▶ 0:19:27e e
▶ 0:20:01good morning the subcommittee on cyber security information technology and government Innovation will now come to order and welcome everyone who is here today without objection the chair May declare a recess at any time I will now recognize myself for the purpose of making an opening statement good morning to everyone who is here today to our witnesses to our guests who are here as well um important conversation about leveraging technology to strengthen immigration enforcement it was it was last year when I was
▶ 0:20:32in the oversight committee and I exposed uh a sanctuary sheriff in the state of South Carolina Charleston County South Carolina her name was Kristen Graziano and I learned that she was not working with ice at the time and she was letting illegal immigrants who are here in our country illegally criminals because they break the law when they come into our country as soon as they cross that border illegally it's a crime but she was allowing rapists pedophiles molesters murderers
▶ 0:21:02out onto the streets of South Carolina in my district in my state doing harm to women and girls and so having this conversation today is more important than ever because we have to stop this and I will say this that illegal border crossings are down s significantly now that Donald Trump is President I believe the last stat I read was that they were down 90% but anyway when I was exposing what My Sanctuary Sheriff was doing last year my lieutenant governor
▶ 0:21:33pamet stood silent my attorney general Alan Wilson stood silent I was literally one of the only people in South Carolina willing to stick my neck out put my career on the line my reputation on the line to make sure this kind of thing stopped and so today we're going to have this hearing about using technology to minimize illegal immigration to strengthen immigration enforcement first of all it's well documented the Biden Administration used technology
▶ 0:22:03to facilitate the invasion of our nation by millions of illegal aliens the cbp1 app being just one example of this today's hearing will explore how technology can help strengthen the enforcement of our nation's immigration laws Edge technology enhances immigration enforcement and reduces risks for immigration enforcement officials from facial res recognition software to data analytics powered by artificial intelligence to GPS monitoring Advanced Technologies Empower US immigration Customs Enforcement or ice
▶ 0:22:34to track apprehend and Deport illegal aliens in our country and we know right now under the leadership of Donald Trump under the leadership of tomon Homan that we're trying to deport those who are here illegally as fast as we can and I believe we don't have enough ice agents right now to do that we got to make sure that ice and Homeland Security have all the resources they need to do it as quickly as possible tracking illegal aliens and identifying threats to the Homeland allows ice to more effectively enforce our nation's immigration laws and remove those who are unlawfully present in the United States
▶ 0:23:04former President Biden and his Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro mayorcas willfully and intentionally Unleashed an invasion an invasion of illegal aliens and the US from around the world we had more people crossing illegally into our country that were on the terrorist watch list than ever in the history of the United States over the last four years illegal aliens shephered into the country by the Biden Administration include terrorists pedophiles cartel
▶ 0:23:36members drug traffickers sex traffickers child traffickers human traffickers not exactly the kind of people you want roaming the streets of our communities by systematically dismantling president Trump's policies from his first Administration the Biden Administration flung The Border wide open for any and all who wish to enter here the US illegally this has led to the unlawful entry of over 10 million illegal aliens into the US and nearly 2 million quote
▶ 0:24:06known Goda ways end quote who entered the country without once being apprehended as of last July there were over 646 th000 illegal aliens with additional criminal histories running around free right here in the United States and those are only criminal aliens that are known to is officials so the ACT number is actually statistically probably significantly much much higher why
▶ 0:24:36is this issue important why must we use all means at our disposal to identify locate and Deport all illegal aliens in the US it's because the heinous nature of the crimes committed by those who enter the US illegally and treat this nation as their own playground to get rich by selling human beings in illegal drugs while victimizing women and children the most dangerous criminals include cartel organizations that control the Border who Force women into indentured servitude or sex slavery to pay for their entry into the US they subject children
▶ 0:25:06to child pornography if you speak to law enforcement at the border you'll hear about rape trees where the underwear of women and girls be brutally raped on their journey to America are hung like trophies 10 years ago I didn't even know what fentol was and now I personally know multiple people who've died of fentol overdose we've all heard stories also of law enforcement who are doing investigations who were accidentally exposed to fenol end up in the hospital very
▶ 0:25:36sick they're lucky they haven't died the Biden Administration shoulders the blame for the record deaths of the American citizens the record number of illegal aliens and the record profits for drug cartels due to fent andol and human trafficking and we're talking about numbers about the amount of money that the cartels have made off of drug trafficking and human trafficking tens of billions of dollars EAS North of 60 or 70 billion do they're making money off the us because we let them
▶ 0:26:06to protect American citizens we must undo the horrors caused by the Biden administration's immigration policies that rewarded criminal illegal aliens a core competent component of this is the ability to track and monitor all illegal aliens in the country when detention isn't feasible for the some reason when used as part of the alternatives to detention or ATD program modern technology can be used to monitor illegal aliens within the country and assist with proper enforcement of US immigration laws when detention is not possible these modern Technologies can enhance security
▶ 0:26:37by monitoring and tracking illegal aliens to ensure they can be removed once a final order of removal is in place the Biden Administration however refused to use the ATD program as intended frequently and prematurely removing illegal aliens from monitoring before a final order removal was and allowing them to scatter throughout the interior of our country and victimize American citizens for example at the Biden administration's Direction one of the illegal aliens who murdered Joselyn Nung a 12-year-old
▶ 0:27:07girl from Texas who raped and strangled to death this is Nung I hope we never forget her name we never forget her face we never forget the horrors she endured as a 12 she was 12 12 years old so the the illegal who raped and
▶ 0:27:37killed her had his GPS ankle monitor removed prior to committing these crimes josn Nung is the face of the American women and girls are suffering at the hands of illegals that have been LED in by the Joe Biden Administration the Biden Administration allowed this to happen all while unconscionably ignoring easy to use and available technologies that could have prevented the release of illegal aliens with criminal histories in the first place I look forward to the testimonies of our Witnesses today which include former ice
▶ 0:28:07officials to hear about their firsthand experience and suggestions on how we can leverage technology to strengthen immigration enforcement and facilitate the mass deportations Americans overwhelmingly support I now yield to the ranking member Brown for her opening statement thank you madam chair and thank you to the witnesses for being here today before I begin I want to highlight that chair mace in my federal contractor cyber security vulnerability reduction act which would close a loophole a critical loophole in federal cyber security standards
▶ 0:28:37passed the house yesterday so chairwoman mace I am looking forward to continuing to work together on these important issues now moving to the topic of today's hearing immigration has remained a hot button issue across both Republican and Democratic administrations Congress I repeat Congress has the Authority not the president to enact a lasting solution I take this responsibility seriously as well as our country's long history of accepting
▶ 0:29:08immigrants from all over the world making us who we are today but when I see the dangerous and cruel way that the current president treats and talks about immigrants I know I am not dealing with a serious and solution Administration we all want our cities to be safe we all want to work with law enforcement and community members to prevent crime no one no one wants dangerous criminals
▶ 0:29:38terrorists or illicit drugs coming in through our borders but propagating lies and misplaced fear are not going to address the issue in fact it risks making the problem worse real change starts with real solutions last year the Senate craft comprehensive and bipartisan immigration reform which presented a real opportunity to move the ball forward on this critical issue for the first time
