, critical workforce infrastructure. Nurses, paramedics, and the like. Thise consider reviewing and allowing these first serveders to continue to this nation. Mr. Secretary, if you want to respond, i will give you a minute if you want to do so. The supreme Court Decision that we are adhering to his why we are taking certain actions. In no way does the decision tell the department to process new daca applicants. The decision did not even say that the program was lawful. What it did say is dhs has the authority to resend it. It did not like the way we had done that the past three years. My memo that i signed out in the direction i have given to the department is to continue the program under certain parameters. Said, no new daca applications are being received, and we have limited renewal. We did that because we have ongoing, serious concerns about this program that we are working offugh consideration based the supreme Court Decision and guidance. We are going to work through that carefully. We are going to consider everything the court laid out. We did not want to continue to operate a program that has reservation comment goes against deferred action, goes against congresss wishes. As we do that, we continue to renew applicants as we have done over the past three years. There Something Else she made a statement that you were going to respond to . There were several. Dhs Law Enforcement officials are cracking down on Peaceful Protesters in portland that is a false narrative that continues to be put out there. It does a disservice to the men and women of Law Enforcement at the department. Are we doing anything regarding peaceful protests. Hours long peaceful protesting that occurs in portland every night right across from the courthouse. There are no arrests. There are no injuries. That is not what is occurring. That is not what our Law Enforcement officials are dealing with. Secretary, thanks for your work. Please pass on our gratitude to the men and women of Law Enforcement that serve with you around the country, especially those serving in portland now. I am astounded at some of the conversation i have heard during over the past several weeks about the men and women that are serving every night. Please tell their families thank you. They are sending out their loved ones to portland and, as we discussed peaceful protests across the street, your Law Enforcement have had 277 injuries. Law folks here want to blame the police, please tell them thank you. They have suffered chemical burns, being shot with pellet fireworks. Argescale they have had laser pointers shot at their eyes. They lose their site. While members of this Committee Talk about peaceful protests and about your Law Enforcement being the problem. I do not think your agents are the problem. I think they are defending federal property, which is what this congress originally told them to do. This focus on defund the police and just walk away like they did in minneapolis, they just allowed a building to burn down, saying that is better, i do not agree with. Millions of other americans do not agree with consenting to rioters to bring things down. For men and women on the front lines, please tell them thank you, that we are exceptionally grateful for their work. I do not believe they are the problem. Think, as has been stated over and over i know they have been shot at and had bricks thrown at them and have had mortar rounds fired at them and had trash set on fire and leaf blowers blowing trash towards them. There are two sides to the story. Please tell them thank you. Want to ask you a series of questions. I have a lot of them. Let me walk through this. I have heard over and over that your federal Law Enforcement are going on the streets and harming Peaceful Protesters. Are you cracking down on peaceful protests . Absolutely not. Your federal agents are being accused of saying they are not marked as police. Do you have federal Law Enforcement in portland that are not labeled as police on their uniform . Absolutely not. We are a uniformed department. We have nine operating agencies. All of the uniforms are marked as security. Others say border patrol. Others say cdc and others say i. C. E. They have patches on their shoulders. They clearly identify themselves. ,hese individuals are out there essentially half a square block. They are out there for 66 nights. You know who they are. Taking places are at this spot every night. You know that is where your cup what you are coming to do. They are being accused of not wearing nametags. They are not wearing nametags because of doxxing we have seen of a number of agents. Individuals are showing up at their homes and families are being identified. We pulled all their nametags. ,e did put a unique identifier numbers and letters come on their uniform. We can keep track of the accountability for them. I have heard over and over again these are folks that are not trained to deescalation. They have been randomly pulled in from other places because they are not trained. Are trained specifically for this mission. Law enforcement officials are specifically trained for this mission. This is what they do at ports of entry every day, over the course of years. Some try to barricade themselves at ports of entry. This is what these individuals do. I. C. E. Officers, this is what they do a detention facilities when riots take place. They are trained in deescalation and crowd control. These are the individuals we sent to portland. I did not