Mullin testifies on DHS budget before Senate Appropriations subcommittee

[3:11] Secretary Mullen, thank you for being here today to testify on the president's fiscal year 2027 budget request for the Department of Homeland Security. [3:20] I'd like to turn first to Vice Chair Murray for any introductory remarks she may like to offer. [3:27] I will pass until my questions. I'm good. [3:29] Thank you very much. [3:31] It's a pleasure to see a former colleague back before this committee. [3:37] I want to take a minute to express my appreciation for how you've stepped into your role at DHS. [3:43] You've been a stabilizing force in a department that was struck with multiple shutdowns while carrying out an extraordinarily complex and multifaceted mission. [3:51] Your workforce has too often been used as political pawns, denied their well-deserved salaries, and placed under unimaginable stress because of the dysfunction of this body, and it's unacceptable. [4:04] I'd also like to credit your leadership since assuming the role of secretary. [4:07] We can all see how your experience in the Senate has shaped your view of the department and how the department should interact with Congress. [4:15] I am very pleased with the level of transparency that is now coming out of DHS. [4:20] Thank you. [4:21] You've also taken the initiative to step up, review previous decisions, and exercise your own independent judgment about the best pathway forward of DHS. [4:30] I can tell that you have a strong vision for the department and care deeply about its mission and look forward to hearing about that today. [4:38] Mr. Secretary, this hearing falls against the backdrop of a very tense situation at one of your facilities in New Jersey. [4:46] Let me be clear. [4:47] All Americans have the right to protest the government, and you will meet no bigger supporter of the First Amendment than myself. [4:55] But the situation we've seen unfolding at the facility goes well beyond peaceful protest. [5:00] It's devolved into violence and riots, including against law enforcement personnel working to keep Americans safe. [5:07] It's simply not acceptable to assault ICE officers or obstruct lawful federal operations. [5:15] I hope that my colleagues will join me in condemning this violence and the chaos that we've seen in the last few days. [5:22] Let's turn to the matter at hand. [5:24] We are here today to hear about the resources that you need, and I believe it's an especially important opportunity to hear about where your priorities are as a new secretary. [5:34] The budget was released less than two weeks after you assumed this role, so I want to recognize that you inherited much of this proposal. [5:43] While I know that you support this budget and will defend it enthusiastically, it's important to get a window into where your priorities are and where you see the department going in the coming years. [5:53] When I look at the department, I see countless critical missions, including work done by the men and women at CISA, the Coast Guard, ICE, CBP, TSA, and Secret Service, and other component agencies under the DHS umbrella. [6:08] And then I look to you, Mr. Secretary, to provide us with your vision for this future and the resources that you need to best do your job. [6:19] We can't really address the topic of our 2027 funding bill without addressing reconciliation. [6:24] I am beyond disappointed that we were unable to fund ICE and Border Patrol through the bipartisan appropriations process. [6:33] While fierce disagreements amongst Democrats and Republicans are not new, breaking apart appropriations bills over a refusal to fund basic operations of the government is truly uncharted territory. [6:45] I hope the actions in this Congress remain an outlier and not a new precedent. [6:51] As disappointing as this process has been, I want to stress my support for passing the reconciliation bill and provide the necessary funding for ICE and CBP to do their job. [7:03] Today, we also have an opportunity to discuss agencies that have been overlooked historically due to the disagreement of the immigration enforcement and appropriations process. [7:13] Just this April, we saw another attempt at President Trump's life, reminding us how important the Secret Service is, and we cannot let them continue to be stretched too thin. [7:25] TSA has had a great need for increased investment in screening and equipment procedures. [7:30] It's also an opportunity for us to examine foundational systems like those managed or HR or finances, or make investments that can set the department up for success for the next 20 years. [7:42] Investments that are critical to the unsung heroes of your workforce that sometimes can get lost in the shuffle of pressing needs. [7:51] With respect to my home state, I am very proud that Alabama is home to so many DHS equities and so many hardworking, dedicated public servants who show up every day to help fulfill the mission of keeping Americans safe. [8:05] Beginning with the Coast Guard, I am pleased that its Enlisted Leadership Training Center of Excellence will be officially established in Birmingham later this week. [8:15] To fulfill its mission, increased training capacity is needed now more than ever. [8:21] It is paramount we provide resources to train cadets, build vessels, and procure air assets. [8:27] It is also clear that the department under this administration is focused on putting agency back into the hands of state and local municipalities by training and equipping them to respond to emerging situations. [8:40] Both FEMA Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston, Alabama, and the National Computer Forensic Institute in Hoover, Alabama provide key resources to ensure local officials across the nation are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and tools needed to protect and serve our country. [8:58] I was profoundly disappointed to see that the FY27 budget request includes a reduction of funding for the National Computer Forensic Institute, which helps state and local authorities respond to, prosecute, and prosecute cyber crimes. [9:13] I don't need to tell you, Mr. Secretary, that computer crimes are only becoming more sophisticated and that we need more points of security by state and local officials, not fewer. [9:25] I look forward to further discussions on the NCFI, and I appreciate how the Secret Service has been responsive to my initial concerns about the future of the facility. [9:36] As with budget requests, there are still some questions outstanding that we need to get a better understanding of what we need to do to actually be able to draft this bill. [9:46] For example, I want to understand the future of TSA and what you think that looks like. [9:51] It seems like we're moving in a direction of less resilience on federal screeners, but we do need a better understanding of where you want that to go in five or you see it going in 10 years. [10:02] We also will be looking forward to discussions about the future of FEMA now that the Review Council has finished their report and has a better understanding of the plan and pathway forward. [10:13] Lastly, we look forward to continuing to engage the Department on how funding provided through reconciliation process is being executed and how it intersects with base funding. [10:25] Mr. Secretary, in conclusion, I appreciate you appearing before us to testify on FY 2027 budget request. [10:34] You have an incredibly difficult job and have stepped into it during a very important and difficult time. [10:40] I want to thank you for your service to the people of the United States and your commitment to keeping them safe. [10:46] I look forward to your testimony today and to working with you during fiscal year 2027. [10:52] And I would now like to recognize the ranking member for his opening remarks. [10:57] And Mr. Ranking Member, do you mind if I recognize the chairman first? [11:00] Thank you. [11:01] Would you? [11:01] Okay, go ahead. [11:03] Thank you. [11:03] Ranking Member Murphy. [11:05] Thank you, Chair Britt. [11:06] Thank you, Secretary Mullen, for being here today. [11:09] Mr. Secretary, I think you were crazy to have taken on this job. [11:14] But at your confirmation hearing, you did promise that you would get DHS out of the headlines. [11:20] We took you at your word. [11:22] But nothing has really gotten better. [11:25] In fact, you spent the first two months of your tenure threatening to suspend international arrivals in states represented by Democrats. [11:34] Not only would that throw our entire air travel system into chaos, it's completely illegal, which underscores the main issue of this hearing. [11:44] The reason why Democrats and Republicans were not able to find agreement on the underlying DHS appropriations bill is because never before in the history of our nation has a federal agency been run so far off the rails as the Department of Homeland Security. [12:02] Every day, this agency is breaking the law at scale and wasting billions of taxpayer dollars. [12:08] DHS does not implement the law any longer. [12:12] It makes up the law. [12:14] Don't take my word for it. [12:16] 10,000 times in the short 18 months this administration has run DHS, judges have overturned this agency's immigration decisions. [12:26] Essentially, every case that gets before a judge gets overturned. [12:30] The agency has locked up American citizens. [12:34] It has killed peaceful protesters just for getting in the way. [12:37] It has applied a completely made-up set of immigration laws and deported hundreds of thousands of immigrants who broke no laws, who were playing by the rules, who had legitimate claims to stay in the United States. [12:48] A federal judge recently cited DHS for violating 96 different court orders in one single state. [12:58] Not that this agency violated the law 96 different times in that state. [13:03] No. [13:03] On 96 occasions, DHS was caught violating the law, was ordered to obey the law, and 96 times ignored the judge in one state. [13:15] That is stunning, and it should be unacceptable to anyone on this committee who claims to care about the rule of law. [13:23] To make matters worse, this agency is spending money like stone-drunk sailors. [13:29] Let's just take the massive detention centers that you are building. [13:33] In Social Circle, Georgia, DHS allegedly paid almost $129 million for a property previously valued at $29 million. [13:43] In Socorro, Texas, a property previously valued at $11 million was sold to DHS for around $123 million, a 1,000% markup. [13:58] Somebody is getting rich, fabulously rich, off of those deals. [14:02] Or take the company Geo Group. [14:05] Geo Group was a small contractor in 2024, net income of about $31 million. [14:11] But then Geo Group made enormous contributions to the president's political operations, and a revolving door started between Geo Group and DHS. [14:20] Tom Homan worked for the Geo Group, now works for DHS. [14:24] David Venturella, Geo Group executive, is now poised to be the next head of ICE. [14:29] And guess what happened? [14:30] In just a year, as its executives have gone to work for the agency, as the political contributions flowed to the president, their revenue went from $31 million to, wait for it, $254 million, an 800% jump in just one year. [14:49] When President Trump came into office, ICE's budget was $10 billion. [14:53] Today, with the obscene cash infusion this Republican Congress has given your agency, ICE's effective annual budget is now 11 times that, $115 billion. [15:06] And with these real estate deals and these contractor deals, at times the agency seems to be lighting this money on fire. [15:14] But for this committee, that should be unacceptable, because the money that is being wasted, it is earned by plumbers and security guards and teachers. [15:22] They entrust it to us to spend it wisely. [15:25] We swear an oath when we arrive here to assure that their money is not used to fund unconstitutional or illegal behavior. [15:32] Every single day, this agency is violating the Constitution and the law. [15:36] This cannot continue. [15:37] For Congress to approve of this budget, you must assure us that this Sherman's March of Illegality ends. [15:45] You must stop patting the pockets of immigration industry CEOs. [15:49] You must rein in this out-of-control overspending. [15:53] But as I stated at the outset, the worry is the opposite is about to happen. [15:58] You are reportedly considering suspending international arrivals at airports in states represented by Democrats. [16:04] You will say that is because you disagree with our state's immigration policies, and that is your right to disagree. [16:12] But the law, unquestionably, does not give you the right to close international travel in states that don't have the same political leanings as your party. [16:21] And so I will say the same thing that I said to your predecessor in this forum. [16:25] I know that you do not like our nation's immigration law. [16:29] You believe that it lets in too many people. [16:31] You don't like states' immigration laws that treat immigrants fairly. [16:37] But the law is the law. [16:39] Your disagreement with it does not give you the permission to just make up a different law. [16:44] If you want more authority, if your agency wants more authority, if you want stricter authority, come to Congress and ask for it. [16:51] Do not ask us to fund an agency that just makes up its own law. [16:58] Thank you, Senator Murphy. [17:01] Secretary Mullen, we will now turn to you for your opening statements. [17:04] You'll be given five minutes for that, and then all of your written testimony will obviously be entered into the record. [17:11] Thank you so much, Chairman Britt and Ranking Member Collins. [17:17] I'm sorry, Chair Collins and Ranking Member Murphy. [17:20] You know, I do have an opening statement here, but wow. [17:24] Senator Murphy, the outlandish claims you made there is just flat wrong. [17:32] You start saying we're breaking the law, and you really start looking at it, and we're enforcing the laws that Congress did pass. [17:38] That's reckless. [17:39] When you start saying it's unconstitutional, what's unconstitutional that we're doing? [17:42] We swore to uphold the Constitution, just like you swore to uphold the Constitution. [17:47] For you to throw my 275,000 employees underneath DHS and with a broad stroke like that is reckless and irresponsible on your part. [17:57] We're doing the job that Congress gave us the authority to do. [18:02] And our men and women out there every single day is enforcing the laws. [18:06] If you don't like the laws, you can change them. [18:08] We're not picking and choosing which laws we enforce. [18:11] We're simply enforcing the law, period, full stop. [18:16] When you