my view is that and i know all these people either from my dod period and in my view if we can sit down together together and this is not a complicated conversation, among the three or four verse component heads to say what is our strategy going forward, when does the fbi get involved and when does the secret service get involved in winces it become a matter for

national security intelligence resources for our government? we can develop a common strategy and i don't believe it's complicated and it's one of the items on my agenda. >> i will follow up with you on that and our next senator recognized a senator sessions. >> thank you mr. chairman. we are having a humanitarian disaster. there's no doubt about that and the humanitarian disasters caused by a legal disaster. your leadership and the president's leadership has failed to send a clear message throughout the world that you can only come to the united states lawfully. you cannot calm unlawfully. in fact you have sent a message that conveys just the opposite. it's unbelievable that the top law enforcement officer of our country is doing such a thing. you have been sued by your own officers or at least her predecessor for not allowing them to follow their oath to enforce the law.

under your leadership it seems to have gotten worse secretary johnson. you and i talked about it. i expressed my concern. i thought maybe it would get better but actually things have gotten worse. we are seeing this flood of young people and stress tragic. it should not be happening. the first thing a law enforcement officer should seek to do is to create a climate that reduces lawlessness, not encourage it. you don't want to be in a position of having to arrest more people and it was more people. you want to not have it happen. it's just amazing to me and i want to push back a little bit on our chairman talking about excessive force and violence. i wish you would push back a little harder mr. johnson that this is the kind of thing that has happened to your border patrol agents every day. they are being attacked with vehicles. they are being shot and they are being pummeled with large rocks.

i would offer that for the record. lawlessness. >> without objection. >> lawlessness he gets violence. i know in san diego a number of years ago 20 or more years ago they built a fence. there was violence and lawlessness in drugs and afterwards both sides of the border are prospering and the lawlessness has ended at that time and we have done better. let me just ask you this. you didn't say in your testimony today and nothing i've seen in your reported statements is a clear message to the world they must not, illegally to america. have you said that anytime recently? >> i have told my staff that we need to consider all options to deal with this situation. i rule nothing out that is lawful. i want to know about every

option and consider every option senator. here in the el salvador newspaper the headline is extension of suspension of student deportation. in other words you extend the suspension of deportation secretary johnson. almost all agree that children with their parents are in search of a better life. not making an adult tries to break our laws and should be treated differently from adult violators of the law. >> i still agree with that. >> goes on to say the administration of president obama has launched a program suspending deportations. another central american news outlets the first paragraph says central americans who illegally cross the border into mexico say they are arriving at their final destination and u.s. immigration

officials are allowing central american women and children. that was told u.s. immigration i was told that u.s. immigration was leading quote lots of women with kids and the united states. for an el salvador obama announced unified and corrugated federal response to this program to provide humanitarian relief to children affected including accommodations medical treatment and transport. but he didn't say and you have not even said the state right here in this committee do not come.

it's unlawful to come. you cannot come to the country without lawful permission. so i ask you again are you prepared to say that to the whole world? >> i and prepared to say that a parent should not send a child across our southwest border. >> but they can bring a child with them? >> because it's dangerous. >> because it's dangerous? >> because it's illegal and dangerous. >> we a pledge to enforce law and interdict and send people who come into the country unlawfully? >> i enforce the law every day. >> you didn't say it in your opening and you haven't been quoted in the papers as saying that. >> i and forced to the law everyday senator. we are deporting people according to last year's number at a rate of over 1000 a day. >> you are familiar with the memo from the deputy board of cheese i suppose on may 30 of

this year your own deputy. can i ask for one additional minute mr. chairman? this is what mr. vitiello wrote your own deputy. that was his draft. you probably altered it or had altered. he said if the federal government failed to deliver adequate consequences to deter aliens from attempting to enter illegally into the u.s. the result will be even greater increase in the rate of recidivism and first-time illicit entries. releasing other than mexican family units and low threat aliens on their own recognizance along with facilitating family reunification of unaccompanied million children in lieu of

repatriation to their country of citizenship to serve as incentives for additional individuals to follow the same path. he goes on. to stem the flow adequate consequences must be delivered for illegal entry into the united states and for facilitating human smuggling. even as a direct member of an illicit million smuggling organization or a private facilitator these consequences must be delivered both at the border and within the united states. do you agree with that? >> as i said in my opening statement to deal with the situation in the south of texas we have had to search resources that are normally devoted to other tasks. we are now calling on the entire federal government to address that situation so that my border patrol agents can go back to patrolling the border. >> senator klobuchar.

>> thank you very much senator whitehouse and thank you very much secretary johnson for your work. i was just down in mexico is senator heitkamp and cindy mccain on that very important issue of sex trafficking is where is -- as well as heroin trafficking and met with the attorney general. we talked about this issue at length and i also appreciated the efforts that mexico is starting to make which is necessary to the state which is to secure their own southern border in addition to the work that's been going on to go after the drug cartels and the capture of l. chabot and there's clearly work to be done. i wanted to take you farther north because one of the things i certainly learned when i was down in mexico is one way out of this violence and the things that are going on down there is to have a stronger north american economy what we are calling a new day in north america which means more and more regional court nation between canada america and mexico. i think this is a major part of our economic growth to bring

more jobs to america. every single day we have 300,000 people crossing the u.s. canadian border. every single day to weigh cross-border trade between our nations amounts to $2 billion a day. they are our major trading partner, canada. $2 billion a day in. three-quarters of canada's goods are sold in the u.s. and in turn canada's number one buyer for goods produced in 36 out of 50 states in this country. yet we have border issues with canada and they're not the border issues we have been hearing about. there are border issues about making it as easy as possible to facilitate the movement of people and goods with their number one partner in dealing with ukraine are number one partner with dealing with security. i know you understand this. one of the things having just been in canada this week in the senator blunting crapo and senator sessions as well as senator stabenow we as part of

the inter-parliamentarian group identified structure issues on the border and in the past two years u. s. customs and border have received authorization from congress to initiate programs to enter into public right of partnerships and except private donations to help improve the efficiency of border crossings. i'm concerned that these border crossings are right now the rights have been given solely on the southern border and for instance a lan port of entry in international falls minnesota was built in 1993 and has been deemed in need of replacement by the cbp the customs border protection in and the general services administration. we are really interested in this public-private partnership. obviously with the energy and the oil and everything else coming from canada as well as the trade and agricultural. going on we think this is a smart investment in america's economy. can you talk to me about why

programs are only in place on the southern border and can you commit to adding northern border sites for these partnerships as soon as possible? >> yes. a big part of my job notwithstanding everything we have talked about so far in this hearing is promoting lawful trade and travel particularly in north america. i've had conversations along with our president, with the mexican president, with the prime minister of canada at the summit that took place in mexico in february i believe it was. in march i had conversations with minister blaney and mr. reed from canada about facilitating and promoting trade and travel. it is a big part of this administration's agenda to develop trusted traveler programs. the president signed an executive order on a single path for export-import purposes and to our federal agencies and by

have personally visited detroit and port huron. >> you are aware of the windsor bridge issue? >> i have walked on the windsor bridge. >> you are close to getting that result. >> i've seen the tractor-trailers backed up on the bridge in port huron and i've seen the situation in detroit and i believe that we need to expand the customs and build the customs plows and detroit one way or another in public private ardor ships i think are a good creative way that we should explore. we need to get this done. i'm impressed by the fact that the canadians have stepped up. >> i'm really interested in this. they are doing a lot with public private partnerships for their own infrastructure in iraq and interested in this idea and we can't be putting them at the southern border. i have one last question. you probably heard about the

