The standard of habitability should include those factors . Secretary nielsen i would agree with you that we need to do more and we are doing more. As you know, we have the first and foremost duty to protect the safety and security immediately after an event in response. H. U. D. Works with us on the longer term housing, and right now what were seeing is the transition from shortterm housing to longer term housing through recovery. Right. Blumenthal people are out of their shelters in connecticut and likely in puerto rico without the section 8 or other h. U. D. Programs. Secretary nielsen i am happy to look into that, sir. Senator blumenthal id like you to look into it. Id also like you to give me what the standard is for habitability because certainly it should include water, electricity, and a reliable roof, that is a structure that can be regarded as safe and secure, would you agree . Secretary nielsen id be happy to look into it, yes, sir. Senator blumenthal let me just close on the topic thats been raised, unfortunately, repeatedly. I know its one thats uncomfortable for all of us here. I am not going to repeat the word, but at any point in that conversation on thursday, did the president of the United States use that fourletter word, end with s, in combination with any other words or alone that you heard . Secretary nielsen sir, respectfully, i have answered this. Ive been very patient with this line of questioning. I am here to tell you about the threats our country faces and the needs and authorities that are needed by the department of Homeland Security. I have nothing further to say in a meeting that happened over a week ago. Id like to move forward and discuss ways in which we can protect our country. Senator blumenthal lets i agree, expand on the compromise that was offered. The proposal that senator durbin and senator graham and others, the bipartisan proposal that was suggested, would you agree with me that its an encouraging step and should be built on because we want to avoid the mass draconian deportation that otherwise will occur to these very brave and talented young people that have come to our country . Secretary nielsen yes, sir. I think anyone who is willing to work towards a solution to this. As i said, my staff has continued to meet with their staff since that meeting and im very hopeful we can agree upon a deal amongst us all that increases Border Security, that ends chain migration and diversity lottery and also accounts a permanent solution for the daca population. Senator hirono. Senator hirono wed like to move on. Before i ask you to what happened in hawaii this weekend, you testified you did not hear the president use the word shole or shouse, although you may not hear it. Did you hear senator graham hear the word shole or shouse at the meeting . Secretary nielsen maam, no. Senator hirono there are hytened tensions between north korea and the United States and you touched upon the department of Homeland Securitys efforts with regard to disaster responses. What happened in hawaii could qualify as that, of course. So the false Emergency Alert about a Ballistic Missile threat to hawaii induced real fear and panic throughout the eye lands and although the threat were false the fear were real. I understand there were system failures involved. Id like to ask you a question what we can learn about the systems failures and how we can improve the Emergency Alert systems, not just for hawaii but for every state. So can you explain to me exactly what the role of your department is in overseeing state Emergency Alert systems . Secretary nielsen yes, maam. So we provide the backbone of an alerting system which state and locals are able to tap into to reach their citizens. Its called the integrated public alert and warning system. It provides for a variety of capabilities, including geotargeting, so we can alert those who are in harms way. But the decision in this case to utilize that backbone and how it was utilized was the states decision. Senator hirono it all started with human error. So obviously we need to identify the human failures and correct them and then to the extent there were system failures because there was a very long span of time from the first alert and then correcting that alert. So that seems to point to some communication and other kinds of failures that we ought to be addressing. So do you have the spobalt to convene state responsibility to convene state Emergency Managers to make sure each state has an alert system that functions properly . Secretary nielsen we do request a variety of information from state and locals on their alert Warning Systems as part of our threat assessments conducted by fema as well as anytime we provide grant assistance. Oftentimes the request is to use federal money to improve systems. We work with the states to ensure that makes sense. Senator hirono do you have an overall responsibility or part of your responsibility is to make sure every states Alert Systems work properly . Secretary nielsen what we do yes and no. So in other words, we provide the backbone to ensure anytime if the president or the department of Homeland Security would need to send an alert to citizens with an impending catastrophic event, for example, we can do that. The state and localities then often use that backbone to distribute and disseminate their own messages. As you know state and locals have their own systems that you can opt into with other types of noncatastrophic event. Snow, for example, or major rainstorm, something their citizens should be aware of. Senator hirono this had the this could have been totally catastrophic. Do you have standards in ensuring state Emergency Management agencies use best practices in a situation like what occurred in hawaii on saturday . Secretary nielsen so fema has