The Ranking Member is on his way. The reason for the early hearing is that we have votes. And people go back to the district today so i want to make sure i got this hearing in. I am going to begin. Other members will be walking in as the hearing is progressing. This hearing will come to order. This hearing entitled assessing u. S. Security assistance to mexico will focus on evaluating the extent to which u. S. Assistance under the initiative has been affected. It is straightening u. S. Mexico justice section combatting crime and protecting human rights. Without objection, all members may have five days to submit statements, questions, subterraneous materials for the record. Subject to the length of it limitation and the rules, i will now make an Opening Statement and turn it over to the Ranking Member for his Opening Statement. Before i open with my statement, i want to thank everyone that is here, it is early, it is miserable outside and i certainly want to thank the witnesses for being here. Good morning everyone and thank you to all witnesses who are here today. In reading the news over the last few weeks, this shocking headlines from mexico have been impossible to escape. Last week, i saw that kids as young as six years old are armed in defending their families in the rural part. As cartels have sought to assert control over the area, the murder rate has doubled and the community has nearly shut down. Kids, who should be in School Learning math or science, are instead learning how to fire shotguns and ambush armored vehicles. As a former teacher, i believe that nothing is more sacred than the investment we make in our childrens future. It broke my heart to think that these kids are being deprived of the rights to learn and grow free from violence and fear. We know that what is happening is just a microcosm of the broader trends we are seeing across mexico. Mexicos homicide rate has reached its highest level in decades. Targeted attacks against journalists, human rights defenders and local Public Officials have continued at rates higher than almost anywhere in the world. A recent report from the International Federation for journalists, found that mexico is the deadliest country in the world for journalists. Of the 49 journalists killing, it was documented in 2019, ten were in mexico. Most journalists murderers, like most homicide to mexico, are never solved. I have long advocated for robust u. S. Assistance to help mexico strengthen its democratic institution, combat corruption, defend human rights and improve security. I believe that mexico and the United States have a shared responsibility to reduce Violent Crimes and improve quality of life for those living on both sides of our border. The United States must enact stricter gun laws, educate more resources to combat Money Laundering by the cartels and increase investment in programs to reduce domestic demand for Illegal Drugs. We also expect a sincere commitment on the mexican side to reduce this violence. I appreciate the efforts to mexico Security Forces are making, but they are being outgunned by these braising and well resourced cartels. Common cause, released a report this week showing that 953 Police Officers have been murdered in mexico in just the past two years. I admire those courageous individuals who are putting their lives on the line, but it is clear that substantial, political commitment is needed to address the underlying problem of impunity and corruption, which are perpetuating the violence in mexico. Now is the time for the u. S. Government to look critically at our assisted programs to determine what is working and what is not. I am eager to hear from the state department and u. S. Aid about our strategy and how congress can measure tangible process under the initiatives. I sincerely hope that the Trump Administration is prioritizing security in our engagement with rex with mexico rather than pressuring mexico to using National Guards. I know that many of my colleagues share my frustration that we are not making more progress under the initiative. I hope that this hearing will help us develop a clear sense of what is next. What next up we should take. I look forward to working with my colleagues and with the executive branch on the bipartisan basis to explore solutions to the difficult challenges. Thank you and i now turn it over to Ranking Member rouhani for his Opening Statement. Thank you chairman for holding a second hearing to follow up on this very important issue regarding the security situation in mexico. The relation with mexico is among the most strategically important relationships for the United States. Reeling by geography, geographic Price Committee as well as economical has, and historical cultural ties. Directly impacts our country. In recent years, they have brought widespread violence, criminality and deteriorating security condition in mexico, which has largely been driven by the drug cartels. You can ignore the fact that the paper today had the article about the syndrome. Cooperation is a critical component of our relationship with mexico and it is important we review security conditions there and our sisters programs to identify what has been most effective and what has been ineffective in assisting the country to address its challenges. We snow back to mexico have resulted in the death of nine u. S. Citizens including three children at the hands of the drug cartels. A need for both United States and mexico to take steps together to address them. Through intimidation, extortion, corruption and pervasive violence, the mexican people are terrorize daily. The lopez administration is taking steps to having newly created Mexican National guard take the lead on security. This forces also supported some immigration