At 12 50 p. M. Eastern on cspan. Now, a house hearing on the security risks posed by people who overstay their visas and what the administration is doing to stop them. Testimony was heard from immigration officials. This is two hours at hand 45 minutes. Two hours and 45 minutes. The committee on Homeland Security and borderland security will come to order. The committee is meeting to exit. E dhs overstay and lets have art, moment of silence to honor those who were killed in the terror attack in orlando. There is more than just security along the southwest order to consider. Time into gun, terrorist have exploited the esa system by legally entering america. The 9 11 committee put it this way, for terrorists, traveled documents are as important as weapons. The 1993 World Trade Center bombing, terrorists have abused the hospitality of the American People to attack people here at home. Egyptian convicted of the 1993 World Trade Center bombings was ill legally in the United States as a cab driver after his tourist visa expired. 12 of the 9 11 hijackers abuse their visa status. 3000 of ourarly fellow americans. One of the weaknesses they exploited was the weakness of order security. Total through a combined of 68 times without arousing suspicion. Most recently, one attempted to conduct a Suicide Attack on the u. S. Capital. Int was in 2012, he had been the United States since 1999 on a tourist visa and never left. Destroywho helped evidence in the Boston Marathon bombings was able to return to the United States despite being of status on his student visa. To put the National Security risk in perspective, a widely more than 40 owed of illegal aliens do not cross the desert in arizona, california, or texas but come in through the front door with permission and overstay their welcome. Earlier this year, the department of home land security at over sought a report saying it might be worse than thought. Y in fiscal year 2015, fewer people were apprehended by the u. S. Border patrol then overstayed their besides and are expected to still be in the number, making the closer to 68 . We have a graphic up there. A little bit of math. 54 , those we think got away. 23,000 got a ways. Overstays, 282,000. The unlawful presence is up to 705 thousand based on these numbers. Unlawfululates 68 to rate versus coming over the border. These are estimates based on getaways. A lot of is, we spend time focusing on the southern border, as we should, but there is also another problem here. We have unlawful presence from b cell overstays and that is what we are focusing on today. I am concerned that they are in theified safety risks population. It has historically been the means for terrorist entries. In order to tackle the challenge comes the department has first identify those who overstay. Electronically study this has been an place for 20 years. Exitdate of a biometric and entry has been a place for five years. We have made substantial process and progress since 2005. But, in cdp has made, in fits and starts, only marginal progress when it comes to biometric exits. Land, and seaports over the last 10 years, no plan has been implemented for biometric exit capability. Is now engaged in a series of experiments such as the use of mobile devices with a metric readers designed to support a future biometric exit system. To make that a priority is missing from the department and cdp. It appears the department is turn this corner. Secretary johnson is committed to a 28 teen rollout of a biometric exit system. Ambitious timeline, but long overdue. Congress has provided a steady funding stream to allow investments to bring this online. Putting this in place as the 9 11 commission noted, and in an essential system. Ande holders can overstay disappear into the United States as the 9 11 hijackers were able to do. Those who present National Security and Public Safety show resources. Otherwise, we put a person at risk unnecessarily. Dedicate resources, at the 25 that were already departed after special agents organizations,ld we are spending too much time chasing our tales. A reliable exit system will allow Security Officials to focus their efforts on preventing terrorist attacks. That mitigates the chances to stay in the country beyond their time of admission. The American People need answers. How many overstays are out there that pose a serious threat . Can immigration officials quickly identify and remove the overstays . I look forward to answers to these important questions. The chair recognizes the Ranking Member subcommittee the gentleman from texas. I think the chairman for holding todays hearing. , i want toegin express my sympathies to the families of those lost. My prayers are with those injured. About theo learn more security implications at a housewife briefing with secretary secretary jeh johnson later today but hope the , withses before us respect to the topic before the subcommittee, i am pleased to address the overstay issue. Has paid a great deal of attention to securing our southern border and rightfully so, less attention has been focused on addressing visa overstays. 527 thousandtely is a far greater number than the 300 31,000 individuals apprehended along the u. S. Mexico border right year. Illustrating the scope of the overstayed problem. As a member of the congress representing a district along the southern border, i understand the problem with a biometric export system. Built forts were not exit controls nor were our land borders. Overcoming these challenges is in integral part of dhss path. