To the bottom get of the campaign to deport critically ill children and their families. It appears this policy has thankfully been reversed after congress and the American People outcry at the cold inhumanity on display in this policy. I am going to treat this hearing is not only an honor of the memory of our late beloved chairman, elijah cummings, but as a hearing indirect pursuit of a policy directive that was close to his heart, the threatened deportation of Sick Children that his very last official act before his death was to issue subpoenas to hold the administration to account. On wednesday, in the waning hours of his life through all pain and difficulty, chairman cummings recognized the stain this policy would leave on our nation, and he made holding the government accountable his final official act. And we now have a sacred obligation to follow through on his subpoenas to make sure that we defend some of the most Vulnerable People on the planet, Sick Children who have come as strangers to our land to seek medical assistance. Who have come, and strangers to our land to seek medical assistance. So to our Witnesses Today, i want to be clear, this follows chairman cummings promised to unearth the truth behind his policy and his desire to ensure that the policy is truly reversed and that our government treats people in this category with the dignity they deserve. Not only do we owe that to our late beloved chairman but we owe it to maria is about race, to jonathan sanchez, and all the immigrants whose health and whose lives were threatened by the policy implemented by uscis. Uscis must explain what the current policy is on deferred action. It cannot keep the process shrouded in secrecy while these kids wait to hear their fate. If we go to the slide, september 18th, acting secretary of Homeland SecurityKevin Mcaleenan ordered the acting homan director, mr. Cuccinelli, who is here with us today to quote, ensure that effective immediately, uscis resumes consideration of nonmilitary deferred action requests, on a discretionary case by case basis. It is unclear whether uscis actually granting relief to anyone since reversing course. He further ordered uscis to ensure that the procedure for considering and refining to deferred action requests is consistent throughout uscis and that discretionary case by case deferred action is granted only based on compelling facts and circumstances. What exactly does this mean . What is the problem the uscis right effects . What changes are being considered. Will only outside state cosby consulted . We want to have maximum transparency to ensure that uscis is not imposing unreasonable requirements an immigrant who deserve our attention and our mercy. In the meantime, uscis should explain what will happen to the people whose prior deferrals have expired while the renewals are still under review. We have heard from the family of a 12 year old boy with an incurable condition that could cause him to bleed to death if he is not treated correctly. Both of his parents applied in march to renew their deferrals but had been waiting for months without any decision at all. His fathers deferral expired in august. His mothers deferral expires in january. Without a, deferral neither parent can be authorized to stay at or work in the United States, threatening their ability to support and care for their sick son, so, what does uscis recommend families like his due while the agency is trying to decide how to reinstate deferred action . How many more people are stuck in this kind of limbo, and what can we do to protect them . We want basic answers to these questions and become here not any kind of gotcha spirit, we just want to deal with a very serious problem that was brought to our committee. The ongoing confusion regarding deferred action reflects the same kind of chaos that apparently produced this policy in the first place and that prompted our last hearing and for which the administration i hope today will provide us answers. What little weve been able to learn about how this policy would be implicated implies it was undertaken without any effort to ascertain what its effects would be on the people affected. We heard compelling stories of people who were directly harmed by that policy. A 24yearold woman suffering from a rare disease testified that deportation would be quote, a death sentence for me. She told us, i want to live. I am a human being with hopes and dreams in my life. Jonathan sanchez, a 16yearold suffering from Cystic Fibrosis, which is a disease that affects people in my family. Jonathan sanchez told us that upon learning he was facing deportation, he broke down in tears pleading, quote, i do not want to die, i dont want to die. If i go back to honduras now, i will die. In his words, quote, it is incredibly unfair to kick out sick kids who are in the hospital or at home taken treatments and you are just trying to have better opportunities to live. It is obvious from testimony that uscis i did not realize what the implications of its policy would be or new and decided to go ahead anyway. Either reality i think would be damning but the effect on murray and jonathan wouldve been entirely foreseeable if uscis had sought Public Feedback before instituting the new policy. According to uscis, they failed to consult on a single external stakeholder before jeopardizing these families. Making matters worse, usa as did not issue any public announcement about the policy or provide any guidance to people in murray or jonathan situation, or any of the critically ill children in their families about what would come next to what they should be doing. Why not . What was the reason for the secrecy and surprise . Is it uscis is practice to implement massive policy shifts like this without providing Public Notice . Sadly, the threat of deportation of sick kids is just one example of this administrations mistreatment of immigrant children. It is not the only one. Uscis over to killer is engaged in a pattern of development a policies that danger