enforcement. Much work remains to properly train and equip them and questions remain about other steps the Mexican Government can take to address the security challenges. Despite the efforts Previous Administration to combat cartel with a 30 percent increase of mexicos homicide rate further the cartels have expanded the drug trade to supply the synthetic opioids. And heroine read the book dreamland. We must also acknowledge the illegal weapons from the United States and mexico especially assault weapons and highpowered leopard weapons that contribute to systemic corruption and lack of rule of law since 2007 the initiative provided 3 million in security aid to mexico from 2014 through 22 us security assistant have focused on human rights in mexico the trump ministration has added focus of financing of the cartels and combating opioids and synthetic drugs, which i think is a positive step United States and mexico must continue to Work Together to ensure that Regional Security priorities are addressed its also critical that the Mexican Government communicates to us and present a comprehensive Security Strategy that us assistance can support. The first the United States should explore ways to modernize the Security Assistance and continue intelligence sharing capacity and also review the coordination on the border to support mexicos efforts to carry out inspections and screenings that has come a long way but we must continue to build the relationship on cooperation it is a joint responsibility for both countries to do so thank you mr. Chairman and Career Foreign Service officers for being here today and i look forward to hearing your testimony. Thank you very much Ranking Member rooney. I will now introduce mr. Hugo rodrigues was a Career Foreign Service officer who most recently served as deputy chief and previously served at the us embassy and later as missions acting minister for affairs. We welcome you to the hearing. We will then hear from the assistant secretary of state and bureau of International Narcotics. In his current role he oversees the program to oversee the work with the 2000 of it in of 2011 and also serving in argentina. Thank you for joining us today and finally will hear from Barbara Feinstein usa member of the overseas usaid program to mexico and Central America and caribbean. Previously Deputy Assistant administrator for administrative and Public Affairs and serves as deputy chief of staff and chief of staff acting administrator. Thank you for joining us today please limit your testimony to five minutes and without objection your Ranking Member rooney and members of the subcommittee thank you for the aid in mexico. Since 2008 usaid has partnered with the department of state and other agencies to address the crime and justice and corruption challenges to threaten our mutual security and prosperity. Under the marinette initiative usaid works to strengthen institutions and address impunity protect human rights reduce crime and violence and transparency undoubtedly as clearly. Including, the targeting of their Business Model from production and trafficking of illicit drugs to their illicit finances and revenue. This is critical for the safety of all of our citizens. The necessity of our cooperation has been made clear over the past few months with the horrific murders of Nine American citizens on november 4th, 2019 and the failed operation to arrest guzman in october of 2019. These events are in addition to the many lives and mexican Security Forces and citizens that continue to be lost in the fight against tea seals. The Trump Administration is committed to working with mexico to combat these organizations. In just a last month, general barr, the director of the National Drug control policy, carole, u. S. Customs and border deputy western Hemisphere Affairs mosaic about separately visited mexico to discuss our joint efforts and the ways we can increase our collaboration is to more effectively confront this threat. Transnational criminal organizations traffic mexican heroin, matt and freedom in, fentanyl and columbian cocaine to the United States. To address these and related threats, the United States and mexico partner through the initiative to support mexicos effort to improve security, reduced drug production and trafficking, and hands criminal prosecutors and the rule of law, build confidence in the justice sector, improve border security, reduce irregular migration flow and promote greater respect for human rights. U. S. Mexico Security Cooperation has been expanding and evolving since the issue was launched in 2008 and is based on the recognition and commitment that our country shares responsibility for combatting transnational records and protecting our citizens from crime, corruption and violence they initiate. It is founded on Mutual Respect and reflects our understanding of the tremendous benefits derived from collaboration. U. S. Assistance has provided crucial support to the Mexican Government in its efforts to build a capacity of its rule of Law Institution while enhancing cooperation between the u. S. And Mexican Governments to provision of equipment, Technical Assistance and training. The Initiative Also agencies prosecutors and judges and expand their share capacity to track criminals, drugs, arms and money. President has made the introduction of violence in the key policy in pledges to fight corruption in mexico to advance efforts to combat our shared security challenges, the United States and mexico have developed a new bilateral structure. The mexico citybased highlevel security working group. Under the umbrella of the hls, we have jointly developed bilateral working groups to tackle issues of the highest importance. These working groups focus on drug policy, migration, elicit