They can to minimize the spread of covid19 among workers and detainees. For fiscal year 2020 congress appropriated approximately 3. 1 billion for more than 45000 single adults and family ice detention beds and other custody operations. Over 80 of these beds are operating daily by private contractors and some of whom are at this hearing today. That is a large amount of taxpayer money, money a historically high number of detention beds and demands oversight and accountability. Detention facilities must be held to a High Standard at all times but in this moment it is a vital importance. Yet, over the past few months it is clear that ice in its contractor had not taken this a break seriously and have not treated it aggressively enough. More than 3000 detainees, 280 contractors and at least 45 ice employees assigned to detention facilities have now test positive for covid19. Sadly, we have watched as two detainees a potential third today in the state of florida and contractors due to convocations. After they were exposed at a detention facility. Despite these horrific losses ice continues normal operations and contractors are following in lockstep. Ice continues to transfer detainees between facilities and contractors continue to accept them. Further, there is overwhelming evidence that these transfers have likely contributed to multiple covid19 outbreaks inside of ice detention facilities across the u. S. We also read reports and hurts from current and former employees the guidance issued by the four companies are presented here today suggested rationing of personal protective equipment. Documents provided to the Committee Show management at a facility are attempting to practice social distancing in the claires way to prevent the spread of this disease in the facility is to pursue alternative to detention and release those detainees who pose a threat to communities. The high risk of exposure to covid19 at these facilities is further exacerbated by inadequate medical care. Prior to the Pandemic HealthServices Provided in detention facilities were severely lacking and proved to be the work of most complaints by detainees. It is no surprise that the Current Public Health crisis has only compounded that situation. Some facilities are reportedly waiting days or weeks to test individuals, including the most vulnerable detainee. The bottom line is that much more needs to be done to stop the spread of the coronavirus at these facilities and to protect the health of these detainees and the american people, guidance to facility personnel must be clear and expose it, transferred between facilities must be stopped immediately and adequate medical care must be provided. Covid19 does not distinction between u. S. Citizens and noncitizens and neither should we and our approach to protect against it. I look forward to hearing from our Witnesses Today about what additional steps they will take to address this pressing issue going forward. The chair now recognizes the Ranking Member of the subcommittee, gentleman from louisiana, mr. Higgins for an opening statement. Thank you, madam chair. It is wonderful to join you in this meeting today in this very important topic. I think the witnesses for being here today. I further, sincerely appreciate chairman thompson opening the hearing room to conduct official business. As you know, it is my humble opinion that we should be conducted important oversight and legislative mission here in dc in person and i look forward to return to regular order. Let me state that i find it disappointing that the majority did not invite ice to a hearing that focuses on ice. Ice could update us on a preventative measures they are taking to address covid19 and the implementation of the cdc recommendations and further guidance they provide to detention facilities contractors who will be joining us today. On to president trumps administrative direction, ice activated this pandemic workforce Reduction Plan in january of this year, in response to the covid19 outbreak. That plan provides an additional layer of Safety Measures on top of ice performancebased National Detention standards. Ice also convened with working group of medical professionals, Disease Control specialists, detention experts and field operators to identify further steps to protect detainees, as a result the population of ice dedicated to detention facilities were reduced to 70 capacity. The cdc recommendation is 75 . This reduction included the review of nearly 34000 detainees in custody nationwide to identify those with high risk of severe illness, potentially due to covid19. As a result more than 900 detainees who posed a low risk to Public Safety were released. We can all agree these are unprecedented times and while i commend ice for going above and beyond cdc guidance to certainly more that needs to be done. As of july 7, 3. 7 of those in ice custody are 835 individuals that have tested positive for covid19. However, today in the hearing we will happily discuss the agencys response to covid19 and the threat thereof ice was not invited to testify. Ice should be here to update us on what further measures they are taking to address covid19 and what additional improvements could be made in ice should be here to tell us what issues have arisen and how they have overcome them or not but ice should be here to answer new questions about the information we have received from these contractors and as a result of the chairmans very professional document reduction request. Ice should be before us today but they are not here. Quite frankly, todays hearing topic is, i respectfully submit, is outside our committees jurisdiction with this Witness Panel making it quite a stretch. Today we have the president s and ceos from for Government Contractors who have to respond to repeated documents reduction requests and testify before committee with tertiary