O hearing your perspective these laws need to be naggetted to increase security. Our own constitution, federal law and several International Agreements serve as the foundation for the rise in protections that need to be embodied in our efforts to address the humanitarian crisis we are currently experiencing. Unform, the rhetoric and the policies of this administration have made achieving that balance more difficult and by all indications has exacerbated our challenges at the border. We must be mindful of the limitations we face. We have barely cracked the surface of what the coast guard needs and to protect our interests in the arctic. It is an expensive option reserved for Public Safety and flight risk is a valid concern. When Public Safety is not a concern, i should use alternatives to detention. When used as intended, the appropriate Case Management alternative to detention have proven to be effective in mitigating flight risk and mproving compliance. I remain seriously concerned about substandard conditions at i. C. E. Detention facilities. In addition to what i have personally witnessed, we continue to get alerts from the media, the office of the inspector general, the Government Accountability office and advocacy organizations about detention facilities that do not meet i. C. E. s minimum standards but nevertheless allowed to continue operating. Preventing these inhumane conditions can be changed if i. R. E. Makes clear that anything less is unacceptable and will have consequences. I will continue to work with you to ensure that this happens. On a more positive note, i want to highlight the good work that i. C. E. Does such as combatting Human Trafficking and smuggling and smuggling of fentanyl and other opioids. The subcommittee provided Additional Resources to Homeland Security investigation for these efforts. This is a great example of a mission where we have worked together to accomplish shared goals and we have sustained these efforts in our fiscal year 2020 bill. I want to follow up on the letter i sent you on july 12 about increased interior enforcement prayings. I requested that you submit for the record today some of the policies and procedures which i described in that letter. This kind of transparency is very important for us to better understand how i. C. E. s leadership expects its frontline officers and agents to operate. I understand you have submitted documents in response. I thank you for that and look forward to reviewing them and will follow up. Before i turn to the director for a summary of his written statement, the text of which will be included in the written record, let me recognize our Ranking Member for any remarks he wishes to make. Mr. Fleischmann im going to keep my remarks very brief as i know we have been delayed by votes. Welcome director. Thank you for your time and your testimony before the subcommittee today. There has been a lot of change n leadership, positions in the department in recent months and reassuring to me to have an acting director with your years, really decades of experience at the helm. Thank you for leading this Law Enforcement and Homeland Security agency. I very much appreciated the other day with you and your staff to visit and update to help me understand where we are and where were going. I thank you for your hard work. I look forward to working with you and look forward to your testimony today. Yield back. Ms. Roybalallard the order in which members will be based on the seniority when present when the hearing was called to order alternating between majority and minority members. To ensure that everyone has a. M. Will opportunity to ask questions, please stay within the five minutes per round. Good afternoon, chairwoman, Ranking Member and distinguished members of the subcommittee. As you are aware, the United States is currently facing an unprecedented National Security and humanitarian crisis at our southwest border. Over the past year, the number of aliens has increased significantly. Today however, im here to address other parts of the immigration system that need funding as the need for legislation to help put an end to the border crisis. The fact is, the majority encountered are released into the United States for removal proceedings and Immigration Courts have a backlog of 900,000 cases and growing. The agents are responsible for managing these cases and the three million aliens currently on i. C. E. s docket. Many have not appeared and violated the terms of their release and the alternative Detention Program and failed to appear for their hearings. The result is that the border crisis has become a National Crisis which requires a strong interior component. The reality is for immigration laws are enforced at the border d fail to provide adequate resources, and if ordered removed are actually removed, the entier system will break down. This failure will serve will allow additional aliens to enter the country. With this in mind, i ask in providing i. C. E. The funding it needs to address the humanitarian crisis and Public Safety crisis. While we are focused on the interior, the Current Situation at our border impacts our agency and its resource requirements. C. B. P. Encounters include more than 390,000 Family Members and and this represents 52 of all southwest border encounters. In the last few months i. C. E. Has been forced to release 215,000 members of family units into the interior of the United States due to the flores Settlement Agreement. We have been over burdened by apprehensions and congress failure to fund i. C. E. At i. C. E. Requested levels. We are detaining 53,000 single adults and 8,000 are awaiting processing. Due to its very limited detention capacity, erm we must have