00:00You should be assigned to yourself.
00:02I'm a former female.
00:03Okay.
00:05Well...
00:08She's responding to the doctor, not icing!
00:15You should be assigned to yourself!
00:18Please stand to be sworn.
00:22Do you affirm the testimony you're about to give before the committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and
00:28nothing but the truth?
00:29So help be God.
00:31Thank you for that positive response.
00:36Please go ahead and give your opening statement.
00:42You should be assigned to yourself.
00:45I'm a former female employee.
00:47She's not assigned to your agency.
00:49Female employee.
00:51She's responding to the doctor, not icing!
00:57You should be assigned to yourself!
01:01Your staff say, abolish ICE!
01:04Your staff say, abolish ICE!
01:06Your staff say, abolish ICE!
01:08You may proceed.
01:10Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
01:11And thank you to the ranking member, Senator Durbin as well, and the distinguished members of this committee.
01:17I appreciate the opportunity to be with all of you today and talk about the important matters and work that
01:22the Department of Homeland Security does every single day.
01:36Is your microphone on?
01:37The Department of Homeland Security was established in the aftermath of 9-11, one of the darkest days in our
01:42nation's history.
01:43That resulted in the death of nearly 3,000 Americans.
01:47The mission of the Department of Homeland Security at that time was just as critical as it is today.
01:51We protect our American people, we prevent acts of terrorism, and we defend our homeland.
01:56Every action that the Department of Homeland Security takes is guided by that mission and by that responsibility.
02:03Thanks to President Trump's leadership and the hard work of the men and women of DHS, our department has delivered
02:09historic results and has made our communities safer.
02:12Since the start of President Trump's second term, daily encounters along the southwest border declined by 96%, compared to the
02:20Biden administration's daily average.
02:22We've reached the lowest levels ever recorded in U.S. Customs and Border Protection's history.
02:28In President Trump's first year, total Border Patrol apprehensions along the southwest border were less than the average of a
02:35single month under the Biden administration.
02:38For 10 straight months, the Border Patrol has released zero illegal aliens into the interior of the United States.
02:44And in President Trump's historic first year back in office, nearly 3 million illegal aliens have left the United States,
02:51as a result of the administration's enforcement efforts from following the law.
02:56That includes 2.2 million that have voluntarily left and returned back to their home countries, and more than 675
03:03,000 detainments and deportations.
03:06A majority of the aliens that were arrested by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement have a criminal record,
03:12and have been charged with or convicted of secondary crimes in addition to their initial crime of being in the
03:18United States illegally.
03:20During this period, ICE has arrested over 1,500 known and suspected terrorists, more than 7,700 known gang members,
03:30many of them that were allowed to come into this country under the Biden administration.
03:33We have also reached the lowest murder rate in the last 125 years since that data was tracked.
03:42Under President Biden, more than 450,000 unaccompanied alien children went missing, or were lost,
03:49due to the dangerous open border policies that were embraced.
03:53Under President Trump, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services
03:58have already located over 145,000 of these children and returned them back to their families and back to people
04:05who care about them.
04:06And we will not stop until every single one of those children is found.
04:11Fentanyl trafficking at the southern border is down.
04:15It's been cut by over 56% because of that secure border and the enforcement actions that have been taken
04:21there.
04:21And that's compared to the same period of time in 2024.
04:25The Coast Guard has seized enough cocaine the past year to prevent quantities capable of killing more than 193 million
04:33Americans,
04:34and it's kept them off of our streets.
04:36In fact, total interdiction efforts under the Trump administration have prevented 1.7 billion lethal doses of drugs
04:44from killing our next generation of Americans.
04:47These results reflect the fact that we are enforcing the laws that Congress has passed.
04:52I want to address the dangerous environment that our ICE officers face on the streets today.
04:58They are facing a serious and escalating threat as a result of deliberate mischaracterizations of their heroic work,
05:05and rhetoric that demonizes our law enforcement.
05:09DHS has documented an 8,000% increase in death threats against our ICE officers and their families,
05:16as well as more than 1,300% increase in assaults while carrying out the lawful enforcement operations that they
05:23do every single day.
05:24I recognize that members of this committee may hold differing views about immigration policy.
05:30But it's important that we distinguish between disagreements over policy and the department's operational responsibility to enforce existing law that
05:39has been passed by Congress.
05:40It's our duty as a department to defend our homeland.
05:44The latest Democrat-led shutdown of DHS is reckless, it's unnecessary, and it undermines the American national security,
05:53and it harms the men and women who work at DHS and their families.
05:58Despite the House passing a bipartisan, bicameral, full-year DHS funding bill,
06:02it is Senate Democrats who have chosen not to fund the department and have held this department hostage.
06:08As a result, critical national security missions, including border security,
06:13immigration enforcement, aviation security, disaster response, cybersecurity,
06:18and the protection of critical infrastructure, are all being strained.
06:22Our ability to provide for a safe and successful World Cup is being hindered, as well.
06:26More than 100,000 dedicated DHS employees are once again being asked to work without pay for the third time
06:34in just five months.
06:35At a time when we've produced the most secure border in history and removed nearly 3 million illegal aliens from
06:42our country,
06:43disrupting the department responsible for those gains is indefensible.
06:47I want to thank the men and women of the Department of Homeland Security for their professionalism,
06:52for their dedication, for their commitment to keeping America safe,
06:56and continuing to show up and work even though they aren't being compensated for it.
07:01They've kept us safe, and they have patience, and our success is only possible because of their service and sacrifices.
07:06I also want to thank our angel families that are behind us to tell their stories and testimonies,
07:11and also thank my husband for being here in support as well.
07:14Thank you for the opportunity to testify, Mr. Chairman, and to all the distinguished members.
07:18I look forward to your questions today. With that, I yield back.
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