A Review of the Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request for the Department of Homeland Security

Committee on Homeland Security will come to order. Without objection, the chairman declare committee at recess at any point. Purpose of today's hearing is to review the Department of Homeland Security's budget requests for fiscal year twenty twenty seven. Before we get started, I would like to remind the members and the public of the rules of decorum. Issues we are debating are important ones that members feel deeply about. while vigorous disagreement is part of the legislative process, members are reminded that we must adhere to the established standards of decorum in debate. The chair will enforce these rules of decorum at all times, and urge all members to be mindful of their remarks. Further, under the rules of the house, the chairman is responsible for maintaining order and preserving decorum in the committee room. I expect audience members to be respectful of the witnesses, members, and the public. If members of the audience are persistently or overly disruptive, it is a violation of federal law and you will be subject to removal and arrest. And now recognize my state- myself for an opening statement. Good morning. Thank you, Secretary Mullen and Deputy Secretary Edgar, for appearing before the committee today. Secretary Mullen, I'd first like to congratulate you on your confirmation. We appreciate you being here for your first hearing before the House since being sworn in. We look forward to building a strong working relationship as we continue our shared mission of keeping the American people safe. Today's hearing allows members to evaluate the Department of Homeland security's proposed budget for fiscal year twenty twenty seven. I encourage my colleagues to use this opportunity to ask insightful and productive questions that will help achieve our shared goals. DHS has a no-fail mission, protecting the American people and safeguarding our homeland. That's why it's so concerning the department has been forced to operate through a hundred and nineteen days of government shutdowns over the last year especially at a time when the threats facing our country are becoming more complex and constantly evolving. The department was created in the wake of September eleventh's terrorist attacks with a clear mission, to protect the American people and safeguard our homeland. Nearly twenty-five years later, that mission remains as critical as ever. That's why Congress and DHS must work together to ensure the men and women responsible for keeping our country safe have the resources, support, and tools they need to meet the threats of today and tomorrow. As we approach two historic milestones for our nation, the twenty-fifth anniversary of September eleventh, the two hundred fiftieth anniversary of American independence, DHS should be entering this period with certainty and stability. Instead, vital agencies within the department remain unfunded to this day. Repeated partisan shutdowns have weakened our national security posture, and have delayed important work in preparation for hosting the World Cup and securing America two fifty celebrations across the country in the coming weeks. While congressional Republicans continue working to fund the remainder of DHS, I appreciate that today we will focus on the department's plan for the coming year. Congress must get back to regular order through the annual appropriations process. Refusing to fund specific agencies causes instability that we cannot afford, and I would encourage my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to re-engage with those efforts going forward. The threat facing our country today are more complex and dynamic than ever before. From violent extremism to the growing use of artificial intelligence by our adversaries, the challenge of protecting our homeland continues to evolve. This committee has a responsibility to ensure DHS can keep pace, with these threats and has the tools it needs to safeguard the American people. Over the last year, the committee has engaged regularly with the department and the private sector to identify areas where national security can be strengthened and where the process for doing so can be more efficient. To that end, the committee has focused on the advancement of US cyber resilience in an increasingly sophisticated threat landscape, reauthorizing and expanding vital counter-UAS authorities for state and local enforcement ahead of upcoming major events, solidifying solidifying the border security successes of the Trump administration over the last eighteen months, modernizing TSA screening technology and creating a more efficient hassle-free traveler experience, reforming the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis to make sure threat intelligence is promptly shared with relevant entities, and exercising the committee's oversight function to hear directly from DHS components on their efforts to accomplish and implement these goals and to understand where Congress can provide greater support to ensure successful outcomes. Delivering on these objectives is no small task, but I am encouraged by the progress we have made and will continue to make in the coming months. As Secretary Mullen knows well, the world will be watching this summer as we host the twenty twenty-six FIFA World Cup and celebrate America's two hundred fiftieth birthday. These events are unique opportunities to showcase the best of America. They will require unprecedented collaboration between leaders at the federal, state, and local levels to secure these events and keep the public safe. DHS plays a leading role in that in that effort. While it's impossible to know every challenge that lies ahead, what we know for sure is that DHS must have the support, resources, personnel and authorities needed to carry out its mission. Today's hearing will serve as the first of what I can expect be many more discussions on how we can maintain positive momentum for for the next fiscal year, and I appreciate Secretary Mullen and Deputy Secretary Edgar for joining us to discuss this budget request. I look forward to hearing Secretary Mullen's testimony, and with that, I yield to the ranking member for his opening statement.