current plans that call for the current uscis field office in bloomington minnesota to move to a location that is three miles from the nearest public transportation option. uscis field offices provide critical services you know immigration services and i think you have heard what happened here. they have apologized that they made a major mistake. they saw a sign for us and they thought it was a public bus and in there is really no bus service to that area. they have been helpful in meeting with us and could you talk about it as we are looking at legislation to make sure uscis field offices are accessible to the immigrant and refugee communities and what your views are on this? we are currently trying to see if there is any anyway to dial this back pizzarelli was a mistake rates the i've talked to senator franken about this. i am aware of the issue in this particular office and i agree that people should be encouraged

to go to cis offices for just about every region and match and will. i agree they need to be accessible one way or another. i will look at this situation. >> i understand and again i appreciate your good work. thank you. >> thank you. >> you senator cornyn. >> thank you. mr. secretary could morning, good to see you. would you agree with me that the transnational criminal organizations that traffic human beings into the united states, they don't discriminate between economic migrants and people who they traffic for or other illegal purposes. would you agree with that? >> it sounds right. i'm not sure i know the answer to that one. >> they are in the business to make money. >> they are in the business of making money. >> guns, drugs, people, children, adults.

they don't really discriminate. and i think there is this misconception that somehow there is good immigration, illegal immigration and bad illegal immigration in the sense that somehow these are separate pipelines when in fact my impression is to my knowledge it has now been taken over essentially by transnational criminal organizations largely the cartels in mexico and all of the horrors that you know and i know and that others know that these unaccompanied children are subjected to. they are sub ticked to the tender mercies of these traffickers. so i want to really ask you about two things. you came to my office recently. i've vitiated after doing investigation of the detentions along the u.s. mexican border

and i appreciate the acknowledgment that you recognize this is a national security issue as well. in fact 414,000 people were detained at the southwestern border last year from more than 100 different countries. do you agree with those figures? >> yes. as you and i have discussed on the southwest border the rio grande valley in particular we are seeing an increasing number of illegal migrants coming from virtually all over the world including other continents and it's an increasingly diverse population. >> i appreciate your knowledge moda that and your investigation of the facts. let me turn now to the humanitarian crisis of unaccompanied minors. there have been several references to the internal summary prepared by agents in

the field concerning a recent surge of unaccompanied minors. when asked why they chose this time to migrate an overwhelming majority said it was to take advantage of new u.s. law that grants a free pass to unaccompanied children and female adults traveling with minors. it appears that free passes that they are referring to are the notice to appear. in other words when people are detained they are given a notice to appear in a court setting. i'm told by border patrol that 90% of them never show back up but the high percentage of subject interviewed stated their family members in the u.s. urged him to travel immediately because united states was only issuing immigration free passes until the end of june 2014. so you have previously acknowledge that there is no legal way to enter the united

states. there is no free pass under the law. is that right? >> there is a legal way to enter the united states. the migration we are talking about here is not legal. >> thank you. you are right. thank you for correcting my statement. there is no way for these unaccompanied minor children to illegally enter the united states and the way that the 4,047,000 that have been detained since october have been doing? >> that is correct, yes. >> okay. i would suggest you there is this perception that the executive branch of the federal government is not enforcing the law because of talks about easing deportations are repatriations i think is the nomenclature you used in the perception is that there are no consequences to the illegally entering the united states and if that is the perception the flood of humanity will continue

it and contribute to this humanitarian crisis that we have been talking about this morning. i would suggest to you that is youtube liberate these matters and consult with congress and the president that this is one of the biggest obstacles to immigration reform because if the perception is both domestically and other countries that the federal government is not committed to enforcing our own laws then this flood will continue and the divide and the distrust will grow even more. and one final point. if this entry of 47,000 children who live calm unaccompanied who had been detained since october, if that is not legal under u.s. law i don't understand the

argument that if we just somehow pass the senate immigration bill that would have a positive impact on this humanitarian crisis. you are not suggesting that we need to pass some other law that would have prevented this humanitarian crisis are you sir max? >> or civil the document you read from i have never seen. it is supposedly a draft document. i don't know that i agreed with the assessment there. >> their interviews with 230 of the people detained coming across the border. >> i've never seen the document. >> will you take a look at it and tell us what you think it's authentic? >> enough people have referred to it that i am sure at some point soon i will take a look at it. i'm not sure if i agree if that is the motivator for the children come into south texas. i think it is primarily the conditions in the countries that they are leaving from. i do believe that if

comprehensive immigration reform is passed the uncertainty that may be existing in people's minds about our law gets resolved then it will be clear to the people that the errant path to citizenship being contemplated in the senate bill only applies to people who came here before year-end 2011. the same with dhaka. dhaka refers to people who came here before 2007. he doesn't refer to people who came here today or yesterday. so the perception i don't think is correct and i also know anyone who is separated on the order is a priority to match. >> mr. secretary this is my last question or statement. i would suggest that as a person who believes we need to pass a bill to fix our broken immigration laws that the single biggest impediment to

collaboration between congress and the executive branch to get that done we may not agree about the details but i think we agree on the need to get to that solution. the biggest impediment is the perception that the president and his administration will not enforce whatever laws congress were to pass. so that is a real problem and in this instance it has helped induce this humanitarian crisis and this flood of unaccompanied children that is very dangerous to them and their families and it has created a real crisis. so thank you for your response to my questions. >> before i call upon senator cole i would like to ask everyone to be aware of the time limits for our questioning because there are people who are waiting. senator coons. >> thank you senator and thank you secretary for your service in your leadership in the department and your testimony here today. i want to touch on a number of

different issues. ag inspections at the border imports and cybercrime in the u.s. in a number of issues that relate to deportation practices. let me start with those. these are issues we gets discussed before in some of these are questions i've asked her predecessor but i want to make sure i'm getting an appropriate update on where we are. first and deportation -- deportation proceedings aliens are not not provided what is called a file but have to file with oil requests and this extends the cost and the difficulty of deportation for savings without affecting the outcome. has dhs began to routinely provide any files to aliens? >> senator you are correct. it's something we discussed previously. i don't know the status of that issue right now but i can get that to you. >> i've also discussed with you and your predecessor lateral repatriation describing nighttime deportations that often put children and women at risk particularly vulnerable

folks facing deportation to dangerous locales of difficult times and the bad circumstances. i think it violates basic human rights and some of our international agreements and i wondered if dhs is implemented as teachers to ensure the deportations are done in a manner that doesn't jeopardize the lives of repatriated aliens. >> we are working with the mexican government on that now. this has been the subject of discussion between our two governments. often it involves a matter of just six, coordination and so forth. we also have a policy going back to 2004 that we not separate families were moved vulnerable populations at late-night hours which i believe is a good policy and i intend to reiterate it. >> thank you. i have heard from the faith community and advocates that they continued to see a significant impact on vulnerable families due to the policy that has not have a pressure valve

