Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. Border Patrol Chief Testifies Before House Appropriations Subcommittee 20240714

Agency. She responded to public reports about a Facebook Group in which Border Patrol agents wrote inappropriate jokes of migrants and members of congress. This is two hours. Today we welcomed the chief of the Border Patrol and would note she is the first woman to hold this important position. Thank you for being here today. First, i want to acknowledge the men and women of the Border Patrol have faced a multitude of challenges this year with the high numbers of migrants that have been seen coming across the border. I know they have worked long hours and have been asked to do work that they never imagined would be part of their job. I continue to believe the majority of your personnel carry out their mission in a professional manner and to treat those in their custody with humanity. I have significant concerns about the reports of the treatment by some Border Patrol agents. Im also concerned that the Border Patrol culture may be tolerant of the actors. Understanding the challenges facing the Border Patrol, i hope we can Work Together to effectively address those challenges. That is part of why we are here holding this hearing today. Considering recent events and disclosure i look forward to knowing what youre doing to address the reports collected by the government case managers of the abuse and mistreatment in the Border Patrol custody. Specifically in yuma arizona. Im also interested in learning what youre doing to improve the conditions in your Holding Facilities that is described as horrific. I remain concerned about positions under which families and children are being held by the Border Patrol. Last month, congress allocated additional them to improve Living Conditions for the Border Patrol, temporary Holding Facilities. This included providing adequate space, items and access to medical care. I look forward to hearing what you are doing with the additional resources. Also of great concern and interest is what are you doing in response to the disclosure of the comments made by what is hopefully a small but loud and troublesome workforce. We have been disturbed and disappointed by the inappropriate discussions on facebook and humiliating treatment and cruelty towards migrants. Chief provost, every member of the committee is committed to improving security at the border, but you must do it in a way that is consistent with our National Values including the commitment to those. Unfortunately, that isnt happening throughout your agency. We need to talk about what appears to be a dangerous subculture at the agency that cannot be tolerated and must be addressed. The mission requires leadership that will inform and emphasize treating migrants humanely and respecting their rights. I want to work with you to ensure that happens. On a separate issue, in response to the recent challenges at the border, the administration directed and implemented the implementation of the migrant protection protocols as well as the cross training of Border Agents to perform the duty of the asylum officers. I have significant concerns about the initiatives it will be interesteand willbe interested e perspectives of these assignments and they are impacting the stated mission and a duty to protect the borders. Finally, it is concerning how this administration has implemented a policy after policy that seems singularly focused without regard to the asylum law or the impact they will have on migrants on the right to claim asylum. This is just one example how many of the president s actions are contrary to what we mean when we say our border policies must be consistent with our law and American Values. Together we must find the balance which sadly up until now has been lacking in many areas. Before i turned to the chief for the summary of her written statement the text of which will be in the hearing record about me first recognize the distinguished reign in member for any remarks that he wishes to make. Thank you madam chairwoman. Thank you for being here today to testify on the challenges you and your agents were facing in the southwest border. This is an important hearing and i hope that my colleagues will hear directly from the Border Patrol about the numbers of people arriving at the United States and why there are so many people at the border stations. This fiscal year alone your agents have processed more people and reside in the state of wyoming or the state of vermont perhaps by the end of july it will be more than the district of columbia and alaska or north dakota. Those numbers are staggering. I know the situation has become challenging and the numbers have decreased and i know that the officers i met are dedicated people doing their best to raise to beat this crisis. I was very impressed with their honesty and dedication to the mission. I think we all agree camping out at the office isnt the best place for children. That is why hhs takes them in as soon as they have a place available. But when they ran out of money, they couldnt take kids. Adults shouldnt be camping out at the station either. We all agree the findings it isnt a safe situation for either the migrants or the Border Patrol agents. Thats why they are in charge of the migrant detention in the country when they dont have enough money or bed space, they cant take the adults and thats why youre left with these overcrowded stations because the law doesnt it much choice. We need to take an approach to address the patchwork of laws, practices, rules and ruling to make the asylum structures. Until we are willing to do that, i fear we will never really solve the humanitarian crisis that we have today. Chief provost, again, i want to thank you for being with me yesterday. I learned a tremendous amount from our conversation. Please pass along my personal gratitude to the men and women for their work. I look forward to hearing your testimony and viable yield back the balance of my time. I would now like to yield to the chairwoman of the appropriations committee. I would like to thank the chairwoman and Ranking Member for holding this hearing today. Chief provost of the Border Patrol has an essential role in securing the border. That comes with an incredible responsibility. You and many of your colleagues have failed to uphold those responsibilities. Its been reported that youve are you area participant in thek group used by the employees to share xenophobic tropes among other highly offensive imagery including reprehensible jokes about the violence, sexual assaults. I look forward to your explanation of why he participated in the group and why you failed to report its existence to take any action to shut it down a. I am deeply concerned that conduct shows you and your agency or supporting a dehumanizing culture whose bias extends to how you treat vulnerable populations on a daily basis. You have seen that affect the way cbp interacts with migrants. For example, last week they reported that Border Patrol officers asked a 3yearold girl to choose which of her parents she would remain with him custody and which would be separated from the family and sent to mexico. I think that warrants repeating. The officers asked a 3yearold to choose between her parents. The family was fleeing and the little girl suffers from a serious heart condition. This trauma could stay with her forever. Asking you to pick a parent is shameful. At the Trump Administration has also continued attempts to implement regulations that run contrary to establish the law. From seeking asylum in the United States this would essentially end the claims to those traveling through mexico but of course this callousness from the recent interviews, acting director it sounds like if it isnt enjoying it would be piloted at one location along the southwest border. Still, the fact that this regulation is even something that has been contemplated by the administration is horrendous. Why do we confront the serious humanitarian crisis at the southern border, the culture of dehumanization in the very Agency Charged with keeping us safe and serving it in the face of American Values to those seeking refuge. You have a great deal to explain to the committee today. Thank you for appearing before us. I would now like to recognize the Ranking Member of the committee. Thank you madam chair. Thank you, chief provost for taking the time to testify i want to begin by recognizing the enormous workload that they are now facing at the border. It has to be done 24 hours a day, every day of the week. Would you tell the men and women of the border but we know that they are keeping us safe and they are doing the best