We go live now to capitol hill. This is live coverage from the Senate Judiciary committee on cspan 3. The hearing will come to order. Ill make an Opening Statement. Senator feinstein and senator corbyn and durbin would like to make a statement. Then well swear in the witness. Before i make my Opening Statement, there was a meeting last night with senator shelby and senator mcconnell and the republican members on the Appropriations Committee. Theres a lot of talk about the disaster at the border in terms of humanitarian assistance needed yesterday. So i think the game plan is that were going to take the 4. 5 billion that was in the disaster package that was unfortunately taken out and mark it up next week as a stand alone proposition to get money flowing to the border to deal with the Housing Conditions and take some stress not only off the agents but the migrants. I think it would be money well spent as 3. 3 billion for humanitarian assistance increase in the shelter capacity for unaccompanied migrant children, the feeding and care of those in custody, safe and efficient Processing Centers and other needs. 1. 1 billion for operation support on the border. 187 million to carry out the needed Information Technology system upgrades and Law Enforcement pay adjustments to manage the ongoing surge. Its my understanding that well be marking this up in the Appropriations Committee next week and that was good news. Today we have acting director mcaleenan to tell us about whats going on. I think we all know whats going on and we all need to come together to fix it. He can tell you better than i, but the numbers are overwhelming. In fiscal year 2019 from october until now, weve had 600,000 people apprehended at the southern border. In all of 2019 fisc8 fiscal yea was 300,000. Weve doubled all of 2018 and weve still got months to go. Theres been 135 increase of apprehensions at the southwest border, 74 increase in unaccompanied minors, 463 increase in family units. That doesnt include everybody. When you include everybody, its 144,278 in may alone. The total in fy 19 is 676,315 which is double of what we did in 2018. What has changed in the last year or so . Heres whats changed. The word is out in Central America and this is a Central America problem almost exclusive ly that if you make it to america, your chances of staying are pretty darn good if you ask for asylum or bring a minor child with you. Now, this is the Spanish Language advertisement. This is how it looks translated in english. How much does it cost to cross the border . In 2016 it was 3 to 8,000. In 2017 its 8 to 16,000 walking through the mountains. If you take a boat its 10 to 20,000. Small plane 16,000 to 30. A vehicle utilizing documents belonging to another person is 20 to 25,000. Vehicle utilizing accomplice immigrant agent is 20 to 25,000. So the market shows the demand is increased. The prices are going up and people are walking through hell to get here dealing with smugglers in every known fashion. The bottom line is until we change our laws in two areas, this never stops and thats the purpose of this hearing. As to what President Trump was able to negotiate with mexico, i think it will help but i do not believe its an adequate institu substitute for us working together in congress with the Trump Administration to change the laws. Here are the laws that we need to change and this is bill ive introduced and i hope we can get bipartisan support for it. Right now if you come to america and you claim asylum, youre entitled to a hearing. That hearing is years away. Contrary to people what people tell you, most people do not show up for their hearing. We dont have the bed space to hold people so we dump them out in the country. If you bring a small child with you, since we dont want to separate families, weve got 20 days to process the claim. We dont have bed space to hold all the families so we turn them loose by the thousands. So what am i trying to do . Im trying to say for a period of time here to have a timeout under the Current System and say that if youre from Central America, you can apply for asylum for the United States but you have to do it in your own country at one of our embassies or consulates. Well try to set up a facility in mexico where you can apply for asylum in the United States but you can no longer do it at our border or in our country. As to the flores decision, were trying to give 100 days to process family units with a small child. Just cant get it done in 20 days. Equally important, were going to allow sending back unaccompanied minors from Central America as if they came from mexico or canada since these are noncontiguous countries we dont have the ability to send unaccompanied minors back and wed like to change that. We want 500 new Immigration Judges. There has to be a breaking point. Weve reached the breaking point at the border. I cannot imagine what its like to go to work every day where half the people are dedicating their time to dealing with family members, minors and all that goes with trying to deal with 600,000 people in your custody. Half of our resources are being directed away from Border Security to dealing with housing people and trying to meet their basic health care needs. The breaking point has long passed at the border. This is not sustainable. Its not fair to those who wear the uniform of the United States at Border Patrol, health and Human Services and all the other agencies. And to the