throw out reckless terms and you start referring to our agents as being dangerous, unconstitutional, and lawless, [18:34] that's why our agents' death threats are up by 8,000%. [18:38] I know that's not what you want, but your political theater, that's what it causes. [18:42] When you start looking at assaults on our officers, they're up by 1,300%. [18:49] Senator Murphy, is that what you want? [18:52] I don't think it is. [18:54] I really don't. [18:55] But I understand the political theater. [18:57] I understand wanting to get sound bites. [18:59] And that was obvious because the whole time he was giving your testimony, he wasn't looking at me. [19:02] He was looking at a camera. [19:03] I get that. [19:04] I get it. [19:05] If you have bigger political ambitions, fine. [19:09] Just say it. [19:10] But don't do it at the expense of my officers. [19:14] We want to really talk about funding? [19:16] You haven't funded my officers. [19:17] CBP and ICE has been willing to do the job for free. [19:21] Why? [19:21] Because of a reckless administration. [19:23] Prior to President Trump coming in and saving America, you had a reckless administration that was destroying America by letting millions of illegals into our country. [19:32] We're a nation of laws. [19:34] And we're going to enforce those laws. [19:36] What separates us from other countries is because people respect the rule of law. [19:40] There's a reason why people are flooding to our country and not flooding to leave. [19:46] And it's our job to protect the homeland. [19:48] And we do that every single day. [19:50] Every day I walk into that office, I feel so blessed that President Trump gave me this opportunity because I protect my backyard as hard as I protect your backyard. [19:59] And I do it with pride. [20:00] And every one of the employees, all 275,000 employees at DHS, they do it with pride, too. [20:09] And they don't separate a blue state from a red state. [20:11] We look at it as a whole. [20:16] But your reckless tone is getting people hurt. [20:21] And it's got to stop. [20:22] The fact that CBP and ICE hasn't been funded now for a historical amount of time is absolutely appalling. [20:33] It should never happen. [20:36] But yet we're playing political games. [20:40] If your party is for open borders and an amnesty, then be honest. [20:45] Because if ICE can't do their job, then who's supposed to be getting the illegals out? [20:49] That's what they are stood up to do. [20:51] That's what Congress passed and gave them the authority and created the agency to do. [20:55] If you don't want Customs and Border Patrol, and their job is to control our borders and the custom entry points, [21:05] if you don't want them, then be honest with the American people and say, we want open borders. [21:11] Don't sit there and accuse us of a bunch of stuff that you know yourself isn't true. [21:18] I'll go back to this. [21:20] It's an honor to sit here in front of you. [21:25] I take it with great pride to be Secretary of Department of Homeland Security. [21:29] And I'm surrounded with great men and women every single day I walk into that office. [21:35] Regardless of what you say or some other people say, we're doing a great job. [21:40] And we have a zero-fail mission. [21:42] And we take that to heart every day. [21:45] And one of the people that I'm surrounded with is Troy Edgar, my deputy. [21:51] I couldn't do my job without the people around me. [21:54] And so thank you, Senator Britt. [21:56] Thank you, thank you, Mayor Murphy, for allowing him to be up here with us. [22:00] Because some of the questions, he may be better suited answered. [22:03] With that, I yield back. [22:04] Thank you, Mr. Secretary. [22:07] We're going to go into the question and answer portion of the hearing. [22:11] Each member is going to be given five minutes of time for their questions. [22:15] The senators are going to have an opportunity to ask those questions in order of seniority and then arrival. [22:21] If the five minutes is up, I will tap the gavel to note that to the senator that's speaking so that they can quickly wrap their question. [22:29] I'll give you an opportunity to respond. [22:32] But we're going to keep this to five minutes. [22:34] And we're going to do that on both the Republican and the Democratic side. [22:37] So if I can have cooperation there, I would greatly appreciate it. [22:41] And then I'll go ahead and start. [22:43] We are honored to have both Chair Collins and Vice Chair Murray with us here on the subcommittee. [22:51] And Vice Chair Murray, I will turn to you first. [22:57] Well, welcome, Mr. Secretary. [23:00] I think from where I sit, I think it's pretty fair to say that DHS under President Trump has been a debacle. [23:07] From day one, we saw rampant abuse of power and corruption. [23:11] From awarding millions in no-compete contracts to companies with direct family ties to DHS officials. [23:18] To blatantly politicizing disaster relief and slow walking or outright blocking funding blue states like mine. [23:26] To making this country less prepared for disasters and leaving communities in the lurch. [23:32] And then you have the absolutely shameful, unacceptable, un-American conduct we have seen from some of ICE and Border Patrol members. [23:40] After Republicans gave nearly $200 billion last summer in their big, ugly bill with effectively no strings attached. [23:48] President Trump and Stephen Miller built up a paramilitary force and essentially promised it immunity and set it loose on some of our American communities. [23:57] We all witnessed the consequences. [24:00] A family heading home from a basketball game that was tear gassed. [24:04] A priest in Chicago shot in the head and body with pepper balls. [24:07] An American citizen dragged out of the house in the freezing cold in his underwear. [24:12] Renee Good, Alex Preddy, others murdered in broad daylight. [24:17] Those actions shock the conscience and have shocked the world, which is horrified by what has unfolded on American streets. [24:26] So, going back as we negotiated the FY26 DHS funding bill, I fought very hard alongside my Democratic colleagues [24:35] to secure very basic reforms to make sure nothing like that happened again. [24:40] Steps like requiring body cameras and ensuring that the footage is retained and available. [24:46] Restoring basic training and hiring standards. [24:50] Requiring warrants. [24:52] Ending racial profiling. [24:54] Banning enforcement actions in sensitive locations like schools and hospitals and houses of worship. [25:00] Taking off the masks and requiring visible identification. [25:03] Those are very basic protocols the American people overwhelmingly support. [25:08] And, by the way, police departments follow every day. [25:11] But, unfortunately, after weeks of back and forth, and at times good discussions and good progress, [25:17] Republicans did ultimately walk away from the talks to enshrine those protections into law. [25:23] And they chose instead to circumvent Democrats through reconciliation [25:27] and are now trying to fund ICE and Border Patrol for the remainder of Trump's presidency, [25:32] not just this year, without any oversight or accountability measures in place. [25:37] This is exactly what led to the horrors that we did witness in Minneapolis and across the country. [25:43] And I want to be very clear, Secretary Mullen. [25:45] I'm watching closely to see what steps you now take as the new DHS Secretary. [25:51] And I have to say, I have yet to see you take back the reins from Stephen Miller. [25:57] Because even now, we are seeing some outrageous proposals. [26:00] You plan to withdraw CBP officers from airports in cities that don't roll over for Trump? [26:07] That is insane. [26:09] It is not only dangerous, it would also spell economic crisis for blue and red states. [26:15] Meanwhile, DHS is already on track to break last year's record for people dying in custody. [26:21] And last week, ICE agents tear-gassed a United States senator [26:25] who was simply working to peacefully mediate between ICE and protesters [26:31] after federal law enforcement, we know, shoved a different senator to the ground last year. [26:37] And you continue to deport upstanding community members instead of the worst of the worst. [26:46] Accountability is desperately needed. [26:48] And I know we will all keep fighting for that. [26:51] So let me ask you, you know, throughout our negotiations over the 26th bill, [26:57] the White House and Border Czar Tom Holman told us we didn't need to put any reforms into law [27:02] because DHS was already making changes like ending the roving patrols, [27:08] restoring stronger training standards, requiring body cameras to be worn by all agents and officers. [27:13] And I know that at your confirmation hearing, you said you do not support the warrantless search [27:18] and seizure policy the administration put in place. [27:23] And you reportedly were recently talking about legislation to require judicial warrants, [27:28] restore training standards, and protect sensitive locations from raids. [27:31] But while you and Tom Holman say you've made some of those changes, [27:36] the American people haven't seen the proof of that. [27:38] So I want to ask you today, what are your current training requirements for agents, training requirements? [27:47] Thank you for the question. [27:49] I want to remind the senator that I was part of the negotiation, negotiating those reforms. [27:59] And I think you're aware of that. [28:00] So I actually know what happened during those. [28:03] I know you were not in the room, but I do know you were aware of them. [28:04] No, I was very involved in it. [28:07] But you were not in the room. [28:08] The back and forth, no, I was very involved in it. [28:09] I was in the room, you were not in the room. [28:11] I know you were not in the room. [28:11] We was very involved in it because we were talking with the House. [28:13] Doesn't matter, I asked you a question. [28:14] What is the training requirements? [28:15] Senator, you know that we agreed to all this stuff that you said, [28:19] the fact that you guys walked away because you had primary elections. [28:22] No, Mr. Secretary, we walked away because you would not put it in writing. [28:25] We agreed to nine and you would never get to yes, and so we walked away and did reconciliation [28:29] because you were never going to get to yes between Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, [28:34] and you know that to be a fact, and you can't pull the rule over my eyes because I was part of the negotiation. [28:38] Mr. Secretary, you can give your side. [28:39] I'm telling you, I was in the room and we turned away. [28:42] I want to ask you. [28:43] It was interesting. [28:43] I was involved in that, too. [28:44] What are your training requirements? [28:45] If you want to start talking about training, we're going to, July 1st, we'll go back to the 71, 72 hours of training. [28:51] The training policy is going to change a little bit because we're going to be doing crowd control and fit today's needs, [28:59] but all training always is willing to change back and forth. [29:02] When you start talking about warrants, I was very clear in my confirmation that judicial warrants are used [29:09] when we're entering a residence unless we're in pursuit of a criminal or the criminal continues to evade [29:16] by going from one place to the next, the next, the next, and we're trying to lock the person down. [29:20] But I was very clear when we started discussing that. [29:27] And on the sensitive locations, it's been asked multiple times. [29:32] We're not actively being at sensitive locations. [29:35] We do sometimes have to pick up a felon that is around sensitive locations, [29:40] but we're not actively patrolling those. [29:43] And I think you know that to be true. [29:45] Okay, and can you give this committee in writing what your current training requirements are? [29:51] You said as of July 1st. [29:52] If you could give that to us so we can see what those are. [29:55] And how about the updated departmental protocols for agents engaging with protesters? [30:01] I'm sorry? [30:02] Yeah, you have an updated department protocol for agents who are engaging with protesters. [30:07] Can you describe that? [30:08] And the time has expired, so if you can get your answer quickly, I'd appreciate it. [30:12] Well, let me just ask you then. [30:14] If you could give the committee in writing that answer, whether or not you've ended roving patrols [30:20] and whether or not every officer and agent in the field is now wearing a body camera in writing [30:25] so we can see what your protocols are. [30:27] We don't have the money for all the cameras. [30:29] We had it in the funding bill. [30:31] But since you guys decided not to vote for it, we don't have the money to put it on all of our officers. [30:35] But if you remember, during the funding bill, we had $20 million set up for it. [30:39] And it's currently unfunded because the Democrats were refusing to fund CPP. [30:43] We had $20 million in it. [30:44] And I will tell you this, that that was not enough. [30:46] But what I'd like to know is if you will respond to that in writing, what your current policies are [30:52] so we know that they are actual policies being implemented. [30:56] Thank you. [30:56] We'll take that. [30:57] Thank you, Vice Chair Murray. [30:58] I'll turn to Chair Collins for her questions. [31:01] Thank you very much, Madam Chair. [31:02] Welcome, Mr. Secretary. [31:06] I'd like to ask you about a particular kind of visa, the H-1B visa, which are for highly skilled international employees. [31:20] Many rural areas in Maine face shortages of qualified medical professionals, [31:27] which makes attracting them and recruiting them critical to the health of our communities. [31:37] Well, I can understand why the administration might consider assigning fees to H-1B visas in the tech area [31:48] or other sectors where there's a significant domestic workforce. [31:55] That's not what we're talking about when it's medical providers for rural areas. [32:02] I want to give you an example of a hospital in Presque Isle, Maine, that's in northern Maine, very close to where I grew up. [32:14] And recently, this rural hospital was forced to pay the $100,000 H-1B fee for a much-needed surgeon. [32:25] Would you be willing to consider carving out an exemption for medical professionals from this fee [32:38] when a community can demonstrate that there is not a medical professional available? [32:51] Senator Collins, thank you so much for the question. [32:53] We looked into this. I was misunderstanding when you and I visited a tad bit about this. [33:01] Was this doctor currently in the United States, or did you have to bring