Sanctuary Policies, Tragic Consequences

The subcommittee will come to order. Uh without objection the chair is authorized to declare a recess at any time. Uh we welcome everyone to today's hearing on sanctuary policies and their tragic consequences, and I'll now recognize myself for an opening statement. Today's hearing further exposes the ongoing tragedies visited upon innocent American families because of the Democrat sanctuary laws. These laws require local law enforcement to release dangerous illegal aliens, people who are already in their custody for committing other crimes, back into our communities to commit still more crimes rather than safely turning them over to ice to be removed from our country. ICE officers then have to track them down in order to enforce court-ordered deportations endangering not only federal law enforcement but the targets of these removal orders, innocent bystanders, and misguided members of the public who attempt to interfere. Sanctuary laws are also a magnet for illegal aliens, since the aliens know that there will be no immigration consequences when they are ever encountered by law enforcement. At a previous hearing on this subject, the Democrats complained in front of an audience filled with angel families, that these hearings were a waste of their time. Each of these families had lost a loved one to criminals that sanctuary j- jurisdictions had in custody, could have turned over to ICE, and yet inexplicably released. One sanctuary sheriff from Fairfax County told us that despite an eighty-three million dollar annual budget she just didn't have the resources to pick up the phone to tell ICE they were about to release a criminal who had no right to be in this country in the first place. that criminal with a long history of crimes and releases then murdered Stephanie Minter. The Democrats won't spend a dime, not a thin dime, to make a phone call to ICE to protect their communities, and then they loudly complain they don't have the time to hear of the consequences. Well, I can assure the Democrats that we will keep holding these hearings until these sanctuary policies are repealed and Americans can be safe once again. from the hundreds of thousands of criminal illegal aliens the Democrats allowed into our country and now protect from deportation. Let us be clear. This isn't about obstructing general immigration enforcement. Democrats tried to do that by shutting down the entire Department of Homeland Security. This is specifically about deporting illegal aliens who have been arrested for other crimes, and yet the Democrats prefer that they be released into your neighborhood rather than being deported to their own country. We can stop this madness with the shutdown Sanctuary Policies Act that passed out of this committee in March and will be heard in the coming weeks by the House. The shutdown Sanctuary Policies Act would preempt laws that forbid local law enforcement from cooperating with ICE. It would protect local law enforcement officers from legal retaliation for cooperating with ICE. It would divert federal law enforcement grants away from sanctuary jurisdictions that The mother and father of these victims are with us today. Their daughters were catastrophically injured in horrific traffic accidents caused by illegal aliens who found safe harbor in sanctuary state of Colorado and the sanctuary state of California. In Delilah Coleman's case, the illegal alien even received a commercial's driver's license from Gavin Newsom's California. We will also hear from Sheriff uh Jeffrey uh Gaylor of Harford County, Maryland, who echos the pleas we have heard from sheriffs across the country. who desperately want to protect their communities from these sanctuary politicians and thereby prevent the tragedies that have they have to deal with, as a direct and deliberate result of sanctuary laws. Some of those sheriffs from Maryland are here today, uh representing Garrett County, Allegheny County, Frederick County, Caroline County, Washington County, uh Wicomico County, and Somerset County. Tens of millions of Americans live in so-called sanctuary controlled by the Democrats, which provide sanctuary to dangerous foreign nationals. Ironically, they do so at the expense of law-abiding US citizens who live here, pay their taxes, and depend on their government to protect them from predators. Last year alone, sanctuary jurisdictions refused to honor more than seventeen thousand ice detainers. That's seventeen thousand criminals who could have been quickly and safely removed from our communities. And every day we hear of a new preventable tragedy as a result. For example, just last week the sanctuary county of Fairfax County, the subject of an earlier hearing of this committee, arrested three illegal aliens sexually preying on children. They're free unbond, even though federal law requires their detention and removal. Meanwhile, this weekend in Madison, Wisconsin, two illegal aliens were arrested for sexual s- assault, yet authorities there refused to honor an ICE detainer. Today's hearing should be illuminating for any American watching. And people need to pay attention because these incidents are unfolding daily, and the next grieving family telling their heartbreaking story before this committee just might be yours. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses and I now yield to the ranking member for her opening statement.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, good morning, and I welcome all of our witnesses to the committee. Today we are here to talk about the tragic consequences Unfortunately, the erratic, disturbing policy decisions of the Trump administration have left countless tragedies in their wake. Right now, in Donald Trump's America, people are dying from a disease that we declared eliminated in two thousand, because his secretary of health and human services cannot stop spreading lies Wow. about vaccines. Eighteen service members have died and over seven hundred were injured. As a result, of Trump's illegal war of choice against Iran that has no strategy, no exit plan, and has driven up gas and grocery prices for Americans at a time when too many are already struggling. Service members have had to fend off attacks from foreign governments as well as our own government. After enduring nine months of the horrifying conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln that drove another sailor to attempt suicide, Joshua Aviles, who is risking his life to serve our country, learned that Trump's ICE had detained his father. Donald Trump's out-of-control ICE has also deported seven spouses of active duty service members. Meanwhile, federal agents have killed people who are simply driving home after celebrating their birthdays. People like Ruben Ray Martinez, or driving to work like Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Johan Sebastian Guerrero. or exercising their constitutional rights, like Rene Good and Alex Preti. Not a single ICE or CBP officer has been held accountable for any of these fatal shootings. In fact, it took almost six months for the Department of Justice to turn over key evidence to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office to even allow local investigations around the murders of Rene Good and Alex Preti to proceed. The e- extent of disregard for the American people from this president and his cabinet is stunning. Trump has called affordability a hoax. He got the attorney general, who still serves as his personal attorney, to approve a deal that gives him and his family immunity from tax fraud, even as he has enriched himself with unconstitutional crypto and business deals that have now made his family two point two billion dollars in the past year alone. But the distraction, the corruption, and the cruelty are backfiring. Seventy percent of Americans disapprove of Trump's performance overall. Even on immigration, where Trump claimed that he was going after the worst of the worst and got some people to believe that that is what he would do. What the American people have seen instead is kidnapping, disappearing, and incarceration. of all people of all statuses, including US citizens, kids, parents, and spouses of US citizens and people with legal status that he took away. ICE's own data show that the majority of people that they arrest have zero criminal charges or convictions. Arrests of immigrants without a single criminal conviction have surged by seven hundred and seventy percent. In their recent operation targeting people in the DC suburbs, ICE actually bragged that seventy percent of the immigrants that they arrested lacked any criminal charges or convictions. Perhaps even more disturbingly, Trump is releasing people with criminal charges and convictions from immigration detention to make room for folks without any criminal history. In fact, in stark contrast to Republican talking points, DHS's own data shows that under Donald Trump ICE is releasing twenty-three percent more people with criminal convictions from immigration detention than it did during the Biden administration. Republicans want you to think that they care about public safety, but none of this does anything to improve public safety. They've pulled agents off of fentanyl investigations to roam the streets searching for people who quote " look undocumented". And as a result, according to the Trump-appointed DHS inspector general, federal agents are spending thirty percent less time working on fentanyl cases, leading to a forty percent drop in fentanyl seizures. DHS goes into federal prisons to pick up immigrants in the middle of their criminal sentences, to put them in deportation proceedings. Letting people with criminal convictions out early so that you can boost your detention and deportation numbers does not make America safer. Perhaps even worse are the many instances where DHS has picked up people with criminal charges before their trials and deported them or allowed them to self-deport long before a judge is able to hand down a sentence. Not only does this grant them a get-out-of-jail-free card, but it also deprives their victims of justice and restitution. The administration lets these people go free so that they can fill up their immigration detention centers with people who have never harmed anyone, nuns and pastors, care workers, moms, dads, children. Last month I visited the Stewart detention center in rural Georgia, and what I saw was absolutely unacceptable. A private, for-profit detention center that incarcerates over nineteen hundred people every single night. with unsanitary conditions, substandard medical care, and severe overcrowding. One twenty-four year old man with absolutely no criminal history, who came to escape the war in Yemen, has spent twenty-four months in detention, and was even bleeding from the mouth during our visit because ICE pulled his tooth instead of trying to fix it. A seventy-two year old man, who has lived in the United States for more than thirty years, no criminal record, married to a US citizen who was in final stages of renal failure, went in for his green card interview after he had applied through the legal process, and instead was arrested by ICE for actually trying to obey the law, and follow a legal pathway that was there for him. And a woman who can no longer conceive children because the last time she was in ICE detention, under Trump, a doctor conducted an unnecessary medical procedure without her consent. She was weeping over her US citizen daughter who is suffering severe mental health problems because her mother is in immigration detention, even though she has multiple legal pathways in process. The stories we will hear today deserve our attention, as do all of the ones that I have mentioned. I would hope that this committee would treat the issues that I mentioned those individuals, those US citizens with the seriousness that they deserve. Until then, I thank our witnesses for being here today and I give my sincere condolences for the horrific injuries that your daughters have suffered. I yield back.

As a result of Democrat policies. Chair is now uh pleased to recognize the Chairman of the uh Judiciary Committee, uh Congressman Jordan.

Uh thank you, Mister Chairman, so I've said this many times, but I'm gonna say it again, the Democrats have a plan and they are executing the plan. Step one, let in ten million illegal migrants during the Biden administration. Step two, create sanctuary jurisdictions all over the country, which make it difficult to apprehend those illegal migrants when they commit another crime. And then step three, don't pay the guys who do the apprehending. Never forget, the Democrats shut down the government twice in one Congress cuz they didn't wanna pay ICE. So they have a systematic plan that they are executing. Now, what exactly happens in sanctuary jurisdictions? Sanctuary jurisdictions in simple term, one of the dumbest ideas I've ever heard of, but in simple terms, the politicians tell local law enforcement like Sheriff Gayler, you can't work with federal law enforcement when it comes to enforcing federal laws on illegal migrants who've committed another crime. That is stupid. No other way to say it. But that's what goes on in sanctuary jurisdiction. And as the chairman pointed out, it happened seventeen thousand times last year. Where an illegal migrant commits another crime, I sends a detainer notice to the jail, to the detention center, and says, " Hey, if you're gonna let so-and-so out, they're here illegally, they've g- been charged with another crime, give us a heads up." And what do they say in the local community? "No." We're not gonna tell you, we've actually seen the form, they stamped on the form, release to the streets. Which makes it tough then for ICE, they gotta send ten agents, seven agents, twenty eight, who knows what, to apprehend a guy where one guy could have came to the jail and apprehended him there. And oh, why, by the way, when they're out on the street, ICE is out on the street apprehending these guys. Guess what happens to them? They get yelled at, they get spit on, they get sworn at, they get doxed, their their family gets sometimes they get attacked. That's what goes on in almost a third of the country, eighteen cities, eleven states, the District of Columbia, three big counties like Fairfax County just next door, that goes on. Finally, what else happens in these areas? Sometimes you get a soft on crime prosecutor like Mister Descano next door in Fairfax County who says, " We're not only gonna gonna work, let our law enforcement, local law enforcement work with federal law enforcement, we're gonna quote, this is his policy, take into account the immigration status of people who are charged with the crime. And that'll help us determine what charge we bring, what kind of plea agreement, in essence treating illegal migrants who commit a crime differently and frankly in this context better than a, American citizen who may have committed the same crime. That is all so stupid and I think frankly unconstitutional. That is what's going on around the country. And now there's a final step. Now there's a final step. Democrat socialists now say, we want these individuals to be able to vote. It's part of their platform. I mean, you can't make this stuff up. Let in ten million, create sanctuary jurisdictions, which makes it difficult to apprehend those people when they commit another crime, don't pay ICE who does the apprehending, and oh, by the way, these people, we want them to be able to vote in American elections. That is today's Democrat party. That's the craziest stuff I've ever heard. And they intend to carry out this plan. The leader of the Democrat Socialist, nine months and one day ago when he was sworn in as mayor of our largest city, Mister Mamdani said this, " I was elected as a Democrat Socialist, I will govern as a Democrat Socialist." They believe it. They want to execute that very plan. So again, I want to thank the chairman for the great work he's been doing on this committee. in exposing how wrong this is and the tragedy. We got the parents here. This is this is what happens. We've had we've had other witnesses testify in Fairfax County what happened to Stephanie Mentor when we even had the email from law enforcement saying this guy who you're letting out Mr. Jala this guy has killed, or this guy, excuse me, has hurt people. It's only a matter of time before he does something really, really bad. And sure enough, Stephanie Minner lost her life because of it. This important hearing, I appreciate the work of the chairman, I appreciate the sheriff being here, I appreciate the parents being here. God bless you for coming and telling your story, and uh look forward to uh hearing your testimony. With that I yield back.

