secretary alejandro mayorkas is the seven secretary of the department of homeland security. previously he served the department as deputy secretary and as director of u.s. citizenship and immigration services. began his public service at the department of justice. mister secretary, thank you for your parents here before committee, once again, i will now recognize you for your seven minute opening statement. >> thank you very much, chairman peters. ranking member paul, distinguished members of this committee, last month we marked the 20th anniversary of the departments creation. this brought together different agencies from across the federal government in a determined effort to safeguard the united states against foreign terrorism in the wake of the devastation brought on september 11th, 2001. over the past 20 years, the challenges facing the homeland have grown increasingly dynamic and complex, the department's 260,000 public servants meet these challenges with unflinching dedication, with acts of targeted violence occurring more and more frequently, where sharing with local

the first question was whether the department of homeland security considers confucius institutes and their affiliates to be an extension of communist chinese government? and two, if the department believe them to be purveyors of communist chinese government propaganda? i hope the answers to those questions would be obviously by the administration, we all know the national security threats that confucius institutes oppose. we can draw that conclusion based on what the chinese and governments own words say about these. and many educational institutions have already shut down their confucius institutes. and yet, when he answered my february letter, july 29 of 21 you personally responded and failed to answer the critical question. i am going to poses questions to you again whether the department of homeland security considers confucius institutes and their affiliates to be in extension of the communist chinese government? and if the department believes them to be purveyors of communist chinese propaganda. >> senator, we are very concerned about the institutes that you have mentioned. in

of homeland security mayorkas. [applause] >> good morning. november 19, 2002 the senior center from delaware voted in support of the act to create the united states department of homeland security. in the years preceding the vote and the years since, joe biden has worked for the safety and security of our country and the well-being of every american. the walk to this podium may be short, but it represents a lifetime of service. thirty-six years as a united states senator, eight years as a vice president of the united states and now as our president, through it all we've had no greater champion of our department and mission. we are deeply honored on our 20th anniversary to be joined by the president of the united states of america. everyone please rise and give a warm welcome to president biden. ♪♪ [applause] thank you, thank you, thank you. [applause] you're very nice. thank you. thank you, thank you. i don't know who you're talking about, someone that's been around that long. twenty years. no one thought there would be over 260,000 people. what you've done is an incredible job. i came for the simple reason, to thank you for welcoming me back here today as

one of the greatest advances, i think, that has occurred within the department of homeland security is the maturation of homeland security investigations within immigration and customs enforcement, as a really premier investigative law enforcement agency. so, we are very focused on that, not just domestically with respect to property and, you know, proceeds, facilitation of criminal activity here and with a connectivity across the border or abroad, but we are working with our partner nations very extensively. rob silvers is here, our undersecretary for strategy policy and plans leading our international efforts. this is upper most in our minds and we have a great partnership with mexico in that regard. we have our trans national criminal investigative units, tciu's to work in partnership to address not just the movement of the controlled substances, or the people, but also the instrumentalities of their criminal alty. >> we're running out of time. if you keep your question quick, and we will conclude. >> hi, i'm rebecca with the hill, i want today ask you about your appearances before

homeland security has converged to come up with a more broad national security and the profound evolution, and homeland security threat environment, changing at a pace faster than ever before, has required our department of homeland security, to evolve along with it. and we have built new institutions, modernize our approach and processes, developed new capabilities and harnessing innovations, as we deliver critical services, that are more in demand, than ever before, enter overarching strategy, is one of partnership and homeland security, cannot be accomplished by government alone, he requires collective action. anything threats, or domestic violent extremism, we created the center for prevention programs and partnerships, to share with local communities, the best practice models of identification, and intervention when an individual is living size of moving towards violet and thorough grant programs we are helping communities bill threat prevention capabilities previously they did not exist and responding to the reality, the major metropolitan areas are no longer are adversaries, only target set. and across the federal government, we are looking with communities impacted by unprecedented extreme weathe

