Next, federal officials testify on support for noncitizen servicemembers before a house judiciary subcommittee. The effort aims to help deported veterans and family members get entitled benefits, including pathways to naturalization and Immigration Services. This is about 90 minutes. Capitol hill for a house immigration subcommittee. Live coverage on cspan. Dedicated to circulating motions or written materials that members may want to offer as part of the hearing. If members want to submit materials, send them to the email address previously distributed to your offices and we will circulate the materials to members and staff as quickly as we can. I ask all members to mute your microphones when you are not speaking to help prevent feedback and technical issues and of course, amuse yourselves anytime you seek recognition. I will now recognize myself for an Opening Statement. I would like to welcome witnesses and the members of the immigration and citizenship subcommittee to todays hearing that will explore the initiative by the Current Administration to support noncitizen servicemembers, veterans, and family members. Immigrants are important to society. They provide key support to u. S. Military. Currently, immigrants account for apart approximately 3 of active duty Service Members. 13 of veterans are of immigrant origin meaning either they or their parents are immigrants. Throughout our history, immigrants has been key to some of our most Critical Military victories, for example, the revolutionary war would likely not have been one without the essential contributions of two immigrants, the marquita Lafayette Marquis de la fayette. Both were prosperous properly made honorable citizens of the u. S. A more recent example is u. S. Marine sergeant rafael geraldo. He was born in mexico. In 2004 Sergeant Peralta was wounded in fallujah and in his last moments used his body to shield fellow marines from a grenade blast, saving their lives. Sergeant perrotta obtained citizenship during military services and was posthumously awarded the navy cross. In 1862, recognizing the Important Role immigrants play in the military, Congress Passed a law expediting the pathway to citizenship for those that serve in the armed forces. Quick access to citizenship is good for Service Members and the military branches they serve. As with other aspects of the Legal Immigration system, the Trump Administration imposed barriers when it comes to naturalization for noncitizen Service Members. Fortunately, the new administration has been working to reverse these policies. The president passed the to improve access to military naturalization. As part of this mandate, the department of Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs worked to create something called the immigrant military members and Veterans Initiative to assist immigrant veterans with parole applications and facilitate access to v. A. Benefits. The mandate is to provide care and assistance to anyone who served in the military regardless of citizenship status. This gets more difficult when they are removed from the country of origin, often due to a crime stemming from, that occurred during the Veterans Service with our military. Approximately 11 to 30 of veterans experience posttraumatic stress disorder or ptsd. Veterans with ptsd are 60 more likely to become involved in the criminal Justice System than those not suffering from this illness. When american citizen veterans are convicted of crimes, their punishments do not include banishment from the country. However, even after they serve their sentences, veterans who are not yet citizens are subject to removal. That means a veteran who risked their life for our country and has suffered longlasting Mental Health problems as a result could be deported, preventing them from accessing the resources promised to them when they volunteered to serve. We can do better by our immigrant veterans. Thats why i, along with representatives to cotto and representative correa introduced the Veterans Service representative back to address the issues faced by immigrant veterans in a holistic way. I look forward to our discussion and hearing from all armor all are witnesses. I would like to recognize Ranking Member mr. Mcclintock. Rep. Mcclintock in april secretary Ellen Mayorkas told the committee in sworn testimony that the southern border is secure. This, of course, was untrue. We later discovered that while he was testifying, his cv p was encountering the highest monthly number of Illegal Migrants in our history, 240 234,000 in a single month. In his best under his orders and policies they were deliberately trafficked into the u. S. , the equivalent of adding a population the size of lansing, michigan in a single month. It is no surprise that the border chaos continued in may, setting a new record for encounters at 239,000. Already in just 18 months, this administration allowed into the u. S. And illegal population the size of the state of west virginia. Now, may arcus could not tell secretary mayorkas could not tell us how it would benefit the American People to have classrooms packed with nonstudents and Emergency Rooms flooded with illegals and how families will be safer with increased Gang Activity and fentanyl inundating communities while working families foot the bill for social services. There are 42 million foreign nationals in latin america and the caribbean who did who intend to come here and more than 8000 per day are illegally entering our country. 