Gentleman yields back, uh I'm now pleased to introduce the ranking member of the judiciary committee, Mister Raskin, for the local statement.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, greetings to all of our witnesses and uh greetings to all of the sheriffs who have come from the free state. uh, today, uh, President Trump, whose approval rating has now fallen below thirty-three percent, promised us that they were going to repair the broken immigration system and make us safer by pursuing the worst of the worst. But his masked paramilitary squads bloated with tens of billions of dollars in tax money, are attacking and killing ordinary people, American citizens, lawful permanent residents and undocumented people who have no criminal records and no arrests. rogue agents are terrorizing communities across America, shooting down US citizens at point blank rage in broad daylight, just for exercising their First Amendment and Second Amendment rights. Since Trump entered uh returned to office, immigration officers have shot at least twenty-two people, killing six of them, including three US citizens, Renee Goode, Alex Prettie and Ruben Ray Martinez. I was visited by a former in Maryland who retired after more than twenty years in office, who told me that he drew his firearm once and, uh, made a warning shot in his entire career, but you have people getting trained for a few weeks by ICE who get out and start pulling their guns on people and shooting within several weeks of being on the street. Instead of targeting criminals, ICE has pounced on parents in the school pickup lane, arrested people at daycare centers and in churches, thrown tear gas outside elementary schools and under cars with children seated inside, smashed the windows of cars and dragged the passengers out, arrested students for writing op-eds, and held US citizens against their will in immigration detention without bothering for days to verify their citizenship status. And that happened to one of my constituents. Just last month in Texas, a five-year-old child was detained with his father while on their way to a soccer game. They're beating people up. They're no longer going after the worst of the worst. They're acting like the worst of the worst. They've taken a st- further step into the darkness, even as our country's in war. As American service members fight and die in Donald Trump's illegal, unconstitutional, aimless, endless war of choice in Iran, ISIS decided to deport the spouses of US soldiers, and indeed entire American military families. Last month, the wife of an active duty US citizen army sergeant the mother of a six-year-old daughter was deported after she was detained outside of a Walmart in front of her terrified daughter. In another heartbreaking story, the immigrant father of a sailor serving on the USS Abraham Lincoln was detained. His son had been deployed under stifling and miserable conditions on the Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East for nine months, and his father was anxiously waiting for him to come home when immigration authorities detained him. only after a massive community outcry was the elderly father released. Under this administration, more than fifty parents and spouses of active duty service members have been detained by ICE and DHS. As the national debt soars over forty trillion dollars, one quarter of it coming from the wild spending of one president, Donald Trump, our mega-colleagues have provided the Department of Homeland Security with more than two hundred and forty billion dollars for immigration enforcement in this Congress alone, the agency has hundreds of thousands of employees and eighty thousand sworn law enforcement officers, more than the number of officers in Washington, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Las Vegas, and Dallas combined. Yet because ICE refuses to focus on the worst of the worst despite these unprecedented and staggering resources taken from the taxpayers, ICE is failing at its duty to keep us safe. In June of this year, a Republican witness, a county sheriff, testified that his office notified ICE on eight different occasions that individuals were in its custody and available for pickup by ICE. Despite its gargantuan budget, ICE completely failed to respond in two of those eight cases, or twenty-five percent. resulting in two felony offenders being released into the community. That was testimony in this committee. But that's actually much better than Loudoun County, Virginia generally. In Loudoun County generally, ICE issued detainers for four hundred and nineteen people, but ICE only picked up two hundred and fifty-three. That means a hundred and sixty-six of them were never even picked up by ICE. Forty percent of them weren't picked up by ICE. And that's the crux of their whole complaint here. Instead of trying to conduct oversight, of DHS and demand accountability for this catastrophic and colossal waste of public resources. The administration and our colleagues keep throwing more money at the problem. For example, the administration has diverted over twenty-eight thousand officers from their law enforcement roles to work on civil immigration enforcement instead. A few weeks ago, the DHS Inspector General, a Trump appointee, released a report detailing how badly this monomaniacal focus on immigration was undermining our fight against opioids. Federal agents are spending thirty percent less time working on fentanyl cases, and as a result, fentanyl seizures have dropped more than forty percent. That means more opioids getting into our country, onto our streets, and into our bodies, so they can have ICE officers picking people up in the kindergarten uh, drop-off lane. Judiciary Republicans' solution this week is to rededicate themselves to this failed strategy. They passed a bill to f- force underfunded state and local jurisdictions to use more of their funds and resources to do the bloated federal government's job of immigration enforcement. That means cities and localities would have fewer officers, less money, and fewer resources to protect their communities from violent crime, guns, drugs, and drunk driving. What's worse, our colleagues have proposed defunding police departments across America in any jurisdiction that decides that state and local governments and not ICE should get to decide how state and local police departments are governed and run. Even the Speaker and the rest of the GOP majority are refusing to endorse and advance this defund the police anti-sanctuary city bill. Here in judiciary, we've already debated and voted on this. Defund the police bill. Republicans passed it out of this committee in March of this year, six months ago. The legislation that all of this is about has already passed out of our committee. Yet for the last six months, the speaker has refused to put their bill on the floor. It seems even the speaker realizes that after Trump's poll numbers have sunk like a stone and the majority of Americans reject their authoritarian police state tactics it's just bad politics and terrible policy to bring this bill out. Republicans on our committee have voted to strip protections for military families with pending green card applications. They voted against requiring ICE officers to wear body-worn cameras. They have voted to strip children, including toddlers who were in the US without a parent, of their right to have an attorney even represent them in immigration proceedings and they've refused to conduct any probe into the hundreds of millions of dollars DHS has squandered on private luxury jets. complete with bedrooms and bars and glamorous photo uh shoots on horseback for Christy Noem the prior secretary of DHS. Our colleagues keep holding these hearings because they want the public to believe that they somehow have policies backstage that they haven't unveiled yet that they will reveal in the next Congress to make it safer safer but they don't their policies are so divisive, so toxic, so purely symbolic and off point, that even Speaker Johnson won't put them on the floor. It's not fair to keep running the same hearing over and over again, to keep bringing the same witnesses back again, for legislation which this committee has already passed, but which the leadership refuses to bring to the floor. In the ordinary legislative process, you have hearings so you can pass legislation out and advance it. In the process here, our colleagues have totally turned it upside down. They've introduced a bill just so they can keep having hearings, but they're not doing anything with their bill. I wanna thank our witnesses for being here today. I would especially like to thank Ms. Fox and Mr. Coleman. Your stories need to be heard by America, and you deserve a national, non-partisan audience for your story, and you deserve justice. I'm terribly sorry for what you and your families have been put through and continue to go through every single day. I hope that your daughters, Delilah and Carissa, draw strength from your fierce and passionate advocacy on their behalf. You and the American people deserve better than today's hearing, which is just running the same play over and over again. You deserve more than empty promises. We all deserve an America where our children are safe, where law enforcement officials around the country are focused on actually protecting our communities, and not meeting quotas imposed by Stephen Miller or some other ideologue. You deserve, we all deserve a Congress that will finally repair a broken and cruel immigration system with comprehensive common sense immigration reform. I yield back, Mr. Chairman.

Without objection, all other opening statements be included in the record, and I'll now introduce today's witnesses. Uh, we have with us today, Mr. Marcus Coleman. Mr. Coleman's a resident of California, a sanctuary state. He's a truck driver and the father of three children, one of whom was catastrophically injured by an illegal alien driving an eighteen wheeler. That alien had been issued a commercial driver's license by the state of California. We have with us once again, mister uh David Beer, he's the director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute. He has a BA in political science from Grove City College in Pennsylvania. Uh third, we have uh the honorable sheriff uh Jeff Gaylor. Uh sheriff Gaylor has been the sheriff of uh Harford County, Maryland since twenty fourteen. He is a veteran law enforcement professional with over forty years of public safety including twenty eight years with the Maryland State Police. Sheriff Gayler has been a member of the National Sheriffs Association Border Security Committee since twenty eighteen and is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit, uh, seeking to strike down Maryland sanctuary law. Uh, finally we have Miss, uh, Patricia Fox. Miss Fox is a resident of the Denver metro area, a sanctuary jurisdiction. In twenty twenty five she stepped away from a successful marketing and communications career to become a full-time caregiver to her daughter, Carissa Aspness. Uh, Carissa was catastrophically injured while riding a motorcycle by an illegal alien who was unlicensed and uninsured. We welcome our witnesses and thank them for appearing today. Uh, we'll begin by swearing you in, would you please rise and raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm under penalty of perjury that the testimony you're about to give is true and correct to the best of your knowledge information and belief, so help you God. Let the record uh reflect the witnesses have answered in the affirmative. Thank you. You may be seated. Uh please know your written testimony will be entered in the record in its entirety. Accordingly uh we'd ask that you summarize your testimony uh in five minutes. And uh Mister Coleman we'll begin with you. Uh d- turn on your microphone.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, I appreciate it. This is my first time uh being at one of these things, so forgive me if I'm a little skittish on this. But um, I do wanna say um, thank you guys for hearing our story, um, as far as that side of the uh, the aisle goes, I think that building needs to get checked for mold or something, because you guys are really outta your guys's mind, thinking that sanctuary cities are the way to go. This is the end result of sanctuary city, right here. And the guy was just going to work. You guys wanna talk about illegal immigrants, so they're just driving to work, they're trying to be a part of the community. This is what happens, right here. Just as she had to sit there and stop working her job, I had to sit there and stop working mine. I'm no longer truck driving. I no longer make the money that we used to make. I'm now pinching pennies. I have nine kids, by the way, that I that I take care of. And I had to sit there and stretch that. All because of this right here. It's not her fault. It's this fault over here. There's no way at all that anybody should fall victim to what's going on behind somebody who's not supposed to be here. If I moved into your house without your permission, and I started sitting there derailing your guys's household and taking care of taking from your guys's monetary and your guys's food and stuff like that, you guys would have me either kicked out, ask me to move out, or have the police escort me out. It's the same thing in the United States. These people come here, we did not invite them here. There's a way to go. This is the way to go. My wife, an uh uh an immigrant, she did what she's supposed to do, she did exactly what she's supposed to do to get here, and she had no issues at all doing it. I don't understand why you guys think it's okay for anybody else to just jump a fence, come over here and be entitled to the exact same rights that I have and that you guys have. We work hard for that. We protect that. In any other country, anybody ever tried to do that, you're gonna go to jail. You're gonna get arrested. Some of these people, they sit there and they stay in jail for life. And here in the United States, you guys wanna give them free free health care? You guys wanna give them a driver license? You guys wanna give them the right to vote? Of course they're gonna vote for some s- idiotic things, because that's what they wanna do. They wanna sit here and turn the United States into a third world country. They wanna sit there and turn United States into India or into Ukraine or into Russia, or into Mexico. This isn't that. This is the one s- this is the one country where we are free to do what we wish to do. We earned it. We worked hard for it. My family in the military, I have several f- family members that have passed away inside the military. They gave their blood, sweat, and tears for that. And I don't understand how you guys think that that's okay for people to just come over here and do it. When I took my daughter in at night time, she's not a Republican, she's not a Democrat. She's seven years old. And there's hundreds of them. W- how is that okay? How are you guys not fighting for this? Right here, how are you guys not fighting for this? I I I I reject your guys's sympathy, to be honest with you. There's no way you guys are sorry. Not one of you guys have ever called me. Not one of you guys have ever reached out to me. Not one of you guys have ever sat there and seen me in the hallways and said, hey. Sorry about your daughter. You guys do it right here while you guys are grandstanding on top of your soapbox. This is when you guys care. Right here inside this room is the only time you guys care. I've never received anything from anybody over here at all regarding my daughter or my family or anything, hey, Mister Coleman, you guys is a delight of law. I wanna help you revise it so that we were interested inside of it. Nothing. You guys have no pathway to anything. You guys wanna sit there and talk about the pathway to citizenship, there is a pathway. It's not jump the fence and apply. That's not the way it goes. There's a process to get it done. You don't just do that. I can't just go over there and go sit down inside one of those seats and become a Democrat - Oh, you know what, I probably could. I I honestly probably could. So I'm not even gonna say that. But I can't go inside a hospital and become a doctor just because I want to. And go put on a coat and come to work. It's getting ridiculous the way things are going now. It honestly is. It makes no sense at all. Sanctuary cities allow so much. to be done that it's it's almost like the parents not there to take care of the household, and everybody's running around and doing what they wanna do. And it sucks. It honestly does. You guys sit there and you guys talk about ICE invading cities and doing this and doing that? I agree with Mister Gordon. Jordan, sorry. That if if you guys i- i- if the state sat there and told them come pick up the person, it would take one or two people to go do it. Instead they gotta send an army out there because now they have to look for them. And then, since it's a sanctuary state, you got people sitting there abusing the ICE, the the the ICE officers that are out there. I have a whole statement right here that I was gonna read to you guys, but just listening to you guys, none of this is relevant anymore because you guys just changed so much. It it it makes no sense at all. My daughter doesn't deserve this. She w- she didn't ask for any of this. The people that jumped the fence did though. They knew exactly what they were doing. They still chose to move forward in that direction. And every day something's happening to somebody. And it is your guys's fault. I hold each and everyone irresponsible for it. And I always will.

Uh, thank you for your testimony and your full written statement will be included in the record uh and I hope my democratic colleagues will take the time to read it. Uh, I'm uh next uh going to introduce Mister David Bier uh for five minutes.

Chairman McClintock, Ranking Member Jaipal, and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify. For nearly half a century, the Cato Institute's original research has shown that people, whatever their ancestry, background or birthplace, can thrive in a free society. For two hundred and fifty years, America's protection of individual liberty has transformed immigrants even from the poorest countries into successful Americans. That success continues today. In just the last three decades, immigrants Legal and illegal have reduced federal, state, and local deficits fourteen and a half trillion dollars. They work and start businesses at higher rates. But rather than embrace this tradition, this administration threatens to end it. It has already cut legal immigration in half. It has created about two million more illegal immigrants by stripping status from vetted legal immigrants. Already the Congressional Budget Office has found that these and other anti-immigrant efforts have increased deficits by five hundred billion dollars over the next decade alone. America's cities understand that immigrants here illegally are not the worst of the worst. Most want to contribute legally but aren't allowed to. Nationwide, immigrants, even illegal immigrants, are half as likely to commit crimes for which they are incarcerated as US-born Americans. Based on data from our largest states, this includes serious traffic crimes. In California, immigrant drivers generally, as well as immigrants with temporary commercial driver's licenses, average about twenty-five percent fewer fatal crashes. In Texas, illegal immigrants commit fewer felonies on the roads. This is partly explained by immigrants having substantially lower rates of alcohol abuse. Some immigrants do commit crimes. But since immigrants overall reduce the crime rate, immigration reduces the likelihood that any one of us will be harmed. But when anyone, immigrant or not, legal or not, victimizes a person, demand justice, prosecute the offender to the fullest, if they're not a citizen, deport them. But in a free society, no individual's actions should be used to justify government policies targeting millions of people who haven't threatened anyone. Not only is it inherently unjust, but it diverts resources from justice for other victims. Unfortunately, this administration is expert at diverting resources. It has deprioritized serious offenders and even ongoing criminal c- activity to conduct profiling stops. on the streets, at work sites, and Home Depots. It is even deliberately arresting immigrant witnesses and victims of crimes who worked with law enforcement to stop the offenders. Nearly eighty percent of ICE arrests last month had no criminal convictions of any kind. Some are fathers and mothers of our soldiers. Many are spouses of American citizens. According to DHS, There are violent fugitives out there, yet it is choosing to devote its resources to detaining the families of Americans. In fact, according to its own data on its detention management web site, ICE is actually releasing more criminals from its custody into the United States than it ever did under the last administration, making room for all the good people that it wants to fast-track out of the country. Americans want real solutions, not scapegoating. They want order, legality, and security. Our immigrant coworkers, neighbors, friends, and family want to contribute to this country legally. Let them. Fix legal immigration. Imagine if just three percent of gun sales were permitted. Many in this room, myself included, would call that gun prohibition. But that's how few immigrants seeking permanent legal status in the United States, through the proper processes, actually get approved in a year. For many, there's no legal way at all. If you make legal immigration impossible, don't complain about illegal immigration. You created it. You made it illegal. So yes, focus on justice for victims. But let peaceful people contribute to this country legally. Thank you.

Chair now recognizes Sheriff Gaylord.