Thank you very much. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for holding the committee's annual hearing on the Department of Homeland Security's budget. Secretary Mullen and Deputy Secretary Egger, welcome to the committee a- on homeland security. Today's hearing comes at a critical time for our country. with challenges at home and abroad creating or made worse by the Trump administration. President Trump campaigned on two dollars a gallon gas, ending inflation and lowering the cost of living. Instead, he started a reckless war with Iran that has driven gas prices sky-high and imposed tariffs that sent inflation soaring. Everything is more expensive. Americans are paying higher prices. Families are struggling to put food on the table and working harder than ever to make the rent and pay their bills. Now, Trump wants the same people who are barely getting by to pick up the tab for his billion dollar White House ballroom, a ballroom he originally told us would be paid for by private donations. He also wants taxpayers to pay for a slush fund to make millionaires out of the rioters who attacked the Capitol. and beat cops on January sixth. The only people doing better in Trump's economy are his billionaire buddies who get sweetheart deals like the rest of the country is paying more at every turn. Just like the nation, the Department of Homeland Security is at a critical juncture. Nearly twenty-five years ago, DHS was created to protect our nation against nine eleven style attack. Since then, administrations of both parties have worked to strengthen the department for that critical mission while protecting our constitutional rights. That is, until President Trump took office. The Trump administration has weaponized DHS against the public and used it to line the pockets of the president's cronies. It was clu- it has closed essential offices meant to keep us safe and protect our civil rights, and fired or forced out thousands of DHS employees with irre- re- replaceable experience. He has politicized disaster aid, approving declarations for those communities he personally favors, and denying aid for those he does not. He has turned our country's immigration system into something out of a dystopian movie where federal agents shoot and kill Americans peaceful protesters are gassed and beaten, and racism and xenophobia drives the policy. In short, the Trump administration has betrayed our democratic principles and undermined the security goals DHS was established for. Last year, when then-secretary Kristi Noem came before the committee, I called on her to resign, unless the president removed her first. She ended up cutting and running before that hearing ended, leaving under false pretense before she answered members' questions. We all know how Secretary Nome's time at DSHS turned out. I'm only sorry her departure took as long as it did, because the damage the Trump administration did to the department while she was secretary would take years to undo. Nome wasted millions of taxpayers' dollars on vanity projects, and private jets and used her position to enrich herself and her friends. Her disastrous tenure was marked by more than just endless grifting and shameless self-promotion. The human cost was very real. Two Americans, Renee Goode and Alex Prattie, were shot dead on her watch. A recent report by the Brookings Institution found that one hundred and forty-seven thousand U. S. Citizen children were separated from a parent under Trump's mass deportation agenda, including tens of thousands of children under six years old. Unfortunately, Secretary Nome was the latest in a long line of failed secretaries of homeland security and others running DHS under President Trump. Kirsten Nielsen put kids in cages. Kevin McElhenney and Chad Wolf served unlawfully and carried out more of the same immoral, inhumane and illegal policies. Kristi Noem and the other disgraced former secretaries may be gone, but the Trump administration's weaponization of the department has continued. I'm concerned that you are already following in your predecessor's footsteps, Secretary Mullen. Since you were sworn in just over two months ago, detainees at Delaney Hall detention facility have been living in squalid conditions and have been beaten and pepper sprayed by guards. Rather than addressing these problems and forcing the contractor that runs the facility do it to do its job, DHS responded by attacking protesters and defending inhumane conditions. Enough is enough. Delaney Hall should be closed. Delaney Hall is just the latest example of immigration and custom enforcement and customs border protection being out of control under Trump. A record number of people are dying in Trump's detention centers around the country at a rate roughly one person every six days. Tragically, that number is rising due to inhumane conditions neglect, and abuse in these facilities. And yet, the President wants Congress to give ICE and CBP a seventy-two billion dollar slush fund in reconciliation after they just got billions in so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act. These are the very same agencies that killed two Americans in cold blood, took parents from young American citizens, out of defending holding detainees in squalor at Delaney Hall. ICE and CBP should not get one penny more of taxpayers' dollars until they are held accountable. And, Mister Chairman, while we are on the topic, why isn't this committee doing its job? The Senate is at an impasse, but that doesn't mean the House can't craft a bill that responsibly funds DHS while putting guardrails around its rogue agencies. Our hands are not tied. House Republican leadership is just too lazy or too scared. Don't tell me otherwise. Previously, when the Senate started the reconciliation process, the House still did its job and marked up its own bill before making compromises with the Senate product. There's no reason we cannot do the same this year. Beyond the reconciliation issue, Mr. Secretary, I'm also very concerned that you seem determined to crash the U. S. economy by pulling CBP processing from airports in so-called sanctuary cities. The travel industry has sounded the alarm about your plan, warning of unnecessary chaos throughout the nation's air transportation system and devastating consequences to airports, airlines, and the traveling public. Americans are suffering enough in Trump's economy. They quite literally cannot afford another half-brained Republican scheme. I know we will be discussing this issue further today, among several others. Mr. Secretary, as I said at the outset, we're glad you're here because we have many questions for you. We expect that, unlike your predecessor, that you will stay and answer them. Secretaries of Homeland Security under President Trump have set a very low bar. Some might even say so low it might set in hell. I wish I was more encouraged by your early actions as secretary, that you'll clear that low bar, Secretary Mullen. The situation at DHS is critical and the American people deserve better. As a principal oversight committee for the department, we will demand just that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, you're back.

