commissioner, takes you for your start 20,000 cbp -- 2000 cbp officers is way too long. i know you plan to send the request authorizes asking them to pass legislation, increasing the number of cbp officers. but why would they increase costs knowing that wait times don't deserve cbp, because cbp as a likely to add these officers on board four years? 2014 look where we are now. likewise the border patrol as losing more agents than it can higher. currently cbp is 1002 under 68 agents a low the mandated for. the budget takes advantage of this by decreasing the mandate for agents by 300. unfortunately, the reduction isn't supported by any analysis proving that border security will not be compromised as a result. commissioner, as you understand the import national security role these agents play, but we are concerned that cbp isn't able to sustain the existing workforce, let alone the mandated floor levels of the agents. these are urgent problems which must be fixed. now, we'll have to discuss how you plan to correct this. the request also includes the contingency fund for pot

knowing that wait times don't deserve cbp because cbp isn't likely to have these officers on board for years. 2014. look where we are now. likewise, the border patrol is losing more agents than it can hire. currently, cbp is below the mandated floor. the budget takes advantage of this by increasing the mandate. unfortunately, the reduction isn't supported by any analysis proving that border security won't be compromised as a result. commissioner, as you understand the important national security role these agents play, but we are concerned that cbp isn't able to sustain the existing workforce, let alone the mandated floor leaves of the agents. these are urgent problems, which must be fixed. now, we'll have to discuss how you plan to correct this. this request also includes a contingency fund for potential surge in unaccompanied children. we look forward to an update of the current estimates of the 98 uac. other increases include $55 million for tactical communications, $47 million for vehicles, $26 million for aerostats and relocatable towers and many other smaller increases. i look f

where are we on the full 2000 cbp officers? i know at one time we were delayed because of breach of security background. what are we without? and then tell us a little bit about the agricultural specialist staffing issue. and again, you know my history about loretto being the largest in the valley, a lot of agriculture. tell us where we are on those two issues. >> one, i would be remiss if i didn't thank you for speaking to our personnel when they have their large personnel meetings and talking to them about professionalism and their responsibilities and on and on. it means a great deal when a member of congress spends time with them. so that's very helpful. we are about 700 customs and border protection agents below what the 2000 that we would've hired. remember, we've had a lot of attrition. in the center we had the highest number ever of customs and border protection agents on board -- in december. we are making progress within. that's particularly helpful. we also did that ever have a staffing program or a workload analysis

to meet cbp specifications. unfortunately in july of last year cbp reversed course and informed the airport it would no longer occupy the facility. let me emphasize that this was after the airport pay more than 3 million fund construction of the facility. this was after the airport worked with the cbp on the design and after cbp signed off on the facility. this is unacceptable. as i make clear my letter there are no laws or rules that we can find the prevent cbp from occupying the general aviation facility, so it has been over four months since we wrote that letter and i raised the issue with the commissioner. i want to ask you today and raise this to your attention , we will you commit to looking into the issue and responding to my constituents concerns? >> i am aware of the issue and i'm looking into it and will ensure you receive a prompt response. >> when can i expect that? >> how about within the week. >> i would be great. >> out don't know what the statuses, but i will ensure you get it within the week. >>

customs and border protection cbp. started his career in the united states marine corps. >> good morning. the training program. responsible for administrative and operational oversight of art training delivery centers. one located in virginia and the other in el paso. the fusion of two legacy training facilities, customs k-9 enforcement training center, us national facility and the murder -- merger of these two afford of the program to build on decades of expertise and law enforcement training and to capitalize on best practices. the training centers are where working k-9 handlers and instructors receive classroom and practical training in the k-9 discipline utilized to support the critical mission of detecting and addressing cross-border illicit activities including gunning currency smuggling, narcotic smuggling, human trafficking in illegal immigration. the game courses for handlers and instructors to support the mission and multiple operational environments including concealed narcotic detection, human remains cadav