detention facilities with those who pose a National Security or flight risk. Based on increased enforcement, additional capacity and transportation funding is needed. To ensure the National Security and Public Safety of the United States and the faithful execution of immigration laws passed by congress, officers may conduct actions against any alien who is present. These are not indiscriminate raids or sweeps. Insted, the operations are carefully planned based on person specific and focused on those who are a Public Safety threat. Approximately 90 of e. R. O. , administrative arrests are of aliens that had prior criminal convictions face pending criminal charges or who have be removed from the country and illegally reentered. That is a federal penalty. The crisis on the border negatively impaths the mission and thus the Public Safety of our communities. Resources dedicated to remove dangerous criminals from the streets have been redeployed. Resulting in over 14 decrease in criminal alien arrests this fiscal year. I. C. E. Has reassigned teams to help respond to the border crisis. The failure to increase funding over the course of the last decade has created a strain of our ability to target specific liens including those who went and sconded. It has failed to fund the necessary resources to make the program effective. The officers who search for aliens who fail to comply and those aliens detained. A. T. D. Will offer benefits for its costs. F. Y. 2020, the principal Legal Adviser is able to carry out statutory responsibilities. While congress has increased the number of d. O. J. Judges during recent budget cycles, local funding has not kept pace. More critically and most critically, i would like to highlight legislative changes that are needed. To be clear, the f. Y. 2020 budget request provides resources to address the symptoms of the crisis and does not solve the problem. Legislative changes are the only viable option to put an end to e current crisis, reducing cartels and criminal organizations of a major segment. Absent these changes, current laws will be exploited and the factor they create will result in more immigration. We ask you to terminate the flores Settlement Agreement and clarify the detention facilities. Amend the victims protection reauthorization act to provide for those who are not victims and do not express of fear returning to their home country. The standard has been ineffective in screening those and has further strained our system. Y requiring the release, seemingly Court Rulings and legislation are being exploited by transnational criminal organizes and human smugglers. They have to fight this activity, Homeland Security investigations has reassigned hundreds of special agents to Border Patrol facilities to ferret out family units. These same loopholes also encourage further illegal immigration as the record numbers indicate. These are not talking points. These are facts based on my over 25 years of Law Enforcement experience and they represent the major challenges currently faced by i. C. E. Every day the dedicated, courageous professional men and women of i. C. E. Work to promote Homeland Security and Public Safety by faithfully executing the laws established by congress to protect the integrity and credibility of our countrys borders. As well as our National Security and the safety of our communities nationwide. The increase in the flow of Illegal Migrants and the change in those arriving at our border are putting the migrants, particularly young children, at risk of harm from smuggle smugglers, traffickers, criminals and the dangers of the difficult journey, and are placing unsustainable pressure on our entire immigration system. Ultimately, to solve the border crisis, we must work collectively to ensure the integrity of our immigration system as a whole. Failing to adequately resource interior enforcement efforts creates nothing more than the appearance of border enforcement, creating a pull factor that drives more people to make the dangerous journey to the United States, incentivizes more illegal activity, and delays justice for those with meritorious claims for asylum. As a nation of laws, we owe it to the citizens of our country to maintain the integrity of our immigration system, especially when faced with a serious and ongoing National Crisis. Day in and day out the women and men of i. C. E. Have worked tirelessly with limited resources and an outdated Legal Framework to ensure the safety and security of our country. They have done this despite villenization, personal attacks and the toll it takes on their families and personal lives. They pay this price every day for simply doing their jobs under the law passed by congress. A crisis is at hand, a change is needed, and it is your responsibility as members of congress to act. Thank you again for inviting me to testify today. I am honored and humbled to represent the more than 20,000 american patriots with immigration and customs enforcement. I ask that you provide the funding in the president s f. Y. 2020 budget. And i look forward to your questions. Ms. Roybalallard dr. Albence, as you know, we have a series of concerns about i. C. E. s ability to manage its budget within the means provided by congress. The lack of transparency into how i. C. E. Executes its budget also exacerbates our concerns. Under a continuing resolution, operations should continue at the level funded in the prior year appropriation. For the current year, that means i. C. E. Vudshud have maintained an average daily population of 40,520 during the c. R. Period. And yet for the first quarter, i. C. E. Used of depension i. C. E. s use of detention beds surged to over 46,000. And this was before the significant