18,000 per day will be arriving if the democrats pass title 42. I am not aware of any civilization in history that has survived and illegal mass migration on this scale. How do my democratic colleagues react to this . Do they call on the Biden Administration to stop the releases . Do they call on the president to enforce u. S. Immigration laws, or, at least stop incentivizing illegal migration . Nope. They called as hearing to discuss immigrant military Service Members. 31,000 are currently serving in our armed forces, less than four days of the barter dashboard or incursion we are up seeing. The immvi nationalized the number of illegal arians in six months the number of illegal aliens streaming across our border every six hours. Foreign nationals who come to america legally, obey our laws and seek to serve our country because of the love for it and principles upon which it is found in our our greatest throwing. Strength. 11 years ago i spoke at the funeral of a man his family immigrated from india legally 11 years before. His father told a reporter he was always a very patriotic man for the u. S. From the time he was a little boy, he knew he wanted to serve and in the u. S. Military. He was very proud of his service. The corporal was wounded in combat. He chose to return. He overstayed his assignment to relieve a friend and was killed in action june 27, 2011. I pray that the majority is not attempting to equate such heroism, devotion, and fidelity with the lawless illegal mass migration that they are not only ignoring, but actively aiding and abetting with their policies. With a staggering death toll. We just saw 51 Illegal Migrants baked to death by illegal traffic is on a truck on monday. The legal permanent residents who enlist in our military are offered special avenues for nationalization, as they should be. 3 of u. S. Veterans today are foreignborn. Any have chosen to become u. S. Citizens. Unfortunately, for a while, we allowed nonlegal residents including those here on student visas, refugee claimants, and daca recipients, to enlist to claim a fast track to citizenship called the matney program. The Obama Administration had to suspended in 20 put 2015. One enlistment was found to be a chinese spy. A number of foreign nationals who enlisted in the military were deported for committing crimes. Yet, the democrats dont differentiate between heroes and those who abuse the system with ill intent. I look forward to a discussion about these and other important issues with Witnesses Today and i yield back the balance of my time. Chair lofgren i am pleased to recognize the chairman of the judiciary committee, chairman nadler for any Opening Statements he may wish to offer. Rep. Nadler emigrants have served in the u. S. Armed forces in every major consulate since the revolutionary war. Today there are 45,000 immigrants actively serving in the u. S. To Armed Services. Every day, great immigrant servicemembers risked their lives in support of our country. We rely on them to keep our nation safe and protect u. S. Global interests. In return, we must honor their sacrifices by supporting them and their families. And, by giving them every opportunity to become u. S. Citizens if they so desire. Unfortunately, the Previous Administration instituted many policy changes that made it harder for foreignborn servicemembers to actualize. It inhibited our ability to recruit and main retain highly qualified immigrants for important positions in the Armed Services. Such policy changes also undermined Congress Clear Intent to provide an expedited naturalization process for military servants and veterans. The Trump Administration ended naturalization at basic training at made it more difficult to receive a certification of Honorable Service, a document that is essential to naturalization based on military service. The changes made by the Trump Administration were unnecessary and cruel. They serve no purpose but to make it harder for individuals serving our country to become citizens. As a result of the changes, military naturalization inclined 44 . The number of denials of military naturalization applications decreased by nearly 50 . Fortunately, the Biden Administration has been working to reverse the harmful effects of these policies. In one of his first acts in office, President Biden directed the department of defense, home unsecured, state, and justice to collaborate to facilitate naturalization for noncitizen servicemembers. Since receiving the directive, dhs and the v. A. Have corralled collaborated to create and initiative known as the immvi, that helps immigrant ephedrine access v. A. Benefits and immigrant veterans access v. A. Benefits and apply to be paroled to the u. S. The dhs is working to remove barriers to naturalization for servicemembers and veterans. These efforts paid off. In 20 21, military naturalization numbers returned to the levels seen in 2016 prior to the Trump Administration intentional targeting of the population. Members of the military place of their lives at risk in service of this country