On Thursday, the House Appropriations Committee held an oversight hearing on U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.
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00:00:00Welcome Acting Commissioner Flores. Thank you for being here. Two weeks ago the Office of
00:00:06Management and Budget released a skinny fiscal year 2026 budget request. While we await the
00:00:11details of the full request, the focus of this hearing will be on U.S. Customs and Border
00:00:17Protection's priorities for the upcoming fiscal year. I will now turn to my colleague,
00:00:22the distinguished gentlelady from Illinois, Ms. Underwood, for your opening remarks.
00:00:26Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good morning, Acting Commissioner Flores. It's nice to see you again.
00:00:31I would like to note that you've taken this position as a career official. You're not
00:00:34serving in a political capacity, so we appreciate your service and thank you for being here today.
00:00:39You are currently the head of one of the nation's oldest and most versatile federal agencies
00:00:44responsible for addressing changing and increasingly challenging issues. The enforcement
00:00:49of complex trade and agricultural laws and policies, securing our borders from illicit
00:00:53activities including narcotics and human trafficking, facilitating lawful trade and
00:00:58travel through our ports of entry, and representing American values to visitors and around the world.
00:01:04CBP's work is made harder by our broken immigration system and Congress's failure
00:01:08to fix it. Since January 20th, you've also been at the mercy of fast-paced and chaotic
00:01:13directives from the administration to meet unfeasible goals that are putting enormous
00:01:18strain on CBP's resources and operational abilities. The constant whiplash on tariffs
00:01:23and new policies that are deterring international tourism are already impacting CBP, threatening our
00:01:29economic security and the financial stability of your agency. On top of that, the Secretary
00:01:34is commandeering resources for politicized security theater that has already put DHS
00:01:40investigations and officers at risk. The President is dangerously downgrading our relationship with
00:01:46Canada, one of our most important allies and a critical partner on trade and northern border
00:01:51security. And our Vice President is joking about detaining tourists who come here to enjoy the
00:01:562026 World Cup. The Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration reports
00:02:02that international visitors to the United States already fell 12 percent compared to the same time
00:02:08last year, and airlines are reporting that bookings for the summer are also looking lower.
00:02:13In addition to hurting the American economy, threats to tourism and trade impact CBP's daily
00:02:19operations because as international air passengers decline, so do your fee collections associated
00:02:25with that travel. The U.S. is now on track to lose over $12 billion in international travel
00:02:31spending this year, which would likely increase CBP's budget needs for fiscal year 2026,
00:02:36putting pressure on this subcommittee to find savings from other parts of DHS.
00:02:41I know your agency is already monitoring this decline and previously projected growth,
00:02:46but I ask you to keep us informed about how this may change in this fiscal year
00:02:51and the next to ensure CBP has the resources it needs. One of the resources we have invested in
00:02:58over the years has been the deployment of non-intrusive inspection technologies that
00:03:02are vital in the detection of deadly narcotics in cross-border traffic. There is much more to
00:03:07be done to stem the flow of these deadly narcotics across our borders and continued
00:03:12investment in both personnel and technology at the ports is critical to keeping our community safe.
00:03:18I am committed to improving our security at and between the ports of entry and facilitating trade
00:03:23and travel, but I'm also committed to doing so in a way that is consistent with our values as
00:03:28Americans, our founding constitutional principles, and our responsibility to those in our care,
00:03:35including the most vulnerable individuals that CBP encounters, as well as the physical
00:03:40and emotional wellness of the CBP workforce. In 2023, CBP launched a pilot in El Paso, Texas,
00:03:48focused on addressing the concerning rise in deaths by suicide of CBP personnel and providing
00:03:54services to improve the wellness of the CBP workforce. This program is saving lives. Reinvesting
00:04:02in CBP personnel and their families pays off. I was glad to see that the pilot has since expanded
00:04:08and encourage you to grow and expand the program. This type of investment only improves operational
00:04:13readiness, performance, retention, and recruitment. That's important because hiring at CBP continues
00:04:20to be a challenge, especially for Border Patrol agents. While the Secretary touts a surge in
00:04:25recruitment, that does not translate into actual positions on boarding. CBP is also facing a major
00:04:33issue with its CBP officer workforce due to the anticipated wave of retirements that will leave
00:04:39a major gap in our capacity if we don't continue to plan and invest in hiring them now. I hope to
00:04:45hear more from you about your plans for addressing these issues and how Congress, and specifically
00:04:50this committee, can help on that front. Thank you again for being here today, and I look forward to
00:04:55your testimony and answers to your questions, or answers to our questions. I yield back. Thank you,
00:05:00ma'am. Mr. Commissioner, when your staff has briefed you, by the way, is there any reason they're all
00:05:06frowning right now? It's kind of early for that. Anyhow, if they brief you, I traditionally do not
00:05:12do an opening statement. That's because, frankly, nobody's really asked me to do one, and so I'm not
00:05:20going to do one today, which means we're going to go right to you and your opening statement.
00:05:25Without objection, your full written testimony will be entered into the record,
00:05:29and with that in mind, we would ask you to summarize, to the extent you can,
00:05:33your opening statement to five minutes. Mr. Acting Commissioner, the floor is yours.
00:05:37I have the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss U.S. Customs and Border Protection's
00:05:51operational priorities and share recent accomplishments. As a nation's unified
00:05:57border agency, CBP has a clear and critical mission. Protect the American people by securing
00:06:02our borders from threats, enforcing our immigration and trade laws, and facilitating
00:06:08lawful trade and travel. As you are aware, CBP's mission is complex, challenging, and all too often
00:06:14dangerous. Tomorrow, at our Valor Memorial, we will honor 11 heroes and all the men and women of CBP
00:06:20and its legacy agencies who died in the line of duty. Every day, many of our employees endure
00:06:27physical and mental pressures. I'm grateful this subcommittee continues to fund CBP's critical
00:06:33workforce care programs and support our exceptional people. I could not be more proud
00:06:39to have spent my 37-year law enforcement career serving alongside such dedicated and talented
00:06:48employees. I'm also grateful to the members and staff of this subcommittee for their unwavering
00:06:54support of CBP's mission by ensuring we have the vital technology, equipment, infrastructure,
00:07:00and personnel resources to accomplish our broad security and facilitation responsibilities.
00:07:07Today, I'd like to share with you just a few, just some of CBP's recent accomplishments.
00:07:13First, border security is national security. Immediately following the President's
00:07:17declaration of a national emergency at the southern border, CBP took a comprehensive
00:07:24action to expand our enforcement efforts, prevent illegal immigration and drug smuggling,
00:07:30and safeguard the American people. At our ports of entry, with the termination of a CBP1 app
00:07:36scheduling function, CBP's Office of Field Operations began redirecting its critical
00:07:42and limited resources from processing illegal aliens to border security operations.
00:07:47Since January 21st, immigration processing actions at ports of entry decreased by 99 percent
00:07:53compared to the same time in 2024. Between the ports of entry, the Border Patrol expanded its
00:07:59use of expedited removal and increased enforcement against cartels and other criminal organizations.