ngos helping, god bless you. If youre on the border dealing with this problem, youre one of the most patriotic people in this country, youre not the problem. Were trying to help you to give you more resources and take the pressure off you because if we dont there will come a point to where well have complete absolute failure to control our border and were getting there daily. So this legislation is designed to deal with the crisis. If it got out in Central America you could no longer apply for asylum in the United States, they would stop coming. This would be a death blow to the smugglers. If it got out if you bring a small child with you, no longer that is a guarantee you can stay in the United States. I am willing to help Central Americas economy. Im willing to help President Trump build a wall. Im willing to work on daca. Im willing to do almost anything and everything to fix this mess. But doing nothing is off the table. So we will be marking up this bill next week and were going to hear from the director his view of what this legislation would do to fix the problem, describe in detail the nature of the problem, what happens if we do nothing and hopefully, hopefully this body can rally around a couple ideas that we need more money for humanitarian assistance, that we need to change our laws, we need to help people in Central America. But id end with this. All the money in the world is not going to fix this problem in Central America as long as you can get to the United States and not be sent back. Life here is always going to be better than life there. Our goal is to improve life there and give people some hope in their own country. Whats odd about this disaster is that people are not trying to avoid being caught. Theyre looking for the first Border Patrol agent they can find to turn themselves in. A wall will not fix this problem. The only way the wall would fix this problem is to build it in mexico so they never step foot in the United States. Once you put one foot in the United States and you claim asylum, we have a major dysfunctional system. With that, ill turn it over to senator feinstein. I appreciate the director and all under his charge for doing an incredible job in difficult circumstances. Thanks very much, mr. Chairman. And thank you for scheduling todays hearing and acting secretary, id like to welcome you here. I see a few circles under your eyes but i guess that comes with the territory. But welcome. In looking at the numbers going back to 1925 to 2018, there have been 15 years where we have had more than a million intrusions. So its my understanding that were on track to remain below the historic levels of apprehensions we saw in the late 90s and 2000s. If i might, id like to submit this for the record. Thank you. There have been approximately 600,000 crossings of our southern border so far this year. Border patrol predicts, i understand, that well reach about a million crossings before tend of the fiscal year, just as we have in 15 other years. We have had over a decade where the country has faced these crossings in the past. So its not unusual that it would happen again. But theres a different population. Right now the crisis thats being talked about by the administration is not how many people are crossing the border, but its really a change in who is coming. This year so far over 84,000 families have arrived at the border fleeing to seek asylum in the United States, whereas previously the country faced border crossings from single adults seeking employment. Thats a big change. These vulnerable parents and children have experienced violence, abuse and poverty in their home countries, particularly the Central American countries affected before they begin the arduous journey north. Last week i met with john sanders, the acting commissioner of customs and border protection, who explained that Border Patrol apprehended 144,000 people crossing the border in may including over 11,000 unaccompanied children. Thats 11,000 in one month if you can imagine it. On may 30th, the dhs Inspector General found that Border Patrol facilities are overcrowded. One facility in el paso is holding 900 people in a space with a Maximum Capacity of 125. The i. G. Was concerned that this overcrowding represents, and i quote, an immediate risk to the health and safety not just of the detainees but also dhs agents and officers, end quote. Acting commissioner sanders told me that children in border facilities in many facilities have no cots or beds. Instead they sleep on floors and benches with mylar blankets. Often this can be the case for days and even weeks at a time. Acting commissioner sanders also confirmed that only a few weeks ago babies and toddlers were sleeping outside under a bridge in el paso entirely exposed to the elements. We also saw firsthand last week that conditions are deplorable for adults in immigration custody. On thursday the dhs inspector i. G. Issued a record that, quote, observed immediate risks or egregious violations at i. C. E. Holding facilities across the country. The inspectors found facilities with moldy vents and concluded that immigrants received contaminated and rotten food. Specifically the inspectors found chicken pa en packets ope leaking in a refrigerator in a new jersey facility. They found spoiled and unwrapped lunch meat in a facility in california. Ultimately the i. G. Concluded that immigrants are held in facilities that and this is a quote show a