currently, cbp is below the mandated floor.the budget takes advantage of this by increasing the mandate. unfortunately, the reduction isn't supported by any analysis proving that border security won't be compromised as a result. commissioner, as you understand the important national security role these agents play, but we are concerned that cbp isn't able to sustain the existing workforce, let alone the mandated floor leaves of the agents. these are urgent problems, which must be fixed. now, we'll have to discuss how you plan to correct this. this request also includes a contingency fund for potential surge in unaccompanied children. we look forward to an update of the current estimates of the uac. other increases include $55 million for tactical communications, $47 million for vehicles, $26 million for aerostats and relocatable towers and many other smaller increases. i look forward to working with you over the next few weeks to determine the priority of these programs. the request proposes a realignment for appropriation stru

cbp's current policies on use of force and accountability foster violence and impunity. a couple of weeks ago, a panel of government experts -- the u.s. government recognizes, their own experts, said that the disciplinary system of cbp is so broken that it does nothing to deter abuse. the united states has exponentially increased the , sinceof cbp since 2001 9/11, but has not invested the needed resources to ensure that cbp agents are held accountable for misconduct and abuses. said, no oneust should be above the law. anastasio also said this, as he played for his life, as he pled for mercy. he said, "stop treating me like an animal." reforms arensure enacted by cbp that ensure the dignity of all communities at the border, including undocumented migrants, who are some of the most vulnerable, who have real limitations, but practical and legal, to ensuring that they have access to justice. in a sense, these are the individuals, these are the communities that we have to be most careful about protecting because they are the most vulnerable. and we hope this suit healthspring

this was after the airport worked with the cbp on the design of the general aviation cbp signedd after off on the facility. this is unacceptable. as i made clear in my letter, there are no laws or rules that we can find that prevent cbp from occupying the next the general aviation facility as it has claimed. it has been over four months since we wrote that letter and i raised the issue with the commissioner and have yet to receive a response to the letter. andnt to ask you today raise this to your attention, will you commit to looking into this issue and responding to my constituents concerns? >> i am looking into it and i will ensure that you receive a prompt response and i am interested in it. >> when can i expect a response? within the next week. >> thank you. >> i don't know what the status of the response is, but i will ensure that you get it within a week. thehank you secretary for great work that you do on behalf of the people of this country. --ant to reiterate what which is those of us on the northern border believe that we are entitled to a level of security that we don't alw

customs and border protection, cbp. mr.montes started his career in the united states supreme corps, graduated from the department of defense dog handler course. he's a former handler. >> good morning, chairman johnson, ranking member carper. thank you for the opportunity to appear today and talk about the u.s. customs and border protection canine training program. i'm director of the cvp canine training program, administrate ef and operational oversight of two canine delivery centers. one located in front royal, virginia, the other in el paso, texas. the cvp canine program is a fusion of two legacy training facilities. the legacy u.s. customs canine enforcement training center, u.s. border national canine facility. the merger of these two training entities afforded the cvp canine training program to build on decades of expertise and law enforcement training and capitalize on best practices. cvp canine training senters are where canine, handlers, instructors receive classroom and practical training and canine discipline yut

judd, cbp will often say since apprehensions are down the border is more secure. how does that number account for those who the border patrol doesn't ever see? >> it doesn't. as i previously stated, those drive-throughs, because the agents, there were no agents assigned in the area which the dry-through took place, if it wasn't for a camera that saw the vehicles we wouldn't have known the vehicles had crossed, so if we don't have the resources to assign to a specific area, then we don't know what's crossing that area and i would like to correct myself, i look back at my notes it wasn't two days that that area was open, it was open for a long stretch period of time but i don't know exactly how long. i know that it was at least one shift, and more than that. so just want to correct 245. >> we received reports from border patrol agents at sectors and offices reporting lower apprehension numbers are often rewarded and that apprehensions when they fall between jurisdictions of different offices within a sector, those apprehensions are simply not counted. have you heard

have you heard similar reports suggesting that cbp might be fudging the apprehension data?>> not only have i heard similar reports, i've seen it. when i was assigned to the intel office at one of the border patrol stations, which i work, there was a note that came across the desk from a watch commander, a high-ranking manager that said you must remove these numbers from the got away report because there's no entry point and therefore, if there's no entry point, we can't say where they entered and we can't reconcile the numbers. the question was, the question that was posed to this watch commander was, we know that they got away. where are we going to report that they got away? says if there's no entry point, there were no got-aways. we said, but we have the evidence that they got away. and they said no, there's no got-aways, remove it. and we were forced to remove it. >> i hear some of the witnesses talking about resources, i agree resources are an issue. mr. judd, isn't our functional policy basically catch and release at this point, in other words you can have beefed-up b