policy. i received concerning reports that immigration enforcement which occurs at around courthouses deters women from seeking protection from the abuse orders were folks applying for relief from landlords and i just wondered what steps dhs is taking to assess the appropriateness of enforcement actions and to ensure they are only taking exceptional circumstances where there is some case specific justification rather than a broader range of cases that deters access to justice and the terrors some of the important things i referenced. >> you are correct that courthouses have not been on the sensitive list. i know that some months ago i.c.e. determined to put

courthouses in a special category of serving him some sort of special treatment. i agree that courthouses are special places in the nature of the church but i can readily see for reasons of public safety why any law enforcement officer would feel compelled to take action with regard to an individual in a courthouse. i've asked our folks to better develop an exception with regard to courthouses. >> thank you mr. secretary. we have also talked about customs and border in terms of overtime inspections related to agriculture. the port of wellington and many of the ports have folks who would like to pay overtime so wenhold shiploads arrive they can get inspections in a timely fashion and this is subject to a very complicated interagency budgetary issue. my understanding is that you have made progress in terms of domination of the relevant regulations that would now allow

fee increases for overtime services. is this something that to your understanding cbp i can specter's are able to work with the department on and we are hopeful we will make progress before this very busy upcoming fruit seasoned? >> i believe so. >> that would be great. last question if i might. cybermad crime is an area primary focus for you in the department. it causes enormous costs and negative impacts on our society. i recommend to you the role that the air national guard can play in terms of providing a qualified workforce that is able to be a resource both for national security purposes and state and local preparation reasons. i just wondered how the national guard model fits into the department strategy for your strategy to meet the threat posed by cybercrime and potential cybersecurity threats. >> the air national guard. >> 166 warfare squadron.

we welcome them anytime. >> that is a worthwhile and gray. >> thank you mr. secretary and i look forward to following up with you on all of these issues. >> thank you. >> i appreciate you being here. appreciate what you are doing and my question as you know comes from someone who is supportive of immigration reform as a member of the gang of a. i'm proud of the legislation we passed and i hope similar legislation or some legislation can pass the house and we can get this done. burgess for two follow up on some of the questions of my colleagues on the motivation of people coming. when you look at the numbers it's just staggering as you have said and has created a humanitarian disaster. when we involve fema as you mentioned for something like this this note to disaster and

we ought to be looking at the causes of the. we know some of the causes as you have explained. the economic situation in these countries, the drug activity and cartel on safety and gangs certainly leads to it. to reject out of hand which we seem to be doing that the perception of lacks enforcement is not a motivator in this regard. i think it is naïve at best and very destructive at worst. when you look at the numbers these are otm apprehensions or other than mexican apprehensions mostly from the three countries are talked about. october of last year 14,000 during that month in november 14000 december 14000 january 12000 february 16000 so relatively straight and then comes march right around the

time of the deportation review that was undertaken by the administration. word like this breds and word spreads that there will be a review of deportation and then marched otm states steady around 14,000 until march. then march 24000, april 26000 may 38000. can you just allow a little bit that there might be a perception that lacks enforcement might be some motivator for people to come here? >> i can't control people's perceptions and i don't have a categorical sense of people's perceptions in central america. i do believe senator that what is principally motivating this

migration are our issue noted the conditions in the central american countries. i also believe that people are aware that when their kids come into this country unaccompanied we are required by law to give them to hhs and hhs is required by law to act in the best interest of the child which very often means reuniting them with apparent. i think they know that. that is what the law requires us to go. to do. >> it did they do as well and when you look at the interviews the interviews are being conducted and you see the statements of people waving down helicopters when they see a federal helicopter. waving them down and rushing to border patrol agents in saying take me. there is a perception, there is a perception of lacks enforcemeenforceme nt that will allow them to get a foothold here and that i would submit is one of the motivators and a big one and why we are having such a

massive increase in unaccompanied minors and people from these countries we are talking about. i don't think this is a blow to your ego but what you say on these matters in those countries to these ambassadors or to the media outlets in guatemala or el salvador or honduras doesn't matter as much as what the president says and it would be extremely helpful in my view in the view of many in senator mccain and myself to send a letter to the president today pleading with him to make a statement to let people know that those who are coming now are subject to deportation back the dhaka and these other rules that may be reviewed will not apply to people coming now. do you think of that would be a good idea for the president to make such a statement and for us to follow with public relations efforts in these countries?

>> first of all nothing anymore is a blow to my ego. i do think a robust public relations campaign in some form is vital. i do agree with that. officials from their own countries or what have you. i do believe that a robust aggressive public relations campaign needs to be part of our strategy. >> i hope that is the case and i have many questions about what's going on in arizona. i was struck that one thing you said. you said you hoped the border patrol can go back to patrolling the border. that's extremely disturbing to those of us within border states how many border patrol agents are being pulled from border patrol to process unaccompanied minors or others. what percentage of the forces being pulled away from those duties in arizona and texas?

>> i don't have an exact or centage. i know we have had to search resources to process these kids. plainly there are still plenty of people on the border conducting border patrol activities and i believe that with the added resources we are getting from other agencies these folks are able to return full time to their normal responsibilities. >> it be close by saying i hope that the president and in particular u.s. will make such a statement ,-com,-com ma continue to make such a statement and then launch it public relations effort in these countries letting them know that the people who come here to be subject to deportation. they will not be able to participate in either the policies that the administration has pursued or the legislation that this body the senate has passed and the congress will hopefully pass so thank you for your work. >> senator if i may one other thing i wanted to add senator

flake trait i remember from the qfr's you send me the confirmation process the statements of your constituents the ranchers so one of the first things i did when i got into office and went to visit them in arizona and i think it's fair to say we had a good visit and a good conversation. i wanted to understand the border security concerns so i went down there and they are terrific bunch of people. >> let me just say they appreciate that. they told me that a night as she ate it in my office does. the manner in which you have answered questions. this is a departure from what we have seen before and i'm very happy to see that and then please with your response and the seriousness with which you take this job so thank you. >> thank you mr. secretary. clearly all of us are concerned about the influx of unaccompanied minors crossing the border and it is a multifaceted problem with no easy solutions leading to a

level of condition that you have to clear. i have to ask you in the coming weeks to work with me and other colleagues who are interested in enabling us to travel to see some of these facilities. i think that would enable us to better understand and grasp the enormous the of this crisis situation. turning to prosecute tory discretion, i'm looking at here morton memo which enumerates some 19 factors in exercising prosecutorial discretion regarding numerous immigration procedures including deportation and of the 40,000 or so deportation that dhs is carrying out each year you have data on how many of these are people who are being deported who could receive prosecutorial discretion exercise of prosecutorial

discretion based on things such as family ties or community ties >> there are ways to make that statistical assessment and we are in the midst of doing that right now is part of my review of our enforcement policies. i think the data in years past has not been as clear as it could be. one of the things i would like to do is to make the data clear, be a little more forthcoming each year and correlate the data to the individual priorities in the morton memo so you have a clear sense for whether somebody is being removed a priority one, priority two or priority three so i think we can do better job there. i think we need clear guidance so when you say the morton memo for example it's unclear to me whether you refer to the march memo or the june memo of 2011 or a whole other series of memos. >> there are various iterations of enabling your agents pretty much across-the-board to