finance, cybersecurity, armed forces, emergency response, justice sector, and on trafficking. Through these groups, we are down a fine priorities and specific actions we can take together to make progress in each area. For example, we are looking at ways we can increase joint efforts to combat synthetic drug and illicit drug production, increase drug interdictions and stem illicit finances. We are also working to reduce the number of illicit firearms, weapons and the quantity of ammunition crossing the u. S. Mexico border. The continued threat, posed by Transnational Criminal Organizations to both mexico in the United States requires our continual support. Bilateral cooperation must continue and the initiative must provide a comprehensive flexible framework through which our partnership can move forward to the benefit to both americans and mexicans. Let me turn the microphone over to my colleagues and ill be happy to answer any questions you have. Thank you. Mr. Glen, we will now hear from your testimony. Chairman and Ranking Member rouhani, distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity of appearing before you today to discuss our efforts with mexico. The mission of the department of state bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement affairs is to keep america safe by countering crime, Illegal Drugs and instability abroad. We have provided assistance for the last 12 years under the initiative to build mexican introduction addiction. Our system has two principal purposes. First, to stop illicit drugs before they reach the United States and second, to improve mexican capacity to dismantle each component of transnational organizations from drug production to trafficking to the illicit proceeds and hold them accountable for their crimes articulated the challenges before us are daunting that. Despite the news that u. S. Drug overdoses are on the crime more than 67,000 americans died in 2018 overdosing on drugs. Many of which come from mexico. Mexico is the source of most hair when than the United States and is a major transit zone for cocaine and synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Meanwhile, in mexico, mexicans face their own epidemic, an epidemic of violence with the homicide rate hitting a record high of 21 2019. Impunity is high, public trust in polices is low and organized crime to corruption. Meanwhile, the Mexican Government continues to consolidate its transition to the Justice System. With some progress. But major growing pains. In the face of these challenges the initiative has better position u. S. Mexico Security Cooperation to block the evolving drug press, tackle corruption and security and build trust between u. S. And mexican Law Enforcement. We have adapted our programs to meet the is why usaid is labor law and changing environment, tackle Priority Issues for administrations and prioritized sustainability and measurable impact. We have seen our investments bear fruit. One example, the more than 400 canines donate since 2011 have helped 23 tons of narcotics. That includes fentanyl, it includes more than 56,000 guns and millions of dollars in smuggled cash. We have since expanded the canine program and our next up is working closely with mexico to develop a Strategic Plan for the deployment of canines targeted locations to increase seizures and save more lives. We have learned that no amount of equipment or training can reduce impunity sustainable improvements, this requires political will, resources and urgency to tackle todays immediate problems while laying the foundation for during cultural law from this and accountability. We are under no illusion that we have substantially reduce the number of drugs entering the United States or the level of violence in mexico. We have a long road ahead, yet u. S. Investments yield improvements that can add up overtime. We seek opportunities to make the greatest impact for our investment while mitigating risk and ensuring sustainability. On the campaign trail and throughout his first year in office, mexican president lopez has repeatedly vowed to aim at Transnational Criminal Organizations by combatting illicit finance, corruption and arms trafficking with mexicos explicit commitment, we have an opportunity to more effectively tackle our fair shred. Must be act those only make a measurable difference if they are deployed in a strategic battle with identify targets. We welcome the recent actions in the wake of the visit by attorney general barr and look to build on this momentum. To tackle our shared threats but our assistance is only effective when taylor to complement mexicos only strategic effort. I now continue as our important work and where mexico. I will be the first to acknowledge the current statistic make it hard to argue, we are making headway, nonetheless, the sobering numbers are exactly why we must continue to work closely with mexico. We engage at every level to make sure our programs are matched with the Mexican Government and we encourage mexico to take a strategic approach to our share challenges and we will continue to do so for the enduring and significant change we seek requires nothing less. Thank you and i look forward to your questions. Thank you. Miss feinstein . Chairman, Ranking Member romney, members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss u. S. Since 2008, they partnered with the department of state and other u. S. Agencies to address the crime, justice and corrupt challenges that undermine mexico stability and threaten our mutual security and prosperity. Under the marinette initiative usaid works to strengthen institutions, address impunity protect human rights reduce crime and violence and transparency undoubtedly as you and my collegues clearly articulated the