00:08:06We continue to experience a dramatic and historic decline in illegal crossings. In March, the Border
00:08:13Patrol encountered just under 7,200 illegal aliens along the southwest border, a nearly 95
00:08:20percent decrease from March of 2024. Complementing these enforcement efforts, CBP initiated border
00:08:27barrier construction for areas along our southwest border. More than 85 miles of new border barriers
00:08:34are already in various stages of planning and construction, including a recent contract awarded
00:08:41award for approximately seven miles in the Rio Grande Valley sector. CBP is also working with DOD
00:08:48and the Texas National Guard to deploy temporary barriers. Along our maritime borders, CBP's air
00:08:55and marine operations realigned aircraft and increased patrols, resulting in a 71 percent
00:09:01increase in maritime apprehensions in Southern California. We remain vigilant across all our
00:09:08border environments and continuously adjust our operations as cartels seek to shift their
00:09:12activities to alternate routes. It is clear that during the first four months, the administration's
00:09:18policies, coupled with increased enforcement by CBP, DOD, and our Mexican counterparts,
00:09:23have significantly disrupted criminal activity along the southwest border. CBP's drug seizures
00:09:29have recently decreased. However, the amount of illegal drugs approaching our border remains
00:09:34alarmingly high, and we are intensifying our efforts. And finally, CBP was ready to immediately
00:09:40enforce the president's new tariffs by updating the automated commercial environment, performing
00:09:45targeted inspections, and using clear guidance to operational personnel. As of May 2nd, CBP has
00:09:52successfully implemented 21 tariff-related presidential actions, collecting more than
00:09:58$37.9 billion in tariff-related revenue. With your support, CBP will remain resilient and
00:10:06responsive to any new threats or challenges. We will continue to prioritize investments that
00:10:11strengthen our enforcement of immigration laws, degrade the threat of transnational criminal
00:10:17organizations and terrorists, and protect the nation's economic security. I look forward to
00:10:23your questions. Thank you for your opening statement. I'm going to defer my questions
00:10:29until later on in the hearing, so we'll now go to the gentlelady from Illinois, Ms. Underwood,
00:10:33for your questions. Thank you. Mr. Flores, I want to talk about the northern border and Alaska.
00:10:38I'm concerned this administration is leaving us vulnerable in these regions to focus on
00:10:42their preferred narrative of a crisis at the southern border, despite the facts showing
00:10:46otherwise. Just one of many examples, CBP data showed twice as many terrorism-related encounters
00:10:51just at ports of entry on the northern border than the entire southern border.
00:10:55Beyond a joint narcotics operation, your testimony doesn't discuss the northern border,
00:11:00so can you please share more specifics about how the skinny budget we've seen can possibly
00:11:03support what CBP needs to face evolving threats at the northern border, especially given the
00:11:08recent diversion in resources to the southern one? Thank you for the question. So, although
00:11:13our current resources and enforcement posture on the southern border is where we are today
00:11:18in ensuring that we secure that from getting to 100% situational awareness and ultimately
00:11:24operational control, we know that we were responsible for all the border in the United
00:11:29States, including land border and northern border and our waters, the maritime environment.
00:11:35So, as we continue to outline resources needed with the support of this committee, resources
00:11:41that we need in regards to technology personnel on the northern border, as well as our maritime
00:11:46borders to ensure that we have 100% situational awareness of what's coming across our borders.
00:11:52We have technology that we have implemented on the northern border, and we continue to look
00:11:59at new technology that will work on the northern border for us in regards to potential for
00:12:04communications, fiber optic cabling, northern border cameras that we have there, and enhancing
00:12:10our personnel that's along the northern border to ensure that we are gaining that additional
00:12:15100% situational awareness. Okay. Well, given the known challenges of staffing the northern
00:12:19border, I look forward to working with you on the ways that we in Congress can help staff
00:12:23those hard to fill locations. Moving on, I'm deeply concerned about a memo that you issued
00:12:28on May 5th that revoked four CBP policies protecting vulnerable people in your custody,
00:12:33including seniors, pregnant women, and kids. One of the four policies that you revoked
00:12:38was on the processing of pregnant and postpartum noncitizens and infants.
00:12:42That policy is what keeps moms in custody healthy. It doesn't require anything fancy.
00:12:48In fact, I'm a nurse, and I can tell you it's really barely the basics, things like a place
00:12:53to sit or lie down or an extra juice or snack for pregnant and breastfeeding moms. The only
00:12:59justification in your memo for revoking this policy was that it was, quote, either obsolete
00:13:04or misaligned with current agency guidance and immigration enforcement priorities.
00:13:11Now, of course, CBP is fundamentally not built for detention, but there are many situations
00:13:16where detention occurs, sometimes long-term, and it's critical that CBP have high standards
00:13:20in place to protect detainees and personnel. So tell me, what specifically about juice
00:13:27and seating for detained, pregnant, and breastfeeding moms is obsolete or misaligned with your current
00:13:33guidance and priorities?
00:13:36Congresswoman, thank you for the question. So I would say that when we have 20,000 people
00:13:42in custody every single day, we have 15,000 people sitting underneath the bridge, and we
00:13:46have a couple of hundred large groups sitting in the desert, creating additional mechanisms
00:13:52to sort through those masses to ensure that we're taking care of the vulnerable became
00:13:56absolutely necessary as we sort through that population to make sure that we're expediting
00:14:02care and processing for those individuals that we have either in a facility or out on
00:14:09the border at some location. Today's numbers, we look at our custody numbers today, we have
00:14:15anywhere from 500 to 700, 800 individuals in custody. We're seeing less than 300 a day
00:14:22come across our borders. So with those numbers, we can operationalize and ensure that we're
00:14:27not minimizing the care that we're taking care of those individuals in our custody.
00:14:33In that memo as well, I emphasize that the priority of taking care of individuals in
00:14:40our custody remains a priority for us. So our ability to be able to get through, care
00:14:46for, and meet all the requirements of those in our custody based on 500 or 800 individuals
00:14:52being in our custody, we're able to meet those needs and be able to meet-
00:14:56But Mr. Commissioner, if you remove the standards of care that offer baseline,
00:15:03basic criteria for how to care for a vulnerable population like a pregnant person and that
00:15:08would direct your agents and officers to offer that individual juice or snack or place to sit,
00:15:15if we are not issuing that as basic policy, then it might not happen. And so I appreciate that
00:15:22encounters are down and that is a fantastic thing. That is something that this committee
00:15:26celebrates, in fact. But as you reaffirmed, you do have a baseline standard for caring for people
00:15:32in your custody. And so what I'm going to ask is that you commit to immediately reinstating this
00:15:37policy or a new one that reflects the current dynamic with lower levels of encounters that
00:15:46would have higher standards for pregnant and postpartum moms. Will you commit to that?
00:15:50So I definitely take that back, Congresswoman, as we look through this. So what I would tell you
00:15:55is that when we do have 20,000 people in custody, it was difficult to find space to allow that to
00:16:02occur. So we had to prioritize that in order to allow that to occur, to find a place to sit,
00:16:07to get juice or snacks. And we're still doing the same thing. It's just we do not have the space
00:16:13limitations today in our facilities to find a place to allow someone to sit or to have juice
00:16:19or to have those snacks. Mr. Chairman, you know, I think that this committee would be willing to
00:16:23find the resources to properly care for pregnant moms, postpartum moms, kids, elders that are in
00:16:30CBP's care. And I'm going to continue to impress upon the agency the urgency of reinstating this
00:16:37type of policy. It's not optional. And I yield back. Thank you. We now go to the gentlelady from
00:16:45Iowa, which represents the home of the river buoy tender Wyoconda. That is right. For your
00:16:52questions for the acting commissioner, the floor is yours. Yes. And thank you for hearing me out
00:16:56during our Coast Guard hearing yesterday about our need for a new cutter on the Mississippi River.
