along with congressman tim walberg. watch on c-span two, c-span now are free mobile video app or online at c-span.org. >> on tuesday, president biden gis the annual state of the union address, outlining his priorities to makers and the nation. this will be his first speech to a joint session of congress since republicans won back control of the house. watch on c-span now, our free mobile video app or online at c-span.org. >> there are a lot of places to get political information. but only at c-span do you get it straight from the source. no matter where you're from or where you stand on the issues c-span is america's network. unfiltered. unbiased. word for word.

if it happened here or here or here, or anywhere that mattered. america is watching on c-span. power by cable. >> next to house judiciary committee on gratian that features several witnesses, that features a arizona sheriff and a texas judge. changes to the asylum system, and the rhetoric used to talk about immigration are among the topics discussed. [indistinct chatter] >> the committee on judiciary will come to order without objection. we are authorized recess at any time. >> the chair welcomes our guest and we will welcome them in just a few minutes. we start this proceeding this

morning with an opening statement. we will begin the hearing with the pledge of allegiance. >> i'm happy delete it. -- two lead to it. this is the first hearing. i'm happy to lead it if you will designate me. >> at the chairman -- mr. chairman, the gentleman is insisting on starting the hearing with a pledge of allegiance, >> i pledge of allegiance to the flag of the united states of america. lead in the pledge of allegiance. >> thank you, mister chairman. >> we plug allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands. one nation under god, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> i thank the gentleman for leading us in the pledge. we may not start with the

opening statement. 4.5 million. as a number of illegal aliens and counter by officials just in the time since president biden took office. 1.7 million. the number of illegal migrants that joe biden released into american communities. 2, 378, 000, 944. the number of illegal migrants encountered on the southwest border in 2022. the highest number ever recorded in a single year in our nation's history. 251,487. and the number of illegal migrants encountered on the southwest border in the month of december. of last year. the highest monthly number ever recorded. 8100. we were kind of nice of his border in the month of december,

2022. 770, 000, 600 and. 60 the number of illegal migrant encounters on the southwest border and just the first three months of this fiscal year. 1.1 million. the number of known -- who successfully across the southwest border since president biden took office. 856. the number of migrants who died attempting to cross the southwest border during the past fiscal year. again, the highest number on record. 98. 98, number of aliens on the terrorist watchlist encountered on our southwest border during the fiscal year of 2022. yet another record set by the biden administration. remember mr. mayorkas testified in this congress? we ask about the number that terrorist watchlist? i asked mr. mayorkas, at the time was only 40 something. we ask you about that number, they say what is the status of

those individuals? his response was astonishing to every member of the committee. both republican and democrat. when you say, he did not. no he didn't know the name is detained. this year, 30 a. number of aliens on that terrorist screening database. already this year. 190 feet three, number of fentanyl related deaths in the united states. every single day. we are gonna hear from mr. done, the heart of the causes families and communities. this fentanyl problem. these numbers make clear that the biden administration does not have operational control of the border. month after month after, month we have set records for migrants coming into the country. and frankly, i think it is intentional. i don't know how anybody with common sense or logic could reach any other conclusion. it seems deliberate and premeditated and intentional. if that is not bad enough, we

now know that the crisis is no longer just confined to the southwest border. last, week the chief border patrol agent in vermont tweeted. this in less than four months, they have surpassed the combined to prior years. just in the past four, months more than the two years combined beforehand. make no mistake, the biden ministration is carrying out its plan. we all heard senator mayorkas who sat in front of this committee and said we are executing our plan on the border. we all heard president biden say that we're trying to make it easier for people to get here. they're certainly succeeding and that. imagine the frustration that aborted communities feel when they hear the damage done to their land and do their businesses, the crimes committed by illegal alien trespassers and the overall local resources that are all part of their own government's plan. today, we'll hear about some of the effects of the open door policy on everyday americans and their communities in which they live.

we'll hear about dangerous encounters with illegal migrants on private property. and we will hear by the devastating effects as i said earlier, of fentanyl and american families. we will hear about mexican smuggling cartels exploiting the open border to terrorize u.s. communities. the worst part is that none of this had to happen. under president trump, the border was secure. under president biden, there is no border. and americans are paying the price. i now recognize the ranking member, gentleman from new york, mr. nadler once he completes his phone call. for his opening statement. >> i think the chairman for yielding. we're starting off on a different. now it's unfortunately, this hearing is more of the same haphazard, chaotic style we have come to expect with this new republican majority. we saw them take 15 tries to pick a speaker. we saw them fumble in the opening play, needing to reschedule the first meeting.

the first hearing will showcase the racist tendencies of the extreme maga republican wing of the party. it seemed to close the border to refugees from places like cuba and venezuela. it almost makes me miss the usual obsession with conspiracy theories and the fbi. furthermore, this hearing appears to be the latest back in an ongoing turf or with chairman jordan and calm. or as we all, know his plans for the subcommittee are into jordan's jurisdiction. not to be outdone, trimming calmer now so the oversight committee will hold its first hearing on the subject of immigration. a topic that is squarely in this committee's jurisdiction. during the week of february six. turning the tables, on chairman comer once again, the majority hastily through together today's hearing to ensure that would be the oversight committee by a few days. without a new government to witnesses of the oversight committee there was time to secure, of course. i suspect this hearing is also intended to distract from the

fact that the republicans have failed to pass any meaningful legislation in the first month in the majority. as we all know, as part of the rules package for the house, majority leader scalise included 11 ready to go -- pieces of legislation that were set complete by regular orders. many of those fall under the purview of the judiciary committee. it appears that these bills were anything but ready to. go republicans unable to pass the bills that were exclusively or partially under this committee's jurisdiction. most relevant today's hearing the border safety act of 2023. this is been described as quote, not christian anti-american and trying to ban illegitimate -- and those are not my words, those are the words of tony gonzales of texas. he is not the only one. according to the washington

post are concerned about the scope of this legislation. . let's turn to today's hearing. there is no doubt that the majority of witnesses will use the extreme rhetoric we've come to expect. they'll tell us at the southern border is open. president biden and secretary mayorkas -- mostly those smothering smuggling drugs across the border. none of those things are true. yes, significant numbers of individuals are arriving at the border, and the biden administration actually is 1.1 million people, recently expanded the use of title 42. much to the -- of many here on the committee. the vast majority of drugs we see are counted towards -- a fiscal year 2022, 7% of illicit drugs and 50% of fentanyl oversee between points of entry by the border patrol.

the arrest was seized by the office of field operations, who were stationed at ports of entry. the evidence is not sure that asylum seekers are bringing drugs to our shores. the fact is that increasingly, drug cartels are recruiting american citizens to bring drugs across the border through ports of entry. you all agree that our immigration system is broken. let's fix the problem where they are, not with fox news talking heads amount to them to be. sadly, either return extreme republican majorities failed to offer genuine solutions and resource political theater. counties across the island cannot even negotiate in good faith with each other. little on with us. when that changes, house republicans can get their acts together and work with a meaningful solution for serious problems. and senate republicans appear to be willing to work with senate democrats and judiciary committee democrats standing ready to help. given that maybe these past few months, i have my doubts.

republicans have proposed building a wall, shutting down the asylum system into defunding the department of homeland security. which are not serious proposals, that may well play with the extremist base. there are ways to this committee's time in the american people deserve better. after hearing former witnesses today, i would also like to take a moment to express my condolences, mister don and his family. can imagine how difficult the loss of your son has been for you and your wife. thank you for being here today. i yield back. >> i thank the gentleman. now recognize our witnesses. thank them for being here. first i want to yield to the gentleman from texas. mr. loyd. to introduce one of our witnesses. >> i thank the chairman. i wish that it were under different circumstances, but i am certainly a proud to have a fellow texan here, willing to

share the story that he is going to share with us here today. i visited at length with brandon dan. and his lovely wife janelle. they live in hayes county, texas. where i live. i live a few miles down the road. and they have four children today and mr. dunn will recounts the loss of their son, noah, last summer. they are a testament to wanting to get positive change out of the loss. and working hard to do that. i'm delighted to have them here to express what they are going to share about the impact of open borders.

hardly a lie. hardly a figment of our imagination. a real impact on real human beings. every single day. and they are going to share that here today, and i thank them for coming here. i yield. back >> thank you gentlemen. i recognize the gentleman from arizona, sheriff with us today. mr. biggs is recognized. >> thank, you mister chairman. i am pleased to introduce to the committee one of the finest lawman in america. certainly the finest lawman in arizona. sheriff mark daniels from -- countries county, arizona. it is a large county with a fairly sparse population. that sits right on the borders in southeastern arizona. borders new mexico and mexico. sure daniels counters the reality of what is happening on the border. unlike those who reside in new

york who say there is no problem on the border and that the border is open, to say that is untrue. we hear contrary testimony today, it is open. the border is dangerous. the drugs pour across international terrorists and criminal gang members. people from all over the world in many nations have come through. we can't even that most of those individuals. shirttails has surfaced county for a long time, he's a great judge in. works he works well with border control agents. devise a program to protect communities that he serves, and that wonderful southeastern arizona county. which is a big county.

we will hear for more from him, and we're excited to hear more. he's on a great advocate and great sheriff and great family man, but a good friend of mine. sheriff daniels. thank you, mister are. yield >> recognizing the gentlelady from texas, miss escobar, for the introduction. >> thank you, mister chairman. it is my privilege to introduce to the judiciary committee and to the american public a dear friend of mine. and a great leader with whom i share much in common. county judge ricardo santiago. he is the el paso county. judge and we have a couple of things in common. i served as el paso's county judge for many years. in my time perceiving the service in congress. , and for those unfamiliar with texas elected politics, the county judge's essentially the chief elected official. the county administrator in texas.

they'll refer to this judge. even if in many ways they act as the mayor. of the entire county. and so judge somebody ago and i have both been county judge of one of the safest communities in the united states of america, it is on the u.s. mexico border. it is longtime recipient of migrant populations our nation's front door. and we are incredibly proud of the role to be played in upholding american values, in a way that provides for dignity. judge -- and i also share another thing in common. we were born and raised in our proud residence of the u.s. mexico border in el paso, texas. judge -- has done a number of things prior to serving in county governments. he has been in small business

and human resources. he has ben, i think, in the juvenile justice world as well. but judge samanego is here to talk to us about how communities on the border, like el paso, have actually been a tremendous service to the federal government. and when given the resources and support, it can be a great ally and ensuring that we preserve the humanity in our system, that all of us should want. one last thing, but i will say. judge samanego both were in public service. i as a congresswoman, and samanego as a county judge, on a horrific day. august 3rd, 2019. when a domestic terrorist drove over ten hours to our community to slaughter mexicans and immigrants.

he used much of the hateful, racist, bigoted, xenophobic language, this domestic terrorist did, and many politicians in washington d.c. hughes. and many politicians in texas use. unfortunately, and the president of the united states, and the time, used. he was inspired by that hateful rhetoric. he used it to fuel his hatred and massacre 23 people in a walmart in our community. lawrence had power i want to remind our committee at that. i want to remind everyone thank you judge, for being here. it is a privilege. -- a lifelong democrat but switch parties because of the devastating effects of the biden border crisis on her land in her community. her testimony will be

circulated to committee members. i will briefly summarize her testimony. what she was going to say i think, is too important for the american people not to hear. i judge carruthers testified that her once save community now lives in fear. neighbors homes have been burglarized. ranchers have been stopped on their home. high-speed crashes or a daily hazard. one had their home set of fire by illegal migrants in order to get law enforcement to come and pick them up. county resources have been overwhelmed by the flow of illegal aliens across the flow -- illegal high school has been lockdown because illegal eons routinely trespass through this carruthers land, cutting her fences and coughing of names to her property. groups of illegal migrants regularly dress in camouflage to cross the judges in her neighbor's land. these are not asylum seekers. looking to turn themselves into border patrol agents but foreign nationals trying to evade law enforcement. i wish she would've been able to be here today to share her

story in person. we do welcome our witnesses who were able to travel and are here. we thank you for appearing. we will begin with swearing you in. will you please rise and raise your right hand. do you swear or affirm that, under penalty of perjury, the testimony are about to give is to a cry to the best of your knowledge, information, or how to -- >> let the record show the witnesses answered in the affirmative. thank you. please know that you're written testimony will be written into the record -- . i know you were told this earlier. the microphones are funny you have a clock in the series of lights. when the lights change from green to letter you should be able to conclude your remarks. green means go, yellow means get ready to stop, red means stop. mr. denis, may begin. we thank you for being here. you and your wife. you in the foundation. like everyone on the committee we are sorry for the loss of your son mr. dunn, you have your five minutes. >> thank you. thank you, committee, for

having me today. i am the cofounder of forever 15 project project, a nonprofit that my wife journal and i started after the passing of our son, noah. on august 21st, noah died as a result of fentanyl poisoning. more specifically, alyssa fentanyl poisoning. he was 15 years old. he was a sophomore at johnson high school in hayes county. he was murdered by a drug dealer selling counterfeit percocet pills. the pill he took contained eight milligrams of fentanyl. which is four times the lethal

dose. there was no percocet in the pell. there was no other drugs in the pillow besides from illicit fentanyl. noah was the third victim in less than two months in hayes county from illicit fentanyl. kevin mcconville, another haste in, passed away from a counterfeit xanax. that contained illicit fentanyl. ryan garcia, also of haze cisd, passed away from a counterfeit percocet bill. since then we've attended many seminars, summits run by the dea in houston, texas. so now we are very familiar

with all of the information regarding illicit fentanyl. illicit fentanyl is primarily manufactured in mexico by the drug cartels and smuggled through our southern border. it is true that most seizures happen at border checkpoints. i believe 60% of all fentanyl seized last year was in san diego and imperial valley. however, due to the lethality of this drug, any amount smuggled in in a backpack, or a fanny pack, or even in somebody's pocket can be enough to kill thousands of people. as you can see, you know, it is not just a border checkpoint issue.