jurisdiction at best. Any legislation related to this topic, immigration detention and immigration laws would not be referred to this subcommittee. On its face this seems purpose of his hearing is perhaps politically driven and perhaps it is important to get the message out. I agree with the substance of what we see, madam chair and respectfully and i believe ice should be here to speak for themselves. We create ever moving goalpost for hardworking employers and contractors who simply are doing their job abiding by the laws and as prescribed by congress. The truth is there, nearly half of those in ice custody on this day have final orders of removal nearly at the majority of individuals still in custody and have criminal convictions or charges pending ranging from aggravated assault to homicide. These crimes committed in the United States are not taken lightly and should not be yet some of our colleagues across the aisle seem to prefer them that anyone detained by ice should be released, no matter what crime that individual has committed or how much of a Public Safety risk they represent. It is completely righteous for us to question ices treatment in response to covid19 but let us not go too far. I hope we can talk through the politics and the chairwoman and i have attempted to do so in the past and we shall continue that endeavor today. I look forward to speaking and listening and i thank you, madam chair and i yield back. Thank the Ranking Member and add that its a here is that the dhs component are referring to an omb guidance about remote hearing which is why i believe they would not respond but i would be more than happy to put the question directly to them but that is apparently what we have been informed and they are refusing to participate based on the guidance of omb in any remote hearing but i thank you for raising that issue. Members are reminded that the subcommittee will operate according to the guidelines laid out by the chairman and Ranking Member in their july 8 agree. With that i ask unanimous consent to Wave Committee rule 882 for the subcommittee during remote proceedings and the designated by the speaker under House Resolution 965. Without objection, so ordered. Without objection to members not sitting on the subcommittee will be permitted to participate in todays hearing in the chair now recognizes the chairmans of the whole committee from mississip mississippi, mr. Thompson, for an opening statement. Thank you very much madam chair. Good afternoon to the members present. Im glad to have this opportunity to speak with our witnesses about this important topic, immigration detention contractors response to covid19. The covid19 pandemic has brought [inaudible] to communities across our country with more than 135,000 americans losing their lives to coronavirus. My home state is not exempt but with over 1200 of my fellow mississippians and tragically succumbed to the pandemic in cases continue to increase. This suffering has failed disproportionately on minority communities who often lack access to inadequate healthcare. Those who reside in congregate settings, including detention facilities are also particularly vulnerable. Even before the pandemic many ice detention facilities have a troubled record with numerous complaints, large about health and safety issues, poor Living Conditions and inadequate inspections. These issues combined with the risk of infection and crowded spaces and lead to outbreaks inside detention facilities. By the most recent reporting thousands of ice detainees across more than seven detention facilities have tested positive for covid19. It is unfortunately includes 35 detainees in the Residential Center in texas which is operated by the [inaudible] group. This can situation cannot continue for ice and its contractors must do their part to slow the spread of covid19 in the interest of saving lives and protecting our country. I thank the witnesses for the replies to my april 209 letter requesting information on how they are mitigating the spread of covid19 in their facilities and i would note that they have only been partially responsible. I move today to get a clear commitment from each company to be more transparent about their practices and what they are seen in their facilities with this Public Health crisis but ice has been reporting on the numbers of infected detainees and federal employees but a major gap in this reporting remains the number of Contract Personnel who tested positive for covid19. We deserve to know this information. The dhs Inspector General also recently issued an initial report informed by surveys distributed to facilities across ice Detention Network and those surveyed allowed facilities to self assess their preparedness and response to the pandemic. But they appeared to be a disconnect between issued guidance and implementation of that guidance. Similarly, my staff found serious implementation gaps when reviewing the documents of each of your companies that was provided in response to my requests. We have seen Public Authority new line across the aisle and concerns with how ice private contractors are managing this situation. I ask for unanimous consent to enter into the record a letter from the governor accountability projects which represents multiple whistleblowers who are [inaudible] the governor accountability project also represents subject matter employed by dhs to advise on detention Health Issues but whose input seems to have been ignored. The letter describes extremely concerning mismanagement that, no doubt, has made the crisis unfolding in ice detention facilities that much worse. This is not the end of this committees oversight of conditions at ice detention facilities during covid19. Before the pandemic the committee was actively examining the system problems those facilities that work will continue. The today i urge each