▶ 0:30:08in a decade in fact the bill would have helped to address the fentol crisis by providing new scanning Technologies at ports of entry and increasing Staffing for custom agents but what happened then Presidential candidate Donald Trump blew up the bill because he wanted to run on an anti-immigration rhetoric instead of fixing the problem instead of seeking to score political points we should
▶ 0:30:38work on a bipartisan basis to find real solution to our broken immigration system that means modernizing our border infrastructure reforming the Asylum process and ensuring a fair and efficient way to resettle Asylum Seekers across the country to prevent a use of the Asylum system we must invest in programs that speed up processing times properly fund immigration courts and ensure fair adjudications
▶ 0:31:09and let's be clear creating a pathway to citizenship dreamers TPS holders Farm Workers and so many others isn't just the right thing to do it strengthens our economy and provides much needed relief to communities that have earned it and yes technology has a real role to play play here and Congress recognizes that the 2024 spending Bill signed into law by President Biden included a more than 20% increase in funding to purchase and deploy
▶ 0:31:39Next Generation technology like surveillance Towers tunnel detection technology and mobile surveillance technology this funding is already helping to strengthen border security prevent the flow of Fentanyl and combat human trafficking during President Trump's first term his Department of Homeland Security released a mobile application called cbp1 that allowed immigrants to fill out much of the necessary paperwork
▶ 0:32:09before they reached the border that seemed like a good idea except the app frequently malfunctioned and often failed to recognize faces with darker complexions the Biden Administration ran with the idea and turned this broken app into a legitimate tool to provide a legal pathway for those escaping violence and persecution to come to America for a better life that is leveraging technology to solve our border crisis while the
▶ 0:32:39revamped CBP cbp1 app wasn't perfect the app held more than the app helped more than 1 million immigrants more than 1 million immigrants legally enter the United States to become productive and valued members of our communities and it deterred illegal B border crossings that is until the Trump Administration abruptly shut it down last month as part of his day one sign first and ask later
▶ 0:33:10executive order Rampage so what have we seen instead in the first two weeks of the Trump Administration an attempt to terrorize immigrant families on his first day in office Trump signed an executive order authoriz authorizing immigrations and custom enforcement also known as ice to raid schools churches and hospitals with little to no oversight or plan the Trump Administration should instead be focusing on the responsible and
▶ 0:33:40Humane use of technology to address border security when it makes sense any technology to address border security must be done with strong oversight and safeguards to protect privacy civil rights and civil liberties these concerns must always be at the Forefront of any conversation on the use of technology and especially artificial intelligence across federal government so I hope that we can have a productive conversation today
▶ 0:34:10about the opportunities that come from modern solutions and how we can Implement those Solutions while safeguarding against abuse thank you so much I'm pleased to now introduce our Witnesses for today's hearing our first witness is Mr John fabricatore former senior exec itive and field office director for enforcement removal operations at ice our second witness is Dr Doug Gilmore retired senior law enforcement adviser and special assist special agent in charge for Homeland Security investigations at ice our third
▶ 0:34:41witness is Mr Simon Hinson senior research fellow for the border security and Immigration Center at the Heritage Foundation and our fourth witness is Miss Deborah fly Shaker principal consultant at Blackboard Ventures LLC welcome everyone we're pleased to have you this morning pursuant to committee rule 9g the witnesses if you'll please stand and raise your right hands do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you were about to give is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God
▶ 0:35:12let the records show the witnesses all answered in the affirmative thank you we appreciate all of you being here today and look forward to your testimony let me remind the witnesses that we have read your written statements and they will appear in full in the hearing record please limit your oral statements to 5 minutes now in front of you as a reminder please press the button on the microphone in front of you so that it is on and members up here can hear you when you begin to speak the light in front of you will turn green after four minutes the light will turn yellow and when the red light comes on your five minutes has expired
▶ 0:35:42and I will ask you to conclude your remarks I will now recognize Mr fabricatore to please begin your opening statement good morning chairwoman mace ranking member Brown and distinguished members thank you for the opportunity to speak with with you today on the critical topic of leveraging technology to strengthen immigration enforcement this issue is at the heart of National Security impacting us at every level from the border to Interior enforcement border security and immigration enforcement are vital pillars of our nation's Safety
▶ 0:36:12and Security yet Sanctuary states and cities often obstruct interior enforcement by cutting off ice from essential Data Systems this lack of cooperation combined with outdated data infrastructure leaves us vulnerable we Face mounting challenges such as human trafficking violent illegal alien gang activity drug smuggling and the influx of lethal substances like fentanyl tackling tackling these issues demands Innovation strategic thinking and the integration of cuttingedge Technology into our
▶ 0:36:42operations with over 30 years of federal law enforcement experience much of it spent on immigration enforcement I am convinced that we will continue to face significant vulnerabilities without adapting Advanced technological solutions and unconventional strategies technology must go beyond the borders reaching interior enforcement by integrating Advanced investigative tools into field operations streamlined data sharing across agencies modernized communication systems and increased funding for technology deployment are
▶ 0:37:13essential to improving efficiency accuracy and coordination in the last four years Sanctuary jurisdictions have further exac exacerbated these challenges by denying access to critical data sources sources such as DMV records these jurisdictions allow barely vetted individuals to obtain driver's licenses while blocking ice Agents from accessing information the inability to retrieve such records undermines our ability to protect the nation effectively information sharing is not optional
▶ 0:37:43it is a fund it is fundamental to actionable intelligence analytics and a unified response to today's threats for example in the past my team used tools like the eagle direct identification environment or simply called Eddie a mobile system that links portable fingerprint readers to ice databases via smartphones this tool allowed my team to identify heroin dealers in Denver who falsely claimed to be US citizens but were in fact Honduran Nationals quick access to database information enabled us
▶ 0:38:13to remove these dangerous individuals from the community however the effectiveness of the tool depends on the quality and integration of the data in our systems a glaring issue that underscores the urgent need for modernization the time to act as now we need a new data platform that that are agile robust and equipped with Advanced machine learning and Cloud native capabilities these systems can reveal unseen relationships identify patterns and provide actionable insights giving agents the tools for
▶ 0:38:43Target and to Target and apprehend with Precision a significant Focus must also be placed on integrating case management systems that track operations through the enforcement life cycle officers should be spending their time on the streets safeguarding our communities not stuck behind desks wrestling with disconnected Antiquated databases I have seen the consequences of a fragmented approach after 911 the whole of government strategy for information sharing provided proved successful however over
▶ 0:39:13time we have regressed into siloed agencies that are hesitant to collaborate this reluctance has led to Serious National Security gaps evidence by what occurred under the last Administration the rampant flow of illegal drugs like heroin amphetamine and Fentanyl across our borders and a persistent prevailance of human trafficking operations a unified response is non- negotiable ice must have real-time data sharing capabilities with federal and state agencies to increase efficiency and improve targeting emerging Technologies
▶ 0:39:44from the private sector also hold enormous potential to revolutionize immigration enforcement by leveraging automation software for high volume targeting building Advanced analytics platforms and integrating working leads Management Systems systems we can maximize productivity and enable officers to focus on their primary Mission stopping National Security threats apprehending criminal aliens and enforcing the immigration law the threats we Face are not static they are Dynamic interconnected and constantly
