This got under way a few moments ago. His mother fears returning to ghana now would be, quote, signing my sons death warrant. Serena badia, a 14yearold with a congenital heart condition has already gone beyond the Life Expectancy given to her by doctors in spain. Actually, i think shes 16. Shell correct us. An 8yearold girl in miami surfing from nerve cancer relies on her dad to take her to monthly treatments in new york. Her father needs deferred action to stay with his daughter. A man in venezuela has been able to care for his wife who suffers from a blood brain malformation and his daughter has neurobl neuroblastoma. This new policy threatens sick immigrants who may be forced to leave america and end their lifesaving treatment. It threatens u. S. Citizens and lawful residents who rely on immigrant Family Members for financial and emotional support while theyre here. It threatens crucial medical research and progress by undermining Clinical Trials that rely on the participation of immigrants with rare diseases. Well hear about that. The officials responsible for this policy must be held accountable for their recklessness and failure to take even the most basic steps to determine the incalcuable harm. The administrations decision to expel these immigrants was exacerbated by the limited time they were given to leave. According to medical experts, 33 days is not nearly enough time to even attempt to arrange for proper continuity of medical care overseas. For days, uscs and i. C. E. Squabbled about who was responsible for the decision and how to implement it and if, indeed, there was a new process. Families were left in panic with allconsuming dread and terror. Uscis said i. C. E. Would consider stay requests. I. C. E. Would only require vulnerable families to risk deportation before they can request a stay of removal. This is the unnecessary Collateral Damage facing every family caught between this bureaucratic tug of war between uscis and i. C. E. It appears that no one in either agency contemplated or cared about the full implications of this change for the families involved. This administrations recent socalled reversal of the policy does not resolve the life and death consequences faced by many more families. After these heartwrenching realities became public, the administration backtracked and announced it would reopen all deferral requests pending on august 7th, but there are Still Critical questions left unanswered. Will anyone who applied after august 7th be eligible for relief . Does the administration actually plan to grant relief to those who have reopened applications . What will happen to families that are currently receiving deferred action but will need to reapply once their twoyear stay expires . Without answers to these key questions, the administrations reversal appears primarily aimed at avoiding a tidal wave of criticism from the public. It gives the appearance of change without necessarily altering the essence of the policy. The Administration Must immediately and completely reverse this policy and continue granting deferred action requests in cases of people who are here today and those like them. There are people who applied after august 7th who are still facing the 33day deadline to leave america. A deadline that will arrive within days or weeks for some people. Thats unacceptable. There is no justification for the incompetence of this decision and theres no excuse for the recklessness displayed by our government in this whole affair. I look forward to having a serious and rigorous analysis of these events and a discussion of how we can all move Forward Together to repair the damage. Its now my honor to recognize our distinguished Ranking Member, mr. Roy from texas for his Opening Statement. I thank the distinguished chairman. Its nice to be back. I appreciate the witnesses for taking time out of your schedules and your lives for being here and i appreciate your testimony today. I think as we gather here today, it is important to remember and reflect that today is september 11th. That we as a nation reflect on the tragedy of the terrorist attacks 18 years ago today. Aid number of us on a bipartisan basis gathered on the Capitol Steps in a moment of silence. Our hearts and prayers and thoughts are with those affected by it and the Family Members, but importantly also that we remember those who in the Law Enforcement community, first responders, people that ran toward buildings and really want to thank all of our Law Enforcement community, including you and your life of Public Service and Law Enforcement supporting the United States. I would also, you know, note that i want to thank the chairman for moving the hearing to today. There was some discussion of it occurring during august. Would have been difficult for people to make it. Im glad its this week so we can have a better attendance. I think as we discuss this topic, and its an important topic, that perspective is important. This past summer weve seen, obviously, an unprecedented surge in migrants crossing into our country. We saw a growing humanitarian crisis at our border. Apprehensions are around 18,000 and weve outpaced the total for 2018, which was 521,000. Weve seen agencies such as Border Patrol and i. C. E. Struggling to fulfill their mission. The committees held three hearings in the month of july alone on border security. In august i made a visit to dha facilities in mcail callen, tex. To look and see whats occurring on our southern border. Theyre important conversations to have as a member of congress, as an american, as a christian. We should be compassionate and do the right thing. We should help those in need. The question, though, is we are a nation of laws, were a nation of sovereignty and were willing what question, i think, is important to ask is are we willing to send a clear message of what those