him in from outside the United States? [33:07] He had to be brought in from another country, and there did not used to be a $100,000 fee associated with that visa. [33:18] The doctor qualifies for the visa. That's not the issue. [33:24] The issue is the extraordinarily high fee that the hospital in Presque Isle had to pay. [33:31] So we do have some authority and flexibility to be able to waive some of this on case by case. [33:37] We had 286,000 applicants a year to date for the H-1B visas. [33:47] Out of those, over 200,000 of them paid the $100,000 to be able to come in [33:53] because it allows us to process them in a little bit faster of a manner. [33:57] In fact, when we do that, we're able to process them in about 15 days because we're able to throw stuff out. [34:04] If people want to look for an exemption and come that process, which we had roughly 80,000 look for a different path forward, [34:13] it takes about seven and a half months to go through that process to be able to exempt them. [34:20] We can speed that up to some degree, but to actually have a carve-out, it would be difficult. [34:24] We're happy to look into it, look at language, try to get it better because I agree from a very rural area. [34:30] I understand how hard it is to get doctors, but I'd say most of them, when they need it, they need it then, [34:36] and they're not willing to wait seven and a half months to get someone to come through [34:38] because we do still have to do our due diligence on going through their background [34:42] and making sure they do qualify for it. [34:44] But on these cases, and there's many, several people, maybe not on this dais, [34:49] but have called me since I've been in for eight weeks [34:51] has asked for me to look in some of these circumstances, [34:55] and we're always happy to look into them and see how we can work with you the best possible way. [35:00] I would suggest that there's a huge difference between bringing in a computer expert from another country [35:08] to work in wealthy California and Silicon Valley [35:12] versus a much-needed surgeon to work at a rural hospital. [35:17] I'm just jealous you've got a rural surgeon to come in because we're looking for them all over Oklahoma. [35:22] Well, you can't have this one. [35:24] But let me switch to another kind of visa that's extraordinarily important to the state of Maine, [35:31] and that's the H-2B visa. [35:34] As you know, many of our communities in Maine rely heavily on H-2B visas [35:41] for staff during our busy tourism seasons. [35:46] Last year, just to give you an idea, more than 13 million tourists came to the state of Maine, [35:55] and we're very grateful that they do. [35:57] But that is 10 times the entire population of our state, [36:02] and they mainly come in the summer and the fall. [36:05] So employers in the hospitality sector are simply unable to hire workers to meet that demand. [36:15] So that seasonal H-2B program is critical. [36:20] And the workers come, they work, and then they go back home. [36:25] They're not trying to stay here. [36:28] They come back year after year. [36:31] There are ways that we could speed up the process for that. [36:37] One idea that the Maine Chamber of Commerce recently proposed to me is that employers [36:44] who have long utilized the H-2B program and have consistently followed the rules should have an exemption [36:55] for a certain number of workers from the cap for employers if they have that good five-year compliance record. [37:04] Another idea would be reinstituting the returning worker exemption from the cap. [37:13] That existed during President Bush's administration. [37:17] It worked really well. [37:19] It was the same workers coming back to the same seasonal businesses year after year. [37:26] They became like family. [37:28] And in fact, a lot of times the employers would keep their belongings for them [37:33] in anticipation of their return the next tourism season. [37:39] Is the administration considering ways to simplify the H-2B process, visa process, [37:50] for employers who have followed the rules for five years or reinstituting the returning worker exemption? [37:59] So we've looked at this right now, year-to-day, I think we've had 170,000 or 107,000 H-2B visas that's applied for FY26. [38:11] The number, I do have some flexibility with the number. [38:14] You guys gave me that authority in 2017. [38:17] Well, not me, but the department. [38:19] But to raise the cap, which would mean putting the exemptions in place, too, the way that we understand it. [38:26] We was talking to council today about this. [38:28] Troy was in the room with us, and so you're welcome to correct me if I'm wrong here. [38:34] But to raise the cap above a significant number, Congress will have to set that new number or give me the authority to do so. [38:42] And then we'll be happy to. [38:43] I have, listen, being from, you know, the construction background and understanding the farming and ranching background where it is very seasonal, [38:53] we do need some flexibility there. [38:55] Returning workers, I agree, if they've been able to go through the process over and over again, [39:00] they come in when they're supposed to, they leave when they're supposed to, and there's no issues here. [39:05] I'd be happy to do something like that and streamline the process. [39:09] We have been working with USCIS to try to streamline this. [39:14] That's one of the most challenging things I have since I've walked in as secretary, [39:18] is that we have handcuffed ourselves through so much bureaucracy that we're trying to cut back and get to the basics. [39:25] And any way you see that a system can work better, Senator Collins, I'll be happy to work with you, [39:31] but I'm limited on some of my authority. [39:33] Thank you. [39:34] Thank you. [39:34] Roy, you have anything to add to that? [39:36] Mr. Secretary, you have now been at the department for just over two months. [39:42] I realize you were there for just a little over a week. [39:44] My beard has turned gray since then, too. [39:45] I can see it. [39:46] I can see it. [39:47] You were there for just a little over a week when the president actually submitted his budget request, [39:51] so I know you probably had very limited opportunity to provide input into that while fully supporting, obviously, what was put forward. [39:59] I do want to ask you from your perspective in the two months that you've been there and looking at the request in front of us, [40:05] what do you believe is most critical that we invest in there at the Department of Homeland Security [40:11] that's in front of us today to make sure that we keep our borders secure but we keep Americans safe [40:16] and that the mission of Homeland Security, you're able to fully execute that? [40:20] Thank you. [40:21] The biggest issue we're having right now is with personnel because we went through a historic shutdown. [40:29] 76 days, the longest shutdown in the government history. [40:32] That's our fourth shutdown in a year, so you can imagine morale has been tough. [40:36] Without people, it doesn't make any difference what you implement. [40:39] You're going to fall short. [40:41] Now, as I said when I first walked in that building two months ago, I inherited the greatest group of people, [40:48] the most dedicated patriotic workforce in the nation because they're all there working, still showing up for free. [40:55] But some people couldn't sustain it. [40:58] It's unrealistic to think that someone's going to show up and commute back and forth [41:02] because there is no buses that stop out in front of St. Elizabeth. [41:07] There isn't, you know, the metro that has a metro stop right there. [41:12] Everybody has to drive or play Uber to come back and forth so it gets very expensive for them. [41:17] Some couldn't sustain it, and we lost a tremendous amount of workforce, in fact, about 8%. [41:21] And trying to bring that workforce back and hiring the best and brightest and say, [41:27] by the way, we've been shut down four times in a year, and I can't guarantee we're not going to be shut down September 30th [41:32] because we've already heard rhetoric from the left saying they're willing to do that. [41:36] That makes it very difficult for us to deliver on the mission. [41:39] But I will say the two things that I've recognized that needs to happen, Chairman or Chairwoman, is, can I just call you Chair? [41:49] Yeah, I like that. [41:50] That's good. [41:50] Or Friend. [41:51] Yeah. [41:51] For that one, too. [41:52] It works. [41:52] But the two biggest things that we have is DHS was stood up with 22 components, and we grew very quick. [42:02] And we've only been around for 20 years. [42:05] And the foundation for the department hasn't been fully established because we've been running hard ever since. [42:12] I mean, we're still trying to bring everybody underneath in one campus. [42:15] We have buildings, we have people spread all across the area in Washington, D.C. [42:24] Out of 275,000 employees, we have less than half that we're all working together. [42:31] So to build a foundation to actually build upon is very important. [42:35] So we need to go back and put the, and not put the brick and mortar, but actually put the foundation underneath us [42:40] and get everybody out of their silos. [42:42] 22 components are in silos, and we're not always speaking to each other. [42:45] We're not working together as an cohesive team. [42:48] And that's true in the last 20 years. [42:51] One thing that can help with that is the technology allowing us to all interface. [42:54] And as you know, technology is very expensive, but we have the largest law enforcement in the country, [43:02] and we have the unique authorities that no other agency and no other law enforcement has, [43:07] from cyber to sea to land and to air. [43:12] And with that, we need to be talking. [43:16] So when Secret Service has an interaction with somebody, what they're interacting with, [43:26] we will also be able to recognize throughout all the other agencies that maybe USCIS has already had an interaction with, [43:31] or ICE, or CBP, or the Coast Guard. [43:34] And we are currently getting bids on what that's going to cost, and that will be important to us. [43:41] Okay. [43:42] Mr. Secretary, in my minute remaining, I do want to ask you about TSA. [43:47] I noticed in this budget request there's a significant drawdown in staff with expectations of fewer staff would be needed [43:53] because smaller airports would be compelled to join the screening partnership program. [43:57] Look, I have also seen, obviously, the Gold Plus program. [44:02] It seems as though TSA is moving in a direction that might culminate years down the line [44:06] and serving as more of a coordinator or a regulator of security rather than performing security screening functions themselves. [44:13] Can you just tell me what your vision is for TSA? [44:16] And we only have 26 seconds here, but 10 or 15 years down the line. [44:21] So, ultimately, we want to have, TSA is the most forward-facing government agency we have in the United States. [44:28] They interact with more people every day than anybody, any government agency does, and we want to have the best performers. [44:35] 20, or 10 of our top 20 airports are part of this program, but it only deals with personnel. [44:41] San Francisco Airport and Kansas City International Airport, both are part of this program. [44:47] What we recognize with the shutdown is those airports didn't miss a beat. [44:51] They were able to continue to perform. [44:53] So, what we're asking is let's expand on that since we know it's a success, [44:58] and let's partner with the public, and let's partner with the private industry with some of the best technology [45:03] to move us to the gold standard of traveling moving down the road. [45:07] And we can get there faster because private industry can adjust faster than we can, [45:13] but to lower the mission or the requirement to keep our sky safe is not an option. [45:18] We want to actually elevate that, and we can do that with the help of the private sector. [45:23] Absolutely, and appreciate the men and women of TSA and what they've done, [45:26] particularly in some of the most challenging circumstances over the last few months. [45:30] Now turning to Ranking Member Murphy. [45:34] Thank you. [45:35] Mr. Secretary, this is from a federal court decision regarding ICE's activities in Minnesota. [45:44] ICE is not a law unto itself. [45:47] ICE has violated nearly 100 court orders. [45:50] This list should give pause to anyone, no matter his or her political beliefs, who cares about the rule of law. [45:57] ICE has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence. [46:07] That's not a Democratic-appointed judge. [46:10] That is a Republican-appointed judge describing the scale of illegality. [46:15] I understand your M.O. and others in the administration's M.O. is to attack us personally [46:20] or to claim that we're inciting violence when we point out the widespread illegality. [46:27] But this is a Republican-appointed judge who is saying the exact same thing that I am saying. [46:34] This is a really important discussion for us to have because this is, whether you want to believe it or not, [46:39] at the root of our disagreement is that it is very hard for us to figure out how to fund an agency that is violating the law. [46:47] Again, that's not me saying it. That's a Republican-appointed federal judge. [46:52] Now, this widespread violation of court orders admittedly largely happened before you got on the job. [46:59] And as a senator, you always struck me as somebody who cared about the rule of law. [47:04] And so maybe the easiest question is this. [47:07] When DHS gets a court order telling them that something they are doing is either illegal and unconstitutional, [47:16] prior to you taking office, the approach was to ignore that court order. [47:20] That's what this judge is saying. [47:21] Ninety-four times you got a court order. [47:23] You didn't implement it. [47:25] Now that you are on the job, can you commit to us that if a court judges something ICE is doing, [47:32] something DHS is doing as illegal and unconstitutional, tells you to stop, [47:36] that you will comply with the court order? [47:40] Ranking Member Murphy, I will tell you that we will never break the Constitution, [47:45] and we're not going to break the law, but we're going to enforce our nation's laws. [47:49] And we're going to enforce the laws that you guys passed and that we implement. [47:53] We will never go outside that, and if we do, we'll hold each other accountable for that. [47:58] But that doesn't sound like the same thing as committing that you will obey a court order. [48:03] Obviously, the entire