exercise prosecutorial discretion. and so i would really like to understand of the 400,000 or so deportations who actually are being deported. for example i get concerned when recent reports indicate that i.c.e. field offices in detroit are placing people with strong family ties without any criminal record into deportation proceedings so it's kind of reminiscent of what has been coming out regarding the veterans administration. it's one thing to have a policy directive such as the morton memo but it's another as to what is actually going on out in the field and the exercise of that discretion. i recognize that the border memo also says that these are guidelines that your agents can prosecute people who are here illegally but i think in terms of scarce resources and the establishment of priorities and

how we had to be enforcing our laws it would be good for us to have that rate down from you so i would like to request it. >> one of the things from my department of defense experience is clear guidance is indispensable. you don't issue clear guidance to the field and how it's implemented well not look at all like what you intended. there will be whatever they issued new guidance. they socialize train to the field down the chain of command so i've spent a lot of time talking to our workforce about how to better implement policy changes that are issued in washington how to socialize them and i'm determined to do a better job. >> good. my understanding is that under the talk of programs some 500,000 young people have come forward to participate and many

of them are now in the renewal process i believe decodes dog has to be removed -- renewed every two years. understand your department is suggesting that applicants apply for renewal up to four months before the expiration of their two-year term. and now that is to give them enough time so there is no gap which would subject them to deportation and other actions. what is your department doing to ensure that renewals are handled expeditiously and what is your department planning to do is -- if processing leads to access and status? >> we have been preparing for this for some time now and one of the things we are doing is we are not requiring individuals to submit all the same documentation they submitted two years ago unless there has been some new event in their life like a criminal conviction or something but we are not

requiring individuals to go back and submit the very same paperwork all over again. you are correct that we had over 600,000 applicants two years ago about 500 applications were granted and that's a large number of people that we are able to get through the system. so i believe in the renewal process that good work will continue. >> i would like to stay in touch with you regarding how that is going because half a million, that's a lot of people. thank you very much. >> it is senator lee. excuse me. >> thank you madam chair and thank you secretary johnson for joining us today.

you have got a tough job. one attribute of this administration that has caused a lot of people concerned is a tendency of some to observe the administration to in effect modified existing statute by executive fiat sometimes the executive order, other times through executive memorandum within a particular department. now as you know in youngstown versus sawyer justice jackson came up with this three-part analysis that is pretty simple and can be applied to a lot of circumstances and is reiterated by the court and a the basic analysis is that having category 1 when the president asks pursuant to authorization by congress his power is said to be at its zenith.

his power is said to be at its twilight in a twilight zone or it can be a little bit unclear whether the president acts either in the absence of a particular congressional authorization or in the absence of a particular congressional prohibition. the president's authority justice jackson explained is at its lowest ebb when the president acts in a manner that is inconsistent or prohibited by congress and the statutory directive. now using a recent prosecutorial discretion the morton memoranda that we -- was described earlier and the daca program had been criticized as an effort to mount a de facto legislative implementation of

certain legislative proposals that were considered and rejected by congress. the congress has not ever adopted because as implemented they effectively i am told or are telling agents if an immigrant meets these certain qualifications and if these characteristics are present we don't want you enforcing the law would you agree that if that is the case to the extent that assuming hypothetically it would be the case where would that put us in justice jackson's three-part analysis? >> first of all i wrote a paper in law school. my recollection is the decision of the supreme court and 79 or 80. >> 81, close. >> yeah. what you laid out i have quoted

often when i was the senior lawyer for the department of defense and the war powers context. the president's war powers are at their zenith when he is committing a military pursuant to the statutory authorization and so we construe the amuf a lot. although i was general counsel of the department of defense i see the morton memo and i believe the morton memo guidance could be clearer but i very much believe in the notion of prosecutorial discretion and in my conversations with the ero workforce we have all agreed that it should be devoting their time and effort and resources that they have two going after enforcing the worst of the worst and the question is how do you do that? how do you find the worst of the worst and where do you draw the line? >> and of course that is what prosecutorial discretion is

necessary because we have scarce government resources and in can't expect them to do it all. normally as you know based not only on the position you now hold and in your position with the department of defense and assistance district attorney it leaves the sip it significant amount of discretion to the prosecutor's boss. there is such a directive as i'm told that directive is being carried out in this fashion where you have agents on the ground being told do not enforce the law in this entire category. that's a little bit different than prosecutorial discretion is in that? isn't that a mandate not to enforce the law? >> no. when i was that ausa in the southern district of new york in 1889 and 90 and 91 there would

be a big push toward the end to try to get over 1000. you can do that very easily if you prosecute a lot of marijuana cases but we were not focused on marijuana. we work focused on the crack epidemic going on in new york city and if we focused on marijuana cases we would get to 1005 months by the march probably but that would not do the most effective enforcement of our federal narcotics laws. so i think that principle translates into the removal enforcement contacts and i believe very much that you can and you ought to be able to do that. the question is how or where do you draw the line and prioritize and where you don't. i don't think that necessarily amounts to and i don't believe it has amounted to just clearing off limits large categories of

people. >> understand the point and i see my time has expired so i need to wrap up here but my concern is that when you have a national memorandum with the national impact and agents i'm informed are being told on the ground do not enforce the law where these circumstances are present that is meaningfully legally constitutionally different than what you described where an individual office has only so many prosecutors in so many agents and so many resources to devote. they maintain some true discretion to decide how win and to what extent to enforce laws in what circumstances are going to trigger the use of those resources. again what we are talking about here is a national memorandum that i'm told is being implemented nationally and the way so as to just write off the entire provisions of federal law to the extent that is happening that is very troubling and very different than what you

described. thank you mr. chairman. i see my time has expired. >> thank you. senator durbin. >> thank you. secretary johnson thanks for being here. i would like to address an aspect of the unaccompanied children's issue. i don't know if it has come up during the course of this hearing. i think it should. there are undoubtedly many reasons these children are crossing the border. an l.a. times writer won a pulitzer prize for her book enrique's journey. that book explained what she believed to be the reason why 75% of the children were coming across the border. she was referring to some 48,000 children as young as seven years of age crossing our border over half of them by themselves and the reason they were crossing the border was not on its face obvious. it was not something said by the

president or congress or politicians are the things that might first come to mind. they were looking for their mothers, looking for their mothers. and that i believe has led them to do things that are unimaginable to those of us with children or grandchildren. to think that he child as young as seven would hop a freight train and what they found as a result of looking at this at the university of houston they found that these kids as they were coming into the united states for cold, hungry helpless half of them unaccompanied hunted by animals by corrupt police and units. most of them abroad beat and raped usually several times. some killed in some maimed by these -- that to me cannot be overlooked in this conversation.

before we start asking her pronouncements from the president by the stop as reflected as fathers and grandfathers about these babies and these children who are desperate to find their mothers in america. if this is not a searing indictment of our broken immigration system and the need for change i can't think of anything that is. i want to thank senator flake. he and i sat together for many months working on a comprehensive immigration bill and the took and gave back and forth and your heart is in the right place senator senator. do we make commodity little differently on this issue i know where you are because you and i both voted for that bill. now we have got to pass that bill but in the meantime some things are happening. he came to see me on your path to this position. i asked you for two things. i ask you to come to a detention facility to meet those who are about to be deported from the united states and you said you would. on friday you are going to a

broad view illinois at the extension facility just outside of chicago. i will be there to greet you on that visit and you will meet with some local people and share your thoughts about the current deportation policy. the president has said he wants congress to act on conference of immigration reform and he is basic and withholding decisions that can be made that the executive in the hopes that congress will do this before the end of july. in the meantime i hope you are in the process of reviewing our deportation policy. what can you say to us today about these deportations? >> first i look forward to visiting a detention center in chicago. the whole reason i'm going is because you mentioned this to my when we had our first visit together and i believe very much in the role that i should have viewing arc conditions.