Other members of the committee are reminded that opening statements may be submitted for the record. I'm pleased to have a highly distinguished panel of witnesses before us today. Pursuant to committee, pursuant to committee rule eight C, I ask that the witnesses please rise and raise their right hand. You solemnly swear that the testimony you will give before the committee on homeland security of the United States House of Representatives will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, this will help you God. Let the record reflect that the witnesses have answered in the affirmative. Thank you. I would now like to formally introduce our witnesses. First is Mr. Mark Wayne Mullen. He is the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Secretary Mullen previously represented the people of Oklahoma for thirteen years in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Second is Mr. Troy Edgar. He is the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, Previously, Deputy Secretary Edgar served as Department's Chief Financial Officer during President Trump's first term. Thank you both for being here today. I now recognize Secretary Mullen for five minutes to summarize his opening statement.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, and uh thank you for this opportunity to be in front of you. Uh, I sometimes wish that the members had to get sworn in too, so what they said would be true and factual as well, because what the ranking member just said about um in his opening statement, I feel like I have to address, cuz I'm just not sure I'll have the opportunity to do that. So, first of all, I do thank you, uh, Chairman, for allowing me to be here today. Ranking Member, thank you, and thank you for allowing the Under-Secretary, Torrey Edgar, to be here with me. Um, I do have an opening statement. I'll - I'll send it for the record. But too often when we see opening statements, it's - it's about making a statement. Um, and I - I - I - I - You know, the false The the false statements that were made, I I feel like I just have to address. I mean, when you start talking about the reckless war in Iran, what's reckless is a nuclear Iran. For forty-nine years they've been threatening to to a death to America. For forty-nine years they've been attacking America. And for forty-nine years not one single president was willing to stand up and tell President Trump. And thank God he did, because we know their behavior. We know what they would do with a nuclear weapon. They would completely de-stabilize the world, completely de-stabilize that region. And finally, President Trump is a president that's willing to do something about it. Every single president, um, since Jimmy Carter has looked at Iran, understanding they were a threat. Every single president, since Jimmy Carter has had a plan to do, to deal with Iran and not one of them acted on it, but President Trump did. You start talking about peaceful protesters and racism? The racism's a reckless term that is thrown around way too often. It's just, it it it it's thrown around like it it is true, and yet you can't point to something that is actually racism. It's just a term when you lack the words to actually describe your hatred towards President Trump, so you just use racism. And it was bad as you feed in to what's causing our ICE agents, that's simply enforcing the law that Congress passed. They're not going outside the law, they're enforcing the law that Congress passed. We don't pick and choose which law we decide to enforce. We enforce the law." And because they're doing so, it's racism? But yet their death threats are up by eight thousand percent, vehicular uh uh damages up thirty-three hundred percent, assaults up thirteen hundred percent. And what's that do from? Peaceful protest? I have nothing wrong uh, I have no problem with people peacefully protesting. I believe in our first amendment, peacefully. Delaney Hall, I've had officers bit, hit, scratched. We had one get threatened that they were gonna kill him and his family. That's peaceful? Damaging vehicles and pro- and property, that's peaceful? It's interesting when the governor finally put state police there, how often you guys quit saying that it was being agitated by ice, but yet the same behavior was happening with the state police until they pushed them back far enough where they're out a camera shot and all of a sudden, the left media quit covering it. That didn't look like peaceful protest to me. I'm okay with protest in a peaceful manner. You're talking about Trump's reckless behavior. What's reckless is shutting down CBP and ICE. CBP, customer border protection. You want open borders? Because, ranking Thompson, I'm pretty sure you already said you're willing to shut them down again September thirtieth even if we really open them. That's law enforcement. Just say, " I wanna defund police, I want open borders, and I want illegals running wild in our streets." Because ICE every day is taking the worst of the worst off the streets, or taking those that enter this country illegally off the streets, which is exactly what they were designed to do. And CBP is protecting our ports, our port of entries, and our borders. And yet we wanna target them and defund them? That's reckless. You talking about President Trump's ill behavior towards children? Yet we have found over a hundred and twenty thousand kids that were missing underneath the Trump administration when they lost touch of three hundred and forty thousand which we fear most are now in trafficking rings. I didn't hear anybody complaining about that. What we've done under the Trump administration is we've went and rescued these kids. What is in humane about that? Nothing. He's doing the job that Biden administration turned a blind eye to. That shouldn't ever take place. If anything we can agree on, our kids should be washed over. Now, I do look forward to answering all the rest of the questions, cuz I'm running out of time and I won't have time to go through all the ridiculous accusations you made towards the Trump administration. But I do feel a privilege sitting here in front of you. I feel a privilege of being secretary of our homeland. and watching over the two hundred and seventy five thousand employees that everyday protect my yard and your yard, regardless if it's blue or red. We're here to protect the homeland, and that's all we wanna do. Thank you so much.