00:17:00I understand that you do a lot of great work with U.S. Coast Guard and you talked about some of the
00:17:05introductions already. So I just want to extend my sincere gratitude to you and the men and women at
00:17:09CBP for all the work you do to not only care for those individuals, as was just discussed in the
00:17:14last line of questioning, but to really keep our country safe, to stand up to those terrorists,
00:17:19those transnational crime organizations, the traffickers who are taking advantage of those
00:17:24very people every single day. So thank you for what you're doing to help keep them and all of
00:17:28us safe. We know under the Biden administration, every state became a border state, even states
00:17:33like Iowa. We saw those consequences firsthand through fentanyl. We saw those consequences
00:17:39through illegal drugs flooding into our communities, putting American lives, Iowa lives
00:17:44at risk. So I'm grateful to the president for taking that action on day one. I mean, you talked
00:17:48about a 95% decrease year over year. That is incredible to see those numbers shift in the
00:17:53other way. And we know you need the necessary tools, the authorities to be able to execute and
00:17:59do that job. We didn't need new policy. We needed a new president. And we consistently heard from
00:18:05border patrol under the previous administration. You felt your hands were tied. Agents were
00:18:09telling me they didn't feel that they could do their jobs effectively, specifically the jobs
00:18:13that they were trained to do. So I'm excited to see a return to core mission here. So thank you
00:18:18for helping to lead that. President Trump's policies, reinstating remain in Mexico, changing
00:18:24over the CPP one app to make it the CPP home app, resuming border wall construction, as you talked
00:18:30about the barrier construction as well. Those are all established and proven tools to really
00:18:35help us to deter illegal immigration and again, empower our frontline agents to be able to do
00:18:41their jobs. So which of the Biden era policy reversals would you say have been most effective
00:18:48in having the greatest impact on enforcement, deterrence and the safety and morale of your
00:18:56agents and officers? So I would say actually enforcing our immigration laws and providing
00:19:02consequences to those that break that law. So our ability to get out of processing, caretaking,
00:19:11transportation, a lot of those administrative or non-LEO type enforcements that we had agents
00:19:17and officers doing on a regular and reoccurring basis, we're able now to get them to do law
00:19:23enforcement type work, to patrol the border, to create deterrence, to make those arrests,
00:19:30have time to interview aliens that we're encountering and develop further information
00:19:37and intelligence in order to continue prosecutions and to continue down the road in regards to
00:19:43closing off aspects of the border that were open. The other piece I think that significantly helped
00:19:51us is the inject of equipment personnel from DOD, being able to have more line of sight,
00:19:59being able to have more technology to have more coverage on the border, allowing our agents to
00:20:04be able to respond and intercept and actually arrest those individuals crossing our border.
00:20:09So we've seen- You're talking like automated surveillance
00:20:11towers, cameras. Absolutely. So our automated
00:20:14autonomous surveillance towers and that type of technology that we're using across the board
00:20:20today, the increase of what we're doing from aircraft and unmanned aircraft patrols on the
00:20:25border to provide additional visibility and reaction time for our agents. So those have
00:20:31significantly helped in what we're seeing today in those numbers. The other piece is the consistent
00:20:36messaging for us, not only within what's happening at the border and within the U.S., but to
00:20:42countries that we had seen aliens arrive at our border from. So that messaging and the messaging
00:20:49obviously matches the consequences that are being provided.
00:20:53Well, it's very clear with that reduction in numbers coming across the border. And to my
00:20:58colleague's earlier point about making sure people are cared for, you're clearly able to do that
00:21:03because you have fewer people that you're having in custody. And I think that that's really
00:21:08important that you can redirect those resources where they need to go. And again, I think that
00:21:12probably is a good morale booster for the workforce as well. Can you speak to a little
00:21:17bit the broader cost savings from the changes that have been made under the Trump administration?
00:21:22You talk about interdiction, deterrence, being able to use some of these automated technologies
00:21:26like the CBP home app. How are those efforts helping you to carry out your mission more
00:21:31effectively? I mean, I remember coming down to my colleague, Tony Gonzalez's district and seeing
00:21:36those soft-sided facilities that now we don't have to pay for anymore. So how have you been able to
00:21:40really maximize those savings? So I think the first thing I'll start with
00:21:45is being able to get our law enforcement officers back to doing law enforcement work. So we've cut
00:21:51man hours there in regards to non-law enforcement work and being able to patrol the border, which
00:21:56makes us more effective and efficient based on using law enforcement hours for law enforcement
00:22:02work. That'd be the first thing I'd mention. The other thing I would say on the soft-sided
00:22:08facilities. So soft-sided facilities were costing us about $83 million a month is what that was
00:22:14costing us. So with the ability, with the numbers being significantly lowered, with our in-custody
00:22:21numbers, again, down from 20,000 people every day that we had individuals in custody down to 500 to
00:22:27800 a day, we were able to shut down all those soft-sided facilities. So saving the American
00:22:33taxpayers $83 million each month on the cost of that. So being able to take that with that,
00:22:39being able to do that internally with the resources was a significant savings for the
00:22:43American taxpayer. I would say that in regards to the CBP home app and what we're doing, it's a
00:22:50cost-effective way to allow individuals that are here illegally or undocumented to be able to get
00:22:56back to their home countries on their own. It's cheaper than providing for custody and providing
00:23:03for transportation flights with ICE, who typically does that transportation. So it is a
00:23:09cost-savings mechanism that allows for those in the country to depart on their own terms.
00:23:16Well, thank you for the great work you're doing, Acting Commissioner,
00:23:18and appreciate you coming to testify today. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
00:23:23The floor now for five minutes for questioning belongs to the gentleman from the namesake of
00:23:29the Unaroyal Laredo All-Terrain Tire. Hey, that is very good. It's a little vintage. Don't
00:23:35anybody think I'm giving him an ad. The floor is yours. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I am
00:23:41impressed by that detail. And, Ranking Member, thank you so much. I was texting Rodney Scott.
00:23:48He told me to be kind. So for the record, I will be very kind, Commissioner Flores.
00:23:53A couple of things. First of all, thank your men and women, Blue, Green, Tan, Air Marine,
00:24:01and all the folks that work for you all. Thank you so much. I'm going to have my questions
00:24:07are going to be very specified to Laredo, if you don't mind, this time.
00:24:12Number one, we have the largest checkpoint that needs to be upgraded. I think we already added
00:24:18$15 million to working on the design, but I'd like to make sure that you all keep that on budget
00:24:25and on time, and that's one thing we need to work on. Everything else that you all work on,
00:24:31on budget and on time, and hopefully we can follow the law on that aspect.
00:24:38And I'm worried about that checkpoint because it would be the fourth largest port of entry if it
00:24:45would be a port of entry, that checkpoint. And it's not only that checkpoint, but we got another
00:24:50one in Freer that's been on whole lean for a while, and we need that one, too. And then I think
00:24:55Congressman Gonzalez has another one in Eagle Pass, I believe, also. So if we're going to add
00:25:01money, if you're all going to be adding money on reconciliation, just look at the basics
00:25:06needs for our men and women down there, and I'll talk about those checkpoints.
00:25:11The other thing is the efficiencies. I know we just established a CT pack in Laredo, an office
00:25:17there. The more of those trucking lines we can get in, the better it is, because as you know,
00:25:23most of the drugs come in through ports of entry, not in between ports. According to the U.S.