children. Since mr. Cuccinelli, he took, office uscis has eliminated automatic citizenship for some children of u. S. Soldiers stationed overseas, introduce new barriers for immigrant kids fleeing Domestic Abuse in their own country and rolled out a public charge rule. That is seared many parents and removing the children from help nutritional services. Each of these acts of an affront to the central tenet of chairman cummings philosophy, children, the living messages that we sent forward to a future that we ourselves will never see. The last hearing that chairman cummings attended was our september 11th hearing on this issue. Tweeting children with dignity was so important to him that he made a point to come down from baltimore despite is advanced failing health. At that hearing, a lot just said, quote i really do think things we are in a moral situation. People ares trying to live. Theyre trying to breathe the air of our country. They are trying to be better, theyre trying to be healthier. Chairman cummings who himself was trying to live at that moment, trying to be healthy, order that these children have the same access to medical treatment that he did. We will honor the chairmans memory and the humidity of all. Though seeking deferred action, by remaining vigilant, conducting rigorous oversight and working to guarantee that this Administration Treats Immigrants with the dignity it deserves. Mr. Cuccinelli, at mr. Evans, we are delighted that you came today, but we want to make sure that we see no further bureaucratic stonewalling and confusion on these matters. We want clarity. We are here for answers and we will not stop until we get them. Thank you for coming. I am now delighted to recognize the distinguished Ranking Member of our community, mr. Roy. Thank you, mister chairman. Thank you mr. Cuccinelli, mr. Allen, thank you for coming up here and visiting with us today. I will reiterate what i said here last week. Obviously our continued prayers are with the family of chairman cummings with his staff. We actually had a great event in the capitol hill last week, i wanted to participate in that, and we will continue to move forward in this committee. I carry for the chairmans legacy and wanting to do what is right, and to be better. I do want to say one thing. As we head into this, and it will not surprise the chairman that i will raise this issue that currently there are two depositions going on, and those depositions, at least two were scheduled to day, one i think is going on now in another part of the capital. It is impossible for me to be in two places at once, so im just here with the Ranking Member of the subcommittee and i want to carry it my duty shoe, that i am unable to hear that and unable to go easily see transcript, unable to easily catch up on what im missing because we are hearing i dont think thats the right way to carry out things. I think there will be a vote tomorrow on something on this process, but i was just as part of a problem realtime, so anyone watching, this this is the problem. Here i am sitting, there very few members on our side of the aisle, i would also send my prayers and wishes to mr. House whose father passed away yesterday and so i know he is not able to join us today, but i dont think this is the way we should be conducting those kinds of inquiries. Today, we have a hearing regarding the Administration Decision to deport critically ill children and their families. I would take issue with that title. I do not believe that was what the administration was seeking to do. I think they were talking but a process change and that we ought to get to that. This is a topic that involves deferred action request for people not lawfully present, seeking to stay, for sympathetic reasons. This is not the first. You mentioned a hearing we had on 9 11, but to be clear, deferred action is not a program. Deferred action is a decision, right . It is a decision it is a judgment call reserved for those with prosecutorial powers we ought to treat it that way and then we ought to have a discussion about policy changes, if there are any to be had, for anybody who was here and has overstayed a visa, and is in a situation that the chairman described. And was dealing with policy change that we are taking uscis at the, role it has no real underlying authority carry out, if i understand correctly, and then it would leave decisionmaking to those who actually have that power. At the time of the first hearing, uscis has already announced it will evaluate pending claims. Uscis a letter to the committee today before the hearing noting that individuals who had sent to production requests uscis were not under him in front of removal. It might be saying that none of the deferred action individuals have been targeted, and in a letter sent to the committee on september 19th, as the chairman, notes returning the deferred action process that was in place august 6th, so for better or, worse known as being treated any differently than they were on august 6th. I think what we have here is a question of how to have the right policy. Each and every one of, us i have any sympathy for anyone of us who is sick and living with uncertainty but we need real solutions. No one here in the administration wants anyone to not be able to get treatment or be treated unfairly or to live it uncertainty. But weve got to deal with the real world. We have people here who status and we have to figure what to do with that. Perpetuating a stay here over your visa and beg for intermittent to your deferrals they are not really rooted in the law, as he deferred action from those who do not prosecute and leave them in additional limbo, that is not a good policy. And yet that is the existing policy. If Congress Wants a different visa class or other ways to solve the problem, they should act. Congress want to solve problems,s congress should act. Congress has the power to make policies. This is not about gotcha politics. We should all seek solutions. I would remind our democratic laws that this was at the root of the scottish decision regarding the socalled daca class in the current debate on the daca class with regards to approving status for people who overstay their existing because, we have deferred action which by definition is prosecutorial discretion. That is what we are talking about here. We cant afford, we cannot give a status to a group of people in the name of prosecutorial discretion. And for perspective this involves a decision that affects roughly 900, people and that is currently at the status quo anti, but lets think what is actually happening right now. Border patrol agents along the southern border encounter Million People trying to illegally enter the country this year. 1 million. Today we are talking about nine, hundred and it is very important for those 900 but that number, specific numbers, under 77, 509, plus inadmissible,s there were 1. 