laws are and figure out how to navigate within a system of rule of laws to understand how it impact our nation, who pays for health care and what the expectations are. My understanding, for example, is the average number of cases that were talking about today is about 1,000 a year, give or take. Thats an important number. These are real people. For each one of those thousand, its extremely important and we need to figure out the right processes and make them work. Lets keep in mind were talking about 1,000 cases and right now, as we previously discussed, weve had almost 900,000 people who have crossed and been apprehended into our country since october, almost 600,000 have been caught and released into our nation. These are matter of fact. Weve had a significant onslaught where theyre trying to figure out what to do. We have an overwhelmed system. The entire system is bulging at the seams because we, this body, refuse to do our job. Simply put. Were not doing our job to send clear signals to make sure the resources are there to adequately deal with the situation at hand. Lets think about, you know, the people who sdooemdeserve our compassion. I think all those people were talking about deserve our kam passion, including those of the 900,000 i just talked about, who are abused on a journey because theyre going through a tough journey with illicit, illegal organizations in mexico, who are often in stash houses, who are often being held for ransom, women, girls abused on a journey and we ignore that while we talk about how great open borders are. For some reason in the false name of compassion how good that is and our southern border. Lets talk about the 600,000 that were caught and released and in a sort of perpetual cycle in the United States. Lets talk about Human Trafficking in this country that is getting worse because were allowing illegal organizations to extend into our communities. And lets talk about the compassion owed to our Law Enforcement american nell, cbp, i. C. E. And other agents who are overwhelmed and being trashed on a daily basis by members of the United States congress. Trashed with deceitful and outright lies, disparaging these Law Enforcement officers doing their job. Today as we discuss medical deferred action, i think we should ask serious questions. Does the process we have work, yes or no . Is anybody left outside looking in who doesnt know what the rules of the road are . Lets establish what the rules of the road are and then lets follow them and send clear signals as to what those are and then lets operate in the right humane and compassionate way to handle those questions. What agency is best situated to handle status questions for those seeking health care . Is it uscis . Is it i. C. E. . Is it anybody else . Lets answer though questions honestly and not hide behind rhetoric. Lets set the rules and follow them. Im glad the agencies are here to correct information about pending action requests. My understanding is uscis has had 791 deferred action requests pending between august 7th and september 5th. Denial letters went to 424. 424 claims have been reopened and will be evaluated and receive letters indicating that truth. Certainly love to know the question as to what happened, in terms of the letters going out, how that occurred and now the reversal of that. I think we should look into that. Uscis did not issue any issue to appear for those 421 requests. Thats what i understand. Since august 7th uscis has rejected 40 deferred action requests. Since september 5th there have been no additional requests. We can make sure thats true. Thats what i understand. Historically uscis has been the only agency to grant deferred action to someone not in removal proceedings. Deferred action can be revoked at any time. When determining deferred action those specific criteria was used. Field officers used their discretion and the totality of the circumstances to make their decision. I want to know, is that accurate . Which asked how individuals who may have received deferred action came to the country initially, uscis says it does not track that data since theres no formal application for the process. I would like to know. Id like to know about it. I think well learn some much those things in the hearing today. In wrapping up, i want to reiterate what i said in our july hearing. If we want real reform, real change, we need to discuss the root of the problem. The problem, in my opinion, is we refuse as a congress to stand behind the rule of law and make clear that our immigration and border laws are enforced. I think we need clear rules of the road and i think we need to follow them. I think thats better for our nation. I think thats better for our sovereignty. I think thats better for the migrants looking to come here, those seeking for care, and a just and humane of dealing with things. I think we should stop sending mixed signals. Sending signals its okay to come here, overstay visas and basically have a system where we have indentured servitude in our country because we let this continue. We had 50,000 apprehensions at the border in august. You see lots of news accounts saying thats dropping down and how we should celebrate that. Its still enormously high. Its still an enormously high number. Were still overwhelmed at the border even as though decline in the heat of the summer. At the peak of the crisis there were 33,000 apprehensions at the bord border. We need to remember the underlying factors driving the crisis. We need to secure the border and do our job. All the pointing of fingers, the agencies and spewing of rhetoric here doesnt solve the problem but, rather, real reform will start here in congress. I want to thank the agencies for appearing today. Id like to thank all the witnesses for appearing today and look forward to hearing from each one of you through the rest of the hearing. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Roy, thank you very much. I want to associate myself with your comments about 9 11. Im glad, indeed, we were able to have a ceremony of all of the members of the house today observing this important remembrance. I now want to welcome our first panel of witnesses. It is my pleasure to have you here. I thank you all for the great pains youve come to join us. The witnesses are maria isabel boso, Jonathan Sanchez, shobo wadia, a clinical professor of law at center for immigrant rights at Penn State School of law, dr. Dunaher, a pediatrician from mass general hospital, chelsea pediatrics and mass general child health protection. Anthony moreno at Irish International immigrant service and thomas homan, former director of u. S. Immigrations and customs. For all the witnesses who are able, please rise and raise your right hands and i will begin by swearing the whole panel in. If you are not, please raise your hand. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god . Let the record show the witnesses all answered in the affirmative. Please be seated. Please speak triktly into the microphones. Your written statements will be made part of the record, so well get a comprehensive look at what you have to say even if you dont get it all in within five minutes. With that, miss boisa, youre now recognized to give an oral presentation of your testimony. I would like to thank the members of the House Committee on on oversight to hear my story. My name is isabel bueso, im 24 years old. I came to the u. S. From guatemala when i was only 7 to participate in a Clinical Trial to save my life and life of those like me. I came here illegally and have been illegal resident in this country for over 16 years. But on august 13th the uscis sent a letter giving me and my family just 33 days to leave the country. We were grateful to learn our case would be reopened. Our future is still in question. This has been an overwhelming time for my family and me because of medical treatment i need thats not available in guatemala. I was born with a disease that effects less than 2,000 people in the world. Its a rare lifethreatening disorder. My Life Expectancy was very short and doctors said in 2011 i met dr. Homan in oakland who was conducting clinical retiles on therapy. He was desperately needing more patients to participate in this research. I was led to the trial and my family was excited to come to the usa on b2 visa so i could participate in the trial. As a young child it was not fun spending time in a hospital. I understood it was an honor and a privilege. As i mature it was a reward to know what i was doing was going to help a lot of people. I have continued participating in Clinical Trials until this day to help the next generation with my disease. The first time i participated it wasnt successful and needed fda approval of the first and only treatment. Thanks to the study, other with the disease in the u. S. Now have a safe and effective treatment that lep them live longer and have a Higher Quality of life. Doctors told me if i stopped the treatment, my condition would decline quickly and i could die within months. So after the fda approval, my family relocated to california so i could continue receiving this lifesaving treatment. I use a Power Wheelchair for mobility. I have a shouldnt unt in my br making Health Care Even harder. My parents left a middle class life, their careers, family and friends. My father is a computer engineer and sponsored on h1b visa so he could provide for us. In 2009 we granted deferred action for medical care. We renewed the status every two years. But this year due to change in policies, our request was denied. I want to live. I have worked hard to achieve my goal. I graduated from cal state and was director of student for the campus. I established a scholarship physical and mental disability and i now work as an advocate for people with rare diseases. I meant a California Congress person in our district. Im thankful for the opportunities this country has given me for the medical opportunity and to live longer than expected. Im thankful for the humane immigration policies that have made my life possible here. I want to make a difference for others. Im asking congress and administration to come together and right the wrong of this change in policy. This is not a partisan issue. This is a humanitarian issue. And our life depends on it. Thank you so much. Thank you very much, mr mr. Bueso. Mr. Sanchez. My name is Eduardo Sanchez and im a 16yearold with Cystic Fibrosis, a disease that affects the lungs. It also affects the digestive system and my pancreas. I want to tell you about my life back in my country, honduras and how my life has changed since i came to the usa on 2016. I was born in honduras in 2003. I lived there for the first 12 years of my life. When i was 3 months old my parents found i had cf. It was a scary day for them. It wasnt frightening because three years before i was born they had a daughter named samantha. She was born with a problem in her intestines. Unfortunately, the doctors in honduras didnt know how to treat her or how to help her. Six months and two days after she was born, my sister passed away. This was a pretty heartbroken moment for my parents. One month after they noticed that she had Cystic Fibrosis. And right now theyre worried that if i go back to my country, it will have the same thing to me. In the year 2016 we came to the usa legally with our tourist visas to search for a better Cystic Fibrosis treatment for me. When i go for the first time to boston Childrens Hospital in massachusetts, they made me a pulmonary function test and the results tell me i only have 40 to 42 of my pulmonary function test. The doctors at boston Childrens Hospital told my parents i came to the usa literally d