00:25:29Sentencing Commission, 86% of the people that are caught at checkpoints and ports of entry are U.S.
00:25:35citizens, not illegal. They're U.S. citizens or residents, so we got to make sure we get your
00:25:41technology working. So we got to get that non-intrusive technology working, and I know
00:25:49sometimes the footprint is not there for some of the older bridges, but there are some new
00:25:55expansions coming in. The World Trade Bridge in Laredo, which is the largest port in the whole
00:25:59country, bigger than L.A. and etc., etc., we only have eight lanes, but we got the presidential
00:26:06permit where we go from eight to 18 lanes, so from 18,000 trailers a day. You can imagine what's
00:26:14going to happen. That gives a lot of opportunities for the bad guys to use those trailers. We have
00:26:21the third largest crossing, the Columbia Bridge, which we're waiting for a presidential permit.
00:26:27It's the second largest in Texas, so Laredo has basically number one and number three in the
00:26:34whole southern border, so I'm very interested in the men and women in blue and the technology that
00:26:40that y'all are looking at. And finally, the last thing I want to make a comment and you can respond
00:26:49is the cameras. As you know, FAA, somebody came up with a bright idea to put it all together,
00:26:55and the FAA was handling the maintenance. It's like asking Border Patrol to go on
00:27:02air traffics, and I think hopefully that was changed now, but in my area, one-third of the
00:27:08cameras are working. Two-thirds are not working, unless if those numbers have changed, but to say
00:27:16one-third of the cameras are not working, I know we're waiting for upgrades. That's not good for
00:27:20border security. Last point has to do with contracting. You mentioned that the tents and
00:27:30those tents, I know some were coming from Rome, New York, and other places, but a lot of it,
00:27:36when the numbers went down, I don't know what the right term is, y'all had this warm status.
00:27:41Y'all should have gotten rid of that, because we're paying millions and millions and millions
00:27:46of taxpayers' dollars, and y'all just got to do a better job at contracting and getting a better
00:27:54deal, and then just letting those, whatever it is, warm status going in to that, and talking about
00:28:02warm, let me go to warm. There's a big detention center in Laredo, $280 million. I call it a woke
00:28:12type of project, where for the sewage, y'all want to use warm. Apparently, y'all use it in
00:28:18California. That's fine in California, but the city of Laredo is willing to put sewage lines
00:28:24and work with you. I'll call it a woke project. I mean, just that warm thing. The rest is good.
00:28:31The detention center is good, but I would like to have a follow-up on all that. And I know we
00:28:39don't have enough time, but be happy to sit down with you, and for the record, tell Mr. Scott that
00:28:44I was very kind to you. It was very kind. Thank you for the question. We'll definitely get back
00:28:48to you. We recognize all those projects. They are on our priority, and as, obviously, as we get
00:28:54through ability to fund many of that, and some have already funded in regards to the Laredo
00:28:59checkpoint, so we're on track with that going forward. And the detention center, what about that
00:29:06warm? The warm status that we put them in is because the unpredictability that we had during
00:29:12the surges that we were seeing from illegal crossing, so we wanted to make sure that we were
00:29:17not going to be out of capacity, since with the new administration and the numbers
00:29:23that we saw consistently being down, we went through the process as soon as we could in order to
00:29:28scale down. And every one of those soft-sided facilities, we no longer operate in. Yeah, but this
00:29:33is a hard facility. They closed the tents, and we're talking about hard facility.
00:29:39You're a congressional affairs person. I was very familiar with that. I just, I don't have a problem.
00:29:45I support that detention center. I just have a problem with the warm form, when the city's
00:29:51willing to connect sewage lines to y'all. But anyway, thank you so much, and I appreciate your service,
00:29:56and your men and women that work for y'all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, sir.
00:30:03The chair now recognizes the vice chair of the subcommittee, the gentleman from Arizona, home of
00:30:10the five C's, copper, cattle, cotton, citrus, and climate. Mr. Siskimati, the floor is
00:30:17yours for five minutes. You're really doing a great job today, Chairman. All the personalized...
00:30:23I'm exhausted, but go right ahead. It's great. It's great. Thank you. Acting Commissioner, thank you for
00:30:29being here with us today, and thank you for your leadership in this very important issue to
00:30:33the entire nation. I represent Arizona's sixth congressional district. It's in the southern part
00:30:38of, southeastern part of the state, so in the border with Mexico. I've had the opportunity to
00:30:43visit countless times with your OFO officers, with the CBP agents, and the AMO agents as well,
00:30:50and I'm always very impressed with their grit, even through the hardest times in the last few years,
00:30:57just how they were able to show up and keep doing the job, in spite of everything else going on.
00:31:02So, I have a lot of pride in representing them in Congress. I have a large number of them in
00:31:09my district, living in my district. So, I want to ask a question here on an issue on the
00:31:16EFRS issue that we're seeing. It's my understanding that federal law enforcement officers
00:31:21face mandatory retirement at age 57, which we know, but can retire earlier if they have 20 years in
00:31:27service, and are over 50, or even younger if they have 25 years of service. This applies for law
00:31:34enforcement under CBP, correct? Correct. Okay, and how many CBP personnel do you have who are eligible
00:31:40for retirement today, and how many will be eligible in the next couple of years? So, just on the
00:31:46retirement issue, just start with, you're correct in regards to, so we have officers, agents, any of
00:31:51the CBP law enforcement personnel. So, at the age of 50, with 20 years worth of service, can retire.
00:31:57At any age, with 25 years worth of service, can retire in regards if they're a Leo.
00:32:04In regards to our numbers of retirement, so we look at CBP has currently a little over 67,000
00:32:11employees in CBP right now. If we look at our current number of those eligible to retire,
00:32:17we're somewhere right about 5,900 individuals that are employees that are able to retire. Within
00:32:23that 5,900 that are eligible to retire, we have another 3,300 of those that are Leos or law
00:32:30enforcement that are eligible for retirement. Great, thank you for that. Under the
00:32:36federal employee retirement system that I mentioned, there's federal law enforcement officers
00:32:42receive a supplemental, a supplement to their annuity when they retire to bridge them until
00:32:48they become eligible for Social Security at age 62. Our colleagues on the House Oversight Committee
00:32:54recently reported out legislation as part of the reconciliation process that would have required
00:32:59a federal law enforcement officer to work until they are 57 to receive this supplement. I have a
00:33:06huge Border Patrol presence in my district, as I mentioned earlier, and I personally know agents
00:33:11who, because of injuries, really struggle to make it to retirement eligibility, let alone the mandatory
00:33:17retirement age of 57. Specifically, when I've gone over on the far remote areas of the border and I
00:33:25realize the terrain that these agents are going up and down, I've heard stories of how their knees
00:33:30give out, you know, in their 40s sometime and even earlier, and the injuries that they have.
00:33:36The Arizona border is a very unique border, as you know, in the southern part there, because of,
00:33:42again, the terrain. Some areas you can't even build a barrier because of that. It's very
00:33:45different than some of the other neighboring states. So, anecdotally, I've heard from these
00:33:51agents in their retirement papers right now that they're putting in because they fear that they
00:33:56will not be able to physically make it to the age of 57, which is because of what I just described
00:34:03as well. So, is this something that you're tracking on that with the men and women
00:34:10working in your department? How might this provision removing supplemental pay impact
00:34:15pay may impact your agency and also your recruitment efforts and retainment efforts?