any amount -- i would probably under one milligram could be lethal in some instances. two milligrams is the most common number put out there. without immediate medical intervention, a person is not likely to survive. that is how fast it kills. and our activism work, we have come across several families who have also lost their children to this illegal drug, this illicit drug. it is both sides of the political aisle. for us, this is not a political issue. for us it is a issue of the safety of our children, and the citizens of this country. we are working with several state legislatures, primarily

democrats in our area, on legislation to stop this from happening, as well. it's, you know, it is a definite problem impacting our community. i don't have time to read the names. but in the five months since noah's path thing, we have met 28 other families who have lost primarily teenagers to this drug. the current statistic is it is the number one killer from 18 to 45. honestly, we believe that that number will probably drop to 15 to 45. we have had children as young as 13 years old died from this drug. thank you. >> thank you, mister done. we appreciate you nearby thing here today. sheriff. they recognized for five minutes. >> good morning honorable

chairman jordan. ranking member nadler and distinguished members of this committee. i appreciate the opportunity to address the community regarding the status of our southern border from the community of the local law enforcement. i served for 30 years prior that a member of the u.s. army. i serve as the southwest border association. we have three objectives. public safety, national security, and humanitarian. in my submitted brief, i shared with you all overview of the coaches county in the history on the border. i've personally experienced a good, the bad, and the ugly of being a border -- currently this is the worst i've experience. i'm proud to be a partner with the local and federal partners who work in our communities. to understand where we were two years ago. my county was one of the safest counties based on our collected effort. and enforcement obligation supported by the rule of law. what is a direct impact to my

county? the citizens and law enforcement address mostly gotaways. the fighting play symptom in my county versus those given up. 100% camouflage migrants being illegally smuggled by the cartels with the price tag of poor undocumented alien begins at $7,000 and up. the smugglers include juveniles being recruited via social media by the cartels. order related bookings, detention costs in my jail and county area. the year 2022 was four point $3 million absorb by my local and state taxpayers. border related crimes are an all-time high. murder investigations, aggravated acts of my citizens, failure to yield, search and rescue, recovery and assault against law enforcement officials. deputies have been placed in life-threatening scenarios of the cartels showed no regard for my citizens in those when the bad. addressing dangerous scenarios and criminals other direct result of the open border being explored by color cartels as

violence, fear, and greed. a calendar year 20 20 to 1000 78,000 suspects were brought to my jail for border related crimes. only 78 were foreign born. in 2021, over 5 million doses of fentanyl were seized on the arizona border. in 2022, over 20 million dosages were seized. in 2022, over 12,000 pounds of fentanyl were seized on the southwest border. i want to share personal tragedy with you. a good citizen name on my county. she was headed to her 65th birthday party to meet her family and her son when a 16-year-old usc who fled from law enforcement deputies carrying three undocumented aliens rammed his vehicle through a red light at the speed. a cut her vehicle half, killing her. in closing, my fellow sheriffs and i have tried to partner with this ministration including the president of the united states, with high hopes to share the collective message, collective action plan, support the rule of law, prioritize our southern border and provide updates for impact and concerns with little to no success.

by allowing our border security mission in immigration laws to be discretionary, these criminal cartels continue to be the true winners. the exploitation of mankind simply modern day slavery. allowing thousands of pounds of illicit drugs into our country that continue to erode core values of families, schools, subsequently killing an average of 300 americans a day. that is unacceptable at any level. experiencing migrant deaths without a reasonable process well members of the u.s. congress and this administration intentionally avoid reality is gross negligence. our voice of region has been very during what i call, intellectual avoidance, by this administration and yes, members of the congress. communities have been neglected and left to rely on our local state resources in addressing the border in crisis mode. our southern border against all public comfort statements from wanting to see is in worst shape i've ever been. i look at public safety, national security, the humanitarian issue on our southern border, this is the largest crime scene in the country. the moral relevance is

extremely low. the collective frustration is very high amongst law enforcement at all levels and, most important, the citizens of our county. with recent efforts to cancel title 40, it's only served a complex border that needs immediate immigration reform by u.s. congress. most important, it needs to be secured. i am a true believer that customs and border print or the experts a border security while sheriffs and police chiefs of the experts in the community. to mother this is the recipe of success for all communities. i will leave you with this final statement. we offer the priorities of americans by their shared oath of office. to get their lives, enhanced the role of life, and to adhere to the rule of law. -- i ask each one of you to reflect on the statement as you make your next decision to vote. once again, i think this committee for the invitation and opportunity. unasked and ready to answer any questions here in a few minutes. thank you, everybody. >> thank you, sheriff. we now recognize judge samanego. i think i got that right. judge, thank you for being

here. >> five minutes. >> members of the judiciary committee. thank you for inviting me to testify. my name is carlos samanego -- >> judge, judge. can you pull that a little closer? >> pardon me? >> there you go. >> okay. el paso, texas, one of the safest, largest communities in america. the veterans capital of the usa. a population of almost 900,000 residents in the bunch of plex consisting of el paso texas. less cruises, new mexico. these three cities for combined international metropolitan area of 2.7 million individuals and constitutes the largest bilingual and binational workforce in the western work for. i would like to start by emphasizing over four years ago customs and border patrol requested the assistance of myself and other local officials. i believe we truly stepped up to the requests and facilitated their internal processes.

el paso, texas, has been the epicenter of the migrant surge both recently, and nearly four years ago when border communities such as mine were faced with unprecedented numbers of migrants who were seeking to enter our country through el paso. we have learned how to safely, humanely, and expeditiously treat asylum seekers we passed through our community on their way to unite with sponsors. i'm here -- the success story with strikes a delicate balance between security and compassion. however, before i tell you the story i must disabuse you of information which i personally know to be false. there is no open border in el paso. it immigrants opening a's for asylum openly present themselves. el paso is required to provide the same immigration laws and other border communities must follow. there is no invasion of migrants in our community. nor are there hordes of

undocumented immigrants committing crimes against citizens or causing havoc in our community. claiming this continues a false, racist, narrative against these individuals and perpetuates violence that the el paso community is all too familiar with. when our citizens wary targets of a racially motivated mass shooting august 3rd, 2019, they killed 23 el paso citizens and mexican citizens and wounded six other innocent bystanders. our community was deeply devastated by this tragedy. thirdly, humanitarianism and security are not a binary choice. it is the federal government's responsibility to both. provided with sufficient financial support, we can assist the federal government in fulfilling its mandate. our initiatives, mandates, and processes are directed to avoid any type of chaos. el paso county was faced with the increasing number of asylum seekers, we established immigrant support center to assist migrants to connect with

the relatives and sponsors and kind them with the same day travel process -- approximately 35 to 45% fall in this category. the benefit of this process is migrants are moved quickly and safely out of our community at their own expense. the center opened on october the 10th, 2022. it has the capacity to assist up to 1000 per day. today, the center has assisted 26,000 829,000 asylum seekers. no immigrant is placed on a bus and shipped to another city without coordination, and a sponsor waiting at the receiving city. el paso's partnership with catholic charities of houston is a great example of inter jurisdictional cooperation. federal funds, catholic charity buses traveling daily between el paso and houston with 52 passengers manifested with confirms self paid travel

flights and a feast in the following day. this model initiated discussions in collaboration with other inter state partners such as dallas -- austin in denver. city of el paso declared a disaster we did not get the resources we needed. instead we saw the state of texas national guard, the placement of barbed wire lying haphazardly in certain areas. suited barriers of tanks in cargo containers were put up. -- correspondents and communicating with other state officials that what my community needed was assistance with transportation staffing food and sheltering. the state never address these needs than i requested. to be sure that we can not only resolve the immigration issue facing our country. i finally want to take the opportunity to thank our congresswoman escobar for her leadership infer consistently ensuring the federal government

is aware of the realities on the ground. i thank you for being here. i welcome you to our beautiful community. i would love to host enough we happen answer any questions at this time. >> thank you we are now present to the five-minute road question. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. issa. >> think you mister chairman. mr. dunn, i know the list of names of people who, in many cases, thought they were taking one drug and died of fentanyl is long. one of the names that you probably have on your list is matt chapel auto in riverside county. his daughter, who thought she was taking a xanax, and died. she actually only took half of it as part of her study routine and died of a fentanyl overdose. that has led to a murder charge in riverside county. our district attorney is

prosecuting that. how it will end? we will see. it certainly is an example of the kind of response that i hope both the federal government and state and local will start looking at. these people who traffic in that leading to these tragic deaths. they are more than just drug dealers, they are murderers. i want to thank you for being here today. sheriff, i will primarily talk to you. the judge, i think, rightfully so gave us a good example of facilitating undocumented workers who have been released in this country getting around the country. all of the humanitarian work that they do. first of all, are those the people you run into? >> congressman, it is not. we don't give the give ups. i commander speaking with our

patrol agents. we don't get give ups in coaches county. what we get under the gotaways. ones that are camouflage. 100%. the flight -- gear fighter flight whatever they did to get away from. last >> out of 5 million people that have come here when he could be judged to be talking about 1 million -- maybe those who just want jobs. you are dealing with the other million who are often repeat criminals and are invading in order to perpetrate crimes. >> >> that is correct. >> i want to go through a couple of quick quotes. you are at the border. >> i have over 50 miles of mexican border in california the secretary of homeland security said, the border is closed. the border secure in march of 2021. is that true then?

>> no. >> is it true now? >> no. additionally said we are working day in and day out to enhance its security he said that november 16 2022 had you seen that kind of improvement? >> no, i have not. >> you haven't, as of today. just a few days ago he said the border is not open. would you agree with that? >> no. so if i could follow that statement. the majority of people, just to give an example, we have an introduction team that goes out almost daily. yesterday they were out for their shift. they had 15 smuggling events. we had a media crew riding with him yesterday. the majority of the people we talked to, the migrants that have been smuggled, what i call modern day slavery, what they are doing to these people. they tell us the reason we are here, is because the president biden and the walkman sign. >> vice president said just a few months ago the border is

secure. we have secured the border. with that also be inaccurate? >> yes, it would. now, a lot of people talk about the trump era versus now. is it fair to say that things got better but it was still a difficult time for you, even then with some of what you are dealing with at the border? >> after 30 almost 40 years working in the border i've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. it was better under president trump. this, like i said, it's the worst i've seen. mainly from the aggression by the cartels and the aggressive acts towards law enforcement in the community. >> i want you to take the remaining time and tell us the difference between the trump era and now with the border wide open. what does it do for your ability to provide law enforcement for other purposes in your county? >> with the amount of arrests we had in 2022, our border population. border crimes have been arrested and booked in my jail

acquaint to about 44% of all the population in my jail. you equate that back to the patrol side of it, troopers, look law enforcement, sheriff's office. we are spending a lot of time keeping your community safe, diverted from the normal stuff we do. the practice stuff into addressing border crimes. >> thank you, mister chairman. i yield back. >> the gentleman yields back. the chairman from new york ranking member mr. nadler is recognized. >> i think the chairman for yielding. mr. done, i again want to express my sincere condolences to you and your family. i want to thank you for being here today. judge samanego, i want to turn to you. thank you so much for coming today. having a witness who have grown up and lived on the border so imperative. you knowledge and lived experience are in viable for policymakers here in washington. unfortunately, the republican majority seems interested only in showboating. they continuously talk about a so-called biden border crisis. even though this immigration

has kept in place numerous policies from the trump administration, many of my colleagues and i have expressed concerns about. judge samanego in your testimony you know safety and compassion are not mutually exclusive. i think that this is a very important point. as a republican representative, tony gonzales, stated over the weekend. border security and immigration are two separate topic. one can be for a strong border security presence that prevents terrorists, fentanyl, and then acted from entering through our country. one can be for welcoming in future americans through the front door. judge samanego, can you discuss how el paso has bounced these two competing dynamics? ensuring the safety of its citizens while also being compassionate to migrants? >> thank you. one of the things that we recognized in our collaboration is we are not reacting at this point. we have been working -- we meet with on fortunately. me with law enforcement. diocese, the ngos.

