There appears to be a major sound problem with the hearing, and we can't hear a thing from Chairman Thompson as he gives his opening statement. No sound on either the Youtube livestream or the C-Span livestream. Not an auspicious start to things!
Anyway, even though we can't hear Chairman @BennieGThompson give his opening statement, here's a link to the prepared remarks. Still unclear if this is a tech issue or if he just forgot to unmute himself? homeland.house.gov/imo/media/doc/…
Congressional hearings in the pandemic era!
Alright, we're back, and Chairman Thompson is giving his statement again. But this time we can hear it!
Here's the full statement he's reading out now.
We now move to Rep. Katko, the ranking Republican member of the committee, who begins by wishing everyone a "Happy St. Pattie's Day."
Katko begins by discussing non-immigration aspects of DHS. "I truly believe that cybersecurity is a preeminent threat to national security."
Katko turns to the border and begins with the "crisis" rhetoric we've seen recently, saying he believes "there is just no question" that Biden's policies are causing it.
There's very little evidence of this, of course; the main driver is what smugglers say, not what Biden does.
Katko falsely claims that the border is "open" right now at the time that schools remain closed.
Remember; 72% of all people encountered at the border last month were expelled, and less than 30% of people were allowed in.
Katko is now reading out statistics on percent increases in apprehensions at the border in February 2021, claiming that Biden's policies are the main reason for it.
Once again, the increase in apprehensions at the border began spiking in April-May 2020.
Katko offers his "solutions" to what's going on, and they include, no surprise, building more walls, going back to Remain in Mexico (which btw only had 5,500 people subject to it from April 2020 to January 2021), and in every way start being harsher and crueler again.
Now we hear Secretary @AliMayorkas's opening statement. He begins by acknowledging the horrific murders of 8 Asian women in Atlanta yesterday and says DHS is working with local law enforcement to support them.
He then pivots to praising the DHS workforce.
Mayorkas makes a point to discuss FEMA's role in the COVID vaccination process first, saying that's the issue top of mind for Americans right now, a tacit rebuke of those who would try to focus all attention on the border. He then moves second to cybersecurity.
Mayorkas moves third to terrorism, noting we're nearing the 20 year anniversary of 9/11 but saying that domestic terrorism is the "most lethal threat" of terrorism that the United States faces today. He says DHS is expanding its efforts to combat domestic extremism.
Finally, Mayorkas moves to the border, acknowledging a "surge" and noting that the vast majority of single adults are expelled and so are families, unless Mexican rejects their expulsions. As for unaccompanied children, Mayorkas emphasizes their vulnerability first.
Mayorkas notes that the Biden administration "ended the practice" of expelling unaccompanied children, "some as young as 12," back to Mexico.
That is not accurate. A federal judge ordered Trump to stop doing it in November, and when Biden took office kids weren't being expelled.
Mayorkas' main theme is "the situation is undoubtedly difficult" but "we will not waver in our commitment to succeed" and "we will not waver in our values." He makes clear that he thinks this is a challenge that the administration will rise to meet, not a time to abandon values.
Chairman @BennieGThompson now begins questioning by asking Mayorkas about what DHS is doing to investigate the events of January 6.
Mayorkas begins by saying that "I was brought to this country" as a child "because of what this Capitol represents."
Thompson now asks "What is the status of children who were separated from their parents at the border?"
Mayorkas says there is "an intense effort, an all-of-government effort directed by President Biden to find the parents and reunite the families."
Mayorkas praises @MichelleBrane, who was recently appointed to lead the Family Reunification Task Force, emphasizes that the whole government is working on this along with NGOs, and says "We have an obligation to find the parents and to reunite the families."
Chairman Thompson asks about vaccine equities, and Mayorkas says that FEMA is using a "social vulnerability index" to ensure that the placement of community vaccination centers addresses the issue of "equity and equality of access to the vaccines."
We now move to questions from @RepJohnKatko, the ranking GOP member of the Committee. He jumps right into the border, talking about his visit to El Paso last week (which was a weird choice to visit because things are much quieter in El Paso than elsewhere along the border).
Katko asks Mayorkas to answer yes or no about whether Biden signed specific executive orders on immigration on his first day, like ending the asylum cooperative agreements. Mayorkas says yes... but he shouldn't have, the ACAs were ended by EO and the EO on ACAs came days later.
