And it demonstrates what happens when the president unilaterally decides to issue an executive order affecting immigration without securing the border. The number of children more than doubled between fiscal year 2011 and fiscal year 2013. Yet until just recently, the president did not even speak out to warn their parents and to tell them that the bjojourney wd be horrendous for their children and they would be sent home. We know many of these children have been abused or harmed on their way here. And when the wave became evident two years ago, the president took no action at that time to try to stem the tide. We know that it will take a long time before all of these children have hearings that could lead to their being support home, if they show up at all for the adjudications. So my question is what specifically is the administration doing to propose changes in the laws or regulations right now so that these children can be safely and immediately put on planes and returned to their parents . And wouldnt such an action send the strongest possible message to the people of Central America that they should not allow their children to go with these smugglers and come here . Senator, first of all, i know this from personal conversations with these kids. Ive spoken to dozens of these kids. And i know from talking to Border Patrol officers who have spoken to these kids, first thing they say when you ask them why did you come here, it has to do with the conditions in the three Central American countries. My mother told me that the gang was going to kill me, or my brother was killed. Its always initially that. Second, clearly they know that if they come to the United States, our laws require certain things. That we transfer them to the department of health and Human Services. But its also the case that the criminal smuggling organizations are creating considerable misinformation about the state of our laws and so forth. They are telling, in order to induce the Family Member to pay 3,000, 5,000, whatever it is, they tell them things like, youll get a free pass. And it will expire at the end of june or the end of may. The fact is, and ive been saying this publicly now for weeks, and its being repeated in Central America and the Spanish Press that the Deferred Action Program that was established two years ago, is for children who have been in this country for seven years. Since june 2007. So it is simply wrong to seven june 2007. So, its simply wrong to say youre going to benefit from that program. We continue to repeat that. And theyre saying that and repeating it in those countries. But were dealing with criminal smuggling organizations. They put out considerable disinformation about this. You asked about changes in law. I believe, and i agree that people in Central America need to see Illegal Migrants coming back. The children accompanied by their parents, and the unaccompanied adults. Were doing it, and lessening the time it takes to happen. So, were asking for Additional Resources to turn those people around quicker. Including the children. So, in terms of changing the law, were asking for the ability to treat unaccompanied kids from a Central American country in the same way as from a contiguous country. Senator murray . Thank you, senator, for holding this hearing today. I think everybody in this room is at least in agreement that what were seeing at the border is unacceptable. The numbers of young people and children crossing our border, often by themselves is staggering. And as everyone knows, were not just talking about a few individual cases, were talking about tens of thousands of cases of young minors entering the United States. And the circumstances that theyre facing, these arent people coming to take jobs or get a free ride. These are children. Many of them 7 or 8 years old. Fleeing some terrible violence in their home countries. Theyre being sent oftentimes by desperate mothers and fathers, telling them to run for their lives. I cant imagine what that would feel like as a parent. But this is a refugee crisis. And as americans, we think of refugee crises as something happening far away, but its happening in our country, and its happening right now. This affects every single american community. Weve heard in my home state, in washington, some of these children may be sent to facilities in mccord, just a few miles from downtown seattle. So, all of us need to take the situation very seriously. Im particularly concerned about the condition and care of the young women and girls being detained on our border. Some of them have faced unbelievable abuse, violence, human trafficking, and are trying to avoid some of those fates. So, we need to talk about some of the resources the administration has to fight organized crime on the border. But we also need the resources to protect these children and treat them humanely. And we need to protect the young women and girls from the violence and abuse theyre running away from in their home countries. We cant ignore the legitimate cries for help from refugees. Its our turn, and we need to accept that. Were focused on fighting organized crime on our border, but we cant leave these children behind, and make sure they have valid claims for asylum. I know thats not the focus of this hearing, but weve seen too many tragedies on our borders. Thats one of the ways we can fix this long term comprehensive strategy. My question is, why is the administration pursuing costly detaining of families . Senator, i believe that, excuse me, i believe that in or the der to deal with the current situation, we have to return people, and we have to show others in Central America that we are returning people. That is how to deal with the existing situation. In order to do that and do it qui quickly, were building detention capability for adults that bring their children here. We didnt have that capability until recently. Were turning the adults around faster, and the ones with children around faster in order to send people home. Is the administration