Meeting focused on steps taken to improve border facilities to provide medical care as well as medical evaluations given to migrants while they are in customs and custody. [no audio] subcommittee will come to order. The meeting today to receive testimony on the adequacy of dhs efforts to prevent child deaths in custody. The chair is authorized to clear the and recess at any time. Underwood will question. Representative garcia permitted to sit in question witnesses. Without objection, so ordered. Jaclyn was seven years old. Alonso, eight years old. Cordova, 10 years old. An, 16 years old. Carolos, 16 years old. Died in theen custody of the United States government in the past 18 months. They were migrants from Central America who died of preventable conditions that went untreated. Three of them spent the last hours of their lives in detention facilities on the southern border. We must never forget their names, suffering, or the terrible losses their families had to endure. We are here to examine the conditions that led to these avoidable tragedies. We have seen a dramatic increase in the numbers of families and children arriving on the southern border over the past several years. Most families and children arrive from Central America, fleeing cartels, gang violence, and poverty. After surviving dangerous journeys these families should have been met with safe refuge. Instead they encountered the administration inhumane border policies like family celebration, zerotolerance detention, and the mexico policy. These policies by the administration have contributed to mass overcrowding and widespread inhumane conditions across the southern border. Numerous reports by the dhs Inspector General confirm the intolerable conditions. I have seen the problems with my own eyes along with several Congressional Colleagues on this panel on both sides of the aisle. Dhs is consistently failing to maintain transparency by stymieing inquiries. This raises concerns they are hiding serious issues with management in addition to the leadership vacancies at the top of the department. One example is the Department Decision to conceal information on the death of Carlos Hernandez vasquez. He was a teenage boy from guatemala who died in u. S. Custody on the morning of may 20, 2019. They issued a press release later that day calling the death a tragedy and declaring they consider the health, safety, and humane treatment of migrants to be the highest priority. Despite information requested by the committee, it was not until a public report was released seven months later that congress and the public learned more about what happened. His death may have been caused by the failure per divide failure to follow basic for procedures to check on a sick child. While i understand this case is under investigation this lack of transparency by the department is completely unacceptable. The office of the Inspector General must do everything in its power to examine the factors that led to the tragedies. That is why i am externally disappointed the current Inspector General declined our invitation to testify this morning. Especially given the recent news his Office Closed investigations into the first two child deaths in Border Control custody. Summaries of these investigations are extraordinarily narrow. They focus only on whether dhs personnel committed malfeasance and not whether the Department Policies and resources could properly protect children in its care. Even with these two completed reports we still do not know why Felipe Alonso and his father were in custody for six days before philly bay passed away. Felipe passed away. Reporting over the past weekend indicates cbp detains families with Young Children in need of medical attention will be on the 72 hours allowed by the agencies on protocol. This is a disturbing pattern that needs to be remedied immediately or we risk losing more children to preventable deaths in the future. We must act urgently to ensure the policies and decisions that contributed to these tragic deaths are addressed. I hope the witnesses here today are prepared to explain whether the departments current approach incorporate Lessons Learned after these tragedies and how they intend to safeguard children in dhs custody going forward. We may disagree about immigration policy but there should be no disagreement that the federal government must take responsibility for the human beings in its custody. Particularly Young Children. We must never forget jaclyn, darlene,y, darling, wilmer, and carla spared i want to thank the witnesses for joining us and i recognize the Ranking Member for the opening statement. Professionals i thank you for your service at the border. I look forward to hearing in detail about the actions dhs has andn to enhance customs protections to handle migrants arriving at our border in deteriorating health and address preventable deaths. They crisis that unfolded along our border last year was real. It was not the fault of the men and women of customs and Border Protection. It was not the fault of the executive ranch nor the president of the United States. This past year, we saw a Record Number of family units, minors,anied 213 groups arrive at our border during the height of flu season and