challenges before us are daunting that is why usaid is labor law and is laser focused to have incredible partners willing to work with us with the necessary political will to enact systemic change as outlined in my written testimony, we are seeing results in the area that we work to continue to press federal state and local governments. With the rule of law to support Mexican Government with a Seismic Shift with the presumption of guilt to a presumption of innocence. Working primarily at the state level where the vast majority of crimes are tried we have demand driven support with investigators and offence attorneys to implement protocols and procedures and secure prosecutions. Our work has helped to increase prosecutions of felony crimes by 400 to over 700 percent. And to have specialized homicide units increasing the indictments and homicides. With a sufficient political will and resources and capacity are marshaled to the shared outcomes. The systems we are putting in place at state levels will be the foundations on which the entire Justice System grows and functions. Usaid is focus on those 13 specific states with a crime violence prevention but the anticorruption system to shifted our resources with the anticorruption prosecutors and Civil Society and we see tangible results as well usaid supports the special prosecutor for anticorruption and a 67 percent increase in our support led the charges attend criminal organizations with regards to crime and violence prevention it with the 27 priority cities reduce violence. And then to inform crime and violence. The recidivism rate for those that usaid works with is above 3 percent compared to the National Rate of 60 percent. It with those levels of violence and with the partner of the government of mexico to prevent and investigate and prosecute human rights abuses to strengthen Civil Society to hold the government accountable. Into except those journalists and human right defenders. Were also helping to reduce the backlog and to bring closure to criminal cases. Is up to build forensic evidence for prosecutions. And then we are encouraged with the announcement of the extraordinary method of identification. And cooperation. In conclusion against an extraordinarily challenging landscape we see the progress to be scaled up and replicated. And then to do so. Ranking member and chairman, thank you again children are finding on groups to defend the community. Miss feinstein, mr. Rodriguez, mr. Glen, can you provide examples of u. S. Programs that have been effective in reducing violence and weakening the cartels at the local level both an urban and Rural Communities . Mr. Glen, we will start with you and put you in the hot seat first. So in terms of Rural Communities to the police to do their jobs. Both the federal and state level we have generally avoided local police for various reasons. That is essential to take them from no or very Little Academy support and academy training. And then to ensure at least at the beginning and with the support and knowhow. Obviously there is a lot more to do and that transition along with pieces of the army will be key that they take on that trading and deploy in those regions, as far as we understand the purpose of the National Guard is to get out into the rural areas and help secure those communities that desperately seek that peace and stability. Miss feinstein. As i mentioned in my testimony to targeting municipalities that have the highest level of violence including the government of mexico has targeted. We look at where we have partners that are willing to invest their own resources and where we see the political will and with the crime and violence prevention so in certain municipalities it is similar to Community Courts where we look at misdemeanors so that can be escalated and lead to more sophisticated levels of crimes and if we can address that to build costs to have this strength municipal government and Justice System to pave a foundation for a stronger rule of law at the local level. In addition to rural areas we work with those who are already in conflict with the law who have been imprisoned and or on parole to the techniques through cognitive cognitive to work with youth before they exit the prisons with lower levels of recidivism around 3 percent. I will let my colleague speak and know more to the program. Last year 21 human rights defenders and journalists were killed in 2012 the Mexican Government with those human rights defenders but since august 2017 at least 6 beneficiaries have been murdered. What needs to be done from the killing of journalists and human rights defenders to be investigated and prosecuted . Chairman you point to one of the crisis with the protection of journalists that we have released frequently and my believe is that that they share that concern and those that to help to strengthen those efforts that both for us and the government of mexico, this is a priority to take steps to journalism. I will defer to barbara on programs that specifically focus in general the efforts with both federal and state level attorney generals but the investigative branches of Law Enforcement to increase their ability and to produce prosecution. That does not prevent the aggression against journalists but when it does happen it ensures that the Mexican Government cant get justice. From usaid perspective and to provide Technical Assistance to the National Protection mechanism from the panic buttons to protection teams for journalists through that mechanism and in addition on another level we are also providing support for freedom of expression to strengthen protocols and be able to go after the perpetrators who are going after journalist then provide direct support in terms of Digital Security and perfect one perfect