been in touch with the emergency manager in hawaii. We have offered our support for any afteraction they perform. I asked my folks at d. H. S. To do their own afteraction to make sure we are clear when we receive an alert and warning from a state, both that it is disseminated properly but also we can verify. Initial lessons learned. We would work with the states, particularly in this threat, to ensure theyre kked to those who can quickly verify whether that threat is real or not. In that case that would be the department of defense. We are in active conversations with them to ensure they can improve their system, yes, maam. Senator hirono you would agree there are responsibilities at f. C. C. , for example, they have acknowledged they have a certain responsibility. D. H. S. The state. And Pacific Command because the order to send out this alert should have come from Pacific Command upon getting the notification from Northern Command there was a Missile Launch and where it was heading. So we can improve all of those communications. Secretary nielsen yes. Senator hirono was your department aware that hawaii Emergency Management agency did not have a mechanism entirely in place to address the false alarm situation and alert and an alarm retraction mechanism . Secretary nielsen we were not aware before this occurrence, no, maam. Senator hirono are you going to work with states to ensure they have that mechanism . Secretary nielsen yes. Senator hirono they say its purely a state exercise but i think that understates the problem because i believe addressing issues with alerts about a Ballistic Missile threat from a foreign country everyone assumed it was from north korea is not only a state problem. Would you commit to working with me to ensure that states, not just hawaii we have to include guam already in an uniform and effective way to alert their people of missile threats . Secretary nielsen yes, i will. Id like to work with you to ensure were providing specific instructions on what to do upon an alert. Senator hirono once hawaii e. M. A. , the Emergency Management agency, realized it sent out a false alert, it apparently wasnt clear to them whether or not they needed to consult with fema before sending out a retraction. Do you know what the requirements are, where theyre supposed to get fema somehow agreement, involvement in order to send out a false alarm message . Secretary nielsen no, maam. They dont need to get anything from fema to send out a retraction. Senator hirono thats another clarification of Clear Communication that has to occur. Secretary nielsen yes, we all should clarify that. Senator hirono so how can d. H. S. Play a role in ensuring all of the systems involved in sending out alerts and retracting them are understood by all the states . Are you taking some very specific steps to ensure that this is happening . Secretary nielsen yes, i had asked the administer of fema to ork with the state Emergency Management agencies to make sure the Standard Operating Procedures are clear both on issuing alerts, based on the fact they are alerted and making a course correction in the very small cases when that might be necessary. Senator hirono are there formal plans in place to respond to a Ballistic Missile attack . We are not talking about hawaii or guam. North korea is building a missile to reach the continental u. S. Is there a plan in place in your department on how states are to respond to a domestic missile attack . Secretary nielsen we continue to work with the states to understand the threat and the effects of it. The federal interagency we had an exercise in february we will have an exercise in support of state and local response. Senator hirono i understand when you say cabinet level, it was the subcabinet level, not at your level. Secretary nielsen nope. Sorry. The cabinet level will occur in february. We had a deputy exercise in fall. Senator hirono make sure every state has in place secretary nielsen let me be clear. The cabinet level will exercise will clarify the roles and responsibilities of the federal government so that includes, as you say, d. O. D. , to the extent were talking about an alert and warning system, we want to make sure the f. C. C. Which is undertaking an assessment, is clear so well clarify that at the same time were working with state and locals to make sure they have the information they need. Senator hirono thank you. It sounds as though everybodys onboard. Especially after what happened in hawaii to make sure this doesnt happen in hawaii or anyplace else for that matter. I want to get to the question of daca because i was at the meeting at the white house where you said that you also said that today that no daca participant had lost their status. Secretary nielsen i did not say that. I said 21 have lost their status because they committed a crime. Senator hirono i am talking about 15,000 i am informed lost their status. Daca participants had to renew their status and only those whose status expired at a certain time frame were allowed to renew after the ending of daca was announced. So there were thousands of participants in daca who were already on renewal status. Now they and so they couldnt apply for renewal. So these are the young people that lost daca status, 15,000 of them. Take my word for it. Im glad after the California Court ordered d. H. S. Begin to renew these applications, you have done so. Secretary nielsen yes. Senator hirono i commend you for that. I wonder whats happening to the 15,000 who have lost their status. Are you creating an expedited procedure for them to have their daca status restored . Secretary nielsen i will get back to you on that, maam. I am not familiar with 15,000 who lost their status. As i understand the program ends march 5. So let me get you the senator hirono not everybody