00:00Opening statement. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon, everybody, and thank you all for
00:07being here. You know, prior to the start of this Congress, for nearly four years, I served as
00:13chair of this subcommittee with then-ranking member Cornyn. Now our roles have been reversed,
00:18so I'm happy to be here as a ranking member under Chairman Cornyn's leadership here.
00:25For four years, though, when I was chair, we held hearings examining everything from immigrants
00:32serving in the military and then our health care system to America's Refugees Admissions Program
00:38and the need to better resource our overwhelmed immigration courts. So today, six months after
00:48President Biden has left office, we hear Republicans continue to talk about how Donald Trump has solved
00:58our border crisis. But you won't be surprised to learn that they're also focusing on, guess what,
01:07the Biden border betrayal. That's what they call it. And I suspect that years down the road,
01:13continue to point the finger at President Biden. But here's what Republicans won't be saying.
01:21That if Donald Trump and Republicans were truly focused on just targeting violent criminals,
01:29Democrats would have no objections. I know I've been saying it. If that's really what was going on,
01:34there would be no discussion. There would be no debate. There would be no disagreement.
01:39You also want to hear Republicans share the data, the fact that a large number of undocumented
01:49immigrants in the United States actually entered the United States lawfully and are only currently
01:57undocumented because they overstayed our visa or maybe they entered the country following the rules
02:05of the temporary protected status programs outlined by prior administrations, but protections that have
02:14been removed, turning a legal immigrant into an undocumented immigrant. You won't hear them
02:22share those facts. Six months into Donald Trump's second term as president, it is increasingly clear
02:30who the administration is going after. Just look at how they're doing it. They're raiding workplaces
02:36and staking out court hearings. They're going after farmers and farm workers, students and families and
02:45business owners, many of whom other than being undocumented do not have any violent criminal record.
02:54And men who have been living here contributing to the success of their communities and the country for years and years, if not decades.
03:06So none of what we're seeing happening around the country, or very little, is actually targeting criminals.
03:13And I'm not asking you to take my word for it.
03:16It shouldn't be hard, but it is hard for some to take my word for it. Let's look at the administration's own data.
03:22Less than 10% of immigrants who ICE has taken into custody have serious criminal convictions.
03:34Less than 10%. Again, don't just take my word for it. This is administration's data.
03:43In fact, compared to the first Trump administration, these Donald Trump and Stephen Miller quotas have led to a 500% increase
03:53in the number of arrests of non-citizens without criminal records.
03:59And as a federal judge ruled less than two weeks ago, there is, quote, a mountain of evidence, end quote, showing federal agents
04:08are illegally profiling and arresting people based on their race, accents, or work.
04:15So no, let's not pretend that this is only about cracking down on violent criminals.
04:20This is increasingly about sending armored vehicles and agents and tactical gear into communities to intimidate and so fear not to protect.
04:33Should also at some point ask the questions about where the researchers are being redirected from to escalate the immigration enforcement activities.
04:43Because the fact of the matter is whether they're being diverted elsewhere from elsewhere within the Department of Homeland Security,
04:50from the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, they're being taken away from other critical missions,
04:58missions that are critical to our nation's security.
05:02Not just white collar crime. We can have a whole session just about that.
05:06How about fentanyl task forces that are now being under-resourced because of these ill-conceived strategies?
05:13Now, all this is not just morally wrong.
05:16It's also bad for our economy.
05:19The people being targeted are often the people who are harvesting our fruit and vegetables,
05:24who work in meat packing plants, or in the service industry.
05:28The very same group of people who just a few years ago, at the outset of the COVID pandemic, Donald Trump declared essential.
05:42And the fact of the matter is, Donald Trump has simply gone too far.
05:46And the public is starting to turn against him.
05:50A Gallup poll published on July 11th, just a couple of weeks ago, showed a dramatic swing in public opinion.
05:58In public awareness and understanding is how it should read.
06:01In just the last year, the percent of Americans who think immigration is, quote,
06:05a good thing for the country has jumped 15 points to a record high 79%.
06:12At the same time, Americans who want to see immigration decreased drop from 55% to 30%.
06:22Americans across the country are rejecting the cruel and indiscriminate treatment of the neighbors they've known for decades.
06:34Yet earlier this month, Republicans in Congress rubber stamped more than $150 billion to fund this administration's disastrous enforcement agenda.
06:47$150 billion.
06:51Not to help hire additional asylum officers that we so desperately need to process the cases and meet the demands on our system.
07:00Not $150 billion to ensure that unaccompanied children, for example, some as young as two or three years old,
07:06have legal counsel as they face a judge on their own with their own future on the line.
07:13And not $150 billion to hire additional immigration judges, even as more and more people are detained
07:21and the administration is firing immigration judges at alarming rates.
07:27Instead, this is additional taxpayer dollars to ramp up the mass deportation raids that have been so poorly executed,
07:34they are scooping up United States citizens, including veterans.
07:40And so I do ask, why are we here?
07:45What more do you want?
07:48It's clear why we're here today.
07:51We're here because Donald Trump is scapegoating immigrants.
07:56It's always been his outlet.
07:58It's long been his way to distract from a massively unpopular agenda,
08:04like making the largest cuts to Medicaid in history in order to pay for tax cuts for the rich,
08:11and to make ICE's budget larger than the budget of the FBI, the ATF, the DEA, the U.S. Marshal Service, and the Bureau of Prisons combined.
08:25This is their break glass in case of emergency option when public sentiment turns against them and their agenda.
08:38Hasn't been only about targeting violent criminals, and it's certainly not about fixing or modernizing our immigration system.
08:47So Democrats are glad to be here today to help set the record straight.
08:52My message to the Trump administration is this.
08:56The numbers don't back you up.
08:58The heartbreaking stories we hear on a daily basis do not back you up.
09:04And the American public doesn't back you up.
09:07So I urge this subcommittee and the committee as a whole to please, let's get back to the real work of reforming our immigration system.
09:15And with that, Mr. Chair, if I can introduce the minority witnesses.