one of the gratest advances i think that's occurred in the department of homeland security is the maturationof homeland security investigations. we're very focused on that and not just domestically with respect to property and proceeds facilitation of criminal activity here. we have a great partnership with mexico in that regard and we have our transnational criminal investigative units, tcius. working to address the movement of controlled substances or the people but also the instrumentality of the criminallalty. >> we're running out of time here so if you could keep your question very quick and we'll conclude. >> republicans are increasingly commenting on your personal character during the hearings and i was wondering how you feel about those comments and what's going through your mind during these changes. >> it is on the record. >> okay. wow. they are not easy to listen to. they also have ramifications. ramifications that i wish individuals in positions of leadership would consider because our work is about people. it's about the people doing the work, the people affect bid the work, abo

in fiscal year 2021 the department of homeland security made over 1.7 million encounters with inadmissible aliens on the southwest border. in 20, the number rose to 2.4 million cartels that have exploited president biden's disastrous border policies to create one of the largest han trafficking and smuggling operations in the world. cartels charged illegal border crossers a fee for the right to cross through mexico and across our southern border. border patrol agents have told me that the cartels charge $5,000 to $10,000 to individuals from the western hemisphere and $18,000 or more for individuals from asia, including chinese nationals for the right to cross our southwest border. well, most illegal border crossers are single adults. many are children, more than 250,000 in the past two years. and the cartels charge them and their families money as well. not surprising with so many more people crossing the southern border. a lot of unaccompanied minors are coming across as well. the florida department of children and families published results from interviews conducted, conducted with 49 una

i have tremendous faith in the people of the department of homeland security and a crisis speaks to merom our mission and we are only putting more force and more energy into it. >> aishah: there you have it. dhs secretary mayokas refusing again to call the dire situation at our southern border a crisis. but the numbers tell a very different story here as illegal crossings continue to just spiral out of control under president biden. let's bring in our panel know. co-host of the five geraldo rivera and former yuma sector border patrol chief chris clem. thank you for joining us this morning. chris, start with you. the secretary is speaking on your behalf and behalf of so many men and women that serve us on the border there. do you think crisis means withdrawal? >> good morning. absolutely not. i've known the secretary 8 or 9 years. i like the secretary actually. he is a smart and savvy person. his personal journey and professional career, he set himself up to be one of the best dhs secretaries. that being said i completely disagree with what he said. this is a crisis and ongoing for the

we are also grateful for the support of our colleagues in the department of state, department of treasury, and department of homeland security. and i want to express our gratitude to the many mexican service members and law enforcement officers who have bravely put their lives on the line to combat the cartels in their country. i want to again express my condolences to the families of the many mexican service members and officers who have lost their lives in that effort. just yesterday, we met with our law enforcement and security counterparts in the mexican government here at the department of justice. together, we renewed our commitment to working closely in the fight against fentanyl and firearms trafficking. finally, the justice department will never forget the victims of the fentanyl epidemic. we will never forget those who bear responsibility for this tragedy, and we will never stop working to hold them accountable for their crimes in the united states. i will now turn the podium over to deputy attorney general monaco. >> thank you very much, mr. attorney general, and good morning. today in the united states, and ameri

covers the entire waterfront of the department which is 250,000 employees over 50 billion a low budget. there's a lot of ground covered under the department of homeland securityme of the names you will know. mark morgan, tom, joe who followed me in uscis. some of the others you wouldn't recognize. some from the legislative perspective because some of what we look to do here is lead the way and have, urge a president to lead the way in changing the law not just issuing executive orders but permanent changes to how american government works to better serve the american national interest into the american people. and all of those inputs are incorporated. we don't agree on everything all the time. you may have noticed that here or there in the conservative movement. but we reflect alternative options and dhs is a good example of this. we start out with a primary recommendation which may surprise some of you and that is to get rid of the department of homeland security. and maybe that doesn't surprise that many of you but we also play the probabilities. i was an engineer. i try to stay in touch with of the members and we think the odds of that i don't want to bet