themselves online and to you get specifics as to how the id has evolved under the American Initiative and about our participation versus mexico . And then what judicial formed we need to execute and mexico to increase convictions and provide Legal Proceedings of the Cartel Members . Thank you parker in terms of the evolution come at the beginning of the initiative initiative, mexico has embarked on a Seismic Shift to transform the guilt from presumption of innocence. While all of that has been on paper and has worked very hard with the Mexican Government to try to ensure implementing legislation has been in place in each of the states to carry out that reform because now the laws on the books because of that cultural change required to get all individual actors including those that were part of the old system to go from where you are prosecutor to assist him you have to make the tough decisions about what cases you would prioritize and build those cases to build the strongest evidence that you can. The issue is structural and systemic one not the judicial reforms obviously there could be tweaks that working with the actors to Work Together. In terms of the evolution of our approach and the rule of law where we say the work is focused on the state level to implement legislation it was classroom training for all individuals judges and Defense Attorneys and prosecutors and investigators that classroom training was not enough we needed to have targeted assistance to bring the actors together. In terms of the increases prosecution was the result of a deliberate effort to bring all of those around the table with the judicial system one part sends a letter to the other part than one month later they would respond instead of picking up the telephone. That work most effectively so that might be cognitive behavioral therapy, perpetrators of crime or victim of crime. Consider those your address communities and actually look at the interventions that work most effectively so that might be cognitive behavioral therapy, familybased counseling on a variety bringing the different parts together and that is what we are doing and where we are seeing the result and on the model we are pleased to see the government of mexico has taken Pacific Justice model before and we pilot it and scale that up to different parts of the country. In the case of that work, those that are in prison and to be released in the next five years we will work with them to give the kind of training, life skills and once they come out, the Vocational Education to be integrated into society and we are seeing the recidivism rates over 3 as compared to the 60 National Rate. One last thing that is the contribution of the United States versus mexico under the agreement . I wouldnt be able to tell you across every element i dont know if my colleague house that. On a regular basis and annual basis its around 40 million about 37 to 40 million per year and i know local security contributions on the average of about 400 million. Or strategy under the back, interestingly, most of the congress voted in favor of u. S. Mcas, and see mexico not only as a Good Neighbor but as a fellow partner in trade. However, there obviously are some problems. Mr. Glen, you said, the current statistics make it hard to say we are making headway. I guess my question would be, should we shift our approach or strategy under the initiative . If the statistics are what they are and theyre pretty horrific, should we do Something Different . Absolutely. I think that we have learned from the 12 years of experience that we have, we also have a new Mexican Administration that is focusing on different areas and we will go along as far as we can to support those efforts of the current Mexican Administration. I think the focus on going after the illicit finance in a larger more focused way will be a major shift that will give us the kind of results that we seek to focus on arms trafficking and helping the government at least from our end helping the government of mexico position equipment weve donated previously so they can protect their border and scan for guns and money coming south. So, shifting those kind of resources into that kind of focus can help change the way that we focus the merida resources we have. One of the concerns i have is one of the shifts we have seen or the creation of this National Guard where i believe 25,000 of them now are being used to prevent Central American migration. That concerns me. I thought they were supposed to be out there interdicting drugs and doing all these other things against the narco traffickers not against Central American migrants. I also want to ask about the Migrant Protection Program or we normally call for remain in mexico. 59,000 migrants have been returned to mexico and that is as of december 31, 2019. There are at least public reports that 815 of these have become victims of Violent Crimes such as rape, kidnapping and torture after being attacked and returned to mexico, so it doesnt seem to me that its very safe to be returned to mexico. Why are we continuing this . You raise an excellent point. The levels of violence in mexico are of great concern to us as is the violence the migrants face in the entire route of the journey and our effort has been to share responsibility and look for part is to help us in addressing the irregular migration and help to build capacity particularly in Central America at this point were offered asylum and support closer to the home and the point of departure to undertake both the dangerous journey and including the dangerous conditions in mexico. They have owned the concerns we have particularly the Northern Tier of mexico. Theyve committed less to provide the same protections to the migrants as they do to their