the one we are going to friday is not the first one i have been to. as i mentioned in my opening statement i have been to mccellan station texas with my wife who is sitting right there, to see these children on mother's day and one of them told me something almost exactly like what you said. i asked her where's your mother? she said i don't have a mother. i'm looking for my father in the united states so i've encountered this in a very personal way and i understand it the review that i am undertaking is comprehensive. i'm talking to our workforce about our policies and how they believe we can more effectively implement our policies and i'm also talking to large groups of people on the outside across the spectrum on better more effective fair enforcement policies. i believe we can do a better

job. i believe they can have clear guidance and i believe we can better train it to the workforce so what we intend to be implemented is in fact implemented and that is my overarching goal senator. >> i thank you for that and the statistics that comebacks in just over 40% of those deported have no criminal record. at least that was the case a few years ago. those with criminal records i am not pleading for. they have lost their right as far as i'm concerned to be even considered at this point that those without terminal records and technical immigration violations many times were searching for families. many american families are in that household. families and spouses are broken up and i think we are better than that. keep our country safe and keep our laws but enforce them in a way that is truly -- and i thank you for your public service. >> thank you senator. senator cruz.

>> thank you mr. chairman and mr. secretary thank you for being here. thank you for your service. there is no job more important in the administration than protecting our homeland so i appreciate your service to this very important role. i would note as we discuss immigration i myself am the son of an immigrant from cuba and i'm a passionate advocate for legal immigration. indeed there is no stronger advocate for illegal immigration in the u.s. senate than i am. but at the same time i think much of the discussion of immigration ignores, disregards the humanitarian crisis that is caused by illegal immigration. as you know i represent the state of texas and the state of texas immigration is not something abstract and theoretical that we read about in the newspapers.

immigration that is texans we deal with every day and ill legal immigration is texans we deal with every day. the humanitarian crisis that comes from our failure to secure the borders is staggering. in 2013 the border patrol reported emergencies and crimes it encountered and most of the cases were those who came here illegally where the victims so there were 2346 rescues. 461 assaults and foreign 45 deaths. indeed last year i received a letter from wanted my constituents in burks county of veterinarian who has worked with ranchers, texas ranchers mexican ranchers whose entire life. this veterinarian wrote quote i live in a burks county ranch with my wife. in 2012129 bodies of deceased illegal aliens were found in our county on private ranch land.

most of those bodies were found within 15 minutes of our front door in any given direction. we believe those bodies represent only 20 to 25% of the actual number of illegal immigrants dying in this area. in one week of last july i personally rescued 15 people most central americans that were lost or close to dying from dehydration and heat exhaustion. that same week i found a deceased person that have been laid across, iii road in order to be found. he was the 31-year-old man from el salvador. this is a human attorney crisis. we have a legal system in place that is failing to secure the border and is incentivizing people crossing illegally and secondly we have in particular a humanitarian crisis with respect to unaccompanied minors.

that is a crisis that is in direct consequence of policies of the obama administration. in 2011 there were roughly 7000 unaccompanied minors that were apprehended. in 2012 that number rose to 14,000. in 2013 it rose to 24,000 in 2014 your agency is estimating it's going to be as high as 90,000. in 2015 the administration is estimating it will rise all the way to 145,000. it's important to understand what these numbers represent. these numbers represent childree girls that their parents are handing over not to some noble social worker trying to help them. they are handing over to international global criminal cartels that smuggle human beings in. they put these kids among other places on top of fast-moving

freight trains. these are criminals who sexually assaulted and physically assault and do sometimes murdered these children. these are little girls that are sometimes being sold into prostitution and sex slavery. mr. secretary you testified to this committee that the increase is a result of violence in central america. there are surely violence in central america but if you look at the statistics in particular you can see where they were. these were unaccompanied minors in 2011 in 2012. midway through 2012 is when the administration illegally granted amnesty. you can see shortly after that the numbers spike dramatically. is it really your testimony that

granting amnesty to some 800,000 people became ill legally as children had no effect in causing a dramatic increase in children being handed over to international cartels to be smuggled in here illegally? >> first daca is not amnesty. it is deferred action. second daca applies only to people that who came into this country as children prior to june 2007. that was seven years ago. daca does not apply to anybody who comes into this country today, tomorrow or yesterday. the earned path to citizenship contemplated in the senate bill does not apply to anybody who comes into this country today tomorrow or yesterday. it applies to people who came into this country by year-end 2011. i believe senator that the primary motivator for the reason for this spike in migration and

i'm not a sociologist. i'm not an expert. as the situation the senator durbin and others have laid out in these countries. >> mr. secretary my time has expired man with all due respect in my view that argument is a red herring. that argument explains why we have seen an increase in central america and immigration to be sure because the problems and challenges those nations are basing but it doesn't explain the unaccompanied minors. in 2011, 15% of the otm's of the mexicans ever had were unaccompanied minors in 2014 that numbers one to 37%. there's nothing about the violence in central america that will cause people to be handing over their children little girls and little boys separately. it will cause more people from central america to compare but not the kids and i'll say this in closing because my time has expired. it has been widely with porter that president obama the administration is contemplating yet another amnesty like daca

two years ago a couple of months for the upcoming election and i will save you and i will urge you to pass on to the president that i think that would be a great mistake. i think it would be contrary to rule of law and i think granting yet another amnesty would result in those numbers going even higher and would result in more little girls and little boys being subjected to violence and horrific dangerous conditions and it would be a serious mistake for us to go down that road. thank you. >> thank you senator cruz. senator schumer. >> thank you. thank you secretary johnson. i'm very glad you were there and you're off to great start and i wouldn't expect anything less from a new yorker although i heard senator menendez claims you are a new jersey and so we will have to share your heritage or whatever you call it. >> i pay taxes in both

jurisdictions. >> good or not so good. i don't know how we answer that one. anyway earlier this year due to backlogs at uscis it was taking a year to process the i won 30 applications. that is where u.s. citizens petition to bring their immediate relatives from foreign countries spouses minor children. earlier this year is into a letter on this issue and you did a great job in relieving some of the backlog that i still have several cases in my office where men and women in uniform have had to wait up to a year to be reunited with their relatives. i think it's unfair that our veterans are getting caught in the backlog. they more than anyone else's or to be reunited with loved ones and their support system as soon as possible so the backlogs at uscis tend to increase and decrease depending on world events but i think there should never be a time when veterans

have to wait more than six months to reunite with their families. would you be willing to commit to creating a special process are making sure they average processing time for i won 30 veterans never takes longer than six months? >> i move where of your interest in this issue. i do believe that we should do everything we can to make life easier for our veterans those who served in uniform and i think we should pay attention to their situation. >> six months i don't know whether that is feasible. i will talk to my staff about this issue and i agreed that we should work to help you. >> to you agree with the concept of expediting things for our veterans? >> yes sir creates be okay thank you. next they parochial issue but