who work for, or people who have relatives or friends who work for the pentagon, the department of homeland security or intel to get a fair trial no matter where he is, because he's being charged has been indicted in the most conservative court incident. the center of the c. i a, a, the, an essay be a hardly be a friendly jury pool. and again, it's known as a rock. it is a known as a brewed old, the most conservative court. so i eat the fact that they strategically decided and how much it's about politics. and now about any per station every single day, every time we pick up the washington post the new york times the day, but clearly the u. s. has had it sites i think has been very short sighted in terms of the deleterious conf. you work closely with myriad national security whistle blowers continue also to come forward. whistleblowers know the costs of waste, fraud abuse, illegality, and threats to the public health and public out in the face of potentially life changing retaliation and tiffy retaliated against because in their minds there she told me, made a truthful too much trying to interfere i

when i was asked by president bush to be a part of the department of homeland security, the largest governmenteorganization in 50 years, i had responsibility for the border security. we didn't get it perfect, it's a lot better than it was today. and what joe biden has done. whenever you look at border security, whenever you look at the transportation networks, i was pleased to work with the nra to make sure that our men and women who carry firearms can do it safely on an airplane. you can make sure you go hunting, we made sure the rules accommodated our outdoorsman. then it was after the newtown tragedy, and which we lost young people in a school, i was asked by the nra to lead the school shield initiative. i put together an assembly of former secret service, law enforcement, educators, we looked at the schools, at what we need to do to better protect our children. we did a national study, we made recommendations. you can still look at that, those recommendations have made a difference in our society. we have moved in that direction in which we understand fundamentally in a school, if you are

are you familiar that the department of homeland security shall create a biometric entry and exit data system, even though they have not. other than asking and public information, how can you be sure it is their parent? director marcos: we go through a number of betting procedures -- betting procedures. we verify things with -- >> what is the percentage of children that are reunited with their parent? what is your percentage? how do you prove that? director marcos: we go through a number -- >> what is the percentage? you are stalling. just tell me. do you have a clue? director marcos: i believe 37% -- >> 37% end up with their parent. do you ever refer for charges for abandonment. do you understand that is a felony offense in these children are coming to the border without their prayer --. -- without their parent. director marcos: orr is not a law enforcement -- >> i did not ask you to enforce the law. do you ever refer? if you found somebody doing a criminal act to one of these children, you are not alone enforcement agency, would you refer charges in that case? director marcos: we wou

chief says he has not received any information that any employee of his department is suspected of wrongdoing. the department of homeland security is set leading the investigation of the employee who is charged with trafficking fentanyl. >>> very chaotic scenes in oakland, richmond, and rodeo last night. oakland pd investigating one of those sideshows on adeline street. that was at about 3:30 am. police got reports of up to 50 vehicles doing illegal stuff in the area. video shows the aftermath of what appears to be a collision but police don't have any information about that. this video in richmond shows a dangerous sideshows seen. suvs were part of it and there were passengers hanging out of car windows. this appears to be a police pursuit of several vehicles and we did reach out to richmond pd for comment. we have not heard back. >>> in san jose, there was a shooting several hours ago. one person was shot around noon on it keys and self third streets. the person was rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. >>> new audio recordings are painting a disturbing picture of the murder of bob lee. he was stabbed to death

in addition, we are finalizing the regulation that the departments of justice and homeland security jointly proposed earlier this year, that proposed regulation will incentivize individuals to avail themselves of lawful, safe and orderly pathways and disincentivize dangerous border crossings by placing a new condition on asyleligibility for those who fail to use those pathways. the departments of justice and homeland security aim to have the rule finalized by may 11th and will swiftly implement it . the work we have been performing to prepare for post title 42 continues as i have previously outlined in our six pillar plan, we are surging resources to our border modernizing processes, attacking the smuggling organizations with unprecedented law enforcement focus, strengthening our immigration enforcement tool of expedited removal. working to increase information sharing and resources having distributed over $130 million this fiscal year with $2290 more to be awarded in the coming weeks for local communities and their nonprofit organizations. we are partnering with nations in the region to ad