structure of the federal government gives the power to the federal courts [48:06] to divine whether you are obeying the law or not. [48:10] I mean, I think it's an easy thing to say. [48:12] Will you or will you not implement court orders until you stop an activity? [48:17] If we didn't think courts were politicized, then I would probably be able to answer that. [48:22] But we see courts over and over again that use their bench for their political opinion, [48:28] not just the rule of law. [48:29] And we can see that because we see how many times there are overturned. [48:32] I can choose which court orders you obey based upon whether you believe that's going to be a political agenda. [48:38] Don't put words in my mouth. [48:40] What are you saying, then? [48:41] What I'm saying is we'll enforce the law and we're never going to break the Constitution. [48:47] You just said that you will not follow every court order because you believe the court order is rigged against you. [48:53] No, no, Chris, or Senator, don't start putting words in my mouth. [48:55] That's not what I said. [48:56] I said I will never break the Constitution. [48:58] We're going to enforce the law. [48:59] Will you implement court orders when they tell you to stop an activity? [49:02] You're making an assumption on court orders I haven't seen. [49:05] Will you or will you not? [49:06] I'm going to enforce the law and I'll never break the Constitution. [49:09] I think, listen, if you're a Republican or Democrat on this committee, you should be really, really freaked out. [49:15] We should be really concerned about the rulings that come out of the courts and how often they get overturned. [49:18] Our federal system falls apart if you are telling me that you are a judge. [49:21] They fall apart when you have a judge that makes a political opinion from a bench and they're outside the law, too. [49:26] Not all judges are above the law, but sometimes they think they are. [49:28] That's amazing. [49:29] That's why we see lower courts get overturned by higher courts constantly. [49:32] Let me ask you about what's happening in Delaney Hall. [49:35] You said that detainees are protesting there because they want their, quote, ethnic food. [49:44] I have three official letters that were sent to the administration from about 300 detainees there. [49:53] It won't shock you that there's no mention of ethnic food in these letters. [49:59] These letters allege that there has been spoiled food, delayed medical treatment, sewage backups, undue pressure to sign deportation paperwork. [50:12] Madam Chair, if I could submit these letters for the record. [50:15] Without objection. [50:17] Nowhere in these letters is a demand for ethnic food. [50:20] They describe pretty horrific conditions. [50:23] This administration has defunded the ombudsman, the independent office that used to exist inside DHS that would do an independent investigation of claims like this. [50:35] Can you just tell us, you know, if you're taking these claims seriously, these allegations seriously, and looking at them, [50:41] or whether you've prejudged this to be, as you stated, about a demand for ethnic food? [50:46] These seem pretty serious, and it seems like you would want to investigate. [50:48] So, since the history of that facility being opened, not one single health violation has been written. [50:53] In fact, just recently, the state of New Jersey's health inspectors went in. [50:58] They didn't find one single violation. [51:01] But if you compare it to what the state prison system is, state prison system, they have three prisons that are in deplorable conditions. [51:09] Quote, that's what the health inspector said. [51:12] Delayed health care is average of 32 percent delayed within 48 hours. [51:17] We have more health. [51:18] We have two times. [51:19] Are you doing an investigation on these allegations? [51:23] Ranking member, this is why I have this information. [51:26] It's because I went through and looked at it and looked at what we have. [51:29] Zero health inspections. [51:31] Not everyone is a health inspection allegation. [51:35] You made some pretty damning claims saying that it's deplorable conditions. [51:39] Are you doing an investigation or not? [51:39] I said we looked into it. [51:41] Health inspectors were just there. [51:42] Time's expired. [51:43] And we had zero violations. [51:45] Zero violations. [51:46] I'd also like to point out this is one of the things that we had included in the bipartisan appropriations bill was an inspector general that would have been able to investigate the conditions there at different detention facilities. [52:00] And it's one of the reasons why, yet again, and I appreciate Chair Collins' work on making sure that that was incorporated. [52:08] Senator Kennedy. [52:18] Mr. Secretary, welcome. [52:21] Thank you. [52:22] Mr. Secretary, do you hate people who are different from you? [52:32] No, sir. [52:32] I wake up every single morning and say, love the people, love the call. [52:36] Do you support the rule of law? [52:38] Absolutely. [52:41] Isn't a big part of your job to enforce immigration laws? [52:48] Yes, sir, it is. [52:49] Can we agree that illegal immigration is illegal? [52:58] We should all agree on that. [53:00] Yes, sir. [53:00] How many people do you think the Biden administration allowed into our country in violation of our immigration laws? [53:14] Unfortunately, they didn't keep good records. [53:15] We don't even know how many kids were led into the country. [53:18] Estimation is somewhere around 340,000 kids that we're trying currently to look for. [53:24] With the numbers are estimated between 12 and 20 million came in illegally over the four years of the Biden administration. [53:32] And President Biden ignored the immigration laws with the cooperation and indeed, in some cases, the encouragement of some members of Congress. [53:46] Did he not? [53:47] Yes, sir. [53:48] That's my recollection of it. [53:49] Why do you think, why do you think the Biden administration and some of my colleagues, your former colleagues, why do you think they believe in open borders? [54:06] Sir, I have my theory behind that. [54:08] And I would love to entertain the thought, but I'll try to keep my thoughts to myself and just do my job here. [54:15] But I think I know my theory is pretty strong. [54:18] Well, tell me about it. [54:19] I'll probably get myself in trouble. [54:21] It's okay. [54:22] You're already in trouble. [54:23] Yeah, but I don't know if this is a place to give my thoughts. [54:27] I try to work in facts as much as I can. [54:29] But it's hard to explain why they would allow that many people to come in and turn our streets into lawless cities and lawless towns. [54:37] I mean, does any other – let me try it a different way. [54:41] Do you think vetting people at our border is racist? [54:46] No, sir. [54:46] It's exactly what we should do because we are charged, CBP and the Department of Homeland Security is charged with keeping our homeland safe. [54:55] We have to know who's coming in. [54:57] We catch terrorists on a weekly basis trying to enter this country illegally or already entered this country illegally. [55:04] Do you think vetting people at our border, it sounds like you do, is prudent? [55:10] It is absolutely vital to the job we do to protecting our homeland. [55:14] And every other country vets people at the border. [55:16] They should, yes. [55:20] What happened in Delaney Hall? [55:23] Well, a lot of claims were made, and they just absolutely weren't true. [55:28] The first one came out and said it was overcrowded. [55:31] We have today, I believe, under 700 detainees there. [55:35] It's licensed for just over 1,000 beds. [55:38] We have twice the square footage at Delaney Hall than the state penitentiary does in New Jersey. [55:43] They said that the medical condition was horrible. [55:46] We have twice as much medical staff per person than the state penitentiary does in New Jersey. [55:56] What happened with the protesters? [55:58] Well, the protesters is interesting. [56:00] The governor and the state officials were going out and saying that they were peaceful protesters and ICE was agitating them. [56:07] That all changed when the governor finally allowed the state police to do their job. [56:14] And, by the way, their professionals and the locals there were absolutely professionals. [56:18] When they came in, they quickly realized these aren't peaceful protesters. [56:21] These are rioters. [56:21] Were some of the protesters or rioters violating the law? [56:25] Absolutely. [56:26] Every time you verbally assault an officer by not saying that you're, you know, whatever words you want to use, [56:31] but when you say you're going to kill them and all their family, that's against the law. [56:35] That's violating federal policy. [56:37] When you put your hands on an officer, we had officers bit. [56:41] We had officers scratched. [56:42] We had officers poked. [56:43] We had officers hit. [56:45] We had objects thrown out on. [56:46] We had car windows smashed in. [56:48] All that is a federal crime and punishable, and we have zero tolerance for it. [56:53] And those that we could arrest then, we did arrest. [56:56] Those that we have on video, we're going through the video today, [57:00] and we will eventually find you and arrest you as well and charge you. [57:03] Now, you have the right in America to protest, don't you? [57:07] And I support the First Amendment, but you do it in a peaceful manner. [57:11] But you don't have the right to protest violently or in violation of the law, do you? [57:16] That is correct, Senator. [57:17] Isn't it? [57:18] Last question. [57:19] I know. [57:22] Has it been your experience that most cops, most Border Patrol officers, most ICE agents will leave you alone unless you do illegal stuff? [57:37] And the senator's time has expired, so if you can keep this quick. [57:39] That is absolutely correct, and they love doing their job. [57:42] They don't do it for the money. [57:43] They do it because they're called to do it. [57:45] And regardless if you're a local PD, you're a sheriff, you're state, or you're federal, [57:51] all of them are willing to do their job because they feel called to do so. [57:56] And you're not, for the most part, there's always a few bad apples, [58:00] but for the most part, those officers, unless you're breaking the law, they're not going to bother you. [58:06] That's my experience anyways. [58:07] Thank you, Mr. Secretary. [58:10] Senator Hyde-Smith. [58:11] Thank you, Madam Chairman, and thank you, Mr. Secretary, for being here. [58:16] And to our Deputy Secretary, thank you for being here as well. [58:21] Before I begin, I want to note that we are getting some really positive feedback from my stakeholders at the state level in Mississippi [58:29] regarding FEMA's recent progress, particularly that funding, is moving more efficiently, [58:36] and our responsiveness appears to be improving, and we're very grateful for that. [58:40] We appreciate that work. [58:41] And with that in mind, I want to talk about several issues that's affecting our state now. [58:47] States like Mississippi closely monitor FEMA's public assistance disaster declaration thresholds. [58:56] You know, we have a lot of hurricanes. [58:58] We have a lot of tornadoes there, and it's just been considerable discussion regarding potential changes to these thresholds [59:05] and what they mean for states' ability to qualify for this assistance. [59:09] Will you provide clarity on whether FEMA is planning to adjust individual states' disaster thresholds for public assistance major declarations [59:19] with those changes, what those changes may look like, and what the timeline states should expect for implementation? [59:27] Can you comment on those? [59:28] Yes, there was quite a backlog of the public assistance dollars that needed to be put out since we've been in office. [59:37] The president has just signed off on 15 last Friday. [59:40] Before that, there was 22. [59:42] So, total, we have 37 now that have been out the door in eight weeks. [59:46] We're constantly looking at it. [59:47] What we've seen, because the public assistance is supposed to be somewhat of a match, 75 percent of the match, [59:54] what we've seen is a lot of states inflate those numbers. [59:56] And when we go through and we start looking at the reimbursement, in fact, I haven't seen one that actually everything they're claiming has qualified. [1:00:06] Once we go through it and we check it off, for instance, Friday when we went to the president and laid it out in front of him [1:00:12] and we showed him what they were asking, where we came up with the number, what we denied, and what we approved, [1:00:19] he signed off on 100 percent of them. [1:00:22] But we are looking a way to reform it. [1:00:25] FEMA is, it was never set up to be the complete all. [1:00:31] It was supposed to be there to assist, not to be the final solution, assist the state or the community in its bad day when they met certain qualifications. [1:00:39] But the state and local communities are the first responders. [1:00:41] Ever since, really, Katrina, we've seen that shift. [1:00:45] And more and more dollars have went in. [1:00:47] We see a lot of wasteful dollars going in. [1:00:49] We know the states can do it much quicker and much faster and much cheaper than we can as a federal government. [1:00:56] I'll just use this one example. [1:00:57] This is some reforms we're looking at. [1:00:58] In order for FEMA to pay for a haul-off, it has to be hauled from the person's property, dumped out of whatever it's hauled into, onto the street, and then the FEMA, or beside the street, [1:01:11] then the FEMA-approved contractor has to go in and separate the waste because each different products get paid different and have to go to different sorting facilities. [1:01:20] And then we have to go out and then dump it. [1:01:22] And so most of this stuff is getting touched two and three times. [1:01:25] From a construction background, that's a waste of time and a waste of money, and it costs way more to do it. [1:01:30] So for us to look at grant systems for the state and allow them to be responsible for it when they hit certain thresholds is something that we are looking for for public assistance. [1:01:40] And we think the dollar will go farther. [1:01:42] The president has made it very clear that he wants to put the dollar closer to the resource. [1:01:47] And from Washington, D.C., to wherever it happens, in Mississippi or in Oklahoma, it's a long ways away, and that dollar gets added to usually anywhere from 100% to 200% before it actually gets to the resource. [1:02:00] Yeah, just reasonable solutions. [1:02:02] Sounds great. [1:02:03] But while we're on the topic of public