Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to todays hearing concerning fiscal year 2025 in the budget request from the department of Homeland Security. Im calling this hearing to order. We will come secretary of Homeland Security, alejandro mayorkas, to just lie about the fy25 request. Thank you for being here on a busy day. Im looking forward to a lively discussion about the Budget Priorities for the coming year. Nothing is more important in our federal budget and supporting the 260,000 federal employees who spend every day defending our nation. I have reviewed the president s proposed budget. I support lots of it. Have questions about other parts, and i look forward to our subcommittees bipartisan work. I want to use the rest of my time here today to address two elements that linger in the room. First, this budget, even with this proposed increase is not enough to secure our border and manage the unusually high levels of immigration to the United States that started not in 2021 or 2022, but 2019. When President Trump was president. This budget doesnt provide enough money and this budget by definition cannot update the Immigration Laws of this country, which are outdated and broken, but do you know what did provide enough money . Do you know what did fix our broken laws . The bipartisan border bill negotiated by myself, senator langford, with help from senator mcconnell and senator grant. It wouldve provided 20 million in extra emergency funding to buy 50,000 detention beds to hire 400,000 new asylum officers, 100 new immigration judges, 1500 Border Patrol agents, 1000 new deportation officers, and the list goes on and on. In addition, our bill would make a down payment on our fixing our border authorities. It would give the power to the president to close the border during periods of high crossings. It wouldve elevated the screening standards to make sure that only truly meritorious claimants enter the country. It would have reduced the time to process an asylum application from 10 years in some cases to just weeks or at worst, months. It wouldve eliminated the use of parole at the border and narrowed or refined the uses of humanitarian parole. That is just the tip of the iceberg. If passed, this wouldve been the most significant, most serious reform of Immigration Law in 40 years. It wouldve been effective at slowing the pace of arrivals of the southern border and making sure that our system of Legal Immigration, a key to a mac and greatness, is not abused. That is why it is not the law. It is not the law because it would have made a big down payment on fixing the problem. Republicans rejected this bill because they didnt want to fix the problem. Donald trump and republicans decided they would be better off with the border a mess because it would help them politically. That is not me saying that. Here is what one honest republican senator said. The board border is an important issue for donald trump. The fact that he would communicate to republican senators that he doesnt want us to solve the problem because he wants to blame biden for it is appalling. Im eager to hear the budget requests, but we could have done something together in a bipartisan way to give the real levels of adequate funding, real changes in law to protect our nation. Impeachment articles are going to be sent to the senate. The process was an embarrassment. These articles are laughable on their face. One article accuses the secretary of a high crime and misdemeanor for failing to stop liens of noncitizens from being released into the United States. Despite congresss inability to respond to this crisis, the Biden Administration have expelled more migrants in three years than the Trump Administration did in four years. The annual operation right is the exact same between the Trump Administration and the Biden Administration. There is a backlog that existed in republican and democratic administrations. It is a result of congresses not funding a solution. What makes me most angry about this impeachment is its attempt to personally impugn secretary mayorkas. His life is one of Public Service. The youngest u. S. Attorney confirmed by the senate. The former director of the u. S. Cia. The former director of the dhs. He has sought out the toughest jobs in government. He was in the room personally for nearly all of our four months of torturous negotiations. Why . Because republicans and democrats trusted him. Because republicans asked for him to be in that room because he knew that he would be an honest broker. We are very lucky in my mind to have secretary mayorkas protecting our nation. He shouldnt have to endure this process, but we are glad that he is here today. We have a number of opening remarks. We turn it over now to senator collins to be followed by sunder murray, to be followed by senator britt. Then we will turn it over to you, secretary mayorkas, for comments. Thank you very much for your courtesy. Thank you for holding this important hearing and allowing me to make a few brief remarks. I also want to welcome secretary mayorkas. I apologize that i have to leave the very shortly, as im scheduled to speak at a very exciting and momentous congressional Gold Medal Ceremony for rosie the riveters. The budget request does not do nearly enough to address the flood of Illegal Migrants and sentinel entering the United States. The u. S. Border patrol reported a record 2. 