Good morning, Mister Chairman, distinguished members of the committee. Uh, after the twenty twenty-four election, thanks to the leadership of President Trump, our federal government acted swiftly to secure our wide open southern border. In collaboration with state and local law enforcement, collaboration, federal authorities moved it moved decisively to identify, apprehend, and remove hundreds of thousands of criminal illegal aliens who are actively victimizing American communities. Unfortunately, rogue state legislatures like mine in Maryland are actively fighting against these law and order efforts. They are passing radical legislation designed to create safe havens for criminal illegal aliens and outlawing successful public safety programs like the two eighty-seven G program. Let me remind this committee, the two eighty seven G program was signed into law by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat. In two thousand sixteen, President Obama, who expanded the program, another Democrat, um that's when I signed our formal agreement with the federal government, making Hartford County the second county in Maryland to partner and screen every single inmate booked into our county jail. Yet l- yet last year the super majority, partisan politicians in my state, outlawed this very program. If that wasn't bad enough, they went a step further and also passed anti-American legislation, gagging local law enforcement and making it illegal for my deputies to coordinate or even communicate with certain federal law enforcement agencies. We learned so much better than that after nine eleven, but we've forgotten. That is why I, along with two thirds of my fellow Maryland sheriffs, many of them are here today seated behind me, filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Maryland to strike down these unconstitutional and dang- dangerous sanctuary mandates. I'm here today to urge Congress to step in and put a stop to these ultra-sanctuary policies before more innocent lives are lost. Because of President Biden's wide-open border policies, and he did invite everyone here, um the border crisis is no longer confined to Texas, Arizona or New Mexico. Every state's now a border state, and every sheriff in America is forced to deal with the deadly fallout. In Hartford County, we are nearly eighteen hundred miles from the U. S. southern border. We are a quiet community of about two hundred and seventy thousand people, very low crime. We average fewer than a uh a few homicides each year. Yet these open border and sanctuary state policies struck at the very heart of our community in the most tragic way, not once but twice in the span of roughly twelve months. First, on July twenty seventh, two thousand twenty two, twenty year old Kayla Hamilton, a young woman who had just moved to the Aberdeen area with her fiance to begin their life together, was brutally raped and strangled to death in her own home. Her murderer was Walter Javier Martinez, a sixteen year old illegal alien and verified MS thirteen gang member from El Salvador. Caught at the US border in Texas, he was processed into our country as an unaccompanied minor, under Biden administration policies. He was then released into the interior of our country without a complete background check and took up residence in a rented room right next to Kayla. Then on August fifth, two thousand twenty-three, thirty-seven year old Rachel Morin, a mother of five, went for a jog on a popular trail in Bel Air. She never came home. After an agonizing ten month national manhunt, her killer was apprehended sitting on a bar stool in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Victor Mar- Antonio Martinez Hernandez, an illegal alien who fled El Salvador after allegedly murdering a young woman there, entered our country illegally, violently assaulted a mother and child in Los Angeles, and then made his way to Harford County to brutally rape and murder Rachel. Neither of these monsters came to pursue the American dream. They came to pursue a life of crime and to victimize members of our community. Both of these murders were one hundred percent preventable. Had our federal government simply enforced existing immigration laws, Kayla Hamilton and Rachel Morin would be alive today. And as we all know, these stories are not the only two. There are stories like these which have occurred in far too many communities across our great nation. As sheriff, my primary duty is the protection of Hartford County, but I cannot police my county uh effectively when Washington leaves the door to our nation wide open, and state politicians who have forgotten the values of our great nation tie the hands law enforcement inside our own borders. We cannot bring Kayla or Rachel back, but Congress can and must act to ensure no other American family endures this preventable heartbreak. It's time to put the safety of the American people ahead of partisan politics, permanently secure our border, outlaw sanctuary policies, and let local law enforcement do the job we were sworn to do. Thank you.

Thank you. Uh and finally we have uh Miss Patricia Fox.

Good morning. Thank you for inviting me back. My daughter Carissa was hit on March twenty eighth, twenty twenty five by an illegal alien. She was launched head first into a concrete barrier at nearly fifty miles per hour. The driver and passenger of the vehicle fled, never checking to see if my daughter was alive. Despite her initial prognosis, Carissa survived. Praise God. But survival and recovery are not the same. A year and a half later, this is what survival looks like. Every morning I use a lawyer lift to raise my do- adult daughter out of bed because she can't sit up, stand, or get herself up. Her physician says that she requires two people to safely assist her. Colorado Medicaid denied as in-home nursing, so I figure it out. Medicaid also denied the wheelchair that Krista needs, so I make do with the one she has. Krista can't eat, so I blend her food and I feed her through a G tube in her stomach. I give her medications, I brush her teeth, I bathe her, I meet every basic need that she can no longer do for herself. And when something hurts, she can't tell me. I've become fluent in my daughter's facial expressions, movements, heart rate, sounds. When I finally put her to bed, I'm not done. I sleep lightly because the pulse ox could alarm at any moment. I need to be able to turn her oxygen on. And this doesn't end with me. My nineteen year old daughter already thinks about the day I become too old to care for Carissa. When she and her older brother have to pick up the mantle. She's not scared of the responsibility, but she does worry that she won't be able to do it as well as I do. At nineteen years old, she already has accepted that her future, along with her sister's, has been forever changed. One collision created an entire family. victims. And while every catastrophic collision is devastating, there is another layer of pain in knowing that this one was preventable. Last time, congressman uh congresswoman Jasmine Crockett asked us, if an American citizen had done this, the pain would be there all the same. Sure, Chris's brain injury would be just as devastating, but the story wouldn't be the same. Because if an American citizen had hit my daughter, I wouldn't be here asking why was somebody who had no lawful right to be in this country here to hit her in the first place? Valeria Bermudez-Marcano wouldn't have been considered one of the worst of the worst. She drove without a license, even though in Colorado illegal aliens can get them. She drove without insurance. She could have gotten that too. Valeria chose to disregard our rule of law. And my daughter paid dearly for it. Colorado continues to fail Carissa. I spend my free time fighting with long-term Medicaid because the budget for disabilities was cut by a Democrat-led joint budget committee. But Coverall Coloradans, a prog program providing health care to people who lack qualifying immigration status, including people here illegally, is still in full swing. These are Colorado's fiscal priorities. On the criminal side, all but fi- one five class five felony were dropped. As part of the plea deal, Valeria was ordered to pay fifteen thousand dollars in restitution for the motorcycle. For my daughter, nothing. A motorcycle. received more justice than my daughter. Mercifully, Valeria was deported. The ICE officer that took her into custody works closely with DEA. He's removed so much fentanyl from our streets. We don't have the means to count the number of lives he's saved. He's a hero. Along with everyone else that I've met at Denver ERO. I just received word yesterday seventy-plus Colorado schools are poised to stage an anti-ice walkout on September fourth. If that is not some Communist Party Red Guard bullshit, I don't know what is. Our kids can't read or do math at a grade level. They can't tell you what a woman is. But they can march against the very agency that is protecting our kids from trafficking and fentanyl. The agency responsible for making sure that what happened to my Carissa doesn't happen to them. Our story shouldn't be partisan. The lives of American citizens should matter to both sides. We get it. You guys hate Trump. The campaign ads, they're all the same. Taking the fight to Trump, standing against Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump. You need to love Americans more than you hate Trump. That's not partisan politics. It's literally your job. I once told Congressman Andy Biggs about how when I met Laura Wilkerson, she told me how sorry she was that they've been fighting so hard for over a decade to make sure no one else had to go through what they have. as if somehow she failed this new generation of angel families. The failures weren't hers. The failure was open borders and sanctuary policies. That day I asked Congressman Biggs, along with Congressman Crane and Sarah Carter, to do something for me. And now I beg you the same. Please don't make me hug another new angel mom. in ten years. Thank you.

Thank you so much for your testimony. Uh we'll now proceed under the five minute rule with questions, and we'll begin with Mister Biggs of Arizona.

Thank you. Miss Fox and all witnesses, thank you for being here. Um I'll even thank you, Mr. Beier, even though I find your testimony as usual reprehensible. Miss Fox, it wa- I was fortunate to see you and Carissa. Tell us what Colorado, when they lied to you, tell us how they hid the truth from you. Um, when you were trying to determine about The perpetrator, the person who hit your daughter, please.

Uh, it was a few days after the accident, Carissa was still in her critical phase. Um, the detective uh, the lead detective um, investigating the uh collision called and um had told us, you know, apologized to me for the delay in getting in touch with me, um, because there was a language barrier. in um communicating with valeria and her uh other passengers and at that point in time i asked explicitly was she an illegal immigrant and he said no she is a citizen it took us six months for us to find out that she was in fact not and that ice had entered the conversation

did did they ever attempted to uh these officials from Colorado, did they ever attempted to explain to you um just why they think that these sanctuary laws are necessary, these policies are necessary? And if they g- did they give you any justification whatsoever?

No, none. Um when we even once we did find out that ICE had uh entered the conversation, they still were not um exp- explaining about you know how that happened or whatever they were very vague and just said things like well it's just not good for anybody to be on the radar um i actually had to turn to independent journalists libs of tiktok to um for their uh contacts in order to verify that she was in fact an illegal alien

uh thank you i um And I just wanna ask one more question. When we had that um round table in in Phoenix with the with Sarah Carter, uh we invited Republicans and Democrats from the Arizona delegation. Do you remember any Democrats from the Arizona delegation showing up at that?

No. There was no one. Um, just the Republicans. And angel families,

And the angel

we're not all Republicans and Democrats. We're both.

Right. That's right.

We're all we're diverse. There's black angel families, there's white angel families, there's brown angel families, clearly. And we only hear from one side of the aisle. We only have solutions from one side of the aisle.

Well, thanks for being an advocate in Colorado for changing policies and and and now, I wish you had more time, but I'm gonna go to you, Mister Coleman. Um, have you been able to see well, first of all you b- congratulations the Delilah Delilah's Law um is passed out Transportation Infrastructure Committee, and we wanna get that to the floor and get that passed out. Uh, so we're grateful for your advocacy there. Did - have you learned anything about the failures in California's licensing process that allowed, uh, this - this to happen where this individual was able to be out on the road driving?

Mainly there is no structure in California for the licensing policy. Um, pretty much anybody can go over there and get a driver license. you don't have to be an American citizen to grab one. Um clearly you don't have to know how to drive to grab one either. So we're we're trying to add that to the Delilah law where you have to have a minimum of three year driving history in order to get a CDL.

Well, I appreciate that and and of course we support that uh and and I have also introduced another um piece of legislation to um require that E-verify be used before somebody could get out a C get a CDL. around the nation, which would a- actually help as well. And so we're waiting for that to get a hearing and move that forward. Mister Chairman, I have um a number of UCs I'd like to re- proceed with.

Go ahead.

ICE arrests illegal alien semi-truck driver who killed four injured others in Indiana.

Without objection.

ICE lodges detainer for Uh he sorry. It's ridiculous. For Haitian, an illegal alien arrested.

Without objection.

ICE arrested illegal alien truck driver who critically injured American man in semi-truck accident.

Without objection.

ICE lodges detainers for criminal illegal aliens arrested for trafficking more than three hundred pounds of cocaine hidden in a semi-truck in Indiana.

Without objection.

Deadly semi-trailer crash in California renews federal criticism of immigrant

Without objection.

Trump administration says driver in Florida crash was NUS illegally false California policy.

Without objection.

California revokes seventeen thousand commercial driver's licenses for immigrants.

Without objection.

Trump administration orders two hundred and seventy trucking schools to shutter and crack down on licensing of illiterate illegal immigrant drivers.

Without objection.

Transportation secretary announces closure of truck driving schools related to fraud and undocumented drivers.

Without objection.

The OJ shuts down nearly three hundred truck driving schools in twenty three streets twenty three states amid fraud investigation.

Without objection.

DHS and Department of Transportation announced successful operation that removed more than eight hundred dangerous truckers from America's roads.

Without objection.

Didn't get a chance to ask you this anything, Mister Gauler, uh Sheriff Gauler, sorry. Uh County sheriffs filed lawsuit challenging Community Trust Act.

Without objection.

The actual um uh case uh the the civil complaint uh by Sh- Sheriff Geiler.

Without objection.

Sanctuary City crime, cost of the migrant crisis, why Denver's neighbors have had enough of the self-described sanctuary city.

Without objection.

Denver's Rocky Road is a sanctuary city.

Without objection.

Man charged with murder of missing woman is illegal immigrant out on bail after previous DWI arrest.

Without objection. Without objection.

ICE says Fairfax County and D- DC are rejecting detainers and releasing violent offenders.

Without objection.

Mayor Fry's sanctuary poli- poli- policies release criminal illegal aliens from jails back into Minneapolis streets.

Without objection.

Sanctuary New York released nearly seven thousand criminal illegal aliens including murderers terrorist and sexual predators.

Without objection.

Which sanctuary jurisdictions have released the most criminals?

Without objection.

Sanctuary cities pose an unacceptable risk to public safety.

Without objection.

And finally sanctuary cities are sanctuaries for criminals. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

And finally without objection, Ms. Jayapal for five minutes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, Mr. Beer, I wanna start with you. I I wanna try to zoom out a little bit on the central arguments that are being made, uh, by Republicans and that we hear constantly in this room and also outside, because I think it's difficult to just focus on one story or another. Um, and so the central argument, uh, is often that there is a legal immigration system that works, and that people should just go through the legal immigration system. And as one of only two dozen naturalized citizens to serve in the United States Congress, I actually know a lot about that legal immigration system and how it hasn't been fixed in over thirty years. So we're dealing with a system that is extremely antiquated. And then you add to that something that you referenced in your opening statement, that uh the Trump administration has essentially decimated any other legal pathways that existed. And so I just wanna spend a minute on is there a legal immigration system that works today in this country, that allows people to regularize status if they're married to a US citizen, to be here for work that, uh, our corporations are putting out there, to serve in the roles that we need for a growing US economy. Is there a legal immigration system that works?

The legal immigration system does not work as its intended. The the goal here is to have a process by which people can come legally to this country. You look at some of the wait times for people. We are processing people who applied before nine eleven. Two thousand one were processing people for family-based green cards right now. Um, and those are for the people who have a process, who have US Citizen family, uh, in this country. Uh, for people, uh, who, uh, from India, who are highly skilled individuals. They ha- ha- already, the people who are being processed applied a decade ago. The people who are, uh, applying right now have such a long wait in front of them, they will likely die before they receive a green card even though they're the the highest skilled people in our immigration system. So, no, the immigration system is not working. If you look at the biggest hole in the immigration system, it's really for people going to jobs that are year-round, they're not seasonal, they're not temporary jobs, but they don't require a college degree. That's where, when you look at the people who crossed the border over the last four years, where where are they going? Those are those are the jobs they're going into,

And there's literally no process right now where we can say, this is, the- these are the jobs that we need in the United States, and so we're gonna make sure that we fill those jobs. I mean, there - there just hasn't been any changes to the immigration system, in a positive light, for over thirty years. So let me go to the next central argument, which is around public safety. Um, well, actually, before I do that, let me ask you. Trump and the Republicans were successful in getting rid of all immigrants in this country.