assistance, Mississippi recently submitted requests for both public assistance and individual assistance following the tornadoes on May the 6th and the 7th, [1:02:16] very close to where I live, and we're still waiting for a determination. [1:02:20] So can you tell me the status of those requests, and will you commit to working with our office to ensure we receive timely response so disaster-affected communities can start rebuilding [1:02:31] and get back to as normal as possibly that we can? [1:02:37] My understanding, and Troy, if you have an update on this, let me know, but my understanding is that we're still working with the state to do the final assessment. [1:02:44] We know the declaration has been made by the governor. [1:02:47] We know the president did accept that declaration, but now we're looking at what the cost is for our funding to actually reimburse for public assistance. [1:02:57] Troy, do you have something to add to that? [1:02:58] Yeah. [1:02:59] So, yeah, we did get that. [1:03:01] It was approved by the president. [1:03:02] We do go through the process to be able to make sure of the validation of all the costs. [1:03:05] As you know, the public assistance grants are pretty formulaic. [1:03:07] You know, you kind of smit through, so no big surprises. [1:03:11] Like the secretary said, we have 13 open right now that need to go all the way through to get passed through. [1:03:17] If you like, I'll take an action to get with your office after this. [1:03:20] Thank you. [1:03:21] That would be great, because I toured just about all that devastation, and it truly was devastation. [1:03:26] Thank you, Madam Chair. [1:03:28] Senator Hyde-Smith. [1:03:30] Senator Shaheen. [1:03:31] Thank you, Madam Chair. [1:03:33] Secretary Mullen, thank you for being here, and Deputy Secretary Edgar. [1:03:37] And, Mr. Secretary, I also very much appreciate your willingness to engage with me on a call [1:03:44] last week to talk about a list of concerns that we have in New Hampshire with respect to [1:03:48] issues within the Department of Homeland Security. [1:03:52] One of the things that we discussed, and we owed you some information, was a college that [1:03:58] we have that's applied to the Office of Students Exchange and Visitor Programs in your department [1:04:03] for approval to enroll F-1 students in their new doctoral program. [1:04:09] As I explained on the phone, there is real urgency about this, because without approval by July 1st, [1:04:14] they're going to potentially lose 2,000 students, graduate students. [1:04:19] This is a university that prepares students for jobs in artificial intelligence, national security, [1:04:24] health care management, a lot of other high-demand, high-skill professions. [1:04:28] It's very important to the community where it is, and also very important to the state of New Hampshire. [1:04:36] So can you give me any kind of an update on the New England College form I-117, I-17 application [1:04:46] to allow those F-1 international students to enroll in the college's new doctorate in business administration program? [1:04:54] Sure. We've got the point of contact. We'd asked for the point of contact for the college. [1:04:59] I believe we did receive that, and we'd give it to USCIS. [1:05:03] We could give you an update. I don't think there's going to be much of one, because we just talked about this Thursday, I believe. [1:05:09] And so I think we're working on it. I'm assuming they've already made contact with the college. [1:05:13] I don't know that for a fact, but we'll get back to you and get you that information. [1:05:17] Okay. When we last talked, they had not yet heard from the department, so I appreciate that. [1:05:24] And as I said, there's some real urgency about an answer. [1:05:27] If they haven't heard back from them, they will hear back from them today. Not well, tomorrow. [1:05:32] Thank you. I very much appreciate that. [1:05:34] The other issue we discussed was one affecting our northern border in New Hampshire. [1:05:41] We have very difficult communications across our northern border, and we border Canada. [1:05:48] Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire are all there in a very small region. [1:05:53] We don't have good cell service in much of that part of New Hampshire. [1:05:58] We have a cell tower that we're trying to get up in Pittsburgh, New Hampshire. [1:06:05] We have a cell company that is prepared. [1:06:10] They have gotten power from Canada. [1:06:12] We've gotten Canada to bring power down to the station, [1:06:16] and they are still waiting for an application that has been into DHS since March. [1:06:21] So will you commit to following up and trying to see if we can get an answer on this agreement as soon as possible [1:06:29] so that we have it's a safety concern in northern New Hampshire? [1:06:33] Yeah, so immediately after your phone call with us, I turned around and called the director [1:06:38] and had the conversation with him. [1:06:41] There's a couple of paperwork because it's a combination between us and Canada. [1:06:48] There's something that's still sitting at the State Department that I believe they're waiting on some paperwork to be done. [1:06:54] I'm trying to recall this from memory, but I believe we're ready to move, [1:06:58] but there's just some final paperwork that either has got to be clarified by the contractor or something. [1:07:03] I will get you an update on that, and we'll try to get that to you tomorrow. [1:07:07] And we will certainly, if there is something missing at the New Hampshire end, [1:07:11] we will work to make sure that gets done. [1:07:13] But I believe we're waiting on some clarification on some information. [1:07:18] I believe that's what I was told. [1:07:21] But whatever the update is, we'll get your office the update tomorrow. [1:07:25] And again, there's some real urgency because of safety concerns. [1:07:28] Yes. Oh, I completely understand. [1:07:30] On a broader issue beyond New Hampshire, [1:07:34] the Department of Defense has provided hundreds of millions of dollars [1:07:38] in non-reimbursable support to Homeland Security for immigration enforcement. [1:07:43] Last year, with several other senators, we visited Naval Station Guantanamo, [1:07:48] and the amount the Department is spending there for just a handful of DHS detainees is really shocking. [1:07:55] And I know that given your background, you want to spend money in a way that is most efficient and effective. [1:08:04] And we know that DHS has a discretionary appropriation, [1:08:08] and ICE and CBP continue to increase staffing levels [1:08:11] so that the need for U.S. military to conduct immigration and detention enforcement [1:08:16] is, I think, not just wasteful, but it appears to be only for optics. [1:08:21] So, can you talk about how you're working with the Department of Defense to address this support [1:08:31] and whether they are being reimbursed [1:08:34] and whether you're going to evaluate the importance of continuing that mission at Guantanamo? [1:08:41] And, Mr. Secretary, the time has expired, but if you will answer this question. [1:08:43] Yeah, I'll do it real quick. [1:08:45] Senator, we looked into this. [1:08:48] It was a high contract, and the beds we weren't using. [1:08:51] There is a need. [1:08:52] It's not optics because we don't talk about it. [1:08:54] There is no optics for it, but there is a need based on some of the terrorists [1:08:57] that we do find come across the border before they enter the country [1:09:00] that we need to put them someplace other than a detention center with normal population. [1:09:04] We saw that during the war on terror. [1:09:08] And so we are looking at a different contract that we're going to be having moving forward [1:09:13] that will be a less cost instead of us having so many beds that we're renting off of them every single month. [1:09:20] It will be on a case-by-case situation. [1:09:23] And we looked in this early on because we are trying to get our hands around some of the money that was leaving DHS, too. [1:09:32] Well, thank you. [1:09:33] I appreciate that. [1:09:33] I have some further questions, but I will follow up with QFRs. [1:09:36] Thank you, Madam Chair. [1:09:38] Senator Capito. [1:09:40] Thank you, Mr. Secretary. [1:09:40] Great to see you. [1:09:41] And thank you, Deputy Secretary, for being here. [1:09:43] I want to make a point. [1:09:45] When I look at the videos of what's going on in New Jersey, I wonder the calculated measures that the rioters are taking [1:09:56] to try to provoke a response from the professional men and women is just beyond the pale, in my opinion. [1:10:04] But I would like to point out that the bill that the chairwoman of this committee wrote [1:10:08] and that has been denied in the Senate by every Democrat in the Senate had extra dollars in there to teach de-escalation training. [1:10:18] So I commend the ones that are there now, but I do see what the need for more de-escalation trainings [1:10:25] because there's more methods, there's more ways, and it's a profession, I'm sure, on how to antagonize [1:10:31] and try to goad our law enforcement into making, A, a mistake or overreacting or whatever. [1:10:40] So I'm sorry this bill is not coming forward because I think it would be answering what I see on the videos. [1:10:46] I do want to go to the Coast Guard very quickly. [1:10:49] You all selected Kearneysville, West Virginia, as the location for the Specialized Forces Command Center, [1:10:56] which will bring in a broad range of high-risk missions where you're centralizing it, [1:11:02] and in Kearneysville, West Virginia, in a facility there that you already had and you're now using. [1:11:08] But you have in your budget an extra $20 million to help establish this facility. [1:11:14] I'm wondering, is that adequate, what would they use for, and will you need additional funding for this? [1:11:18] Thank you so much. [1:11:20] Underneath President Trump's leadership, he is rebuilding the Coast Guard [1:11:23] and bringing it in to the force that needs to be to face today's threats. [1:11:30] You know, we're investing roughly $24 billion across all aspects of the Coast Guard. [1:11:36] They've been neglected. [1:11:37] They've been a neglected force. [1:11:39] That's truly our first line to defense of the homeland. [1:11:42] Right now, I can't give you a full number. [1:11:45] We're doing an assessment. [1:11:45] I talked to the commandant about this. [1:11:49] He felt like we're in good shape, but we're just now starting. [1:11:54] In any of these facilities, when we get into it and we start doing building and rehab, [1:11:59] we usually find that we try to keep it under the budget, but it can quickly get out of hand. [1:12:05] So before it gets to that point, we want to have a good, solid number moving forward. [1:12:08] So when I find out I need something else, Senator, you'll be the first call I make. [1:12:12] Thank you. [1:12:13] And these are critical functions for the anti-drug trafficking and functions that the Coast Guard does so very well. [1:12:20] I'm also encouraged that the Department and CBP's decision to establish a centralized capability directed to counter UAS. [1:12:28] And they are looking for a facility. [1:12:30] They've been doing some of this at Summit Point Training Facility located, again, guess where? [1:12:36] In my home state of West Virginia, very close to here. [1:12:38] Currently supports federal training, testing, operational missions, and ongoing UAS and counter UAS activities. [1:12:45] This is a very unique site, and I understand that CBP would like to utilize Summit Point. [1:12:50] You know we have the training center out there in Harpers Ferry. [1:12:52] This is very close. [1:12:54] So I would like to invite you to come and visit and join me at Summit Point Training. [1:12:59] And second, will you work with me to see that we can make this the dedicated HHS counter UAS training center of excellence? [1:13:07] Well, I'd love to accompany to it at any given time. [1:13:10] UAS training is vitally important. [1:13:12] We spend a lot of time on the offensive side of UAS. [1:13:16] We haven't spent a tremendous time on our defense capabilities. [1:13:21] And we have a lot of great companies, private sector, and through the DOW and DHS, throughout CBP, FPS, Coast Guard, [1:13:30] that's putting a tremendous amount of effort into the counter UAS. [1:13:33] And so I'm sure this isn't going to be the only facility we look at, but I'll try to do it maybe not in August. [1:13:44] It might be a little warm there, but if we have to, if that's our first availability, we'll try to get to you as soon as we can. [1:13:49] Great, and we could go over to the training center at the same time. [1:13:52] I used to chair this subcommittee, and actually the ranking member and I were on this subcommittee, and he chaired it, and we kind of rotated. [1:13:59] Within the one big, beautiful bill, we made a significant new funding available for border security technology. [1:14:06] You know, systems at the border so you wouldn't have to use manpower as much as you could use force multipliers. [1:14:14] The legislative language included in this raised the bar for surveillance technology, requiring and defining autonomous capabilities, [1:14:23] even the types that have been fielded at scale for years. [1:14:25] So my question is, how is DHS ensuring that systems being procured with reconciliation dollars are tested and will operate autonomously as they are required? [1:14:36] And I understand that's my last question. [1:14:38] Yes. [1:14:39] So we have five contractors right now with these autonomous towers. [1:14:44] All five of them have passed the test. [1:14:46] They all have set standards that they've got to go through. [1:14:49] From what we had last time around, we've changed it a little bit because technology has changed. [1:14:55] We are seeing now the cartels are using more UAS and more technology than they have in the past. [1:15:02] But we see these towers are moving in the right direction and could really be beneficial with the new AI technology. [1:15:09] But we're not completely there, but we're definitely moving in the right direction. [1:15:14] But we've had five contracts awarded to five different companies. [1:15:18] They've all five passed the same test, and they're all performing on today's needs. [1:15:23] Thank you. [1:15:23] And I appreciate your good work. [1:15:24] Thank you. [1:15:25] Thank you. [1:15:25] Senator Peters. [1:15:26] Thank you, Madam Chair, Deputy Secretary Edgar, welcome to the Senate. [1:15:31] And Secretary Mullen, welcome back to the Senate here today. [1:15:35] Secretary Mullen, in response to a question for the record from your nomination hearing, [1:15:42] you committed to taking action on