00:34:22Thank you for the question, Congressman. So, we track retirements on a regular basis on what we're
00:34:26seeing in regards to employees putting in for retirement. In regards to anything that is added
00:34:34or taken away, obviously, Congress will have that input on what happens next on whether or not any
00:34:39of the language or what that language looks like in reconciliation or anywhere else. I can tell you
00:34:45from my personal experience, any time we have or there is discussion about potential impacts to
00:34:52employees' pay or benefits, there is some impact to that in regards to at least our current
00:35:00employees, right? When you start talking about impacts to current employees' benefits and pay,
00:35:06there is some impact and concern from our existing employees.
00:35:10Well, I go back to my district every weekend. I spend a lot of time out and about from
00:35:15on the field and football games or at the grocery store or church, and every time I
00:35:23right now talk to someone in the federal law enforcement, this is the number one issue on
00:35:29their mind and what we're working on here. So, something that we're addressing. I wanted to make
00:35:33sure what your thoughts were on that in terms, again, of the recruitment part, but also in the
00:35:37retention right now. Given the numbers that you have and the ones that are eligible for retirement,
00:35:42this is a time that we need our workforce and our experienced workforce to be on this, and that's
00:35:48why I think it's important to fix that, and we will. So, thank you, sir, for being here, and
00:35:53thank you for your testimony today. Thank you. Chairman, you're back.
00:35:59The chair now recognizes the gentleman from Aloha Country. Since we're talking about new
00:36:06states these days, not that it's exactly new, but the 50th state, at least some people believe that.
00:36:12The floor is yours for five minutes. I don't know how to respond to that, actually. I've
00:36:19got some witty comments having to do with the 51st state, but I think I'll just pass.
00:36:24I figured you would, which is why I tried to defer to you. Thanks for baiting me. Mr. Flores, first
00:36:30of all, thanks for your service. I think I counted 37 years or so, so you've been on the front line
00:36:35for a long time. Appreciate your stepping into this role. What I want to do is follow up on
00:36:42a line of questioning that I had with the secretary when she testified
00:36:46about the cost benefit of a border wall, and let me give you some context. First of all,
00:36:52I've been to the border three times myself. I've talked to many, many of your officers on the
00:36:56ground. I believe, and I believe it may be the consensus of some of the officers on the ground
00:37:04that we definitely need to rehabilitate, expand, and extend the border wall in some parts,
00:37:11but not all 1,954 miles. I'm not going to speak for them, but that's my conclusion.
00:37:18What I'm interested in is understanding the administration's, where the administration
00:37:22is trying to go, and what are the consequences of doing that? My understanding is that in FY 2024,
00:37:31continue to 2025, Customs and Border Protection was funded at about $19.6 billion. The skinny
00:37:39budget doesn't specifically call out CBP, but it's a level funded budget, and I don't think
00:37:45that there is an assumption of an increase for CBP in the skinny budget, but reconciliation
00:37:51clearly front loads CBP to the tune of about $64.9 billion, which is three times more than
00:38:01the annual funding, of which $46.5 billion is to build the border wall, so that means
00:38:09that of the entire reconciliation budget, 71.6% is allocated to a border wall in the CBP, which
00:38:17is twice the annual budget of all of CBP, 0.8 billion to border surveillance, which I think
00:38:21we would all agree is also an important part of actually securing our border.
00:38:27So, my question to Secretary Nuland was this. That's a heck of a lot of money to put into a
00:38:34border wall, and if we've seen such a drastic decrease in entries into this country, which is
00:38:41good news, by the way, congratulations to everybody that pulled that off, but if we've got this under
00:38:47control from a non-1954 mile border wall, then why are we investing that much in a border wall?
00:38:58And so, the subsidiary part of the question is, does that $46.5 billion assume,
00:39:04what's the assumption under that? How much wall does that buy, $46.5 billion?
00:39:10Congressman, thank you for the question. So, within CBP in our evaluation, we've recognized
00:39:15needs in regards to expanding border walls, not just the border wall, the border wall system.
00:39:23So, infrastructure is one thing. When you talk about infrastructure and actual physical
00:39:27infrastructure, a wall, you could talk about border roads and access roads, which become
00:39:31equally as important, but the border wall system also includes technology. So, that means we're
00:39:35talking about fiber optic cable, we're talking about sensors, we're talking about cameras,
00:39:40autonomous cameras, and that all combining together to systemize just a border wall
00:39:47system in what we're doing. So, what we have planned for in regards to needs that we have,
00:39:53so, based on support from the committee, operationalizing what some of those needs
00:39:58are in regards to border wall, border barrier, both the primary wall and secondary wall,
00:40:03but includes the technology as well. All right, cool. And I'm fine with all
00:40:06your technology and I'm fine with all of that, you know, border roads and I'm fine with everything
00:40:10else in terms of, you know, taking care of our agents, but I guess my specific question is what's
00:40:15the assumption as to a physical barrier, an extension of that barrier? Because $46.5 billion
00:40:21is a lot of money to spend when, you know, the administration says that it has solved
00:40:26the problem already. So, my question is, from a cost benefit perspective, what assumption
00:40:31are we making with the border wall in that 46.5? The wall itself?
00:40:37So, the wall itself, we recognize the operational need and the funding in order to build and we
00:40:42don't have the funding for that. We've used our current funding in order to build the current
00:40:46wall that we have either in some type of planning or construction.
00:40:49I don't mean to I'm really trying to get to how much wall did you did you put in your to
00:40:55your projections of 46.5 billion? What is the assumption there? Is that the entire border?
00:40:59Is it half the border? So, it will not include the entirety of
00:41:03the border. So, we have a little less than 2,000 miles along the border. So, we recognize that
00:41:07there are areas, geographic areas and terrain out there where a border wall does not make
00:41:12sense for us. Do you know how many of those miles you are
00:41:15assuming in that 46.5 billion number? So, in regards to primary border barrier,
00:41:20I can tell you that our operational need of what we identify from a primary border barrier,
00:41:25we're about 700 miles of primary border. Okay. So, that's the assumption in the 46.5?
00:41:31That's what we have in our planning so far, operational need.
00:41:33And just quickly, what time frame does that assume? Because what you're doing is you're
00:41:38committing this appropriations committee to funding of that over time, which takes out
00:41:43of the other goals, which is why reconciliation and budgeting is a bad idea. What's the time
00:41:47frame? 10 years? So, what we have right now is just a planning
00:41:50stage of what our operational needs are based on whether or not funding is provided when we get
00:41:56the funding. We will determine what the time frame is there, but we are working to shorten
00:42:02that time frame as much as possible. Okay. Thank you.
00:42:08Gentleman yields back. I now recognize the gentleman from the state whose name, I guess,
00:42:16means friendly in one of the native languages. And obviously, the Lone Star State, Mr. Gonzalez,
00:42:24the floor is yours for five minutes. Thank you, Chairman. And Pete, great to see
00:42:28you here. You've done a great job as commissioner. Thank you and the men and women that work
00:42:33underneath you, alongside you for everything that you're doing. I want to start with my
00:42:39district. I've got four sectors in it. I've got a small piece of Laredo, Del Rio sector,
00:42:43Big Bend sector, and El Paso sector. And each one is completely different than the next.