5 million encounters of foreign nationals entering our country along the southwest border without authorization in fiscal year 2023, and the numbers only continue to rise. Migrants encounters have also grown dramatically, albeit, from a much lower base, at the northern border, increasing 73 in fiscal year 2023. In november and i have discussed this with the secretary a group of 20 romanians were arrested crossing the border into maine illegally, two of whom were flagged as transnational organized crime matches. Similarly, in february, three chinese nationals were intercepted attempting to cross into maine, illegally. We have also seen staffing shortages as Border Patrol and other officers have been transferred to the southwest border, and that brings me to the question i want to ask the secretary today. Mr. Secretary, last year, i raised to you a problem whereby cbp refused to provide services to an International Ferry service between bar harbor, maine, and nova scotia, canada. There were four cpb officials the ferry only utilizes them for a few months of each year. Now, it appears that cbp officials have informed the city of eastport, maine, a town a couple of hours away from bar harbor, that the agency cannot accommodate four just four Plant International cruise ship arrivals in eastport this fall, even though cbp staffed a larger number of International Cruise ship arrivals at eastport last year, and bar harbor is seeing a reduction in International Cruise ship arrivals. The cruise ship industry is a vital to many maine communities and delivers millions in economic benefits to our state annually. This is the flipside of the problems that we are now seeing on the southwest border, creating also, problems on the northeast border and northern border in general. Mr. Secretary, what im asking from you today is to look into this staffing issue and follow up with me to resolve this problem. Thank you, senator collins. Senator murray. Thank you, secretary mayorkas for joining us today. Im glad we have this opportunity to talk about how we can get dhs the resources it needs to fulfill its mission to keep our communities safe, and our nation secure. I hope that we can all agree the department of Homeland Security does essential work that should not be undermined or shortchanged by partisan infighting. The fy 24 bill that we just passed provided Critical Resources for the department. But we know the needs for this department and other agencies far exceed what we were able to provide under very tight spending caps. For the better part of last year, democrats have been labor later laser focused on addressing the challenges we have at the border. Chair murphy spent months relentlessly negotiating a set of bipartisan changes and resources to meet the existing needs and fund new authorities were added to those policy changes. That package never made it out of the senate. Everyone here knows why. We must continue working together to actually address the problems that we are facing and make sure that dhs has the resources it needs to manage our border, in a humane, orderly, and fair manner, and carry out its truly wide ranging responsibilities. Secretary emeritus, im interested in hearing from you today about the pressing needs of your department. I hope that all of our colleagues will work with us to meet those needs, because you know, our economy really depends on our ability to ensure countless goods, as well as people, can move through our borders through and eight safe and timely way. Our security depends on our ability to do that while effectively stopping threats like drug smugglers, fentanyl, not to mention Cyber Attacks and the growing threat of white supremacy. We have to make sure that we do the utmost to make sure that people are being treated humanely and continue our long tradition of welcoming people from across the world who are seeking safety from persecution or conflict, and opportunities for a better life. This is vital to us as our reputation as leader of the free world and land of opportunity. As we have seen throughout history, immigrants to make our nation stronger. We look forward to testimony today and the opportunity to ask you questions. Thank you, mr. Chair. Thank you, chair murray. Senator britt. Chair mary, just a point of personal privilege. I need to give you a public congratulations to teams faced off in the final four. I am incredibly proud of the print crimson tide. All of the players in the positive impact they made on the treatment and for the state. He doesnt let me forget that. Nick pringle. Mark sears. His mom, who may be the true mvp. They do an incredible job. At the end of the day, yall came out victorious. Not only in the final four, but in the tournament for the second year in a row. Pretty incredible. While i will never miss an opportunity to say roll tide, have to tip my cap and say congratulations. And alabama, to their credit, gave us our closest game in two years. We only be by 14 points. We will be back next year. Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this hearing. Thank you, mr. Secretary for testifying today. I am pleased that we were able to avoid a yearlong continuing resolution when it came to the fy 20 for Homeland Security a probation spill. The fy 24 bill took incremental steps to start moving away from merely managing the border crisis created under this administration and included significant steps to strengthen our Border Security and Immigration Enforcement on our nations interior and right there at the border. In particular, it was great to see the fy 20 for funding for over 2000 new Border Patrol agents, as well as additional port of entry officers and an 12 officers. There was a major increase in funding for removal operations was also something i was pleased to see. Disappointingly, President Bidens fy 25 budget request for the department of Homeland Security does not follow this model. Instead, it repeats the same mistakes of it his previous budget requests. Once again, this administration has proposed cutting the dhs base budget. The fy25 president ial budget request would cut base dhs funding by more than 1. 