this airport, which is a port of entry has hosted the cbp green bay port office for 2

customs and border protection, cbp. mr. montes started his career in the united states marine corps. subseque subsequently, he graduated from the department of defense dog handler course. he's a former handler. >> good morning, chairman johnson, ranking member carper. thank you for the opportunity to appear today and talk about the u.s. customs and border protection canine training program. i'm director of the cvp canine training program, responsibility for the administrative and operational oversight of two canine training delivery centers. one located in front royal, virginia, the other in el paso, texas. the cvp canine program is a fusion of two legacy training facilities. the legacy u.s. customs canine enforcement training center, u.s. border national canine facility. the merger of these two training entities afforded the cvp canine training program to build on decades of established expertise and law enforcement training and capitalize on best practices. cvp canine training centers are where canine, handlers, instructo

the total number sent back by cbp or ice to mexico is around 128,000. those are pretty significant numbers. and so we are sending a very public message that if you come here illegally and if you do not have a valid claim for asylum and have been ordered deported by an immigration court call we will send you back. >> the point being, in in february 2014 i did not have the numbers to compare. 3400 unaccompanied children coming in from central america. in february 2016 news about 310016 is about 3100. >> the february 2014 number was 4,800. >> i'm happy to share this. >> we are pretty darn close. we would be looking at 77,000 this year versus 51,000 in the crisis year. we can massage the numbers a little bit. >> i do not think that is accurate. >> what do you have year to date? not by month, year to date. >> year to date you a see this fiscal year 23,553. >> so four months up to 28,000 already. >> twenty-three. >> through five months. still at a pretty high pace. >> the numbers are high. i'm not sure there at the same february 14 pace. >> 2014 was a crisis.

patriot takes a risk-based approach and uses inter-agency resources from i.c.e., cbp and the state department, to identify potential national security and public safety threats. where vsp differs from most other government screening efforts is that it leverages the fact that we have agents posted at those visa screening sites, at the visa sites that the state department has, and those agents are able to investigate these -- information that comes up in the applications, actually supplement department of state's interviews of those applicants and identify previously unknown threats. so we are very pleased to have those people actually on site in those 20 different countries. in fy 2015, vsp, our agents, reviewed over two million visa applications, over two million, and we determined there, identified 64,000 of them for further review. this is a flag that goes up that perhaps something there is indicating to the agent who is very well trained and versed in intelligence and criminal activity and other derogatory information. actor in-depth vetting, the next step, we determine the existence of a

immediately after these brussels attacks, tsa and cbp put everyone on high alert. additional checks for folks coming out of that region. so this is absolutely a concern. europe has a long way to go to get their defenses up to the united states. we learned our lessons from 9/11. >> right. >> i was in the cia when that happened. information sharing from 9/11 to when i left in 2009 improved significantly. from 2009 until i came into congress, even more. we need to get our european colleagues there. >> congressman heard, thank you very much. outfront next this hour with the breaking news of possible imminent plots, i'm going to talk to a young woman who was caught inside the horror of tuesday's airport bombing. she has a remarkable story. ted cruz tonight unleashing on donald trump. >> donald doesn't like strong women. strong women scare donald. now, donald is scared a lot these days. ♪ the intelligent, all-new audi a4 is here. ♪ ♪ ain't got time to make no apologies...♪ some say "free the whales." for them, nothing else is acceptable. but nothing could be worse for th

intelligence community partners beginning with our law enforcement partners within dhs like ice, like cbp it's critical that we receive information from them when we adjudicate immigration benefits. it's critical that we get that information. occasionally in the course of our work we identify information that is either of law enforcement or intelligence value. we have well-developed pathways to make sure that information is shared. one example is during the course of refugee screening. if we learn information that is potentially of intelligence value, that information is in fact shared with the intelligence community. >> thank you. >> and we work very closely with treasury when they make a designation as part of that announcement of that designation anyone who is designated and quite often their families or anyone who benefits from these actions, they pass those to us, and we immediately enter them into our lookout system, review any visas and any revokation of the visas of anyone found by treasury to be in a class. >> all right. thank you. >> senator booker. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i