▶ 0:40:14evolving to address these multifaceted challenges we must adopt proactive technology-driven Solutions this is not simply an operational necessity it is a moral imperative if we are to enforce immigration law eradicate fenel disrupt human and sex trafficking operations and ensure the safety of our nation Congress must prioritize investment in technology and expertise by working together we can create immigration enforcement framework that is responsive efficient and effective thank you once again and I look forward to questioning and work
▶ 0:40:44uh your questions and working alongside you to safeguard the future of our nation thank you I will now recognize Dr Gilmer to please begin his opening statement good morning chairwoman Ma ranking member Brown members of the subcommittee thank you for this opportunity I'm Dr Doug Gilmer I'm a 35-year veteran of law enforcement with the majority of that time spent with I HSI my career has focused primarily on two areas National Security and human trafficking I've received the National Intelligence award from the
▶ 0:41:14DM from the dni for intelligence integration and also recently was presented the William Wilber Force Lifetime Achievement Award for my role in helping to counter human trafficking globally I retired from HSI in August of of 2024 where in my last role I served at the DHS Center for countering human trafficking there's an interconnectedness between illegal immigration transnational and crossb crime drug and human smuggling human trafficking illicit Finance Etc faced with an enormous problem today and with the countless numbers
▶ 0:41:45of people who are allowed to enter the US during the last Administration many of whom saw the opportunity they were given as licensed to engage in criminal activity law enforcement needs help to combat these Public Safety threats if we first identify its intended outcomes technology can Aid in targeting threats identifying Trends patterns identifying victims and analyzing vast amount of data quickly allowing for a faster more efficient law enforcement response while also protecting personally identifying
▶ 0:42:15Information Technology can improve productivity mitigate risks improve morale and reduce fatigue the government is often hampered by its ability to effectively integrate the latest technology and at times ineffectively use technology in ways that impeded investigative efforts when the previous administration took office a moratorium on immigration arrest was almost immediately put in place while this dramatically impacted ice EO in doing their job it also impacted HSI the
▶ 0:42:45answer was to create a computer application by which ice Personnel had to seek permission to make an arrest the online form was then routed to the chain of command to Executive leadership for adjudication based on established this is an example of in of an inefficient use of technology to solve a problem that didn't need solving there have been technology successes however the DHS Center for countering human trafficking recently completed a technology upgrade to assist in the issuance of continued presence an immigration benefit
▶ 0:43:15provided to foreign Nationals in the US believed to be victims of human trafficking once this was a process that could take well over a year to adjudicate today the CCH has been able to digitize that process and reduce processing times down to as little as 3 weeks while adding additional anti-fraud measures standing in the way of onboarding third-party applications however are the current acquisition requirements and the abil inability to onboard safe and secure technology quickly impacting Public Safety the time it takes to
▶ 0:43:45acquire technology and integrate it means that by the time it's onboarded we have missed opportunity and the solution can be outdated often when a technology it is is acquired it is siloed in a particular agency component or Vision rather than scale to provide solutions for the general Workforce sometimes the issue is a matter of acquisition priority for instance in my last assignment we only field assignment we only had about five Eddy machines for HSI Personnel Statewide as John described the Edie machine this tool not only helps
▶ 0:44:15in enforcing immigration law but it saves time it aids in enforcement prioritization reduces the chance of error and also helps law enforcement rapidly identify suspects and met mitigate threat to Safety in the absence of our own technology to solve crimes we have often had to rely on NOS and state and local law enforcement agencies who routinely have better technology not only is this timec consuming but the ability to do so relies solely on personal relationships and it places an additional burden on those groups to assist
▶ 0:44:46in some cases technology and processes are already in place but aren't skilled to meet contemporary requirements in some cases we own the technology but are not allowed to use it out of privacy concern facial and pattern recognition technology technology is one such tool with tremendous potential for solving crimes and recovering victims of exploitative crime however the restrictions placed on its use are such are so tightly controlled is only used in a small percentage of cases recurrent vetting and targeting are other examples of
▶ 0:45:17technology the best technology however is useless if the if the technology itself and where the evidence or data it produces remains in silos that remains one of the biggest detriments to law enforcement the lack of a collaborative data sharing environment when technology and data are siloed are not easily retrieved or accessible we lose critical time and misinformation relevant to an investigation in conclusion I am proud of my service with ice HSI and of my colleagues there today I believe ice though under resource for its fast Mission could be
▶ 0:45:47the greatest value proposition in federal law enforcement and if properly resourced could do far more good there's not a more Nimble and responsive federal law enforcement agency in the Federal government none that work harder to pursue criminals and criminal organizations and are more committed to advocating for and serving the victims of the crimes they investigate thank you thank you I will now recognize Mr Hinson for opening remarks chairwoman mace ranking member Brown members of the
▶ 0:46:17committee thank you for inviting me today I'm a fellow at the Heritage Foundation but the views I express today are my own ghs is required by law to detain all aliens aring ding illegally in the US throughout their entire immigration proceedings nonetheless over the past four years the Biden Administration released and paroled millions of them and let them go wherever they wanted with no easy way for ice to find them Mass release of unknown aliens is a national security and Community safety risk there is no real vetting of aliens released or paroled
▶ 0:46:47unless a foreign National has a record with US Agencies DHS is Flying Blind and even if us agents request information on an alien many countries won't or can't can't give it so DHS has likely released thousands of aliens with criminal records in their home countries and if we let them go with the promise to show up in court in future it does stand to reason that we should know where they are most released and pared aliens are economic migrants who won't qualify for Asylum but only a small percentage of aliens ordered deported are ever actually removed
▶ 0:47:18alternatives to detention or ATD was started in 2004 to increase compliance with court attendance and removal ice contracts to track aliens using facial recognition voice ID or GPS monitors but to work ATD has to be used widely and wisely there are around 7.5 million aliens on Isis non-detained docket of whom only about 184,000 are tracked using ATD and Ice releases the majority of aliens from ATD long before their cases are over a study
▶ 0:47:48in 2020 showed that 79% of ATD participants were unenrolled before their cases were over and worse for those that did stay in the program for their entire case lifetime 85% absconded from ATD I says and I'm quoting ATD enables aliens to remain in their communities contributing to their families and Community organizations that's a benefit to aliens but what about the risk to Americans from 2004 to 2020 there were 21,000 criminal charges or convictions
▶ 0:48:18recorded among the aliens in the ATD program and in the Biden years here are just a few aliens who were on GPS monitoring which is the best level of at yet victimized American citizens or legal immigrants we've already discussed the sad case of Joselyn nungaray but in January 2025 Jefferson ubila Delgado was arrested in Chicago for the murder of George Levan he had entered the US illegally was released with a notice to appear and a GPS anle monitor in September of 2024 estephania Primera also
▶ 0:48:48known as lab Barbie was arrested in Al Paso Texas she was a member of the trende aragua gang and accused of operating a massive sex trafficking ring she was also released at the border with a GPS ankle monitor but she took it off and in February 2024 Diego iara the brother of lake and Riley's murder Jose Ibara was released with a GPS ankle monitor but he cut it off and moved from Colorado to Georgia uh and liveed there without molestation ice ER enforcement and removal