ended then. Secretary nielsen i understand there were 20,000 who decided not to renew who were able to renew. Senator hirono we are talking about people that lost their status because they were in the middle of renewal and so they could not renew in the time frame they were given after the announcement. Secretary nielsen i am happy to get back to you. Senator hirono you see my sense of urgency. Senator grassley senator booker. Senator booker thank you very much, mr. Chairman. First of all, i just want to say about the daca issue going on right now, to me this is a very profound moral issue in this country. Its a moral issue because many of these children do not even have memories of their own country and now in our nation they are doing things extraordinary. In my state we have Daca Recipients, dreamers who are serving in the military. We have dreamers who are first responders. We have dreamers who are entrepreneurs. One young lady who sat in my office employs hundreds and hundreds of people. I am sure aware, because you probably met with these people you met with dreama, yes . Secretary nielsen i have not met with Daca Recipients as secretary of Homeland Security. Senator booker before . Secretary nielsen not as selfidentified, no. Senator booker these people are not only hanging in the balance of policy but its a grievous anxiety. Its undermining their life and their wellbeing and their ability to serve. This moment for them, these weeks and weeks of waiting on something where 80 of americans agree, republicans and democrats agree that we should find a way for these folks to say this this country, what is happening right now is unacceptable treatment to people who are fellow americans but for the documentation. I want to just turn, though and you have to forgive me, listening to the testimony has changed my line of questioning a bit because this is very personal to me. I sit here right now because when good white people in this country heard bigotry or hatred, they stood up. Moving into my Home Community we were denied housing because of the color of our skin. There was white americans from the county who banded together to fight against racism, to fight against hate speech, to fight against people based upon their ethnicity, based upon their origin, based upon their religion. What went on in the white house, what went on in the oval office is profoundly disturbing to me and ill tell you this. I heard about it when i was in puerto rico when it happened. And here i was there trying to help a community dealing with savage challenges. I cant tell you how Many Puerto Ricans brought up that conversation in the white house. I returned to atlanta to go to the king Center Awards and from the greatest luminaries from the civil rights movements down to average americans, this was on their mind. I returned to newark, new jersey, and i talked to africanamericans from africa. I talked to Central Americans. I talked to regular newarkers and this was top on their mind. Yesterday i talked to the ambassador from haiti and to see all theyre doing as a result of this conversation. Now, ive been in the Oval Office Many times and when the commander in chief speaks, i listened. I dont have amnesia on conversations i had in the oval office going back months and months. I had individual meetings with the president and ive had Group Conversations where there was, as you said, crosstalk. And why why is this so important . Why is this so disturbing for me . Why am i frankly seething with anger . We have this incredible nation where we have been taught that it does not matter where youre from, it doesnt matter your color, your race, your religion, its about the content of your character, its about your values and your ideals and yet we have language that from dick durbin to Lindsey Graham, they seem to have a much better recollection of what went on. Youre under oath. You and others in that room that suddenly cannot remember. It was Martin Luther king that said theres nothing in this world more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity and so here we are in the United States of america and we have a history that is beautiful and grand and also ugly where from this nation to others we know what happens when people sit by and are bystanders and say nothing. When oval Office Rhetoric sounds like social engineering, we know from a Human History the dangers of that. Our greatest our greatest heroes in this country spoke out about people who have convenient amnesia or who were bystanders. King said a man dies when he refuses to stand up for that when he stands up for that. A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand. Weisle said we must take sides. Never the victim silence, encourages the tormenter. Never the tormented. Gandhi said silence become cowardess, cowardess when we occasion when the occasion demands speaking out like Lindsey Graham did and acting accordingly. This idea that the commander in chief of this country could with broad brushes talk about certain nations and thus cast a shadow over the millions of americans who are from those communities and then you could even say in your testimony the nor weekans were preferenced by them secretary nielsen sorry senator booker let me finish. Im sure you will remember the six words from our president , the six words that he said after charleston, virginia, last summer. People marching with tiki torches and hate when he said there are very fine people on both sides. Ery fine people on both sides. When the commander in chief peaks or refuses to speak, those words just dont dissipate like mist in the air. They fester. They become poison. They give license to bigotry and hate in our country. I know youre aware of a 2017 g. A. O. Report that found, and i quote, out of the 85 violent extremist incident