send Law Enforcement from tsa or anyone else. They are not trained. It would not be appropriate to send them. I have heard federal agents are wandering the streets of portland, arresting people randomly. Snatch and grab is what im hearing from democratic colleagues. They are grabbing people off the streets and putting them in unmarked cars. Not true. We use marked and unmarked vehicles. What we try to do is deescalate the situation. Individuals disappear into a group of 2000 individuals. We do not try to go into the middle of the group. That is dangerous for officers and others. We try to keep track of the individual and then begin to question that individual or arrest the individual when he breaks away from the group. It deescalate the situation. All 99 arrests happened on federal property or within two to three blocks of the courthouse. I have heard over and over again you are not cooperating with local Law Enforcement or local officials. They are depicted by democrats as so cooperative, so helpful and friendly. Yet, as i go through your report, the day when the Portland City Council voted to prohibit their Law Enforcement, local Law Enforcement from cooperating with you, engaging with you and any kind of sharing with information, the day they voted for that, this was your report from the night before. Around 10 20s, local time, violent anarchists began nightly assault on the courthouse. Rioters began to barricade in front of the courthouse, assaulted officers inside the courthouse with lasers that can cause permanent blindness. After repeated attacks from rioters, the plywood coverings began to buckle. A group of rioters vandalized the entrance to the courthouse with spray paint. In response, federal officers were forced to leave the building to repel the mob. When they did so, they were assaulted with lasers and a variety of objects designed to inflict harm. Crowd control measures were deployed in the vicinity. Rioters responded by using cars to Block Movement on the streets. Rioters used wooden boards to block the courthouse entrance. They hurled projectiles in front of the courthouse. This story as well. In the Early Morning hours of july 22, the day of the vote when they said for police not to cooperate with you, a group of individuals gathered in the entry of the federal courthouse, began removing plywood attached to the building to protect the damaged glass. After the group removed the plywood sheeting, he made multiple attempt to kick in the window, struck it with a metal object, peter lee pounded on it with what appeared to be a hammer. A number of people successfully removed the entire wooden structure protecting the courthouse entry and an unknown individual broke one of the windows and watched for the building carrying a cylindrical object and appeared to like a fuse, placed it the broken window. A short time later, the object exploded in close proximity to lawenforcement officers exiting the building through a broken window and injuries were sustained. That was the night before portland voted to make sure Law Enforcement would not cooperate with you. These are the peaceful protests occurring that members of this committee continue to blame your officers as the problem when that is actually happening on the streets. Thanks for clarifying what the news is not reporting. Tell your folks thank you for staying standing up for what is good and right. Senator romney. I do not seem on the board anymore. I will go to senator harris. Thank you, mr. Chairman. This committee has a responsibility to ensure that the Census Bureau completes a full and accurate 2020 senses free from clinical interference, yet in the last week the Administration Made clear it is overriding Census Bureau professionals by forcing them to rush the remaining operation regardless of the quality and accuracy of that data. This political interference is if not checked by congress will harm communities including rural communities, communities of color, tribal nations, and low income communities for the next decade at least. Chairman, i urge you to schedule a hearing on this topic. We have a duty to ensure a fair and accurate census. We have reached out. A hearingure when will be scheduled, but i reached out to the department. I appreciate that. On august 3, the Washington Post reported you regularly talk with the president and stephen miller. Have you discussed the deployment of dhs agents to protests in connection with the approach with the president s reelection effort and with the president or any of his white house staff were Campaign Staff. Or Campaign Staff . Oni am not going to comment my discussions with the president or senior staff. On the events that have taken place in portland or have you discussed the deployment with any of his Campaign Staff . No. It has all been at the direction of the department. Have you discussed the deployments with any of the president s Campaign Staff . No. Ofhas the Party Affiliation mayors or governors come up in your conversations with anyone about the deployments . Not in my conversations. Are you aware of any conversations i am not going to comment on specific conversations. So youre not going to comment on whether the Party Affiliations of mayors or governors has come up in any conversations. Statement, because i see where you are going, is im not going to comment specifically on any discussions i have had with the president or senior staff. I can tell you are deployment of Law Enforcement officers to