under the most trying times. Its important that the members of the committee understands the reality as we conduct oversight of the Border Patrol in this hearing. Ive had the opportunity to visit the border many times. I live in texas and its a pleasure we are now giving it to see how serious it is. Ive spoken with so many agents it is unsustainable. I went to the border on one trip and someone said what we need is a permanent structure and i said stop right there we cant do this permanently. Permanently. Your peopl people cant do this permanently, so weve got to have the best solution we can stop this. I would think it couldnt get worse but then i went and it was worse. So we zero thanks and support during the trip i made where in january the numbers were 58,000 migrants a month coming across the border in the became worse with more than 100,000 a month in march and april and exploded to 144,000. It seems unbelievable if you see the lines you cant even see the end when they come over. The funds provided in 2019 there were not enough to meet the process and requirements for the hundreds of thousands of contributors this year into the migrant influx caused 50 of the border petrol to be dedicated to the care, feeding, processing and when i sent there and talked to them and they explained people were coming with children with no diapers or when they have him for three days and no vb food and a terrible conditions, people that have never been to a doctor in their entire life leaning over asking them questions and risking their own lives. I think we need to be aware of that. Theyve shifted more than 700 officers from other points of entry resulting in longer wait times for the illegal crossingss that is all they can do. Theyve canceled training and mandated overtime hours and shut down checkpoints. This isnt sustainable. People are making a dangerous journey to the people at the Border Patrol are also in danger every day. We have to do better and be more supportive and listen very carefully. I hope the congress will take a first step by passing a budget deal that the president and congressional leaders spoke with additional funding the agreement will avoid arbitrary cuts to the nations security and invest in meeting the challenge you are facing everyday. I look forward to hearing from you today about the conditions on the ground and with the Border Patrol needs to truly address this crisis. Before we begin i would like to remind members that they will be called to question based on the seniority of the presence when called to order alternating between majority and minority members and also to ensure that everyone has ample time to ask questions, i would ask each member to try to stay within the allotted five minutes per round. So, chief provost, if you would please begin your statement. Thank you and chairwoman of the Ranking Member and members of the subcommittee as well as the Sub Committee and Ranking Member granger. Youve asked me to testify regarding the supplemental funding provided by congress on june 27. By the time it was received, even dealing with the crisis on the border for more than eight months. Border patrol waited 58 days for the supplemental funding to arrive, but we began addressing the crisis on before. Our agents are working overtime to manage the influx back in january and have been working tirelessly ever since. In the fiscal year 2019 appropriation subcommittee supported the request for over 415 million to help us make investments in medical care, transportation facilities and to purchase additional food, clothing and hygiene products. For months weve been using our own funds at the border and added transportation to transfer families to the less crowded facilities for processing. The 1. 1 billion cbc received in the supplemental all of us to replenish our operational funds while continuing our ongoing humanitarian support efforts. I testified at the funding requested by our partners was just as critical as our own. Hhs was in dire need of additional backspace to keep up with Border Patrol processing apprehensions. Weve already seen results from the 2. 9 billion that hhs received. The numbers have decreased from the peak of 2700 in early june to approximately 300 today. And they spend significantly less time i time in the custody awaiting placement. Unfortunately, congress denied the request for the adult bed space and we are seeing the results there as well. They continue to spend far too long and Border Patrol custody. We have more than 19,500 people in our custody which would decrease to less than 10,000 due to the decline in apprehensions at the close coordination with our partners three of 10,000 was the level the then commissioner called a breaking point when we first surpassed it in march. Its unsettling that we are now considering it to be a reprieve. To be clear, the crisis is not over. While the crisis is unlike anything that we have seen before, this isnt the first time Border Patrol served in a humanitarian role. The advanced specialized training of the Border Patrol search trauma and rescue units have been saving lives for more than 20 years. We have over 1200 agents who voluntarily maintain emt or paramedic certifications. We established a program to help families locate loved ones and to identify those who tragically perish on the border. And we continue placing rescue beacons and location markers to help them. No one directed at the Border Patrol to take the steps to save lives. This is who we are. Today Border Patrol agents are being asked to be everywhere all at once. On the border something dangerous criminals and drugs in the river and across the desert saving the lives of migrants put at risk by smugglers and the processing facilities providing a humanitarian care. But despite the expectations its becomthat become popular te agents for the humanitarian crisis rather than help them address it. Its not just my agents that are overwhelmed, the facilities as well. I cannot stress enough that these facilities simply were not built to house people long term. They are basically police stations and they are not equipped with dormitories, kitchens, cafeterias, recreational spaces or areas like hhs facilities. Although we continue to invest in portable sinks, toilets, showers and Laundry Services especially in locations where we house the family is, these investments are only a bandaid. When our partners cannot transfer individuals out of our custody as quickly as we apprehend and process them, our facilities become overwhelmed and conditions deteriorate. In february, i told congress Border Patrol was the only part of our immigration system with no ability to control who comes our way and when or where they do it. I Implore Congress to look at the entire system because while we are the only agency represented here today, Border Patrol cannot do this alone. I thank you for the funding is provided in the near term, but to make a lasting impact, Congress Must make the changes to the framework that weve outlined time and time again. Im aware of the changes must take place outside of an appropriations bill. Im askinbut im asking you to r colleagues in a productive effort to address the root causes of the crisis rather than just the symptoms. A bandaid is simply not enough. Thank you and i look forward to your questions. Let me begin with an issue that was raised and that i think its on everybodys mind. Is on everybodys mind. Your initial press release to the story about the Facebook Group for Border Patrol agents implied that you were surprised by the content that is exposed and the subsequent reports however indicated you were a member of that group as recently as last november. Can you explain why you initially joined the group and why and when you chose to leave the group . Certainly. Thank you, chairwoman, for the opportunity to speak about my personal facebook account. I joined facebook and 2016 mainly to reach out to friends and colleagues, friends from back home where i was raised as well as friends i made over the years at the Border Patrol as thethey moved along the entire southwest border throughout my career. Sometime in 2017 i believe it was about two years ago from now, a colleague in guided me to some groups. They had mentioned to me that in my acting role as the chief at the time some of the agents were discussing how i was doing and it was something i was certainly interested in knowing how i am representing my workforce. I didnt think anything of it at the time. I am an extremely i am on facebook very, very rarely. I use it occasionally to speak with a. The on july 1, the first time that i saw those highly offensive and absolutely unacceptable posts as soon as i saw when