Thank you, S- Secretary Mullen. Members will be recognized by order of seniority for their five minutes of questions. As I've done in the past, I will be strictly enforcing the five minute rule. When that clock runs out, so does your time to keep talking. I now recognize myself for five minutes of questions. Secretary Mullen, FEMA's fiscal year twenty twenty-five preparedness grant cycle, uh, under the predecessor was impacted by delays in the release of notice of funding opportunities, which left applicants with a condensed timeline to apply for these awards, for the more last minute changes to the allocations of funding for the Homeland Security Grant program, uh, programs resulted in litigation that held up funds well beyond the end of the fiscal year. Understanding that the enactment of FY twenty-six appropriations was significantly delayed by the seventy-six day shutdown, how are you now working to ensure that FEMA's twenty-six preparedness grand cycle runs more smoothly and transparently than the twenty-five cycle?

Thank you, gentlemen, and uh it is a challenge that we have because of uh the shutdown for seventy-six days put us way behind on the MOUs that we had with local and state partnerships. Um, Fortunately, the local and state partnerships, just along uh along with ICE, DHS and other DHS uh officials were still willing to go out and do their job for free. Uh, and so we haven't dropped the mission, but it has made it more difficult. We're up against a timeline. We're ten days uh roughly, I think we're eleven actually, but we're ten days uh from the first kickoff, eleven days from the first game in uh in LA on June twelfth. And we have we have a lot of work to do. Um, but our grants are out. We're getting the uh local law enforcement back pay uh because they didn't get the grants on equipment on personnel on overtime. Uh, we feel like we're in a good spot, but it definitely um it definitely put us at risk. Uh, but I will tell you, I feel very comfortable where we're at and we feel like we have a zero fail mission, but it's gonna be complicated. We have seven uh five to seven million visitors coming in, uh we have some very complicated countries that are gonna be playing each other, that have a tremendous amount of dislike against each other. Uh, we have open, um, uh, uh, areas to where we have the - the fans be able to experience the game without getting inside.