Yeah.

What would happen to our economy, briefly, cuz I have two other questions I wanna ask you.

What would be a devastating blow to our economy, because they work at higher rates, you're talking about trillions of uh of of dollars in economic activity, a massive reduction in the in the rate of net tax flows, so a huge contraction and increase in our deficit, almost eight hundred billion dollars uh in twenty twenty four, so a a very significant uh impact both to government budgets as well as the broader economy.

So let me go to the public safety argument, because I think that there is this idea that if we just got rid of everyone who's undocumented and maybe even people who are documented because so much of this is cutting off legal pathways to the United States, um, that you would be safer as a society. And I want to ask you about public safety and the rule of law, because Republicans are always claiming that they're the party of public safety. Um, is this strategy of harsher immigration enforcement, the only way to deal with this is to crack down on all the immigrants who are here, does that help public safety in the United States?

No, it doesn't. If you look at the the people who they're arresting now, the the marginal person, the next person that they're gonna arrest is gonna be someone who does not have any criminal convictions or charges against them. That is, the majority of the people who are who they are arresting right now. And when you think about it more broadly, if you wanna prioritize resources, you wanna go after the people who do have criminal convictions, who are on the run, and if you wanna deal with this problem in a more fundamental way, in a better way that will actually cure the rule of law problem, is have a legal process for the people who wanna get on the right side of the law to

That's right, which is Which is what you said. So very quickly,

get vetted.

why are they pursuing this strategy, Mister Beer? Why do you think Republicans are pursuing the strategy that they're that they're undergoing?

I hate to speculate why they're they're pursuing this strategy. I ju- I honestly think there's a better approach here. It's to fix the legal immigration system, let people get in line, get vetted, start contributing to this country in the right way.

General, ladies, time has expired.

Thank you. I will be back.

Mr. Lloyd. I thank uh the Chairman, appreciate him holding this hearing. Um, Mr. Coleman, um, the individual who struck your daughter was here in the United States illegally and had been released by the Biden administration. Is that correct?

That is correct, yes.

So the individual entered the United States illegally and then was released by the Biden administration.

Correct.

And then ultimately was licensed to drive a commercial vehicle that then struck your daughter, harmed your daughter, leaving her and your family, dealing with the consequences. Those are the facts, correct?

Correct.

Ms. Fox, the individual that caused harm to your family was entered the United States also illegally, correct?

Correct.

Was released by the Biden administration. Correct?

Correct.

Onto the streets.

Yes.

Given a license and then caused the harm that your family had to deal with. Is that correct?

Um, she didn't have a license. She could have gotten a license.

Right. Unlicensed, or even worse.

No, she chose to break the law.

Correct? Mister Beer, should those individuals have been in the United States, yes or no?

we should have a legal way to to vet them.

Should those should those individuals have been in the United States,

I don't I don't know these specific individuals we should vet, we should we should

yes or no?

we should allow people to have a legal

Not people, those two, Mister Beer, those two individuals.

Well

They should have been vetted. They should have been screened.

Should the screen for what?

They should have they should have been a legal way to come

Screen for what? Those two individuals were in the United States illegally and then released.

from general criminal history.

Should they have come into the United States and been here?

Maybe the idea that we should be deporting people

So y- so you're you're fine,

who had no involvement in these activities

you're fine with the two individuals. released by the Biden administration on the streets of the United States, who were able to carry out and engage in this activity that resulted in the death and destruction and the maiming of the American people that we're just seeing right here, the witnesses to your left and right.

I didn't, I didn't say that.

You're totally fine with that.

I said there should be a process. There should be a process that people go through to get screened.

Right, well you refuse to say that those two individuals shouldn't have been here. That's your position.

No, there should be a legal way for people to get screened.

Should people be able to come into the United States from anywhere in the world? Yes or no? Should they be able to come and walk across our border?

There should be a process for people to come to the United States.

Should they be able to walk across our border?

legally from anywhere in the world, they should be able to come in legally

Mister Beer, should they be able to walk across the border and come into the United States,

through a process.

without regard to our visas and our laws, yes or no?

No, we should have a legal way for people to come in,

So, all right,

they should follow.

to be clear, I want to be clear for Mister Beer in the position at the Cato Institute, it should be very clear. Then there should be border security and people should not be allowed to come into the United States.

Of course there should be border security, I've never said there shouldn't be border security.

All right. Now, should people be released by the administration? When they, once they're here illegally, they're captured, they're they're they're they're in the uh control of the administration, the government. Should they be released into the United States as was done under the Biden administration?

There should be a legal way to get on the right side of the wall.

Should they be released? When they're caught, when they're caught illegally in the United States, You mean if they're in the United States? should they be released?

Well, it depends on the circumstances, sir.

It depends on their cur- circumstances. So some should be released. Ms. Fox, when people come here illegally, should they be released onto the streets?

No.

Mister Coleman, when people come here illegally, should they be released on the

No.

Sheriff Goller, when people come here illegally and they're apprehended, should they be released onto the streets of the United States, as was done in the form of millions of people under the previous administration, resulting in the death, maiming and destruction of people in the United States, should they be released?

Uh, I would certainly say that shows a complete disregard for our nation's laws, and no.

Another question. We're here talking about sanctuary cities and we're talking about policies of continuing to perpetuate those who are illegally present in the United

One hundred percent, yes.

So when this body, this committee, passed legislation in July to permanently codify the Trump border policies that reflects what we did in HR two in the previous Congress, to say that asylum and parole should not be abused to release people into the United States, that the Democrat witness says is perfectly fine to release people into the United States who come here illegally. You agree we should make that permanent and codify it so we don't have people coming in illegally who endanger American citizens.

Correct, yes.

Sheriff Goller, do you agree we should make that permanent?

I do.

Miss Fox, do you agree that we should make that permanent and codify it so people

I do.

God bless you, Miss Fox. God bless you, Mr. Coleman. I am sorry that our country has let you down and that you have had to suffer the consequences of what the previous administration and our colleagues on the other side of the aisle callously allowed to occur including the witnesses they invite, and Sheriff Galler, thank you, and all of the law enforcement who stand up and defend this country every single day. God bless you.

Mister Raskin.

Sorry.

Oh, Mr. Nadler.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thanks to our witnesses for being here and for sharing their stories. Mr. Chairman, while members of Congress have been back in their districts for the last month, the Trump administration's mass deportation machine has advanced unabated, continuing to leave chaos and misery in its wake. Flushed with hundreds of billions of dollars from Congress, the administration has ramped up immigration aggression, arrests in recent months with extreme tactics, resorting to racial profiling and without regard for whether those arrested actually pose any danger to this country. Rather than sweeping up the quote " worst of the worst" as the administration repeatedly claims, ISIS has taken a scattershot approach that includes targeting people married to US citizens people who entered the country legally and are pursuing an asylum claim, and people with a temporary legal status that the administration has since moved to terminate. Of the nearly fifty thousand people per month that the Trump administration is arresting, a majority have not been charged with or convicted of any crime. Those who committed the violent crime constituted just four percent of those arrested last month. I asked you in Adam's consent to enter into the record an article from the New York Times titled "ICE arrests soar as people with no criminal record are increasingly targeted."

I asked you in Adam's consent.

I'm sorry, that was in Adam's consent without objection.

Another Times article titled titled "Deportees Recount Harrowing Journeys to Africa Shackles of Freezer and Blows", described in excruciating detail the inhumane treatment of immigrants who are being abused by ICE agents while being deported to third countries in which they have no ties no job prospects and may not even speak the language, asking Adam's consent to enter this article into the record as well.

Without objection.

Similarly, by terminating temporary protective status for people who may have been here for decades, They are uprooting people from our communities and in many cases, sending them to dangerous conch conditions. For example, the Trump administration wants to send hundreds of thousands of people from Haiti, whose TPS status has been revoked, back to a country for which their own State Department has issued a level four do not travel advisory, citing the risks of crime, kidnapping, terrorism, unrest, and limited health care. This is cruelty on a mass scale and does not make any country any make the does not make this country any safer, stronger or more vibrant. In addition to the personal tragedy these policies have brought in our communities, they're also laying the groundwork for an economic catastrophe. Quite simply, without immigrants we will not have enough workers to support an aging population in the decades ahead, which will lead to economic stagnation or worse. We are already seeing effects in the health care industry. According to one analysis, more than twenty thousand Haitians with TPS status worked as caregivers and nursing assistants as of last year, serving roughly seventy-seven thousand elderly patients. But the Trump administration is is moving rapidly to deport these people, leaving seniors and other vulnerable populations in the lurch. While Donald Trump is busy launching a trade war against our closest ally, and childlessly renaming bodies of water, our communities are being torn apart by his immigration policies. But this committee has failed in its most basic oversight responsibilities. I hope that will change very soon. Mister Beier, over the past year and a half, we have seen DHS break into people's houses without a warrant, racially profile people, including US citizens, when conducting immigration enforcement, and they have killed US s- six US citizens. Throughout all this, no one has been held accountable. Why do you think this is the case?

Well, the primary problem is that there's no statutory private right of action to sue immigration agents department of homeland security agents this is unique among uh federal law enforcement officers you can sue an fbi agent doing criminal uh uh law enforcement it's specific to civil immigration enforcement the supreme court said there's no right for a private individual to sue them and stop them and of course the the administration supports all the things that you're doing so that all the internal mechanisms uh to hold them accountable have been shredded so when we're talking about external mechanisms We really need citizens to be empowered to file lawsuits. And uh the the Bivens Act, among other congressional measures, would uh allow for those lawsuits to go forward.

As I noted before, the Trump administration is hardly going after the worst of the worst. Mister Beyer, doesn't it make more sense for states and localities to focus their limited resources on violent crime as opposed to helping the Trump administration with its reckless and lawless mass deportation agenda?

Well, absolutely. Only fifty percent of murders in the United States are solved. Only about thirty or thirty-five percent of rapes are solved. Only about ten percent of property crimes, thefts, uh uh burglaries and so on are solved. So there's a tremendous amount of work to be done, and the idea that they should spend it on mass deportation efforts and helping this racial profiling government, uh, engage in these efforts to round up our friends and family members, that that i- that is not something they should be participating in. If someone's been

Thank you, Mr. Baier.

Joe's time has expired.

My time has expired. I yield back.

Mister Ondert.

Uh, thank you, Mister Chairman, and thank you for holding this hearing to once again emphasize the devastating ways that sanctuary policies have come at the expense of innocent law-abiding Americans. I want to especially thank Ms. Fox and Mr. Coleman for being here today. We realize how difficult this decision to be here is for you, but w- I want to commend you f- both for c- coming here and uh speaking out on behalf of your daughters. Thousands of criminal aliens have been released into our communities during the Biden administration and allowed to remain here under sanctuary policies, that allow them to evade law enforcement. Law enforcement officers are already overwhelmed by the sheer number of illegal aliens. They need help in detaining these criminals. Sanctuary policies limit cooperation with federal authorities, making criminal h- aliens significantly harder to apprehend. Fortunately, uh, in Missouri we had the foresight to ban sanctuary cities back in two thousand eight, house bill fifteen forty-nine. Doing that, uh, was my bill. But that does not prevent Missouri and other non-sanctuary states, non-sanctuary cities from being affected by sanctuary policies and sanctuary states. Uh, I'd like to uh show a uh short video here.

Eighteen-wheeler going the wrong way down southbound sixty-one.

So what we have here is a eighty ton

He is on the northbound lanes of sixty-one, going the wrong way. You can see I'm going southbound on sixty-one. He's in the northbound lanes on highway sixty-one.

All right, I think we have the idea here.

Yeah, you can

Cut the video. So, this um this was an eighty pound eighty eighty ton semi-truck going down the wrong side of Interstate sixty-one in my district in Lincoln County, Missouri. Uh, it was uh being driven by an illegal alien from Somalia who had a commercial driver's license uh issued by the sanctuary state of Minnesota. Uh, he could not read basic road signs. and he spent miles driving the wrong way. This kind of reckless behavior unfortunately is not tolerated in Missouri, unlike in sanctuary jurisdictions. The Lincoln County prosecutor did notify both the Department of Transportation and ICE. But this is the consequence of widespread toleration of illegal i- illegal immigration as we see in Colorado, California, and elsewhere. Um, Ms. Fox, th- what this this issue has deeply affected your family. What sort of legal or policy changes do you think we o- we ought to pursue to avoid this happening to other families, like yours?

Mass deportation.

Yeah.

They all have to go.

Yeah.

Every last one.

Enforce the law, right?

Yes.

I'm Mister Coleman.

I agree. Uh, mass deportation, uh, there's gotta be stricter vetting uh in in the trucking industry, which is why we're pushing for the Delilah law as well as the Delilah standard. Um, there's too many out there that are free to go and do as they please with no consequences. We have no idea who we're looking for.

And, Mister Coleman, I understand you yourself are a commercial driver.

Correct, I am.

And um, you know, what i what is your response when we have illegal aliens who who hardly speak english cannot read basic road signs when did you get your uh cdl

i received my cdl in uh twenty nineteen

twenty nineteen so seven years ago not that long ago

correct

do you think you could have gotten a gotten a uh gotten a commercial driver's license if you couldn't understand read basic signs uh speak english at a basic level

no i went through an actual school so mine was actually pretty hard to get um i had to do actual training and actual reading and

yeah yeah

testing and everything like that i didn't back door it and and my

yeah

to his uh statement that you know if we deported all the illegal immigrants that we would hit hit a huge deficit uh i i find that falsely true

yeah

that there is no way that's gonna happen

and under this administration the uh the department of transportation under sean duffy has shut down a lot of these schools that are so-called schools that are basically just diploma mills for illegal aliens to get cdl's

correct exactly yes correct

Well, thank you all for coming here to testify today.

Thank you, sir.

I yield back.

Mr. Chairman, a couple submissions for the record. Um, in direct response to some witness testimony. Um, uh, Mister Beer from Cato tweeted on August twenty-fifth, and I'll like submit for the record, quote, every single person on the United States soil should be allowed to work without any restrictions of any kind. Uh, so that's the same as getting sort of that into the record.

Without any restrictions.