and we know that doing what we do right, the whole nation benefits from that. if we do not process the migrants properly, then it falls on other cities. i think el paso is extremely focused on the fact that we are not a community but part of a nation. if we do not do the right things, the new york it's hit. other companies get hit simply by the fact that there isn't an organized process. our strategy is really very organized. very compassionate. making sure that we get individuals in the right place at the right time. when we have someone from new york who comes to el paso, the mayor, tells us to help him through this process then obviously that is why we are there. our impact is not just on our community. i believe our impact on the values of the constitution. the values, in my case, as a democrat. then we make sure we are helping the rest of the country. we don't do things right.

i can guarantee you that the impact is going to fall on the other cities around the country. >> thank you. we keep healing from our republican colleagues at the border is open. that biden caused this crisis. can you comment on that? >> we don't see that. we process every individual that comes through. we make sure we coordinate. we got a lot of information. i must emphasize it was the border patrol in the federal government asking us to step up as a community. when we don't do the right things it backs up their system. we start getting more and more people. the detention centers are extremely limited compared to what community can do. either you put the pressure on the federal government or you put the pressure on a committee -- almost four sites where we can get people sheltered. we can profit people 35 to 40% are individuals that already have a sponsor. they have money and they can move into the communities they

get a lot of calls throughout the state that we do the right thing and we process them we can get the migrants now to help other communities. we talk about three things. it it's safety, it's extremely important -- humanitarianism and the economy and impact on a tire economy we have seen it at the movement of product doesn't come into the country we get hit extremely hard we got a lot of calls about not moving traffic properly we are one of the largest movers a product in the whole country we do things right i feel everyone gains from our efforts. >> thank. one of the efforts you touched on in your testimony is the need for all levels of government to work together to effectively work together who are crossing in florida. do you have a good relations

with immigration and customs enforcement customs and border protection can you discuss how often you coordinate with them? >> once a month one of the missing elements is we don't get support from the state if we he need the local government you need federal government. and the missing component because of political reasons we don't get that third part of the stool. that is extremely extremely important to us we need their support we don't need militia, or policing. our strategy has been extremely effective without using law enforcement. we suffered tremendously by not having proper support from the state government. >> thank you, my time has expired. a. backed >> down many of. back to gentleman from colorado is recognized. >> thank you mister chairman. since president biden took office we have seen a surge on the terrorist watchlist arrest on the southern border. there were two terrorist watchlist arresting the fiscal

year 2017. six in 2018. zero in 2019. three in 2020. in 2021 president biden's first year in office terror watchlist arrest surged to 15. if they were 98 terrorist arrested at the southern border. in this fiscal year, so far, there have been 38 arrests. according to border patrol that means 1.2 million known got away since president biden took office. in november alone 73,000 border crossers evaded or overwhelmed border patrol agents. but were detected by the forms of surveillance. often these border crossers are leading being caught by border patrol because they have a criminal record or contraband hide unlike most migrants who crossed with the explicit intention to meet border patrol. today i want to talk about other sinister news in the immigration space. i have a copy here, of an email

circulated last thursday, january 26, at mount pleasant high school in rhode island. stephanie harvey, someone with a doctorate in education, is fundraising among faculty and staff to pay a debt to a cartel that trafficked a student. the email calling it an urgent matter reads, we have a student who came to america with coyotes. which is a group that helps people. this group gives you a timeframe to make a payment of $5,000 to those who bring them into the states. our student needs our urgent support to raise another $2,000 to meet his goal of $5,000 by february 1st, 2023. sheriff, is this helpful? >> i'm sorry, sir? >> is this helpful? to have faculty raising money to pay a mexican cartel to bring someone into the country? >> congressman, no. >> okay. the ranking member said that

many of president trump's policies have been continued. is the fence continuing to be built on the southern border? >> no. >> is the remain-in mexico policy being continued? >> no. >> it is the agreement with the northern triangle countries to immediately deport illegal ignorance who come into this country, has that policy been continued? >> no. >> sheriff, let me ask you something, we now have, in this country, 2 million individuals who have gone through the entire process and have been adjudicated for removal. in other words, they came to this country, they applied for asylum. they weren't entitled to asylum. they came here for economic reasons. they went through, they had due process, they have been adjudicated. they have been ordered, removed. the president of the united

states has instructed i not to seek those individuals and remove them from the country. 2 million! what is the impact of an order like that in terms of welcoming people who are coming to this country for all of the wrong reasons? >> congressman, that is one of the things that has changed between the two administrations. i've seen the former president had a very strong message -- >> when he's a former president, president trump? >> yes, sir. when you come to the country, you break our laws, there are consequences. under the current one, the rule of law is not being fulfilled. >> to further that a little bit the impact on individuals that are considering coming to the country -- they know that if they come to this country there is going to be a consequence, a negative consequence for them. i'm not even talking about a welcome that, we welcome immigrants to this country. we welcome people who want to go through the process the right way.

who want legal immigration. when they know they are coming to this country and there is no consequence in coming to this country illegally. even when they lose in court -- they are ordered removed, the united states will not remove them under this administration. then there is this hope for an amnesty program to go through congress or, informally, as president obama did. this president will probably do the same thing, issue an executive order with the stroke of a pen to give people amnesty. what is the impact on people being attracted to this country for all of the wrong reasons? well congressman number one as they keep coming and we are seeing that on the border. it is a insult to the rule of law that you are not all in here too. last of all it's an insult to all law enforcement. state, local, and federal. trying to do our best to secure our border.

-- >> mister chairman, i have two articles that i would like to offer for the record. one for fox news published january 28th, another one published december 1st. >> without objection. they will be entered in the record. the chair now recognizes the gentlelady from california. >> thank you, mister chairman. first let me thank you mr. dunn for your compelling testimony and offer my deepest sympathy and prayers for your family in your lost son. all of us feel that way on this day is. it is important to know that i think every member of this committee wants to have order at the border. we also need to take a good look at what is happening. if you take a good look who is coming into the united states without the benefit of a visa it is a mix. some individuals are coming

from communist countries, like venezuela, nicaragua, or cuba. they are coming to seek asylum because they have been persecuted. that is permitted under immigration law. and yet, the numbers have been -- have made it difficult to process that in an orderly way. some are coming, just like my grandparents, because -- for economic reasons! they want to have a better life. for them and their families. in most cases there is no way for that to happen in a lawful manner. some are bad guys. they are coming through more rural areas. i think that is why the sheriff is seeing what he is seeing. i think it is important as we think about what to do -- what strategies will be effective, we need to think about those different categories of individuals. we spend more money, today, on

the border patrol than ever before in the history of the country. we spend more money on immigration enforcement than all other federal law enforcement combined! it is not as if we are unwilling to pay for enforcement. i note that the law that some people feel would be the answer on average was breached, last year, once every 11 minutes. it was breached over 4000 times. i don't know that that is really the answer that people think it is. taking a look at cubans, nicaraguans and venezuelans, for example, the administration created a parole program, just recently, for safe and organized process for migrants seeking protection, as asylum seekers. when they did, the number of people coming irregularly dropped. my understanding is between the ports of entry, individuals

seeking asylum from most countries dropped 97%. if you put yourself in the place of that individual, if there is a way to get safe haven, you are going to take that rather than risk your life walking through the jungle. what we don't have is reform of the immigration laws that will give some opportunity for people seeking economic advancement to have a hope that could happen. i think that is really on us, on the congress. the congress here in the congress before that we had a form workforce modernization act. it got broad support. a big bipartisan vote in the congress. it died in the senate. we know that more than half the farmworkers in the united states are undocumented. yet we need farmworkers in the country. if there is a way to have an orderly system than i think that would help us a lot as a country. we all want order at the

border. a humanitarian crisis is not best solved at the border. we should take a look, not just the united states but other western hemisphere countries, work together to try to bring stability in central america that are really the origin of many of those fleeing. we have not succeeded at that. let me just close with this, judge. you have seen the people coming into your city, why are they coming to the united states? the people you have met in your city? >> they are extremely passionate. i wish most of our citizens had the passion and the desire to be in our country like they do. i have heard a lot of different stories. one of them is the fact that they stand up for their rights in their country and then they're persecuted because of that.

they are asked not to do those kind of things. they get targeted. i get a lot of people telling me they are still, parents will call and say they go to my house everything go day to find out where i'm at. they are very passionate about coming here. extremely passionate about working. they all say the same thing. they are willing and able to work here in the united states. >> thank you, mister chairman. i see my time has expired. >> the gentle lady yields back. the gentleman from louisiana is recognized. mr. johnson. >> thank you mister chairman. mr. dunn, we mourn the loss of your son noah and hundreds of thousands of other victims who have been or a probably damaged by this catastrophe. i would note that, of course, china and the mexican drug cartels are taking full advantage of this south open south border -- we all know that. that is what the testimony reflects. we have recorded record amounts of deadly fentanyl coming into

america near and all of the country. over 100,000 americans died of a drug overdose last year. if ellen poisoning is a key component of that and we know it. my questions are gonna be for the sheriff but i want to recount a couple of facts here so everybody back home can take account. since president biden took office, u.s. customs and border protection have accounted over 4.5 million illegal aliens across the south border. it's been said a few times, we will say repeatedly today, the number is disastrous. if we do not have a border, we do not have a nation. we cannot maintain our sovereignty and security if we don't have a border. nearly 1.7 million of those illegal aliens encountered across the southwest border have been released into americas communities. my community, my state, all of ours. it's all over the country now. during fiscal year, 2022. cpp encountered 2,370,000 plus illegal aliens. the most in any single year. that broke the record in 2021, which is the second largest number.

just during december, 2023 -- 2022, c p b encountered 241,000 foreign 87 illegal aliens crossing the border. it's the largest number ever encountered a single month. the point is, this gets worse and worse. why is that? well, because the biden ministration has been reversing the vestment orally of the trump administration's successful border immigration policies. they are systematically, intentionally, secretary mayorkas and his administration, they are dismantling immigration enforcement. they are encouraging illegal immigration. encouraging! it inviting people to come here. it has been happening for the past two years. it is beyond refute. it's what the evidence shows. it's what everyone can see perry's to pay tension to this. the terminated construction of the border wall. the bottom integration wrist restricted officers ability arrest, detain, a move alien to -- violate u.s. law. sheriff you have been in law enforcement for nearly four

decades. you gave some very compelling testimony this morning about all the problems you have encountered. the question is, have you tried to share those concerns with the biden administration? if so, how did the menstruation respond? >> yes, thank you congressman. we actually have, on behalf of the national sheriff association i'd share a -- the national share of senior leadership has attempted, through letters, to reach out to president biden, he's been invited to our events with major county -- the southwest border, national. we have never gotten a response back from this president. in fact i was told just a couple months ago he was the first president not to meet with shares in this country. he still has not, to my knowledge. second that is we didn't meet with secretary mayorkas. we reached out, i assembled about a dozen sheriffs we met in el paso. we sat down with the secretary. we gave him a 16 point action plan. what we thought were common

sense humanitarian public safety national security objectives built within that. never heard back. i asked his secretary where that plan was, whether we're gonna do with it. he asked me, what plan? long story short is, we never got a response back from the secretary. >> it is an absolute dereliction of duty. it is inexcusable. because of secretary mayorkas and the biden administration's abandonment of any semblance of security on the border, what policies or procedures have you had to implement to cover for them? again, it goes back to where the honorable judges talking about, in the absence of the day we have the absence of the federal government. what is important to your question in -- many porter patrol agents. one has not had any that has worked. the morale that they feel, the frustration that they feel. let's not forget we all serve the communities across this country, we have had to step up

our game. again, you look at 40 to 44% of your crime is coming through the border in my rural county. i do not have the pleasure of the resources like el paso, which is urban in nature. thanks to governor do you see in our state and our state legislative folks the 4.3 million they are helping me pay those bills in a rural county. that is a huge impact. when it comes to our introduction teams camera systems, you name it. the state is helping us. >> i am out of time. yield back. and thank you for your service and all the great men and women who are serving in that impossible situation. i yield back. >> the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from georgia, mr. johnson. >> thank you mr. chairman mister dunn, my condolences to you on the loss of your dear son. sheriff daniels, thank you for your service. >> thank you. >> for years we have listened to maga republicans the cry of a so-called invasion at our southern border. . now that they have a house

majority, maga republicans are in charge. maga republicans are responsible for coming up with solutions. unfortunately, this hearing is nothing more than a distraction from the fact that my maga friends cannot agree on the problem, or the solution! the house republican border security plan is so extreme that it is opposed by dozens of their own members. their plan has been called extreme, anti-american, and not christian. that is how republicans describe it. what we do know is the maga republican plan will shutdown asylum to everyone, including those fleeing communist totalitarian regimes and young children who are crossing the border alone to flee gang violence. this draconian and cruel policy will only diminish americas standing in the world. meanwhile, president biden has shown that we can lower the

number of unauthorized border crossings while still treating migrants with dignity and humanity. immigration is much more than a scary be role on fox news or inflammatory twitter posts. it is about our fellow human beings. migrants who arrive with nothing but the clothes on their backs. they work hard to build new lives here. indeed, immigrants are important for our communities and our economy because of the skills they bring, and the contributions that they make to our society. new americans of my district our small district -- business owners who paid our taxes, in which the neighborhoods, and our model members of the community. they've set up numerous businesses. , they are vibrant and economically successful where they can employ other immigrants and americans.