Mm-hmm.

We have seventy-eight Super Bowls and thirty-eight days. And it's - and we get to highlight our country. And I'm looking forward to it. And I will tell you, even in sanctuary cities where we have some of these games, we've had great cooperation with local and state officials, and I hope when FIFA's over we can show that we can work together and continue to keep our cities and our safe stre- our seats streets safe.

Thank you very much. I ha- actually visited one of the uh the FIFA sites last week. Uh, the the part they did talk about the partnership and the money that's coming in. It will be helpful both for uh protecting those sites as well as the FanFest. Um, but you know, uh moving forward, the UACI grants and others that uh local police rely on, uh like the nypd uh in new york fdny um to making sure that those continue to run smoothly so that money that money goes directly to law enforcement and the and they need it so making sure that uh those keep on those keep uh rolling smoothly is is very important i wanna move over uh uh to CISA over the last eighteen months uh it has seen a significant reduction in its total headcount including through a combination of voluntary departures reductions in force and reassignments of cyber security personnel One of my top priorities since being on this committee is ensuring that CISA can effectively execute on its core mission to protect federal civilian networks and our nation's critical infrastructure, especially as our cyber adversaries are increasingly utilizing tools like AI to enhance their capabilities. I'm concerned that some of the proposals in the budget requests, including cuts to CISA's personnel and cyber security education programs, which help sustain a pipeline of skilled cyber sc- cyber security professionals in the US could negatively affect those efforts. Secretary, can you talk about your vision for CISA and how this budget would support the agency's critical functions uh during a a time of rapid development, emerging AI threats. And Deputy Secretary, I agree if if whoever wants to jump in on that, that's fine.

Yeah, so CISA i- technically has uh the ability to hire up to thirty four hundred people and we have very broad authorities. Um, during the shutdown or forced shutdown of the year, uh, we had to readjust the way we're looking at CISA and a better lean on public partnerships. Uh, we have uh a very unique authority that we take care of from international cyber, all the way down uh to local, um small businesses, large businesses, municipalities and states. But we also take care of the communications at every major sporting event as well, including FIFA. When we looked at that, we think, do we really need thirty-four hundred individuals? Um, well we're down to twenty-two. probably need somewhere around twenty eight if we can actually have the partnerships we need with states and be able to use the grants the monies that's saved with CISA to be able to uh invest with local uh and state municipalities and uh and I think I think we we can we're not going to uh fail on the mission that we have in front of us and uh and cyber attacks are only getting stronger and they're attacking our our private

Yeah.

partnership the most.

This

Thank you, Mr. Secretary. My time has inspired, uh I appreciate that, and I now recognize the gentleman uh from Mississippi, the ranking member, Mister Thompson, for five minutes of questions.

Thank you Mister Secretary, uh Mister Chairman. Uh Mister Secretary, while Americans struggle to pay gas for gas and groceries, President Trump and his allies are constantly enriching themselves of taxpayer funded contracts. Under then Secretary Christie Nome, DHS authorized contracts totaling billions of dollars for luxury jets, self-promotional ads featuring horses, recruiting campaigns seeking white nationalists, vehicles wrapped in ICE logo that currently sit idle, massive industrial warehouses to detain human beings. As all of those contracts went to companies with ties to former secretary Christy Noms, her special government employee Corey Lewandowski, President Trump, and Republican donors. In March, the White House confirmed that companies complained that Corey Lewandowski tried to shake them down in return for DHS contracts, just like Tom Holman and his restaurant takeout bag of cash. Secretary Mull- Mullen Have you canceled or modified any of the corrupt DHS contracts signed by Secretary Nolte?

