A Review of the Fiscal Year 2020 Budget Request for U.S
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A REVIEW OF THE FISCAL YEAR 2020 BUDGET REQUEST FOR U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION, U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUS- TOMS ENFORCEMENT, AND U.S. CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON BORDER SECURITY, FACILITATION, AND OPERATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION MAY 9, 2019 Serial No. 116–19 Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 37–865 PDF WASHINGTON : 2019 VerDate Mar 15 2010 14:52 Oct 11, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 H:\116TH\19BS0509\19BS0509 HEATH Congress.#13 COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY BENNIE G. THOMPSON, Mississippi, Chairman SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas MIKE ROGERS, Alabama JAMES R. LANGEVIN, Rhode Island PETER T. KING, New York CEDRIC L. RICHMOND, Louisiana MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas DONALD M. PAYNE, JR., New Jersey JOHN KATKO, New York KATHLEEN M. RICE, New York JOHN RATCLIFFE, Texas J. LUIS CORREA, California MARK WALKER, North Carolina XOCHITL TORRES SMALL, New Mexico CLAY HIGGINS, Louisiana MAX ROSE, New York DEBBIE LESKO, Arizona LAUREN UNDERWOOD, Illinois MARK GREEN, Tennessee ELISSA SLOTKIN, Michigan VAN TAYLOR, Texas EMANUEL CLEAVER, Missouri JOHN JOYCE, Pennsylvania AL GREEN, Texas DAN CRENSHAW, Texas YVETTE D. CLARKE, New York MICHAEL GUEST, Mississippi DINA TITUS, Nevada BONNIE WATSON COLEMAN, New Jersey NANETTE DIAZ BARRAGA´ N, California VAL BUTLER DEMINGS, Florida HOPE GOINS, Staff Director CHRIS VIESON, Minority Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON BORDER SECURITY, FACILITATION, AND OPERATIONS KATHLEEN M. RICE, New York, Chairwoman DONALD M. PAYNE, JR., New Jersey CLAY HIGGINS, Louisiana, Ranking Member J. LUIS CORREA, California DEBBIE LESKO, Arizona XOCHITL TORRES SMALL, New Mexico JOHN JOYCE, Pennsylvania AL GREEN, Texas MICHAEL GUEST, Mississippi YVETTE D. CLARKE, New York MIKE ROGERS, Alabama (ex officio) BENNIE G. THOMPSON, Mississippi (ex officio) ALEXANDRA CARNES, Subcommittee Staff Director EMILY TRAPANI, Minority Subcommittee Staff Director (II) VerDate Mar 15 2010 14:52 Oct 11, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 H:\116TH\19BS0509\19BS0509 HEATH C O N T E N T S Page STATEMENTS The Honorable Kathleen M. Rice, a Representative in Congress From the State of New York, and Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Border Security, Facilitation, and Operations: Oral Statement ..................................................................................................... 1 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 4 The Honorable Clay Higgins, a Representative in Congress From the State of Louisiana, and Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Border Security, Facilitation, and Operations: Oral Statement ..................................................................................................... 6 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 7 The Honorable Bennie G. Thompson, a Representative in Congress From the State of Mississippi, and Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security: Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 8 WITNESSES Mr. Robert E. Perez, Deputy Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protec- tion: Oral Statement ..................................................................................................... 9 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 11 Mr. Matthew T. Albence, Acting Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: Oral Statement ..................................................................................................... 19 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 22 Ms. Tracy Renaud, Acting Deputy Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: Oral Statement ..................................................................................................... 25 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 27 FOR THE RECORD The Honorable Kathleen M. Rice, a Representative in Congress From the State of New York, and Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Border Security, Facilitation, and Operations: Anthony M. Reardon, National President, National Treasury Employees Union ................................................................................................................. 57 Vicki B. Gaubeca, Director, Southern Border Communities Coalition ............ 63 Church World Service .......................................................................................... 