there have been provisions for a demonstration project, provision to undo the provision within the cbp i-a >> deal with predation i will say in front of this committee we have several people testify that have said predation is one of the key reasons we have already pushed out to the ocean in the last few months. we months. we look forward to working with you on that and rapid response. >> one minute. >> thank you. appreciate it. >> nondisclosure forms in sacramento. the 5 o 1 c 3 that they will call the dam removal. also highlights so far. were you aware that nondisclosure forms are required to be signs to participate in the sacramento and portland hearing? >> yes, i was made aware of that. >> even my office subject when it should be a public process, millions of taxpayer dollars. >> with respect to those meetings amongst the parties,parties, and so it was the parties themselves seeking nondisclosure. >> they will be seeking federal funding for the record. i will be submitting a frame -- freedom of information request for all these documents related to the portland meeting today and an

it is the men and women of cbp and border patrol agents that face the threats we will discuss today. they deploy in all manner of weather and rough terrain, all day every day. i'm grateful for their professionalism. the nation is safer, and the communities they serve are better protected because of their efforts. they have my unwavering support, and i want them to do their jobs in the safest manner possible. thank you for having me as a witness today, i look forward to the opportunity to testify. >> thank you. mr. mccraw, five minutes. mr. mcgraw: thank you for the opportunity to testify today. i want to echo a few comments the chief made that maybe we missed. two things. first, mention the governor's comments yesterday on the aftermath of the brussels attack , the cowardly attack by terrorists. he pointed out that our hearts and prayers are with the victims, our minds must realize the consequences of open borders, and resolve must be security. including the governor of the texas state legislature, understand the scope and magnitude of the threat to texas and the rest of the nation.

. >> next we'll bring our cbp canine team, this is jennifer jones, agricultural specialist working with the field operations at the customs and bureau protection agency. she's here with her partner, hudson. >> hi i'm jennifer jones. i'm with customs border protection and agriculture handler. my partner is hudson, approximately eight-year-old beagle that came out of daytona animal control in daytona, florida. he's tried to find fruits, plants, meats and seeds that are in the baggage of passengers that are entering the u.s. he runs about 95% accurate most days. he makes a mistake here and there but he's usually pretty good. he's found everything from a single grape up to about 100 pounds of horse sausage that was in a bag. >> now, what kind of dog is he again. >> he is a beagle. >> a beagle. okay. pretty good sized beagle. i had one of those when i was growing up. >> he's on the bigger end. >> yeah. ours was plumper. >> they can get fat. he walks a lot. >> thank you. next we have patrick dowling and patrick is a customs and border protection officer and instructor. he's here with his part

cbp needs to and is making aggressive efforts to hire, to bring on people faster, to get them through the polygraph exams. i fully support the hiring of veterans and making it easier to hire veterans. i understand that you are interested in legislation to deal with pay in these areas, and i'm happy to look at that with you, sir. >> it's very tough environment along all of our southern border, but also in arizona it gets particularly warm, and i can understand how tough a duty it is, and so i think that just as we in the military, we provide incentive pay for hardship positions, i hope that you would look at that and i'll be introducing legislation on it, because it's just not sufficient as you know, when we're hundreds, well over 100 agents, customs agents short, it's either there's something wrong with the level of staffing required or something wrong with the level of personnel. i know that you know that there is an epidemic of manufactured heroin, and the deaths of manufactured heroin overdose have been described by some governors, including the governor of new hampshire, as a "epi

right now at home, department of homeland security, tsa, cbp are gathering all the data they can gete that we harden our defenses, we look and see if there are any tactics, techniqu techniques, and procedures used over there that may be used back here and are giving extra scrutiny to folks coming from that part of europe. i sit on a task force that looked at foreign fighters going into iraq and syria. we learned a number of issues, like our european colleagues were only checking one out of every three travel documents. they weren't sharing the kinds of information on suspect terrorists that we had been sharing with them. and we took steps here in congress to strengthen legislation to force compliance. we passed legislation two days ago, the counterterrorism screening and assistance act, which made sure we doubled down on supporting our european allies. today we're going to be looking at introducing new legislation on things like how you counter the ideology of these radical islamic extremist terrorists. >> any time there's an incident like this, it makes you think about your own secu