portland or in support of operation legend are done within dhs authority and not for any political reasons. On july 23, a United States Federal District court judge ordered dhs and u. S. Marshals to stop arresting, threatening, or using force against journalists and legal observers. I am assuming you were aware of that ruling on the day it came down. Can you tell this committee what you did to inform your agents about that ruling and what did you inform them . Evening, we worked with our department of justice to make sure our officers in portland specifically were aware of that and provided additional training. I believe doj did the same with u. S. Marshals. By what method did you inform your agents . Our office of general counsel at headquarters liaison with a thenr in portland and reached out to all of our Law Enforcement operators. Did you issue a memorandum . I believe the individual component heads, which would normally do that, provided not only the verbal briefing but also in paper. Is that your normal protocol, that u. S. The secretary of this agency would not directly inform ages on the ground of a court ruling regarding the parameters and permissible parameters of their enforcement . The normal protocol would be to make sure our general counsel would inform them and the individual operation operating heads of those lawenforcement agencies would inform them as well. 24, a next day, on july californian attended the protests. He was wearing a green hat identifying him as a legal observer appeared she was filming a protest when a federal agent shot her with a rubber bullet near her heart at pointblank range. Was there any disciplinary action taken against that agent . I am unaware of that specific instance. I can say no dhs Law Enforcement officers in portland use rubber bullets. You have not been informed of this in any matter, manner, even through the news . Not of that. Dhs does not use that type. Will you followup and ask your staff if they are familiar with this case and if that was may i finish, please . Will you ask and answer to this committee what you have checked with your staff if they are familiar with this incident and if it was one of your agents was there any disciplinary action taken . I just answered. It was not one of our agents because we do not use that type of weapon. Show agents using chemical weapons against mothers and veterans and military flashbangs that it slowed almost look a bomb and make people feel they are going deaf. Have you consulted with medical experts about the impact of chemicals on protesters including women . We have looked at a variety of our less than lethal munitions as it regards to crowd control. Have you checked with medical experts about the impact on pregnant women . Not on pregnant women. I would advise you to do that. Munitions we use in portland occur between midnight and 5 00 a. M. Every night. , knowingd advise you there are women, including pregnant women, in these protests i would advise you it is well known there are mothers, including pregnant women, who are attending these protests. I would advise you, sir, to consult with medical experts to determine the impact of chemical irritants on pregnant women. Moving on, have any dhs suspended,een terminated, or disciplined for using Excessive Force protests . Are you referring to portland specifically. Specifically . Any protest. Not to my knowledge. Receivede of crcl has a number of complaints. What is the protocol you have for being personally informed those complaints . Crcl is looking into them. The dhs is also has an open investigation as well. We have seen some coordination involved there. Some of the tactics they use are very similar to Law Enforcement as well as military. Why do you believe the writers have chosen we are talking about the violent writers, the ones who are firing munitions, attacking federal officers, doc singh federal Law Enforcements, why have they chosen to target a federal courthouse . Is there some symbolism here . Im not sure. Its obviously the seat of justice there in portland. Some of the individuals are tocefully protesting want see changes and its taking place in the courthouse. What we are seeing is they want to burn it down. They are very specific about that. They are on the social media about that. Night after night for 60 nights, someone showing up at 3 a. M. At a site that has been very violent night after night, not a peaceful protest or, not a mother that wants to peacefully protest at that courthouse, they are showing up for a reason at 3 a. M. And that is to do damage. You have been to portland. I have. What are the Law Enforcement officers there on the ground protecting, what have they told you and what would they like this committee to know . My Law Enforcement officers that i met with are extremely frustrated. Or they were before Oregon State Police got involved. They are a target each and every night. You have these violent individuals staging in city from, coming at them various directions. They know which entrances we come in and out of that courthouse at. Attack each and every night and they are looking for state and local Law Enforcement to step up to patrol their parks and make arrests. The doc talk about singh. Give us a better idea of what is going on. I understand at least 38 Law Enforcement officers in portland xxed. Docs do their personal residence was made publicly available. I think we can agree this is the really am of its form of social terrorism to get