64 APPENDIX Questions From Chairwoman Kathleen M. Rice for Robert E. Perez ................. 67 Questions From Ranking Member Clay Higgins for Robert E. Perez ................. 68 Questions From Chairwoman Kathleen M. Rice for Matthew T. Albence .......... 69 Questions From Ranking Member Clay Higgins for Matthew T. Albence ......... 69 Questions From Chairwoman Kathleen M. Rice for Tracy Renaud .................... 70 (III) VerDate Mar 15 2010 14:52 Oct 11, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 H:\116TH\19BS0509\19BS0509 HEATH VerDate Mar 15 2010 14:52 Oct 11, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 H:\116TH\19BS0509\19BS0509 HEATH A REVIEW OF THE FISCAL YEAR 2020 BUDGET REQUEST FOR U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION, U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUS- TOMS ENFORCEMENT, AND U.S. CITIZEN- SHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES Thursday, May 9, 2019 U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY, SUBCOMMITTEE ON BORDER SECURITY, FACILITATION, AND OPERATIONS, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:10 p.m., in room 310, Cannon House building, Hon. Kathleen M. Rice [Chairwoman of the subcommittee] presiding. Present: Representatives Rice, Correa, Torres Small, Green, Clarke, Higgins, Lesko, Joyce, and Guest. Miss RICE. The subcommittee on Border Security, Facilitation, and Operations will come to order. The subcommittee is meeting today—— Mr. HIGGINS. Mike, please. Miss RICE. I have a loud enough voice to carry, I think. Can ev- eryone hear me? The subcommittee is meeting today to receive testimony on the fiscal year 2020 budget request for U.S. Customs and Border Pro- tection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and U.S. Citi- zenship and Immigration Services. I want to thank the administra- tion officials who came here this morning to testify and provide ad- ditional details about their priorities and programs for the coming fiscal year. But I am going to be frank with everyone here today. This budg- et request is deeply flawed and seems to double down on a number of highly questionable policies that have been patently and repeat- edly rejected by Congress over the past 2 years. That includes bil- lions of dollars for a useless border wall and hundreds of millions of dollars for additional detention space for migrant families. Let me be clear, these items were nonstarters in last year’s budg- et, and they will be nonstarters this year, too. The fiscal year 2020 CBP budget proposal includes a $5 billion request for a border wall, while simultaneously eliminating or reducing funding for sev- eral technology-oriented security measures, including video surveil- lance and cross-border, tunnel-detection systems. Shockingly, the proposed budget would also drastically reduce funding for non- (1) VerDate Mar 15 2010 14:52 Oct 11, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\116TH\19BS0509\19BS0509 HEATH 2 intrusive inspection systems, which scan for drugs, guns, and other contraband at ports of entry. Last year Congress allocated over $500 million to procure new NII systems. In the 2020 budget, the President requests just $59 million. That is not enough. We have been over this time and time again. We need to continue investing in proven border security technology. It works and it works well. Eliminating funding for something as effective as NII systems is reckless and dangerous, and it will hamper our ability to secure our border. There is over- whelming evidence of that. In fiscal year 2018, 90 percent of heroin was seized at ports of entry by CBP officers while only 10 percent was seized between ports. CBP officers at ports of entry also seized 81 percent of fentanyl in the same period. NII systems play an indispensable role in these types of seizures. Meanwhile, there is absolutely no evidence that a border wall would be more effective in stopping contraband from crossing the border. None whatsoever. Nevertheless, here we are again liti- gating this issue. The President himself frequently talks about the horrors of human trafficking and of the families that have been devastated by the opioid epidemic. Yet given the chance to actually do something about it, to actually invest in the resources that will help prevent those tragedies, he opts for a border wall, something that only serves to bolster his ego and irrevocably harm our border communities. It is hard to believe that this needs to be said, but clearly it does. Our committee is not in the business of funding ridiculous, xenophobic, campaign promises. We are in the business of securing our border and ensuring the efficacy of our border operations. We will not sign off on a budget that is chockful of baseless,