00:00I recognize my colleague, Ms. Lee, the ranking member, for five minutes, so the time she may consume for our opening statement.
00:11Thank you, Mr. Chair.
00:13Over the last six months, President Trump, Kristi Noem, and Stephen Miller have unleashed a brutal, reckless, and lawless regime that targets innocent members of our communities,
00:23parents dropping off their kids at the school or attending church, legal immigrants who have been welcome in this country for decades,
00:32international students, and even children who are U.S. citizens.
00:36They are behaving without humanity, justice, or decency.
00:40Children are increasingly the target of President Trump's anti-immigrant crusades.
00:44DHS has failed to be transparent and publish any data since January,
00:48but looking at the court cases has shown that children have been increasingly and disproportionately marked for deportation by Donald Trump.
00:57Over 53,000 children have been ordered for deportation since the start of this administration.
01:02These are mostly elementary, school kids, or younger.
01:06How often the court cases end in deportations has also climbed under Trump, especially for kids.
01:14Over 75% of children 11 or younger are now being ordered for deportation as a result of their immigration court proceedings.
01:22Are these little kids the dangerous criminals Trump vowed to go after?
01:27President Trump is also kidnapping and illegally removing U.S. citizens, including multiple children with cancer.
01:34We're talking about unprecedented actions without due process against U.S. citizens.
01:40The Trump administration removed one 10-year-old girl, a U.S. citizen, who was recovering from brain cancer with her parents, even though she needed medical care.
01:49Another 4-year-old boy was illegally removed, also a U.S. citizen with a rare form of cancer.
01:56The judge in that case said the Trump administration had, quote,
01:59just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process.
02:03Over 500 immigrant children have been removed from their families and homes and thrown into government custody.
02:11Let's call this what it is.
02:12Just like his first time as president, Donald Trump and Stephen Miller are separating kids from their parents.
02:17It's unconscionable.
02:19And as the Trump administration detains more human beings, detention facilities are becoming even more overcrowded and dangerous.
02:25The conditions that children and innocent people are being held in have been called unsanitary and inhumane.
02:33The government has some bare minimum standards in place for children in government custody.
02:37But Trump has attempted to roll those protections back or simply violated them,
02:43all while denying members of Congress their lawful ability to conduct oversight at these facilities.
02:48Republicans are complicit in this.
02:50And increasingly, children are being held in ICE facilities like Alligator Alcatraz or newly reopened family detention centers like the one in Dilley, Texas.
02:59This administration is using every resource at its disposal to target innocent people for kidnapping and disappearance.
03:07And we call it that because a deportation implies that you have gone through some process,
03:12implies that you are following some standard that is set on U.S. law,
03:17in particularly due process.
03:20We know that this administration is even using data collected to identify sponsors for unaccompanied children
03:27to target those same sponsors, often the parents or other family members, for deportation,
03:34putting the very people who are able to help these kids who are in danger.
03:40These are unspeakable injustices that demand oversight,
03:43and we have a witness here today who bears the responsibility of conducting such oversight.
03:48Mr. Khafari is the inspector general who is supposed to be rooting out misconduct at the Department of Homeland Security.
03:54Instead, he's working with Republicans to twist the facts so people ignore the cages and the kids with cancer and other despicable actions.
04:01He himself is guilty of committing serious misconduct against the American people.
04:05This included spending taxpayer money retaliating against whistleblowers who called him out for delaying a report about Donald Trump
04:12actually losing children.
04:14This was when Trump's first administration separated immigrant kids from their parents and then failed to keep track of them.
04:21As many as 1,360 of those kids were never reunited with their parents.
04:27Inspector General Khafari has made clear that he is interested in protecting Donald Trump, not lost children,
04:33and that he has no problem lying to Congress to further his goals.
04:37On this issue, he has absolutely zero accountability.
04:40So when the Trump administration creates a culture of terror in which children are afraid to go to school,
04:46or children are afraid to speak to authorities for fear that they or someone they love will be snatched and deported,
04:52children suffer.
04:54These policies leave children at greater risk of trafficking and exploitation.
04:58I expect my Republican colleagues to care about this because their constituents certainly care about child sex trafficking,
05:04whether it's through the immigration system like this hearing alleges,
05:08or by a U.S. citizen facilitating other powerful U.S. citizens.
05:11It's time for them to prove it.
05:13Right now, Speaker Johnson is helping Donald Trump block the release of all the files relating to child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
05:20If you want to take a stand against child trafficking, let's do it together.
05:23When powerful people exploit children, they must be held accountable for their actions.
05:28And if they try to mislead the public and hide evidence, we can't let them get away with it.
05:33So we can't allow individuals, especially those at the highest level of our government,
05:38to protect child sex traffickers.
05:41So today, that's why I will be offering a motion to subpoena the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files.
05:47Numerous members of this committee and this subcommittee have called for answers and transparency.
05:52So let's do something about it.
05:54Rep. Biggs has said, we want to get to the bottom of it.
05:57Rep. Mesa stated, I believe we need answers on Epstein.
06:00If 1,000 kids were trafficked, how is there only one accomplice?
06:04Rep. Perry has written to Pam Bondi on Epstein saying, the American people deserve answers and justice,
06:11particularly in matters involving grave allegations of criminality and misconduct by influential figures.
06:17Rep. Boebert said, we deserve the truth about the Epstein files.
06:21Yesterday, our government operations subcommittee approved a motion directing Chairman Comer to subpoena Jelaine Maxwell to appear for a deposition before this committee.
06:31But Ms. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for her role in sex trafficking children with Jeffrey Epstein.
06:38She could have a motivation to protect powerful people to get a lighter sentence.
06:42We need the actual Epstein files to get the full truth.
06:46So I hope my Republican colleagues will join me in supporting a motion to subpoena the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files.
06:53With that, pursuant to Clause 2-K-6 of House Rule 11, I move that the subcommittee issue of subpoena to the Department of Justice for the full, complete, unredacted Epstein files to be delivered concurrently to the majority and minority of the subcommittee on federal law enforcement of the Committee of the Oversight and Government Reform.
07:10The Republican member has introduced a motion. The committee will hold this motion in abeyance until the end of today's hearing.