jack blanchard, uk editor of politico, and miles taylor, former chief of staff at the department of homeland securitytrump administration. speaking of which, more legal jeapordy for donald trump. his closest adviser and lawyer, boris epshteyn, was due to be interviewed today by the special counsel. nobody knows more than epshteyn. so what does that tell us? and two teenagers charged with murder over a mass shooting in alabama at a 16th birthday party. in north carolina, a six—year—old girl shot while recovering her basketball that rolled into a neighbours yard in north carolina. what is going on in the united states right now? so many young people being shot simply for being in the wrong place. we will get to all that. but we start tonight with dominic raab. westminster waiting all day for a verdict, but nothing yet. what we do know is that the prime minister has been handed a report into dominic raab�*s workplace conduct, but no news from number ten yet as to what he makes of it — or what it means for dominic raab�*s career. remember he is notjust the former foreign secretary, he is the current secr

. >> department of homeland security i'm sorry department of homeland security secretary mayorkas heas just asked about the suspects citizenship status today on meet the press. now mayorkas did not say oropeza was in the u.s. illegally. but he did say this. but i won't comment on it is an active case. the tragedy that occurred you describe it correctly. absently horrific. our hearts go to the victims and the victims family and those children who will deliver accountability. x is alive look at vigil taking place right now and in elementary school for danielle, the eight year old boy brutally murdered in this massacre. thirty say oropeza shot and killed a lasso and for other people in his neighbor some friday night after one of the neighbors asked oropeza to stop firing off his gun in the yard. what's a gentleman stepped out of his house said hey were trying to keep an infant to bed. and he said it's his property he will do whatever he pleases on his property. the man went back in the house, next thing that i was walking up the drive it with a rifle in hand. >> officers believe they ha

department of homeland security. erseeing the coast guard and secret service. but it's what he's done, or not done, about the large number of migrants crossing the u.s. border with mexico that's prompted protests by migrant advocates and fiery attacks by republicans who want to impeach him. tonight, you will hear from secretary mayorkas about the efforts to push him out of office and why he refuses to call the situation on the southern border a crisis. >>> early morning is often the busiest time for illegal crossings along the u.s./mexico border. the day we went out with the u.s. border patrol near el paso, texas, was no exception. >> they're heading towards the carousel. >> before meeting the cabinet secretary in charge of securing the borders, we got a view from the field. the border patrol reported over two million apprehensions in the past year, a record high. some migrants surrendered themselves to border agents, with the intention of seeking asylum. but the dhs estimates another 600,000 people evaded agents and

there is no information that any employee of the department is suspected of wrongdoing in connection with the investigation. the department of homeland security is investigating the woman who has been charged with trafficking fentanyl for the last eight years. >>> taking a look at the golden gate bridge, things are looking really nice. meteorologist rob mayeda has more. >> it is really nice out there . sunshine a green hills all around. it's 66 in devlin. tomorrow temperatures climbing into the 70s. also near seven day should be around san rafael. as we go into san jose, one of the warmer spots on easter sunday, downtown san jose could see mid and upper 70s in the forecast. even san francisco warming up into the 60s. we will likely see another day just like it on monday before cooler changes. winds will pick up and we could see some mountain snow showers. we will talk about how much rain that could made for the bay area and how much cooler temperatures will get. >> you can access the microclimate forecast anytime you want. if you have not already download the nbc bay area mobile app. you can get the doppler radar and get customized alerts sen

>> senator, i would defer some of this to the apartment -- department of homeland security. e believe dhs -- >> woodcutting the number of agents in half hurt our ability? >> i believe it would. >> right now, more than half of agents are engaged in housekeeping, chauffeurs and babysitting of the 5.5 million illegal aliens crossed the border. they are not on the border or at ports of entry, they are processing the highest rate of illegal immigration in history. democrat members of congress have the remarkable claim that the open borders under joe biden has no impact. between october 2021 and september 2022, one source estimated -- officials at the number at 1.2 million. they vary from terrorists on the terror watch list, 98 people were encountered at the southern border that we know of. or, they can be drug dealers that are carrying drugs. is that correct? >> i will defer. >> the dea has no view? >> from our investigations, we see -- >> i said drug dealers. >> what we see is mostly tractor-trailers and personal vehicles. >> you are sticking to the talking points. open borders t