Uh, I would also insert into the into the record a um a uh tweet uh by mister beer uh from uh oh gosh it was about a day ago talking about border patrol should be banished to the actual border uh uh opining about which is why it made so few arrests in the in nineteen twenty it's not because illegal immigration was so low uh which refutes some of the suspect

Without objection mister kria

thank you mr. chairman wanna thank the witnesses for being here today and uh Juana, Mr. Coleman, Miss Fox, father also four children, now adults, and every time they go out at night, I pray for their safe return. New Year's Eve, don't go out please, just because of the challenges, the dangers out there. Talk today about immigration. My opinion, immigration is not about immigrants. Immigration, it's about the American economic miracle. You wanna stop undocumented? Simple. Stop hiring them. Stop giving them jobs. Tell the employers, make your choice. Obey the law, fire them all, and go out of business. Or disobey the law, don't fire them, and stay in business. It's a simple decision. I agree, Mister Beard, we need immigration reform. There is no front door. I've got workers, taxpayers, never have gotten a traffic ticket, in their lives, forty years in the US, getting deported. Many of them now with work permits, getting deported. Immigration reform. The US Chamber of Commerce number one goal is three percent US economic growth. Their number two goal? Emigration reform. They can't get to three percent economic growth without immigration, without the workers. Wisconsin dairy farms, home builders, senior care facilities, manufacturing, farmers, high-tech corridor. Mr. Beer, I'd like to start with you, sir, and talk a little bit about military families. In August, the Associated Press reported that more than fifty parents and spouses of active duty service members have been detained since President Trump's second term. And at least six have been deported. Father of a sailor, Joshua Aviles, on the USS Abraham Lincoln, was detained by ICE. Thankfully, they haven't deported him yet. Second case, Humberto Martinez was arrested while driving his children and was deported to Mexico within hours, even though he had pending parole in place. His daughter Jessica, Humberto's daughter Jessica, a Navy aviation ordnance ordnanceman was deployed abroad, is deployed abroad, the USS Abraham Lincoln, the day her father was deported, she was heading to Iran. Mr. Baer, these are American soldiers, have taken the oath to protect this country, to make the ultimate sacrifice if needed. How will deporting their parents make our country stronger?

It will not. It will weaken our country. will drive Americans, soldiers from this this country to go with their families. We've already seen it happen with spouses being deported and American soldiers choosing to follow them. That's not the American way.

Mr. Baer, let me talk a little bit about the sanctuary s- cities issue in California. In California, we do have a law that allows local law enforcement to turn individuals over twice despite the sanctuary city law. So the poster here will show you some of the exceptions. But more importantly, I have another poster that in twenty twenty five, in Orange County where I live, three hundred and twenty-three individuals were turned over to ICE for pickup. Fifty-two of them were never turned, picked up. So we talk about the worst of the most, Mr. President Trump,

Yep.

worst of the worst, these were not picked up. It's no excuse. California, biggest economy in the US, fourth largest in the world. We pay eighty billion dollars more to the federal government in federal taxes than we get back. In California, what we're trying to do is protect our economy, protect our taxpayers, and protect our citizens from crimes. Well, out of the times, undocumented are witnesses in cases. We're doing the right thing for the United States government. Mr. Chairman, I'm out of time. I yield.

General Nils Beck, uh Chairman Jordan.

Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, Sheriff Gaylor, um, why are you suing your state?

Because after a nearly a decade, uh, and Sheriff Jenkins is with me today, he had the longest two eighty-seven G program in the country. um, at a point uh because our government has our our Maryland government, governor, uh legislature has decided that we should not be cooperating with our federal partners, that we should not be working hand-in-hand with ICE, that local uh jurisdictions cannot make those decisions for themselves, and they've gone a step further with the Community Trust Act, that's the name of it, uh not what it actually does,

Mm-hmm.

and uh to prohibit even contacting ICE to honor any of the detainers that come in.

But why are you really doing it? What's what's what's uh what underlies that? This idea that you're suing because you don't like the state telling you can't work with the federal government but what's the underlying reason why do you want to be able to work with the federal government?

The underlying reason is exactly what I've done, dedicated forty years of my life and then as a candidate for this office uh three terms ago, um I ran on the platform of bringing the two eighty seven G program, simple public safety, public safety one and all.

There you have it.

That's it.

Safety.

Yes, sir.

Chief Law Enforcement, officer in your jurisdiction, this is about the safety of the people you've been elected to serve. And this policy of your state jeopardizes the safety of the very people you are elected to serve. Is that accurate?

That is a hundred percent accurate.

Cuz why else would you bring a suit against your own darned state? Sher- you're a sheriff a county sheriff in that state of Maryland. Why else would you do it? The only reason is because it jeopardizes the safety of the people in your community. And here's the, here's the kicker. Almost a third of the United States is living in a jurisdiction where the safety of those citizens is jeopardized by the sanctuary jurisdiction policy. Is that accurate?

I I believe so. And we've, well, Marilyn has just joined in a ultra sanctuary madness, in my opinion.

Yeah. And sanctuary jurisdiction, do you believe, Sheriff, sanctuary jurisdiction is a magnet for people, illegal immigrants to come to jurisdictions that have the sanctuary policy?

Absolutely. You if you if you tolerate crime,

Right.

criminal behavior or illegal immigration, you're gonna get more of it. That's the

And the end result is the tragedies that Miss Fox and Mister Coleman and their families have had to endure. Is that right?

Yes, as well as the tragedies I described in my own county.

Yep. And the guy sitting beside you said I think his opening state, Mister Beer, your opening statement was all immigrants benefit America. Mister Sheriff Gaylor, do you agree with that statement?

I didn't say that.

Well, I'll I'll read from your testimony. Your testimony says people whatever their ancestry background or birthplace benefit the United States. So you you you you didn't say that?

Yeah, people of all types of backgrounds benefit the United States, not every single person.

Okay.

You're you're

I'm all I just read from your text, whatever their ancestry, background or birthplace benefit the United States. Yeah, whatever their ancestry. Well, let me ask you a question then. I think you've been asked about this before. How many Somalis are in the state of Minnesota? Do you know, Mister Beer?

Tens of thousands, I don't know.

Forty-two thousand. Do you know how many of those uh forty-two thousand Somalis in Minnesota are on food stamps?

Probably about fifty percent.

Fifty four percent. You know how many are on Medicaid?

It's not a pop quiz. I don't know.

Seventy three percent. You know how many get some kind of government assistance?

A high percentage.

A high percentage. But you just said in your statement, people, whatever their ancestry, background or birthplace benefit the Unita- does it benefit the United States? The forty-two thousand Somalis that come to Minnesota and eighty-nine percent of them are on

You passed a b- you passed the one big beautiful bill. you could have gotten rid of welfare for immigrants,

That's not my question.

and I supported that.

No, my question is you see,

Yeah.

no, I'm looking at your statement, you said people,

Yeah.

whatever their ancestry, background, birthplace benefit the United States and I'm asking you if if eighty-nine

People, yes, people.

percent of forty-two thousand Somalis who are on public assistance, if that benefits the United States.

The public assistance doesn't, the people working, contributing does. So get rid of the public assistance.

You know how many Somalis,

I support getting rid of the public assistance.

you know how many Somalis

You are the ones voting for bills that funds the public assistance for them.

who've been here Mister Beard, do you know how many Somalis who've been here for ten years are still on public assistance?

We could cut that off tomorrow. You're in charge.

Well,

You write the rules.

the he- well, here, well, well, here's the question,

You can do that a- w- today.

here's the que- no, here's the question, here's the question. Is that a benefit to the country when people

No, giving the money does not benefit the country. Them working and contributing benefits the country.

And they're all help- they're all

Why why would you, why do you keep voting for bills that funds the things that you don't?

I don't. I'm for I'm for change of welfare. I'm just asking. You say they benefit the country. and I'm saying they come to the country and they're on public. By the way, in Minnesota it's even worse. They didn't stop with just taking benefits from the country. They were engaging in fraud. They were ripping off the taxpayers. And you say that's a benefit to the country.

People of all types benefit the country, absolutely.

That's Well, I I get that general statement, I'm asking you specifically about what's

Yeah, that's what I said.

going on with Somali population in Minnesota.

People, people are good. People are good. That's that's all that that uh statement is. People are good. Do you disagree that people are good? I mean, what are you arguing against here?

I don't know that the, I don't know that the people were good who did the crimes against Mister Coleman's uh daughter,

Not every, not every single person is good.

Miss Fox's daughter. Well, but you didn't say that, you said people are good.

Of all types, like I said, of all types.

There are peop- there are bad people too. Here's the point.

Yeah, they're bad people, I agree.

Here's the point, Mister Beer, Sheriff Gayler says the bad people, he wants to work with federal law enforcement to make sure they don't harm his community,

Yep. Yep.

so much so that he's willing to sue his state.

Mister Chairman. Mister Chairman, the time has expired.

Yep, yep.

That's how serious it is.

And you disagree with that.

Yep. Yep, no, get rid of the bad people. The time's expired, Mr. Chairman.

That's the point.

Get rid of the bad people. I don't disagree with that. I never said I disagreed with that.

The gentlelady is is correct,

Thank you.

the gentleman's time has expired.

Yep.

Uh, Mr. Raskin.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, Mr. Beer, l- let's pursue some of these points because, uh, I read, uh, an actual academic study that you did, uh, with the rather stunning headline, ICE is releasing twenty-three percent more convicted criminals than under Biden. Today, you write, "ISIS actually releasing more immigrants with criminal convictions and pending criminal charges than during President Biden's term. Since January twenty twenty five, when President Trump took office, ISIS released twenty five thousand seven hundred and twelve people with criminal convictions or pending charges and over two thousand, had violent criminal records. The data complicate the claim that President Biden was less committed to preventing criminal releases than Trump was. So why do we get such militant rhetoric on the one side, and then a completely different reality on the other? ISIS releasing twenty-three percent more convicted criminals than were released under Biden and they wanna blame everything on President Biden.

It's because they care more about the total number of people entering detention than they do about the quality of deportations. And so what we've seen at the same time that we've seen the criminal increa- releases increase, we've seen this enormous fourteen fold increase in the number of arrests and detentions of people without any criminal records or charges.

Okay, and so, l- let's get to that. You say "more striking is how much the administration has increased arrests and detentions of individuals without criminal charges or without criminal convictions even while it is not reducing the release of people who actually have a criminal conviction." So what is that about? And d- is does that have to do with Stephen Miller? Because what we hear from people at least on the the street, and some people from ICE have spoken about it, is that there's a quota of getting two thousand people a day or three thousand people a day.

Yeah.

They don't care if people's criminal convictions are being pumped out of the system or being driven out as long as you get more people in.

Yeah, so ICE agents have spoken uh to the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal, uh Washington Examiner, other conservative publications, about how, quote, " we're going for quantity over quality when it comes to arrests and detentions", and they are concerned about the violent fugitives that they aren't going after because of of the uh devotion to mass deportation over public safety.

Well, rhetoric in reality, um, we have Donald Trump pardoning international narco-traffickers like Juan Orlando Hernandez, who said, " We're gonna shove the cocaine up the nostrils of the gringos" and brought in hundreds of tons of cocaine to the country. We had him pardon a Florida man who, several weeks after the pardon, went out and sexually abused two middle school children and was convicted and sentenced to prison for life. Meantime, the lives of those two children were ruined. So wha- what exactly is going on in this radical disparity between the rhetoric which is anti-crime but the reality, which is pro-crime and pro-criminal? There's hundreds of people um couple of thousand people have been pardoned by Donald Trump who've committed vicious crimes. What's going on with that?

Including Medicaid fraud in the millions, hundreds of millions of dollars have been pardoned by this president. So, uh, look, when you think about what the strategy is when it comes to immigration, it is all about, like you said, the quota, the number of people, the number of bodies entering uh ICE detention facilities, and getting that money, that two hundred and fifty billion dollars out the door to fund these facilities, uh, into the future.

Well, but, Mister Chairman, I'd like to introduce for the record the Cato, uh, blog, Institute, ICE is releasing twenty-three percent more convicted criminals than were released under Biden by David Bier if I could, in Adam's consent. Okay. Um, so, rhetoric in reality. Now, um, I believe this is the fifth or sixth hearing we've done, designed to get legislation passed from the committee, that was passed back in March. Why do you think this has not been brought to the floor of the House of Representatives? I don't think it's fair to any of the people invested in it, whether you think this is the greatest legislation in the world, or you think it's misguided and moves in the wrong direction, regardless, it's not fair to keep peop- keep bringing people back to run the same hearing when the legislation's already passed out of the committee and they're not even explaining to anyone, why it's not being brought to the floor, which is how the legislative process works.

Well, I think it's the the legislation that's being discussed is unconstitutional, and it's probably unpopular with sheriffs and uh uh uh, you know, other law enforcement within the states that, you know, these uh individuals represent because it's forcing, it's creating a mandate, and it's creating li- liability for these uh municipalities if they don't do exactly what the federal government does.

And they certainly don't have the money that ICE has and the Department of Homeland Security.

Yes.

I mean, you're talking, I mean, you can't even compare what the local police department's have.

Yeah.

No, no thanks to the ranking.

All right, well, I'm out of time and I yield back to Mr. Sherman.

Remember, generalist Thomas expired, Mr. Bandrew.

Chairman McClintock.

Yeah.

Can I

Who's that?

Can I Can I ask a question?

Is b- Uh,

Or somebody else?

no, uh, somebody will have to a ask you,

Yes.

uh, a question to ask a question.

Before I'm done, I'll

But it's Mr. Bandrew, Will.

Yeah, I'll yield some time to you. I just wanna get started and then I'll yield some time to you. Is that okay, Miss Fox?

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Yeah.

