Were eager to hear your contribution to the subject of our concerns, which is visa overstays. Most of the time when we talk about the flaws of our immigration system we talk about Border Security as being the paramount concern. And for me it is, obviously coming from texas with a 1,200mile common border and notwithstanding the great work being done by the Border Patrol. It still remains a vulnerability and we are working hard to come up with some proposals that will help address that. But the one vulnerability that seems to be overlooked is visa overstays, people who enter our country legally and then who overstay their visa and simply melt into the Great American landscape. And as i think about it, while i understand the desire of people coming from other countries perhaps to emigrate to the United States because of economic or security conditions, it is almost more offensive to me that people come in to our country legally and in spite of the courtesy that we demonstrate to them by allowing them to come in temporarily, they exploit that and take advantage of it and violate our immigration laws. There are a number of reasons why people stay beyond the period of their visa. They may have family in the United States or seeking a better life and economic opportunity. Some are seeking refuge or asylum, and others may in fact seek to be just doing us harm. Whatever the reason we have to take steps to stem the tide of visa overstays and restore some order out of chaos when it comes to this flaw in our immigration system. Border security as i indicated is more than just admitting people to United States. It starts with identifying the right people before they leave their home country to come to the United States knowing once they are here and ensuring that they depart when their terms of their visa expires. I was pleased, continue to be pleased by the news of the apprehensions along the southern border, while we have this strange idea that the fewer people that are detained is actually a sign of success, we i guess have a common belief that that represents fewer people trying to make it across. And thus the only indicator we really have. But to me its some indication that deterrence actually works. When the message is sent that either people are going to be detained at the border when they come across or otherwise by Law Enforcement if they commit crimes in our country, its clear to me that the president s executive orders and the enforcement policies of the department of Homeland Security and justice are having an impact in deterrence alone. But we havent seen the same drop in visa overstays. Most overstays have banked on the fact that no one would even be looking for them because of lax enforcement and no real network or system to comprehensively identify people who overstay their visa and invite them to return home after their period of their visa expires. So they could just stay in the United States until they become eligible for some sort of benefit merely through the passage of time. The two dhs overstay reports for 2015 and 2016 reveal just how big the problem is. In 2016 alone more than 700,000 aliens stayed in the United States past their authorized time, 700,000. And while that may seem like a relatively small number compared to the millions of Foreign Nationals who come to the United States every year, its still a significant number. A magnitude of the problem cannot be overstated. Those who come to the United States on legal visas but are intent to do harm count on the fact that they can easily overstay their visas and blend into the fabric of american society. Lets not forget that one of the worst terrorist attacks on u. S. Soil, 9 11, was carried out by 19 hijackers, five of whom were visa overstays. Prior administrations have not made visa overstay enforcement a priority or devote the necessary resources to get the job done. President trump, secretary kelly and attorney general sessions have made it clear though that visa overstay enforcement will be a priority. And for me that is welcome news. But it doesnt end there. Congress has a job to do as well. We need to eliminate some of the incentives for people to overstay. This includes making it clear in the law that if you deliberately overstay your visa, you wont be eligible for any immigration benefit in the future, ever. Finally, we need to have a complete Biometric Exit Program in place. This is something weve been talking about the entire time ive been here in the senate through the u. S. Visit program, no effective way to date of determining when people exit especially if they leave through land ports of entry. But im hoping that technology will provide us additional tools to do that. But we need an effective Biometric Exit Program in place no matter how people come and go, whether by air, sea or land ports of entry. So i hope to hear today about the progress i. C. E. And cbp have made in streamlining access to systems that better track visa overstays. With that, let me turn to the Ranking Member, senator durbin, for any opening comments he might have. Thanks, mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing. Experts estimate that more than 40 of the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants in our country overstayed their visas. They came to the United States for a variety of reasons with visas to visit, to go to school, to work with the understanding they would stay for a time certain. And they overstayed. One of those i met