I can remember, Thompson, I I I wish we could just ask questions without you injecting your personal opinions and things. Uh, I'm not here to talk about Corey and and Christy, first of all. We do have some IG investigations. I'm not sure what they're about. They haven't shared with me, but we do have some stuff going on. Uh, but they were happening before I got there. But when you start saying campaigns by hiring white nationalist, that's racism. You have no proof on that. That's just your words that you wanna throw out. And racism is very dangerous. And we should all know that and we should all respect that. But that's dangerous language that you use there.

Rec- rec- reclaiming my time. Um. There's no question about the contracts. We know warehouses have been uh bought for two, three times their praise value. It's in the public record. Uh, there are a lot of other things, uh, a two hundred million dollar, uh, public ad, uh, featuring the horses, the secretary riding horses. Uh, that's grifting. That's wasting money that could go on the core mission of the agency. Um, but obviously, uh, you don't see any problem with that.

No, that's not true. We are looking at the contracts that weren't already signed, and we did go through and cancel most of those.

Well, that's, that's the

But but I was talking specifically about your dangerous language of saying white white nationalists that's a dangerous

No, no, no. Well, look.

language and you you should apologize for that.

The record the record speaks for itself. So now, will you provide the committee with the qu- the contracts that you have uh had canceled since you've been secretary?

Yeah. Go ahead, go ahead and answer that.

Yeah, um, we're doing a couple things right now. The first thing the secretary and I did when we came back into the organization is we met with uh the IG. And uh we went through and had discussions of any of the open contracts that are out there. Um so at this point, like I said, you know, what we're here to focus on is FY twenty seven, not the past. So I'm hoping that we'll be able to get to those questions.

Right, uh, reclaiming my time. If you know something is done wrong, then I think you are obligated to stop it.

I th I absolutely think so too, but I think you have to follow the process. The IG is the person that would go through with the evaluation of that.

No, not the IG. The IG is based on a complaint. a number of complaints have come directly to the agency.

We have on the contracts,

And I'm

we we stopped the contracts moving forward on some of the stuff that wasn't already signed. Some of the contracts were already there, they're there, unless we, unless the IG takes a look at them and says that they were falsely signed,

So, so what

or under false circumstances, I can't cancel unless it's under penalty.

Uh So what contracts can you share with the committee that have been stopped because of some irregularity?

You mean the ones that we didn't sign?

That's right.

Yeah, we can give you those. That's easy. We we'll give us give us some time to respond to that and we'll get to you. And we'll do it in a timely manner, too.

All right. There has been some comment about uh punishing sanctuary cities uh relative to withdrawing CBP agents and other thing. Have you reconsidered uh those comments you made uh based on the

It wasn't it wasn't punishing sanctuary cities.

go back?

It was sanctuary cities refusing to allow local and state enforcement officers to respond when we called. What we see in their their response was is we don't have the resources. Well, if they don't have the resources and we have to pull the resources someplace, I'm not gonna pull them from other regions. I have eighty thousand law enforcement agencies through DHS and through DHS, So, uh, reclaim my time. Uh, so I can pull them out of customer border protection. That's how the airport. And unfortunately, until they get the resources at the state level, I don't have an I don't have a problem or I don't have an any uh other option, but protect my employees at these. federal facilities that the state local governments are using.

So the cities that you have said you will withdraw from, you're not going to do it now?

No, I did not say that. I said as long as they're willing to cooperate with us,

Governments.

when they say they can't respond, local and state officials, cuz they don't have the resources, then I have to get the resources from some place. And I pull my officers as a whole through DHS, and if that means I gotta pull them out of customer and border protection from processing international flights, I will. If they're cooperating with us, then I don't have to do that.

I'm thank you very much, Mr. Secretary, thank you, Mr. Rangamemba, and Secretary, I let uh I ha- I let you finish that cuz I imagine that would come up again. Uh, so I I think getting the answer on the record now is great, but ag- again, I wanna limit everybody to five minutes or we'll be here uh all day. Um, and now we're gonna recognize the other gentleman from Mississippi, uh, Mr. Guest, for five minutes of questions.

Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, Secretary Mullen, thank you for being here. Uh, thank you for your leadership. Uh, you came into the agency at a very critical time for DHS. Seventy-six day government shutdown, the longest shutdown of DHS uh in uh the agency's history. Uh, we still have components of the agency uh that are not funded. Uh, you mentioned about some of the major events that you will be um helping secure uh the eleven different sites uh for the FIFA World Cup games. across the United States, uh, which will start next week. Uh, America two fifty, uh, the preparation for the Olympics in twenty twenty eight. And so, uh, I personally want to thank you and your team for your service. Uh, the ranking member mentioned in his opening statement, um, he said that, uh, under this administration that we have set a low bar at the Department of Homeland Security for, uh, the, uh, secretaries running that. Uh, I will tell you uh that I am proud to have you serving in that position. We wanna talk about a low bar, let's go back under the Biden-Harris administration. Talk about Secretary Mayorkas. Under his leadership, ten plus million illegal immigrants flooded across our southern border. Children, hundreds of thousands of children were lost under his administration. In one month, there were three hundred thousand illegal immigrants who flooded into our country. And so you wanna look at what you have done in a short period of time and your predecessor. Uh, I wanna thank you for that. I wanna thank you for the fact that you have changed the direction of that agency. And I wanna thank you for standing up for the men and women, the law enforcement, the first responders who serve under you. Now, Mister Secretary, you again inherited a difficult situation. Uh, and I wanna ask you as it relates to that, talk to us a little bit about the impact that the Democrat shutdown has had on your ability to protect the homeland. And also talk a little bit about the impact that it has had on the men and women who serve under your leadership. The impact it's had on morale, on retention. on hiring of additional agents to backfill uh positions that are currently vacant. Uh, so would you please share with the committee some of the challenges that you are facing uh with these critical events ahead uh and the fact that you are still not fully funded uh and we are asking you to do more with less.

Thank you so much for that question, uh Congressman. It's been very difficult. When I walked into the building, we had been shut down for the fourth time. Um, and I had a tremendous amount of employees that had the spirit of, hey, we'll work for free because we have the greatest mission in the world, and that's protect the homeland. The problem is, is not everybody has that mindset. Some people also have to have the ability to get to and from work. Uh, so often the left want to talk about the ones that are underpaid, but yet they refuse to pay the people that are actually showing up for protecting their backyard, their states, and our country. Um, and it's hard. We lost, uh, just under eight percent of our total populat- or our total workforce through um uh through those four shutdowns. And when you start trying to recruit the brightest the brightest and the best to come work for you and say, oh by the way, we may be shut down again because people on this same committee here is already starting to threaten to shut us down again September thirtieth, and you're gonna go without pay again, by the way, um how are you gonna get people to come work for you? And and it's not that people aren't willing to. We got, as I said, I feel I feel completely um uh honored by simply walking in the building and realize I'm surrounded by the best government employees in in the in the country because they're still there, they're still working, and they're true patriots. Uh uh but it it's it's it's tough. Morale gets low. Uh when their spouses are upset that they're still having to drive to work because out there at San Elizabeth w- uh there's not a metro stop there's not a bus stop right there. Uh everybody there has to commute. And uh and so it gets very expensive at points, and yet we're expecting them to continue to show up. And all they're doing is enforcing our nation's laws. Uh, I don't I don't pick and choose which law we're gonna enforce. We're enforcing the laws that Congress passed and put within our authority to do so. And um and our employees are still doing it. So yes, it's difficult to re- to re- to retain uh people. It's hard uh to uh to to recruit people. but we still have people showing up and working every day. I'll use this quick statistic. United States Coast Guard has um over ninety percent retention. And during this last year was the first time we've dropped below ninety percent in retention because of them going without pay, a- and in recent history. Uh, i- if that tells you anything, that that's a that's a s- staggering statistic.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. Gentleman yields back. I now recognize the gentleman from California, Mister Correa, for five minutes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Welcome, gentlemen. Um, President Trump got elected, promised to deport the worst of the worst. I'm from California, a sanctuary state, from Orange County, who follows the laws of a sanctuary state. So, picture here, we do have a lot of exceptions, meaning we do call ICE when we have the worst of the worst. We call you when we're about to release them. I'm gonna show you also a statistic from Sheriff Don Barnes, who Mr. Choi Edgar knows very well. In twenty twenty five, we called ice three hundred and twenty-three times, fifty-two times, didn't show up to pick up the worst of the worst. I showed these statistics to your predecessor, and today you're doing better. Only six were not picked up. But that's six, the worst of the worst, that you still haven't picked up. Manpower, it's an issue, yeah. But right now you're focusing on seventy percent of the people you're picking up. Don't have a criminal record. So I'd advise you let those folks that are actually working and paying taxes continue to work and focus on the worst of the worst. Um, if you wanna help me, Mr. Secretary, keep Main Street safe, I ask you do me a favor. I need your help. DACA recipients. Those folks that are brought here to this country, little boys, little girls. I have two of them, they're police officers. Their DACA permits expired. They had to be dismissed by local police agencies. I wrote you this letter, sir, asking me to please help me renew those DACA permits. Think you're working on one But there's a whole lot more folks out there that need to have the DACA renewals renewed on a timely basis. Can I ask you to please help me with that? I wrote you this letter. Can we work on this?