i think most americans, and i would say most employees of the department of homeland security would alsohe border a crisis and the fact that the secretary doesn't actually say the word, i think, sort of speaks volumes about his continued word salad afterword salad. the members of congress, and congressional testimony and really dancing around a lot of key issues not just on that question but on many other questions he simply just will not answer the question, which not only is a disservice to members of congress but it appears as though he's trying to hide the ball on something and i think that's probably one of the most concerning aspects. liz: what is he trying to hide the ball on? >> well, i think the true nature of what's going on on the border. how it got there, how it got to be a crisis and the solutions if you listen to the hearing, there were a number of times where he could have said look, we're doing one, two, and three to bring this crisis under control, but he wasn't willing to go there when members of congress asked him, well why don't you do this to drive away people from t

bush tapped me to help lead the department of homeland security. our nation is a land of immigrants who make up the fabric of our democracy. in order to respect those follow the legal path to coming to this country we must reform our asylum laws. to devote more resources to border patrol. quickly remove those to come into our country illegally. i go after the cartel to are killing americans a deadly drug sentinel. [applause] when fentanyl is the leading cause of death for those 18 -- 49 and we are losing our sons and daughters way too soon. there are a few misguided leaders who say we should defund law enforcement. we should defund the fbi. i am here today in support of our law enforcement heroes. the arguments are defund polices designed to undermine our rule of law. we should not defend the police. we should not defund the fbi. but we do need serious reform to refocus our federal law enforcement. if someone has meant that all the federal law enforcement agencies, i know what needs to be done. we must make them more focused, more accountable and su

migrant teen working overnights to clean a slaughterhouse nbc news first to report a department of homeland security probe into human trafficking. here's julia ainsley, and we have to warn you, some of the images are disturbing. >> reporter: in a small kansas town, an undocumented 16-year-old we're calling pedro to protect his identity is headin to work the overnight shift to clean a slaughterhouse that hazardous work illegal for anyone under 18 this is a slaughterhouse floor after it was scrubbed down, and this is what it looked like when workers arrived before their overnight shift. what was work like last night [ speaking non-english >> translator: well, it was very tough. >> what do you clean [ speaking non-english >> translator: where they kill the cows, i have to clean all the blood of the cows until i finish, and i have to leave my area clean. >> reporter: pedro tells us his shift starts around 11:00 p.m. and ends around 6:00 a.m., giving him just enough time to shower and get to high school pedro says he has been working there since he was 15 up to 7 days a week did you have trouble staying

because i have tremendous faith in the people of the department of homeland security, and a crisis speaks doing now as a television program? >> yeah, no -- [laughter] i don't. we'll call it something else. i think the american people, we know, will put up with a lot, but hay don't like being treated like they're stupid and having just a bunch of words put out there to make something sound pretty when it's really ugly. st an ugly situation that his own employees, the people who are under him, are experiencing right now. they don't have faith in the him. so for him to say i can't call it a crisis because that means i'm not showing faith in the people i work for, he knows that there are reports -- we have audio that we've had on our own air that, from people who work for him who say they don't believe in him. and so for him to do that is not just disingenuous, it's just wrong. and the american people, i know, are just sicced and tired of it. [inaudible conversations] >> yeah, i'm sorry. for him to say he has faith in his border agents and official ifs, the same guy who accused them of whippi

bird here, facebook ads and other things children are being lord put to work here that department of homeland security has trends on the talk watch list. some of who do you see in neighboring areas are sponsoring the children to the trafficker who ultimately brings them here. the new york time, hannah dryer did an amazing expos, a where she actually sheil, how much the child had to pay for food. how much the child had to pay creating slavery, slavery, we're trafficking slaves to this country middleman because we're paying the flight directly to the end. but administration has handed these children over really been vetted. many of them are people who illegally cross, including records obtained from the countries of origin, through their u. s. conflicts and documentation provided by us based sponsors. there is no one with law enforcement experience over seeing where children are going. it sounds like the u. s. government is running a human trafficking operation. we now have disturbing reports of children being kidnapped at the border and ending up in the sex trade all in a process that the u. s. governm