▶ 0:49:18operations has limited staff and many local law enforcement agencies refuse to cooperate with their detainers they don't routinely pursue absconders and Tra down for arrest the highest risk cases there are roughly 430,000 aliens on the non-detained docket who've been convicted of crimes but is's Target in 2024 to remove them was only 29389 and to make it worse under the Biden Administration ice resources were diverted from the mission which is enforcement to providing social services so detaining
▶ 0:49:49every alien who crosses into the US illegally is the ideal situation but if we can't do that let's at least try to keep track of them with merging facial recognition artificial intelligence and other technology keeping track of aliens is getting easier and cheaper ice should aim to have 100% of non-detained aliens doing frequent check-ins Congress should impose clear penalties for failure to check in with ice for example it should be a felony for an alien to remove their GPS monitor I should turn on GPS tracking through the smart
▶ 0:50:19link application they could use automated case analysis to assess the risks for ATD we know from European data that rates of criminal activity differ enormously based on national origin and other factors and Ice could collect that information along with criminal records from Aliens for all federal state and local arrests it is unacceptable to have millions of foreign Nationals in the midst of deportation proceedings and not know where they are thank you for inviting me to testify and I welcome your questions thank you I now recognize Miss fly
▶ 0:50:49Shaker for five minutes chairwoman mace ranking member Brown and members of the subcommittee thank you for inviting me to participate in today's hearing my name is Deborah flly Shaker and I'm currently the principal consultant at Blackbird Ventures previously however I spent almost 14 years at the US Department of Homeland Security including 10 over 10 years as a career civil servant over two of my years at DHS were spent at us Immigration and Customs Enforcement ice first as the assistant director in charge of Regulatory Affairs and
▶ 0:51:19policy and then a year as the acting Chief of Staff of the agency following my time at ice I moved back to DHS and finished my government career as the Department's executive secretary and acting Chief officer I want to start my testimony by clearly stating the operational challenges in increasing immigration enforcement including where technology can help amarate those challenges and where it doesn't play a role first immigration enforcement including deporting people ordered removed from this country is hard
▶ 0:51:50there's a tendency to talk about immigration enforcement as a matter of Will and this obfuscates the real material limiting factors on IM on increasing immigration enforcement for example axios reported yesterday that removals and arrests during the Trump Administration are lower than the daily averages in fiscal year 2024 this happened despite high profile immigration enforcement actions by the new Administration including the use of federal law enforcement and defense Personnel assets
▶ 0:52:21and money the only operational statistic that has increased during the first part of the Trump ad Administration has been the total detained population the increase of which is driven by The increased detention rates of people with no record I don't think anyone here would argue that the Trump Administration has less of a will to enforce immigration law yet the operational outputs are declining because of the material limits to immigration enforcement second technology can't address
▶ 0:52:51all the limiting factors to increasing removals the immigration life cycle is long and complicated the ultimate consequence in that life cycle removal requires the cooperation of other countries ice can't remove a person unless they have a place to remove them travel documents and a seat on an airplane or a bus technology can make some of this process more efficient but it doesn't impact the willingness of other countries to accept removals third I'd like to talk about some of the success that
▶ 0:53:21isce has had using technology to increase immigration enforcement these initiatives are in instructive in how ice can use technology to better affect its Mission first the ice check-in app in late 2024 ice deployed a check-in app that allows certain people on its non-detained docket to perform their mandatory check-ins with an ice officer using their phones the check-in app should allow ice to better manage its non-detained docket relieve impacts on The Limited physical space at ice field
▶ 0:53:51offices and allow ice officers more time to focus on non-citizens who are are true Public Safety threats ice is still evaluating the effectiveness of the check-in app but these are the types of efficiencies that can free up ice officers from largely administrative tasks next one is family expedited removal management or firm before September 2021 ice used family residential centers to detain family units these F frc's were expensive and resulted in
▶ 0:54:22relatively few removals ice began using ATD technology including geolocation on heads of households to move family units through the immigration enforcement life cycle this new processing pathway increased removals of family units in 2024 at a fraction of the cost of the former F frc's ice already has access to vast amounts of data but the officers need help turning it into prioritized actionable leads ice has
▶ 0:54:52full access to information about non-citizens booked into prisons and jails through this throughout the country through routine data sharing this access is called interoperability formerly secure communities and has been in place without interruption since 2017 ice also has access to information sharing databases including State DMV databases us uh National Crime information center and a variety of gang databases access to additional data
▶ 0:55:22is not the limiting factor in Isis immigration enforcement mission mission all of its access already provides vast troves of information ice doesn't need additional data to do its job but it does need help analyzing sorting and prioritizing the data to which it already has access technology can and should help ice focus on public safety and National Security threats instead of people who are happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time
▶ 0:55:53this sort of Technology assistance would support the ice achieve greater trans efficiency enhance compliance and reduce costs by providing enhanced case oversight intelligent decision support and streamlined check-ins and reporting for the population thank you for the opportunity to testify on this important topic I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have thank you I will now recognize myself for five minutes of questions um a couple weeks ago I went on my went on my first uh ice
▶ 0:56:23raid and I got to see ice and Homeland security and other agencies and Agents come together different field off offices come together to uh find this guy who had a week prior had like a brick of fentol or portion of a brick enough to kill a thousand people was a lot um but one of the things that I learned there was that uh in the Biden Administration those agencies weren't actually able to work together they're they weren't allowed to do that work together to deport those who are here illegally and I learned a lot during that
▶ 0:56:53but Dr Gilmore I want to ask you my first question something me and your testimony this morning you're talking about restrictions on data uh can you talk a little bit more about that some examples like I guess it was maybe biometric data there restrictions on data you can utilize or yeah so we have Advanced Technologies facial recognition technology pattern uh pattern matching uh technology that
▶ 0:57:24could be used to solve a vast array of crime um and can be used to identify victims of crime especially um minor victims of um child sexual abuse material uh human trafficking victims that type of thing who also who who often live in the shadows right but that technology is so tightly controlled um out of fear of privacy that it's only used in a very small percentage
▶ 0:57:55of cases um there's a there's been a lot of fear that has been allowed to grow around that technology I think Often by people who don't really understand the technology and don't understand the fact that we can utilize that technology um while also putting in proper safeguards to protect um protect you know privacy ethics and civil rights and silos some examples of silos that you mentioned again a lot of
▶ 0:58:25that technology is siloed into different components or divisions um it's not rolled out um through an Enterprise solution to the agency um different components within within DHS our systems don't talk to each other um I mean we have a hard time talking between HSI and er um between between our systems um much less bringing in CBP TSA border patrol and when that data
▶ 0:58:55is silent um within those particular components it's very easy to miss things um because you can't access the data and operationalize that data and then my my next question is really for for everyone um can you speak to how the Biden Administration use technology to facilitate the invasion of illegal aliens into the country yes ma'am for one CBP one app uh I believe was definitely misused by the Biden Administration to allow people to to come in that was one technology that