these folks, put them in danger, discourage them from undertaking their responsibilities. Can you describe what happened and who you think was responsible . See, open source reporting, is information put out on twitter or Message Boards identified by violent individuals that are taking place in portland, exposing their personal information, its the individuals that we have brought in, where they are staying, certain hotels are being put out on social media and we have had to beef up security around those hotels. It is very dangerous, just as dangerous as being in that courthouse. Once they leave, their danger doesnt go away, the threat does not go away, so the individuals we have there night after night after night are not only having to fight the fight between midnight and 5 a. M. But when they go back to the hotel. Give me some sense of what measures dhs is taking to protect the officers who have doxxed, what are you doing to protect them . Each of our agencies certainly have protocols put in place once a Law Enforcement once their out information is put out. Once it is out, it is difficult to do that, but making sure they are protected as well. We have a chief Security Officer that looks into all of this as well, so we are doing our best. They are very safe and secure. They come in well before any of the violent writing starts and they will stay at the courthouse until it subsides. One final question on the portland situation. I think you referenced this a moment ago that the Homeland Security act of 2002 actually charges the Homeland Security federaly with holding buildings and grounds. Thats the statute passed by this body, by the United States congress and therefore a legal obligation for you to undertake the protection of federal property. Absolutely right. The department, it directs the secretary and fds as an extension to protect federal properties. A lot has been made about us being additional Law Enforcement. Secretary johnson, dhs secretary sent additional Law Enforcement across the country as the threat warranted. That is what we did. To talk about operation legend which is happening across the United States. Dhs is involved. It began in my home state in the city of kansas city where a young boy, a fouryearold was killed by gunfire while he slept in the Early Morning of june 29. Role . U elaborate on dhss we are supporting the department of justice through our sh i agents and that is what they do each and every day. They are looking at transnational criminal gangs, illicit narcotics, they are looking at the violent street crime that we see on the rise in these metropolitan cities. In chicago, we have a hundred agents there every day focusing on this and what we are doing is prioritizing the cases they work toto make sure we address make sure we are coming at it as a federal team along with state and locals there to address that. Ive had several conversations about operation legend as it continues to unfold. My understanding is this operation is designed to assist state and local leaders in protecting their citizens, also in prosecuting crimes. As a former state prosecutor, a crime can be duly charged at the state and federal level. We always welcomed federal assistance. Is it your understanding this operation is designed to assist state and local leaders and how would you assess the coordination and can indication between state and local leaders and what you are seeing at dhs . It is certainly designed this way. Weve seen it work in kansas city, st. Louis and the number of other cities and what you see is mayors and other elected officials in those cities, once they understand what it is and understand once we are there to work with them and go after some of the violent crime, you see them saying i welcome you in my city and want you here. I want to say in conclusion thank you to the dhs Law Enforcement officers, thank you for your service, and thank you to those officers out there putting their lives on the line. I know they dont have to do that. They are choosing to serve in this way, to go out and try to keep safe american citizens and federal property just like the Capitol Hill Police do every single day, just like the Law Enforcement do at home, so as someone who had the privilege to work with Law Enforcement in my state every single day, i just want to say thank you to them for what they are doing and choosing to serve our country in this way and im sorry they are being dragged through the mud as they are. Thank you, i will pass that along. Can you unmute . Thank you very much for joining us. Long before a came became a u. S. Senator, i was a boy scout. I was a midshipman. One of the people i served with was a guy named tom ridge. A vietnamserved as veteran and we served together in congress and served together as governors. He was and remains a lifelong friend for me. Sayingquoted recently as i will just read what he said. He was secretary of Homeland Security during the george w. Bush had been us ration. He said you may have Statutory Authority to do certain things, but that doesnt tell me its the right thing to do. A swat team like this did not defuse the situation, it exacerbated it. Not established as the president s personal militia. To unilateralnt intervention in my cities. When he was governor of pennsylvania, we were governors at the same time. He and i took an oath as did you. We took an oath to defend the country and constitution. The First Amendment says Congress Shall make no law