First of all, to Miss Fox and Mister Coleman. Here I am again. Here we all are again. The other side says we do this over and over. Why? We know why. We do it for you, and it's not good enough. Condolences aren't good enough. I believe in prayer. I pray every single day. Every morning. But prayer has to be followed by action. That's the purpose of it, if you believe. And the point of doing this hearing is that we need to have the action. And some of those actions have begun, but not enough. I wish you all were sitting up here, and I know you know, cuz you're gone to some of the hearings, both of you, where we talk about immigration is a good thing. Yeah, it is a good thing. Legal immigration. Most of us were immigrants. They keep trying to blur it on the other side. Legal immigration is a wonderful thing. Immigrants are good. The mixture of people, the diversity, it's all good. Nobody here on this side is saying it's not. So let me clear the air about that. The value of these hearings, and we will keep doing them over and over and over again until people, children, every of every age actually, people of all ages, stop dying in this country because we're not because the job is not being done right. Law enforcement is not allowed to do its job often. And you know, we talked about the mistakes in deportation on the other side, and I don't like if there were mistakes, and that's open to question as well. But all those people still have their lives. That mistake was a terrible inconvenience, but they have their lives. Your kids do not. And there's nothing we can do on this committee to bring their life back. That's the difference. So maybe a little overly zealous sometimes, I don't know, but my God, we're trying to save people's lives. And you know what's better also than academic studies? Is reality. Uh, no offense to you, Mister Beer, but academic studies are great. You're the w- I wanna study you all. I wanna understand what you're going through. We never will. We never will. We can. And yet we have sanctuary states. So, you know, I'm here today, of course, while on this committee, but I live in New Jersey. I'm a member of Congress for the state of New Jersey, and my district is only about a half, it's Chris Smith's district, it's about a half hour away from me. We share Ocean County. I know that area well. My wife grew up in that area. That's so sad what happened there. And it didn't have to happen. That's the point. That's why we're here over and over again. That's why we keep having these hearings. That's why, even though it breaks your heart to have to testify, you do it because you don't want it to happen to somebody else. That's why we're having the damn hearing. We're tired of it. This is, we've been at this for years. The children that have been raped and beaten, the people that have been murdered. disfigured, tortured. I'm not gonna go through all the names. It makes you sick. And now you're on the list. It's a lousy list to be on. I don't know how you do it. And the condolences don't do it. Nothing does it. The only thing that will help you a little bit is if you are at peace, knowing that the job is finally being done correctly. That's what will help. And you know, I I I I know Mister Beer, that you had spoken in the past about the financial impact and some others have, look, I love capitalism, I think making money is good, but we're talking about human life. Don't tell me that we have to have open borders and sanctuary states so people can make more money. I don't buy that. I don't think we have to, number one, and I think that's a bad judgment to come to and a bad mistake. And your kid's life is worth more than any amount of money in the world. And don't tell me that open borders and illegal immigration is good for the country. It's not. If only your children died, it wouldn't be good for the country, but so many did. And Sheriff, I'm sorry for what you have to go through, trying to enforce the law. You swore an oath to enforce the law. What don't we get about this? They're breaking the law. Miss Fox, you wanted to say something.

I wanted to ask something this whole time. What's your guys's number? Cuz if anybody had come to my door and said would you give your daughter's life for these people to cross the border illegally I would have said no. Not one. Obviously we're not there yet. Obviously the American people will continue to suffer, obviously, American citizens will still bury their children or take care of them for the rest of their lives. So what is your number? Is that

I'm afraid the gentleman's time has expired. Number zero, Ms. Scanlon.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And Miss Fox, I, as a mom myself, obviously my heart goes out to you. Um, and the struggles you've had to get appropriate care for your d- your daughter. I've I've worked with folks with profound injuries and disabilities like that for years so um you deserve better, your daughter deserves better, obviously. Um, you know, I I wish that we were here to address the very serious issues of public safety and what we need to do to fix a very broken immigration system. But unfortunately, it's just another day in the judiciary committee where our colleagues, our Republican colleagues, are going to repeat untruths about sanctuary policies and about our immigrant neighbors. Um, they will sit here ranting about public safety, even as we see an unprecedented surge in arrests law abiding immigrants not and and citizens in ways that are actually undermining public safety in my community and in other communities around the country no one on this side of the aisle is saying that criminals particularly violent criminals should be given a free pass our disagreement is about the misuse of federal resources and taxpayer dollars that actually are making our communities less safe No one is safer when DHS agents are threatening or pointing guns at American citizens, making warrantless arrests, and executing people in the streets. No one is safer when the administration is prioritizing arrest quotas and arresting people who are showing up at ICE offices or immigration hearings because they are following the rules and and when that is happening instead of pursuing serious investigations and dangerous people That's a problem for all of us. Just last month, the DHS Inspector General released a report revealing that this administration's focus on mass deportation and the diversion of agents to focus on that has resulted in a one-third cut in the investigation and prosecution of fentanyl smuggling and child trafficking cases. So there is a cost to what happens when you pursue law abiding non-citizen immigrants in this country. And to add insult to injury, the biggest beneficiary of this mass deportation effort appears to be the private prison companies, like Jio and CoreCivic, which are being paid billions of taxpayer dollars to imprison people who have not committed any crimes, and many of whom entered this country legally. Uh, in Pennsylvania, the most Shannon detention camp is being paid more than five million dollars a month to detain nonviolent, non-criminal immigrants, and is then cutting its cost to make more profit by using the labor of detained people to run the prison camp, to clean the toilets, and make the food, and do the laundry. So, you know, i- it turns on its head, this idea that immigrants are taking American jobs when you are actually detaining people and using their forced labor. to cut Americans out of jobs. I- it's immoral on so many grounds. Um, but I wanna go back to the basic premise here of sanctuary cities, because it appears that those who oppose sanctuary jurisdictions do so in the mistaken belief that those cities are providing sanctuary to violent criminals. And that's just not true. As I raised in our last meeting and Mister Beer's testimony confirms, communities that adopt sanctuary city policies do so in order to improve public safety and respond to local law enforcement priorities. Um, attacking sanctuary policies and forcing cities to collaborate with ICE's chaos and cruelty, um, actually undermines public safety. It makes community members fear interaction with law enforcement. It reduces cooperation in reporting and prosecution of violent crimes, and it diverts local tax dollars. To support that chaos and corruption, I regularly meet with our local police and they are always scrambling to get more resources to do their jobs to keep their communities safe. They do not have the billions of dollars that DHS has. But when DHS forces local police departments to participate in their activities to detain folks who have not committed any crimes, they have less ability to set up a drunk driving checkpoint on the Labor Day holiday. or to go out and investigate a local drug trafficking ring. Um, Mister Beer, can you talk a little bit about how the argument about sanctuary cities relates to the priorities and relative constitutional powers of federal law enforcement and local law enforcement?

Yeah, uh, gentlelady's time has expired, I'll I'll give the gentleman fifteen seconds.

In fifteen seconds, look, we we wanna investigate crimes,

Mm-hmm.

and you need participation from victims and witnesses in order to prosecute offenders. This is what the administration has been undermining since the beginning.

General Lady Simons, Expo- Mr. Moore.

Thank you. And I'd refer people back to your testimony, which I thought was very thorough.

Mr. Moore.

I yield back.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Colman, Miss Fox. I pr- I appreciate your testimony today. I know it's quite painful, I'm sure. But we appreciate you helping us get more of this to the public. People get to understand what's happening to American families as a as an open border policy in the past four years and basically a mass migration into the United States. Sheriff Gayler, I uh Curious. I know you sued obviously your state for sanctuary policies. What does that look like when now if if you have somebody that you've arrested, are you not allowed at all to notify us, even if they have a criminal record? How does that tie your hands up?

Not they have a criminal record.

Is that

If an uh absent a judicial warrant, uh we cannot honor the detainers, um and only on certain crimes after conviction. Running a local detention center most of our inmate population comes through on arrests and local sentencing. Um, but the Department of Corrections is now unless under a certain um category of crimes, a list of crimes, they cannot talk to ICE and let them know that that person's being released.

So basically you just turn them back out on the street.

Yes.

You know, I was in the prior administration, I had a judge, he's retired now, tell me that he would literally have uh an individual drinking and driving in the courtroom, and uh they'd be found guilty. And then they release them, the ICE and the prior administration will go down the street and put those people back out on the street. Obviously we had a lot of people killed as a result. One individual had fired the US. Um but it certainly I I was just curious to how that works now, and and you're just basically having to turn those folks back out on the street. There's nothing you can do to get them out of this country if they're here illegally.

Correct, that's what Maryland Community Trust Act uh has now implemented across the state of Maryland.

What does that do to public safety?

Um oh it it it uh in my professional opinion after forty years of doing this job, and and for my fellow sheriffs behind us, it it harms public safety, it puts dangerous people back on the street. Or even if it's not dangerous, and we we we get around that wheel a lot, even if it's minor crimes, our citizens deserve to be protected from crime by law enforcement.

Mr. Coleman, you got uh your CDLs. I have my CDLs. Um, you had to go through a pretty strict driving course, I guess a road test, written test. How long did they actually train you before they turned you loose on the road with Were you A class A CDL driver, class B?

Class A, yes.

Uh

Uh the the school itself was um about three and a half, four weeks, and then I did six months um driver training with with another driver when I hired onto it.

With an instructor in the truck or somebody with a CDLs?

Correct, yes.

Uh what's the weight of that truck? I mean legal weight, I don't know.

Eighty thousand pounds maximum weight without permit.

Eighty thousand, that's right. Yeah, right. And that, you know, I got my CDLs and there were times, even growing up, being around it, being trained, taking the written test, the road test, doing the inspections on air brakes, all those things I had to do, there were still times that I was concerned. Just going down the road because a car would pull out or there'd be road signs, or I'd be in traffic. And so what do you make of it when California just issues CDLs Apparently they're just issuing them to drivers now and turning them loose to these vehicles. What does that do to public safety in your opinion?

There is no public safety at that point. It's it's everybody, ev- every person for themselves. When I was growing up, um, my grandma used to tell me all the time, like, don't worry about the semi-trucks, they know exactly what they're doing on the road. That's no longer the case now. We're we're no longer a professional profession.

It it's so true, right? I mean, used to you could the the drivers were professional drivers.

Right.

They knew how to change the lanes,

Right.

Whatever they had to do, brake in advance if something was happening. And now we've got people who literally may not can drive a vehicle, a c- an automobile safe. And we're putting them in eighty thousand pound trucks, letting them drive sixty five miles an hour down the road and some of them can't read our road signs.

Exactly. Correct.

Miss Fox, I know that uh and the sheriff's talking about sanctuary cities and I know you apparently you live in a jurisdiction that's sanctuary, but the lady that hit and hurt your daughter She didn't even have a driver's license. She was just turned loose on the streets, I guess, in your neighborhood.

Correct.

And if, you know, the, you talk about mass deportation. In a situation like that, sheriff wouldn't had a chance to probably check her background. She just was here in the US driving. And so, you know, I'm I'm moving more and more towards mass deportation, I think, because even in these situations, if they don't have a CDL or if they're not they don't have a prior conviction, if they're here illegally, chances are there is a possibility that US citizens are gonna get harmed. And that's a damage to public safety.

Yes.

It's a risk to public safety. Thank you all for your testimony. Mr. Chairman, I'll yield back.

Uh, Ms. Ross.

Um, thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I wanna thank all of our witnesses for being here today, and Ms. Fox and Mr. Coleman. I am just deeply, deeply sorry about what happened to your children, it is unimaginable, and I thank you for being brave enough to come here and testify today. I wanna just say, as Mister Raskin pointed out, that we're here again talking about sanctuary cities, and we do have a bill that passed out of this committee, um and hasn't been brought to the floor, and so I am confused about that, um why we're having another hearing on something where we have active legislation. I'm also confused about why we're not having a hearing about the private prison industry, and its um detention of so many people who have no criminal record. We have had no hearings on the private prison industry. And uh at least three of us from the judiciary committee went to visit a private prison in the month of august in georgia the conditions were deplorable ranking member jaya paul um led us i spent time talking to the representative from core civic about how great business has been for core civic that was the the focus of what our conversation was about and in the meantime our tax dollars are being used to house these people in the private prisons at between a hundred and fifty and two hundred dollars a day. And those are tax dollars that could go to fighting crime. I wanna um ask unanimous consent to introduce, for for the record, um prison firm donated to Trump's PAC after ICE gave it a hundred and sixty-five million dollars a year in contracts.

Is that objection?

And then, um, also, Trump has made twenty-nine private prison stock trades since in taking office.

Without objection.

Thank you so much. So, meanwhile, this administration is slashing desperately needed funding for state and local law enforcement officers, while pulling law enforcement officers off complex criminal cases, to just to pers- pursue filling up these prisons. And now they wanna force state and local law enforcement to carry out this same agenda. Mister Beier, the Trump administration claims that they're only going after the worst of the worst targeting violent criminals for deportation. But according to ICE's own data, a large majority of the immigrants they've arrested and detained in these private prisons have no criminal records. Could you tell us um what the Trump administration really is doing here? Are they going after the worst of the worst?

The interesting thing to note, we talk about the criminal convictions and the records, but actually these ICE facilities and the ICE agents who book people in have to make a threat level determination when they book them in. And what we see is you can have you have a level one, level two, level three, or no threat level. into ICE facilities, they're booking them in at no threat level at all. Only ten percent are the highest threat level. So, on the outside they're saying this is all about public safety and these people are a huge threat. In internal documents show, no, they don't think they're a big threat, they're - they're just uh detaining them purely to get them to give up on their legal rights to stay in the United States. That's the only reason they're detaining them. And it's actually working. People are giving up on their cases as a result of the deplorable conditions that you're talking about in these facilities.

And actually, Mister Beier, um, there is a gentleman from my community who gave up on his case the day before a judge said that he could have stayed in this country.

Unbelievable.

The day before. Can you describe how, um, using resources this way rather than um investing in local law enforcement affects our ability to catch the worst of the worst

absolutely i mean there's a great example the the office of inspector general just did a report on fentanyl trafficking looking at homeland security investigations arm of ice when the trump administration came in they diverted uh one point seven million man hours into civil immigration enforcement depleted the amount of man hours in in all other areas including fentanyl, but sex trafficking, terrorism, child uh trafficking, all of these types of offenses were reduced in and shifted into this mass deportation focus. That's not in the interest of public safety. Everyone knows that's not in the interest of public safety. The The general age time is expired. Eighty percent of fentanyl traffickers are US citizens. So the the idea that it makes sense to divert all these resources General age time is expired. into immigration enforcement it just doesn't work. We can try.

Thank you. I yield back.

Mister Prye.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, thank you uh to our witnesses uh for being here, particularly the parents who've gone through a lot. It's very brave to be here. Sheriff, I wanna go through some hypotheticals. I wanna know how these sanctuary laws actually work in practice. Uh, so say John Doe is sitting in your jail cell awaiting trial for attempted murder. It's a serious charge. Um, he's not yet been convicted. ICE independently identifies him as being removable. ICE isn't asking your deputies to go find him. You've already got him. Uh, but ICE calls and says, " Sheriff, just tell us when he's released." Are you allowed to do that under the Maryland law?

The Community Trust Act prohibits that exact

So you can't even talk to ICE about uh his his release at all?

Correct. You ca- wouldn't not be even able to confirm his incarceration.