one of great importance to the western portion of my state. the buffalo bills. what do they have to do with you? you will find out in a minute. the buffalo bills are important economic engine to the west and your community that many other of their fans are in canada did but do not come to the games as the traffic on game days. in other words a normal sunday, chavez but when the hill's games there's a huge amount of traffic and yet the staffing levels at the order did not take that into account so we have huge backlogs and people get stuck on them and they miss the game. you have done a great job adding new agents to the ports of entry in western new york. we talked about it and you acted on it and i thank you for that. the question now is whether with

these new agents and resources can we make it easier for canadians to attend those games on the eight sundays of the year in which the games aren't buffalo? it would be a huge boost to western new york's economy specifically. can we do things like making sure we have premiums staffing on the peace bridge during the three hours before the game on game days and having created -- having dh is created so that the bills game so fans can sign up and conduct nexus interview so they can use the nexus lanes for future games which would speed things up for everybody. bringing them to bills games would make it easier for thousands of fans to get their cards and the next thing finally would you agree to meet with whoever the next owner is. we are looking for new owner of the bills and we are working hard myself and the congressional delegation the governor the county executive

and the mayor to make sure the bill stay in buffalo. we are going to have a new owner and one of the things i would be helpful is if you would agree to meet with the next owner to devote a conference to plan to float the speed of traffic over the border on game day. >> my answer concerning getting bills fans to bills games depends entirely on who they're playing. just kidding. >> it they don't win that much. we wish they would win more. >> senator i think you know i have spent a lot of time working on expediting travel across the northern border. the peace bridge. i've been to detroit. i've been to port huron looking at the backlog over the bridge and candace miller's district so i appreciate the importance of expediting travel across the few bridges we have on the northern

border and i want to help out the situation there. whether it's meeting the bills owner are not i would be happy to meet the bills owner at some point but i want to work with you on this. >> would you look into these two things aside from the premiums staffing on game days, not all day but just the hours before the game and the possibility of having dhs do a nexis stadium -- nexus nexa setup that the bill stadium. >> as you know we have limited numbers of people. >> idea but because of our increase in the budget and because you were good enough to put some of them on the niagara we have more than we did before which makes it possible to do these things. bank you mr. chairman. >> thank you senator schumer. i have a number of questions for you and i think senator flake has a few questions and that will probably end our hearing and thank you for your patience and most importantly thank you for your service. in march of this year you may or

may not recall i wrote to you about the detention policies and practices your agencies and i express a number of concerns regarding the detention of literally hundreds of thousands of people. i.c.e. broke a record in 2012 by detaining 447,000 people. that's five times the number detained 20 years ago and i know that you are hearing from both sides of this issue and the contention we have heard this morning i think emphasizes the importance of passing immigration reform so that we can address many of these questions. my concern is expressed in march essentially dealt with the excessive attention of longtime

lawful permanent and asylum seekers who are kept in detention without any opportunity to appear before a judge of orb the constitution requires bond hearing to protect detainees rights as you well know so thousands of immigrants is a real concern for many of us including myself. let me reiterate the question that i asked. is there a way for the department of homeland security to work with the department of justice to provide for immigration bond hearings to all individuals detained by the department after no more than six months of detention at the time the united states supreme court has presumptively reasonable? >> senator i remember your letter and i hope i have responded to it by now. i if i have and i apologize.

>> responded to it mr. secretary buts or i should correct myself, you did not personally. the agency did and the person of thomas winkowski who said in effect and i may not be doing full justice to the letter that the issues raised in my letter quote require consultation with our partners at doj including the executive office for immigration review. that was back again in mid-april. >> there is a case in the ninth circuit rodriguez that was decided last year and it is under review right now in doj ended dhs.

we are considering whether to petition first certain in the case and that directly implicates this issue. there is a mandatory dissensions statute for certain categories of individuals and my understanding in the rodriguez case issa says after a six-month period there should be on hearing in certain circumstances. the case is under review right now. my general view is that we need to enforce statutes unless and until they are declared unconstitutional a the case is under review right now so it's something we are actively looking at. >> in my view mr. secretary you have that description right now. the statute doesn't require that you denied bond hearings. in fact the better view of the policy here i would suggest in

my letters that you grant the hearings and let me also say that the other question raised is whether the definition of custody can be expanded to include alternatives to detention, alternatives that would prevent flight where detainees are not in any way a risk to public aid. so those are two proposals that i have advanced, not original to me that would comply with the statute. it would require a court decision. you wouldn't implicate a necessity for you to wait for a court decision. >> i'm aware of that question

about the definition of custody. i recall that you asked that question and i know it's under review right now. this type of issue i can't do anything without lawyers. >> and i'm not going to press you because i can sense from your response that you -- well let me put it this way. i hope that you will get back to me about these issues in a timely way and let me ask you finally, i have heard from a great many connecticut constituents whose parts of their families are here legally and sometimes their children are worn here. sometimes they have children who were brought here as infants or very young children and have been granted daca status. they live in fear of having parents siblings or children are

ported. i would like to ask you the question that has been asked in slightly different terms maybe with a different viewpoint. are you considering expanding daca to include more young people who were brought here as children and to have deep ties to our communities that may not be under the present daca documents. ..

>> >> my hope is congress will act. >> mine also. >> we share that view but if it fails to do so i would strongly urge that action date expanded. >> i appreciate your indulgence but before id that talking about motivation for people coming here you believe the primary motivation is the situation

in these countries but i have to say that conflicts with the internal and released documents that i believe you have a copy of now we're interviews were done in the rio grande valley by others interviewing to lead to a dirty -- 230 when this report was released asking the main purpose to'' the report to determine the factors compelling to migrate to the united states had it says of those the 230 they stated family members urging them to travel a media the because united states government was only issuing immigration through

the end of 2013 obviously it is bad information but they believe there is lax enforcement or a new program that needs to be addressed to let people know that is not the case the issue was the main reason provided by 95% of the interview did subjects. to talk about the primary reason that seems more of the uproar very reason they and the economic course security situation in the second was due gang-related violence but 95 percent listed as the prior very reasons some expectation of a program to allow them to stay. so i would plead with the administration the president needs to state unequivocably

those who come cannot stay stay, they will not qualify under daca or any other program that in a deportation policy will review that i think would be incredibly helpful. >> if you could relay that message back'' we will try to do so as well but with regard to arizona for people to be pulled off the line as many as 200 border patrol officers are being utilized to process the phillies and unaccompanied children that will pull people off the line. water redoing with additional resources for arizona? >> i believe a number of

things, as senator including reassigning people from within the interior. i king get back with a more detailed breakdown it is possible an agent could be involved in the processing of a migrant near the border even with regular circumstances but no doubt the surge has required we reallocate to and ask people to do things they don't normally do with their responsibilities as we try to restore the equilibrium that the border security personnel on need to focus on border security i am the first one to acknowledge that. and a number of people have referred to if i have not

seen it dido know how reliable is i assure 10 seconds after i walked out somebody will put it into my hands i just don't know how reliable it is for crier agree with the senator that the seven year old child principal motivation is the circumstances they are living and -- leaving want to be with their mothers to read but not many are climbing on a bus or a trade alone from guatemala it is usually kids older than that also ice is responsible to take a feebly unit to put them on a bus stop with that was going on in arizona. is that happening any more? >> might understanding is with regard to nogales the

individuals we are sending there are the unaccompanied children who are under the of law have to go to hhs whether it is possible to send more family units i cannot rule that out but since about june 1st we have been sending principally if not exclusively the unaccompanied children for processing. >> with the order to appear at some plaintiff in time what care is taken to ensure that is a family unit? we your anecdotal evidence that i belong to that family then they get to the bus stop to say see you later is ice required to do do

diligence? >> dire sure there is some type of protocol to insure a of a group of people claiming to be a family unit to our but i don't know what that is. >> take you for your indulgence. >> thank you mr. secretary of a close the hearing it will be kept open for one week thank you for your service and testimony today. thank you. [inaudible conversations]