25 billion. A reduction of 2 from the fy 24 levels. At a time when our country undoubtedly faces a National Security and a humanitarian crisis of historic proportions under southern border, this is completely nonsensical. Considering that President Biden has proposed increasing the epa budget by roughly 20 , and clearly shows where this admissions priorities are. It is clear that this admission rations budget request in recent years are designed to merely manage the border crisis it created and will not actually solve the problem. Nor will border policy legislation that doesnt take away President Bidens ability to continue to abuse tools and loopholes that fuel and facilitate the entry of inadmissible aliens into the United States, including the unprecedented abuse of the president ial authority. The truth is that we have a president who could take executive action and if he wanted to come he would. If reports that we are seeing today are accurate, the president has finally, after over 1100 days into his administration, admitted that he does have the Authority Point unfortunately, rather than reversing course, this inadequate budget request from the department of Homeland Security only doubles down on the failed policies of the last few years. They failed to put its money where it matters. This includes the ongoing fentanyl crisis. Fentanyl is responsible for more than 200 deaths every single day. It is the number one cause of death for americans aged 18 to 45. I want to commend the brave and and women of cbp, i. C. E. , and the coast guard, who are on the front lines to face fentanyl and deadly drugs. The numbers are increasingly shocking. In fy 23, i. C. E. Seized nearly 42,000 pounds of fentanyl, while cbp seized 27 pounds of fentanyl, almost all of it at the southern border. These numbers are roughly double the amount seized in the previous year. While President Bidens request includes requests for commitment to countering fentanyl, the funding requested is lacking. The request includes no new funding for inspection equipment at ports of entry and only marginally new investments increases marginally new investments and staffing. The cartels evolve their activities to stay ahead of our best efforts. The budget only makes minimal new investments to combat fentanyl will fail to make the progress we need in order to protect American Families and communities from this poison. Mr. Secretary, for the fourth year in a row, this admission has submitted a Homeland Security budget that fails to provide sufficient resources to allow the men and women of the department to protect our nation and the threats it faces at a time when migrant encounters continue to set record after record, when the number of migrants released into the interior of the United States is overwhelming, the ability of local communities to absorb them and when fentanyl and dangerous criminals fled our nation and killer citizens, it is unacceptable that this administrations response is to cut base funding for the department of Homeland Security. I look forward to working with the department and my colleagues on the Appropriations Committee to enact a budget for fy 25 that builds on the steps taken in fy 24 to strengthen our Border Security, increase Immigration Enforcement, and crackdown on cartels that are trafficking these substances into our country. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield back my time. Thank you very much, senator britt. I will turn it over to secretary mayorkas for your opening comments. Distinguish members of this committee, every day, the 268,000 men and women of the department of Homeland Security carry out our mission to protect the safety and security of the American People. They protect our shores, harbors, skies, cyberspace, borders, and leaders. They stop fentanyl and other deadly drugs from entering our country. They lead the response to maritime emergencies. As we speak, they are engaged in the response to the tragic Francis Scott key bridge collapse in Baltimore Point they help communities recover and rebuild after a natural disaster. They combat the scourges of human trafficking, forced labor, and online child explication, and so much more. All of this, despite a perennially insufficient budget. The dedicated Public Servants of dhs deserve the full support, and the American People deserve the results that a fully resourced dhs can deliver. It is critical to meeting both goals. I welcome the opportunity to discuss this budget and highlight some of its key proposals with you today. When our department was founded in the wake of 9 11, the threat of foreign terrorism against high visibility targets was of primary concern. That threat persists and the u. S. Continues to be in a heightened threat environment. We can rent the terrorist related threat of radicalized home offenders and small groups resident here in the United States. This budget provides for an 80 million increase to our dependence nonprofit security program, in additional funds, for targeted violence and terrorist prevention grants so dhs can better help prevent tragedies from occurring. As loan actors and nationstates target our Critical Infrastructure and our data, the president s budge