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses about the progress they have made toward addressing the challenges as well as plans for fulfilling the secretarys commitment to begin deploying biometric exits at airports by 2016. To hearing how they will address biometric exits at our land border, particularly mexico. Unfortunately, the Mexican Border control does not have the technology to share. U. S. Must not restrict travel and trade important to communities like those i represent. I look forward to hearing from i. C. E. We must first stop those who plan to do us harm. It is no easy task but it is a necessary part of an sharing meaningful Border Security. I think the witnesses for joining us and yield back the balance of my time. Members of the committee are reminded that Opening Statements may be submitted for the record. Mr. John wagner is the Deputy Assistant director or of Field Operations. Formally served as responsibility for all traveler admissibility programs including the trusted traveler program, the electronic travel system, and the fraudulent document analysis unit. Mr. Craig healy is with isis security and investigations division. He began his service with the marine corps. Two thousand three, he served with the first group of u. S. Special agents entering a rock iraq. The lly and parisi is is at the department of Homeland Security. She is responsible for developing the screening helices including the Visa Waiver Program. Before joining, she was working in the private sector. Federal personnel Identity Verification and credentials. For dh burns is working science and Technology Director of. Of theges the action Apex Technology program and Guides Community outreach initiatives. Entry director for partnership with u. S. Customs and Border Protection to enhance both exit and entrance to develop technology for exiting and for examining travelers. Opening statements will appear in the record. The chernow recognizes mr. Wagner for five minutes. Mr. Wagner good morning. Thank you for the opportunity to appear to discuss customs and Order Protection and incorporating biometrics into exit operations as it pertains maydentifying travelers who have overstayed their admission. Since assuming responsibility Energy Policy in 2013, cdp is moving forward with several initiatives. I would like to briefly discuss how we collect data. Manifestses containing biographic information on all passengers, which we run against numerous Law Enforcement and databases to identify and address potential far in advance of travel as possible. When the traveler arrives in the United States, they present their passport to the cdp officer who confirms the validity, the accuracy of the carriers manifest, and the fingerprints and eight digital photograph are collected. If they have a visa, we compare the fingerprints with what was collected at the embassy to make sure it is the same person. If they are traveling under the Visa Waiver Program, we can collect and compare fingerprints. Also, there is vetting to ensure no previous violations or risk factors which would determine if we need further inspection. We interview the traveler to determine the purpose and intent of travel. Asn we stamp the passport well as recorded into our automated system. In a prison leaves, we again receive the biographic manifest information from the carrier and run it against the intelligence databases. Aat allows us to create departure record. This is how they apprehended the times square bomber who was attempting to depart jfk and 2010. In fact, 349 passengers were arrested as a result of departure manifest provided by carriers. We use this to generate overstay list on a daily basis. Be more complicated then matching entry and exit data. A person may receive a six month admission into apply for and receive an extension which is relevant to determining whether the person is truly an overstay or not. T is correlated against others run through our automated targeting system, we apply criteria and prioritize the records. Theinistration information is then provided to ice. It articulates the foundation for incorporating biometrics into the aspects of our system. The biographic information we actionable but it can be an enhanced with a biometric upon departure to validate and confirm the information we are acting upon. That remains is not the technology but the infrastructure. Our ports of entry were not designed to have departure control processing. Unlike for arrivals, there is no designated space for departure control. A share a gate with domestic traffic. Where the biometric collection takes place is critical. Placing it too far in advance at the counter does not provide assurance the person who provided the data actually departed on the plane. We would be looking at the biographic manifest data which is the same system we have today. So preparing for the exit, facial comparison at jfk, a distant pilot in california, and eight handheld pilot at 10 airports across the country. Starting yesterday, we commenced airport tohe atlanta compare facial images of travelers departing against previously provided images by those travelers. This is done in a in automated session without impacting airport operations. Pilot is now integrating data into our back end system. It is critical to getting the airlines and airports cooperation as we incorporate tr existing processes. As long prayers as lawenforcement professionals, the data verification and security for the fixit thing for the existing system, the implementation of the biometric exit concept. We will continue to work closing with our private Industry Airlines anduding airports essential for the successful deployment and development of these solutions. Thank you for the opportunity to appear here today. Mr. Healy good