during extreme heat. Patrol was border referring 50 cases per day to medical professionals. The border crisis was a result of legal loopholes, activist judges, propaganda from cartel, who smuggle in traffic migrants for profit. In 2014 under the Obama Administration the number of unaccompanied minors encountered at the border was viewed as crisis level. Secretary johnson wrote an open letter to Central American parents telling them to not send their children. It is clear that corrective actions were not taken at that time. If that was a crisis, there are no words to describe what we experienced at the border during fiscal year 2019. Not only were more than 321,000 minors encountered by Border Protection family unit apprehensions were more than 590 . Throughout the crisis most cbp facilities were at or overcapacity. Customs and Border Protection personnel were working overtime more than one month without pay to process the large groups. Resources were depleting at record time as personnel at the department were furloughed. You had customs and Border Protection officers still scraping together enough money out of their own pockets to buy toys and bring extra supplies for the migrants in custody. Themselves parents caring to the best of their ability. Began35 day shutdown that in the end of 2018, the federal government reopen january 2019 and the crisis continued. And let the growing issue related to the mass influx of migrants, President Trump made an official request to congress with supplemental funding for the border. Two months went by before we sent money to the field. I colleagues across the aisle blocked the vote on supplemental assistance more than 15 times. While leaders of the Majority Party were repeating a message emergency the chief of Border Patrol was testifying in front of congress that without the funding we could lose the border. The bipartisan Homeland SecurityAdvisory Council released a report on the crisis dating the resultedsupplemental in unaccompanied minors being held and Border Protection for dangerous lengths of time. Voteds on this committee against the emergency supplemental. A no vote meant a vote to keep unaccompanied minors and Border Protection custody instead of at a department of Health Services facility suitable for children. And that releasing thousands of migrants on the streets of border communities. Crisis social Service Resources that should address local issues of hunger and homelessness were completely unable to do so. While the men and women of cbp were struggling to keep the lights on at the border they were subject to partisan attacks. One member even claimed the deaths of children in custody were intentional. Statement, and a certainty and absurdity that was debunked as they found no misconduct or malfeasance by dhs personnel upon completion of the investigations into the heartbreaking deaths of jaclyn and felipe. Every life is precious and one death in custody is too many. That is why i encourage i am encouraged to learn about the immediate steps cbp took to enhance abilities to diagnose the health of migrants in custody and work with the dhs chief medical officer to make long needed, long term improvements. 2018, Kevin Mcallen ordered secondary medical checks on every child and initiated an internal evaluation of cbp care policy. Ance then cbp established approach to conducting Health Interviews in all migrants during initial processing and a subsequent full medical assessment of all unaccompanied minors and atrisk adults. On top of that, customs and Border Protection has over 700 medical personnel and contractors stationed across the southwest border to provide medical support to migrants in custody. Today i look forward to hearing cbpsitnesses about how medical capabilities have improved since the fall of 2018. The collaboration process between cbp to the office of the dhs, chief medical officer and other relevant stakeholders to bolster customs and Border Protection abilities to stop preventable death in their Expert Opinions on how to prevent another crisis in the future. Madam chair, thank you for your indulgence. I yield back. Thank you, mr. Higgins. The chair recognizes the chairman of the homeland committee, the gentleman from mississippi, mr. Thompson. Thank you very much. You whoning to those of are here on the committee. Todays topic is sobering as it centers on the death of innocent children. In our current rapidly changing political environment, it can be easy to move on quickly from past disasters and tragedies. The trumpet assertion the Trump Administration contributes to this by piling scandal on scandal, exhausting the public, the media, and oversight organizations. It is our oversight responsibility as members of congress to refuse to allow the most disturbing and upsetting events played into the past and help ensure they are not repeated. We are here today to examine the treatment of Migrant Children in the custody of the department of Homeland Security in 2018 and 2019 and look at what changes may still be necessary. Detention of migrants did not begin with the Current Administration but an Early Administration of democratic and republican officials took steps to avoid risking the health of the most vulnerable in custody. Under