disregard for Detainee Health and safety, end quote. This is unacceptable. Last week i introduced a bill to uphold the humanitarian standards our laws require and ensure that immigration cases can be heard quickly and efficiently. The protecting families and improving immigration procedures act would do the following. End the practice of separating families at the border and ensure children are not separated from their parents, ensure that families with children are not forced into prolonged detention in order to remain together. Maintain the protections in flores that require children to be treated humanely, given safe places to stay with adequate food and water, increase the efficiency of our Immigration Courts while protecting the basic rights of children by adding 450 staff to our Immigration Courts. This includes 75 additional judges, 75 law clerks and 300 total support staff. This is the number given to us by justice as what they need. Its not a number devised by i or my staff. Conserve resources for all Immigration Judges but restoring judicial discretion to prioritize their cases as needed. And finally this bill includes a key component of the bill which provides counsel for unaccompanied children. This is important because too often Young Children including toddlers have been forced to represent themselves in Immigration Court. How and by whom this Representation Service is provided still needs to be worked out. The legislation addresses the needs of the system in handling the increase in asylum cases while maintaining the basic rights of children. Thanks again to acting secretary mcaleenan. I really strongly feel that whatever we do should be bipartisan. I think for this country to separate children can you imagine how your 4, 5 or 6yearold would remember that for the rest of his or her life and be affected by it . I can. I have seven grandchildren. Its a traumatic experience beyond, particularly if you end up under a freeway on a rock with a piece of mylar. So i hope, mr. Chairman, that your side will be willing to sit down with us and see if we cant work out some bill of which we as americans can really be proud. Thank you very much. Senator cornyn. Thank you, mr. Chairman for holding this hearing and secretary thank you for being here and for the great work you and the troops you represent are doing along the border dealing with the unimaginable set of circumstances. As i was listening to the Opening Statement of the Ranking Member, she talked about how the numbers historically have actually been higher. So the numbers are down, but acknowledge that the composition of migrants coming across is different. Its pretty clear to me that the reason for that as the chairman has opponented o pointed out is individuals charging 10 or 20,000 a person to smuggle them from Central America across mexico into the United States have found a way to exploit the vulnerabilities in our legal system and they are literally flooding the zone. It is no surprise to me that the detention facilities and the individuals who staff those are completely overwhelmed. And i believe previously you have testified, mr. Secretary, that the Customs Officials that ordinary naturily are responsib now been redeployed trying to take care of these children and these families and thats resulted in congestion, longer wait times and actually threatening the supply chain of a lot of the manufacturing that goes on cross border with mexico. But even as the New York Times has pointed out recently, on sunday they wrote its time for congress to staff dithering and pass emergency funding to deal with this nightmare. So far weve seen no effort on behalf of our democratic colleagues to meet us half way and provide the spending bill to address this hurmts crisis. Thats shame on us. It seems to me that the implicit argument is that we really ought not to detain people. We ought to simply wave them through and across the border into the Great American interior, that we ought not to have any krocontrol over our borders or our immigration system. We are the most generous country in the world when it comes to Legal Immigration. We naturalize a Million People a year roughly. What we are seeing now is a result of the chaos and the hardship and the crisis that has manifested because we simply have been unwilling as a u. S. Government to deal with the flow of ilLegal Immigration and the money making machine that this represents for the human smugglers. Im pleased that the president was able to negotiate with the secretary of state and others an agreement with mexico to step up and deal with more of a flow of migrants from Central America across their border is because obviously congress has failed to act to provide the tools you need in order to stop this on your own so the president s had to resort to these diplomatic efforts with mexico. Well find out whether the 144,000 that the chairman mentioned that came across the border in may, whether those numbers go down in the coming weeks and months. I hope they do. That will be the best evidence of whether this works or not. Theres absolutely no justification for congress to silt sit on the sidelines and watch as this crisis continues to unfold. We were told there is no emergency, there is no crisis at the border. But obviously responsible people like the former secretary of Homeland Security under the Obama Administration jeh johnson have said unequivocally there is a crisis at the border. Presi