refugee coffee in clarkson, georgia, they even have a food pantry where they leave groceries for anyone who might be in need. immigrants are vital to my district. we appreciate them. while republicans resort to political stunts at the border and theatrical hearings like this one, democrats stand ready to fix a broken immigration system. we have a responsibility to act, we stand ready to work with serious republicans to pass meaningful solutions. judge samanego, thank you for being here. i am fortunate to be traveling with my colleague, veronica escobar, to el paso tomorrow. what can you tell me that what we should we be looking for another visit tomorrow? >> i believe the unity of what

happens we are calmed [speaking non-english] , we have been doing this for centuries. people passed through our community. we know how to do this in a humanitarian way. we are very, very, organized. we have a strategy that i think people should look at especially this idea of getting communities to send buses to us so we can have sponsors. migrants that go to their community. our strategy works it only doesn't work when we are not funded properly. at any point we are able to handle large numbers. but then we don't get the proper funding. as secretary mayorkas, he came down immediately and was able to help us with fema funding. allowed us to move the process. you push him back into juarez, all you are doing is creating more anxiety.

more desperation. you're creating more issues not only for us but on the community that works on an economic level. there is no border that works at such an economic level. to push them back, i think, is extremely reckless of our neighbors. >> let me stop you there in a few this last question. according to cbp be from january 21 to january 2023, only eight undocumented immigrants were arrested fentanyl smuggling at the southern border compared to 119 u.s. citizens. is it your experience that and increase in migrants is tied to an increase in fentanyl? >> we have not seen that. first of all, they come with very little. they get a backpack, they are carrying things that are very easy. they are vetted very properly. not only are they vetted with border patrol -- we vet them as well. we've got them at the shelters. we are constantly looking for

that. we are taking care of the nation. we are not going to allow someone to bring drugs in, unwittingly. we are going to do everything possible to be part of that process. >> the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from arizona, mr. biggs. >> thank you mister chairman. mr. done, you and your wife, thank you for being here today. we appreciate your testimony and your willingness to share your experience. i express my sympathy and condolences to you. i appreciate the work that you're doing. i want to clear to things up briefly. the figures just cited by my colleague from georgia -- are points of entry, only. they do not reflect between points of entry arrests for fentanyl transportation. so, please don't ever let the facts get in the way of a good narrative from the other side. not only that, when the gentlelady from california said she supports an orderly system for legal migration, we have in

orderly system for illegal migration. that is why 1 million people are brought in legally every year. the numbers that you here are between the ports of entry. that is where sea bp operates. so when cbp talks about the number countered being 4.5 million, that is between the points of entry. sheriff daniels, how big is your county? -- >> what is the population? >> about 125,000. >> how many ngos do you have the deal with the flow of illegal migrants coming across? >> maybe one, two, or three. most of them come from outside, not within the county. >> i know humor county has one. that is interesting. when we look at this, all you're deputies ever dispatched to deal with criminality or

situations involving illegal aliens? >> on a daily basis, yes. >> how often? how many times per day? >> throughout the day, usually if i check on i'm there in some kind of issue with border security or immigration. when i go home i hear calls. it is throughout the whole day! >> what sort of danger is to your department and your deputy, specifically encounter because of these interactions? >> the biggest thing we are dressing right now is out of the 1570 people that came to my county, 1500 were u.s. citizens coming down to commit international crime. based on agreed, they are getting paid $3,000 per person to drive them three hours north up to phoenix, arizona, open your neck of the woods, congressman. it is a game of greed. they pick them up alongside the highways, they take off 100

something odd for our. that resulted in death, it puts my citizens in risk. we see it almost every day in my county. that has been deadly for us. >> if i understand what you are saying, cartels are recruiting american citizens from as far away as the phoenix area to come on down, and transport people who have illegally entered the country up to phoenix for further distribution throughout the country? >> congressman, that is correct. but, take it one step further. throughout the united states. from the midwest. from all over. we have a map when we get them from in our office. >> you said, what was the going rate they get paid per person? >> we started in operation back in march called safe streets. a collective effort of state, local, federal law enforcement trying to do some introduction to protect our citizens. it was 1000 to 15 hundreds. like now it is $3,000 per person. >> heavier had juveniles come down to drive, as well?

>> yes. i believe last year we apprehended in charge around 100 juveniles that were remanded as adults for driving. all the way up to under the age where we don't even have a license. a couple weeks ago we had a 14 and 15 year old driving to pick up five undocumented -- >> this is human smuggling? >> this is human smuggling, yes. you have given us pictures up on display. what are these? >> the picture on the right side, the right red truck in the white car. the red car had a 16 year old, seven year old, and a 14-year-old. they were down -- down here to pick up migrants working with the criminal cartels. the economists on one of my deputy sheriffs, took off at a high rate of speed. hitting the white car and crashed. all three were in critical condition as they were ejected from that vehicle. >> and this other one? >> this other one was a vehicle out of phoenix. it was a stolen vehicle -- it was in one of our business

areas, a business parking lot. the border patrol saw him. he took off of the high-res speed. got into a pursuit. they rammed the border patrol agent, with the unmarked cars. they were apprehended with illegals. >> there is so much more to talk about. i'm sorry i'm out of town. thank you for being here, sheriff dannels. >> the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from california, mr. schiff. thank you, thank you for welcoming back to the committee. thank you mister dunn. i want to share my colleagues in expressing my condolences in your terrible. austin silas held a seat in this committee, over ten years ago, our country has undergone some of their most turbulent years. attacks on our democracy to increasing gun violence, including for mass shootings in my home state of california in just the last week. to continuing acts of racial injustice, many of the issues that americans are most concerned about fall within this committee through

extinction. instead of tackling those concerns and joining democrats in a comprehensive immigration reform, many republicans in congress seem intent on demonizing migrant families and asylum seekers trying them as fentanyl traffickers and violent criminals. in the real world, asylum seekers are vulnerable individuals and families fleeing political persecution and torture these terrible stereotypes to my republican colleagues are peddling have real world consequences and bring real world harm as they increased the level of hate and violence directed at immigrants here at home. more than a, let me just take the opportunity to recognize the many immigrants who risked their lives during the pandemic to take care of us when we were sick in the hospital with covid who brought food to a grocery stores and delivered goods to our doors who worked in our field so we would not go hungry and who died disproportionately

because they could not work from home. i want to say thank you for your courage in our country is better off for having you here i want to start my questions by debunking a couple pernicious stereotypes first when it comes to drug trafficking cbp reports at over 83% of smuggled heroin, so internal, and methamphetamine is discovered a vehicle inspections and ports of entry where people enter the country illegally it's not smuggled by migrants but driven across the border by u.s. citizens engaged in criminal activity at ports of entry judge samanego, the sentinel crisis is real how is it really entering the country in your experience and who is doing the smuggling? >> as you said, congressman, they are coming in through the port of entry's we did not get a lot of information of migrants doing it. as i said earlier the fact that they are not carrying much with

them. the fact that we have vetted them as they come in. that is why i keep insisting that an organized way of processing and our ability to be able to process properly is really helping him when we do not do that and it pushes the migrants that have to go further out, that is what we start having these illegal entries it was not a way for them to come in properly and meet the border patrol their anti border we know that going further creates risks through them they get preyed on. so many things happen by not following the process when we are allowed to do it we are supported and funded properly i think we do a lot for our country. >> thank you, judge. second, relative to undocumented immigrants and using texas as an example u.s. born citizens in texas almost twice as likely to be arrested for violent crimes. two and a half times more

likely to be arrested for drug crimes judge them in yay go can you speak to the experiences and interactions you've had with migrant families and asylum seekers at the border what is the real life impact that such anti migrant rhetoric and misinformation has on these communities? >> it is heartbreaking, obviously, why they are coming in, they want to work. we've had individuals that were held back because they got caught up in not being able to go back because of title 42 they were asking give us brooms keep, us bags we want to help we do not want to be perceived as lingering or burning your community or any part of the country they talk a lot about the fact that they want to work they are passionate about working they are ready to do something for our country i interact with them completely i

work with the unaccompanied children i have a lot of exposure i feel extremely confident that the majority of them have no interest in drugs doing anything like that other than to work and to participate and be part of the dream that they're looking for. a lot of them, like a, said they are coming out of desperation how they are treated in their countries and how they are persecuted. they are looking for a better life. i stand here saying, with all honesty, but i do not see or understand some of the things said here today about them wanting to be part of drug cartels of putting them in that situation. it is just completely opposed to what i've experience there in el paso. >> the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from florida, mr. gaetz. -- >> i yield. >> i think the gentleman from florida. i think the witnesses for being here. i want to clarify the record here for a second. the idea the fact that fentanyl is caught a port of entry, and

then that is the only place it is coming through is blind by the facts. it's elaborate a fact that border patrol is now distracted, processing human beings. just as the judge from a passive just described, but ignores the impact and what that does on the actual border! border patrol cannot possibly catch all of the fentanyl at the ports of entry, nor catch the fentanyl between the ports of entry. mr. dannels, do you agree with that assessment? >> i do. we have had any depletion in border control because they have been taken to other areas were processing is more important. >> if your experience that fentanyl porous between the ports of entry? that fentanyl, doesn't, fact into our communities and mask quality today because of our open borders? >> i appreciate that. mr. dunn, obviously in the introduction and talked about you being from the county in which i lives, hays county. you testified, mr. dunn, earlier, that it would not just know who passed away in a county last year, due to fentanyl poisoning in our community. is it not true that three other

hayes independent school district students died from federal overdoses in our community, hays county, last summer? is that accurate? >> that is correct. a fourth 14-year-old died of january this year. >> just a couple of weeks ago? >> yes. >> and during christmas break, six other students were poisoned by fentanyl. they were successfully saved. >> last summer there was another eight who were brought back to the use of narcan, is that correct? >> correct. >> mr. dunn, your lovely bride, janelle, is hispanic, yes? >> do you believe that believing in a secure border makes one racist or anti hispanic? >> not in the slightest. her family actually holds that same position. >> i thank you for that. you guys have been active now in a number of organizations. trying to get out. i understand the losses of fentanyl. is that way? he worked with miss virginia

creature? she lost her daughter due to percocet laced with fentanyl, is that correct? >> yes. >> the people who have been the lost faces of fentanyl -- i have done this before. noah is one of the lost voices due to fentanyl now. >> he is now. i'm not sure if he's included in that picture. >> these pictures are the faces of americans who are no longer with us due to fentanyl flowing throughout our communities. these are young individuals who are not here today. noah is not here today. do you care, precisely, whether or not fentanyl is coming through ports of entry, between ports of entry? or was your family directly impacted because fentanyl is flooding into our communities, one way or the other? >> however it gets here -- it is here. >> in your experience talking to other family members and

talking to law enforcement personnel, is it your observation and belief that the overwhelming flood at our borders, distracting border patrol from being able to carry out their duty to stop the flow between the ports of entry, or do inspections at the port of entry, it is resulting in more fentanyl pouring into our communities, that is then resulting in the death of americans? and, in fact, the death of migrants in the process? >> yes. most of the fathers that i speak with that are not as vocal as some others, a common thing they have expressed to me is, come up here and let people know that, it is a border issue. it is not an immigration issue. it is flooding across the borders because there is a problem at the borders. >> in your communication with families who have lost loved ones due to fentanyl poisonings, do you believe that it is an

imperative -- and imperative that this country's federal government -- who has the constitutional obligation to secure the border of the united states, do so in order to ensure that we stop the flow of fentanyl, and dangerous and illicit narcotics in the united states resulting in the death of americans? >> yes. do you believe that if this country adopted policies that enabled us to restrict and stop the flow of fentanyl, that includes ensuring that we have, no longer a flood of human beings at our border, while still maintaining asylum laws and protecting people who are being persecuted for actual threat of persecution for the religious and personal beliefs, do you believe that stopping the flow of individuals? stopping the fentanyl with border patrol? that is the actual imperative. if that would be adopted that would help save lives, like no? as >> i do. most others that i talk with feel the same way. >> thank you, mr. dunn.