4 eight billion enforcement actions, just putting in perspective the numbers, we are talking about 900 hundred 51 that we are talking about here in apprehensive. We are not talking with the two under 24 pounds of fentanyl seized crossing our southern border this fiscal year. One little sugar packet of fentanyl will kill everybody in this, room and weve got 224 pounds of it to come across our border. We are not hearing about the 1700 inbound weapons intercepted this, year up 300 from last year. Were not talking about the fact that cbp apprehended gang members from 20 different gangs. There are roughly 576,000 immigrants over half 1 Million People have been giving a final order of removal by a judge they are still wandering around the United States. According to ice, theyve seen a double digit drop in criminal arrest this year, theyve had to point at the border, this is what we have interior enforcement, we have real problems. Cartels and traffickers are taking advantage interpreter traffickers abused children as props for asylum. There are 473,000 family units this year. This is the highest on record. We can discuss the 500,000 reported case of fraud from alleged family unit the children who are being split difficult to get to come to a United States, lets talk about them getting abused today on the journey to mexico. We had 50,000 apprehensions in september, 50, thousand why . We had 100,000 that is the reality of whats happening on our border today, we are not having hearings on that. We are having to hearing on something that has no discernible difference from where it was on august 6th. I understand the concern of the chairman about some of the questions, about the policies but we are talking with something that has been largely addressed with respect to the concerns that the majority has and if we want to have a conversation with the policies, still around the roundtable and to grow we can do to have legislation that might address some of those concerns, lets talk about the other things we could do. Fixing asylum, catching release, flores, tvpra, all of these things could be fixed one piece of paper and what if we had the will to do it. We could find i. C. E. And Border Patrol properly. We could find i. C. E. At the level that president obama asked for, upwards of a billion dollars, in the unaccompanied alien children becoming 2014 2015, and yet we only got 200 billion vice in june after demanding to get a supplemental, on that 200 billion was constrained are not able to be. Use this area today is an issue that affects not hundred people for whom we have great sympathy and we ought to address the issue, but on an average day this year, that is three times less than the total number crossing during one Border Patrol shift. Think about that. One Border Patrol shift. Todays cbp apprehends roughly 1400 migrants a day. On an average day in, may that number was 5000. If the chairman wants to address the fact that these deferrals are not actual programs and our prosecutorial discretion, lets discuss that and figure out a system that will work and that we can Work Together and try to figure that out, and i would love to do that in the context of our very, very broken immigration system. Thank you, mister chairman. Thank you for your very thoughtful remarks, and as, always i am eager to work with you end with all of our colleagues on immigration reform, but you correctly the limit the object of todays hearings, and we are going to do it, and i will be very helpful that we get the answers we need and we can move on to work on other stuff. There are several members of the committee have come today, both out of their interest in the subject but also in a tribute to chairman cummings, so without objection, i would wave them on, mr. Arena, mr. Cooper, and another are members of the broader committee who are joining us on the subcommittee with miss kelly and mr. Gomez who arrived over here, and also, thank you for telling us about mister heiss his father. I wasnt aware of that. Our prayers and our thoughts go up to him. It seems were going to do many funerals these days, but we are sending him the strength and encouragement. All, right with, that i want to formally welcome our Witnesses Today, Ken Cuccinelli who was the acting director of the u. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and Homeland Security. Welcome, mr. Cuccinelli, as well as the acting director of immigration and customs enforcement, i. C. E. , at the u. S. Department Homeland Security. If the witnesses would kindly rise and raise their right hands and we will begin by swearing you in. Do you swear or affirm the testimony youre about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the, truth so help you god . Then let the record show they would have answered in the, affirmative thank, you you may be, seated please speak directly to the microphones without objection. Any written statements you brought with you or that you decide to provide it will be made part of our record. Mr. Cuccinelli, you are now recognized to give an oral presentation of your testimony. Good, morning chairman and Ranking Member roy and distinguished membe