John Cornyn Asks Former DHS Official About Unvetted Migrants Serving As 'Workforce' For Theft Rings

4 months ago

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) questioned former Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Intelligence and Analysis, David Glawe about retail theft rings.

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00:00State legislators have authorized the use of asset disgorgement for more than 200 years.

00:07This legislation simply permits criminal asset disgorgement for convictions of interstate shipment of stolen goods,

00:16transportation of stolen goods, and sale or receipt of stolen goods.

00:22The government uses disgorgement to take the profit out of crime.

00:26No one has a right to retain the proceeds of their ill-gotten gains.

00:31Doing so would be an invitation to commit similar crimes tomorrow and forever.

00:36Senator Kortner.

00:37Mr. Chairman, let me just add at this point, I support that and I think you do too.

00:41Okay, you bet.

00:43Senator Kortner.

00:45Thank you all for being here.

00:48I was struck by the fact that in each of your testimony,

00:53you highlight the transnational aspects of this problem.

01:00In other words, this is not just a local crime that DAs would prosecute in San Diego County necessarily.

01:07These are international networks and criminal organizations.

01:12And unfortunately, it reminds me of what we've become familiar with in places like Mexico,

01:19where the cartels do a lot of different things, but it's all designed to generate money for the cartels,

01:27whether they steal food, fuel, traffic in drugs, or in people.

01:35And now it seems like it's crossed our borders into the United States.

01:41Because I note that in the Katie Mills Mall case that occurred in April of 2025 at Katie Mills Mall in Texas,

01:50two of the individuals that were apprehended had Mexican IDs.

01:56And then in the news, we hear about, for example, marijuana farms in California,

02:02where unaccompanied minors who were allowed into the country without any real restriction

02:09during the Biden administration were part of the roundup there.

02:16ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, estimates that there are as many as 662,000

02:24illegal immigrants currently in the country who have either criminal convictions

02:30or criminal charges pending against them.

02:34And it strikes me as this is quite a workforce for some of these criminal organizations.

02:39In other words, things don't stop at the border.

02:43And when people get into the United States who are unvetted and who have criminal convictions

02:48or make crime their life's work,

02:53they've got to be doing something.

02:56And I wonder, Mr. Glauwe, do you think that part of the fact that we've had these open border policies

03:04in recent years that have allowed unvetted people,

03:08these aren't just people who want to come here to work and have a better life,

03:12these are people who are unvetted.

03:14We don't know who they are, but if it includes such a large contingent of people with criminal convictions

03:21or who are currently charged with crimes,

03:24aren't they part of the workforce that are used by these organized criminal organizations

03:30to do what we're talking about here today?

03:34Senator Cornyn, thank you for the question.

03:36And in my current role and past role, we know transnational criminal organizations know no boundaries.

03:43These are billion-dollar businesses.

03:45The Sena Koloa cartel is one of the best known.

03:47It runs like a Fortune 500 company.

03:50Moving people and moving goods, it's all about the money.

03:53These organizations have connectivity to nation states and terrorist organizations.

03:59We've seen that.

03:59This committee is well briefed on that and has oversight on some of those cases.

04:05Regarding the vetting of individuals and good,

04:07it is a critical component to protect the United States.

04:09As the undersecretary for intelligence,

04:11and I was the head of intelligence at Customs and Border Protection,

04:13I know that very well.

04:15And identifying those criminal actors, those criminal networks,

04:19those terrorists that are coming in and out of the United States,

04:21and the goods that are being supplied in and outside of the country,

04:25the vetting process is critical.

04:26And I think this law, CORCA, is a good step in creating a center to identify the illicit goods

04:34and the people involved with trafficking those goods globally.

04:38It's an excellent first step, and we well know this model, and it works.

04:42It's a center of excellence model to our target,

04:45an illicit activity that's affecting the United States and affecting the consumers.

04:48And Senator Durbin raises a concern that some of the law enforcement authorities

04:57that are currently being used to repatriate or deport people with criminal records out of the country,

05:04that somehow they are being diverted from other law enforcement activities.

05:09But I'll note that recently we voted for $170 billion addition to the funding for ICE for detention facilities

05:20and for personnel and training, and all of our Democratic colleagues voted against it.

05:26So I don't know.

05:28You really can't have it both ways.

05:30But do you believe that, as I do, Mr. Galloway, that these go hand-in-hand in terms of addressing this problem?

05:39You can't get at this problem without dealing with the people who are on the ground committing these crimes on a daily basis

05:46who are then connected with these international organizations.

05:49Can you?

05:50Intelligence sharing on individuals and organizations and the supply chain is critical to have a hub for information sharing

05:57to identify those nefarious actors and operationalize the response.

06:04Senator Horano, you're next.

John Cornyn Asks Former DHS Official About Unvetted Migrants Serving As 'Workforce' For Theft Rings

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