▶ 0:59:26uh was developed for out of something that it shouldn't have been used for I think it was a go-around around Congress to allow people to enter the United States and we've seen a lot of those cases that have entered on the cbp1 app show up as criminal aliens uh you know in in uh the arrest that we've made how's that how's the app used how how was it used how is it used to do that well what we've seen especially the fraud from that is that the cartels were actually using it down in Mexico and and having people sign up through them to then get on the cbp1 app and get around
▶ 0:59:56uh you know being able to to go through so the cartels were actually making money off of the cbp1 app that's insane Gilman yeah I I Echo everything that that my counterpart um just said I don't have as much experience with the cbp1 app um particularly because my my focus was with HSI and primarily on uh on criminal investigations but even within h SI we saw
▶ 1:00:26the misuse of the cbp1 app by those subjects that we did encounter often times subjects of criminal investigations the cartels using CB1 app to get people into this country illegally and we and we know this we know this and we allowed it to happen Mr Hinson in terms of numbers that nothing is more extreme than cbp1 there there was also the programs for specific countries which obviously had to use technology to enroll people in the first um
▶ 1:00:56there was a lot of diversion of of or there was some diversion of ice money to programs like the case management pilot program and the uh young adult case management program I think it was that were essentially providing Social Services um instead of enforcement operations and I'm sure that had to be facilitated by the use of the technology that they had I'm I'm sure I'm certain that they did thank you I will now yield five minutes to representative Brown thank you madam chair uh when strong privacy civil rights and civil liberties
▶ 1:01:27protections are in place technology can be a critical tool in Immigration enforcement for example the Biden Administration installed new technology at select locations along the southern border that quickly screens commercial cargo coming into the United States for illegal Contraband these non-intrusive inspection capabilities keep Commerce flowing into the United States while successfully reducing drug and human um Miss fly
▶ 1:01:57Shaker in your experience what role does technology play in keeping our B borders secure and what do you see are some areas of opportunity I think you just pointed out one area where uh technology has helped keep our borders secure I think that we should be using technology to make the process work as efficiently and effectively as we can I think there's a lot of examples um that I was a part of where technology was used to improve the process I gave a couple during
▶ 1:02:27my testimony including the ice check-in app to help uh to help um the non-detained population and the firm which really increased the number of family removals without the cost and burden of family detention thank you and so much of the immigration conversation is focused on immigrants coming to the United States the right way but it's easy for people to enter through a legal pathway because it's not easy for
▶ 1:02:57people to enter through a legal pathway because our immigration system has not kept up with the demands of the modern world this is why the Biden Administration used the cp1 CBP one mobile application to make border crossings more efficient and provide guidance to individuals seeking Asylum people crossing the Southwest border illegally to request Asylum once it went into effect it was the only way for people to get an appointment to request Asylum so Miss fly Shaker how can
▶ 1:03:27technology like cbp1 make legal immigration Pathways accessible I am not going to argue that we can't improve the technologies that we use I think that that should be a constant and ongoing effort um I have no argument that we should be continuing to improve cbp1 I will say though that I tend to support uh programs and policies that the work that makes the work Force's job
▶ 1:03:58easier cbp1 is one of those one of those programs that allowed border patrol agents to plan for and make efficient the process of checking people of of of bringing people through the Border when they were seeking Asylum it allowed us to organize ourselves and it allowed us to plan for and appropriately staff the border patrol offices as because we knew who was going to be coming on any given day that's the kind of thing that I think
▶ 1:04:28is a a net positive even when things can continue to be improved thank you so maybe you can tell me before CB uh P1 what difficulties did Asylum Seekers face when they arrived at legal ports of entry and how can we expand the ways that cbp1 app improve the process for people arriving at the border seeking Asylum previously people would cue and wait um maybe you know for days or weeks depending on uh the busyness
▶ 1:04:58of a particular Board of patrol station um the cbp1 app helped bring some order to that process which was in my mind a net Improvement um I think that we should be using Technologies like that to help improve the process sort of sift through data process people more quickly um improve outcomes are are worth it I will say from the ice pers perspective you know Congress appropriates the funds
▶ 1:05:28data modernization funds at ice are often cannibalized because for for the more pressing needs um such as detention or uh ATD right so we we we need those funds the ice needs those funds but often those funds don't get used for the for the appropriated purpose because there's more pressing immediate needs thank you and one of the first things that President Biden I'm sorry president president Trump did upon taking office was discontinue the use of
▶ 1:05:59cbp1 and cancel all existing appointments so can you tell us um what are some of the immediate effects that this will have on the country's immigration challenges so I want to be careful I I'm no longer with the department so I didn't get to witness exactly what happened when the cbp1 appointments were cancelled but as people will come to the Border they'll no longer have appointments they will no longer be pre-screened and vetted um and it I believe should increase um
▶ 1:06:29confusion time in processing and potential lines to get in thank you my time has expired thank thank you I'll now recognize representative Boer for five minutes thank you madam chair and thank you so much to our Witnesses here um who came to testify on Border policies and Technologies I was excited to see President Trump put out um a post a truth on Truth social um that said the month of February my first full month and office has had the lowest number of illegal immigrants trying to enter
▶ 1:06:59our country in history by far there were 8,326 apprehensions of illegals by border patrol at the US Mexico border all of whom were quickly ejected from our nation or when necessary prosecuted for crimes against the United States of America this means that very few people came the invasion of our country is over in comparison under Joe Biden there were 300,000 illegals Crossing
▶ 1:07:29in one month and virtually all of them were released into our country thanks to the Trump Administration policies the border is closed to all illegal aliens immigrants is what he put uh anyone who tries to illegally enter the USA will face significant criminal penalties and immediate deportation I think the president uh Trump and his team uh secretary gnome and borders are Tom have done a fantastic job of turning chaos at our Southern border
▶ 1:07:59into control Mr fabricator uh welcome from the great state of Colorado I wanted to ask you some questions about Colorado's Sanctuary policies that prevent Ice uh from coordinating with local law enforcement agents and and maybe how that had an impact on the trende aragua presence that we saw in Aurora thank you ma'am so yes the the sanctuary policies under state of Colorado as you know there's been many that have been passed since 2013 that limit cooperation with immigration
▶ 1:08:29Customs Enforcement and that even limits the amount of data that ice is allowed to get this includes uh DMV records department of of uh the State Department of Labor so this this keeps ice from being able to identify criminal illegal aliens easily and go out on the street and arrest them when you have those limitations that's when you're going to see an increase in crime like we saw with Trend aragua over the last couple of months because I just simply is not getting the data that's necessary to be able to Target these criminal
▶ 1:09:00illegal aliens and remove them from the streets quickly yes and do you believe that using modern tracking technology would have helped secure our border and even uh our cities in the state of Colorado it it definitely would have helped it it's something that the EO officers need in order to be able to facilitate making arrest quickly which is what we want to do we don't want to give illegal criminal aliens an opportunity to commit more crimes in the US we want to arrest them as quickly as we can yes and uh so with the cbp1
▶ 1:09:30app and And discussing improvements uh to the app do you think that there's a possibility uh for self deportation some sort of um incentive to self Deport using the app and uh arrive at a location uh to get a one-way ticket home if we can use the app to enter we can use that app to exit so absolutely we we can develop that technology to uh allow people self Deport and that way families don't have to be separated they can go right through the cbp1 app