each day. We should not prevent them from becoming permanent members of our society. I am pleased that the Biden Administration is working to write these wrongs. During the hearing we will discuss the efforts of the administration is undertaking to help immigrant servicemembers and veterans including those that have been removed from the u. S. As a result of convictions or transgressions tied to posttraumatic stress disorder, brain injury, and other physical trauma suffered in active duty. Such circumstances can make the transition to civilian life extremely difficult for veterans. We can all agree that individuals who are rightfully convicted of a crime should serve any reasonable sentence imposed. Once that sentence has been served, we cannot completely turn our back on those who sacrificed so much in service to our country. I want to thank chair lofgren for holding the important hearing and all of the witnesses were testifying. I look forward to hearing about the efforts their agencies are undertaking to insure we are fulfilling promises to our nations veterans regardless of their citizenship status. Chair lofgren the gentleman yields back. I dont believe the Ranking Member has arrived. If he does, we will certainly invite him to make a statement at that time or except his written statement of the record. At this point, i would like to introduce todays witnesses. Emma rogers is the director of the immigrant military members and Veterans Initiative at the department of Homeland Security. Previously ms. Rogers served in a variety of leadership roles at u. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services including as the director of the Potomac Service center, associate director for the u. S. Field operations directorate, and achieve for the information and Customer Service division. She served as Deputy Director for the dhs office of citizenship and Immigration Services throughout her career. Ms. Rogers has focused on helping the military community in the immigration space. Most recently, she helped create a uscis military helpline and established a uscis as basic training at basic training sites to assist Service Members with naturalization. Ms. Rogers received a bachelors degree from northeastern university. Dr. Jennifer mcdonald is they see the Senior Advisor for health to the secretary of Veterans Affairs. Dr. Mcdonald held several highlevel roles at the department including Senior Advisor to the deputy secretary, chief consultant to the deputy under secretary for health, lead executive for the implementation of physician act and director of clinical Education Innovation in education. Dr. Mcdonald is a family medic in practicing Family Medicine physician and a veteran. She served as a white house fellow and advisor to the secretary of the u. S. Department of Homeland Security. She served 11 years in the Minnesota ArmyNational Guard and it deployed in Operation Iraqi freedom earning a bronze star. She received her bachelors degree from the college of Saint Benedict and her md from the university of minnesota and completed her residency at ucla. Stephanie miller is the director of officers and enlisted Personnel Management and an advisor for senior officer matters in the offices of the under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness. Previously she served as the director of recession policy from 2015 until 2022. Prior to that she was a special assistant to secretary of defense chuck hagel and Ashton Carter where she was responsible for a Broad Spectrum of programs including military and civilian personnel policies, military force readiness, Defense Health affairs, and, defense Sexual Assault prevention and response. Ms. Miller received her bachelors degree from Villanova University and holds a masters degree from George Washington university. I would like to welcome all of our distinguished guests. And thank them for participating in todays hearing. I will begin by swearing in our witnesses. I ask each of you turn on your audio and make sure i can see your face. Raise your right hand while i administer the oath. Do you swear or affirm under penalty of perjury that the testimony you are about to give is true and correct to the best of your knowledge, information, and believe so help you god . I do. Chair lofgren but the record rep let the record reflect the witnesses answered in the affirmative. Your entire written state will be entered into the record statements will be entered into the record. We ask you summarize your testimony in about five minutes. To help keep track and stay within the time limit, there is a timer on your screen. Lets begin with ms. Rogers. Then we will go to dr. Mcdonald and ms. Miller. Thank you for your testimony. Ms. Rogers thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. On july 2, 2021, sec. Mayorkas and secretary mcdonough announced the immvi. The interagency effort was established to provide coordinated support to our countries Service Members, veterans, and their families. It was also a call to action to consider the deeper meaning of thank you for your service and we support our troops. Immvi has focused on reviewing and updating policies to support veterans, expanding early access to naturalization, and assisting veterans who wish to come hom