-- the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman's time from rhode island, mr. cicilline. >> think you two are indices. particularly thank you mister dunn, i to join my colleagues and expressing our condolences for your unspeakable loss. mr. dannels -- the house chance and on immigration in recent history. that is saying something. it's so extreme that dozens of republican members oppose it. some have even called it an american. the republican plan would effectively shut down asylum, including families fleeing communism, totalitarian regimes, and unaccompanied children's desperately seeking refuge. this is not only a moral failing to asylum seekers fleeing persecution, it also defies existing laws. we have obligations under international agreements and u.s. domestic law to accept and protect asylum seekers. we cannot just ignore these obligations because some want

to pray on anti immigrant and symphonic sentiments to drum up political support. this is, sadly, an ongoing and play in a temple i republican colleagues to use fear tactics to scare us into turning immigrants away. demonizing people coming here in search of a better life. we cannot and should not do that. democrats and put forth proposals that will actually help fix our broken immigration system and secure our border in a safe and humane way. we have proposed legislation that help address the root causes of migration, and peru's border security. creates additional legal pathways for people entering the united states. in fact, the 2023 omnibus bill which we passed in december even including funding to help customs and border patrol stopped dangerous cartels. the actual cause of drugs being smothered into the country, not asylum seekers, by the way. our house judiciary republicans unanimously oppose the bill. yes, there is a crisis at the border but it is not the one

republican leadership is shining about judge samanego, i want to ask you in your capacity as el paso county judge, you speak with many migrants to enter the united states via the el paso port of entry. you are very hard to ensure they are treated with dignity here in the united states can you describe what your sense is on why these migrants are entering the eunice and why the are seeking asylum? >> i would like to comment about border patrol. that we have been talking about what we have to do we are pushing them into other things. i can tell you that if we weren't doing our jobs, as i said earlier we are pushing back to them. very limited space. personnel's unmuted. we are pushing them back to them. as i said, we deal a lot, el paso deals a lot with migrants. we interact, tremendously -- we get to see them in shelters. we get to see them at the points of entry. they want to come here to work.

they are wanting to come here for our country. i have to stress that. we are very -- lucky the things they want to do, they think they want to maintain. the values they have for the united states, it is just remarkable. under all the circumstances that they go through, they come to our country with a tremendous amount of passion to be part of our value system. judge what kinds of resources do border counties like yours need to ensure that local officials are able to adequately protect public health and safety, while also ensuring that migrants are treated with dignity, processed quickly and efficiently and in consistency with our values that the great democracy. what more can we do as the federal government to help you do the excellent work that you are doing in el paso? >> the most important thing we have seen is decompression. we need the border patrol to be able to decompress and allow us to process.

like i said sometimes we are not funded properly. that is when you have people and buses going into communities that are not ready for them. obviously we need shelter. most of the migrants will move out within 72 hours. i can tell you that not even 1% of the migrants ever stay in our community. they are moving to other directions. they have sponsorships we really need that support to have shelter for them. so we can accommodate them. 40% already have sponsors and they can move quickly. it takes us a day, maybe 72 hours to be able to process them to redirect them and i can tell you that most of them are going to be u.s. citizens if you treat them wrongly than they will remember that if you treat them properly with respect for their humanity, the are going to be part of our residents, part of our citizens. this will be the first face they have with our country i

want them to be able to keep that excitement. have that respect for america and you do that by treating them properly we need to be able to do our strategy. the strategy works for four years now we have been working on the strategy. >> the gentleman's time has expired. i now recognize myself for five minutes. >> i think this discussion has brought out something that border patrol officer told me when i toured the border in the humid sector. don't send us more money, they said. they will only use it to process illegals, faster, into this country. i think the testimony has been bringing that up very clearly today. since joe biden canceled the remaining mexico policy and ordered ice not to enforce court ordered deportations -- >> signaling that american border is no longer manners. i want to see seven billion illegal aliens illegally

admitted to this country. another 1.2 million known gotaways have entered while the border patrol has been overwhelmed changing diapers and taking names. that is an illegal alien population of 2.9 million that is the entire population of the state of mississippi. does the administration change these policies and precipitate this crisis? as the democratic witness testified, aliens are now being rapidly and efficiently trafficked by our government. every community in our nation. what the democrats have never explained is how our schools are made better by packing classrooms with non english speaking students. how our hospitals are made more accessible by flooding emergency rooms with illegals demanding care. how our social safety net is strengthened by adding millions of impoverished and dependent individuals two systems that are already strained to the breaking point. how our neighborhoods are made

safer by introducing violent cartels into our communities and making it impossible to deport criminal illegal aliens. how our nation is made safer as known terrorists are encountered entering our country in record numbers. how our children are made more secure with fentanyl point across our border. or how working families are helped by flooding the labor market with cheap illegal labor. this is the nightmare that the democrats have unleashed upon our country. i asked the same group of border patrol agents in yuma what laws we could write that would help them. they said unanimously the first thing we need to do is enforce our existing laws. this administration clearly does not intend to do so. the laws that will write in the house, i'm afraid, are not going to survive the democratic senate or get joe biden's signature. so this situation will continue to escalate and continue to worsen. it's already been called intentional in our major cities and rural communities. new york city taxpayers are

paying for luxury accommodations to has this flood of illegal aliens there. fentanyl trafficked across the southwest border killed 71,000 people in america last year alone. in california, a cardiologist viciously executed six innocent victims. i believe this country is going to soon awakened to a coordinated terrorist attack by elements that have entered through our porous border, or with violent cartel wars erupting on our own streets. our witnesses today tell the story of what their lives are now like in the border communities. of course, these illegal aliens do not stay in the border communities. they are being trafficked to every community in america. so i would like to ask sheriff daniels what he believes our communities should expect as this mass illegal migration makes its way from his community two hours? >> thank you, congressman. let me start by saying this, i know we are hitting on immigration, i'm here on border security, but i will say this,

you made a comment they don't stay in our border communities. there is one incident they do state now reporter communities, and that's when they die. over the last two years, we have over 1000 migrants touch u.s. soil, coming across our border illegally, that have died. 31 sheriffs on the border have had to process as homicides until proven otherwise. that is 1000 migrants in inhumane conditions, smuggled by the criminal cartels, that we have left families in mexico mourning. so there is a consequence to the open border. second of all, these sheriffs, these police chiefs, these communities are doing the impact, and i've heard it from democrats. i've heard it from the republicans. i will say this deal, i do not drive out here 2000 miles with a political agenda, i came out here with a public safety agenda. that is to protect all people. you have to start with border security. i agree with you, congressman. we have the laws to address it.

legal, legal, legal. i will say that. they come to any part, i promise you, i have two international ports in my county and they don't come there. the only time we saw silent planes on our two port of entry's was when the cartel was having an internal rift and shot over 40 people. we watched it happen from our international line in my county. we had cartel members crediting credible fear that were allowed in our country, that just executed somebody and then came in because the other side was trying to kill them. so we have a problem on our border. we truly do, but we need all your help to fix it. thank you. >> my time has expired. the gentleman from california, mr. swalwell. >> thank you for coming today, mr. dannels. we all share your love and passion for noah, and the determination to get something done. i have a family member who's alive by the grace of god today

after addiction. i also sadly know someone who has died because of fentanyl. i also believe there is bipartisan support to take on china for its role in exporting fentanyl. sheriff dannels, also thank you for doing a very hard job. >> i have two brothers who are deputy sheriffs. we have a tough job, especially where you are in the world. would it help your job or hurt your jobs if you had 20,000 more border patrol agents assisting you on the texas u.s. border? >> speaking on behalf of my brothers and sisters from cbp, i would say that would help. >> i agree. we passed legislation, the senate would have done that, and i wish we could get a vote on that in the house. i also want to talk to you, my brother sometimes are part of raids. you take guns and drugs out of a car, you have a press conference, it's a deterrent to criminals. sometimes they rate houses on

search warrants and find illegal drugs and guns and paraphernalia. do you consider those types of rates that your department have done, are those successes or failures when that happens? >> they are a little bit of both i will say, congressman. >> a failure because the drugs are in the community, but a success because you all caught them? >> yes, sir. >> the reason i bring that up is because i think too often many of my colleagues on the other side have rooted on some of the chaos around this issue and don't want to be a part of the solutions or the change. and so recently, there have been a number of tweets that my colleagues posted. one of them from mr. gooden. it says enough fentanyl to kill 140 million americans was seized at the southern border in june. in honor of overdose awareness week, i'm calling on joe biden to close his open border. then, mr. buck said, since november enough fentanyl to kill 2.1 billion people has

been seized at the southern border. we must secure the border and protect our children and families. the chairman of the republican caucus, miss stefanik said, over 800 pounds of fentanyl were seized at our southern border in october. this is biden's border crisis. this is just cheering on chaos. instead of honoring the police who did the tough job, the hard work, and seized the drugs and took them off the streets. if we want to talk about some of the fentanyl facts, 96% of the fentanyl seized in the last fiscal year was seized at ports of entry. 86% of the convictions around fentanyl coming across our border were convictions of u.s. persons. 86%. so we should talk about fentanyl. we should go after china, but this? this is chaos what i'm seeing from my republican colleagues.

and when george bush had successes, rightful successes stopping the war on terror, i never heard my republican colleagues say, while someone was stopped from carrying out a terrorist attack. this is george bush's terrorism crisis. we should celebrate law enforcement. we should not deride them and use them to make points that actually don't even land because the fentanyl crisis isn't happening where you are all claiming it's happening. so i will take this opportunity and thank sheriff dannels, and the men and women he works for, and i will thank cbp for the hard work they do. and i invite my colleagues to join us, not in chaos, but in change. and finally, mr. roy's bill as a part of this hearing would seek to end asylum. an asylum process that has brought to the united states some of the best minds and athletes in the world, some of the best diplomats like

secretary madeleine albright. one person recently said, with respect to mr. roy's bill and proposal, are we stupid? come on, this country was based on good minds. look at albert einstein, we gave him a piece of paper to come in. we are letting the albert einstein of this modern times the way. it wasn't a democrat who said that. it was mr. roy's republican colleague, representative maria elvira salazar. so invite my colleagues to listen to your own colleagues who know better on this than you, on this issue. because it could use a lot more change and solutions and a lot less chaos. i yield back. >> the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from north carolina is recognized.

>> thank you, mister chairman. mr. judge samanego. >> yes, sir. >> did you hear about the conflict between the mexican army and the sinaloa cartel in the city of -- earlier this month? >> i did. >> as described in the guardian, they said they captured a son of el chapo, prompting retaliatory attacks from cartel gunman. after violence, gunman exchanged fire with security forces, blocking roads with burning vehicles and shooting at army vehicles and police airplanes, bringing reinforcements to the city. according to one resident, heavy fighting raged for hours after guzman, a key figure in the sinaloa cartel since the rest of his father, was arrested in the city early on

thursday. it goes on to say that residents were locked into their homes. all major roads into the city were blocked with burning vehicles at gunman attacked a military air base. it goes on. you would agree that the cartels are dangerous organizations aren't they? >> they are. >> and they have come to have extraordinary capacity to operate in mexico, to the point that they can take on the mexican army. isn't that true? >> i'm not sure if that's a true statement. >> in this case, they actually had a running battle with the mexican army where helicopter gunships were deployed to fire, and they were firing it them. there was an open warfare in the city. you do understand that, right, sir? >> i do understand that. >> do you not see it as possible that in a future, within an uncontrolled border,

a border that we cannot control, that those same conditions could exist on the streets of american cities? >> i believe that's not the case because i think we are mixing two things. we are mixing unrest, we have unrest ourselves here in the united states, just like in mexico, and we are mixing two things. >> are the cartels strengthened by be the ease they receive for trafficking humans across the border? >> you know, i think there's a lot of assumptions -- >> is that a hard question to answer, yes or no? >> give me the question straight so i can understand. >> my understanding is billions in income come to the cartels, and, according to the border patrol officers, they say no one comes across the rio grande. no one comes across the border without paying a fee of thousands. and many of these people don't have thousands, so they enter a life of indentured servitude until they pay it off.