Katko just asking Mayorkas to confirm things about numbers that he already mentioned in his opening statement. Very clearly not actually trying to get any meaningful questions in, just basically yes/no questions on widely-reported numbers and policies.
Katko asks Mayorkas to confirm whether a border supplemental might be needed from Congress. Mayorkas says that's *not* necessarily true yet, the financial situation is still unclear, and commits to working with Congress on that in the future.
Katko just comes out and asks Mayorkas whether there's a "crisis at the border."
Mayorkas gives a great response: "I'm not spending any time on the language you use, I'm spending my time on the operational response to the situation at the border."
Now we move to Rep. @JacksonLeeTX18 who begins by saying that "I'm outraged by the shooting in Atlanta," asks what DHS is doing to investigate "what may be domestic terrorism" against Asian-Americans.
Mayorkas says DHS is focused on combatting "domestic violent extremism."
Rep. Lee asks Mayorkas to "succinctly explain" (good luck) the situation at the border.
Mayorkas: "The border is secure, and the border is not open." He emphasizes that most people still being expelled (under the illegal Title 42 process, I'd note) except for unaccompanied kids.
A brief typo correction to this tweet below. Should have said the ACAs "weren't ended" by executive order, not "were ended."
They were technically ended by Secretary of State Blinken following an EO-mandated review of the agreements.
Rep. Lee ends by asking about cybersecurity, and Mayorkas again emphasizes that the Department thinks cybersecurity is one of the most important things the Department is working to address going forward.
We now move to @RepMcCaul, who begins by saying that "we've seen this movie before" and notes Obama's claim that there was a crisis in 2014.
He emphasizes his belief that DHS should focus on "deterrence" not messaging that people should come in the future.
Rep McCaul says that Remain in Mexico/MPP was ended by "a stroke of a pen" by Biden on inauguration day, which is also false (like the ACA thing before), because MPP was ended by Acting Secretary Pekoske and Biden's EOs didn't mention it at all.
Rep. McCaul falsely claims that the humanitarian catastrophe of MPP, where thousands of people were subjected to kidnappings, rapes, assaults, and sometimes murders, was a "foreign policy success."
They were disastrous. Horrific. Inhumane. Unamerican. And truly a failure.
Mayorkas responds to McCaul on MPP. "Sometimes, the tools of deterrence defy values and principles for which we stand. And one of those tools of deterrence that the Trump administration employed was deplorable and absolutely unacceptable."
Mayorkas on language: "A crisis is when an administration is willing to rip a 9-year-old child from the arms of his or her parents" with the goal of deterring them from coming.
McCaul says he thinks it was "a blunder" to rescind MPP and asylum cooperative agreements, and says that doing so caused what's happening now.
In reality, the ACAs had been suspended since March 2020, and MPP was only used on 5,500 people since then as well.
Mayorkas says "The bottom line is ... the immigration system is broken."
I really think Mayorkas missed a major opportunity here to forcefully discuss the horrors of MPP, the ways in which it destroyed lives, made a mockery of American values, and enriched the cartels.
Moving now to Rep. @JimLangevin, who pivots back to cybersecurity. Mayorkas discusses the threats posed to critical infrastructure from cyber attacks and says Biden has identified this as a "critical mission" for the Department. "This too, is an all-of-government effort."
Some more technical questions from Rep. Langevin on cybersecurity, and since I don't really know much about this, I'm not going to get into the details. But very clear that all agree a good DHS response here is vital.
Moving now to @RepClayHiggins, who says the hearing so far is "nauseating" to Americans and attacks Mayorkas for reading "carefully prepared statements." So, anyway, a pretty confrontational response immediately. "My colleagues against the aisles not even mentioning the cartels!"
Hilariously, @RepClayHiggins blames the huge numbers of people arriving at the border in 2019 on... Democrats, for winning the House in 2018. He claims Trump shouldn't be blamed.
In Higgins' view everything that happens at the border is Democrats fault no matter who's in charge.
Mayorkas responds diplomatically by saying that despite their differences in views, he looks forward to working.
Higgins now talking about "massive surges of illegals crossing our border" and spreads fear about COVID from migrants.
Mayorkas says people are indeed being tested.
Mayorkas very reasonably offers to explain to @RepClayHiggins in four ways how migrants are being tested for COVID, and Higgins refuses to let him answer (presumably because it'd make him look bad for fearmongering about something that isn't happening)
Higgins trying to get Mayorkas to say that Biden is causing a surge at the border.