▶ 1:10:00they can get on the app they can do an an exit we can have that information readily available and they can self-deport thank you and Mr fabricator under uh the the failed Biden regime how many Crim criminal illegal aliens uh were able to evade ice apprehensions because um you were all restricted from using the right tools and Technologies and authorities so so thousands I mean and millions even I mean we have 1.4 million on the non-detained docket of final orders right now which you know they went and saw an immigration
▶ 1:10:31judge IM immigration judge said you must leave and they even defied an immigration judge's order so these cases are stacking up it's something that needs to be taken care of and under this Administration it will be and Mr fabri fabricator uh the Biden Administration focused on reducing detention rates rather than increasing surveillance uh hundreds of of heinous acts were were committed by violent Criminal Alien uh do you think that reducing detention rates rather than increasing surveillance makes our borders
▶ 1:11:01more or less safe secure no we we we need an increased detention rate absolutely I think we're at 41,000 beds right now I know president Trump would like to double if not even have more up to 100,000 beds this is what we need in order to have the deportation process be uh successful we need those beds in place thank you and I'm certainly proud of uh the the initiative that President Trump has put forward and like I said borders are to home in and I know that you have worked uh with him in the past and I I hope to see you alongside him in the future as well and
▶ 1:11:31uh we have secretary gome doing a great job and Mr fabricator if you got five seconds that you want to say something it's yours thank you yes uh we we need this technology EO needs this technology they need the money and they need the beds thank you Mr fabricator thank you uh representative anari you are recognized for five minutes thank you madam chair I'm proud to represent Arizona's thirdd congressional district an incredibly diverse Community where more than 64 Lang languages are spoken and like many in my district I'm the daughter of immigrants who came to the United States for a better life
▶ 1:12:02unfortunately the Trump Administration continues to Target families in my district and across the country with inhumane immigration policies including mass deportations that are already negatively impacting our economy with extreme backlash from economists as well as the business community in Arizona right now hundreds of migrants are being held in Panama and Guantanamo Bay under brutal conditions many of whom are fleeing persecution and could face deadly consequences if deported to their home countries
▶ 1:12:33this includes emis an Iranian woman who converted to Christianity and would be punished by death if she went back to Iran I guess Christian values get thrown out the window when it comes to Asylum Seekers these policies are unacceptable and fundamentally unamerican we can have secure borders and also have an immigration system based in humanity these policies do none of that now the Trump Administration wants to expand surveillance technology to infringe on the civil liberties of immigrants and all of us in an
▶ 1:13:03effort to ramp up the horrific Mass deportation efforts let's let's be clear this will not stop with immigrants if they can do this to immigrants and Asylum Seekers there's nothing stopping them from doing it to American citizens as well as we know Elon Musk and do are illegally accessing Americans private data and hacking into sensitive technology systems like social security and taxpayer data which poses a grave national security threat with that I'd like to turn to my questions uh
▶ 1:13:33for Miss fiker in your opinion does ice have the capacity to conduct Mass arrests and deportations and ramp up its use of Technology without relying on outside contractors I think ice has a huge Reliance on outside contractors it has the capability of developing much of this technology itself but it needs the funding and uh time to do that um I I I think that uh there is a uh very clear pipeline
▶ 1:14:03between ER and the and the private prison industry that I don't think ultimately serves um immigration enforcement I sore the country speaking of the pipeline between uh the work and the private prison industry there's been some talk about the need to ramp up from the 41,000 beds can you talk a little bit more about what the numbers uh could look like and what the the profits or you know um benefits could be to the private private prison industry if this Administration
▶ 1:14:33is able to fulfill all that it wants to do when it comes to mass deportations um again I'm not part of the administration so I can't speak to exactly what their plans are um detention is very expensive it is the largest expense in the ER budget um and detention beds um cost a lot of money uh Congress appropriates that money ER has been above the congressionally uh appropriated number for years um so it it really isn't a matter of
▶ 1:15:05er not doing what it's being asked to do it has done it um erro ice does not have those beds it will need to purchase rent lease them mainly from private prison companies that's going to be an enormous um funding source for them thank you Miss fer would it be dangerous in your view to allow unaccountable private security contractors to run immigration enforcement of course accountability
▶ 1:15:35and oversight is um absolutely necessary to any contract uh that we that we would um as you stated uh very eloquently immigration enforcement uh privacy civil rights civil liberties don't need to be in opposition to one another they can work in concert and it's very important that we have the appropriate mechanisms to do that and finally are you concerned that a rapid scale up of detention facilities could mean that DHS Cuts Corners fails to
▶ 1:16:05impose appropriate guard rails such as vetting contractors protecting human rights and ensuring fair and competitive bidding processes absolutely detention is very complicated the people in detention need to be provided appropriate uh levels of care when you ramp up too quickly you end up using facilities that don't have the Staffing levels to provide that care uh don't have the capabilities of providing that care and um people get hurt or die thank you so much I yield back
▶ 1:16:35thank you I now recognize representative Burleson for five minutes thank you chairwoman Mace for having this important hearing you know it's really good to see that the the disaster that was Alejandro mayorcas is gone um he's a disgrace I'm glad he was impeached and he his he will for ever have a stain on the history of the United States and the scourge that he ensu allowed to ensue but he lied to us multiple times he stood before members of Congress
▶ 1:17:06and he said the border is secure well I ask you Mr fabricator M Dr Gilmer was that true it was absolutely not true the Border was not secure it was not secure and it was made less secure okay then he went on to NPR okay and he had an interview just this year in which he said that the border that under you know the border is now more secure
▶ 1:17:36under the end of the Biden Administration than it was in 2019 is that true no it it's it's not true the border is more secure with this Administration that's in place I EO my colleague okay then my my other question is that he also said that to truly secure the border that really that there was that they were doing the most that they possibly could do as an executive branch that Congress had to act now we've heard that we've heard that again and again but
▶ 1:18:06the but the data and the facts dispute otherwise right so uh does it is is is it the only difference or is Congress the only one that can make a difference or can the president actually make a difference the president can absolutely make a difference it's about attitude and this president president Trump is putting in the attitude that's needed to say the Border should be secure and he's putting in the effort it's something that the last Administration did not do they didn't have that attitude they wanted people to come in and they did
▶ 1:18:36not put any effort again I echo my colleague we have we have laws on the books we have we have title 8 U which is our our immigration law it's it's the the huge volume that my colleague and I had to virtually memorize uh early in our early in our careers while maybe it hasn't kept up with the current
▶ 1:19:06state of time it's still pretty clear it's still pretty clear and it's still illegal it's still yes and it's it's actually not a bad piece of legislation it just hasn't kept up with with the times and if we were allowed to enforce those laws in the way that in the manner and spirit in which those laws were written we'd be much more effective um let me ask this was the cbp1 app um effective or was it
▶ 1:19:37was it a disaster it was a disaster in in the way that they used the cbp1 op was not meant to be used for what it was used for under the Biden Administration it was supposed to be used for for bringing in uh goods and traffic and and other things um the way that they used it I believe was an end run around Congress okay is there any technology that you would advocate for that would that would help you know ice do its job there there's a lot of technology that that's out there and I I I think it's important
