Collins statement on immigration oversight hearing

"After months of ignoring the fact there even was a crisis, we now see an effort [by Democrats] to shift the blame and distract from the border security and humanitarian crisis. . . . Of course, my Democrat colleagues continue to oppose every single effort by the administration to address the crisis unilaterally." 

WASHINGTON — Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, gave the following opening statement at today's hearing on oversight of Customs and Border Protection. Below are the remarks as prepared. Ranking Member Collins: Here we are again. When we had this same hearing in February, I noted there was a crisis on our southern border fueled by loopholes in our immigration laws. Border Patrol Chief Carla Provost testified that legislative changes were needed to get the situation under control. Unfortunately, this committee has refused to consider any legislation to ameliorate the crisis, and the crisis has gotten worse. In February, Border Patrol apprehended more than 66,000 individuals, and that number has been above 92,000 every month since — peaking at over 132,000 apprehensions in May alone. Here we are again. In February, Chief Provost testified that Custom and Border Protection’s (CBP) facilities were overwhelmed and not designed for the current migration flows. Did those facilities get better on their own? Of course not. Unsurprisingly, failure to address the crisis led to worsening conditions. In May and June of this year, the inspector general observed serious overcrowding and other troubling conditions at Border Patrol facilities in El Paso and Rio Grande Valley sectors which had seen an extremely high volume of migrants. In response to those alerts, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated, “The current migration flow and the resulting humanitarian crisis are rapidly overwhelming the ability of the Federal Government to respond.” Here we are again, as the border crisis rages on, having yet another oversight hearing on a zero-tolerance policy that isn’t even in effect. The administration’s short-lived and poorly implemented zero-tolerance initiative was ended by an executive order more than a year ago. As I said in February, it is clear the system was not ready to handle the large number of children arriving at the border and separated from their parents. Agencies made mistakes. The administration could have, and should have, done a better job reuniting families after adult prosecutions, but, as many problems as there were with the initiative’s implementation, I appreciate the administration’s efforts to combat the border crisis because, as we know, Congress certainly isn’t doing anything. After months of ignoring the fact there even was a crisis, we now see an effort to shift the blame and distract from the border security and humanitarian crisis. Last week, my Democrat colleagues put forth some interesting theories: for instance, the Trump Administration had created this crisis; the crisis was merely the result of the administration’s incompetence and mismanagement; and the administration was engaged in negligent homicide and systematic torture. Of course, my Democrat colleagues continue to oppose every single effort by the administration to address the crisis unilaterally. They oppose the Migrant Protection Protocols and the Remain-In-Mexico policy. They oppose regulatory reforms to asylum to require individuals to apply in the first safe country through which they travel. They oppose the lawful enforcement of final orders of removal for family units who have had full due process and their day in court. They oppose reprogramming funding for more Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention space, even as single adults back up into CBP custody for much longer than 72 hours. This gets to the root of the issue: Democrats simply oppose whatever the administration does. What are the legislative fixes the administration has asked for? Two of them are the exact same fixes sought by the Obama Administration: a Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPRA) fix, to permit safe and swift repatriation of children from noncontiguous countries, and an end to the Flores Settlement Agreement limiting use of family residential centers, to ensure families are detained together for the duration of immigration proceedings. It is well past time for Congress to act. The crisis is evolving, but the solutions remain clear. We must change laws incentivizing use of a child as a “passport” into the interior of the United States and end the Flores Settlement Agreement. The rising number of borrowed, rented and even purchased children being encountered on the border proves this loophole is driving illegal immigration and putting children at risk. I was horrified and deeply affected when Acting Secretary McAleenan told me — as he testified last week – that DHS has “three ongoing cases . . . where a small group of children, five to eight in each case, have been used by dozens of different adults to cross our border, seeking release into the United States.” My colleagues claim to care about the children crossing the border, yet that repulsive abuse of children is what we condone when we refuse to legislatively fix Flores. We also need to fix a TVPRA flaw preventing repatriating unaccompanied minors from non-contiguous countries, thus incentivizing smuggling those kids into the U.S., and we must reform our asylum laws to ensure those who are eligible for asylum are quickly granted status, while those who are not are quickly sent home. I have introduced a bill fixing all three, and I hope the majority will bring it up for consideration as opposed to continuing to blast the Trump Administration for trying to solve the problem, while Democrats do nothing to address it.