i made sure i put an announcement out of the work force condemning the actions of those individuals. Once i realized that this was a group i was a member of model made by selfreport, i turned my entire facebook account over to the office of professional responsibility. And when i say that, i gave them my login and password so they had full access and they were able to go in and look at all of my activity over the three years that i had been a member of facebook. The in my assessment for example from june of 2018 through june of 2019 i logged onto facebook on nine different phase with them once a month. Sometimes i would go for months without logging on and other times maybe once or twice within a month time frame. When it comes to the statements made on the page as an agency, cbp we are working diligently. The office of professional responsibility immediately opened up investigations into the post that have come out from that and thereve been some others since then. The. We also placed some individuals on administrative duties while the investigations are being completed a by the office of professional responsibility. As i stated before this is an indigenous of the Border Patrol that i know. I was born and raised in kansas about as far away from the border as one could possibly be. It was a Police Officer when i joined. I expected that i would use the Border Patrol to move onto something when i was 25yearsold i considered to be bigger and better. The men and women i had the experience with over my career are those that are out there saving lives in volunteering to be mts and signing up for fourstar who are being proactive and our true Civil Servants and want to protect the nation. We take allegations like this extremely seriously and a few bad apples are not representative of the organization. We need to hold them accountable and we will do that. I really appreciate the opportunity to explain this to a. Thank you. Based on your testimony, the first time you were aware it was broken in the news and also you are committed to taking appropriate disciplinary action against personnel that violated the cbp standards of conduct. As a followup, the office of professional responsibility which is looking into specific allegations against employees has in the past reprimand employees from this very group because of similar posts. If these posts continued and it appears there is a subculture that has been allowed to propagate because the agency has been tolerant of this small but pervasive subculture, what you agree such a subculture exists and that the Border Patrol has been too tolerant, and what steps are you taking to ensure that this doesnt happen again, for example are you considering to change the subculture by making changes to the Border Patrol social media policy, diversity by standard and workforce resulting in the training and better educating employees on reporting mechanisms and consequent is . When it comes to a subculture in the Border Patrol as i stated before there are many things we are doing at the agency of the office of assistant commissioner, i apologize for the office of professional responsibility in 201812 amen zero addressing the social media when we started seeing some issues when it came to social media. These were not necessarily specific to this site and i do not know what sites they were specific to that there were some social media issues. We created a training, and i should have mentioned this earlier that all of the workforce will continue the training by the end of the fiscal year. Its just become available. The office of professional responsibility has been sending out reminders and i have sent out and will continue to. I will tell you as i said before, the few bad apples we have in our organization we dont want as well because they do not represent my men and women, my workforce of 20,000 that are out there risking their lives to protect this country. If we take all allegations extremely seriously, and i can tell you that everything will be investigated completely. Are you looking at your recruitment efforts and application to find a better way to filter out people that you may hire . We have a very extensive Background Investigation for every one that is hired on. The vast majority, 99 or whatever percent of our men and women are good and hardworking american citizens in a difficult crisis. Chief it is unfortunate with Border Patrol has that humanitarian work but i have been to the border not only do they have to abandon their mission but doing their very best to care for these migrant with overwhelming circumstances. As a humanitarian assistance at the border quick. No sir. We have been doing this for decades. What humanitarian duties are they performing on a daily basis taking them away from their primary mission quick. Right now 40 through 60 percent of the forces because of the sheer numbers of individuals coming across with family units spending a large part of their time doing transportation medical watch we are still currently seeking and doing multiple hospital runs per day with 80 individuals in our custody and care we have to take for additional medical. They are providing hygiene and meals and all of that as well as because they are in our custody longer than they should also with unaccompanied children and single adults has an extensive longterm care that we are not set up to do. How many hours you guesstimate your agents are performing these humanitarian duties quick. It is an extremely large number as we are doing 80 hospital runs a day it is like 40000 hours when it comes to medical alone. What type of humanitarian efforts has Border Patrol performed over the years for similar or different quick. As i stated earlier, when it comes to saving lives, rescued over 4000 people already this year and every year we deal with that tragically and then find many individuals who do not make it through the dangerous journey to the border but to have emts in a voluntary program over 1200 medical technicians that is after the department for the federal government when it comes to emergency medical personnel. That is voluntary and we created that on her own. We have done all of these protections throughout the years to ensure the safety of those individuals the best we can that are coming into our custody. Thank you. Hhs received the full supplemental for those facilities and beds for unaccompanied minors. It sounds like the timing was greatly helped by the efficiency of cbt to transfer the children out of dhs custody and into the care of hhs. Is that correct quick. That is corrected not only because it helped how many we have had in custody but i just want to really be clear per credit when children in my facilities. I dont want families in my facilities. They are not meant to house the population i want to get those unaccompanied children into the hands of hhs as quickly as i possibly can spec and fortunately the request for similar funds for i. C. E. To house those funds were not included in the legislation. Is the additional funding given to eyes for single adult beds for those who transfer , do you believe we would see the same impact we have already seen from the funding of hhs . They would have far fewer single adults from the days and weeks on end quick. I would not have an overcrowding issue right now if not for those single adults i have to hold because i. C. E. Cannot pick them up. Very good my time is expired i yield back. Thank you. Even though the administration has a zerotolerance policy leading to the separation of thousands of children from their parents , the Border Patrol continues to separate children from adults who claim to be their parents or guardians. Can you explain the circumstances under which cbp will separate a child from the parent or legal guardian if somebody is claiming that relationship quicksand way and use separate from a legal guardian relationship do you classify that separation as a family quick. Thank you for the question. Yes there are certain circumstances where we do still have to separate families and i want to be very clear and you stated this. A family unit is defined by law by us as a parent or legal guardian. We do have many children that are coming with other siblings, some are coming with other siblings that are minors, ants or uncles but by law i cannot keep these individuals together. That is not considered a fraudulent family. Identified over 5600 in the Border Patrol called the fraudulent family. Talking about an aunt or uncle its only if they initially claimed to be a parent and then we determine that they were an uncle or an aunt. We have numerous families groups, not units were an aunt or an uncle maybe with a niece or nephew that