00:42:48Let's start with the El Paso sector. I want to bring to your attention
00:42:53that at Fort Hancock, the port of entry at Fort Hancock, the hours have been reduced
00:43:00due to COVID-19, and they never got returned. I mean, COVID was five years ago, and the hours
00:43:06are still limited because of that. So my question is, are there any plans, and I understand staffing
00:43:12and you're trying to navigate it all, but it is seriously a safety issue for the residents in
00:43:18Hudspeth County that rely on that port of entry to make their way to Mexico back and forth. Do you
00:43:25have any plans to reevaluate our land port of entries that currently operate under reduced
00:43:31hours, specifically pre-COVID hours? Well, Congress, thank you for the question. Good
00:43:36to see you again. Absolutely. So we do a continuous evaluation of what our operational temple is and
00:43:42what our hours are at all the locations that we do. Every three, the 328 ports of entry that we
00:43:49have. So we want to make sure from an operation tempo that we're meeting the demand of what's
00:43:53happening at our ports of entry. So we do that evaluation and we consistently reevaluate whether
00:44:00or not the hours meet the demand and needs on what we have. What we do recognize is that based on
00:44:05limited staffing and resources, that we have to put our staffing to where the need is, and then
00:44:12scale down operations as best as possible in order to ensure that we're taking care of needs
00:44:18across the board, but ensuring that staff is dedicated to primary locations where we're seeing
00:44:23the need for increased drafting. But we do reevaluate consistently on what port hours should
00:44:28be. Sure. I'd ask you to take a look at the Fort Hancock port of entry. Hudspeth County
00:44:35often gets forgotten for a lot of different reasons, and that is an important issue for me.
00:44:41I want to talk about Stone Garden. Stone Garden, I think, is a program that has been very
00:44:47successful. You know, for those of us who voted for the CR last year, we were able to get a variety
00:44:53of different amounts in. I know El Paso County was able to get 3.7 million, but there's a disparity
00:45:00in some of the grant awardees, right? Other parts of my district, Frio County got 165k,
00:45:07LaSalle County got 186k. All grateful, all good stuff, but as you're going through this,
00:45:15as we're working through the reconciliation process on the homeland authorization side,
00:45:20we put 450 million in there over a five-year period. I would just ask that you kind of
00:45:30evaluate, make sure that it's going to some of these areas, because in many cases, it's these
00:45:35smaller counties that are still getting hit. And that leads me, actually, before I go into that
00:45:41part, I'd also like to hear your thoughts on a lot of times that's used for overtime, but equipment
00:45:48is one of the basic necessities of communicating. And in many parts of my district, you just cannot
00:45:55communicate with others. What are your thoughts on trying to expand the Stone Garden program
00:46:02to maybe just radios or having some things like that? Just love to get your thoughts
00:46:06on the communication piece to just the problem set along the border.
00:46:11Congress, thanks for the question. Agree from a Stone Garden, I'll start with Stone Garden
00:46:15perspective there, that it's an important aspect of what we do with being able to work law
00:46:20enforcement issues with our state and locals in the county. As we know, me, like some of you,
00:46:27born and raised in a small border town in Calexico, California. So understand the need of how
00:46:34small some of the law enforcement is and the support needed and the ability to communicate
00:46:39becomes essential, like in most situations or regular routine in emergency situations.
00:46:46So what we can do in regards to the request in regards to Stone Garden, we will look into what
00:46:51that looks like in regards to equipment and communication and what that is. A lot of those
00:46:56requests that they come in are based on the agency themselves, right? The state and local
00:47:00agencies themselves putting in their operational order on the needs and kind of what the
00:47:06cooperation will be on that, on how we meet those needs under Stone Garden. Well, I'd love to continue
00:47:11to work together with you on modernizing the program. We just can't write blank checks and
00:47:16think it's going to solve itself. Like, how do we make sure that those funds, our taxpayer
00:47:22dollars are going down to meet the need? And sometimes it's not personnel. Sometimes it is
00:47:26equipment like communications. My last question is on the Big Bend sector. I mean, we talk about
00:47:33these other sectors get a lot of attention, but the Big Bend sector, in my eyes, is an area that
00:47:38hasn't slowed down, that continues to have a lot of foot traffic on a daily basis. You know, a lot
00:47:44of people are traveling through the desert on that area. In that area in particular, once again, it's
00:47:49not an easy place to get to, and I understand the population is low, but from a Big Bend sector,
00:47:54is there anything that we can do to help, you know, some of the local communities? What I'm
00:47:59hearing from my ranchers is just they have, like for everyone else, they've gotten relief. That
00:48:04area continues to be a hotbed. Just in the Big Bend sector in particular, is there anything that
00:48:11we can do to maybe alleviate some of their high foot traffic? Thank you for the questions,
00:48:17Congressman. We continue to look at our high traffic areas and reevaluate that. With the
00:48:24support that we're getting, being able to put agents back to do law enforcement work, the
00:48:30ingestion of technology that we have and refocusing some of that technology with the help of DOD and
00:48:36the technology, the help of DOD personnel on the border to help close off some of those areas are
00:48:42all areas that we're focusing on. So we continue to plan for where we see problem spots or hot
00:48:49areas along the border, and we continue to reevaluate how we're deploying our agents, how
00:48:54we're working with DOD to deploy their personnel, and then what our coverage is in the air in regards
00:48:59to bringing visibility to those problem areas. We'll continue to work towards 100% situational
00:49:05awareness, and that's our plan right now, to get to that 100% situational awareness so we can
00:49:10ensure that we know what's coming across the border, and then ultimately, in ensuring that we
00:49:15know what's coming across the border, being able to effect an enforcement action on that. The
00:49:19enforcement and deterrence piece on the consequences seems to have good deterrence in alleviating some
00:49:24of those hot spots. Right. Well, thank you, Commissioner, for your testimony today. Look
00:49:28forward to continuing to work together, and Chairman, I yield back. Thank you. The gentle
00:49:32lady from high altitude Texas, which we may be the two highest altitude residents of districts in
00:49:41Congress. I don't know about Mr. Newhouse, but he's not here, so he doesn't count today.
00:49:46The floor is yours for five minutes. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman and Madam Ranking Member.
00:49:52Commissioner Flores, thank you for being here, and thank you for your service to our country.
00:49:57I am blessed to represent the beautiful community of El Paso, Texas, and I'm a native born and raised
00:50:04there, raised my children there, and my constituents recognize the importance of our land ports of
00:50:12entry. I think frequently Congress does not. You know, we get a lot of visitors from across the
00:50:19country who parachute in. They visit the border, take their selfies, leave. When I have folks visit
00:50:25the border, I always include our land ports of entry because they are key to our commerce, to our
00:50:31national economy, but what I have heard long before I was in Congress from my neighbors, friends, etc.,
00:50:41who work for CBP, is how understaffed our OFO personnel are, and it's been a chronic issue. It
00:50:49precedes my time in Congress, as I mentioned, and the staffing model, I think, needs to be
00:50:57reconfigured, and we need to think about different things in a new staffing model, including, for
00:51:03example, the El Paso sector, where one land port of entry is probably about 45 minutes away
00:51:12from another land port of entry, and when you're shifting personnel, we've got to take that timing
00:51:18into consideration. I was so proud to have supported the bipartisan infrastructure law,
00:51:25which has funding for a port modernization, the Bridge of the Americas, in the central part of my
00:51:32community, and as we increase POV traffic there, I again come back to thinking about staffing,
00:51:41and again, Congress frequently focuses on Border Patrol and the border when it comes to CBP.
00:51:47I would like to hear from you, how do we address our chronic understaffing with OFO?