implementing a law that actually Senator Collins and I passed [1:15:47] that would create a northern border mission center. [1:15:50] And in that question, you responded that within one month of your swearing in, [1:15:56] you would work to get that center set up. [1:15:59] So unfortunately, it's been two months now, two months since you've been sworn in. [1:16:04] Have you taken actions as required by law to advance the center? [1:16:08] We had the personnel there. [1:16:10] We're fully staffed. [1:16:11] We just haven't got the structure built. [1:16:13] We can't do that in two months. [1:16:14] So we're still looking for funding and contracts, but we are mission capable with the personnel in place. [1:16:20] So you've directed components to assign staff that have been there? [1:16:24] That was as of today. [1:16:25] Oh, great. [1:16:26] This morning. [1:16:27] Well, this is the latest as of today that I was briefed on this, that the personnel is in place, [1:16:32] except the structure obviously hasn't been built. [1:16:35] I think there's contracting. [1:16:38] Troy, what was that today? [1:16:40] Remember? [1:16:40] Yeah, the facility is done. [1:16:43] The contractor is finishing off items. [1:16:45] So at this point right now, the contractor building is ready. [1:16:49] The staff is ready to go in there. [1:16:50] And I think that there's also some discussions going on with Canada as we're going through that too. [1:16:55] No, you're talking about the bridge. [1:16:56] Oh, yeah. [1:16:57] Yeah, you're talking about the bridge, not the facility. [1:16:58] It's everything. [1:16:59] Sorry. [1:17:00] Look at that. [1:17:01] I referred to him on a question. [1:17:02] Definitely the next question. [1:17:02] So this is a – we haven't – we're still waiting on the structure. [1:17:09] But the personnel are in place, and they are performing the mission. [1:17:12] And other training. [1:17:12] So I appreciate your continued effort and hope you continue that. [1:17:16] Thank you. [1:17:17] The Gordie Howe – here we go. [1:17:18] The Gordie Howe International Bridge is a project that you know that – [1:17:21] I'll let Troy answer this question. [1:17:22] Yeah, okay. [1:17:23] He's already warmed up on it. [1:17:24] You know, it's been in the works for decades now. [1:17:27] This bridge that has been built was paid for by our Canadian neighbors, which was nice. [1:17:33] But they used American steel and union labor. [1:17:37] And it's actually going to be a critical component for not just Michigan, but for the countries. [1:17:41] You know, it's the second busiest border crossing in North America. [1:17:45] Right now, everybody is excited about it across business, all sectors of Michigan's economy and the Midwest. [1:17:52] The only person that I know, there's one billionaire that's against it, [1:17:55] and that's the person who owns a competing bridge, a private bridge that's competing. [1:18:00] Other than that, there's just universal support. [1:18:02] So my question – this is to Secretary Mullen, or you can defer it – [1:18:06] but is DHS and specifically CBP prepared right now to facilitate trade and travel at the bridge? [1:18:13] Yes, we are. [1:18:15] Once again, we have the personnel dedicated, ready to move. [1:18:18] The contractor hasn't signed off on final stuff. [1:18:20] He had a deadline the 1st of May. [1:18:22] He didn't make that deadline, so we're still waiting on that to take place. [1:18:26] We are – we're prepared. [1:18:28] We're staffed. [1:18:29] We're ready to go. [1:18:30] Once that's done, there's still negotiations between Canada and the United States. [1:18:34] That's not within DHS. [1:18:35] That has to be resolved. [1:18:37] But we're as far as we can go without the sign-off from the bridge [1:18:42] and the final agreement between the two countries. [1:18:45] So as far as you're concerned, CBP is good to go? [1:18:47] We're good to go. [1:18:48] Mr. Secretary, as you know, natural disasters affect all Americans, regardless of their politics. [1:18:57] And no administration should ever limit or deny disaster survivors' aid because of their personal politics [1:19:03] or because they live in a state that happens to be either Democratic or Republican. [1:19:08] In fact, I was extremely concerned by reports that FEMA employees under the Biden administration [1:19:15] were actually skipping houses of survivors that happened to have a Trump sign in their front yard, [1:19:21] which was absolutely outrageous. [1:19:23] I even co-sponsored the Republican amendment that would prevent political affiliation from being considered by FEMA [1:19:31] when approving assistance applications. [1:19:34] I was very aggressive against the Biden administration with that incident. [1:19:37] But now, under Trump's second tenure as president, we have witnessed the politicization of disaster assistance. [1:19:43] Unfortunately, I think it's a massive scale. [1:19:46] There are reports that President Trump has approved nearly 90 percent of disaster requests from red states, [1:19:53] but only 23 percent from blue states, even when the request met the FEMA-established threshold for federal assistance. [1:20:01] I have behind me a chart that's up there now showing this unprecedented politicization of disaster assistance by the administration. [1:20:10] I don't think there's any other president since the establishment of FEMA that has chosen to actually punish American citizens [1:20:16] that have survived a flood or a wildfire because of their home state governor or senator's political affiliation. [1:20:23] So in these disasters, as you know, Americans have lost their homes, their possessions, suffered so much. [1:20:30] Could you just tell me yes or no? [1:20:31] Do you think it's right for a president to approve disaster aid based on whether a state voted for him [1:20:36] instead of the amount of damage that actually occurred in the state? [1:20:39] And you see this chart is pretty dramatic. [1:20:41] Mr. Secretary, the time has expired, but please answer his question. [1:20:45] Senator Peters, that's not my experience for the president. [1:20:47] As I said, we've had 37 states approved for public assistance disaster underneath President Trump. [1:20:53] And everyone, with the exception of two, because they didn't quite qualify, that was blue, that was brought in front of him, [1:21:01] he approved, including a large number. [1:21:04] In fact, one of the largest numbers approved is for Washington State and Hawaii. [1:21:08] Just briefly, I mean, this chart, I think, speaks volumes. [1:21:12] So I would like to have further discussion with you at an appropriate time, because what we're seeing, [1:21:18] I don't think I know you, I would think that you would be appalled by some of this as well. [1:21:22] And I'd like to have that discussion. [1:21:24] Senator, I agree with that. [1:21:25] And look, you and I don't agree on every issue. [1:21:27] I do agree that it shouldn't be politicized. [1:21:29] I will tell you my experience with the president as I sat down in front of him. [1:21:33] Last time I sat down in front of him last Friday, he had 15. [1:21:36] They're red and blue states, including tribes. [1:21:38] He approved 100 percent of them. [1:21:40] We went through, we talked through it. [1:21:43] My last time I sat down in front of him, he actually denied two, and one was red and one was blue. [1:21:50] And there was reasons because they didn't quite make the threshold, and we were having to try to get there. [1:21:55] So my experience, since I have been in office for two months, hasn't been that. [1:22:00] I'll look forward to following further discussions. [1:22:02] Thank you, Mr. Secretary. [1:22:03] Thank you. [1:22:03] Senator Murkowski. [1:22:04] Well, I sure look forward to the day when we don't talk about disasters as being red or blue. [1:22:09] They're just disasters that have happened in America. [1:22:11] And I think that's what we're all working to do to address and fairly. [1:22:16] Mr. Secretary, it's good to see you, although we could use your help back here on this side, too. [1:22:21] Just know that we appreciate you. [1:22:24] I'm not going to say I don't miss it. [1:22:26] I do miss the people, but I don't miss, actually, I love where I'm at. [1:22:30] You don't need to offer any apologies or explanations. [1:22:34] I want to talk about Coast Guard just real quickly. [1:22:37] You've shared that you've had an opportunity to come up to speed with the Commandant, with all that the Coast Guard is doing. [1:22:44] We are very excited about the investment that this country has made, led by this administration, [1:22:52] for investment, finally, in an ice-breaking fleet, more than one at a time. [1:22:59] And so the effort has been real. [1:23:02] It's been legitimate. [1:23:05] And it's more than just the ice-breaking fleet. [1:23:08] It's been the commitment to the Coast Guard. [1:23:10] And you have noticed that they have been chronically underfunded over the years. [1:23:13] And so the effort for recapitalization is big. [1:23:17] It's important. [1:23:17] And it's very, very much appreciated. [1:23:20] We are seeing a lot on the shipbuilding side, and that's necessary. [1:23:26] But we all know that those ships don't move around by themselves. [1:23:30] It's the men and women in the ship and the families that support them. [1:23:35] So making sure that we've got shoreside infrastructure prioritized in the FY27 budget is going to be very important for me, [1:23:44] and particularly in some of our more rural areas. [1:23:48] We are now on the 10-year anniversary of the Coast Guard's Alaska 2112 plan, where it was identified where the fast response cutters would go when they were built. [1:24:03] Those FRCs are now built. [1:24:06] They're hanging out in other communities because we didn't keep up with the shoreside infrastructure in Seward and Sitka specifically. [1:24:14] So your teams are on this, but know that as I'm looking at the budget on Coast Guard, [1:24:22] I'm worried that we're not being as forward-leaning on the shoreside infrastructure that we need to be for these 11 Arctic security cutters. [1:24:32] I was going to ask you a question about whether or not all 11 ASCs are funded, [1:24:39] and I've just gotten an update that tells me that, in fact, they are funded through both the reconciliation funds [1:24:49] and then the combination of Coast Guard funds. [1:24:53] So we get in the ships, but we need to make sure that we are not losing sight of shoreside infrastructure. [1:25:00] So I just need your commitment as a secretary that you are keeping eyes on as where we're moving forward [1:25:08] with a very aggressive and very necessary priority. [1:25:11] We are absolutely. [1:25:13] Troy, our deputy, and myself have met with the commandant multiple times on this. [1:25:18] I know he's made trips with the commandant. [1:25:21] I personally have, too, about some of the shoreside. [1:25:24] It was just the fact of the matter is that the Coast Guard was neglected for many years, [1:25:29] and President Trump's the first president, and definitely in recent history, [1:25:33] that has made such a heavy investment and has made it a goal. [1:25:37] I was just recently with him at the academy speaking. [1:25:41] That's his second time to speak at the academy. [1:25:44] He absolutely sees the Coast Guard as being such a vital port. [1:25:47] He loves the idea that the retention, President Trump loves the idea that the retention is 90 percent higher than any branch in the military, [1:25:56] and we have a lot of spouses and kids that are also working. [1:26:02] So shoreside investment is vitally important. [1:26:04] I know, Troy, you have something to say about that because we are making a heavy investment towards shoreside, too. [1:26:11] Yeah. [1:26:12] How are you doing, Senator? [1:26:13] Senator, last time I seen you was up in Alaska when I came up there for the stores. [1:26:17] We absolutely have a lot of focus on trying to make sure that the infrastructure catches up. [1:26:24] We don't only have that problem with the Arctic cutters. [1:26:27] We also have the OPCs and all of these that we have infrastructure issues that we need to work on. [1:26:32] I think one of the most important parts is the, you know, yesterday I was in Galveston, Texas, [1:26:39] where we actually opened up a shipyard there, the start of a new shipyard. [1:26:43] And I think one of the most important things when the question was asked earlier, [1:26:47] what are the two things that we really need help on investment? [1:26:50] You know, the secretary said the workforce capacity and the infrastructure. [1:26:55] And, you know, even in this FY27, you guys gave us about an almost additional $1.5 billion, [1:27:01] mainly to get the people for these. [1:27:04] So what we've been trying to do is balance both getting the folks that we need to be able to actually run the assets [1:27:10] that we're going to be getting from this and being able to get the infrastructure in place. [1:27:14] So you also have the unfunded liabilities that you also submit. [1:27:18] And we would continue to work with you, and I could work with your office and anybody within, you know, [1:27:22] the Senate here and the commandant to make sure that we are defending and putting that priority first. [1:27:27] And I appreciate that. [1:27:28] And I know that I'm out of time. [1:27:30] We can't – it's hard to get the people unless they know they're going to be able to have decent housing. [1:27:36] We're excited about the opportunity to be homeporting more of these Arctic security cutters in Alaska [1:27:42] and anticipating announcements on that soon. [1:27:44] But these communities need to get going now to help build this out. [1:27:49] Mr. Secretary, I'm going to follow up with you about the issue that I raised previously with regards to H-1B visas for teachers. [1:27:58] I know Senator Collins raised it for medical professionals. [1:28:02] But we're really anxious about this as school districts are looking to bring on and hire more of our teachers. [1:28:11] So I'll follow up with you on that. [1:28:12] Thank you, Madam Chairman. [1:28:13] Thank you, Senator Murkowski. [1:28:15] Senator Van Hollen. [1:28:16] Thank you, Madam Chair. [1:28:18] Welcome, Mr. Secretary. [1:28:20] You'd agree that it's important for the American public to be able to trust what DHS says, right? [1:28:27] And that it's important that the department put out factual information. [1:28:31] You agree that that's important? [1:28:33] I think it's important for elected officials to do the same. [1:28:35] I think it's very important for everybody. [1:28:37] So I'm holding up a press release here, Mr. Secretary, dated January of this year. [1:28:41] It's before your time. [1:28:43] It says that a person named Julio Sosa-Celis