is not fraudulent but by law i have to separate them because they do not meet by law family unit. We can only keep children with a parent or a legal guardian by law. So just to clarify because this does not make sense to me at all. In fact have we reported the person that is complying with the law . This doesnt make any sense. The cbp and Homeland Security act has a definition of unaccompanied children and that defines as a lawful immigration status that has not attained 18 years of age with respect no legal guardian in the United States or no parent or in the United States able to provide care physical custody. That is the Homeland Security act in the trafficking victims protection it clearly states us Border Patrol is required to transfer custody of a uac to the care and custody of hhs. The law dictates which considers family it would if they are considered fraudulent they treated the same when there is truly no familiar relationship . I doing it approximately for a here so two and a half years. So you say the child is living with an aunt or local or National Goal by law you cannot keep them together . We cannot try to reform that that makes absolutely no sense. By law i cannot keep them together but we do not call them a fraudulent family its only fraudulent if the adult falsely claims they are apparent and they are not. However by law if the adult is a single adult and the child is unaccompanied i have to transfer them over if not with a parent or legal guardian. I want to get back to that because this does not make sense. When you separate based on a criminal background you consider the disparity are the length of time what is the criminal background mean quick. It could mean various things. Not Something Like that but allowed to release them into the United States youll impact the ability and in those cases we have to separate and then to turn the parent over as well as medical conditions or Something Like that happens. To work with hhs to have a serious criminal record to turn the over with that criminal history if there is a child. At the hands of health and Human Services if there is another Family Member in the United States. Should the standard for separation always be a parent or if the person is a threat . Then shouldnt there be no separation . You are talking about a two yearold or a three yearold or a five yearold with no threat if you believe there is no threat to the child shouldnt there be no separation quick. That is something we consider but if you violate the law and we have us citizens who violate the law with parents and then the children are taken away. We need to try to get that law changed if youre taking a two or three yearold. We have educated congress in relation to briefings one of the standards we have to abide by by the law. I think we have work to do. Thank you for being with us this afternoon and also thank you for your service and the men and women in the hard work to d do. I would just like to continue that chairman lowry is talking about with your testimony you say to be clear these families and those quote posing as families are not concerned about being caught by Border Patrol and they are exploiting this dynamic. So i would concur with what i have seen at the border and then talking to the fact there is a lot of incidents of nonbiological children being used legally and the florez settlement and several kids have been brought in to recognize those kids i just want to confirm whats going on at the border. Border patrol alone Homeland Security investigation has also come in with those cases that we refer now investigating fraudulent families where they have been tragically recycled. And to take away my taken advantage of these children and the families that are coming across and putting their lives at risk. To have a story from the Washington Examiner to reveal 30 percent of suspected funds were related. And in that article approximately 30 percent of rapid dna test were suspected of arriving at the southern border that the adults were not related to the children of the chief pros most provost in to ask her some constructive criticism is that a failure that enables smugglers and coyotes to smuggle children into the us. I certainly believe that is probably the main factor and families were put at risk and the smugglers make money off of them and entice them to come and do tell them if you come with a child you will be released into the country because we cannot hold families longer than 20 days we need to hold Families Together not the Border Patrol facility throughout the expedited process if we thoroughly address this issue and not put just a bandaid on it that is a huge pull factor in these families are aware of the dangers of crossing our border what they are put into. They dont know how the smugglers will treat them. So they utilize that to their benefit to make money and as a commodity. In my humble opinion and to make some changes through congress we should not be enabling i dont think there is anything in the us to release a child to an adult without confirming legal guardianship and in this instance as well. But we hope and we all hope and pray and they will be safe but they should not be taking that chance at their expense so hopefully we can make some changes in federal law so you can do your job to the best of your ability to be assured as best as possible. Because we are concerned to be fraudulent but and to be fraudulent 30 percent of a subset of a test group. If not 30 percent of the total number of children coming across the border. I apologize that is what hsi is doing. It is not something that is done with every family unit so when Border Patrol suspects we are referring them to hsi but i believe that is a number that is provided but i can say that not every family unit is referred. May be to have a test group but nevertheless a concern quick. You are right. This lasted and also el paso. I apologize that is hsi. I do agree with my colleagues there is a bad apple we need to go after those bad apples majority of your people are good people. With those immigrants. And then whatever the case might be but the two things i want to focus on and then what we need to do to do better job but that shouldnt be a oneyear thing and to give a redemption or hardship or locality in the language so we can try to maintain her men and women at the border. And with that and what we can do for retention but the other thing is that in 2690 percent of the people coming into the southern border in the nineties 5 percent of the people were returned and we know why. Those that coming in from the northern triangle 97 percent actually have less than 2 percent in detention and im not talking about the border but in 2006 we also had 10 percent of the people with unaccompanied kids or family units. In the old days and now you have a larger amount of family units. So the chain links and then to have a criminal record with unaccompanied kids in the family unit and adults. And unaccompanied kids go straight to hhs thats a different process. And they are treated very differently and those family units that are dropped off added for reimbursements. What do we do and then the other thing is on the Border Patrol Processing Centers they dont have clinics or kitchens and had to put money there but to use the money wisely and i dont know how much of what you get from what i understand and then we have to get a better bang with respect if they are in the border process. Thank you for the questions. As i stated earlier there are many factors on Background Investigation we have the polygraph and revamped our training at the academy. And i would offer to any of you here, please go visit our academy and what are the new hires are receiving. And on that retention issue. And i have been working diligently on retention or operational Mobility Program or through retention incentives and i will continue to ask congress and i am open to ideas to keep these men and women as long as i can so when it comes to our processing facilities. And thank you for with the things that we need like shower trailers or laundry. Or hygiene products. But long term but i want people out of our custody and care as soon as possible. I have so many facilities that are already in need of work. That would take an extended period of time. From that primary mission of border security. And for the members to consider once again i want these kids and Family Residential centers or hhs. Summit entrylevel the men and women could support. Chief i almost want to apologize for congress and previous congresses as a Law Enforcement officer myself dealing with the Domestic Violence cases that have used and he couldnt do anything about it. So i can