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,