respecting an exercise of religion, abetting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech or freedom of speech or the press to peaceably assemble and petition the government for a redress of grievances. The kind of activity that occurred in portland for days and nights and weeks was not Peaceful Assembly and i think is not the kind of behavior any of chairman, i was and talk about a different part of the department of homeland secured he. It could be border could border patrol, tsa, it could be the coast guard or a variety of things. Missiontalk about their and thank the men and women of the department of Homeland Security for their service and thank their families for sharing their husbands, wives, moms and dads with the people of america. Thederstand the challenge Department Faces and i dont occasions where the men and women deployed behaved badly but it does not excuse the behavior of those who get up at 2 00 in the morning and violently demonstrate. Congressman, about a , there wereago violent protesters in the late hours of the morning that came down right in front of the Federal Building where i used to was, joe bidens office there. What happened in the hours that followed was a remarkable thing. Police of the veteran ofrtment, a the Chicago Police force, he and our mayor met with demonstrators on their own term and talk to them and began commute occasions that ended up diffusing violence that weekend and though week after that. There was a great paul newman movie where he was in prison and he was tracked down and he had a great line. The warden said when they got him back and put him in jail, he said what we have here is a failure to commute kate. And i think what we have here in portland is a failure to commute kate. I used to be chairman of the National Governors association. Every president i have known literally has the ability to. Ommunicate a situationtake its just not acceptable. What can we do to help . Invited into the city you may not think it makes a huge difference. Is going on now in terms of violence and what i have on the activityte, the with stark to cryt i dont want over spilt milk. [indiscernible] made all the have difference in the world. Ive taken all my time. Would allow the secretary to speak. My apologies. You are a little difficult to hear, but let me take a couple of those comments and questions. Holding up theu constitution. Thats what the men and women Law Enforcement officers of dhs defend every day. As i said here, we both support and defend individuals who are going to peacefully protest, but again, what we see in portland is absolutely the opposite between midnight and 5 00 a. M. For 60 days straight, so i want to be very clear on that. Regarding portland and they fail failure to communicate, i would disagree. Weve been very clear on what we need and for 60 days, they refused to engage. Finally, the governor reached out and now you see Oregon State Police patrolling the streets, along with Portland Police around that federal courthouse and guess what, the violence had stopped. We knew it would stop once you have state and local Law Enforcement engaging in doing their job. We knew the violence would decrease and it has. Unfortunately, it took until day 60. It should have occurred on day two or three, so that is unfortunate. Regarding the comment on former secretary ridge, former secretary chertoff has been mentioned here and what i will respectfully say as i appreciate their service not only to the country, but they are wrong on this issue. They do not understand the situation that has occurred in portland, they dont understand the facts on the ground. I did reach out and i explained that they understood what the men and women of dhs Law Enforcement and their response was you have got to work better with state and local. I agree with you, i agree with them, we have to work better with state and local and we need a willing partner to work with them. For 60 days, we did not have a willing partner to work with us. If i could just respond briefly. When i was chief executive of my state, i would get on the phone and call people. I did. I called the governor and the mayor. I would hope not just the secretary would reach out but i think it is up to the president to do that and maybe have the kind of relationships where you not just talk to the mayor but try communicating and find a way and we could be better served. It does take two to tango. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I appreciate they chairman and Ranking Member holding this hearing today and the diligent efforts to be sure members can participate remotely. The senate should set a good example regarding social distancing and making smart decisions during the pandemic, especially as an increasing number of numbers of congress and capital staff are diagnosed with covid19 and we are doing that today. I appreciate acting secretary wolf joining us today. The challenges in portland regarding communication, it is violate vitally important that this commute occasion is frequent, open, and honest and i share the concerns my colleagues expressed on these matters. Regarding howwup dhs intends to improve its partnership with state, local and tribal officials and improve its can acacian strategy to prevent the kinds of challenges we saw in portland . I will and i will say we dont have any other issue in any other city around the country. Its very specific to portland. I continue to reach out to the mayor and the governor