▶ 1:20:07that we bring this technology forward and we allow ice agents to actually use some of it to see what's the best that that we would we would need when we're looking at the cbp1 app and and how it was used there may be technology within that that we could have used it's just how the application was was actually used and what it is used for I know that with the Advent of AI it it may open up some opportunities to De dig deeper into people's backgrounds and their histories yeah a AI is going to going to definitely be groundbreaking for us but we're always going to need that
▶ 1:20:37human element because getting human intelligence out of someone else right now is not easily done just with AI you you still need that case agent to be able to look in the eyes of the person that's sitting in front of them to uh develop that human Intel I agree humans are never or technology is never going to fully replace humans um but there is technology out there today that that we need to learn to use
▶ 1:21:07better um I as a matter of coincidence right now in Washington DC about five blocks from here there are probably 150 of the most techsavvy Innovative Tech providers solution providers developers that are meeting privately to address these very issues that we're talking about right now and and that that is where this a lot of these Solutions are going to come from the minds of Private Industry
▶ 1:21:38um who can help guide the federal government and a safe secure use of Technology well well thank you and thank you for your service to our country I'm sad I'm sorry that the that your Administration let you down and let other ice agents down um and with that I yield thank you I will now recognize Congressman subra mum uh for five minutes uh thank you uh I um I wanted to go back to a couple things people have said um one was that
▶ 1:22:08we don't have enough ice agents and generally you know there's a people problem here as well and uh I'd love to know Miss fcker um if you know recently we saw that about 400 people were fired at DHS and some of them are from the the DHS Science and Technology directorate um how do you think these um firings are going to impact um you know being able to use science and technology for border security
▶ 1:22:38I think letting uh civil servants who are doing a good job go is uh damages morale and will decrease the effectiveness of the agency and could you tell us much about what the Science and Technology directorate does or did you have any experience with them I did work directly with the Science and Technology directorate I'd be happy to get back to you sure no problem and uh there's also a cyber security and infrastructure security agency within did you work with them at all I I worked with them a little bit they do a lot of election security
▶ 1:23:08work okay and um you know if if we're fire if people I think right now there's an effort to fire all um uh I guess probationary workers as well at DHS um longterm how would you see this if we're if we're losing people at DHS how is that going to impact um you know the morale the ability to address poor security generally I think it's incredibly damaging um I I think that uh we need to be
▶ 1:23:38approaching efficiency with a scalpel not a h a sledgehammer uh and simply getting rid of probationary employees who may be excellent and may have actually been government employees for a very long time is not the appropriate way of doing that and um I want to go back to the CBP one one app which Administration launched the cbp1 app uh I actually don't know where it was originally developed I know that the under the Biden Administration they re reworked it and launched it um
▶ 1:24:08in in the form that people are discussing today okay and um you're you mentioned the ice checkin app and um do do the people who created that app are they still employed at DHS do you know uh many of them are yes many of them but not all I I I you know it's it's a it's a broad team that develops these things so I don't know I don't know to a person but I know that uh many many of the leaders still are there and you were the Chief privacy officer at I was the acting Chief
▶ 1:24:39privacy officer at the end how you there's been this discussion about data privacy uh and um civil liberties related to some of these Technologies how would you characterize what are your thoughts on that conversation there are laws regulations and policies that are in place um that that make clear that privacy is important there are processes that uh the department follows to ensure that privacy is being protected when new um po new programs or Technologies
▶ 1:25:09are implemented I think that that is um an important part of oversight um and um care that we can take in making sure that the Technologies and the programs that we deploy are used as we want them to be used and and there aren't consequences thank you I'm going to yield my time to the ranking member I yeld back thank you okay I will now y f yield five minutes to representative crane
▶ 1:25:39from Arizona thank you uh Miss chairwoman for holding this important hearing um on cyber security information technology and government Innovation president Trump has only been back in office for 43 days and Border encounters are down 66% compared with the beginning of 2024 in February we saw 8,326 border encounters that number 189,900
▶ 1:26:09Biden last week single day border apprehensions hit a 15-year low president Trump and our new leadership at the Homeland Security Department are equipping border patrol agents and law enforcement to do their jobs we were told by so many people people on the right and the left just last year that the solution to our border crisis was a bip bipartisan border deal Biden and borders are Camala Harris blame Congress for continued border failures meanwhile president Trump restored order
▶ 1:26:39and security almost immediately I next want to take an opportunity to correct the record real quick uh my colleague Miss Brown said that she was talking about the cruel way that the president talks about immigrants I'm pretty sure miss chairwoman the the uh president actually married an immigrant I don't think he has a problem with immigrants at all what I think he has a problem with is this last Administration that threw the Border completely wide open l in between
▶ 1:27:1010 and 15 million illegals and some of them unfortunately raped and murdered many Americans and that's what he really has a problem with he also has a problem with us taxpayers having to fit the bill for all of it I recently spoke to a DA from panau County in my district who told me his police officers still have very little information when they arrest illegal aliens on their status or backgrounds due to poor vetting and lack of Biometrics Mr Gilmore how would some of these technology tools
▶ 1:27:40we're not currently using enable border patrol officials to stop the flow of illegal aliens while also assisting our Law Officers I don't know that some of the technology such as because the Eddie machine is necessarily going to stop Crossings um if if you have somebody determined enough to come across they're they're going to find a way to come across but what that technology does whether it's uh whether it's the Eddie device whether it's facial
▶ 1:28:10pattern matching technology it helps us to rapidly identify individuals uh and identify where they might be on uh on a threat Matrix are they are they a known or susp ected gang member uh are they on uh the the terrorism watch list for instance um are they a person who is already the potentially the subject of an investigation uh by HSI or another federal law enforcement agency being able to rapidly
▶ 1:28:41identify um you know that that in that information that biometric information which you know it's difficult to get Biometrics to lie we can a person can tell us a story give us a wrong name all day long but I can tell you thank you yeah that giving that putting an Eddie in front of somebody gets them to identify very quickly great let's talk about some other Technologies then not only did the Biden Administration stop building the wall but isn't it true that they
▶ 1:29:11also refuse to put up key technology components like sensors lighting that was already purchased on border wall system Mr fabricator yes that's absolutely correct I've been down at a border about eight times since I retired in 2022 got to speak to a lot of border patrol agents cameras are down on the border the technology for sensors has not been improved and I heard many complaints from border patrol agents is it true that the Biden Administration also banned the use of DNA testing so that agents could no longer know if children belonged to the adults they
▶ 1:29:41were with or if they were being traffic Mr fabricatore unfortunately that is very true um when the bid Administration first came into office they had stopped the DNA testing that President Trump had put in into play in his his first term which kept kept us from being able to verify whether children actually belong with the adults that they were traveling with thank you m fly Shaker you focused a lot on uh the decrease in outputs under this Administration you cited in your testimony that axios reported yesterday the removals and arrest during the Trump
▶ 1:30:11Administration are lower than the daily averages in fiscal year 24 and then you go on to give some statistics but isn't it true ma'am that you know some of the uh some of the data going down might have something to do with the fact that the flow of illegals trying to come into the country is down well um I can only go by I'm not in the administration I can only go by what's reported but do you know that the flow is down because people