one of ice detention contractors to be more aggressive in their response to covid19. I also hope that as the tragic Public Health crisis continues that ice will use its discretion and maximize the use of alternatives to the program which this group has managed four years. This will limit the spread of covid19 in detention and i urge our witnesses to reexamine how they report the problem of covid19 within their facility and to continue their engagement with us to improve these conditions. Thank you, madam chairwoman and i go back. Thank you, mr. Chairman. We now recognize the full committee Ranking Member, from alabama, mr. Rogers for an opening statement. Mr. Ranking member, you need to unmute. Thank you, madam chairman. I want to thank chairman compton again for the use of the committee room. During this congress the majority has made it a habit of declining to invite or refusing to accommodate critical governmentbacked witnesses. We reached out to dhs to find out why they werent here and they said they did not know about the hearing so we called him last week. The majority failed to invite ice to answer questions about its detention policies. Im increasingly concerned that this is a concerted tactic to avoid having experienced senior officials communicative at our two current tact the leftwing narrative. On todays hearing a reminder majority that just last year they called the migrant surge of the border a fake emergency. Even as a crisis reached its peak in on the subject of House Democrats waited more than one year to have to vote on a much needed emergency funding for border crisis and yet what they did send came up short, not one single dollar for Immigration Enforcement facilities was included. I have requested over 300 million to modernize and improve the detention capacity to meet the spike and demand in the majority did not send a dime. Meanwhile, customs and Border Protection is forced to release migrant straight into the border communities. [inaudible] it is becoming increasingly clear that calls for the open borders are streaming into the democratic mainstream platform and contractors of help meet the governments retention needs and they are often derided for simply partnering with the federal government to carry out the laws of this land. These contracts have existed under both democrat and republican administrations. During the covid19 crisis ice and its potential partners have worked together to reduce the number of individuals in custody. They have taken measures that go beyond cdc guidance to adapt to the new safety protocols and cleaning procedures. They have also provided safe accommodations for those with final removals or criminal convictions whose release would endanger other communities. The border crisis and covid19 crisis are two sides of the same coin. I question how the majority can continue to neglect its duty to fund ice last year and again this year. The border crisis and its lack of funding foreshadows the covid19 health crisis. Willfully underfunding ice to make a political point because it will have profound impacts on migrants drawn here by a broken immigration system. Failing to invest in agencies that enforce our immigration laws has odd consequences. I hope the majority will ultimately realize their continued efforts to defund ice have lasting consequences before we have a repeat of this year and again next year. Thank you, madam chair and i go back. Thank you, Ranking Member. I will not welcome our panel of witnesses paid our first witness is president and chief executive officer of the course of it. He joined the company in 1982 as a Correctional Officer based in kansas and served in a number of roles until he was named ceo in 2009. Our second witness is the chairman of the board ceo and founder of the ceo. He founded the company in 1984 and has served as ceo since it went public in 1994. He also served as the director of the geo [inaudible] our third witness is the president and ceo of the management and training corporation. He has been at mtc for 37 years. Final witness is mr. Rodney cooper, executive director for lasalle corrections. Mr. Cooper retired from a 30 year law career at the texas deferment of criminal justice before joining lasalle in 2009. Hes also been a member of the american corrections association. Without objection. [audio difficulties] by now i ask each win is to summarize his statements for five minutes beginning with mr. Hendon sure. Thank you and good afternoon. Chairman rice, Ranking Member higgins and members of the subcommittee my name is [inaudible] and im president and ceo of course the vics. For over 35 years core civic has worked with our federal and state partners to provide respectful and humane environments for those individuals at our facilities. I have been with the company for more than 28 years and i began my career as a Correctional Officer in kansas where i was born and raised. After starting at the Correctional Office i worked in nearly our areas of corrections and my experience our facilities informs my actions every day. At core civic we take seriously our responsibility to ensure the people in trust in our care that are safe and treated in a humane era. The goal pandemic is an unprecedented situation that has presented challenges to every correctional system in america. This is public or private, just as it has for other organizations such as hospitals and Nursing Homes or individuals are housed together or share a common accommodations. During this time our number one priority is health and safety of those entrusted to our care and our employees and our communities. Throughout the companys history we have implemented industry best practices to handle the potential spread of infectious diseases. Since the pandemic began we have worked quickly to execute the guidance of the cdc and our partners. I believe these practices and