but i would direct you to the Portland City Council to pass a resolution that prohibited Portland Police from coordinating and sharing information with federal Law Enforcement. Thank you. Unfortunately, there are additional situations where dhs has not successfully commute catered with state and tribal officials. I continue to be troubled by supports by reports that ice has held Young Children in while deportation was arranged. Notcity of phoenix does have a similar type of resolution and we are willing and able to commute kate with dhs and ice. Vital totion is maintaining a coordinated and strategic response. Frequent and robust commute occasion between federal, local, and state officials is both important to ensure Law Enforcement take the effort and a coordinated message. My question for you, acting secretary wolf, is why did dhs choose not to commute kate with the city of phoenix in advance of this initiative and what specific steps have you taken to improve communication with appropriate local officials regarding the transport and detention of children in dhs custody, especially with children not being held in traditional dhs facilities . Has used Hotel Accommodations and that has been ongoing for decades. That is nothing new. Noto that because oh rr is able to take those unaccompanied alien children at that specific time or another housing location. The ice facility is not available because of the part of the country. Veryare being deported the next day. This is a practice the department has used going act for decades. It should be occurring there locally in arizona, specifically with the ice director as well as the cbp official, making sure there is close coordination as those individuals are either being moved out of the Hotel Accommodations and housing, whether they are being deported or being moved to oh rr for further action. To followup and make sure that happens in the future. Because as you mention, this has been going on for decades. In arizona where we have high levels of apprehension and deportation, we want to solve this. The identified hotels said they will no longer allow Migrant Children to be held at their properties. Is ice continuing to hold children at nonice facilities now . If so, where are they being held . If not, can you tell me where this population of Migrant Children are being held . We have contracts that have been going on for decades that house individuals we are in the course of processing. As we do that, we do that with family units as well. Iceo it not only using housing facility, detention facilities, and we have several of them in texas and arizona, but we continue to use that would housing accommodations as well. Are you using Additional Hotels other than the ones that said they would no longer accommodate the request to house imMigrant Children . Yes. We continue to work with local so we continue to use that. Some hotels fall on and off of that contract and we continue to use it as a way to house the individuals we are picking up that legally have no right to remain in the u. S. And we continue to process them. If i were to communicate with the mayor of phoenix, he would be aware of the Current Situation of Migrant Children being held in nonice facilities . We can certainly reach out to the mayor and other city officials and explain the process, explain how that occurs and what they will see in their communities and we will do that from the ice director there and we can have that outreach take place. Lets follow up on this. In my last question, we agreed this should be happening and we know it is not happening. Will continue to transport children and hold them in hoteltype facilities in this the of phoenix. To my knowledge, there has been no outreach to the city of phoenix to the mayors office. I would like to make sure this actually does occur. Do our mission each and every day, transporting individuals between dhs custody, hhs custody and the like, we do that every day. We will certainly communicate with mayors and local officials as much as we can. These are missions we do day in and day out every single day. Cracks thank you. Mr. Chairman, my time has nearly expired. You for holding this hearing and accommodations to allow for accommodations. Cracks mr. Secretary, thank you for appearing here. As is often the case, when i reserve my time in terms of questioning, senators asked questions and most of the questions have been asked, so i will not repeat them. There is one area i do want to explore with you and it is the makeup of the rioters. Know senator peters and folks on the others of the aisle were making a statement and turn of White Supremacists, which we acknowledge is a growing problem and one that i know the department is not ignoring in this committee is not as well. Ofyou have any kind intelligence in terms of the rioters, first of all, is it a coordinated effort . Are you seeing Coordination Organization and different riots in different cities or is this locally inspired byentially a National Movement . What are we finding in terms of what is causing all of this . What we do see in portland or what we saw over those 60 days was some organization to how they attacked the federal courthouse and that was just there locally. Im not talking about coordination with other cities, but specifically, how they approached the courthouse, the tactics they used, it was clear they were trained and there was some organization involved there naturalas not a outgrowth for them to