whose name was theresa lee. She came here on a visitors visa, overstayed and became the first dreamer, the person who inspired me to put in the dream act 16 years ago. One little thing i would add, theresa was 2 years old when she was brought in on a visitors visa. She didnt realize until much later in life that her mom didnt file the right papers and that she was here illegally. So there are some who are culpable, im sure, and have made a decision theyre going to overstay their visas and see what happens. There are many though who may be innocent. And as we categorize people, lets at least be mindful of the fact that there are different people in different circumstances. Recently for the second year in a row the department of Homeland Security released a report estimating the number of visa overstays in the previous year. This report found that in fiscal year 2016, last year, more than 739,000 people overstayed their visas in the United States. What this tells us is that an obsession with building a big, beautiful wall wont come close to solving our immigration challenges. It doesnt even address the issue of overstays. Even if we build a wall across the entire southern border, cost of 70 billion or whatever, hundreds of thousands of people who come to our country legally would still be overstaying their visas. We cant talk about visa overstays without considering the reality of theresa lee, who i mentioned earlier, and many others who came here years ago, have made a life, started a family, become pillars in the community, all of those should not be treated the same as those who made a conscious effort to deceive the federal government. Its clear we cant fix our broken immigration system on a piecemeal basis. So a few years ago a group of us got together, four democrats, four republican senators, socalled gang of eight. We sat down and for six months decided to write a comprehensive bipartisan Immigration Reform bill. We sent it to the floor of the senate after going through thro lengthy hearings in the Senate Judiciary committee, entertaining hundreds of amendments, many of them from our current attorney general and then we brought it to the floor for a vote and it passed, 6832, comprehensive Immigration Reform in 2013. We were pretty proud of ourselves. Unfortunately, many republicans didnt support it. And the Republican Leadership in the house of representatives refused to even consider it when we sent it over there. Let me tell you what our bill did, would have done when it came to visa overstays. We required electronic tracking of visa overstays. And it wasnt an Unfunded Mandate with no teeth. The bill would have appropriated millions of dollars to implement electronic tracking of visas. At the insistence of my republican colleagues in the gang of eight. We would have required an integrated electronic exit system to be in use at every International Air and seaport in the country, before undocumented immigrants could obtain lawful permanent residence under the bill. This trigger would have forced those who support a path to citizenship to insure that electronic tracking of overstays actually came to pass. We werent soft on this issue. We were tough and we put money behind our toughness. Critically, our bill also would have addressed other components of the broken immigration system. Dedicating billions of dollars to sprengten Border Security, including funding for additional technology, fencing and Border Patrol agents. Reducing the job magnet for undocumented immigrants by requiring employers to verify the immigration status of workers and create new avenues for legal immigration. Provide a tough but fair path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who do not pose a threat to our nation and would go to the back of the line. Only a comprehensive plan like this can secure our border and our nation, and really remain true to our heritage as a nation of immigrants. Thats why im treaddy to work again on a bipartisan basis to fix this broken immigration system and it ought to start in this subcommittee. It is refreshing that at least today were talking about a real problem, instead of obsessing about vulnerable refugee who is come to the United States, the most carefully vetted and investigated visitors of all those who come to our shores. I strongly support legislation, the provided up to 1 billion for dhs, by increasing fees for h 1 b visas, fees increased especially on outsourcing companies that take jobs out of america this provision was based on Bipartisan Legislation senator grassley and i cosponsored for years. But theres much more that congress and the administration can do. Consider the Visa Waiver Program. Think about that. We have 38 nations, that we allow to send their visitors to the United States. Without a visa. According to the recent dhs report and fiscal year 2016, more than 147,000 travelers who entered our country using the Visa Waiver Program overstayed as well. Overstayed. 