only imagine the frustration you all have at the border in their effort to carry out their job when it fails on the arcade immigration system that because of our lack of action the florez Settlement Agreement in the 1980s and that was not all that bad. But then in 2015 was the expansion from the judge in california who said the greatest danger for these folks that are traveling to us on our border from the northern triangle countries that as long as you had a child with you you have a free pass we will not hold you more than 20 days and change the structure from a reasonable time to 20 days. We created the situation thats why we see these families coming to the border. We have created the incentive. We created the desire through the court system for these people to find children that they can use as a key to unlock entry into the United States. Going on a very dangerous journey with drug traffickers and Human Trafficking who are making tons of money off of this process. But the difference of these kids so a picture very recently looking at them in the water to assume that they drowned. I didnt the first thing that i thought is a trafficker probably killed them because the rio grande you can walk across. But is more likely to me as Law Enforcement that a human trafficker killed those individuals not that they drowned. There is no money for Border Patrol officers and points of entry. But in this years budget and my colleague touched on this but what are the numbers that you have currently authorized cracks quick. I have 19500 agents right now. We also have trainees at the academy and my classes are full. This is the second year in a row now we hired more than we lost by 118 frontline projecting we will be somewhere around 150 or 200 more this year assuming the Academy Graduates with training i have right now. And with the ports of entry they talk about having officers around with written testimony that you mention 700 officers. Does not have an impact on other areas quick. We currently have 731 Field Operations working through the ports of entry for glassell have 325 Border Patrol agents in the region and also love volunteer force of 342 helping with the crisis right now it is pulling them away from their other duties but at this point i desperately need their help to handle this crisis. I want you to know we have to address what we have created. But this body by our inaction and i yelled back. Thank you madam chair. I want to return to the line of questioning but on the issue that i raised it with those undocumented children and with those unaccompanied minors as a mother i have 20 yearold and 16 yearolds they were two hours from me i saw a young man that was apprehended and was eventually released but if my child was apprehended if they were two hours for me and that have an opportunity to come get them and to be in the country since he was nine months old and his mother was two hours away i would be flipping out to say the least. But that is a direct violation of the statute of this definition of unaccompanied minor. But as you said the normal immigration status of the United States with respect to whom but not these that were apprehended and there is no parent or legal guardian for custody. But i will tell you if i am two hours away with care and physical custody. So interpreting this statute with immediate local physical custody and thats not the letter of the law. In this effort and then more so. That we are talking actual apprehension instead of being returned to their parents instead unaccompanied minor and those that have been apprehended in this way not returning to their parents. When we apprehend them i need to transfer them to hhs they are better equipped like when i was a Police Officer. That your policy states that unaccompanied kids quebec must be offered use those that were not committed until they reached our custody this man was finally returned to his mother last sunday. The mother was two hours away and he was left in your facility with five days no ability to make a phone call. Without ability to make a phone call than that is a policy. That has not changed and that is still the policy. We allowed them to make a call. How do you ensure comprehensively that they are not granted the ability to make a call quick. Speaking with those who do those investigations. Also the cruelty that exist in your agency. A widely reported incident in el paso with like men and the agent instructed them to walk in front of a group of other migrants and set others laughed while this was occurring that it is dehumanizing and homophobic that the Inhumane Treatment i asked the secretary if he would do and investigation to house those officers taking children away in the middle of the night while the father was asleep so where do you make a commitment here and now for a comprehensive investigation about the cold act many of cbp officers im not saying they are all bad spirit that is not the job of my Border Patrol Officers Office of professional responsibility but i can tell you that would be investigated. I cannot speak for all of those investigations currently but i can tell you that cases under investigation. Thank you for your indulgence so you are only willing to commit and my officers under my supervision to be accused of cruelty i want to get to the bottom of it so where the breakdown in and how that is allowed on the border spirit this is the office dhs Inspector General as well as office of professional responsibility at the mitch loan a culture of cruelty goes all the way top two the director of hhs. Thank you for being here and i want to talk about the subculture discussions. This speaks not only to leadership but how we treat folks with the standards that we employ are you familiar with the term tonk quick. I have heard the term before. In what context quick. Highly inappropriate term we do not tolerate and Border Patrol that was a term that was passed down from many many years ago. You have heard that from officers in the field quick. Dad is not a term i have heard as of late. That recently in emails or text or outside quick. I was just made aware as the investigation is ongoing but i have not seen it. Where those made by an agent quick. I dont know. The secretary testified before the House Committee he doesnt think the cbp has a culture of dehumanizing migrants but that term is dehumanizing. I do agree it is. Is it appropriate for cbp officers or any agents to share personally identifiable information quick. No. It is not. We have to protect the privacy of those in our custody and in our care. I assume you have answered this in the context of professional responsibility. Word they also look at individuals that mocked the death of Child Migrants quick. Most definitely. There is a case that i am aware of based on the Facebook Information that is being investigated right now. I may have heard you wrong but you said june 2018 of jun june 2019 you visited as was told to you opr that you visited the group. Facebook. Four times that the days that i was on facebook. It was nine times per year jun june, i nine days that i logged on. Just to facebook. In the 12 months. Logging on can be done through your mobile device or the desktop. I used a personal ipad. Four times this calendar year prior to the previous 12 months. And then i say four days i think it was twice in one day. That is durable for a user on that platform but you joined the group at the request of a colleague. So from that time in 2017 through june of 2018 was there any approval for your facebook use because i understand you commented on a post within that group as well. I commented on the post the 1015 group but if i may when i log on and i commented on that because my agents were talking about me so i search the post i dont know what group i was on i did a search for myself. Because people were talking about the fact i was on a jeopardy question. So i searched myself. I did not know at the time what group that was on until the post came out for quite dont go into facebook or groups i either talk to my friends in my group are quite often that was revealed in the information from opr i do search myself quite often. C would hit the icon to search and type in your name on the search piece that it would populate. I would search through post that potentially had my name in it. Then it goes to the top of the list those that have connections to you whether friends or groups than those would show up at the top forgot that is when you noticed or saw that and then replied because you search yourself and then replied because you search yourself. Thank you madam chair. Like many members of congress i felt an obligation and your agents were accommodating but the