Think about that. The sheriff has the defendant. ICE knows the defendant is there, that he's removable. They want him after Maryland has administered justice. But the missing ingredient is apparently a permission slip from the state capitol in Annapolis. Um, I'm not asking you to hold, go through the same hypothetical, I'm not asking you to hold him for forty-eight hours. I'm not asking you to do ICE's job, uh, or make a new arrest. You open the jail cell right when Maryland law says that you must. Uh, and ICE calls and says, w- you know, or can the sheriff ask or tell ICE beforehand which door that the defendant is coming out of and when.

We would not be able to do that. That would be coordinating with federal authorities.

So - so that is the conduct that Maryland restricts, that coordination.

Correct. Correct.

So when a politician says, "We're simply refusing to do ICE's job in Maryland," that's not the whole story, is that they're preventing you from even helping ICE do their own job, just by giving information.

Correct, they're prohibiting us from working with a federal law enforcement partner, and that's again back to why I initially pursued this agreement with President Obama's administration, was for public safety, and they now is prohibited.

If you aren't holding the person one second longer, what public safety benefit comes from keeping ICE ignorant about the release time?

I'm I'm I'm sorry, if I'm keeping them longer?

If you're if you're not you're not holding them any second longer than you have to, right? They get out, um What public safety benefit uh comes from keeping ice ignorant about uh the release time?

None at all.

So why would Maryland do something like that?

Um, be I I our legislature and I unfortunately uh I have found myself at opposite ends of much of what our state is doing because it's uh a very pro-criminal uh legislature, uh not supportive of law enforcement but pro-criminal on many fronts, but this this one was their attention this past uh past two sessions, but it passed this session.

What's safer for everybody involved? Ice taking custody in in your controlled detention center or ice learning after release that the person is now in the community?

Certainly, we um and and Tom Holman, the Board Resort has been very clear on this, um much safer to turn over that individual after they are in custody in a cell, been searched one-on-one, opened the cell door, bring ice in and and put them into custody of ice, that transfer is so much safer. than the what we're seeing around the country where ICE has to do their job in the streets in the communities. The preference is the job.

Sheriff, sheriff, it was alleged earlier that um we're diverting important law enforcement resources um in your department to go do ICE's job under the two eighty seven G program. Well, I wanna clear up that caricature, were your deputies driving around neighborhoods asking people for d- uh immigration papers, or were they doing their jobs that they've always done?

Not at all. Our corrections deputies were uh strictly for corrections based our two eighty seven G program. So this all took place after the arrest by law enforcement deputies. Law enforcement deputies were not trained, had no part of two eighty seven in the state of Maryland. There is a component uh two two eighty seven that allows law enforcement, but Maryland had prohibited that long ago.

Mister Coleman, one argument that we've heard of this entire debate is that these catastrophic cases only represent a small percentage of overall incidents. Um, your little girl suffered a traumatic brain injury uh because at the hands of an illegal immigrant what would you say to somebody who describes your daughter as being part of a statistically small population?

Uh, I would say it's one hundred percent of our life now. Uh, she is the one percent. She's the, as Mark Wayne Mark Wayne Mullen said yesterday, you know, this is point zero zero zero one percent is too much. She is part of that statistic and as you know miss fox asked you know what number do we need like what what's the magic number how many more do you guys need because the angel families we have republicans and we also have democrats the this side of the audience sits here and helps the angel families whether they're republican or democrat but the democrats only wanna help out the democrats that's it

i think the principle that i wanna take away from this hearing is when government has the safer option they should take the safer option

gentlemen's gentlemen's time has expired

agreed

mister cohen

Thank you, Mr. McClintock. Uh, Mister Beer, in Minnesota, Mister Pretty and Miss Good were shot, killed by ICE agents on camera. What was the punishment that ICE rendered, meted out to the folks who did that, particularly Mister Pretty? who was shot maybe seven or eight times in the back.

As far as I know, there haven't been any penalties, monetary or criminal, related to those incidents. It took them a while even to get them off the streets. They just transferred them to a different location after the the incidents happened.

And did they work with local government, local police to - to give them the opportunity to prosecute?

No, they covered up the crime scene. They arrested some of the witnesses and took them away. Uh, they destroyed and concealed evidence. And, uh, only months later, seven months later, they they eventually turned over some of the evidence, uh, to, uh, uh, local, uh, prosecutors.

Sheriff, I'd like to ask you a question. You're familiar with the sh- the shootings and murders which was what they were in in Minnesota, is that my correct?

I'm familiar with the incidents, yes.

Do you believe that ICE should have conducted some type of criminal discipline of those officers who shot killed those people or if they had reason not to, they should have explained it to the public?

Uh, I think any time there's a law enforcement use of force that results any law enforcement use of force but any law enforcement use of force that results in death or serious injury there should be an investigation to see if the officer's actions were appropriate.

And in the investigation the results should be public, should it not?

Absolutely.

That's, there's so many things with ICE that are wrong. I mean, we we need a lot of improvement there, and we should have had better people in charge of it. Um, Christy Noem was in charge of it, and one good thing this committee did is when she came before us, she couldn't explain the two hundred and fifty million dollar advertising campaign that she had promoted. which had her riding on a horse, and she looked good on the horse. She looked good in the elevator when she was a member at I see her here. I'm sure she looks good down in Latin America where she's some type of special envoy, working to solve the cartel problem, just as much as she solved the ICE problem. But she had no business running ICE cuz she had no experience running ICE. What she had experience doing was zooming President Trump and looking pretty. And she still does that. That shouldn't be the criteria of somebody running ICE. And if we had better people running ice, what happened in the i- situations that you we've d- had discussed here with the Angel families may not have occurred. We need experts, law enforcement experts, top-notch people who know what they're doing and can zero in on the issue of the worst of the worst and get them off the streets and out of the country. But instead, we hire people who are zooming President Trump and looking good riding a horse in front of Mount Rushmore. That two hundred fifty million dollar contract that she and Mister Leondowski got for her friend who was incorporated just a m- couple of weeks earlier in Virginia and never done any work whatsoever, this committee was partly responsible for that being exposed because of questions asked of Miss Noem and her being fired because of those questions but this committee has not pursued anything to do with that we haven't had a hearing on what happened with that two hundred and fifty million dollars as promotion of ICE And homeland security was mostly about promoting misnomer. But we haven't done a thing about it. And that's something this committee should do. We should have followed up. But we don't follow up. We come back with more of the same. Sanctuary cities. Sanctuary cities are not the problem. Memphis is not a sanctuary city. But just this weekend we had the largest ice raid in Memphis history. They picked up a hundred people out of a bar and took them and put them on buses and two o'clock in the morning. They claimed they went to this bar. which is in a Hispanic neighborhood, because they had gambling going on. I feel like I was watching, uh, what was the movie, Casablanca, gambling. I can't believe it's going on here. This administration has done more for gambling than any administration ever. They try to get crypto legalized and registered. Crypto's a gamble. It's a rip-off. It was, it, Trump used to call it a, a, a, a scumbag activity. Until he found out he could, when president, could take advantage of it and make the rules and become the largest scumbag of all of the cryptos. So he's made it his job to have crypto be around. And Kelsey, they want Kelsey to be around. Gambling, gambling, gambling. They took people out of the community. The Memphis mayor objected, I object. We don't need the National Guard in Memphis. We don't need ICE in Memphis. We need rational law enforcement and la- rational immigration.

Gentlemen sh-

We don't have it. I yield back my time, Oh, this time was inspiring. but before I yield back my time,

The gentleman doesn't have any time to yield back.

obviously the chairman is one of my favorite members of Congress, and I admire him greatly and I appreciate his work.

That's that is that is mutual,

I yield back.

Mister Koh and uh Mister Grossman.

I know that. Back.

Thank you. Uh, first of all, there's some, I think, some confusion out there. Uh This president was left with a very, very difficult situation. Nobody knows exactly how many people were allowed in this country illegally, but it's probably around. uh eight million. And when you include people left in this country before uh President Biden took took office, you might be up around twenty-three or twenty-four million, okay. Now, if we're gonna have an immigration law, we can't just enforce the immigration law on people who are breaking crimes. Anybody who thinks that's the way the law works, it's preposterous, right. We enforce our immigration law in part to keep our housing costs down. We enforce our immigration law in part to keep our wages up. We enforce it to prevent uh America from changing and um not being the freedom like loving republic we're supposed to be, with regard to the number of people illegally here, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, jump in. I don't think w- anybody has any idea how many crimes are being committed by illegal immigrants. Right, Sheriff Gayler, if I were to ask you how many illegal immigrants do you have in your jail, I don't know if you have a jail, but if you have a jail, you probably couldn't answer the question, because that's not a question that that is put down there. I can tell you before sitting down here, I talked to one of my local sheriffs and they felt disproportionately the people involved in prostitution in their area were people from China or Mexico. Okay, illegally here. Now some people don't care about prostitution, but in any event, that's part of the deal. Disproportionately driving crimes, drunk driving maybe not enforced as much in other countries, disproportionately is something that happens here, sex with a minor, again, maybe disproportionately. But nobody has those numbers and nobody, I have never been under the impression that when President Biden let, let's say, eight million people in this country, the only people we would try to deport are people who are committing crimes, That's not like having any immigration law at all. Right? Obviously. Okay. Um Last to to comment on that, any one of you Sheriff Gellert.

I I I will just say when I first looked at bringing this program when I was first elected the question I got all the time from the public was how many how big's the problem? And the answer was we had no idea because no one was screening those individuals who were arrested at the jail. Then we started screening and we found out that over the course of our eight years in the, in the uh program. It was thousands, uh, w- over a thousand, three hundred of them were detainers were filed as being a threat to public safety and national security.

Any crimes you found are disproportionately committed by people who come here illegally?

A wide uh, no, it was a wide range, but of course, and again again in my community we had those two horrific homicides, um, uh, you know, and they happen across the country.

I Yeah. And I will point out one more time. Immigration laws don't mean we only kick out people who are committing a crime. That would be no immigration law at all. And anybody who says that is just just in a dreamland. There are a couple of Republicans who feel that way, and they're, I I can't imagine what goes on in their mind. And when Democrats say we should let anybody in this country who crosses the border if they're not committing a crime, they are in essence saying we should be like Joe Biden and let seven or eight million people here every new presidential term which would obviously permanently change America for the worst, as should be obvious. Uh now uh who should we grab here that give me choices? Uh, Mister Coleman, um thank you for your testimony, for being here. Um have you received, given all the problems they've had? Uh uh you know um you've had this, the CDLs, they operate large commercial vehicles. Have you had any correspondence from Governor Newsom with regard to this?

No, I haven't had any response from him, his him or his team.

OK. There are several members of the California delegation that sit on the Judiciary Committee given what happened to your daughter and your experience with California's sanctuary policies would you say directly to these member what would you say directly to these members about the consequence of the policies and the responsibility of their state has to protect Americans?

When did they think that this was gonna stop or I mean this makes no sense at all, how how they thought this was a good idea.

to me and and you anyone you can correct me if i am wrong it appears to be the goal of the democrat party is to let as many people from other countries here regardless of the consequences they want to change america and if you wanna have america look more like other countries around the globe few of which we would wanna live in uh that that's the way you do it just anybody can come here and then maybe say well the only one

j-

The gentleman's time has expired.

Breaking the law.

Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Since day one, Trump has made Americans feel less safe as he carries out his extreme and expensive immigration crackdown. Militarized cities, the erosion of constitutional rights, and terrorized Americans. All of this has been a part of the plan and is not enough, uh, for Trump and Republicans to carry out their insidious agenda at the federal level. The cities and the states who have pushed back and refused to do Trump's bidding with so-called sanctuary policies have faced funding cuts and harassment by the federal government those places have been demonized because they would rather focus their resources on local issues what the federal government is doing in the name of community safety is so wrong that it has to be on purpose. Trump is implementing policies that we know will fail they they could not work. Republicans claim to care about law enforcement, but they're not making their jobs any easier by pushing them to work with ICE. Community safety is built on trust, but trust can't be built when these officers are busy doing the the dirty work for the least reputable agency in the federal government right now. It doesn't make us safer when ICE rounds people up in mass raids and violently intimidates protesters or or shoots and kills innocent people who they say are in their way. Trump and Republicans do this on purpose because they rely on the ability to fear-monger and scapegoat in order to subjugate people. They rely on the divisions between community safety, uh, police officers, and communities themselves. When people fear their federal government or fear their president, they're easier to control. This anti-sanctuary city crusade goes hand in hand with Republicans' authoritarian playbook. None of the goals are making America safer. Trump and Republicans just want to control. Mister Baer, is there any evidence that cities and states that work with ICE and immigration officials see lower crime rates?

No, not at all. I actually have a chart in my written testimony where I show the homicide rate, uh, highlighting the ones that are sanctuary cities, according to this administration, versus the ones that aren't. There's no relationship there at all. There there's not. Uh, you can have a safe place and have immigration policies on one side versus the other side, it really should be an issue under our constitution that is settled by the local government.

Thank you. And the reality is that states and cities that collaborate with ICE can face dire consequences. Uh, in Brentwood, Pennsylvania, very near where I live in my district, an asylum seeker reported a man trying to break into his house and then threatening him. When he went to court to testify, both the victim and the accused were picked up. by ice and sent to the very same detention center. In Utah, a man set his house on fire, he killed himself, his partner and their kids. Now his partner's family said he kept, that she kept silent about the abuse she suffered because she was afraid that she'd be deported. And there are so many reports of victims and witnesses going to police or to testify in court and then being detained by immigration uh officials or not going at all and losing their lives as we've seen in one case. Mister Beer, what kind of long-term impact does going after

Look, I have a whole list of these cases in my written testimony as well. It is doing extraordinary damage. Uh, before this administration, non-citizens and immigrants in the United States actually did report crimes, violent crimes against them at a higher rate than the US-born population, in part because they think highly of American police. But now that they see them as an extension of ICE in many cases, it is undermining the trust. that is required to pursue these cases and it's, and it is a problem.

Yeah. Our communities deserve to feel safe and we're not going to achieve that by pushing these cruel and inhumane immigration policies. What actually works are proactive investments that get to the root causes of crime. That means safe schools no matter what zip code you live in after after school programs street lights on every block affordable housing, mental health and substance abuse treatment. Trump has claimed he's committed to public safety, but his administration cut about five hundred million dollars in Department of Justice programs that help to drive down uh crime like community violence prevention and mobile crisis uh response. Meanwhile, Trump and Republicans have given ICE and CBP one hundred and fifty-two billion dollars in funding from their one big beautiful uh act and the Secure America Act. You cannot claim that you care about public safety and community safety. when you cut programs working to prevent crime and then terrorize the witnesses and victims of crime that have already happened. Let's not pretend they care about public safety when their actions say otherwise. I thank you all for your time and I yield back.

