00:00Oh, Senator Peters. Senator Peters is recognized.
00:04Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Great, General Abadie. Good to have you here. Welcome to the committee.
00:09General Abadie, leadership at DHS has claimed that ICE and others who are carrying out immigration enforcement activities and support
00:18are covering their faces to protect themselves from being doxed.
00:24And certainly I fully understand those concerns and I appreciate those concerns.
00:28And I think they're real concerns.
00:30But I'm deeply concerned that the lack of identification during these activities is dangerous, both to the public as well as to the officers themselves.
00:39The public risk being harmed by individuals pretending to be immigration enforcement, which has already happened.
00:46We've seen that happen.
00:47And these officers also risk being injured by individuals who think they're basically being kidnapped or attacked by some unknown assailant.
00:56So my question for you, Attorney General Abadie, is given the number of DOJ employees currently conducting immigration enforcement activities in support of DHS,
01:04how are you going to ensure that the safety of the public and the officers,
01:08if they continue to not follow required protocol to identify themselves as law enforcement?
01:14And, Senator Peters, that's the first time that issue has come to me about them covering – you're saying that law enforcement officers, when they cover their faces.
01:26Right.
01:26I do know they are being doxed, as you said.
01:29They're being threatened.
01:30Their families are being threatened.
01:31You know, it's –
01:32Again, I get that.
01:33But they have to identify themselves.
01:36There is an insignia oftentimes.
01:37They have to identify themselves as law enforcement.
01:40People think, here's a person coming up to me, not identified, covering themselves.
01:45They're kidnapping.
01:46They'll probably fight back.
01:47That endangers the officer as well.
01:49And that's a serious situation.
01:51People need to know that they're dealing with a federal law enforcement official.
01:54Senator, I would be happy to look at that issue with you and talk to all of our partner law enforcement agencies.
02:00But I can assure you that if they're covering their faces now, it's to protect themselves.
02:05But they also want to protect all citizens.
02:08And that's something we can work together on to ensure the safety of everyone and their families.
02:13And it's protecting themselves, too, if they identify themselves.
02:16It's not just the person, because someone's going to fight back if you just think a strange person with their face covered is throwing you into a van.
02:23Most people will resist that.
02:25It sounds like you have a specific case.
02:26And I would be happy to talk to you about that at a later time, because I'm not aware of that happening.
02:33But I'd be happy to talk to you about that.
02:34We'd be happy to do it.
02:35I appreciate that.
02:36Earlier this month, the administration announced it was launching an effort to ramp up immigration apprehensions by shifting more than 5,000 personnel from across federal law enforcement,
02:47including approximately 2,000 from within the Justice Department,
02:52away from their typical duties to focus on immigration-related cases, including targeting individuals whose status had been terminated by this administration.
03:01This effort is on top of previous directives for department officials to focus on immigration enforcement.
03:08Many of these officials impacted by these directives, unsurprisingly, say they're being forced to turn their attention away from other national security missions,
03:18including counterterrorism and cyber security.
03:22There has been public reporting that hundreds of FBI agents have been reassigned to immigration-related duties,
03:29and raising real concerns among agents themselves that the shift could hinder investigations into terror threats and espionage by China and Russia.
03:38And we have also heard concerns about resources being reoriented at the state and local level.
03:44Attorney General Bondi, I know the Justice Department officials have said that this president can walk and chew gum at the same time,
03:51and that you continue to hold all criminals accountable, regardless of immigration status.
03:57But numerous reports on the ground, from career government officials and some basic common sense, would beg to differ.
04:04Given the attacks on Iran over the weekend, this issue has become even more salient, with threats from terrorists inspired by Iran,
04:12cyber attacks, often by Iran itself, or additional efforts by that regime to go after government leaders.
04:19So my question is, how are you ensuring that there are enough resources focused on the full range of national security threats,
04:25and there's no shortage of those, when so many of our DOJ resources are being reallocated to immigration enforcement?
04:35I talk to Director Patel, or Deputy Director Bongino, seven days a week.
04:43I speak to my National Security Division.
04:45We meet every single day.
04:49Amal Bovee, who's currently with us, is doing an incredible job in the national security space as well, helping us.
04:55We are doing everything.
04:56We are using our resources on all fronts.
04:59And when you say immigration, immigration is going hand-in-hand with the people who have come into our country through our borders.
05:08I think just over 1,500 illegal aliens from Iran are here.
05:16Chinese individuals, Russian individuals, people from every country.
05:19That goes hand-in-hand with immigration, identifying them, finding them, and getting them out of our country.
05:27Will national security be compromised?
05:31Not at all, Senator.
05:32It will be increased.
05:33It will be enhanced.
05:35I can tell you, every day we talk about this, multiple times a day, seven days a week,
05:41as to what we can do working hand-in-hand with DEA, ATF agents, FBI, Homeland Security, ICE to make sure that our nation is safe.
05:54And FBI, they have a 24-7 center set up now.
05:59And actually, we've set some up around the country.
06:01You're welcome to actually come see one if you would like any time.
06:04I would love to have you come in and see what we do.
06:07But we have that set up around our country on a national security level to be sure Americans are safe
06:15and do everything we can to get terrorists who are in our country out of our country.
06:20Well, certainly, I don't disagree with any of that.
06:22Obviously, criminal elements that are there need to be taken care of.
06:24But you're also looking at cybersecurity, which is different.
06:27You're looking at counterterrorism issues that are different.
06:30And I don't believe that we were over-resourced in those areas.
06:32You may beg to differ.
06:34So they were not over-resourced.
06:35We were making sure that they had the resources to deal with the other threats.
06:39But now those people are being pulled off of those jobs for another job.
06:43I just want to make sure that we're still doing things necessary to protect us from cyber threats,
06:48counterterrorism, and the long list of other threats that we face every day.
06:52Thank you for those questions.
06:54And I know your background, and that's why it's so important to all of us.
06:57And yes, we are.
06:59And cybersecurity, I could go on for two hours about cybersecurity.
07:02And what's happening, not only that, the online child predators online,
07:07but the foreign terrorist threats through cybersecurity that we can talk about in a different setting.
07:13I'd be happy to discuss all of that with you and our efforts,
07:16not only made within our country, but with our partners worldwide.
07:21I'll look forward to having that opportunity.