violently assaulted a DHS agent. [1:28:50] I want to read the quote in here from former Secretary Noem. [1:28:55] She said, quote, [1:28:57] What we saw last night in Minneapolis was an attempted murder of law enforcement. [1:29:02] Our officer was ambushed and attacked by three individuals who beat him with snow shovels and the handles of brooms. [1:29:08] Fearing for his life, the officer fired a defensive shot, unquote. [1:29:12] That's an untrue statement, isn't it, Mr. Secretary? [1:29:16] What we have been briefed on, yes. [1:29:17] And it came to light because the city of Minneapolis had a camera system. [1:29:24] And state authorities from Hennepin County have pursued the investigation and recently arrested this officer. [1:29:32] Are you aware of that? [1:29:33] I believe so, yes. [1:29:34] So this is part of a pattern we've seen because I do want to turn to the case of Alex Preddy. [1:29:42] And in that case, Secretary Noem said that he was engaged in an act of domestic terrorism. [1:29:49] She said that it looked like Alex Preddy intended to, quote, [1:29:53] Inflict maximum damage and to kill law enforcement, unquote. [1:29:58] That wasn't true either, was it? [1:30:02] I'm sorry, I didn't hear the statement. [1:30:03] That wasn't a true statement either. [1:30:05] Of her statement? [1:30:05] Yeah. [1:30:06] I can't speak on her behalf, but it's not what I recall seeing. [1:30:10] You agree the facts don't support that statement? [1:30:13] Well, I didn't make the statement. [1:30:14] I didn't say you did. [1:30:15] I asked you whether you understand that the facts don't support the statement. [1:30:18] The investigation would say that's probably not accurate. [1:30:21] Yeah. [1:30:22] Okay. [1:30:22] So, again, we know that because of the video. [1:30:26] Secretary Noem also asserted that Renee Good was engaged in an act of domestic terrorism. [1:30:31] So, look, the reason I'm asking you this, Mr. Secretary, is I want to know if you're going to be willing to provide state investigators access to evidence they have requested in their ongoing investigations into the killings of Alex Preddy and Renee Good. [1:30:48] Sir, as you know, the FBI is set up to do the investigation on federal law officers, and we investigate it from the federal side as a federal action, not a state action. [1:30:58] But you're aware of the fact that the state has authority and jurisdiction as well, right, under federal case law? [1:31:06] Actually, under the authority, the federal prosecution stays within the federal government, and so the FBI is set up to do those investigations. [1:31:16] And I do want to say something, too. [1:31:19] We arrest between— [1:31:20] Mr. Secretary, I'm sorry. [1:31:22] I have limited time. [1:31:23] But you said you accused there to be a pattern. [1:31:25] If the chair is going to permit additional questions, I asked very specific questions. [1:31:30] I was answering what you said is a pattern. [1:31:32] You made an accusation that it was a pattern at CDC and a paper. [1:31:34] And I meant— [1:31:34] Mr. Secretary, I went on. [1:31:35] There was a pattern. [1:31:36] You did say there was a pattern. [1:31:37] Secretary Noem said the same thing. [1:31:39] But you said there's a pattern. [1:31:40] All statements regarding— [1:31:41] There's not a pattern. [1:31:42] That's a pattern. [1:31:42] She said it with Renee Good, too. [1:31:44] We arrest over 1,900 people a day. [1:31:45] There is not a pattern of this. [1:31:46] Please. [1:31:47] The reality is— [1:31:48] That's an exaggeration of words. [1:31:50] Words matter. [1:31:51] They do. [1:31:51] And I will tell you— [1:31:52] You, of all people, should know that words matter. [1:31:54] And so when you say there's a pattern, there's not a pattern. [1:31:57] Oh, I would say three in a row is a pattern. [1:31:59] No, sir. [1:31:59] Mr. Secretary. [1:32:00] That's not a pattern. [1:32:00] We arrest 1,900 people or more a day. [1:32:01] Let's get out the dictionary and put your semantics aside. [1:32:04] The reality is this is a big problem. [1:32:06] There is no semantics behind this. [1:32:07] A pattern of three people and we average 1,900 a day is not a pattern. [1:32:11] You've just acknowledged your predecessor and made statements that were not factually accurate. [1:32:15] I want to go— [1:32:16] So it sounds like you're not willing to share evidence with the state authorities who are trying [1:32:21] to get to the bottom of this. [1:32:22] And I will just say, Mr. Secretary, that given the statements that came out of this administration, [1:32:26] including the White House, it is hard to trust this administration to do independent investigation. [1:32:31] That's why it's important to share— [1:32:32] But yet you trusted the last administration? [1:32:35] I didn't—I'm talking about giving it to the authorities of Minnesota. [1:32:37] No, I'm just saying, put on Apple what an Apple is. [1:32:39] I want to ask you, I want to ask you, Mr. Secretary— [1:32:41] Don't sit there and start picking one administration to believe and another administration not to believe. [1:32:44] Mr. Secretary, just, just please calm down. [1:32:47] I'm going to ask you about Kilmar Abrego-Garcia. [1:32:50] Are you aware of the fact that in that case he has agreed to be removed to Costa Rica and that Costa Rica has agreed to accept them? [1:32:59] No, I'm not. [1:32:59] Okay, so I'd like you to look into this because essentially what the administration did was say to him when he was returned to the United States after being wrongfully deported to El Salvador, [1:33:12] and the administration admitted it wrongfully deported him, after he was turned, they leveled new criminal charges against him. [1:33:19] And they said to him, if you plead guilty to these criminal charges, we'll send you to Costa Rica, and if you don't, we'll send you to Liberia. [1:33:29] Well, he said, I'm not going to plead guilty to these charges, and it turns out that just a short time ago, a federal judge determined that the administration had engaged in a vindictive prosecution against him. [1:33:42] And so my question now is, will you, the administration, agree to have him removed to Costa Rica rather than engaging in punishing him for pursuing his constitutional rights? [1:33:57] That's the question. [1:33:58] If you don't have full information here, Mr. Secretary, I understand. [1:34:01] My question is, is the gentleman here in this country legally? [1:34:04] Secretary, the time is expired. [1:34:05] The person was illegally removed to El Salvador, and this administration has admitted that. [1:34:11] He is still in this country illegally. [1:34:12] This is why, this is the point, is he has said he will be removed to Costa Rica, and Costa Rica has accepted that. [1:34:21] The point, Mr. Secretary, is the administration, the point is that they're engaged in what a judge already found to be an vindictive prosecution, [1:34:31] and now they're trying to leverage all this to try to get him to go to Liberia instead of Costa Rica. [1:34:36] It's a gross abuse of process. [1:34:38] Mr. Secretary, the senator's time has expired. [1:34:41] I'm good. [1:34:42] Thank you. [1:34:43] All right, Mr. Secretary, we're going to go ahead and move into another. [1:34:50] We have Senator Haggerty that's on his way. [1:34:52] I can't tell you how pleased I am that the Coast Guard has chosen to establish this enlisted leadership training center in Birmingham, Alabama. [1:35:02] I certainly look forward to being there later this week with Admiral Lundy and hopefully others. [1:35:10] I understand that the Coast Guard's training centers are at max capacity, the ones that we currently have. [1:35:17] So, Mr. Secretary, how will the creation of the training center at Birmingham Southern allow the Coast Guard to deliver world-class training support to ensure the continuous deployment of mission-ready personnel to the fleet? [1:35:32] Thank you for asking the question. [1:35:35] Our biggest asset we have throughout DHS, including the Coast Guard, is our personnel, and everyone will want to do their job and do it the best possible way, but it takes a tremendous amount of training. [1:35:46] Since the Coast Guard is small compared to the other branches, what you'll see is most individuals that are within the Coast Guard are cross-trained, sometimes between 15 or 20 separate jobs, and they're expected to be on a cutter one day and be in an office as a mill aide the next, and they happily do it. [1:36:06] And that's why the retention is so high. [1:36:08] So, when we are able to invest in their continuing training and be able to see that they have the skills and the tools needed to deliver on the threats that face America and our waterways every single day is vitally important. [1:36:24] And there's a badge and honor, too, when they see the President of the United States, President Trump, investing in them, and they realize that they're not being neglected, but they're being appreciated. [1:36:34] There's a sense of pride that comes along with that. [1:36:37] And while they're willing to do their job without recognition, it does feel good when you are recognized. [1:36:43] Yeah, well, we're excited to now be a coastie town there in Birmingham. [1:36:48] That's a new term, coasties. [1:36:49] Yeah, right? [1:36:50] So, we're looking forward to it and certainly appreciate all that they do for keeping our country safe and secure. [1:36:57] Secretary Mullen, like you, I am proud of the U.S. Secret Service and the work that our law enforcement agencies do every day to keep Americans safe. [1:37:07] Hoover, Alabama is home to the National Computer Forensic Institute, NCFI, the nation's premier training center for state and local law enforcement prosecutors and judges combating cyber crimes and electronic threats. [1:37:20] Through its partnership with the Secret Service, NCFI has trained thousands of law enforcement professionals and has equipped them with advanced forensic tools to investigate cybercrime, financial fraud, and online exploitation. [1:37:36] We've seen an increasing emphasis from DHS on equipping state and local municipalities to become more self-reliant, with the department providing appropriate federal resources and training. [1:37:47] Can you talk a little bit about how NCFI trains and equips communities to respond to cybercrimes in their jurisdictions and the downstream effect it has on national security, making sure that our local law enforcement officers are empowered? [1:38:03] It's a partnership that we have with local municipalities, state municipalities, and federal municipalities where we use our resources together and we train together and we're able to respond in a respectful manner. [1:38:14] We also have private partnership in this, too, and when you go to one of these facilities, you'll see that we have our federal partners throughout different agencies setting alongside law enforcement from Miami, Florida, or Massachusetts, Detroit, San Francisco, L.A., Seattle. [1:38:34] And when we're able to do that, in the case of a bad day, and we train for bad days and we hope there's never a bad day, but unfortunately there is, when you see that, you can see that the communication is better. [1:38:49] Whereas always, we always debrief after a bad day and we always find a better way to do it, but because we're used to working together and we have that partnership, it allows bad days to go a little bit smoother. [1:39:00] And, Secretary Mullen, the FEMA review council's final report stated, the council recommends reviewing all existing FEMA programs and maintaining those that are critical to our national security. [1:39:12] It went on to say that rather than replacing successful programs, the future agencies should double down on those with a proven track record of effective federal, state, and local partnerships, [1:39:24] such as the Emergency Management Assistant Compact National Urban Search and Rescue Program, and the Center for Domestic Preparedness. [1:39:31] I agree with the council's recommendation for strengthening the Center for Domestic Preparedness. [1:39:37] Can you tell us your vision of how to improve that facility so we can continue to provide world-class training to emergency managers and first responders? [1:39:46] Well, it goes back to the partnership we have with our states. Right now, we, I forget how many classes we have going on around the country. [1:39:54] Do you remember off the top of your head? I was just briefed on this last week. [1:39:58] We started classes on the emergency preparedness, I believe the 1st of May, and we go, we have sectors all around the United States to where we train the emergency response teams from the state and the counties. [1:40:12] And we allow ourselves to work together, but the partnership we have isn't possible without the participation of the local county and state. [1:40:25] And my time has expired, but I think it is critically important that we continue to maintain that partnership, maintain that training, looking at what we have coming forward. [1:40:33] All of the different events that we're going to be hosting across our country want to make sure that our communities are safe and strong. [1:40:40] I now recognize Ranking Member Murphy. [1:40:43] Thank you very much, Madam Chair. [1:40:44] I'd like to enter into the record a lawsuit that was filed today by the New Jersey Department of Health in which they are asking for access to Delaney Hall because they have, in fact, been denied access to the medical unit, the sleeping areas, and the bathing and toileting areas. [1:41:06] So it doesn't actually appear that the lack of violations is due to a finding that the conditions are sufficient, but that actually they are being denied access. [1:41:20] Does that change your assessment of whether you've done enough due diligence here? [1:41:25] And maybe more importantly, and I understand you may want to look into this, but can you commit to us to making sure that the department has access to that? [1:41:35] Well, we give them access to the things we are contracted with them and required to do, which is the health, the food, the preparation, the facilities. [1:41:43] They don't always have unfettered access to the detention center, and if it's within their contract, we'll help them. [1:41:51] But there is a difference between federal facilities because they're not able to get to all federal facilities and federal privatized systems, too. [1:41:59] Where they are required by law to have access, we'll always allow them to have access. [1:42:02] But because they want to politicize it, and the governor wants to politicize it by saying that they weren't allowed access, it's not true. [1:42:08] And I would suggest they spend more time in their own prison system. [1:42:10] This is endless. [1:42:11] Anytime somebody