their family might be tortured to pay for it. the cartels earned billions from it. is that not true? >> it's true, but it happened during the trump era as well. it has nothing to do -- >> i don't think it's necessarily should be a battle between republicans and democrats about who gets kudos for stopping the flood across the border. isn't it true though that the policy is strengthening the cartels? these dangers cartels that can operate in the open and conduct open warfare with the mexican army. >> i think you are talking about the root cause, and that's a broken system. we have to shoulder a broken system there in our community. >> so we just deplore it as a broken system, but we don't need to respond as if this is an emergency and a threat to the united states? that the same conditions could occur here? >> i'm not understanding how you are mixing the two things of trying to help asylum

seekers as part of our -- >> if this transnational criminal cartel organization says that exist, and they are capable of doing what they are doing in mexico, and are being strengthened day in and day out, and their drug trade is producing profits, and expanding their forces in the united states. isn't it just a matter of time and amount before they can do the same thing here that they do their? >> we have seen this for 50 or 60 years, cartels doing that, the fights that happen between them. we lived that and having to be one of the safest, when mexico is the worst in the world in violence, we were still the safest community in the country. >> so you are copacetic about it? you don't think there is a threat to the united states? >> there is a threat, but i cannot understand what we are here for. we are here for immigration? we are here to discuss what's the right thing to do for immigration. i've always said when you mix the two it gets very

complicated. it's complicated enough to look at it separately, much less when you combine the two. when you try to talk about the drugs and try to talk about immigration, it gets so mixed up that you can't resolve it. so i would like to really focus on the fact that we need to do the best thing that we can. you know -- >> i am out of time. i will let you go. i questioned your conclusion about what is humane and what is not, and with that i yield back. >> thank, you sir. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. lieu. >> thank, you mister chair. let me start off by noting that the chairman of the judiciary committee lawfully defied a bipartisan congressional subpoena. now, mr. dunn, thank you coming here today. sorry for your loss. thank you for sharing your story and your efforts. thank you for working on the fentanyl issue. i have some questions for you about fentanyl. i agree with my republican and

democratic colleagues that we need to tackle this issue. it is your experience, isn't it, that the overwhelming majority of fentanyl seizures occur at ports of entry and not immigrants carrying them over the ports of entry? >> that is correct. we were close with law enforcement, border patrol, i.c.e., and we do not get the suggestion that it is the migrants. we talk directly to them. it is not the migrants that have that issue. it is at the port of entry by americans, by the way, that are crossing into the united states more so than any other form that comes through our borders. >> and in fact, your experience, and what the data shows, so i have an article here from the cato institute, which is a libertarian think tank. the title of it is, fentanyl is smuggled for u.s. citizens by u.s. citizens. the facts of this article show

that in 2021, u.s. citizens were 86.3% of the convicted fentanyl traffickers. in addition, over 90% of fentanyl seizures occur at illegal crossing points or anterior -- interior vehicle checkpoints. so if we really want to tackle the bulk of this issue, what we want to do is strengthen technology at illegal points of entry, at the ports of entry. we want to give border patrol more resources at these ports of entry to address the fentanyl seizures. and thank you to all the border patrol agents that the republicans have highlighted repeatedly, for how much they have been seizing in fentanyl. that means they are doing their job. i would like to have unanimous consent to enter this article from the cato institute titled, fentanyl is smuggled for u.s. citizens by u.s. citizens, not by asylum seekers. >> without objection. >> so sheriff dannels, thank you for your public service. >> thank, you congressman. >> do you know which american

president said, for decades the united states has not been in complete control of its borders? >> no. >> that president was george w. bush in 2006. are you familiar with operation intercept at all? >> i am not. >> okay. that was an operation by -- that basically shut down the southern border for about three weeks. it was then lifted because it wasn't sustainable. that american president was richard nixon. this hearing is titled biden's border crisis. that is completely wrong. it is not biden's border crisis. this has been a crisis for over half a century. from nixon and every american president after him. they have not addressed this issue. i'm going to read you some comments from various american presidents. 80 to 90% of the era when that comes into the u.s. today comes

across the southern border. you know who said that? president forward said that. millions of undocumented aliens have illegally immigrated to the west. they have reached our immigration laws, displaced american citizens from jobs, and placed increased financial burden on many local governments. that was president -- that was president carter who said that. the ongoing migration process in the united states in violation of the laws is a serious national problem. that was president reagan who said that. i was especially concerned about the growing problems of alien smuggling international terrorists hiding behind immigrant status. president clinton said that. i could go on and on. the only folks that can actually fix this problem is the united states congress by passing laws. we had a chance to do that with a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed the u.s. senate on a bipartisan basis. and guess who stopped it? house republicans.

so it is simply a false narrative that this is biden's border crisis. it is a crisis of over half a century and the people who can stop it are we in congress. i urge republicans, instead of doing hearings and doing talking points, to actually work with democrats on a comprehensive immigration bill that will in fact solve this problem. with that, i yield back. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. roy. >> i thank the chairman. there's been about 4.7 million apprehensions under the current administration. is that unprecedented? >> yes. >> 2.7 million people have been released into the u.s.. is that unprecedented, in fact off the charts, compared to last numbers? >> yes. >> the extent to which fentanyl is pointing to our communities. is that unprecedented? >> yes. >> so it's unprecedented, correct? >> yes. >> i would ask judge samaniego,

you testified there is no invasion. there were 162,000 encounters in the el paso sector alone in the first quarter of this fiscal year. does that sound correct? >> yes. >> 55,000 in december alone. is that correct? >> yes. >> we have the democrat mayor in el paso who has been busing people to new york city. true? >> no. >> the democrat mayor of el paso has not been putting people on buses sending them to new york city? >> not without notification at the other end. >> okay, but they are putting them on buses and sending them to new york city, new york city today is asking the federal government for money to process individuals they are dealing with overflowing into new york city. now, you testified earlier that you weren't getting help from the state of texas. the city of el paso to -- declared emergency, but has the county declared emergency? >> no. >> no, the county has not declared emergency. >> no. >> the earlier testimony that you had before, you testified

that this effort to wanting to secure the border is racist. so here's a question for you. 50% of border patrol or hispanic. border patrol overwhelmingly wants us to change policies to secure the border. not just as some are testifying we need more resources. i know mr. dannels, sheriff dannels, testified that having 20,000 additional agents would be helpful. the answer to that is of course! of course having more personal would be helpful, but the question is what do they most want? mr. dannels, what does border patrol most want? do they want policy changes to actually enforce the law, or do they want more resources? which with a rank higher? >> policy changes. >> what kind of policy changes? enforcing the laws of the united states at the border? >> enforce the rule of law. and i will share this at on as well, support. they feel like they are not being supported by this administration. >> if we had a law that said we should follow current law to detain individuals claiming asylum for the adjudication of

that claim, to require they be detained, according to current law, would that be banning asylum? >> no. >> and if people are claiming in this committee that it is banning asylum, would that be untrue? >> yes. >> extra garza works in laredo, texas for border patrol. he is hispanic. he said the mother of all caravans is not just materializing out of the ether. it is just the most recent wave of an invasion that is being aided and abetted by liberal activists who believe that subverting united states law is the best way to achieve the radical policy objectives. mr. dannels, do you believe hispanic border patrol agent hector garza's racist by describing what we are seeing at the border as an invasion, and suggesting that it's in fact the policies of liberal

activists, represented by my democratic colleagues in this committee and this house, that that is what is subverting the united states law? do you believe that is racist? >> no. >> judge samaniego, do you believe that, in light of your statements saying these policies that are being promoted to secure the border, that you think that border patrol agent hector garza, a lifelong public servant working with the border patrol and laredo, texas, a hispanic texan, is racist for that hispanic american to say that it is an invasion that his border patrol personnel are overwhelmed? that he believes it is the liberal policies that are making a mockery of our current laws to say that we should enforce the laws, that we should enforce the laws on the books, that is in fact a racist statement by a hispanic border patrol agent, hector garza? >> its freedom in speech and he can say whatever he needs to say. i can tell you if you asked the border patrol in el paso, they are looking for assistance. but we do not detain them because they don't have that space or personnel. >> i appreciate that, but i

would just suggest to you that is not a racist statement to say that we should secure the border. this chart, mr. dannels, can you see it from there? can you see the uptick in numbers? >> yes. >> that chart reflects the uptick in migrant deaths. that is 2020 to 2022. almost 1000 migrant deaths at the border. we had 53 migrants died in a tractor trailer in san antonio. 57 were killed when a tractor trailer crammed with migrants rolled over the highway, crashing in mexico's southern state of chiapas. ask me this. is it christian for migrants to be treated like that and to die in tractor-trailers? would anybody in this panel think -- mr. done, you go to church. is it christian to allow migrants to dialogue that? >> no. >> the gentleman's time has expired. >> thank you, mr. deng. >> i have a few articles that i want to read into the record. el paso forced to bus migrants

out of town amid mass migration from the new york times. el paso looks like a third world country after texas border city from the new york post. without objection? i recognize the gentlelady from washington, miss jayapal. >> thank you very much, mister chairman. i want to thank the witnesses, all of you, for being here. i want to express to mr. done my condolences to you and your wife, janelle, and your family, for your profound loss of noah. for four years, donald trump pursued some of the most in the main immigration policies as president. he cruelly for thousands of children from their parents and did everything in his power to dismantle any parts of the u.s. legal immigration system and refugee resettlement system. a system that has been called the crown jewel of american humanitarianism. not by liberal radicals, but

actually by the association of evangelicals. today, my colleagues across the aisle want to go even further than donald trump. with policies that would effectively and asylum and place unaccompanied children in remain in mexico tie proceedings. not even donald trump went that far. but don't take my word for how extreme this is, even the republicans have said that these proposals go too far, calling them extreme, and again, not liberal radicals calling them extreme or calling them and i american. that was from another republican. other republicans in this congress. in fact, one texas republican said, and i quote, border security and immigration are two separate topics. one can be for a strong border security presence that prevents terrorists, fentanyl, and bad actors from entering the

country. and one can be for welcoming future americans in through the front door. so here are some facts. since congress created the department of homeland security in 2003, we have spent over 350 billion dollars on the agencies that enforce immigration law. federal immigration spending has surpassed what was promised and multiple immigration bills that would have reformed the actual system so that there are legal pathways for people to come to this country. but we know that throwing money at the border without also fixing the legal immigration system is not going to be successful. we have passed in december of 2022, democrats passed the fiscal year 2023 omnibus, which included $60 million to hire additional cbp officers -- cbp officers, and support personnel at ports of entry. another 70 million to strengthen non intrusive inspections systems that scan because and cargo to disrupt

the flow of drugs including fentanyl. that at the ports of entry. not one of my republican colleagues voted for that legislation. in june of 2020, congress passed the infrastructure bill, which included $430 million to modernize our ports of entry and improve cbp's ability to detect illicit drugs. 200 house republicans voted against it. we put that money in because we know that over 90% of fentanyl is seized at ports of entry. now, i understand that the issues that we are talking about today require my republican colleagues to tell a lot of statements that aren't true, to use nativist rhetoric, words like invasion and flooding, that have actually been used throughout the history of this country to demonize immigrants into this country, different waves of immigrants that have come into this country, but that is not the way that we are going to solve this problem.

judge samaniego, i want to thank you for your service and also sending us wonderful congresswoman escobar, who is such an important voice on this committee and congress. i want to call your attention to this chart that shows that, when the biden administration rolled out a clear process for haitians to seek admission into the united states in june of august 2021, and then again beginning in april of 2022, the number of haitians presenting themselves at ports of entry increased. in fact, as we maintained that clear legal process for haitians, people coming outside of the process basically ended. in your experience, meeting with people seeking safety, do you hear a persistent desire to follow a legal process to enter the united states? >> absolutely. i have seen some incredible situations when they are waiting in juárez under very difficult circumstances. and sometimes the only reason

they crossed is because it gets so difficult for them. so they are really interested in doing the right thing. and i'm glad you mentioned the separation of children. there is nothing more heartbreaking. i want to give credit to our congresswoman, who has really stepped up. sometimes it doesn't take a law, it just takes a person. in el paso, and everywhere else, no longer is their separation of children because she found it to be offensive. she stood up for it. she championed that and we no longer do it. i think that is quite an accomplishment. >> thank you. my time is yielded. i ask unanimous consent, mister chairman, to enter the following statements into the record. the american immigration lawyers association, church world services, coalition for humane immigrant rights, first both his campaign for children, human rights first, kids in need of defense, national immigration law center, national immigration project, project on government oversight, and the southern border communities coalition. >> without objection. i recognize the gentlelady from

indiana, miss -- >> thank you, mister chairman. do you believe in the rule of law, judge samaniego? >> pardon me? >> do you believe and the rule of law? >> absolutely. >> so let me ask you a question. we were talking about asylum seekers. how many of them are actually legitimate asylum seekers percentage wise based on the current law? >> i think that's an impossible question because they have the right to say that they have credible fear, and it's not my position or my role to determine whether that is true or not, but that is the court. >> the cases when you go and look at them, what is the percentage of them actually legitimate? what are your stats? that it wasn't abuse. >> from the stories i've heard and what they go through and how they are persecuted in their countries, how they are treated, it's not economically

driven as much as it is fear driven. >> so what is the percentage that could be illegitimate? when i was in texas a few years ago, and i talked to some people, it was under 10% in el paso. i don't know if the number changed now, what would you say that majority of them are not? your -- >> you are asking for a non objective. i can't. >> another question. if there are any legitimate cases, do you believe it hurts illegitimate -- legitimate asylum seekers that can actually be killed by the government? >> absolutely. they are seeking to get away from their difficult situation, but i cannot tell you. that is up to the court. >> do you believe that? and i agree with you, that shouldn't be, the court should be doing it, because we are delaying the process.