striking thing how much worse they are. It is the influx of so many people but also a failure of attributes in a fair and orderly way. And what they saw for themselves. And with the unaccompanied children to didnt have a change of clothes for days. So we spoke to a lot of people who were stranded in Processing Centers for days or weeks when it was supposed to be 72 hours. So to what extent so how is this a failure in policy . So President Trump cuts off the very aid that has been directed to stemming the flow by improving conditions in the home countries. How can that even be contemplated quick. So closer to home and the accommodations for the process so then of course dealing with medical care and medical needs for the people that are being held i will ask one question and then i went to move to the medical issue. I know so 72 hours is not the absolute requirement but how long on average are your underage children captive Border Patrol facilities and in general to the standard which we can all agree is highly desirable to move through as quickly as possible. What will that take to come near the standard . For the situation you are facing. First and foremost when it comes to processing prioritize and with those family units. So we had a time with a 19000 people in our custody and hhs while is unable at that time with the 72 hours since you funded hhs that number has dropped dramatically and along with at the time in custody has dropped. And unaccompanied children in custody and care obviously that changes at different times more in the one or two day timeframe turned over to hhs right now. But you have 2700 children in our custody that i needed hhs to take them out of my custody and i do agree want these individuals out of my custody as quickly as possible. Family units as soon as we can process them, we are working with governmental organizations and that is like a two or three day timeframe but right now the problem is single adults i dont have the exact time but they are being held. The people in the cages shouting out . We were here 40 days. As i stated earlier we have to be able to separate different groups and keep those individuals in some of the facilities like the Rio Grande Valley with the Processing Center we want to have eyes on to make sure nothing is happening to these individuals but yes single adults we are having issues with with a 72 hour well. My time is expired so i will wait until the next round on the medical issue. That coming into that facility to put on a mask and duly warned there is a lot of contagion her here. So i do have some questions that stem from that experience and that observation. Thank you. Thank you chief for being here. I want to ask about an issue of enforcement it is your testimony your workforce has been constrained due to the crisis at the southern border. However Border Patrol is filled with conducting interior enforcement new york farmers have had issues with groups picked up and detained by agents with numerous actions across new york that have impacted consumers and farm workers according to the new York State Department of labor, between 48000 individuals in a given year including migrant and seasonal labor the portion of the agricultural workforce are vulnerable to enforcement which leaves new york state vulnerable to losing their workforce. So to be close proximity to an International Border there is a significant presence that leaves agents to question and detain and search individuals. What type of criteria does Border Patrol use to question these individuals quick. If i may to clarify speaking about interior enforcement generally that is i. C. E. Or Homeland Security. That is not something the Border Patrol now we do have traffic checkpoints as a secondary support system but i am just trying to clarify are you potentially speaking to enforcement efforts by i. C. E. And hsi quick. No enforcement by the agents. We do some roving patrol maybe i need to follow up with you on this so i can understand better and i apologize we do some roving patrol at checkpoints but generally talk about interior Enforcement Actions that is the job of i. C. E. Im not sure maybe i need to speak with you about this more in depth. We have had a lot of stories of a lot of farmers workers being picked up. I will take that back to see whether or not we are doing that and i will get back to you. I apologize. Maybe it is i. C. E. We are talking about and in that case i dont have that information specific they want to know what criteria is used. I will get you an answer on that. Of course. Thank you. Another question is another colleague of ours at the Detention Center who encountered a 13 yearold us citizen at the Detention Center and wanted to get more background about this incident why was the us citizen child held in the cage is the Standard Practice quick so often does that happen quick. Not knowing the exact case you are talking to you if you send me that information im more than happy to follow up. There are instances in particular children are us citizen children do come in to our care and custody if they are try it traveling and made it across the border with a parent who is an illegal alien. That does happen at times and we try to keep them together and the parent can make the call on what happened. Not sure of the specifics what youre talking too if you have a timeframe that could help me but i can look into any specific instance. This was reported an article on the National Paper that our colleague from congresswoman who was on congressional tour at the southern border specifically at the Detention Center. Spirit you know how many us citizen children are in custody quick. It is few and far between i do believe in that instance it was an illegal alien mother the mother and the child were released on their own recognizance i will confirm that is the case i dont have the exact number but it does happen time to time. If you could get back to us as well i would love to know how many at any given time are in boat Border Patrol custody and the average length they stay there and the process that they must go through to get released. Once again if they are with apparent, we will work through processing the parents and then work with the family to release them as soon as possible but im more than happy to follow up with you. Thank you i yelled back. I have two areas to talk about but first i visited the border a month ago and quite frankly i was surprised and shocked by what i saw. One made a comment that we have issues now about court we really are not in the detaining business that has caused a lot of issues now you are the only one with the unprecedented amount and you need more resources no question we just passed a bill that has four four. 5 billion giving humanitarian crisis to the border we dont have everything we wanted but we have a lot and that is a good start. We need to address overcrowding and we need hundreds of more judges. These are bigger issues to move people in the United States and provide more aid to the northern triangle country and we need to make sure we know why people are leaving as long as there is issues in these areas we will have problems we need to be screening detainees very important issue especially in the Southern District we need to abide by national law and it is a big issue these people are running for their lives. They cannot research the whole immigration system now the third party the red cross are willing to roll up their sleeves and help out i keep hearing about the flu and lice outbreaks are we aware these volunteers need to be selfrestraint before providing assistance with the humanitarian organizations this could help with some of the issues we are dealing with. It would you speak out of line but we are working very closely with medical professionals and by the way thank you supporting having more medical professionals in our facility we have over 200 across the board. I cannot speak to the legalities on the red cross but we are working with fema within the department as well with other possibilities. I agree we need the medical assistance at our facilities. And the other thing i want to talk about for the people that brought it up that is about privatization theres a lot of good ones out there. A few bad people make it look bad for the entire agency. It happens in congress and a lot of organizations. This grouthe group has about 950 members. The comments cracking jokes. Reports of alleged misconduct is a former prosecutor better in my life have i seen such a lack of professionalism and disregard for human suffering i served for several stir reyes and i learned to respect the agency because of what he told me about the Border Patrol and how tough