Mayorkas refuses to say yes or no immediately and Higgins interrupts and accuses him of being too prepared (that's a bad thing?) and says he'll submit his questions in writing.
Moving now to @RepDonaldPayne, who begins by saying he doesn't like seeing witnesses shouted over, then asks Mayorkas about January 6 and asks if "extremist groups see President Trump as the leader of their movement."
Mayorkas says he won't comment on open investigations.
Continuing on January 6, @RepDonaldPayne asks Mayorkas about ongoing claims from Trump and others that the election was not secure.
Mayorkas responds and very forcefully repeats DHS's repeated rejections of any problems with the election, bringing up Chris Krebs' assessment.
Moving now to @RepMichaelGuest, who begins by claiming that "The American people are deeply disturbed by the crisis at our borders." He repeats the numbers given by Katko earlier and says "This is not a political issue," bringing up Rep. Cuellar's comments earlier this week.
Rep. Guest continues to repeat his claim that there is a crisis, reading off of a letter that 50 GOP members of Congress sent to Biden a few weeks ago. No questions for Secretary Mayorkas so far.
Anyway, unfortunately, I have to stop livetweeting now (other work calls!), so if anyone else is livetweeting the hearing please feel free to comment in response to this and leave a link to your thread!
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Having read the article, it's clear that J.D. Vance knows literally nothing about immigration, just the fevered talked points that ping around the Fox News ecosystem. This entire thing is ridiculous posturing designed to align him more towards the Trumpist anti-immigrant wing.
None of @JDVance1's claims are true. No one is being "invited" in. The Biden administration is shouting to the rooftops that people shouldn't come now.
But guess what? Desperation is a powerful motivator for people wanting a better life, just like it was for Vance's ancestors.
This entire thing is just mindless shallow talking point after mindless shallow talking point.
He seriously argues that we shouldn't pass a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants—something two thirds of Americans support—until we, what, defeat the cartels? So... never?
The first lawsuit filed against the enforcement priorities memo comes from the Florida AG's office, which makes it all the way to paragraph 6 before telling an outright lie.
Florida's attempt to throw out Biden's new enforcement priorities has been assigned to District Judge Charlene Honeywell, an Obama appointee, and to Magistrate Judge Sean Flynn, a Trump appointee.
I particularly like the part where they scream in all caps that TPS is supposed to last "maybe a few months"—when by law initial TPS designations must be 6-18 months long and Congress fully authorized extending designations.
This tweet is also hilariously incoherent. The law requires that a person seeking TPS benefits have been "continuously physically present in the United States since the effective date of the most recent designation of that state."
So FAIR thinks Biden should have broken the law?
Also totally incoherent is this tweet, which claims that asylum is a "temporary protection" (it's not, it's a path to citizenship) for people "to work for positive change back home," which, huh?
Do they think people granted asylum are required to be human rights advocates?
This is an important step towards creating a headquarters-level review of ICE decisions.
Getting national policies to stick at the local level is always hard, so this escalation process is vital to ensuring that the new priorities don't just get shrugged off.
The site for the new ICE Case Review process says that "cases involving individuals detained in ICE custody or pending imminent removal will be prioritized."
So if local ICE isn't budging on a case that's no longer a priority, give this new HQ escalation process a try!
Yesterday Governor Abbott ordered the entire state of Texas to be open and eliminated all mask mandates, and Fox News wants you to be afraid that on average 3-4 migrants a day have tested positive for COVID.
In reality, those numbers show that any threat is massively overblown!
Just yesterday, 7,747 people tested positive for COVID in Texas. In one day.
Several thousand families have been released at the border in Texas *since late January.* Just 108 tested positive.
Fox News splashing that 108 number across headlines shows where their priorities are.
I don't really have words to describe the feelings this news has left in me. It's not enough people, it's too slow, there's so much more to be done... but I am overwhelmed with joy that one of the most horrifically cruel policies in a generation is finally coming to an end.
The Trump administration's "clever" move after the disaster of family separation was to outsource the cruelty.
No longer would CBP agents tear children from their parents' arms; they could just toss families to the wolves and let the cartels do their dirty work.
We spent so much effort in 2019 trying to get the nation to share our outrage with what was happening with MPP.
But after family separation and "kids in cages," the externalization of the harm, out of sight of the general public, meant that the horrors never really sunk in.