>> they get abused, and there are people that legitimately come into the country, and we can help them get processed, >> maybe we can find common ground of that, and what would you say from your experience needs to be done, and we have a few seconds left, to find common ground to stop this insanity. >> i talked with secretary mayorkas about putting oversight at the southern border to address asylum claims and

cripple fear claims. sec. mayorkas says that 100% of these see no action because we address that at the border about our community's. >> my time is expired, thank you. >> recognize the gentleman from california. do you believe that having such a large number of people at the border -- to do that. secretary mayorkas said, i 100% agree with the sheriff, but we have seen no action over the last year to get it done. because we could address it at the border, not within our communities. >> thank you. my time is expired. >> i now recognize the gentleman from california. >> thank, you mister chairman. first of all, mr. dunn, i also want to convey my condolences at the loss of your son noah. i'm a father of four and every day i pray for my children. i am also a little league dad and i have seen young children go from promising athletes into drug rehab. it's a terrible situation. drug abuse is a scourge in our society and it does not discriminate. working hard to make sure nobody falls victim to this

scourge. and sheriff dannels, i also want to thank you for your good work. >> thank, you sir. >> i have a brother who served in the lapd for 30 years. >> thank you for your service. >> he has some interesting stories. >> i bet he does. >> you mentioned human trafficking. you mentioned $3,000. is that the price to smuggle a human being to this country? >> no, it is 7000 and up to be smuggled by the criminal cartels. for the drivers that are coming to my county, going three hours north to phoenix, maricopa county, it is $3,000 per person. >> i just got back from central america, the going price now is about $22,000? most of the women, 80% of the women, by the time they get to el paso, to our southern border, they are either raped or sexually abused. i would say that is a pot of desperation. putting yourself at risk. a woman preparing herself for that eventuality at paying $22,000. >> i would agree.

>> like many of us here, i've had the opportunity to go to the southern border, el paso, the canadian border as well. my job and homeland security. i only have three minutes left so i'm going to talk about the -- border crossing. when i usually cross that border coming back to the u.s., i identify myself to the border agents. i tell them why am. i asked them about the day of work is going. i usually get average answers. one day, an agent told me, look behind you. do you see all those cars? i said yes. he says, they are essentially filled with russian and ukrainian and -- undocumented immigrants. i said is it new? they said, no, it's been happening for a few months now. well, the russian ukrainian war started. those undocumented ukrainians are now ukrainian refugees. april of 2022, less than a year

ago, i went back to sunny sodrel, actually to tijuana, mexico, to visit a refugee camp of ukrainians. this is what i found behind me. the mexican government took a baseball field, turned it into a refugee camp. the mexican police were guarding that camp to make sure those refugees were safe. american private and public donations poured in. doctors, nurses, health care professionals, came in from across the country to make sure health care needs were taken care of. this became a processing center for ukrainian refugee camps. refugees would come in and 24 to 48 hours and they would board a bus, be driven to the pedestrian west crossing, title 42 would be waived, and they

would get a parole status and walk across the border. this is an example of how you deal with a refugee crisis right here, ladies and gentlemen. this doesn't look like el paso. this is the way you address the refugee challenge. the biden administration, thankfully, it is now working on implementing a similar program for cubans, haitians, at nicaraguans. but we still have the afghanis that fought alongside our troops, that are still hanging out there somewhere. the same thing for syrians. and, sheriff dannels, i ask you these questions because it's in issue of sentence, folks. very desperate individuals, you have to give them a reason to go through the legal process, because they are desperate. and the refugee challenge is not just the united states, it's a worldwide issue. and the solution isn't just

here. our neighbors, canada and mexico, have to be part of the solution as well. under existing laws, this is the way you do it. i'm out of time. mister chairman, i yield. thank you very much. >> i recognize the gentleman from virginia, mr. cline. >> like you very much, mister chair. i want to thank the witnesses for being here. mr. dunn, our prayers are with you for the loss of your son. this hearing is designed to bring to washington the concerns of the people at the border about this border crisis, and seek out its origins, which are clearly down at the other end of pennsylvania avenue in the white house. from day one, this administration has blatantly ignored u.s. immigration laws and policies designed to keep america safe. and after several visits to the

border myself, it is clear that we need border enforcement now. the open border and amnesty policies have made this crisis worse every single day. it encourages more vulnerable populations to make what is a very dangerous journey. americans should be outraged by the bidens admit -- biden administration's failed leadership. on january 30th, it was reported in el paso -- more than 64% of the migrants encountered during this timeframe were single adults, some attempting to evade arrest and not seeking asylum. unaccompanied children encounters increased by 59% in the last fiscal year of 2022, that same timeframe as opposed to 8000 unaccompanied children encounters. el paso recorded only 5000, so that is up. the nation led the first quarter of the fiscal year with

total migrant encounters across the twin deportable sectors. agents have apprehended 37 individuals with criminal records. but intercepted 22 narcotics loads. a defense attorney being stated youth are getting more involved with crime. huge increases and weapons. he thinks they are just getting money to pay for these weapons and how they are earning that money is from drugs. they see a lot of kids helping the human smuggling, and that's a big problem. although, judge, you stated in your testimony there is no invasion of migrants in our community, nor are there hordes of undocumented immigrants, many crimes are wreaking havoc in our community. when you see an increase in children helping human smuggling, how is that not the case? i was not the case that these policies are contributing to

the delinquency of minors in your area? >> once again, i don't see the correlation of things that are going wrong with our country and saying that it's influenced by our immigration, for people coming through. like i said, we don't see that. we try our best to deal with the circumstances at hand that we try our best to move people along. i've said over and over you guys have the luxury of being democrats and republicans. we have to be public servants. that is all we can do. when they come across, we do not manage who comes across. we manage how to process them in the best possible way. and i've said over and over that el paso really thinks, i think people think we just focus on on our situation there

in the community, but we don't. we are really concerned about having new york having to deal with that, having chicago deal with that. we've talked to each one of the mayors and we are working. i think if we were to put in more of a national system of allowing communities to say who needs the migrants, and then helping us to process them there, and i use the houston model is just exceptional. every single day, 52 come in, they go back to houston, they go to the bigger hubs, and we move them through. so that is where we need your help. we need your help not weather what we are doing is right or accurate, but the fact it's a community that really shoulder is a tremendous amount of a broken system. >> and you say that the transportation of these individuals to other cities is necessary to prevent your community from descending into chaos. correct? >> no, that is not true. >> so you are fine keeping them in your jurisdiction? >> we would welcome them, but

it's a shame that they are concerned about being close to the border because of how they are going to be treated and how they are going to be deported, even if they shouldn't be deported. so you have migrants wanting to move into the interior simply because they don't feel safe. even if they are here, processed and legal, once they are legally in our community. once again, i think we are helping the nation to the right thing. >> the gentleman's time's has expired. the chair recognizes the gentlelady, miss cannon. >> thank you, mister chairman. >> my colleagues on the other side of the aisle seem to have called this hearing to promote disinformation in order to justify a radical plan that would effectively shut down asylum to everyone. the plan is so extreme that the republican colleagues have objected that it's an effective,

inhumane, and even on american. what i find particularly pernicious is the attempt to conflate the issue of migrants seeking legal asylum through our legal processes, with the very real scourge of fentanyl trafficking. as cpp data demonstrates, and judge samaniego has testified, overwhelmingly comes through the ports of entry in trucks and cargo ships, not on the backs of migrants trying to flee poverty or violence in their home countries. they falsely are suggesting that migrant families seeking asylum or the source of the fentanyl epidemic? we can't even start to craft policy measures that could actually address either of these issues, the fentanyl crisis or the humanitarian issues raised by the push factors in south and central america, and the immigration laws. so i don't want to waste this opportunity, and since most of my experience before coming to

congress has to do with how badly broken our immigration laws are, i just wanted to focus their. how do we handle the increase in asylum seekers at the southern border with real fixes like some of those that judge samaniego has suggested? as i suggested, we do need to address the root causes of migration, but we need to have functioning pathways here in this country that people can pursue. i mean i have represented enough folks seeking asylum to know that there aren't functional pathways. i think we heard a statistic that only a small percentage of people seeking asylum are actually entitled to it. that is not true. the statistics very very widely across the county, but in some areas, particularly on the border where there are less friendly judges often, the rates are very different than in other areas across the country. so judge samaniego, you are not an immigration judge are you? you do not adjudicate asylum claims? >> we do not.

>> okay. i wanted to verify that. now, a couple of years ago i had the opportunity to visit the border and speak with customs and border patrol, homeland security cajuns, and advocates. i did see there is a humane processing process available there, and i really appreciate that. why do you think it has been so successful over the years, particularly when compared with other cities and counties along the border? >> i think one is that we had accepted to be humanitarian, and when you don't start at that point then you don't create process is, you don't create ways to handle them. the ngos are not working with you. the border patrol doesn't work with you. so i think the moment that you make that determination, that you are going to be humanitarian, it forces you to come up with systems to help out. and for example, there are things that we can do, the venezuelan population dropped tremendously as soon as the border patrol has been happy that you can now, from your country, you can begin to apply.

we are talking about vetting the credible fear so you are able to do a little bit of that from numbers drop tremendously. also i think -- i was able to talk to the investor from the u.s. to mexico and he talked about what we do at the point of origin. for example, why is columbia not trading venezuelans properly, and then venezuelans have to leave their country to come to our country. so it's not just the poll that we have, we have a push that we need to look at as well. and so, you know, i think if we can be creative, but i think once you start with the idea that we have to make sure the economy is taken care of. you know, el paso was one of the strongest economies in all of texas. we were one of the strongest. and while we are dealing with the situation, we have to worry about the economy. so the economy, the safety, and

being able to do the right thing from a humanitarian perspective. i think if you start from that premise, i think things are more solve-able. if you start from the premise that you don't want them here, than what is the solution? >> i want to pick up on that because over the past few months to texas's governor has sent dozens of busloads vulnerable migrants to philadelphia. i represent philadelphia. without notice or coordination, which of course has made it more difficult for our willing city authorities to welcome those folks. when you have to busses dumped on new years eve morning before 6:00, and you have vulnerable people without coats, it is very difficult. so i appreciate your insight, that cooperation can smooth over any of the issues we are dealing with. i see my time has expired. i yield back. >> thank, you congresswoman. i recognize the gentleman from wisconsin. >> judge samaniego, you said in one of your answers earlier that people come here because they are passionate.