it is between the borders and certain come artery thats fair that a few people are hurting your agency right now and a lot of people are the same way. A few bad people and certain policies by the administration are causing problems with your agency and respect. My question is what are you doing to restore the credibility and reputation of the agency as it relates you talked a little bit about the 1015 group that generally has a long way to go to rebuild the average person in this country. Thank you for the question. As i stated earlier you are right those individuals are not representative of my men and women as a whole. That is why weve taken steps meaning putting a large sum of resources. I will continue as we are spreading the training thastartl this does is harm their reputation. That being said i would love to hear more from the media and others reporting on the amazing thing our men and women are doing because i do spend every week im making calls to the field on rescues him agents putting their lives on the line that isnt making it into the public eye i would love to see that out when we are talking about over 4,000 rescues this year. When we are talking about agents that have pulled children out of the river where it is extremely dangerous and smugglers do put children in inner tubes that are made for a Swimming Pool and push them out and put women in those situations. I agree that we have to deal with those few bad apples. This is a priority for us. The stories that you hear tell the stories of saving peoples lives as well. Just a quick followup with regards to congresswoman wasserman schultz, questions regarding the incidents in the u. S. Sector about the abuse of unaccompanied children while in custody. The information weve gotten by caseworkers when the children went, there are those kinds of allegations. Do they then give Border Patrol that information . We didnt receive that until the investigation came out. And i do know the office of Inspector General is investigating that, but that is certainly information i would love to have so we can address any of these concerns up front. Whether they are giving it directly to the oig or the office of professional responsibility, that is something they should be doing as well. Those are generally the entities that they are going to give it to, but we certainly want them getting those type of allegations to either the oig or cbp office of professional responsibility. We will make sure that happens. One of the things i find very concerning is despite the guidance exempting vulnerable population from placement in the programs we have been made aware of pregnant women and migrants have been sent back. Since your agents apparently are not consistently following criteria that you have given, what is being done to ensure they do not return those individuals and what oversight mechanisms do you have in place to ensure that outcome . My understanding is they are given a sort of general guidance and there is nothing in writing. They are giving guidance and of course theres supervisory oversight when it comes to individuals we are returning for the migrant protection protocol program. We also work very closely with the government of mexico and we are not just turning people over across the border. They are working with nongovernmental organizations for placement for them. The standards when it comes to the Program Speak to obviously anybody that we have over 96 hours in our custody or that have entered more than 96 hours prior is not eligible for it as well as individuals who are of course mexican nationals and those that express a fear of mexico are going to be sent to uscis. When is the weaknesthen is te system that has made it, that has allowed in these cases for vulnerable populations to in fact be returned . We follow the standards of the no unaccompanied alien children sent back, citizens processed for expedited removal. What i am trying to get at is to ask you came you look into what is happening and where are those weaknesses that are resulting in these vulnerable populations being returned . There are circumstances where they have medical or Mental Health issues but they need to be like current medical issues if they have been cleared up then they can go back but its something i am more than happy to talk about further and to work with you on what your actual concerns are. I want my other colleagues to have a chance but i would like to follow up. I would like to understand a little bit better your specific concerns when it comes to cases of individuals we are sending back. We will follow up. Thank you madam chair and i want to thank my friends on both sides for a very productive hearing. Thank you for your thorough answers, and again the tremendous job you and the men and women are doing. Something that resounds on both sides from our leaders in the house said we need to come up with policies. I think the sheriff said it best they are put in a difficult position. Youve got to follow the law how long does it take to process the quote on quote large groups . I certainly dont want us to be breaking with one large group of over a thousand in one group so obviously it is going to depend upon the size of the group that when i have days where ive got over 5,000 illegal aliens coming across the border, it is extremely timeconsuming to get those individuals just transported logistically especially if they are coming in remote location. Medically screened, processed through the system. It can take a large group days to get them handled. It just depends upon the size of the station where they cross and the staffing and the size of the group. We had over 200 groups that crossed the border this year. Thats over 100 people in each group. Last year we had 13 total of the year before i think it was just a handful. Does the processing including medical screening and medical treatment if it is warranted . If it is warranted in all childreand allchildren are scre. Perhaps the metrics should be adjusted in counting how many hours we process and medically screen and then to start how long it takes for hhs to respond to the notification for pickup. How would that start if we look at the various steps of the border as a separate activity versus just in custody . Border patrols are the only ones that can say no. If migrants come across and present themselves to my men and women, we have a responsibility to take him into custody and then they are in our care and custody and we dont have the ability to say im sorry i dont have any more space whereas i think i mentioned earlier it is critical that my partners have the funding that they need to take them out of the care and custody and once again recognize certainly the efforts of the committee when it comes to the funding provided to hhs that has been a tremendous help. I certainly do not want 2700 unaccompanied children in my custody. I would never want to see that again. And it has made a big difference, but because of ice not having the beds, that does have an impact. There are obviously numerous factors that impact the processing. We notify either hhs were ice that they are ready to go and we work handinhand on moving those that have been in the custody of the longest. Thank you for your testimony. I believe theyve called votes, so im going to yield. We have the option we can do one quick ground or we can come back. We had a Border Patrol agent that murdered multiple individuals. I think we have another Border Patrol agent in the same time that killed their girlfriend and baby. Do you do any sort of i dont know what the position is on psychological testing for those folks number one coming and then number two, talking to the men and women of the border, they are afraid sometimes to talk when they have an issue because if they go to the supervisors, they take the gun away so they basically are told talk to a priest and they have to be some sort of a support service my question its psychological and any sort of support, thank you very much. We currently do not have a psychological evaluation. We do a very extensive background check and a polygra polygraph. We also do reinvestigations every five years. That is something i would say we should speak with the office of professional responsibility. I did take one from my Police Department when i hired on. When it comes to things from the agents, concerns they have, we created a Peer Support Program to support our men and women when they do need to talk about issues as well, but i would certainly want my men and women to be able to talk to the supervisors when they have an issue and of course if they have an allegation they can go directly to the office of Inspector General special counsel