migrant surge at the border. During the period of the c. R. , did i. C. E. Make any attempt to operate within the funding levels identified by congress for custody operations, and if so, what specific actions did it take . Mr. Albence thank you, madam chairwoman. We continually look to utilize our detention resources in the most efficient manner possible. Instructions are standard standing instructions to our field offices, continually look at their populations to ensure that those individuals that are detained are the most appropriate for detention. Again, many of those individuals that are currently detained are individuals that congress has mandated must be detained by law. 74 of the individuals that are currently in i. C. E. Custody are subject to mandatory detention under the immigration and nationality act. The vast majority of those other individuals are individuals who have been who are Public Safety threats, who are gang members, or individuals who may not reach the mandatory detention threshold, but we have felt that theyre appropriate for detention and not appropriate for any sort of release back to the community. With regard to your question during the c. R. , the numbers began an uptick, the middle part of last summer, and continue to rise through the fall. Not to the level weve seen unfortunately during the calendar year f. Y. 2019. However, in order to prevent a wholesale catch and release system, which we knew would create further incentives for individuals to come to the country illegally, we made the conscious decision to try to detain as many people as we possibly could to help prevent a rush on the border. Unfortunately the numbers continued to come, as a result of the fact that many of those people we cant detain because they are family units or u. A. C. Ms. Roybalallard to better understand how i. C. E. Budgets for its operations, the report that accompanied the f. Y. 2019 appropriation directed i. C. E. To brief the committee on a detailed plan for operating within its budget. This was due 60 days after the date of enactment and was to be provided monthly thereafter. The first briefing washington was due by april 16 briefing was due by april 16. To date we have not received even one, and by now we should have received four. Why has i. C. E. Failed to comply with this briefing directive . Mr. Albence ill have to look into that specific directive. I do know that we are holding weekly migration calls with the four corners staff, during which time both c. B. P. And i. C. E. Provide detailed information with regard to their ongoing operations, to include detention and funding execution. We have posted a lot of our material on the website. I have a list of requirements after our discussion earlier. And we will go through them and have a detailed response on each one of those. Ms. Roybalallard as a followup. The departments funding transfer authority exists to address unforeseeable and unavoidable circumstances. But it seems clear to me that i. C. E. Routinely operates with full expectation that it will be bailed out by this transfer authority that it has or some other means. As the acting i. C. E. Director for the coming fiscal year, i hope that you can commit to operating within the funding level that is appropriated by congress. Mr. Albence i certainly do my best to do so. We have numerous budget meetings with very hard decisions to make all the time with regard to what operations were going to have to curtail or what funding we are or excuse me, nir initiatives that we might not be able to do as a result of the limited funding. Our detention modeling has been accurate for the past three or four years. The model that we utilize. And we ask for 52,000 beds in the f. Y. 2019 budget. Had we received that money as requested, we would not be in any circumstance where wed need to do reprogramming or shortfall. Ms. Roybalallard as a reminder as we move forward, appropriation bills are also law. And including continuing resolutions. With no Less Authority than the immigration and the nationality act. In fact, the authority appropriation bills is derived directly from article i, section 9, clause 7 of the u. S. Constitution. I quote, no money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of the appropriations made by law. So when Congress Enacts appropriation bills, it does so based on informed analysis, provided by the appropriations committee, on how best to target, to use the use of limited resources. So i want to emphasize that transfer authority is provided by congress to allow executive Branch Agencies to respond to unforeseen events and circumstances and not to rue teenly augment appropriations for a particular activity. I will pause on my questioning and i will now turn to the chair of the full committee, mrs. Lowey. Mrs. Lowey passing our final bill of the session. But i am pleased to be here with y colleagues to welcome you. Director albence, i am very concerned that this administrations policies negatively impact the wellbeing of our immigrant populations. Im especially concerned about the effects on vulnerable populations like unaccompanied children. In april, 2018, your predecessor, director, signed an agreement with h. H. S. That provides for information sharing between your agencies regarding the vetting of potential sponsors for unaccompanied children. The mere existence of this agreement has had a Chilling Effect on the number of potential sponsors who would otherwise have been willing to come forward to take these children out of federal government custody and care for them. Not only does this make the mental and emotional stress these children already face even worse, it has led to significant additional federal costs, a