citizens that are coming into the area as well. I live in san diego, known as the safest, largest city in the right states. Across the border into your wanna, they have the murder capital of the world and yet a lot of the migrants experience this incredible level of violence against them. When you say the return that they provide say the, it is not safe. That is the whole point. I agree with you sir. The level of violence are tremendous concern. And i think the government of mexico shares that concern. This is a largescale problem. We assist through the initiative in the way we can but again my understanding from the government of mexico is that they understand the problem and are focused. My time is expired. The only thing i like to add is i am not sure about this hugs thing either, the new president says hugs instead of bullets, i am not sure that is going to work. Thank you. Thank you congressman. Appreciate you being here and i want to thank you for the work that you come come in in short agencies do because i know that you do it for the good intention. But we are not seeing it and mr. Glenn your brought that up. Profit up under no illusion. I like to look at things what is the solution and how do we change this . Miss feinstein there was a 3 recidivism verus the 60 . How long have you tracked that is that within the five or ten year period and do they stay reformed and not go back into the illicit activities . My understanding is that it is a multiyear effort that we are not just tracking people when they come out because that wouldnt be a good indication of when the recidivism is taking place. Is it a 3 recidivism after a year, five years . If you could get that that would help us because that gives us a working that we can bolster. I forget what area it is but you are saying the 40 increase in sentencing what about the sentencing and the reform side of that or do they get pardoned or early release. And those that i can read to you or not where we have increased the number of indictments so that is from homicide and my other statistic is in terms of of prosecution for felony crimes so in terms of prosecutions that is obviously a variety of ways that could be resolved and it could result in incarceration or alternative dispute resolution, plea bargaining surveys or piety of different methods. The challenge in this sector is that under this new system in any criminal system whether in our systsem or any around the world, criminal Justice Systems have the capacity to process 10 of the crimes that are coming and so you have to make decisions about how you are going to prioritized. You could have a prosecutor that goes after the crimes and then reduces their rate that they are trying to look at the more serious crimes so that in this case taking all these different elements bringing them together and asking what is it that would make a difference for the community and people looking at serious crimes like homicides, like home invasions, Armed Robbery etc. And then for us it isnt a sign it is a and not necessarily look at plea bargains and other issues. I appreciate. It mr. Glen, you were talking about you dont work with the local Law Enforcement for obvious reasons. I want you to stay with those obvious reasons are. Anything recognized by the Mexican Government itself, the level of corruption that the local level is we know that. I want that on record because we have put so much money into the programs, yet the results are not there. I want to switch over to another question, the gao reports that shows 70 of the guns seized in mexico by mexican authorities are from america. What do we do . Do we track that to find out who they came from here in america . If so, what do we do . Do we have extradition laws that allow that person to go to mexico if those guns were involved in a crime . You were closely with the government of mexico to track those guns guns. In the cases where we have tracking information with serial numbers there is cooperation to share that with u. S. Law enforcement so they can track that. We have u. S. Law enforcement officials in mexico. The person that broke the law selling the guns, have we sent him to the mexican prison for the judicial system . That does not mean would that be a strong deterrent if we did . I would assume it would. I will yield we had a similar hearing about a month ago relative to aid to mexico and not surprisingly, corruption took center stage. I would like to begin with the question with you mr. Glen and you miss feinstein about how corruption specifically impacts your work. Starting with you mr. Glen and if you can be specific about corruption, not general. Our focus is on improving Law Enforcement and so the efforts in the past and Going Forward as well will be on how do we eliminate or help the Mexican Government eliminate corruption in the public Security Forces. I want to hear specifically about that corruption in the Security Forces. We have at least the alleged conduct of the head of the police. He was at the time one of our principled interlocutors. So obviously that shakes the trust that we have got to work with those in place, we do our best on the Human Rights Society and thesideand the internal vetting to make sure that the best of our knowledge, our partners are with us and not against us. And if we are uncovering information do they act on it or mexican partners . To the extent that i know, yes. I know mexico created a independant federal prosecutor for the crimes and theyve moved to remove immunity from elected officials that engage in corruption and establish the anticorruption system that ran on a platform of targeting and persecuting corrupt officials. We learned yesterday that the former head was arrested in spain based on a request from the