Barry Moore Asks Witness About Challenges In Determining Past Criminal History Of Illegal Immigrants

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During a House Judiciary Committee hearing prior to the Congressional recess, Rep. Barry Moore (R-AL) questioned Scott Mechkowski, former New York Field Office Deputy Director of U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement, about criminal history of illegal immigrants.

Transcript

00:00Mr. Moore. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I certainly appreciate all the witnesses being here today.

00:04During Trump's first 100 days, ICE arrested 67,000 illegal aliens and removed almost 66,000

00:12from this country. Of those, almost 50,000 were criminal illegal aliens, either with a criminal

00:19record or facing criminal charges. Mr. Arthur, what categories of aliens are generally held

00:26in ICE detention? Generally, it's criminals, individuals who are subject to mandatory

00:32detention because of crimes under sections 236C and 241A2, in addition to individuals who are

00:40apprehended entering the United States subject to mandatory detention under section 235B.

00:45Okay. And Mr. Murkowski, this may be something I don't know, you maybe can help me understand, but

00:50my understanding was when folks came across the border here, the background check we did didn't

00:56really go back to their home country. So how do we eventually identify those? In other words,

01:00we're looking for crimes they committed in the United States, but we don't know if from Guatemala,

01:03wherever they came from, how is it that we eventually figure that out? And why is it that

01:08we don't know when they're coming? Mr. Murkowski or Mr. Arthur, either one, Moreno, whoever may have

01:15the answer to that. Well, the problem has been the lack of thorough vetting for any of these illegal

01:22migrants that have been allowed to come into the United States. So nevermind the countries of origin

01:28that oftentimes can't be verified. We don't even know who these individuals are. And we know that

01:33trickles down all the way to the unaccompanied minors. With the lack of DNA testing that was done

01:39away with early in the Biden administration, we now have, you know, well over 350,000 that are missing

01:45within the interior of the country. So this becomes a guessing game now for authorities

01:51who are trying to rectify this system under the Trump administration. It's challenging. And then

01:57when you finally do discover the countries of origin, sometimes they don't want to accept

02:03these illegal migrants back.

02:05One thing I found fairly interesting is when I went to the border, we saw thousands of IDs thrown down

02:10south of the borders. In other words, folks coming in, they had an ID in hand and they tossed it on the

02:15ground before they come across. And talking about the 350,000 children that the Biden administration

02:20lost, we don't know where they're at, what they're being trafficked into. But I had an individual who

02:25came across, he was 31 years old. He identified as an unaccompanied minor and raped a 14-year-old

02:31girl in a restaurant, in a restroom. And he already had a criminal record, but it was amazing to me that

02:37we didn't know his record when he came here. But then when you go see the border and you see all these

02:41thousands of IDs laying across that southern border, they don't want you to know who they are

02:46when they're coming here. And so, Mr. Arthur, why are these ICE detention centers, why are they so

02:51very important?

02:52ICE detention is absolutely crucial for the enforcement of the law. ICE detention serves

02:57two purposes. One, ensuring that individuals will show up for their immigration proceedings and

03:04the removal. But more importantly, to ensure that individuals who pose a danger to the community

03:09aren't allowed to be in the community while we go through that process. In fact, any individual who

03:14is eligible for a bond can ask for a bond if they don't have a crime. They can ask for a bond from

03:18an immigration judge. I heard thousands of these cases. If they didn't pose a danger to the community

03:23and they weren't a flight risk, they were eligible for a bond. Otherwise, they'd be detained because

03:27they're not going to show up. Mr. Bukowski, you said you retired in 2018 from ICE. What was it like

03:35then compared to what you've heard from your colleagues in the last few years? What, what,

03:39how does the morale, what's going on and what are, what are they seeing on the streets?

03:44Thank you for the question, sir.

03:48My experience was ICE officers are out there every day doing a job that Congress mandated. It's codified.

03:57I mean, there's funding for it. There's directives that come directly from Congress and

04:01the men and women are out there every single day. And so when you say codified, it's the law.

04:07Yes, sir. And so it always amazes me that how when we're enforcing certain laws, everybody comes

04:13up in arms. But it, it, to me, it's just a matter of we are trying to enforce the laws on the books.

04:19You guys, the officers on the street are trying to do what Congress has mandated. So

04:23what are you seeing with the morale now? Was it better? I assume it would have been better in 2018.

04:27Yes, sir. The, they felt under the last administration, they were totally abandoned,

04:34left out to dry. It was, it was a field day. They, they weren't doing their jobs. They were

04:39sitting there. Nobody, nobody really cared. The, meaning the, the, the people there felt like

04:46ICE was literally abolished without an actual order from Congress abolishing ICE. So, so I'm running out

04:53of time, but so the same party that wanted to defund the police had basically attacked ICE for

04:57doing their job. Absolutely, sir. Thank you. I yield back.

05:01Gentlemen from Alabama leads back. I will recognize.

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