00:51:54Congresswoman, thank you for the question. So, our workload staffing model is something we've
00:51:58developed now over several years, and it's been validated, I think, to your point in regards to
00:52:04taking into consideration the time and distance of some of our locations. It's an important aspect,
00:52:08and something that we're trying to ensure that it is incorporated into the workload staffing model.
00:52:14Current workload staffing model for OFO, at least the last numbers I saw, I believe, had them
00:52:195,000 people short based on current workload that the last time we did the assessment.
00:52:25So, it's a validation tool for us on what the workload is. So, agree that operationally,
00:52:32like the Border Patrol, Office of Field Operations is also short of the men and women performing the
00:52:37job at the ports of entry, and as you're well aware, in regards to the economics of what happens
00:52:43at a ports of entry in regards to daily travel, commuter travel, commercial trucks coming across
00:52:48the border, right, there's high value in what that is coming across the border. We continue to make
00:52:54process improvements as we, with your support and the committee's support in regards to what
00:52:59additional staffing looks like, we continue to make operational improvements to help alleviate
00:53:04some of the stress of ports of entry in regards to technologies and way forward. Simplified entry
00:53:10was a great example of what we did in regards to being able to expedite traffic. As we look at
00:53:15Trusted Traveler and Trusted Trader programs, we have FAST and we have Global Entry, right, we have
00:53:21Sentry and those type of programs that account, today account for about 16 million people registered
00:53:27into those type of programs. So, trying to expedite crossings across the border as we wait for
00:53:32additional staffing, hopefully, and funding for that to be able to fulfill some of those
00:53:38spots that we have, both in the passenger environment and in the cargo environment
00:53:42along all our ports of entry in the U.S. Commissioner, would you commit to working
00:53:47with me on assuring that we have enough OFO personnel at our land ports of entry?
00:53:54Will do, yes. Okay, perfect. I'd also like to work with you on Trusted Traveler because I, that is a
00:54:01high source of complaints from members of my community, including very well-respected
00:54:10members of the business community to, you know, all sorts of folks from all walks of life. That
00:54:16program, when that privilege is revoked, it's like a black box. People can't get answers. So, I'd
00:54:24like to work with you on that as well. I'm running out of time. I have one final question that is
00:54:29really important to me. We've seen the administration use members of our active duty
00:54:37military on the U.S.-Mexico border. How much training and how long is the training for border
00:54:43patrol, just very quickly, before they engage in border operations? So, the academy itself, I
00:54:50believe it's about six months. And they get all sorts of really in-depth training. How much
00:54:57training do our active duty military get before they're put on border enforcement? Do you know?
00:55:04So, I'd have to leave that up to DOD. But I know, based on my experience and over my career, we've
00:55:10had DOD at the border ever since I can remember. Well, aside from the Joint Task Force, I'm talking
00:55:16about the recent operations that where we're literally putting military personnel on the border
00:55:23to act as enforcement personnel. Do you know how much training they get? So, we do some cross
00:55:28training with DOD personnel when they come on board in regards to relationship of what we're
00:55:33doing. And then they obviously, DOD does their own training before that. But I don't know how much
00:55:38training DOD is doing. It's literally only hours, a few hours. And so, I need to publicly express
00:55:45again my profound concern and alarm at the administration's decision to use military assets,
00:55:53military installations, and now active duty military for border enforcement. So, thank you so
00:55:59much. Again, look forward to working with you on Trusted Traveler and on ensuring that we have an
00:56:04adequate number of OFO personnel at our land ports. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
00:56:11The gentleman from the Great River State, which I guess is translated out of the Algonquin
00:56:19language for Mississippi and also known as the Magnolia State, the floor is yours
00:56:25for five minutes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Commissioner, thank you for joining us. Thank
00:56:31you for your hard work. Thank you for your leadership. Please tell the men and women who
00:56:37serve under you how much we as Congress appreciate what they do for us each and every day.
00:56:45I want to tell you that the work that CBP has been able to do in the last few months has been
00:56:52amazing. We have seen a dramatic change along the border. We have seen numbers drop to historic lows,
00:57:02decreases of 90 plus percent along the southwest border. And I think that goes
00:57:08to show the hard work of the men and women that serve under you and the change that we've seen
00:57:15in the administration of actually allowing them to do their job and to enforce the laws that exist.
00:57:22There was a question by one of my colleagues earlier about walls and borders and why do we
00:57:27need walls? Why do we need borders? If the physical borders along our southwest border,
00:57:35if in fact we've reached the point that we have today where things are fairly secure.
00:57:41But I want to ask you, in your experience, do walls work? Are they a necessary part of
00:57:49the border component that Congress should be investing in? And in those areas that where
00:57:56we have walls or borders, do we see that we are able to redirect manpower to other areas of the
00:58:03border that have not been secured by those structures? Congressman, thank you for the
00:58:09question. So I started my career about 37 years ago in a small border town of Calexico, California.
00:58:17So for 30 plus years, we've been using some type of border barrier along the border. And so in my
00:58:24experience, infrastructure, border barriers, walls, technology, it works. It provides us
00:58:32a couple things. One, it provides us situational awareness in regards when you talk about
00:58:37barriers and technology, it provides us for greater situational awareness, which creates
00:58:44the ability for our agents and officers to respond to any event or event that may be occurring.
00:58:51The wall also provides us, gets more hours back in regards to, provides agents the capability
00:58:59to patrol and enforce more mileage along the border in regards to access roads and the wall
00:59:07doing to prevent and denial of individuals crossing at various locations along the southwest
00:59:13border. The other thing, it provides us space. It provides us some time in regards to our agents to
00:59:18be able to respond to an area before somebody who crossed illegal disappears into an urban area,
00:59:24into a vehicle or other locations before we're able to get them. So it provides that ability.
00:59:29So it's a cost saving measure, not only for us, but increases our enforcement and our ability to
00:59:33respond and react and actually encounter individuals that are illegal crossing.
00:59:37The other thing I have personally seen, again, most of my career being on the southwest border,
00:59:42when you create a safer environment based on infrastructure and technology, that allows for
00:59:48border communities to grow and infrastructure to grow, business and developments, housing
00:59:53developments and all those things seem to flourish in those areas where you have a more secure border.
00:59:58And let me ask you a little bit about the Air and Marine Operations, the AMO.
01:00:03I know that in some instances our ANO pilots are operating
01:00:10light enforcement platforms, helicopters that in some cases are decades old. They are well maintained,
01:00:18but they're ending, they're coming to the end of that life cycle. And so I want to ask you how
01:00:25important it is for Congress to begin planning and to begin funding the replacement for these
01:00:33aging airframes. Thank you for the question. That is a critical component of our strategy and how we
01:00:40in fact get 100% situational awareness along the border, having light enforcement aircraft
01:00:47in that strategy is an important aspect. We appreciate the funding provided to CBP so far
01:00:54in regards to being able to maintain our current fleet. FY25 budget had the inclusion of two
01:01:00additional of the light enforcement aircraft, so we appreciate that and we look forward to the
01:01:04additional funding to be able to grow and recapitalize some of the aging fleet there.
01:01:09And just very briefly, as it relates to the non-intrusive inspection, the systems that
01:01:15we've installed along the border there, particularly at the ports of entry,
01:01:20we've seen that the rollout of this technology I think has been, let's just say, less than ideal.