government of mexico for alleged corruption. They are pursuing corruption in both current and former goverment officals. Anticorruption is one of the areas that we have focused on in mexico because of the toll that it takes on the mexican state at every level where that is encountered by individuals on a daytoday basis as well as businesses for example it is estimated to cost mexico between five to 9 of its gdp, so its obviously an enormous problem for the private sector and for individuals on a daytoday basis. Complementing with my colleagues have said, one of the areas they engage in is looking at the procurement process in mexico since a lot of the scandals and mexico have related to Government Procurement so what we have done is provide the tools so that a spotlight can be shined on where corruption is going and have invested in block chain analysis of the weaknesses in the procurement process and we are working with specific states. Isnt talks to purchase russian made helicopters and if that were to proceed with risk sanctions under section 231 of the act . Thank you, congressman. We have looked into that and obviously read out of the meeting between esther lavrov and the foreign secretary. It is concerning to us based on our initial investigations it appears that it would trigger sanctions under catsa and we dont have further specifics this morning but to give a full readout. I believe we have at the Embassy Level but i need to check on us to confirm. At the washington level we have raised this area of concern with our counterparts in mexico city to raise the government of mexio. We appreciate that. I will yield back one of my time. Thank you,. Thank mr. Chairman, miss feinstein, i will ask you a quick question, you mentioned the different ways that we are trying to protect journalists. Could you just go through those really quickly again . I remember a panic button. By the way, who does a panic button who answers the panic button on the other side . I hope the not the crop long force means that we just heard about . This is through the National Protective mechanism that we as usaid helped the government establish. Who answers it on the other side . Officials associated with the national protected mechanism which are vetted and help to redirect. Have you mentioned the Response Time of those folks . We recognize this isnt a foolproof mechanism so if you are a journalist and someone is with you trying to kill you, no call from a panic button is going to result in Law Enforcement coming and bailing you out immediately. I was in Law Enforcement for 25 years and there were a lot of people that didnt like me just like theres a lot of people that dont like me now but i did have a gun. Are we training these folks in the use of firearms . Not to the best of my knowledge. If it takes 15 minutes to show up and you have 20 seconds to react would that be a more effective way to help folks . I would refer you to the technical experts. You have more expertise in this area than i do. The panic button is one of a variety of mechanisms. We also provide support for better or Residential Security upgrades. With some exceptions that has been successful in terms of protecting journalists and keeping them alive. Our hope is there would be more resources invested in the mechanisms which can be expanded to provide greater protection which we would prefer to not have to do but a reality today. Someone handed you a note. It was an answer to mrs question they have enhanced the military or Law Enforcement presence along the border. Is that correct . If i could, i would like to pass this on because the programs that we have fall under his area of expertise. The responsibility a place with multiple agencies within the government of mexico. The military is one of those and its increasingly taking on that role. Is their enhanced security, Law Enforcement on the border area . Both on the mexican southern border as well as mexicos northern border. What is happening as a result of the . Increased amounts of greater success with the equipment of the donated whether its the canines they mentioned earlier weve also been trained to get into focus and cooperate more on ports so the importation of the precursor chemicals . It is there obviously some incentive for them to help with ports . Sure,. Do they have with physical barriers on our southern border . Let me touch first on the amount of money that we have spent over the last ten to 12 years on specifically on border security. That can be ports, supports, land ports. We have spent about 200 Million Dollars on equipment and training so that is not some inspective equipment. Im wondering about mexico. How much money did they spend . Are they paying for a wall, i guess the question . Are they paying for a wall . A physical wall . Not that i know of. In terms of personnel, dedicated to screening and protecting the border, yes. I dont know a specific number on how much money they have spent. I yield back. Thank you. Thank you congressman. Congressman castro. Thank you chairman. Under the migrant protection portico, wonderful people and Asylum Seekers are forced to live in dangerous conditions in mexico to the Trump Administrations policies. As they await their asylum claims, i recently along with 16 other members of congress visited the border and i thought firsthand the conditions of disarray in fear and came away believing that it is an inhumane situation that we are placing these folks in. Mexican border towns are becoming incredibly dangerous in migrants are becoming victims of my Violent Crime including robbery, kidnapping and rape as they languishing the border. My question for you all is, do you know how many individuals are currently in mexico under the Trump Administration remaining in