>> we will need to learn again how to work together how to compromise and make pragmatic decisions. with the upcoming midterm elections americans over choices to make which path to go down and if we make the investments we've made in our people. i will leave that discussion and to others but for lot of us in the private and non-profit sector we have work to do. government does not have a monopoly on good ideas and even if it wanted it should not try to solve all the problems by itself. we have responsibilities to do what we came in -- can

>> from the perspective of the victims' i don't see a distinction if you try to justify of the basis of the victim's loss i cannot convincingly explain why 9/11 yes the 93 world trade center no. the only way to justify this program as a special car about is from the perspective of the nation a recognition that 9/11 with

the american civil war, pearl harbor, maybe the assassination of president kennedy then at 9/11. its impact on the american people was such that this was a response from america to demonstrate the solidarity-led cohesiveness of the american people to these victims.

>> good afternoon. first of all, i just want to talk about what happened in the last night then going for word. growing up#ú faith, i grew up and went to hebrew school and read the old testament and you learn about individual setbacks where you learn each setback is an opportunity and there is always optimism for the future. while i may have had a personal setback glass eye i could not be more optimistic about the future of this country.

i am honored i had the privilege to serve represent the people of the seventh district. people blumenthal what is wrong with this town by want to remind you what is right to. have the honor to serve with so many distinguished colleagues. these are the people who fly across the country every single week to do what they can to help their constituents live a better life. members on both sides of the i/o her or have been more than honored to serve as the part of the republican conference majority leader the last several years. recall leagues and i are admirably serve to a tremendous group of staff to put in tireless hours with the same noble intentions to help the constituents live a better life. the staffers are the backbone of this institution and i am proud to have gotten to know them and

their families to call them my family. i would also like to recognize the capitol police and sergeant in arms and the protection division who i have come to know personally of the unheralded services that are second to none and it is an honor to be in their company. it is up privileged to know tens of thousands of constituents of neighbors to make up the community. with richmond virginia i have called home my entire life. some of you have jointly their recently. but i encourage everyone to make a visit soon. house republicans have made tremendous strides and fought to allow every child regardless of their zip code

the ability to go to the school of their choice of receiving a quality education. and have led the way. at the unprecedented era of technology. reid have him since the first time since the korean war with those facing higher health care costs due to obamacare. bill after bill to increase take-home pay and the jurors one dash reduce cost for american families. some people think washington gets nothing done but there is a stack of bills sitting in the senate that shows house republicans to get things done. we get a lot done in our priorities to build an america that works for the middle class families that are struggling but there is more work to do.

conservatives have solutions to help alleviate the middle-class squeeze to provide opportunity regardless of the circumstances of life and i will continue to fight for each and every american who looks to better themselves by pursuing the american dream. but i will not be on the ballot in november british champion for conservatives across the nation who are dedicated to preserving liberty to provide opportunity. cheerily what divides republicans pales in comparison to what's comes from the democratic party i that they will put weiner differences aside to help elect a republican house and senate so we may all benefit from the proper check and balance to leave our nation more secure, more prosperous and more free.

and i am confident our nation well exceed every challenge and sheriff the of message to happiness but while i intend to serve out my term as a member of the seventh congress effective july 31st i will step down as majority leader. with great humility a do so knowing the tremendous honor it has been to hold this position and with that i am delighted to take some questions. >> why did you lose less light and what can the party learn from your loss? >> i will leave the political analysis to you. you worked incredibly hard hard, i am proud of my team's work and for what they did in the end of the

voters chose a different candidate. >> leaving analysis to others but i am sure you have been doing thinking it did you spend too much here and not attending enough to constituents back home? >> i was in my district every week. there is a balance between holding a leadership position and serving constituents but never did i not put them first and i will continue to do so. >> what message do you believe this sense about the future aha of immigration reform shouldn't be stopped or going for word? >> first of all, i boris say with the political piece of that you can do the analysis. but immigrations and has not

changed before or during the election or today. i always said the system is broken and needs reforms it is much more desirable if we do it one step at a time working to common ground i don't believe in the of my way or highway approached the president lays out. there is common ground at the border of with the itc the issue of the kids that did not break laws to come here and me announced to them. i have always said there should be common ground if they would allow ourselves to work together. >> and who'd you want to succeed you and howard divisive a bad election be? >> i don't know who will be running but if my dear friend mccarthy does decide

to run i think he will make an outstanding majority leader and i will back him with my full support. >> a lot of focus has been on the policy side the people wonder what this means for like the export import bill and you touched on immigration is this the hand of the of legislating of this congress or can they still get them done? >> obviously this month and next we are fall on the floor with the appropriations measures and to we have the cftc reauthorization and the energy bill to bring down costs for americans to face the summer driving season all hold said the bills even human trafficking the chairman of the house

financial services committee has announced a of marco baum the bill and a lot of things are in motion. we will continue to work in and hopefully the senate will reciprocate so we can get the work of the american people done. >> all politics is local you lost your race but why shouldn't some of republicans be scared to say you spent every weekend the district for they feel they have a short of the base why shouldn't they be running scared after the unprecedented loss by the majority leader? >> as you suggest of politics are local. there was obviously a lot of attention and cast on our race but our members are in a good position in their district i will leave the political analysis to you.

>> conservatives said you were too compromising so what advice you have for your successor? >> summer in the middle but i think this town should be about to strike coming ground i always said it is better to agree to disagree but find the area that we can produce results and i have said this before my wife and i now marital most wanted five years and we don't agree on everything believe me but we have managed to raise our family with a wonderful marriage and has stood by me through this public office stuffy and an advocate for me not always believing what i'm believe them but we raise our family to do well i don't think that is of the legislative arena.

>> what does that say about the party's direction in 2016 some say it only emboldens the tea party for those of the conference site -- the uncompromising candidates. >> but with the tea party remember what acronym means. taxed enough already we all believe in that. with the first came about in 2009 i believe it was largely in reaction to the overreach with the stimulus, obamacare, said dodd/frank, a cap-n-trade cap-n-trade, the country rose up to say enough is enough for fryer do believe what we have in common as republicans is a tremendous amount of commitment to a better and smaller government is greater opportunity for everybody the differences we may have far slight and palin

comparison with the of left with a more expansive government. >> you have this election in june 19th you're stepping down july 31st will that only create more friction? >> you will have to speak to the speaker about the timing of the elections. we have of very busy floor period but my team has spent heavily involved to draft legislation to be expeditious and that legislative process. >> you don't want to do political analysis what about personal analysis? did you look in the near last night to say how did i let this happen?