arrive at 2 00 a. M. With weapons in hand. Quick so there were signs of organization. Have you been able to determine who is organizing . Homeland security investigators are working with the fbi and doj. They have a number of cases open and i think what we will see over the next 30 days is you will see a lot more activity coming out of the department of justice and charging individuals. There are riots, destructive riots all over the country in a number of different cities. Without revealing the final ready to you are not do, are you finding organizing groups . Are you finding commonality in terms of what is happening . Overall, we are in individual cities. I have not seen the intelligence they are coordinating across multiple cities, but what we do see time and time again is violent opportunists individuals that do not perhaps have an ideology but are taking advantage of and opportunity in portland where 60 days you can show up and do any kind of violent things and no repercussions. See violent anarchists trying to burn down a courthouse. We see an for organizing. Ng and that hasee boogaloo been attributed there in portland as well, so we see a number of violent extremists and ideologies occurring and what is dangerous is i have fostered this environment that you can show up, you can do any number of dangerous and criminal acts with no consequence to you and that is why they showed up night after night on the 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th night because they know until dhs started arresting people that there was no consequence. Arrested,people you in terms of what is causing this, we have talked about White Supremacy and we have talked , are you finding the full spectrum . Is there a majority, one side versus the other . Are they just simply anarchists for the sake of being anarchists . Of the arrests we have made, theres been almost 199, we are seeing almost all of the above. We are also seeing these individuals are trained not to talk to Law Enforcement. As soon as they are picked up, as soon as they are arrested, they do not talk to Law Enforcement. So the intel we get from them is very little and we turn it over to the department of justice. That process plays itself out. Groupsou know which train people not to talk to Law Enforcement . All of the above. Anywhere from anarchists to antifor two others. Two. When the investigations conclude, we can get some sense of what happens as to who is driving all of this. Supporty, we saw broad from this committee for the men and women of your department. I think that is fitting and proper and im glad to hear the strong support. What i try to do in my Opening Statement is layout the significant challenges the men and women of dhs and Law Enforcement face. It is not an easy task. I try to describe the sacrifices made. Its not only the sacrifice made by the men and women on the front lines, but it is their family that has to worry every time their loved one steps out anddoor and goes to work puts their life on the line. Hat is what is happening certainly from my standpoint, i want to encourage you to convey , particularlyon those in your department. I mentioned the sacrifice, please, wish the injured a full and speedy recovery. That is something particularly evil, which is one of the reasons i put it in the eo, the green laser lights broken bones will heal, other injuries will heal. You lose your sight, you have a quality of life. You have lost one of your senses and for any human being to do that to another human being strikes me as particularly evil. They question what they are doing to another human being. I agree with you 100 percent. Its why i talk so passionately about our mission in portland and our mission in portland and are Law Enforcement officers and welcome the opportunity to have discussions like this where i can refute very inaccurate and dangerous information about lawerous about dhs enforcement. Whats being reported by the Mainstream Media and what is happening are two Different Things going on. It certainly helps with you and other members of community when you show that support. I want to show lets say that was your father, your husband or your wife being confronted by somebody who puts a hole in their shield and hits a laser light to try to blind your loved one. Theres something horribly despicable about all of this, but that one affects me. Secretary, thank you for your service. Its not an easy job. I think you did a good job being for being forthright in your testimony and please convey the strong support to the men and women of your department of this committee and from me personally. With that, the hearing record will remain open until august 20 first for submission of statements and questions. This hearing is adjourned. Antiamn. Graham good morning, [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] trump has signed executive orders for coronavirus relief, including a payroll tax holiday, student loan deferments, eviction protections and unemployment benefits. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and white house Economic Advisor larry kudlow were guests on this weekend talked about the state of negotiations. Unfortunately, the president s executive orders could be described in one word, paltry. They are weekend far too narrow. The event that the country club is what trump does. At the big show and as the American People look at these executive orders, they will see they dont come close to doing the job in two