Absolutely. We'd love to help with this, but as you know, Congressman, the fastest way to actually fix this DACA issue is for Congress to actually pass legislation to fix it.

No, with all due respect, sir, you cut USCIS. This is a fee-based program.

Well

all you have to do is the fees that are paid, go to DACA renewals. Let's work on that.

Well, I I I'll work with you on it, but it has to be on a case.

And even the President Trump, I believe, supports this, so let's work on this.

Congressman,

Let's let's

I will work on it, but I will still go back, the fastest way to fix this problem is for Congress to pass something on this. We've been talk- how long you, how long have you been in Congress and how long have I been?

Th- this, sir

I was in Congress for about thirty years.

This is an issue, the last time we did immigration reform,

This issue came up multiple times.

Ronald Reagan was president. But DACA, we can do this like overnight.

Not true.

Help me pass, help me get these renewals of these permits.

I'm I'm actually Congressman, I thought

If I can move to the next issue, so it's very important.

Uh, Congressman, you just said something that's not accurate. I cannot fix this unilaterally by myself.

Yes, you can.

I have limitations.

Just help me

No, I do not. I have limitations.

renew these permits on a timely basis.

We are going through those those permits just like we look at every other visa application. There's a lot of vetting that didn't take place.

These are police officers on Main Street, sir.

Not all of them are.

Help me keep Main Streets.

Not all of them are.

These two are, sir.

Hey, we're we're ready. All of them,

And there's a whole lot more, sir.

that's why I'm saying, the case by case one's fine, we can go through it. As a whole,

Let's discuss it.

I'm not gonna wave a magic wand and just fix them all, because we're ready each one.

You have that magic wand. That's your job, sir.

Go to Congress and they can fix this issue by legislation, and you guys can choose what you want me to enforce on that. You're asking me to do a job that Congress isn't willing to do.

Let me move on to the next issue, sir. Let me talk about American citizens, sir. When I ask you the same question I ask your predecessor, Am I gonna have to tell my children at home to carry an American passport with them when they're out in the street?

Congressman, I'm from Indian country,

I I'm a

I'm I'm from Indian country and we got a lot of brown people around there too. I'm cherishing it.

No, no, no, I'm not talking about

And we're not doing that.

Look, Rene, Rene Good and Alex Petty were not brown.

Oh my goodness.

Okay?

But why are you saying they got a Syrian passport?

We have American citizens being arrested right now by ICE, American citizens that are actually being deported, American citizens getting roughed up. I see this every day, sir. Look, your officers have a badge, they have a gun.

So is my eye safety. My eye safety is being hit and hit and being hit and having dogs,

And they have federal power, sir.

don't have a Yeah.

They have to respect American s- forget about

Yeah.

undocumented. Let's talk American citizens.

Let's talk about that.

What can we do to protect the rights of American citizens?

Well, how can we protect? We can protect the rights of American citizens all day long. They don't have the right to assault my officers. They don't have a right to indeed when officers are doing their job.

They're not a, if you're driving by taking pictures of a situation, That's their first amendment right.