Gentlelady yields back, Mister Nott.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think it's it's pretty obvious that uh my colleague who just spoke doesn't know what she's talking about when she refers to public safety. The stats are quite clear. Over the last eighteen months, murders are down twenty-five percent. Carjacking is down fifty percent. Robbery is down twenty percent. Residential burglary down almost twenty percent. Sex crimes are down uh twenty five percent. Crimes against children are down roughly twenty five percent. And all of this comes as the president has enacted mass deportations. He has fought the resistance of sanctuary cities. And the results are as plain as day. When you enforce immigration laws, communities get safer. Mister Coleman and Miss Fox, I again am astounded that here we are at another hearing and the Democrats look at you and they apologize with I would say unbelievably superficial sincerity. And then they defend the very policies that has led to your lives being upended. And the question that we as a government should ask is should we allow another Delilah to happen? Should we allow another American citizen to be forever handicapped because of the act of an illegal immigrant? Or should we advocate to enforce our laws, protect this country, and get rid of every person in the country illegally? I'm for the latter. And I'm sorry that government policy that harms this country has harmed you. Now, Sheriff, I wanna talk to you about uh the effects of of illegal immigration and crime. There's been a lot of discussion about this, but most of the studies that are referenced when they cite uh illegal immigrants

Well, again, we're back to that now that we cannot communicate with ICE in order to identify those people that we arrest.

Yes.

Uh, so unless ICE It's a booking sheet. We we don't know. We're back to that point in time where we don't even know. So I I how that parlays into the studies, I I don't know. I can tell you what we see locally.

But it's common sense that if someone comes across the border illegally with an open border they come from a country that's third world that doesn't keep records, they do not come into contact with border patrol, they don't come into contact with ICE. How are you gonna identify them if you get a picture of them committing a crime?

You're not, and and false IDs to to accompany everything you mentioned.

Absolutely.

You're not. They're gonna go through the system on on a fictitious name perhaps. Um, but again, I I'm talking about locally. You know, you can do these nationwide studies,

Right.

but what we've seen locally in my community is happening everywhere, and that's, you know,

What what effect you've been in the in law enforcement for forty years, what effect has mass migration and open border had on the types of crimes that are being committed?

Well, certainly we saw at the at the height of the open border the, uh, drugs flowing across the fentanyl. I heard some conversation from this side of the room about the fentanyl being down.

Yep.

It's cuz we have a more secure border than we did under the past administration.

Right. It's worth noting, I think, that most Americans have unfortunately become uh desensitized to the number of deaths from drugs. In nineteen seventy, eighty, and all the way through the nineteen nineties, we were averaging less than five thousand deaths per year. In nineteen ninety we had fewer than ten million illegal aliens in the country. Since the year two thousand, We have averaged over one hundred thousand deaths. Since the year two thousand we have almost one point seven million dead Americans. You cannot separate open borders and mass migration with the plight on American citizens. And that doesn't even account for those who are suffering from addiction, those who have suffered from violence, those who have suffered from hollered out communities. And your state makes it illegal for you to work with ICE to get rid of illegal immigrants.

One hundred percent.

It's unbelievable. Mister Beier, I wanna talk to you uh just briefly in regards to your your stance. You believe that people who are here illegally should be able to stay here until they're convicted. Is that basically it?

There should be a legal way to vet them and and uh apply for legal immigration. Whatever the legal immigration system is,

I'm not trying to play gosh, I understand, but but

we should yeah, we should have a legal system for people to apply.

but but And in regards to uh securing a conviction, do you condemn the the sanctuary prosecutors that have come before this committee and said, I'm gonna take into account immigration status before I bring charges?

I don't think we should, uh, give people a lesser sentence or no sentence because of their immigration status. It's irrelevant.

And in regards to, uh, I would say concerns around the country, do you believe that culture should be considered when admitting people into the in the United States?

What do you mean by culture?

Well, should we welcome people into the country who Advocate for child marriage, for instance.

We shouldn't allow people who are pedophiles

Or What about who believe that you should be killed for your faith?

to immigrate.

Gen-

We shouldn't allow people to immigrate who wanna kill people.

What about people who believe that the United States deserved nine eleven?

The gentleman's time. Gentleman's time.

Should we allow people in the country that believe that?

Gentleman's time has expired.

If people support terrorism, we shouldn't allow them in the country.

Great.

I can do it after you. No, go ahead. Okay. Mister Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record the US Department of Homeland Security Office of it the Inspector General report from August twentieth, twenty twenty six entitled ICE Homeland Security Investigations Hindered in Countering Fentanyl Entering the United States.

An objection.

Ask unanimous consent to enter into the record. an article titled " How ICE is arresting soaring numbers of immigrants with no criminal record."

Without rejection.

Asking unanimous consent to enter into the record an article titled " Wife of active duty army sergeant deported amid Trump's immigration campaign."

Without objection.

Asking unanimous consent to enter into the record, a Texas Tribune article entitled " Federal government allows return of US citizen deported after traffic stop in central Texas."

Without objection.

Ask unanimous consent to enter into the record an article titled " Beloved Haitian Pastor Detained by ICE in Springfield".

Without objection. Mm.

Ask unanimous consent to enter into the record an article titled " Father, a five-year-old, detained by ICE, plans voluntary deportation."

Without objection. Mm.

Ask unanimous consent to enter into the record "Father of sailor aboard the beleaguered USS Abraham Lincoln, detained by immigration authorities."

Without objection.

Ask unanimous consent to enter into the record an article titled " ICE, Arrest, Mom and Daughter at Hospital." after vehicle smashes into their car.

Without objection.

Ask unanimous consent to enter into the record an article titled " Judge to Baby, File an Asylum Application."

Without objection.

Mm.

Ask unanimous consent to enter into the record an article titled "A P exclusive, Trump's immigration crackdown has detained more than fifty military spouses and parents."

Without objection.

Ask unanimous consent to enter into the record an article titled " College student steps into traffic" is killed after losing immigration status.

Is that objection?

Ask unanimous consent to enter into the record a Cato blog institute titled ICE has diverted over twenty-five thousand officers from their jobs.

Is that objection?

And ask unanimous consent to enter into the record because the question of Medicaid funding and who's on Medicaid came up an article titled Amazon workers on food stamps nearly tripled while company spends two hundred billion on AI so let's think about why those folks are on Medicaid. Is that objection?

Mr. Gil.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, for for holding this hearing, um. Mister Coleman, thanks for coming here and taking the time for sharing uh Delilah's story. Um, it really is heartbreaking. I have a similar story of a constituent uh in my district, um, eight year old Baron Ritchie, um, who was killed by an illegal alien as well. Um, Mister Coleman, can you share with me who was driving the The truck that struck Delilah?

Oh, he was an illegal immigrant.

Yep. Uh, do you remember his name?

Um, Parthap Singh.

Parthap Singh. And and he was an illegal alien. Was was he a legal driver in the United States?

According to California, yes.

According to California. So he was an illegal alien, but he was legally driving on our roads, according to California.

Correct.

Um, do you think that in individuals who are willing to break our immigration laws are generally also willing to break traffic?

And much more.

And and much more. You think that illegal aliens should have CDL licenses?

I do not.

I I don't either. Do you think that they should be a little bit more heavily scrutinized than than the rest of the American population?

One hundred percent, yes.

Have you received an a a a a call of condolence from California Democrats after uh the accident?

I haven't received anything from the Democrats.

Has Governor Newsom called you to to offer his condolences?

No.

Why do you think it took California two years following the wreck to revoke seventeen thousand CDL licenses issued to illegal aliens?

Probably because the Department of Transportation health funding.

Mm-hmm. So it sounds like they're motivated more by money than by anything else.

With everything is behind money, yes.

Yeah, with everything. Um, do you think it's worthwhile for the federal government to defund states that don't require or enforce English language proficiency standards for driver's licenses?

I think uh all secretaries should get together and withhold funding if they violate any federal law.

I I absolutely agree. Um, thank you again for being here.

Thank you, Mr. Goff.

Appreciate your testimony. Um, Sheriff, I I've got a a couple questions for you. Does Maryland do Maryland's sanctuary city laws uh make the state safer in your opinion?

They do not.

No. You've previously described Maryland sanctuary city law as as pro criminal could you elaborate on that?

Uh just uh many things that our legislature has done over the past mm eight years or so unfortunately rang into that bell, but when you pass legislation in a world post nine eleven, uh nine eleven we learned that we need to communicate with our federal partners, all federal partners to keep our community safe, and yet we uh in our state see fit to pass legislation to say we can't communicate with this law enforcement or that law enforcement. It's stupidity at its best.

Is it burdensome to uh to uh to honor an ICE detainer?

Not at all.

Not at all. Um, sir, the the illegal aliens who murdered Lakin, Riley and Sheridan Gorman had been arrested for nonviolent crimes before their ki- killings. Do you think that it's best to remove petty criminals like them before they can commit more serious crimes?

That is a hundred percent what I believe.

I agree. Um, and with that, Mister Chairman, I'll I'll yield

Uh, thank you. I'll I'll take that uh time. Thank you. Um, you know, the Democrats criticize ICE for not picking up all the criminals when they're notified. But ironically, they, same Democrats, repeatedly voted to shut down the Department of Homeland Security in the longest shutdown in American history in order to keep any money going to ICE to enforce those detainers. Uh, they complain when they can't pick up every detainee, and then they complain when they do. Uh, they complain the Trump administration's releasing illegal aliens, usually due to activist judges, and then they complain that they're deporting too many. They complain we haven't passed the Stop Sanctuary Jurisdictions Act yet, though every one of them voted against it in committee. It's rather confusing. The the the Democrats, who told us for years no one's above the law, when they were trying to jail their opponent, are now telling us that anyone who illegally enters this country is above the law. And then any of those who go on to commit other crimes is also above the law. That's the whole point of their sanctuary laws. Yeah, Sheriff Gayler, what does that do to the rule of law that you're charged to uphold?

Diminishes, once again, diminishes our communities. Uh, I believe it does the opposite of the name of the Bill, Community Trust Act. It diminishes the communities ability to trust their government to keep them safe.

Um, Sheriff Gaylor, you heard the Democrats and their witnesses tell us that illegal aliens don't contribute significantly to the crime problem. What are your professional observations based on a lifetime career in law enforcement?

Well, certainly again, it goes back to looking at it locally, um, they're they're not the majority of the people who commit crime in our community. However, you know, we do everything to address all crime and to ignore

Would you call them a significant factor in the crime you deal with daily?

It's it's certainly a factor. I don't know that it's significant, but it's it's a number significant enough that we implemented this program in order to keep our community safe to keep people from being repeat offenders.

Miss Scanlon tells us that sanctuary laws improve public safety. Is that your opinion?

It is not my opinion.

I uh see thirteen individuals in law enforcement uniforms who are representing at least eight county jurisdictions in the audience, do any of our law enforcement uh uh uh uh officials uh agree with that statement? That agree with the s statement that sanctuary laws improve public safety. Stand if you believe that.

No.

Stand if you believe that.

Yeah. Yes.

Let the uh record show not a single law enforcement uh official here today uh agreed with that statement. Uh, sheriff, you mentioned that Maryland's sanctuary law forbids officials from inquiring about the immigration status of those they encounter. I know California has a similar law. And then, reporting no illegal immigrants in their custody, the Democrats then tell us that illegal immigrants don't commit many crimes. Um, in fact, Miss Fox was told that, uh, uh, for six months. And then we s- have dishonest statisticians deliberately use these tainted numbers to weave a false narrative. How do these laws affect crime reporting? in the eleven states that have such laws.

Well, I again I think it it precludes Data from making it to the report on, you know, who who is in the country illegally and committing the crimes.

No. And these statisticians know that,

Uh Yeah, y-

but they're deliberately spinning a narrative that is simply dishonest.

Uh Uh I'm not a statistician, but I can tell you I've seen Data spun,

Yeah.

uh as you all have, a whole bunch of different ways. I know what I've seen in forty years as my uh fellow sheriff.

And is it completely at odds with what we've heard from the Democrat witness? Yeah, I'll I'll note that Mister Beer I think has single-handedly destroyed the reputation of the Cato Institute. I no longer take their opinion seriously on any subject, uh and I'm not the only one. Uh Sheriff, you testified that it's uh much safer to transfer illegal aliens when they're already in custody than to release them, and require an entire squad of officers to track them down. Uh, correct?

Correct, yes.

And and and yet the Democrats decry the deaths that occur of targets, of bystanders, and of activists who are attempting to interfere with these arrests. It seems to me you can't defend the practice without taking responsibility for the results.

Uh, I I do think that's exactly the the thought process that goes through some people's minds. They're they're they're creating the result, and we told Maryland's legislature this when we testified against these bills, That they were creating the problem that they wanted to supposedly prevent by passing this.

Sher- Sheriff Giler uh t- tell us about two eighty seven G agreements. Would you like to enter into such agreements with the federal government? And what's stopping you?

What's stopping us now is the Community Trust Act and uh the Maryland legislature banning such uh memorandums of agreement with ICE.

But but you would like to enter into such agreements.

Uh I would like to be back in tomorrow as would uh those other Maryland jurisdictions that had previous two eighty seven G agreements.

Right. Um Well, um, the woman who destroyed uh uh uh Miss Fox, your daughter's life, um, do I understand correctly, she was previously cited cited for uh reckless driving and driving without a license?

That was one of the charges.

So so she was char- uh char- charged with that as a result of of your daughter's injury or was there any prior contact with law enforcement?

Microphone.

So, uh, uh, yeah, Miss Fox, uh, uh, can you use your microphone?

She was charged with, uh, five different charges, and, um, all but one was dropped, reckless driving resulting in serious bodily injury.

And

Um, yeah.

uh and and sh- she was uh ordered to compensate for the motorcycle that she destroyed but not the life of your daughter?

Correct.

Would it be of help if we had a law in place that uh gave the victims of uh uh of these sanctuary laws the ability to sue the jurisdictions that released them and cause these problems?

Absolutely.

Uh m- Miss Fox, I think you made an important point on the importance of law enforcement cooperation with ICE in removing illegal aliens when they're first encountered breaking our laws and and not after they've been repeatedly released. Um if the assailant of your daughter um had been stopped for any violation under a two eighty seven g agreement uh sheriff would that agreement not have then allowed you to turn that individual over to ice immediately

correct if she'd been arrested for a violation of even motor vehicle law and brought to jail that would have triggered

but these sanctuary laws forbid that so they go on and that's the point miss

correct correct

miss fox was making well thank you very much for for your testimony all of you uh that concludes today's hearing Um, without objection, all members will have five legislative days to submit additional written questions for the witness and uh additional materials for the record and uh, without objection, the hearing is adjourned.

Thank you.