the Trump Administration we now find the elderly, infirm, and children in detention facilities such as Border Patrol stations not designed or equipped to hold people for extended periods of time. Rise inival began to 2018 the decision to detain everyone led to severe overcrowding. The dhs office of Inspector General, attorneys, and members of congress including me observed and reported on the conditions inside these facilities for months. Cbp argued throughout the crisis that they faced severe constraints despite congress providing billions in humanitarian funding in early 2019. Standing room only fails, inadequate hygiene, and family kept outside an extremely unbearable temperatures were commonplace at cbp facilities during the height of migrant arrival last year. Such an environment the spread of illness such as the flu are inevitable. Can be individual deaths directly attributed to specific conditions in a given facility or not we need to understand whether the policies and Resource Management decisions made by the administration put lives in jeopardy. Congress cannot allow dhs and cbp leaders to make poor decisions or ignore existing reasons. And law for this is important for all of us on this panel and has been for decades. Part of our responsibility as members of congress is to check actions by the executive ranch that are misguided. Executive branch that are misguided. I have strong objections to the policies the Trump Administration has put in place along our border that continue to endanger the safety of Migrant Children such as remain in mexico. I hope to hear from our dhs witnesses this morning that the department will take its responsibility toward people in its custody more seriously going forward. One child death was one too many. I am eager to know what the Department Plans to do differently in order to safeguard childrens safety while in dhs custody. I think the chairwoman and Ranking Member for holding todays important hearing and i yield back. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Other members are reminded that Opening Statements may be submitted for the record. I welcome the panel of witnesses. First is Ryan Hastings brian hastings. He is the chief of Law EnforcementOperations Directorate at u. S. Border patrol headquarters washington, d. C. He is responsible for oversight of the day operations at Border Patrol sectors throughout the United States and is a principal advisor to the chief of Border Patrol. Chief hastings began with the Border Patrol in 1995 and has been stationed in various sectors across all u. S. Borders he was promoted to decipher Service Higher service and 2018. Alexander eastman is a senior medical officer for operations within Homeland Security countering weapons of mass destruction. He is responsible for operational medicine across dhs in addition to countering threats to the u. S. Worldwide. He served as a chief of the Trauma Center at parkland Memorial Hospital and is assistant professor trauma surgeon in the division of burns, trauma, and critical care. Dr. Eastman is a decorated Police Officer within the Dallas Police department. He witnesses will be put in the record. I ask that each summarize their statement beginning with mr. Hastings. Good morning. As part of our mission to safeguard americas borders we complete initial processing of addition of individuals before transferring them to our partners. The Holding Facilities were designed for shortterm. We take seriously our responsibility to care for individuals until they can be transferred. 2019 they found it invisible more than 1. 9 million people. We began electing congress, the media, and the public to the unprecedented spike in Central American families that was creating a crisis on the southern border. Our request for emergency funding went unanswered and we began diverting resources from the Border Security mission to address the crisis. As i prepare to testify i reflected on the numerous steps cbp has taken and continues to take in response to the crisis. I cannot be more proud of the extraordinary efforts undertaken by the men and women of cbp. I would like to share you with examples. The apprehension skyrocketed. We had more than we could process. We continue to prioritize processing of uacs first, then families, then adult. 40 to 60 of agents were diverted from securing the border to caring for those in custody. Over 700 personnel provided support at the facilities. We expanded our transportation contract and purchased more than 200 buses and vans to expedite transportation of large groups. We chartered planes and road busloads of whether 43,000 people to facilities with more processing capacity. Prosody processing was complete, we have limited capacity to accept aliens which contributed to further overcrowding. 2019, Border Patrol began releasing noncriminal family units directly into the United States rather than transferring them to ice. Total of 145,000 family members were released. Cbp rapidly constructed six facilities that provided capacity for an additional 6500 families and adults. Stated, secretary azar dhs shelters were full and could not accept uacs from Border Patrol. When they receive supplemental funding a number of uacs quickly dropped from 2700