making sure that each of the children who are detained can pursue asylum, and have representation from a qualified attorney . It is part of our standard procedure to make sure that people are informed of their rights in this type of situation. And with regard to when the children come to hhs, a number of things happen. They are informed of their rights and the immigration proceedings. And if they have a different status, thats checked again. If that happens, in terms of asylum for the child, then appropriate steps are taken. In addition, with the children, we continue to try and in some cases under 2,000, but over 1,000 cases, we do connect them with pro bono attorneys. Some children have extreme circumstances with what happened to them along the way. And they need special types of help. I appreciate that very much. And when we think about the numbers, 14 of the money that hhs has asked for is for health and Legal Services that are beyond the basic services we provide for children. Some of them have extreme needs, whether its legal or health. And a comment to be made. I know many senators have had to leave because of airplane flights that theyve had to take. I want to protect the rights of every single senator. If any had to leave, i want to make sure that the record is open, they can submit their questions in writing, and ask the departments to respond in two weeks. Its been a long hearing, and i want to make sure that everyone has the chance to do that. Thank you, madam chairwoman. Let me say to the witnesses, thanks for being here. This morning, i was driving into work and listening to npr. You might be shocked by that, but i was listening to npr. And this very wellspoken gentleman, i wish i had gotten his name, he spoke about his travels through Central America. Basically what he was saying is, at the risk of paraphrasing his comments, the coyotes, or smugglers, they go to the family and tell them the chances of being deported or sent back home are slim to none. And then they rip the families off. They hit them for 3,000, 5,000, 7,000. Not small amounts of money. And they starve, abuse, rape these children. And take them through hell on earth. All with the performance that here, the United States government will take care of them. Ive listened to your testimony today, and i believe youre proving their case. No reflection on you, madam secretary. You have to deal with the law given to you on december 8th, 2008. Heres whats resulting. You tell me, mr. Secretary, that 1,800 get deported. Those are pretty darn good odds. Chances are, youre not going get deported. 46 dont show up. I appreciate your comments about, if you dont show up, youre in trouble. When we catch up with you, youre going home. Well, we have 12 Million People in the United States with those circumstances. Madam secretary, i read through the law. I took the time to go through the 2008 law. Look at what you do. Its no reflection on the job youre doing. Its what you have to do under the law that Congress Gave to you in december of 2008. You are responsible for their care and custody. You have to do an immediate age determination. And establish policies and programs to care for these unaccompanied minors. And make sure their placements are safe and secure. So, you have to do assessments of the family, the home, the environment, to determine whether theyre going to be safely placed. You have to make sure theres access to on going information, and legal presentations. Access to counsel. And child advocates can get involved. This strikes me as the kind of law that came along, and people bought into it. I bet it passed with a bipartisan amount of support. But my question is, if the coyotes are promising that the kids will get to the United States, are going to be cared for, isnt your testimony today establishing without a shadow of a doubt that this is, in fact, exactly what youre going to do with the kids in your custody . I think the question of the overarching plan, something that has been raised. We are one piece of the plan. When a child gets here, how we treat the child. And i think thats a reflection of our nation and our values. What were asking for is the support to make the coyotes promise not true. The way we do that is by speeding the time with which people go back. So, the way we break the programs, and the part of the coyote lie, youre right. The numbers are not high. And i think secretary johnson has said, thats our objective. That 1,800 number is not the right one to send the signal thats appropriate to deter. What we want to do is make the promise not correct. Im not sure that what we want to do as a nation, the child is here, and we dont take care of them. 22 are 11 years old or under. So, how one treats, how we believe one should treat im glad you read the law. The requirements are, taking care of the child, making sure theyre safe. But the people that are taking these families down an inappropriate path, we need to make sure were sending an appropriate signal. Well, this is a complex signal. But i dont see anything in what youre requesting here that is going to impact the story theyre telling down here. Theyre coming here believing that if they can just get in your custody, theyre not going to go home. Thank you, madam chair. Senator . Thank you very much. I want to begin with the law which is, i think, the appropriate place the begin and follow up on some of the questions that have already been asked. Everyone is referring to the 2008 law, which i have also reviewed. But i think we need to go back to the base law, the 1988 refugee act. Establishing the basic right of refugees to come to this country. And it was ordered because of the fall of vietnam. And in the late 70s, refugees needed protection. There was an humanitarian crisis, and it was signed and enacted unanimously in 1980. Senator feinstein will recall, because she passed legislation regarding this. And that act separated the Refugee Status for children away from adults, unaccompanied children, because of her concerned about