20 Million People from these 38 nations traveled to america every year under the Visa Waiver Program. Thats a third of all the visitors to the United States. These people come in without a visa, to the United States, at american airports without undergoing any biometric checks or consular interview s zacharis mouse mouse moussaoui tried to enter the u. S. Held a passport from a visa waiver country. Each of them could have traveled to the United States without a visa. If were concerned about protecting americas security, why dont we strengthen the Visa Waiver Program that accounts as i said earlier for 20 Million People coming to this country each year. How about strengthening this program by requiring biometric checks of travelers before they reach america. So we know who they are before they get on the airplane . And congress should also close the loophole. Listen to this. The loophole that lets people who enter the United States through the Visa Waiver Program to buy guns, here in this country, even assault weapons, even if theyre on the fbi terrorist watchlist. Think about that for a second. Does that make any sense . In closing, let me say it continues to amaze me that we havent had a single hearing on this immigration subcommittee on president trumps travel bans and changes to our immigration system. In just his first week as president , mr. Trump signed multiple immigration executive orders, that have roiled our nation, so he could keep his campaign promise, of launching mass deportations and banning muslims from our country. The Supreme Court of the United States has found the time to consider the president s travel ban, this subcommittee has not. During the previous administration, the republican majority conducted sustained, multiple oversight hearings of the executive Branch Immigration policies of president obama. I had hoped this subcommittee would be just as vigorous when it comes to the Trump Administration. Not yet. Finally i want to note im disappointed that the Trump Administration decided not to send a a witness from the state department for this hearing. The state department plays a Critical Role in the visa process, and our subcommittee would have benefitted from that testimony. Thank you, senator durbin. I would have to acknowledge to your longstanding efforts in this regard. Even though you and i have some differences on whats attainable and whats not. Ive come to the conclusion that a comprehensive Immigration Reform bill is not possible. And i know that is disappointing to you and some others. Unfortunately, weve had our philosophy has been we want everything or we want nothing. And we end up getting nothing in my view, so im happy to try to work with you where we can to try to address some of the issues that youve addressed. While theres a lot of other topics we can talk about on the subcommittee, i think this is certainly worthwhile. At this point, chairman grassley, chairman of the full committee has asked that his full statement be included in the record and it will be done so. Without objection. If i could ask the witnesses please to stand and ill administrator the oath. [ witnesses are sworn ] please have a seat. What wed like to do mr. Dougherty is start with you and go down to line to mr. Wagger in, mr. Rody and mr. Roth. If would you give us your Opening Statement in about five minutes and im sure well have a lot of questions. Thank you. Chairman cornyn, Ranking Member durbin and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear today, to discuss the work in progress at the department of Homeland Security, to identify report and address overstays. Some 50 million nonimmigrant visitors enter the United States each year, they enter for business, to study, to see family, or to vacation here. The su states welcomes these visitors while recognizing its imperative they depart the country when their visas or periods of authorized admission expires. Our ability to identify Foreign Nationals who oversay their visa is important for numerous reasons. Chief we need to determine whether or not individuals pose a threat to National Security, or to Public Safety. We need to protect the integrity of our immigration system by removing those who are present in violation of law. Ive used my time to focus on the fiscal year 2016 entry exit overstay report and steps were taking to address the findings in the report. As you know, dhs released the fy 16 overstay report in may. It contains important data not available in the fy 15 version. The 15 report covered priusa program travelers for business or pleasure. The 16 report has been expanded to include foreign students, Exchange Visitors and other classes of nonimmigrants. Our ability to add these classes to the analysis is the result of investments made by the department to expand its analytical capabilities. Reflecting that the 99 of visitors departed the United States on time. Despite the high level of compliance by visitors to our country, an unacceptable number of individuals overstayed their visas or periods of authorized stay. 39,000 of them were calculated to have overstayed by the end of fiscal year 2016. We ran those numbers again in july. By our calculations, 426,000 of those nonimmigrant visitors are still here in an unlawful status. Clearly, overstays are a significant problem. To get a better understanding of the challenge presented by overstays, the dhs has to continue to make improvements to its i. T. Infrastructure. And to is architecture so that agents and other arthors have rapid access to the highest quality data available. Dhs has undertaken a number of systems enhancements to reinforce immigration and overstay enforcement by aligning requirements across our systems, to support the exchange. And operational use of immigration and traveler data. Weve also been working on identifying National Security overstays through increased collaboration through the Intelligence Community and were automating processes that are currently done by h