'A Screening Rather Than A Vetting': Andy Biggs Raises Alarms Over People Entering The United States

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At a House Rules Committee hearing on Tuesday, Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-NY) questioned Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) about border security.   Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript   Stay Connected Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00Thank you Mr. Chairman. Representative Biggs, our friends on the other side of

00:03the dais, they've questioned the significance of measures focused on new

00:07reporting and data collection related to our nation's law enforcement officers.

00:12But how can these reports, such as the ones required under the Improving Law

00:17Enforcement Officer Safety and Wellness through Data Act, how can they better

00:21inform Congress on future action as it relates to backing up our law

00:25enforcement officers and ensuring that they have the resources needed to

00:28support their mission? Thanks for the question. We as federal

00:33policymakers dealing with federal law enforcement don't always have adequate

00:38information and they said this may be duplicative. When you consolidate and

00:44bring it into one place, you aggregate it, we have a better chance to get a picture.

00:47We can adjust policy, we can adjust resources, and we can make sure that our

00:53law enforcement gets what they need when they need it. Thank you very much

00:56Representative Biggs. And regarding the Police Our Borders Act, H.R. 8146, time and

01:02again when House Republicans have pursued legislation like this to

01:06stiffen penalties on illegal aliens that commit violent crimes, including

01:10assault of law enforcement officers, Democrats have denounced those as

01:14demonizing immigrants. But if you walk us through a few points here once more

01:20today, how would you describe the vetting process as it currently stands for the

01:24millions of illegal immigrants that have been encountered at our southern

01:28border who are then released into the interior of the country? Would you say

01:32that's been a rigorous vetting, particularly as it relates to our

01:35national security questions? We would call it a screening rather than a

01:39vetting. So here's what would happen. I have a collection of IDs that that I

01:45picked up at the border. When individuals come across the border,

01:50it's garbage in, garbage out. They have no real ID. We have no biometrics on the

01:55vast majority of people. We don't, we can't run an, we'll run an NCIC check to

02:01see if they have a U.S. record. And if they haven't ever been here before and

02:07there's no record, then we don't have anything. If they're not targeted on an

02:11international terrorist watch list or from Interpol, we have no idea who they

02:16are. And I've literally watched this where we had 25 individuals who said

02:21that they were from, well I can't remember which one they said first, but

02:25they, let's say Russia. We happen to have, through my office, a translator. And we

02:31brought, put them on and they immediately said, no we're not from Russia, we're from

02:36Ukraine. And here's the deal, we don't have a good vetting process. We're gonna

02:41fingerprint you and we hope you pick out a name you like because that's the name

02:45you're gonna go by because we don't know anything else about you. Thank you and I

02:50know that through your work representing a district not so far from the southern

02:54border that you've seen the crisis firsthand more than most folks here. Are

02:59we seeing an influx of just women and children and families coming across our

03:03southern border? No sir. Let's, if you were to talk about the Chinese folks

03:09that are coming across, they're almost exclusively males between the ages of 18

03:14and 35. We see that from all over the place. Different sectors, a different

03:18sector. There are parts within the Tucson sector you're going to see mostly family

03:23units. There are other parts that it is almost exclusively young single males.

03:28Thank you so much. To recap, of the millions of illegals that we know of

03:33that have been released into the interior, few have been adequately vetted.

03:37Many of those millions are military-age men, as Mr. Biggs just said, from as the

03:42Middle East, Africa, China, and that number includes those that are on the

03:46FBI's terrorist watch list. Is that correct? That is correct. Thank you

03:51Representative Biggs. I appreciate you taking the time to restate those points

03:55here today. We cannot overstate the crisis that has started at our southern

03:58border and has made its way to every state and city and town in America. Our

04:04law enforcement officers, they're on the front lines of this crisis and the

04:07influx of millions of poorly vetted migrants released into the interior of

04:11the country on what is effectively an honor system that they will show up for

04:16their next court date. The American people are not convinced by this

04:20administration's claims that the true nature of this crisis at our borders, as

04:24long as they keep the border effectively open, allowing millions of individuals

04:29including known terrorists to enter into this country, we need to do everything we

04:33can to give our law enforcement officers the support that they need in our

04:38communities. So I strongly support the measures before us today and I yield

04:41back Mr. Chairman. Thanks the gentleman. The gentleman yields back. The gentleman from

04:45Georgia is recognized for questions. Thank you Mr. Chairman.

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