for the office of professional responsibility without any of the chain of command knowing if they have a concern with their chain of command. I think its important we not only help you with this and this issue that you had to deal with, but we also have to address the causes. And i think that is evidenced by the fact that when i see videotapes of these large groups of 203, 200 plus, i saw the video of the thousand coming across. They dont run from your office. They run to your offices. The reason for that is they understand the draw that we have created that continues to bring them here. This congress has got to address the. One quick question. Can you tell me how you moved 731 officers and also military assistant. Was it worth while . Its allowed me to free up the agents that are helping with our Situational Awareness so the agents can respond. They are now providing some report the need for support when it comes to the meal preparation for the end debat individuals iy and care those that work with migrants at my office that theyve heard reports of pressuring teenage girls and designing documents getting result and accusing them of lying when they have asserted that they are minors. Such a way a child would lose protection and become the subject of expedited removal and transfer to custody. Is this a Legal Practice . Would you commit to these any substantiated holding these actions accountable . Definitely. I have one additional question. Abusive behavior as i indicated in my prior questioning seems to be tolerated although i know you are disagreeing with that this is widespread abuse and apparently it goes unpunished out of the total of 7,239 agency disciplinary actions only 70 were removal actions. That represents less than 1 . What kind of misconduct would prompt the removal of an employee or agent and wh e. Ands the number so low when the reports are so commonplace . Lack of candor would be an issue. Conduct can lead to the removal as well. But there are various levels along there are numerous things that could bring to light discipline. I would state during 2017 that we did have hundreds of individuals that received suspensions and we did have demotions and. There were several that were unsubstantiated as well in the number that you provide. 7,239 disciplinary actions and less than 1 resulted in removal. I would think that things like taking a child awake while they are trying to speak on the floor covered with tinfoil is something that would indicate a culture of abuse and abuse of practice by an individual that certainly doesnt belong in place of the customs and Border Patrol officer and put into the exemplary of the 4,000 rescuers that you indicated. Ber allegations that hav to e investigated and whether or not why is the number so low when the records are so commonplace . Once again it does have to do without that i believe 3800 of the number that you gave were unsubstantiated allegations and once again those are not investigated by any vr either by the office of Inspector General or the office of professional responsibility that is their job to deal with. When you see the number of 7,239, 3800, 3,806 were unsubstantiated claims and there were various forms of discipline that were handed out, and it will depend on every type of situation. I would like a comprehensive overview of the forms of discipline by the remaining 4,000 cases. I will get with the Relations Group on that. The separation policy was from at least april to june of 2018 and records indicate children were separated before then. Youre appointed acting chief in april of 2017 did you play any role in advising agents on how to carry out the family separation . As i stated we never had a specific family separation policy in my 25 years i have had to separate families. This isnt something new to the Border Patrol. We have a responsibility to ensure the safety of children, so there will always be cases as there still are today where we have two separate families. We do not take that lightly. That is something that is very difficult for any of my men and women to do. The care of the children is of utmost concern to. In each of those administrations it is of course being done in compliance with the executive order and with ms. L. Right now. Zero tolerance was different. It was a Prosecution Initiative although not focused on family units. What role did you have in helping to guide your agents on what the new standard was . I gave direction out to the field of the zerotolerance when it came down the chain of command and when it came to prosecutions. It was a zerotolerance program focused on initiatives that we have done numerous Prosecution Initiatives over the years. Know were running out of time as the vote as the clock ticks on the boat. Where i am served this and i hope you can provide an answer more generally and perhaps some of this for the record i would appreciate your Immediate Response of how much attention you are paying to this and how much you are regarding the situation. It looked pretty bad, quite frankly. I mentioned we had to put on masks and there was a warning of contagious diseases in the air. Seeing the line of migrants waiting to be seen by medical staff, we spoke with a father lying on the quarantined matt it wasnt clear when they were going to be taken to a facility and there were people who had been seen who were waiting to go to a local healthcare facility at the cbp border for sympathy and so on. It wasnt a good scene and appeared to be overwhelming. What is your assessment of the medium is the priority that you give this and in particular, we are going to want to know how quickly and in what way you can utilize the sun. This is of course a series concern to me and my men and women as well. There are numerous individuals coming into custody that are sick when they arrived and we are expanding. Thank you for the funding that has helped us expand our medical contracts where we have over 200 medical professionals working in our facilities. We are also able to buy a more medical bags and other medical supplies to assist in this issue. As i stated we are doing on average Border Patrol agents are taking 80 people to the hospital but they in the southwest border and obviously when the medical professionals advise that anyone in our custody needs further attention outside of what they can provide, we will take him to the hospital and stay with them throughout that time until they can be medically cleared. We have nearly 300,000 children have come across the border illegally between the parts of an great and as we all know i think tha that is a very vulnere population when it comes to the health risks. I just wanted to go back to the conversation what are the Border Patrol procedures when processing some of these individuals one of the exclusions is the minor children cannot be a part of the program so we are not returning unaccompanied children. When you are returning other asylumseekers to mexico, to Border Patrol agents ask if they face danger or persecution in their home country . When it comes to them waiting in mexico for their asylum case, if they show a fear of mexico then they go back to the uscis to express that fear otherwise they are waiting for their hearing in the usa and they ar u. S. And tht back across the. If anyone expresses that they fight fear, danger or persecution in their home country, they are brought to you at the facilitys . Are you asking specifically to the program . Specific to that, they would need to show a fear of mexico and if they show a fear of mexico than they are referred and waiting for their hearing. So then they are referred back to uscis on whether they have a credible fear of persecution or torture. But when it comes to whether or not they have a fear of their home country then they will get their day in court to express that in front of a judge. Where do they go if they dont specifically mention mexico . If they are part of the program 22,000 i think that weve done so far, then they will wait in mexico for the state. Then they will look for the determination of the fear of returning were going to mexico. Okay, thank you. Id will yield back. Unfortunately, we have run out of time. We will submit other question for the record and i just want to say thank you for your time for being here and i look forward to a lot of followup on many of the issues that were raised today. Certainly. And thank you for inviting me today. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] whistleblower protections of the federal affairs department. The house subcommittee heard testimony on preventing retaliation by supervisors or departments that may have been associated with active or closed investigations