01:01:26The screening percentage, particularly of passenger vehicles, remains disappointing and I know
01:01:32Congress will continue to invest in that technology, but just want to implore you as you're
01:01:38serving in this acting position to do everything that we can to see that these systems are
01:01:43installed, that they're brought online, that the men and women who are operating the systems are
01:01:47trained so that we can continue to screen more traffic that's coming across the border. We know
01:01:53that that technology serves as a force multiplier and will help us be able to better secure the
01:01:59border and particularly stop the flow of narcotics from coming into the country. And so with that,
01:02:04Mr. Chairman, I yield back. Thank you, sir. Mr. Acting Director, I've got a few questions before
01:02:12we wrap up. How's the home application to leave? State Department gives somebody a thousand bucks.
01:02:18Do we have any preliminary data on how that's working? People signing up for that? What?
01:02:23So we do have some preliminary data that we do have individuals signing up for that in order to
01:02:27take that. That is, that very specific piece, although we built that application, it's being
01:02:34run by ICE in regards to getting that through and the department in regards to applicants in that
01:02:39process. Okay, so if you could have your folks just kind of get back to us, and it's not a trick
01:02:45question, so I'm just kind of curious, how's that working? So some of the members have talked to
01:02:52you about funding for the wall, and I know that people tend to, well, it's the wall, it's
01:02:57like, well, there's more than that, but you got any ideas on, so are we kicked off on that?
01:03:05All aspects, fiber optic, the actual wall itself, roads, blah, blah, blah, is that all kicked off as we
01:03:11speak, and if it's not, when do we expect to be fully underway on multiple assets of what people
01:03:18colloquially refer to as the wall? Yeah, so the wall system in regards to not only infrastructure,
01:03:25but the technology that applies to that, so based on our current funding, yes, so we are making sure
01:03:30that as we implement new wall, it is a wall system in regards to fiber optic and sensors, so that's
01:03:36in our current planning that we have. In regards to additional funding that we may receive, we are
01:03:43planning to ensure that it is a wall system in regards to not only infrastructure, but technology
01:03:49that goes along with that, along with border roads, access points, where we may have the
01:03:55opportunity to build more wall based on appropriations. Are we building as we speak? We are
01:04:01building as we speak. Generally, what are we building? The whole nine yards? No. Cameras, wiring, roads, actual
01:04:07wall? So, wall, cameras, roads, yes, we're incorporating the technology into the 85 plus miles
01:04:15that we have as we get into physical border barrier type ballard construction that will be
01:04:21incorporated into every piece of ballard fencing that we build. How about buoys in, for instance,
01:04:28the Rio Grande? Are we deploying those, or is that in the planning stage, or where are we at with buoys?
01:04:33So, we have that in the planning stage right now. We have, I think, our latest contract is 17 miles of
01:04:40border barrier buoy that we have contracted for. Okay.
01:04:45The cameras in the FAA thing, we're not doing that again, right? Right. So, we are moving, so we talk
01:04:54about maintenance of older technology based on the technology that we have. It is
01:05:00older type technology. A lot of times it becomes very difficult to maintain parts that get parts
01:05:05in order to make that type of technology operational. So, we do plan to
01:05:11completely update that technology and use new technology to ensure that our cameras are
01:05:17operational and integrated with everything that we're planning for. Well, some of the questioning
01:05:21here today has gone on that, and I'll just tell you, it's like I haven't had anybody approach me
01:05:25if somebody else has been approached and said, hey, what we're doing now with those cameras and
01:05:30having somebody else maintain them is okey-dokey. And so, I guess my question is, we've learned the
01:05:37lessons we need to from that. Not that anybody was a bad person or whatever, but that dog ain't hunting.
01:05:42So, as we go forward with new recapitalization of that particular part of your mission,
01:05:50we're going a different direction. Right. Okay. The last thing I've got is I've got a concern,
01:05:58and I know there's some moving parts to it, but when you keep getting reprogramming requests to
01:06:02move money out of hiring people and moving it into other areas, at some point in time,
01:06:09I hope that one of the things we're working on is we got to change the way we assess and bring
01:06:16people on board, that hiring process. So, I know that, and I'm not saying it's yours, but it is
01:06:22other federal ones, so maybe it's yours. By the time we get done advertising, identifying somebody,
01:06:28putting them through the test, going through all the drill or whatever, it's not unusual to have
01:06:33people say, hey, thanks, but I went someplace where I can start working six months ago. And so,
01:06:41my question is, where are we at in basically rethinking how we assess Border Patrol agents,
01:06:50employees, whatever, so that we quit getting reprogramming requests, which basically
01:06:58cannibalize money that we're like, hey, I know you need more people. Here's the money, and it's
01:07:02like, well, we can't get them on board fast enough. At some point in time, there's a,
01:07:10you know, it's a credibility thing where you're like, well, we keep putting this money in,
01:07:15but it hasn't been used for that. So, it's like, when we give you the money, we want you to bring
01:07:21new people on. Anybody working on a plan for this is how we revamp our whole hiring process?
01:07:27And by the way, I know some of it is, well, you know, we got to go through
01:07:30OMB and their program or whatever. It's like, well, let's triage that, and if we can help you,
01:07:38then good. Are we doing any of that? Hopefully on new cameras, new technology, and oh, by the way,
01:07:48new program to actually bring these folks on? Thank you for the question, and we are. So,
01:07:52we've taken a hard look at what our hiring process is. We've taken a look at where the
01:07:59longest poles in the tents are during that hiring process, and we have taken steps to
01:08:04increase what that is in regards to from a human resource side on what we're doing and how we're
01:08:10doing things and when we're doing certain things, such as physicals and testing and those type of
01:08:15things and how we combine different things in order to shorten up that time frame. We're also
01:08:20in regards to recognize that when we have applicants and they start through the process,
01:08:25that assigning somebody, a recruiter, somebody through them to help them through the process,
01:08:29we have a higher percentage of yielding on-board rates and in shortening that time frame
01:08:34from application to on-board. So, we're increasing what our ability is for recruitment as we continue
01:08:39to look at what the funding looks like, ensuring that we're having a recruiter attached to applicants
01:08:44that are getting through the process. We're looking at what the background investigators,
01:08:50the need for background investigators, the need for polygraphs, and the need what that number looks
01:08:54like and what our bandwidth there. So, we continue to look at the entirety of that process down to
01:08:59locations and hard-to-fill locations and what we can do about getting applicants into hard-to-fill
01:09:04locations. So, the message is clear from the question. It's like, I think you guys have plenty
01:09:13of credibility where you say, we need 20,000 more people to operate in retirements and we expect a
01:09:18surge and all that stuff. I get all that. Now that everybody recognizes that, it's whatever needs to
01:09:25be done to do that in real time because with each reprogramming request that cannibalizes those funds,
01:09:31it doesn't look good in terms of, yeah, we heard you and we're trying to help you,
01:09:38but the money never ends up getting there because of fundamental flaws in that process.
01:09:45So, thank you for your input and we'll look forward to working on that. CBP has historically
01:09:50been an excellent partner as we work through the annual appropriations process and I ask that
01:09:56that continue for fiscal year 2026. We won't surprise you, don't surprise us, that simple.
01:10:03For the get back questions that members of the subcommittee had today, we ask that you respond
01:10:07in 15 business days. I know you're busy, but this process is moving quickly and so what I don't want
01:10:13to do is have the train leave the station and us make assumptions which are not based on
01:10:19factual information. There may be additional questions members provide in writing and we
01:10:23ask you to respond to those in a timely manner. I'd like to thank you again for coming,
01:10:28been an excellent witness and the subcommittee stands adjourned.