facebook ads and other things children are being lord here and then put to work here that department of homeland security has transnational criminal organizations . on the talk watch list, some of who got their fingerprints here in washington, d. c in neighboring areas are sponsoring the children. it's indisputable. so the money goes to the traffic or who ultimately brings them here. the new york times actually showed, i think, hannah dryer did an amazing expose a where she actually showed the debt page of the child. how much the child had to pay for food, how much the child had to pay for rent, really were engaged in creating slavery. slavery, we're trafficking slaves to this country. absolutely. they see us as the middle man, because we're paying the flight directly to the end user. the traffic or the biden administration has handed these children over to individuals who have not really been vetted. many of them are people who illegally cross the border themselves. and then the administration did no follow up to find out what happened to these children after they were handed over to individuals who had

the department of homeland security's recent budget request is no exception to the rule. his year instead of asking for more money to equip law enforcement and secure our southern border, joe biden and secretary mayorkas decided to undercut that mission by $600 million. that is right. the bored's wide open -- the border's wide open. we have a secretary of homeland security that does not believe in securing the homeland. so what does the secretary and the president do? they cut the budget for securing the border by $600 million. this is something that is so unfair to our border patrol. we're only halfway through the fiscal year and already customs and border protection has recorded more than one million t encounters, that's right one million, that's not counting the gottaways, the ones they see but can't get to, or the ones later where they find where they've been but they could not get to them. didn't know about them. this is one one million encounters on that border. now, they have also seized 105,000 pounds of drugs, including enough fentanyl to kill several cities. almo

just last september i was on on the ground, the indiana department of homeland security for flooding that occurred in switzerland, jefferson ohio counties in my district. several years ago i worked for u.s. senator dan coats and worked with stakeholders during the last map upcandidate. update. i want to say, first, i really appreciate the work of fema. also when i was working for senator coats, i was on the ground for the tornado that hit henryville, indiana, and worked with fema for about six months, and they provided excellent service during that time. so hang. so thank you. many hoosiers face the threat of flooding. the vast majority of properties in indiana lack flood insurance coverage. approximately 2. 5 million properties currently don't have nfip coverage. the number of homes and businesses covered has also cropped many recent years. -- dropped in recent years. there were 20,100 nfip policies in indiana, as of last october there were less than 17,400 policy, a drop of more than 13% for over 2700 policies from just a year and a half prior. one reason why indiana has been dropp

the department of homeland security says under these budget levels they would have to reduce the area and marine patrol operations by over half. they say this plan would lead to hundreds of pounds more of fentanyl illegally getting into the u.s. every year. i can't believe you support that. >> i don't but the president does because in his budget that he just submitted to the committee we had to do oversight hearings he reduces by 600 million. >> you're going to cut it by 22%. >> 1200 employees. >> the secretary's is 640,000 families would lose their rental assistance under a 22% cut. do you support making our seniors homeless by cutting housing choice vouchers that they rely on? >> this is to me predictable rhetoric. he would suggest that any cut would have to come from a vulnerable population and you've listed all of them. it's stunning that you all could be so consistent on the people that you think would bear the brunt of these cuts and i would suggest with all due respect there is a lot of waste and a lot of bloat in this government and we've got to get to cutting and reducing it.

is when could we see mike pence in front of a grand jury and sarah cnn's learning that former trump national security officials from the department of homeland security , chad wolf and ken cuccinelli have testified to a federal grand jury about trump's efforts and desire to seize voting machines. after the 2020 election. they said that they told the president and his team that he had no authority to do so. this really speaks to how special counsel jack smith is zeroing in. on the various ways . trump tried to overturn his election loss. that's right. i mean, this is excellent reporting from my colleagues at cohen sort of looking at how the special counsel is digging into a bunch of these schemes the trump team considered to try to overturn the 2020 election. of course, we know that one of these sort of crazy ideas under consideration was seizing the voting machines, and now we're learning. there are a handful of these officials who have either gone before the grand jury or spoken to prosecutors saying, look, we told the former president, we told his allies that there was no authority to do this, that they could not go ahead with this kind of