Leveraging Technology to Strengthen Immigration Enforcement
House Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation
2025-03-04
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Source: Congress.gov
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Transcript
Good morning. The Subcommittee on Cybersecurity Information Technology and Government Innovation will now come to order and welcome everyone who is here today. Without objection, the chair may declare a recess at any time. I will now recognize myself for the purpose of making an opening statement. Good morning to everyone who is here today, to our witnesses, to our guests who are here as well. Important conversation about leveraging technology to strengthen immigration enforcement. It was last year when I was in the Oversight Committee And I exposed a sanctuary sheriff in the state of South Carolina, Charleston County, South Carolina. Her name was Kristen Graziano. And I learned that she was not working with ICE at the time. And she was letting illegal immigrants who were here in our country illegally, criminals, because they break the law when they come into our country as soon as they cross that border illegally. It's a crime. But she was allowing rapists, pedophiles, molesters, murderers out onto the streets of South Carolina, in my district, in my state, doing harm to women and girls. And so having this conversation today is more important than ever, because we have to stop this. And I will say this, that illegal border crossings are down significantly Now that Donald Trump is president, I believe the last stat I read was that they were down 90%. But anyway, when I was exposing what my sanctuary sheriff was doing last year, my lieutenant governor, Pam Yvette, stood silent. My attorney general, Alan Wilson, stood silent i was literally one of the only people in south carolina willing to stick my neck out put my career on the line my reputation on the line to make sure this kind of thing stopped and so today we're going to have this hearing about using technology to minimize illegal immigration to strengthen immigration enforcement first of all it's well documented the biden administration used technology to facilitate the invasion of our nation
by millions of illegal aliens, the CBP One app being just one example of this. Today's hearing will explore how technology can help strengthen the enforcement of our nation's immigration laws. Cutting edge technology enhances immigration enforcement and reduces risks for immigration enforcement officials. From facial recognition software to data analytics, powered by artificial intelligence to GPS monitoring, advanced technologies empower U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, to track, apprehend, and deport illegal aliens in our country. And we know right now under the leadership of Donald Trump, under the leadership of Tom Holman, that we're trying to deport those who are here illegally as fast as we can. And I believe we don't have enough ICE agents right now to do that. We've got to make sure that ICE and Homeland Security have all the resources they need to do it as quickly as possible. Tracking illegal aliens and identifying threats to the homeland allows ICE to more effectively enforce our nation's immigration laws and remove those who are unlawfully present in the United States. Former President Biden and his Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas willfully and intentionally unleashed an invasion, an invasion, of illegal aliens into the US from around the world. We had more people crossing illegally into our country that were on the terrorist watch list than ever in the history of the United States over the last four years. Illegal aliens shepherded into the country by the Biden administration include terrorists, murderers, rapists, pedophiles, cartel members, drug traffickers, sex traffickers, child traffickers, human traffickers, not exactly the kind of people you want roaming the streets of our communities. By systematically dismantling President Trump's policies from his first administration, the Biden administration flung the border wide open for any and all who wish to enter here the U.S. illegally. This has led to the unlawful entry of over 10 million illegal aliens into the U.S. and the other 2 million, quote, known gotaways, end quote, who entered the country without
once being apprehended. As of last July, there were over 646,000 illegal aliens with additional criminal histories running around free right here in the United States. And those are only criminal aliens that are known to ICE officials. So the actual number is actually statistically probably significantly much, much higher. Why is this issue important? Why must we use all means at our disposal to identify, locate, and deport all illegal aliens in the U.S.? It's because the heinous nature of the crimes committed by those who enter the U.S. illegally and treat this nation as their own playground to get rich by selling human beings and illegal drugs while victimizing women and children. The most dangerous criminals include cartel organizations that control the border, who force women into indentured servitude or sex slavery to pay for their entry into the US. They subject children to child pornography. If you speak to law enforcement at the border, you'll hear about rape trees, where the underwear of women and girls brutally raped on their journey to America are hung like trophies. 10 years ago, I didn't even know what fentanyl was, and now I personally know multiple people who've died of a fentanyl overdose. We've all heard stories also of law enforcement who are doing investigations who are accidentally exposed to fentanyl, end up in the hospital, very sick. They're lucky they haven't died. The Biden administration shoulders the blame for the record deaths of the American citizens, the record number of illegal aliens, and the record profits for drug cartels due to fentanyl and human trafficking.
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