mexico policy awaiting adjudication other silent claims . technical problem i dont know if i have the number in front of me but if you will permit me i will get that number back to if i could take that . Do you believe that these people along the border are actually safe in that environment . Let me put it this way, we end the government of mexico are working to increase their safety so our bureau of populations refugees and migration work with International Organizations to provide support to migrants under the program and to that extent, we are working correctly to try to provide support and safety to those individuals as well as encouraging and working with the government of mexico to provide support and safety to those individuals as well. To the state department acknowledges that some of those cities are cities the state department advised america not to travel to become because of the danger of those cities. What steps has the state departmentstatedepartment taken to protect these people as they pursue their asylum claim . If i were to talk about usaid, i would add that my understanding is the period of time that these individuals are waiting for their asylum hearings and processing is meant to be expedited as possible. Based on what we heard from folks the other day it is quite the opposite which is they are bringing them in for court dates and then setting up a recent date 34 months later basically hoping people will either stay in mexico or just go away so the folks that do remain are being subject to these dangerous conditions. But ive got about a minute and 40 seconds left unless they want to Say Something about usaid. We are not engaging in that area. It sounds like this is more in the wheelhouse than the sum of the work youve been describing for the last hour. In terms of how they handle migration that is primarily within the state Department Bureau and so thebureau and so the work on the asylum strengthening isnt something they engage in. You talked about the reform of the legal system or the Justice System. Do they have a public defender system . Through our work we work with other Defense AttorneysDefense Attorneys at the state level primarily. How extensive is the system now is it nationwide . It was part of the judicial reform changed the Justice System in terms of presumption of innocence and guilt and that has get them . Under the merida initiative, we have assisted them in the form of primarily recovering the weapons so through the forensics forensics, ats is present in the embassy and it does work with the Attorney Generals Office with the state level Attorney Generals Office is to retrieve weapons that have been used in the cutting of crimes to be able to track them back and find how they came across the border. Thank you mr. Chairman. I have a few those conversations . Thank you, congressman. We do have conversations every day about the security threats to mexican citizens, u. S. Citizens and the fact that this obviously represents a National Security extreme for mexico and the u. S. , so yes sir we do have those conversations. Being that the homicide rate has skyrocketed over the past few years and we have also witnessed a series of issues come in here and beat prosecuting crimes especially those against american citizens and mexico recently we have had in the past few months i can recall about 11 deaths of american citizens on mexican soil. So during the conversation with President Trump agreed to a joint investigation involving the fbi that has been ongoing you should talk to them where they are with that. Conversations and joint investigations going on also i recognize the homicide rate has been going up specifically since 2014 has gone up every year this is a problem the administration has inherited and has been very focused on it will take a great deal of effort that they are working on that i can turn it over so we could talk about the efforts with investigations and prosecutions. I can speak to extraditions. I went to predictions about crimes perpetrated against americans in mexico i am curious if we have that effort that we are actually trying to go after folks that are harming american citizens in mexico. The attorney general has traveled twice to mexico in the last two months to speak with his counterparts there and to urge a focus on extraditions the government has responded in a very forceful way we have seen a large number of high value extraditions over the course of the last few months as well as high volume fugitives that have occurred in the United States for go so yes as far as the underlying cases i dont know if they are specific. In the last 90 days we have at least 11 americans murdered in mexico one or two were from my district so this is a concern coming across on the mexican side when a 13yearold kid is shot and that i dont have any more confirmations from the state department certainly it is a concern. As a Career Counselor officer in Foreign Service i spent a good deal of my career working on issues we take safety of americans very seriously when an american citizen with their function. And in terms of cooperation. And over the past 90 days of those extraditions. And it is no easy task but i hope my collegues and i could work more closely in the coming months with the executive branch to mexico and improve the strategic approach thank you to all members who were here today and we are adjourned. [inaudible conversations] good morning everybody. If you could please find your seats. I would like to welcome everyone to usdas 96 annual outlook form. The u. S. s oldest annual meeting. Im the deputy secretary of agriculture and is great to see everyone here this morning. This years team is the innovation
vimarsana.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.