>> no. we did everything we could i am proud of my team on the ground for all they did. there was a tremendous outpouring of support on all sides but i just cave of shore and the voters elected another candidate. >> what is your next move'' will you do have to the office? >> that is between me and my wife and i will look to see how i could best serve or be a part of what we have been about. remember the promise of the notion the conservative solution personal responsibility, limited government can produce the results to solve the problems american people have been facing under the obama administration. thank you very much.

[inaudible conversations]

if you try to justify my program on the basis of the victim's loss, i cannot convincingly explain why 9/11 yes, 93 world trade center, and no. i think you'll the way to justify this program as a special carve out is from the perspective of the nation a recognition that

with the civil war, pearl harbor or the assassination of president kennedy van 9/11 the impact of the american people are such it is a response from america to you in st. the cohesiveness of the american people to the victim's

[inaudible conversations]7ekx >> could warnings the mor committee will come to order in the cheers of the rise to do declare recesses that anytime. we welcome everyone to the oversight hearing of thend i estate's fbi i will begin byself recognizing myself with the opening statement.

we'll come director to your first appearance since your confirmation as the seventh director of the fbi. we're happy to have you here today i commend the distinguished service to rare nation and willwi continue to serve honorably as we all know last week anniversary of the first classified material by edward snowden a criminal betrayal of his country and the most significant leakage in u.s. history of of the past year the committee conducted aggressive oversight of the bulk collection program passing house passage. the national security program that provides expanded oversight and transparency of intelligence gathering.alth although the leaks of bedford snowden maybe the b battista of reform but theeel re passage of the bipartisan

legislation does not excuse or condone his actions. the consequences of what he did may not be fully re upon realize but for working with closely the house intelligence and leadership to h craft the usa freedom act in such a way to preserve vital intelligence capabilities whileng simultaneously achieving the goal of ending both data collection. we also know another dark day in history exactly one year nine months ago the diplomatic mission in benghazi was attacked by terrorist for americans including our ambassador were killed.s the obama did ministration attempted to blame the attack on a video critical of this long but we now knoww kn that was not the case and the attack was premeditatedlami carried out by islamist militants.

on august 2013 relearned the2013 justice department filedd charges against several individuals forfo their alleged involvement in the attack but as of today nobody has been apprehended. i am interested to read about the status. you may be reticent to comment but the american people deserve to know if it can be brought in the studios. >> and to learn more about the investigation into turgut conservative groups plaster your predecessor director mueller informed the committee that the fbi was investigating this matter and was hesitant to answer questions because ofons the ongoing criminal investigation but earlier this year unnamed officials

leaked that no criminalre charges were expected in the irs man -- manner and super bowl sunday obama stated not even a smidgen of corruption in connection with the irs targeting but then april 8 before this committeel attorney-general holder claimed the investigation is still ongoing led by the of longtime obama and dnc owner on dasmih donor and before that judiciary committee declined to answer questions explaining the investigation is ongoing. frustration is mounting over the scandal and basic facts are contradicted by this administration.ni progress? what is the status white to con the justice department and fbi continued to assert the

investigation is ongoing even though no crime was committed? do you agree what was led byn the house to approve resolution calling on the attorney general to appoint a special counsel how can we trust the investigation is carried out with the president claims no corruption occurred? we hope you can shed someligh light on that the people deserve no less. finally i wish to discussees the reestablishment of the domestic terrorism executivethat committee first established by gnma know in the aftermath of the oklahoma city bombing to disrupt hall grown terrorism threats and tragic incidents like the boston marathon bombing interactive situations like forns a good kid clear examples we must disrupt

what loanable wife -- actors in the that was necessary to respond to the changing terrorist threat to reduce risk posed by al qaeda or leadership. ire agreed the domestic tariff threats i take serious issue with the notion that america faces a reduced risk from al qaeda as the incidents cited but the question is what and how you test the cement he appears to have as of the question by stating we must also concern ourselves with the danger we face from individuals within our own border that may be motivated by anti-government animus.

wooded group advocating strenuously for of smaller grenadier included in the definition of a anti-governmentov animus? said. >> but other 42 hearing your answers to these and other important to the with the analysis in in handcuffs but now weni recognize the director. >> thank-you director forappe your first appearance before the house judiciary committee but since taking office september 4, 2013. i have great confidence personally with your

commitment to fairness and the rule of law. in 1996 as the assistant united states attorney for the eastern districtey ofinia virginia you were appointed the lead prosecutor in the case of saudi arabia in 2002 the united states attorneythe for the southern district of new york a wide variety of complex high profile cases while helping a the district return to some measure ofeas normalcy in the aftermath. azine 2004 serving as deputy attorney general of the united states you refuse to certify the bush administration long list dragnet surveillance program pro then confronted white house

personnel at the hospital when the administration sought to gain approval from mr. ashcroft directly so time and time again you have demonstrated the basic commitment to the rule of law even with the dramatic circumstances. so that is why i am glad you're at the helm of the fbi on the first anniversary of the public discussion ofnmen the domestic surveillance program. last month the house passed 3361 the u.s. say freedom act which i had a significant role to bring forward. this legislation designed to end domestic bulk collection of flies to section 250 that the patriot act and of the

national security statutes. i am proud to have voted in favor of the only measure to pass the house with anyk an aspect of government surveillance since the passage of the fisa act off 1978. onl but bulk is only one aspect of the problem with government surveillance. over the past few years our early difficulties with the national security letters the new fbi has proven a responsible of custodian ofthor the new legal authorities granted to the bureau after september 11th. a uses the tools congress has provided in a manner intended to be used but the fbi is the end user of

massive amounts of data as required under fisa and other authorities without awi warrant or individualized suspicion. this raises serious privacy and civil liberties concerns. director comey you are the standard bearer in the struggle to rein in the unlawful surveillance. i help -- i hope you willith committee to help us restore ao measure of public trust. although we have spent much t decade focused on counterterrorism it is critically important that the bureau balanced national security functionscu with the traditional law enforcement mission to end this i would like to discuss with you the

skirts of gun violence ine this country. yesterday's shooting at the high school in oregon is at least the 74th school shootings since the tragic -- tragedy in newtown 2012.t la the fbi maintains the national background check system and the bureau is often called upon to participate in the investigation of high profile shootings because i believe a more completete background check system will help stem the tide ofem violence. i'll look forward to your views in this matter. similarly we face many threats from overseas.sees the fbi plays of fundamental role to confront extremist violence here at home asl.

well. the bureau has called the sovereign citizen movement to a growing domestic threat to.ion according to a the anti-defamation league, 43 violent incidents between law-enforcement officials and and anti-government extremists.is 30 police officers have been shot and 14 killed. we must now add the two officers shot andvr8k killed this past sunday in a las vegas. these are not isolated incidents. director comey, congress hasr of some power the fbi with considerable authority authority, including a federal hate crime legislation to root out thisextr extremism. i would like to hear more about how the bureau puts

these resources to use and to have you discussed the topic of over criminalization. the united states has 5% of the world's population but incarcerates more than 25 percent of the world's prisoners. . .point. so why the fbi often recommends federal prosecutions in cases letter already prosecuted in this state course of the offender faces is a trial with two separate jurisdictions. the fbi plays a critical role to protect our nation's computer networks from cybercriminals and we must do mo