you have advocated for allowing people to come in here. do you think that is a reason why we should allow people into america? on a legal basis, because they are passionate to come to america? >> no. i said they were here for different reasons, they just happened to be passionate as an additional component. i mean they come because they are fearing what is happening in their community. i've talked, i said earlier when they tell you that every day to their mom or their dad calls them and says they come here looking for you every morning and they want to know where you are at. that is why they are moving in this direction. >> thank you. i'm really glad this issue in regards to governor abbott moving people to various cities around the country has come up. have you've been critical of governor habit for what he's done? >> absolutely, because when you send someone that is not organized, they don't know who is on that bus, and some of them are not sponsored, that is a huge burden on the community. >> have you've been critical of

the biden administration when they have flown people all over the country in the dark of night? >> i don't know if that taking place. i apologize. >> so you have not seen, for example i have an article here entitled biden administration quietly flies illegal immigrants to new york and middle of the night. and we just heard from a fellow member on this panel saying they are doing it in philadelphia also. do you think that is right for the biden administration to do that? >> well, i think it's an indication of that they have to decompress because when we get flights that are going out, it is to decompress a system there with the border patrol, and it has nothing to do with -- >> so did you give the benefit of the doubt to governor abbott and say, well maybe they are decompressing these people? on their trips to these cities. >> well -- >> isn't it the same thing, judge samaniego? >> no it isn't because it's not

coordinated. we've never gotten a call from a governor to say, hey, what do you need? how can we help? how can we do things? >> i really appreciate that. the biden administration quietly plies illegal immigrants to new york in the middle of the night. that is what they are doing. we will be happy to share this article with you so you can see what's happening there. thank you for your answer. sheriff dannels, i was in your county in june of 2020. what has changed since then? >> well, we went, just to put into perspective, around 5% of my jail population was border related up to most 45% now. we have seen the pursuit, last year we put 180 people in joyal -- jail for pursuits that were deadly pursuits. when i say deadly, it's driving at 100 miles per hour plus, endangered communities. some resulted in deaths. some we abducted before they killed somebody. we see the flaw --

public safety challenge in our community based on the border every day. it has changed drastically as a result. >> what i heard from the sheriff's is there was coordination, all the way from local level all the way up to the federal government, and june of 2020, and that there was some control been, that the border was becoming more secure. is that generally inaccurate statements? >> yes, congressman. in fact, quarter patrol, my deputies, troopers, officers, or agents, they always come over and make a point to say thank you for being a voice for us. >> i can't remember who it was that said earlier that the increased fentanyl is not tied to illegal border crossings. do you agree with that statement? >> no. >> and why not? >> the criminal cartels are exploiting our border. whether they are trapping children, adult, males per

female, or they are human smuggling for profit, or they are doing illicit drugs. either way, the criminal cartels are exploiting the border. i keep hearing different words about how it's controlled. it's not effectively managed right now. until it is, the cartels are the winners of this. >> those of you on the other side of the aisle, you can continue to wear blinders, or you can do photo up trips like the president did to el paso, where they clean up that region before he comes in. you can do that, but the american people are seeing very clearly what is going on. now that we are the majority, we are going to try and identify this as much as possible because you are hearing the truth here for people like the sheriff, from the fentanyl families. and i hope you are meeting with those fentanyl families because it's directly tied to the border. i will just close with this. i hope as we go through this process that we also get more information out in regards to the ngos. the international organization for migration that has

weaponized migration in this country, all the way for panama to the southern border. i hope we dig in deep to those ngos that are complicit and the greatest human trafficking operation and perhaps the history of the world. i yield back. >> i recognize -- the chair recognizes the gentlelady from pennsylvania, is that right, miss dean? >> yes. >> all right, miss dean. >> thank you, mister chairman. thank you to all of our testifier's for being here today. we benefit from your experience and your service and your knowledge and your heartbreaking family experience. before i ran for congress, i was a professor for ten years. i taught at lasalle university in philadelphia teaching writing and rhetoric and ethics. that is why i can't help noticing words so often used by my republican colleagues when talking about both of these tragic issues. words like hordes, invasion, crisis, open border. it is purposeful.

they want the american people to be scared. they want us to feel threatened. they want to create divisions because of the rain people makes it far easier to mistreat them. the reality is, there is no invasion. there are no hordes of invaders. our borders are not being overrun by dangerous criminals. however, we do have a broken immigration system. at the same time, we are suffering with an extraordinary and deadly drug problem in our country. mr. dunn, and mrs. dunn, mr. now, my extraordinary heartfelt sympathy to you on the loss of dear noah. poisoned by fentanyl as you have written here in your testimony. my family knows a little bit about drugs. about poisoning. what from a different perspective. my son is a recovering addict, and it is by the grace of god that he did not run into deadly

fentanyl that would have taken his life. but we must be able to talk about these things honestly and not conflate them, as my colleague just said. there is a difference between the facts and the rhetoric. between wanting to solve these problems or just trying to make people afraid of them. the fact is 90% of fentanyl, heroin, and meth seized in this country is captured at ports of entries. just about everybody who high i have spoken to his had this. this means that drugs are being brought in through normal channels, not on the backs of families crossing at remote parts of the country, the vast majority i'm talking about. i'm sure it's not 100%. in fact, cbp reports that drug cartels are now recruiting americans to bring fentanyl into this country, not undocumented immigrants. and we have a horrific problem, like your dear noah, we are losing more than 100,000 people

here to overdose. more than 70% of those are fentanyl related. i wear this band for the 24 year old son who died of an overdose, fentanyl poisoning. and sadly, it is not one anymore. this band now represents at least half a dozen in my community whose children have lost their lives. but let's get serious about it. let's stop demonizing the immigrant who comes and asks for help. judge samaniego, i understand and i have been to el paso, to the port of entry. it is the second busiest border crossing in the united states. you interact with a large number of these people who -- and they are people who are seeking safety. who are seeking humane treatment. can you tell us just a couple of snippets of why they are coming across? >> i said earlier that a large number that you hear is that they were in their country,

they were abused, they tried to defend themselves, and if they get targeted. that is what the category where they are just trying to do the right thing in their own country but their own country rejects them then they target them. that is a big part of it. like i said a lot of it is -- the economy plays a second part of it. obviously the economy is worse and that's not a reason to come through to our country because of economy. but they are really driven by the fact that they can no longer live in their communities. >> we know that. we have seen these numbers for many years, not just under the biden administration. i think you wrote in your testimony, first four years you have had increased numbers. >> absolutely. >> can you speak about what you said in your testimony, which is where i am so concerned about, which the false racist narrative being promoted here today? and that is promoted day after day here in congress? >> if anyone is concerned with that it's us. that narrative was picked up by

a shooter, the walmart situation, and we hear that and it concerns us as a community when you say racism and invasion and all of these things. it makes our community extremely nervous. because we might get targeted for being that community and for being humanitarian. so i do ask for these words to be settled in a different way. you don't need to say invasion and all these things that are happening across the border. we are a community that works really hard. we are very privileged with what we have, that we are just very concerned when we hear this because we don't know if they are going to be targeted because of these comments. >> i know my time is up. i think all three of you for your service. and mr. dunn, i thank you for your wish to educate people about the extraordinary dangers to our children. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from new jersey, mr. van drew. >> thank, you chairman.

first of all, mr. dunn, as everyone else has said, and i know we are being repetitive, but it really is heartfelt. we feel for you. i'm a grandfather, i'm getting older, and a father, and i can't imagine. i cannot imagine. and i will tell you, and i mean this sincerely, i will pray for you and your family. i don't know, sometimes i think the world is upside down. the more that time goes on, especially recently, it seems upside down to me. so i have to talk about a few things that i heard my colleagues on the other side say. for example, that this hearing was a show. this hearing is not a show. in order to deter -- determine how to effectively fix something, you have to study it, you have to learn about it, and you have to hear about it. that is what this hearing is about. it's not a show. also, it's not

anti-immigration. none of these republicans, and i know i'm sure gonna be democrats are anti-immigration, but we are anti illegal immigration. there is a difference. there is the rule of law. i don't know where we have lost that. that is what i mean by the world being upside down. the rule of law, that you follow laws and things happen in a certain way. the other secret here that people sometimes don't want to talk about is no country is ultimately successful for a long period of time that has why don't been borders. yes, there can be border problems. america has had border problems. many countries have had border problems, but nevertheless you can't say that you can just have completely open borders. if that is true, let's just open our country completely to every single country in the world and say we have no borders. as many people who want to come here can come here, whether they are sick or not, whether

they have other issues or not, whether drugs are coming in or not. and yes, drugs are coming in because the cartels are helping these people to get across and using them. and human trafficking is happening. and human abuse is happening. i'm sorry, judge, but it is. and if you talk to people down there, i know the people you talked to don't see it or hear it, but the people that i talk with, and we will go again real soon, they do see it and hear it. it is true. it is real. you know, i kind of empathize with the sheriff, sheriff dannels, when he spoke about secretary mayorkas because i've had the opportunity to ask him questions a number of times, when i was in the homeland security committee, and the guy does not tell the truth. no one wants to say that openly, but i will. the guy is a liar. he does not tell the truth. and when he tells you he's going to look at something, he doesn't. when he tells you he's going to do something, he doesn't. when you show him a video of

terrible things happening, once it was a video of a young officer actually saving someone's life that was drowning, and they found out it was a drug dealer whose life he saved. by the way, the officer died. that's the truth. the truth is we have a problem, that the truth is that we need borders that are effective and we need borders that are sealed. and the truth is that it is violence. -- it is biden's problem, because in two years it has radically changed. president trump put together a strong array of immigration policy is helping stem the flow of illegal immigrant crossings. there was so much of a reduction, it was so much safer. it was getting better. it was working. and you know what? illegal immigrants don't like the illegal immigration. they don't want to be mixed into that. on his first day in office,

president biden decimated this process. he ignored the experts. he ignored the expert advice of those serving at the borders. he turned his back on the millions of americans that live in border communities. does anyone care about all these people who are being overrun? we will all care soon because we will soon all be overrun. that is not hyperbole. it is not extreme. they are being shipped all over the country. he ended the construction of the wall. he refused to deport any illegal immigrants for the first 100 days. he terminated the declaration of a national emergency at the southern border. that was all in one single day. did we put out a message that we wanted illegal immigration? absolutely. and you know all the things that have happened since and how many gotaways have gotten away, but i wanted to ask something to the sheriff because i don't have time. i can't talk much longer. kamala harris was appointed the borders officer.

she should know this border in and out in every way. along with mayorkas. has she? have you had a lot of interaction with her? i'm done talking, what can he answer that? >> yes, the gentleman's time is expired. you may answer the question. >> no. >> no. i hope everyone heard that. that is the answer. that is the truth. >> thank you, the gentleman's time is expired. the gentlelady from texas, miss escobar, was recognized. >> thank you mister chairman. i would like to also join my colleagues, mr. dunn, and expressing my heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the loss of your son. share up dannels, thank you for your service to your community and our country. and again, judge samaniego, i'm so grateful for your compassionate and strategic leadership, major partnership with the federal government. we appreciate your testimony here as well. you know, for anyone who really truly wants to understand what is happening at the border, and to de-politicize this, we have

to take a step back and acknowledge that what we have been seeing is a historic refugee crisis is impacting our western hemisphere. it started in 2014 as we began seeing record numbers of unaccompanied minors, and it has continued through the years. when folks credit donald trump for limiting migration, i want you to look at what the data shows. the only time we saw a drop during the trump administration was in the weeks after the country and the world shut down because of covid. and the apprehensions we increasing again before the november general election in 2020. so that operate in truth and facts or we won't be able to achieve any solutions together. and i will tell you, there is no one who wants a safe, secure, well managed border then those

of us who live and work on the border. those of us who raise our children on the border. those of us who have pledged our service to the border. so to my republican colleagues, i will work with anyone who wants to achieve what i hope we all want to achieve. so how do we do that? how do we solve this challenge? i will tell you how we don't do it. we don't keep doing more and more of the same. the definition of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is insanity. what have we've been doing for decades in america? we must be a -- we have been addressing immigration as a border only issue and that is an expensive failure. so how do we saw this? number one, congress needs to open up legal pathways. we have it done that in decades. for many of these migrants there is no line for them to get into.

there is no right way for them to use except for asylum. which is legal. we should also recognize that our country needs immigrants. i don't know about you all, but every ceo i talked to says we need a labor force. i have had ceos from different parts of the country tell me can we have some of those asylum seekers in our community? because we can't get anybody to go to work. so we need to recognize how advantageous immigration is for america. we also need to modernize our processing and include a federal civilian workforce so that judge, you don't have to step in and fill in where the federal government has failed. most importantly, we can be politicize this work. we can work for real solutions. so if we want to and the scourge of fentanyl, i sure wish my republican colleagues would have voted for the bipartisan infrastructure law which funds technology at our ports. if you want to help defeat the cartels, fund the president's

budget as he applies historic resources to do this. if you want to erode the power of the cartels, advocate to end title 42. and if you want to secure the border, i sure wish you would have voted for historic funding for the department of homeland security in december. but every member of the republican party, every colleague actually on this panel who is a republican voted against that funding. and in fact, in december president biden asked for five billion dollars for the department of homeland security. republicans cut that in half and then voted against it. judge, in that funding was money for communities like ours, for governments like yours that helped partner with us. if the republicans would have had their way, and if that funding would not have made it to you to help, who or what agency would have been hurt the most? >> oh my goodness, just the

fact of not having the funding, obviously everybody gets hurt because now ngos have to step in without any money. everything gets shifted away from what they need to do. i can tell you that fema helping us really took, i mean, that was such an incredible opportunity for us to be able to shelter, to process, to do the things that we wanted to do in a very organized manner. >> and when you can't help what agency has to pick up the burden, what federal law enforcement agency? >> 40 patrol. >> that is right. >> they feel, that's why we have such great relationship, because they know that if we were not doing our job with the community, they would have -- they have 1200 beds available. sometimes they get as much as 5500. when we help them, the flow comes through, they are feeling good about it and we take all that pressure away from the federal government. >> thank, you judge. my time is expired. i yield back. >> before we go to our one next

speaker, i guess to any of you need a five or ten minute break? okay. so we are going to recess for ten minutes or the sound of the gavel.