▶ 1:30:42now know that the that our border is secure very quickly I would state that the flow has been decreasing for a number of months thank you I yeld back thank you I'll now recognize representative Maguire for 5 uh thank you chairwoman Ma and thank you to our Witnesses for being here today the American people have suffered from the Biden Harris administration's failure of keeping the American people safe at home and abroad and especially at our Southern border because time is an issue I want to go real fast with four yes or no questions
▶ 1:31:13number one if you cross our border illegally are you a criminal yes yes yes there's usually it's usually yes thank you number two yes or no criminals don't care about the law they do not care they do not care no I don't think I can say yes or no to that it depends on the person I see what we're working with all right number three this statement you agree with it yes or no police are good criminals are bad
▶ 1:31:43and victims are important yes absolutely 100% Yes yes again like I people are complicated generally yes all right number four last one Trump is more effective at securing our Southern border than the B Administration yes or no yes yes yes I don't have the information to answer that interesting the past four years of Biden uh our border has been an open door
▶ 1:32:14and um the F for the folks that support the Biden Administration illegals have come here they say that illegals have come here for a better life but they started off as a criminal and and they have been breaking they started off breaking our law we talked about the 12-year-old Joselyn earlier we talked about Lake and rileigh these illegal aliens have been robbing raping and killing the American people and I heard one of the witnesses talk about hey the Trump policies could cause people to be hurt or die what about the American people that have been robbed raped
▶ 1:32:44and killed I don't see anyone on the other side talking about that um they tore down our border wall that was placed specifically by our border patrol where it was the most dangerous to protect the American people and under the B Administration they removed that wall and I have heard in say yes or no I guess I've heard that we had Electronics on that wall so it wasn't just a steel wall and the Biden Administration refused to put those Electronics use those electronics and they actually tore them down is this information true
▶ 1:33:14yes that's my understanding I can't specifically say that equipment was taken but I was told that there were repairs that were not done and like and sensors and other things were not turned on I didn't work on the border wall I don't know the answer understood uh so we have the fentel overdose epidemic in our country I call it Chinese chemical warfare it's being produced in China coming across the southern border and poisoning and killing more Americans each year then died in the Vietnam War when you express your concern about people might get hurt or die
▶ 1:33:44what about those 100,000 plus Americans that are killed every day thank God president Trump is back in the White House and not to mention human trafficking and all the children that have gone missing that we all know about data shows that border uh encounters have decreased by 66% compared to January 2024 however again millions of illegal aliens are um who were released by the body Administration are still in our country uh Mr fabricator and Dr Gilmer as a former ice
▶ 1:34:15agents working during the bite Administration is it fair to say that this was the worst Administration to work with regard to enforcing immigration law in the US please answer yes or no yes it was could you provide more specific excuse me can you provide more specific examples of policies that made your job more difficult under the bid Administration yeah for sure uh you know I I I retired under the Biden administration because of how horrible it was I just couldn't give uh the orders to the men and women that worked for me that I I felt were counter to protecting the United States one of those was just a system that they
▶ 1:34:45had they had set up where as a supervisor when when agents would put information in the system it was so teared that we couldn't allow these agents onto the street to actually make arrests they were limiting the arrests that we were making Dr Gilmore running out of time yes I I Echo U my my colleague the the moratorium that was initially placed on making arrests significantly impacted our ability we we had cases that we were attempting to assist our state and local partners with where
▶ 1:35:15we had in one particular case we had a sex offender who shot his victim and they were attempting to obtain warrants on the subject but and we thought that we could actually detain that person and get them off the street but we weren't allowed to these policies that we're talking about today with the B Administration they are absolutely not serious about protecting our border or the American people at home and abroad and thank God we have President Trump in the white house I would ask both of you uh Mr fabricador and Dr Gilmore what tools does Congress need to give ice to achieve
▶ 1:35:45its Mission very quickly number one we need the money to uh be able to have more beds we need detention space and we need more e officers out on the street and this technology as well I echo my colleague we need we need the technology and the resources but we need the Personnel to use that technology and fulfill the mission and purpose i y thank you thank you in closing I want to thank our panelists once again for your testimony this morning we appreciate everyone's perspectives
▶ 1:36:15experiences and expertise on this uh we can use technology um to uh investigate those who are here illegally engag them back out of the country this issue is really important I I was I said earlier I was recently on an ice raid in my hometown of Goose Creek South Carolina Goose Creek beautiful neighborhood beautiful houses we walk up in there we roll up in there at 6:00 a.m.
▶ 1:36:39because this 18-year-old kid who came here illegally had a brick of fen andol on him a week before that would kill God knows how many people in country and it was Affiliated allegedly with some particular gangs did a ride along with the North Charleston Police Department in Charleston South Carolina a couple weeks ago as well and I want to thank all of my local Law Enforcement Officers ice agents Homeland Security agents all these people who are out there putting their lives on the line to protect us and Deport those who
▶ 1:37:09are here illegally but when I was on this ride along with local police it was really cold that night I learned that even late at night 10: p.m. criminals don't come out when it's cold by the way I got to go back when it's a little bit uh warmer however instead they drove me down certain streets like stall Road in North Charleston that's where the caloa cartel hangs out that's where gang members from MS13 hang out train deaga is in South Carolina these cartel
▶ 1:37:39gang members these people are everywhere it's not just in big cities like New York it's not just the Ros of Rosevelt hotel where we're housing many of these people they're in Goose Creek South y'all have never heard of Goose Creek It's a Small Town um they're they're literally everywhere and it's scary we've allowed this to go on and we you know we had Maddie Hines just two years ago this young four-year-old girl from South Carolina who was
▶ 1:38:09uh hit by an illegal alien that guy that criminal that murderer was deported under Donald Trump and let back in under Joe Biden last year spring of last year a four-month-old infant killed by an illegal alien on the roads of bufort County South Carolina her life stolen that baby was stolen from the parents of an American Family who didn't deserve it no
▶ 1:38:39one deserves that and we've seen thank God thank God for Donald Trump I praise the Lord above every single day illegal border crossings are down by over 90% now just because he's president and showing strength strength showing leadership putting people like Tom Homan as borders are to make sure this stuff doesn't go anymore um I'm very passionate about women's issues not just illegal immigration but I had a bill that passed out the floor of the house a couple weeks ago the violence against women
▶ 1:39:09by illegal aliens act I'm a rape Survivor take it very seriously if you're here illegally and you rape a woman you molest a child you murder one of us gone 145 Democrats voted against that bill is shameful and we're going to work hard for the American people for everyone across South Carolina I want to thank our Witnesses for everyone for being here today God bless you thank you for your service to our country and her citizens to keep us safe exposing the truth
▶ 1:39:39exposing the corruption exposing uh what's gone on here it's disgusting it's shameful people ought to be not fired they need to be prosecuted and they need to go to prison and he's happen immediately so with that and without objection all members will have five legislative days within which to submit materials and to submit additional written questions for the witnesses which will then be forwarded to the witness for their Witnesses for their response if there's no further Business Without objection the subcommittee stands
▶ 1:42:52e e