several instances, but one in particular that was gruesome. Chinese children were shipped here in a container, and some of them might have died on the way. So, weve got to go back a long way talking about this law. Its the asylum law. Number two, i want to help, but i also have strong feelings about right now, today, a lack of accountability as to what agency in front of us is ultimately in charge. I want to support one agency, coordinating with the others. Otherwise, its going to be a dis disbursal of funds, and we need to get it correct. We need to secure our borders, spend the taxpayers money well, and protect the families. Number three, we already have a plan. This is for you, mr. Shannon. Youve been very, very quiet. But i have some questions for the state department. I worked for several years with republicans and democrats, and the government of the United States has a plan. Its called the action plan on children and diversity. You may want to get a copy of it. Its very onpoint, because its the state departments plan. And children in adversitiy, it to achieve a world free from exploitation and danger. Its grounded in evidence if failure to do so undermines economic progress. Child development is central to diplomatic efforts. The plan wants to implement good practices into our policies. And we underscored the importance of this plan of children being in families. Families are the basic institution of all governments and societies. So, madam chair, i want to point out to the committee that there are several laws that need to be reviewed. Theres a plan that the gentleman is unaware of. And in closing, because my time is short, to the justice department, i want to make mention, im fairly clear about some of these numbers. You have a backlog of 375,000 kids. The average to deal with them is three to five years. Thats what mr. Tom holton a backlog of over 300,000, three to five years to adjudicate. And we need to make sure were talking about the right amount of money, performance standards, accountability. I am willing to work with you on it, but i still have questions. Senator cochran. Madam chairman, secretary johnson, i address my question to you. The number of children crossing the southwest border of the United States is expected to increase by 2,000 . Yet the administration did not request any increase in funding for any of the agencies responsible for addressing this problem in the 2015 budget. Despite the fact that they were aware of the increasing demand. So, how do you have this as an emergency request . Well, in the last two years, we have definitely seen a rise in unaccompanied children. Weve worked with the mexican government, and worked with the government of guatemala on a task force. Weve known about this issue for some time, but it really spiked in january and also in the period of marchapril. Thats when it really spiked. I saw it myself in mcallen, texas, in may. But it is the case that it has been rising, and weve attempted to deal with it in a variety of ways that have been incorporated in prior submissions. What is the outlook in terms of improving the capacity to deal with the increase of numbers, or working with local government as an alternative as a safe haven for these migrants . The assumption is that there will be 145,000 in fiscal 15. I believe well address this tide. And i also believe we need transfer authority in case were more successful to devote to things like increased detection capability. And also money to support repatriation and reintegration to Central America, so we can return people quicker. Thank you. Thank you, madam chair. Senator koons . Thank you, madam chair, and vice chair shelby. Thank you for your personal engagement. Hearing the stories of children, and adults who are part of this extraordinary humanitarian crisis at our southern border. I think the children are fleeing dramatically increased levels of violence. And if this increase in refugees was part of a change in american poli policy, we would see it from other countries than just three. So, its my hope that a significant share of the action that will be taken as a result of this emergency supplemental, will be i would love to hear more about the intended increased investment in the three countries. And as a Judiciary Committee member, this request, additional badly needed resources. Because we know we have a significant backlog, we have significant unmet detention costs, i think we need to act now to fix our most urgent problems. So, thank you to our four witnesses for being here. And i look forward to working with you. Ambassador shannon, can you tell us about the state department request, and your plans for processing, what is the baseline funding requested . And why is it not greater . And second, if both you and secretary johnson would speak to the media campaigns. Its a very modest amount of money to ensure that parents understand that their children are most likely not going to be granted a chance to stay in the United States. Thank you very much. I appreciate the questions, and the opportunity to respond. Let me start with the public messaging campaign. Thats been a focus of the president , Vice President , and others in the embassies in Central America. As we attempt to deal with the misinformation from the smuggling organizations, and this is an unprecedented phenomen phenomenon. To have children leaving in these numbers, weve never seen before. And we focused first on the danger of the journey. And secondly, there is no pass to get in. One does go into deportation proceedings. Independent of the outcome of the proceedings. And we are asking for money to accelerate those proceedings. However, that said, its important to know that our public messaging campaign is not just our campaign. Its also a campaign that the governments of other countries have joined. Back to the mothers and fathers, but also in the migrant communities in the United States, and highlighting the misinformation that the smugglers are providing. Weve already spent money announced by