morning. Thank you for the opportunity to. C. E. se discuss i role. Over 30 years i have spent my career in Law Enforcement and i recognize overstaying is an important issue. Homeland security investigations, through our terrorism unit, is dedicated to identifying and action on enforcement the overstay hers. It is accomplished and close we betation with cdp and the systemgenerated leads we receive in order to identify true overstay violators for appropriate and foresman action. I. C. E. Uses specific systems to identify the those who might cause concern. Our agents and analysts and 25th used 625,000 hours on a overstay and foresman. Theiscal year 2015, exploitation unit received approximately 971,000 systemgenerated potential overstay leads received from entryexit International Student databases and other systems. The systemgenerated leads are created using biographical and data in the system. It allows us to identify nonemigrants who have remained in the United States beyond their authorized time of admission or who have violated their visas. Once the leads are received, and automated and manual search is used against social media, public records, and other things to identify if they have adjusted to a lawful status or require further review in which case a lead will be sent out to a field office. Prioritize overstays through riskbased analysis, a targeted framework consisting of 10 tears. It was developed in close communication with Law Enforcement and government entities. To make sure our government minorities are used. We meet with partners to ensure there are targeting methodologies outlined with current and existing u. S. Government right information, trends, and priorities. To better manage investigative resource of, the counterterrorism and criminal exploitation unit relies on the previously discussed framework but incorporates focused and foresman and removal operations on individuals who are threat to National Security, Border Security, Public Safety, or who are convicted of significant criminal offenses. Year 2015, approximately 1 or roughly were determined to potentially pose a National Security or Public Safety concern. Fortunately, with further investigation, we determined many of these leads were not in fact high risk. Leads werel of these sent to field offices for further investigation. Referrals or field 10,000 investigation sent out to the field, our offices have a approximately 3000 investigation still ongoing and roughly 4000 of those investigations have been closed because even after our initial betting, it was determined those individuals were in compliance. The remaining leads are in Continuous Monitoring for further investigation. A result ofntly, as this investigations, we made over 1900 arrest of which 139 were criminal. We secured 186 indictments and convictions. Will workion, we alongside our partners in pursuing visa overstays who violate the terms of their admission. Of thelementation biometric exit system will facilitate and enhance information sharing while improving the quality of the data, thereby improving our efficiency and affect them does in identifying and removing these are overstay violators. Again for the opportunity to be here today and i look forward to taking your questions. Thehe chernow recognizes i appreciate the moment of silence earlier. Thank you. For the opportunity to appear here today to discuss dhss progress on Border Security and admissions and foresman. I am part of the dh as office. The office is charged with developing meant of policy. Screening Ordination Office this whole of government approach to screening involves decisions about how to share information and interact with one another across the government. I am here with my colleagues today to discuss over stays and biometric exit. On january 19, 2016 dhs released the entry exit overstay report for fiscal year 2015. The first such report in a generation. This provides information on the number of individuals in the country who over stayed their period of admission presented by country. The report covers 87 of all nonimmigrant travellers coming to the United States by air and sea. It reflects that 99 of these nonimmigrant travellers depart within their period of admission. At the time the report was issued, 416,000 of these individuals were suspected of remaining in the United States as an overstay. Since the report was issued the number dropped to below 355,000 individuals. While the report represents a tremendous step forward dhs recognizes it doesnt answer all of the questions. You have heard dhs officials leaf in the past, dhs identified quality errors in historic data that while now fixed prevents us from being able to retroactively produce reports for prior fiscal years. That said and for transparency, dhs provided numbers in the appendix of the report. As the report states, the ability to estimate overstay rate is dependent upon the completeness and accuracy of arrival and departure records. During the fy14 data dhs identified discrepancies from certain air carriers which resulted in artificially elevated rates. These data quality issues have been resolved for tourism travellers. The tables are an accurate for these over categories. Over the past two years dhs has made progress in terms of its ability to accurately report data on overseas. Dhs anticipates we will broaden the scope of future words with the emphasis on student visas. Dhs submitted the comprehensive biometric entry and exit plan to Congress April 20, 2016. Over the last decade with the support of congress, dhs through the combined efforts of cvp, ice and mpdds office of biometric Identity Management enhanced the capability t