disagrees with you, whether it's a member of this committee, whether it's a state public health agency, whether it's a federal court, they are politicizing the Department of Homeland Security. [1:42:20] Sir, that's exactly what you're doing. [1:42:21] I've just been sort of chilled by our interaction from earlier on this question, and I don't want to put words in your mouth. [1:42:32] So I asked you whether you would— [1:42:35] Then don't put words in your mouth. [1:42:35] Then I'm just going to read back what you said. [1:42:37] I said, will you or will you not implement court orders? [1:42:40] And your answer to me was, if we didn't think the courts were politicized, then I'd be able to answer that. [1:42:46] But we see the courts over and over again use their bench for political opinion. [1:42:51] I'm just asking— [1:42:51] That's a true statement. [1:42:52] Tell me I'm wrong on that one. [1:42:53] I'm asking you this— [1:42:54] Is that not right or wrong? [1:42:55] I'm asking you this honestly. [1:42:56] Because I remember when— [1:42:57] Well, we certainly— [1:42:58] Let me ask— [1:42:59] I remember when we were putting these same conjunctions against President Biden, you were saying— [1:43:03] I have limited time. [1:43:03] Can I ask the question? [1:43:05] I'm asking you a legitimate question. [1:43:08] There is no end to this. [1:43:10] If Republican administrations don't implement court orders that they believe to be politicized, [1:43:16] then Democratic administrations will not implement court orders that they believe to be politicized. [1:43:21] And that's exactly what the Biden administration did to you. [1:43:25] But do you see that as a desirable result? [1:43:29] Shouldn't both Republican and Democratic administrations implement court orders regardless of what they believe to be the political— [1:43:36] Senator Murphy, what I would love to see is the courts actually do their job and not play politics. [1:43:40] But you saw it as you felt during the Biden administration, and we definitely see it right now. [1:43:45] If you want to start talking about court orders that was issued against the Biden administration versus the Trump administration, [1:43:50] we can start talking numbers. [1:43:51] But we also see that the upper courts always overturn—or a lot of times overturn these lower courts. [1:43:56] So you tell me if they're being politicized. [1:43:58] Well, they are. [1:43:59] I agree that I have questions as to whether certain courts are making— [1:44:05] And what I've made it very clear is that we're going to enforce the law and never break the Constitution. [1:44:09] I'm going to ask for additional time. [1:44:11] I agree that there is politics involved in judicial decisions. [1:44:17] I do not think that gives an excuse to either a Democratic or Republican administration to ignore those court orders. [1:44:24] I think that's actually the end of our republic if the administration willfully ignores a court order because they disagree with it or its motivation. [1:44:34] That's a difference between you and I. [1:44:36] No, that's not actually true because there were several court orders that were put in against the Biden administration specifically towards immigration and our border. [1:44:44] And I didn't hear you one time speak out against the Biden administration for ignoring that. [1:44:49] Well, actually, that's not true. [1:44:51] I will send you endless statements for me about how I believe the Biden administration was going above and beyond the ability that the law allowed them on immigration policy. [1:45:02] Let me ask you a final question. [1:45:03] The nonprofit security grant program, really important program in Oklahoma and in Connecticut, wish it wasn't necessary. [1:45:15] I assume you wish it wasn't necessary, but it provides grants to churches and to synagogues and Jewish community centers and mosques to provide security. [1:45:24] You've recommended a lower amount in this budget, and maybe most concerningly, we haven't gotten FY25 grants out the door. [1:45:35] I know you believe this is an important program in Connecticut. [1:45:39] It's vitally necessary. [1:45:41] We don't get nearly as many needy applications filled as we would like. [1:45:45] Just a commitment to work with us to try to get that number as high as we can, if we can eventually get a budget done, and a commitment to try to get those 25 grants out the door as quickly as possible. [1:46:00] We will work with you on that, absolutely. [1:46:04] It's an area of, I think, deep, deep agreement between us. [1:46:07] Thank you. [1:46:10] Senator Haggerty. [1:46:13] Thank you. [1:46:15] Thank you, Madam Chair, and welcome. [1:46:18] Great to see you again, Secretary Mullen, Secretary Edgar. [1:46:23] Good to see you as well. [1:46:25] When President Trump was sworn into office for a second term, he received an historic mandate, and he also had a historic problem to deal with, too. [1:46:33] If you think about it, millions of illegal aliens invaded our country. [1:46:37] Over 700 Iranians were released into the system under the Biden administration. [1:46:42] In my home state of Tennessee, in 2025 alone, 41 Tennesseans were murdered by people that are here in this country illegally. [1:46:54] 41. [1:46:56] That's 41 harsh reminders that the consequences of failed enforcement aren't just politics. [1:47:02] They're being borne by American citizens every day. [1:47:05] Now, the Department of Homeland Security has secured the southern border, but we've still got a problem, and that is that we have sanctuary cities inside the United States that are harboring millions of people that are here illegally, that are improperly vetted, at a time when we have major national security threats. [1:47:26] Look no further than what's happening in the Middle East and the fact that we have at least 700 unbedded Iranians here in this country right now, and I guess we don't know where they are. [1:47:34] So, Secretary Mullen, I'll turn this first to you. [1:47:36] Could you describe how you've been able to secure the border under the circumstances and what you're able to do and what you need to protect us in the homeland, given the fact that we have so many of these people still resident here in America, particularly in these sanctuary cities? [1:47:51] Thank you so much for the question. [1:47:52] And, sir, I didn't know there was 41 individuals in Tennessee. [1:47:56] That's just in my state in one year. [1:47:58] I had no idea. [1:47:59] That's heartbreaking. [1:48:00] That's 41 too many. [1:48:03] So, underneath President Trump's leadership, he's made securing our border a staple to his presidency. [1:48:10] We're building miles of fence every single day, which creates more, or not every day, but every week, and it's pushing the choke point more and more to a centralized location. [1:48:24] Just recently, we discovered a tunnel that was being used by the cartels as the first tunnel we have discovered in many years. [1:48:34] And it's because of President Trump's pressure between the cooperation from state, local, federal, and the DOW, we're able to really combat that illegal crossing and allows us to focus more inside the state, too. [1:48:47] We're working with USCIS. [1:48:48] We're seeing a lot of these illegals that are traveling back into the United States by leaving the United States, by going into Canada, and then trying to enter back in. [1:48:57] The cooperation we have with Canada on the border, they have flexed hard. [1:49:01] We're seeing less Iranians getting into the country, but we're seeing more arrests taking place. [1:49:07] As they leave, we're able to vet them as they go back and forth because of our cooperation. [1:49:12] But it is still a major concern. [1:49:14] We arrest terrorists on terrorist lists every single week here on the side of the United States, either trying to enter or ones we have looked for, sought them out, and found them. [1:49:25] And by arresting the worst of the worst, we're able to get them off our streets and sometimes break up their network. [1:49:30] Well, I think the fact that we're dealing with terrorists on a daily basis, that we know that they're here. [1:49:35] Weekly basis. [1:49:36] I wouldn't say daily. [1:49:38] It's amazing to me that we have to go through the reconciliation process to try to properly fund ICE and border protection. [1:49:46] If you think about this, our Democrat colleagues have decided that they'd rather take your department apart at a time when we're being invaded than allow us to protect the homeland. [1:49:55] I would also add this, Mr. Secretary, because I want to get back at the sanctuary city issue some more. [1:50:00] If you think about the invasion that took place of our country during the Biden administration, the millions of people that came in, these sanctuary cities were also erected. [1:50:08] Why were they erected? [1:50:09] They were erected as magnets to attract these people that entered the country illegally. [1:50:13] What does that have the effect of doing? [1:50:14] Bringing those people into the sanctuary cities that are, guess what, located in blue states also has the effect of altering the electoral map of the United States. [1:50:24] Because these people are counted in the census for the prospects of actually counting electoral votes, allocating, I should say, electoral votes and congressional districts. [1:50:36] Very intentionally, I think, the Democrats collapsed the southern border, created sanctuary cities, brought illegal aliens into these sanctuary cities where they refused to enforce the law. [1:50:45] And then benefit from the fact that that disproportionately creates representation, congressional representation, and electoral votes. [1:50:54] And when I put this to the vote, when we voted on the floor of the United States Senate, every single Democrat voted to continue this process when I tried to stop it. [1:51:03] I think that belies the motive here. [1:51:04] And I'd just like to know what further resources you might need with respect to sanctuary cities to address this. [1:51:11] Unfortunately, what happens in sanctuary cities is we're seeing a pattern where sanctuary cities creates a safe haven for the worst of the worst to stay. [1:51:18] But they don't just stay there. [1:51:19] They push out. [1:51:20] And they push out in the surrounding communities and sometimes in the surrounding states. [1:51:23] And when we get on their trail and we start pushing them, we find them going back into sanctuary cities because it creates a sanctuary for them, knowing that local and state officials are not going to actually go after them. [1:51:38] And then they find that they get pushback when federal agents, their ICE, NCIA, or other agencies go in and try to find them. [1:51:48] The resources we need is just to cooperate with us. [1:51:51] Why are we having to fight state officials and federal officials on enforcing the law? [1:52:00] That seems to me should be common sense. [1:52:02] It seems like some of these places we go to, they're more interested in protecting criminals than they are actually protecting law-abiding citizens. [1:52:10] All we're trying to do is arrest the criminals that shouldn't be in this country illegally. [1:52:16] The worst of the worst that are, I mean, every day we arrest rapists, we arrest child molesters, murderers, drug traffickers, weapon traffickers, money launderers. [1:52:29] Every single day I get a report on my desk, and it's not just one or two, it's several or even more that we report every single day that we have arrested on our streets in certain hotbeds where we're flexing that we're getting these people off the streets. [1:52:45] Everybody, Republican and Democrat, should agree that that's the right thing to do. [1:52:49] Madam Chair, may I ask an extension for just one further question? [1:52:54] You can just quickly do this and we'll wrap. [1:52:56] This has to do with FIFA World Cup. [1:52:58] I worked very hard to get this here. [1:53:00] Russia, China worked very hard to get it to Morocco. [1:53:02] We did get it to North America. [1:53:03] The Canadian ambassadors to Japan, the Mexican ambassadors to Japan both worked with me to get the Japan League vote, which turned the tide to bring it here. [1:53:11] I'm delighted to see it here, but I'm also very concerned that in two weeks' time we're going to have millions of people coming to see one of the greatest sporting events in history. [1:53:20] How are we going to protect our homeland, given the fact that we're going to protect our homeland? [1:53:22] Well, Mr. Secretary, time has expired, but if you can briefly respond. [1:53:26] First of all, I've never been to a soccer game in my life, and I'm going to one June 12th in L.A., and I'm looking forward to it. [1:53:33] The fact that I've got to inherit this is pretty neat. [1:53:35] I've learned more about it than I ever have in my life when it comes to football or soccer, as we call it here in the U.S. [1:53:44] We have a local partnership and a state partnership that's very remarkable, and I hope we build on it moving forward. [1:53:51] But the shutdown has hindered our preparedness, but we are going to be prepared. [1:53:57] We're working every single day on it. [1:53:58] We're locking down stadiums with sweeps. [1:54:02] We're pushing out perimeters. [1:54:03] We're killing choke points. [1:54:04] We're creating traffic control. [1:54:06] We're working with the states. [1:54:08] And every city, I'll tell you, every city we're working in, they have cooperated with us, even in sanctuary cities, [1:54:15] because I think all of us want to highlight the greatness of the United States during this World Cup. [1:54:21] We have 78 Super Bowls in 38 days, and hopefully we pull it off with complete safety. [1:54:25] Well, I'm very encouraged to hear that. [1:54:27] Thank you, Mr. Secretary, for your leadership. [1:54:28] Deputy Secretary Ecker, thank you. [1:54:29] Thank you, Madam Chair. [1:54:30] Thank you. [1:54:30] Mr. Secretary, thank you for your commitment to our homeland, for keeping Americans safe and secure, and for being here with us today. [1:54:37] This concludes the question-and-answer portion of our hearing. [1:54:41] Members of the subcommittee will have two weeks to submit their questions for the record to the committee, [1:54:45] which will then be transmitted to the department, and the responses will be included as part of our official hearing record. [1:54:52] Mr. Secretary, I would ask that the department respond to those questions within 10 business days of receipt. [1:54:59] Without objection, committee members will have until close of business on June 16, 2026, to submit materials for the record. [1:55:08] Thank you for appearing before us today. [1:55:11] The committee stands adjourned. [1:55:12] Thank you. [1:55:12] Thank you.