Examining Threats to ICE Operations
House Subcommittee on Responsiveness and Accountability to Oversight
2025-05-20
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Source: Congress.gov
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Transcript
The Oversight Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a recess at any time. We welcome everyone to today's hearing on the examination of threats to operations being performed by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, otherwise known as ICE. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from the state of Texas, Brandon Gill, to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. After that, we will remain standing for a moment of silence. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Moment of silence. I will now recognize myself for an opening statement. We are here today for one reason. Because the American people are watching their leaders. They're watching their leaders at every level of government. And they're watching who those who choose to protect illegal alien criminals over their own law abiding citizens. It's not rhetoric. It's not hyperbole. It's not a Republican talking point. It's just fact. Let me be very clear. This is not about politics. This is about public safety. This is about law and order. This is about whether the United States of America still has the will to enforce its own laws.
We're coming out of the largest border crisis in American history, and the American people continue to live with the consequences every single day. During Joe Biden's presidency, more than eight million aliens crossed the southwest border illegally, and that's at a minimum. There are probably many more. There are a lot of numbers out there, but we know at least that many. Six million of them were released into the country. They were given legal advice. They were given food, they were given education, they were given transportation, they were given shelter, and in some cases, even debit cards, all on the American taxpayer's dime. And at least 1.9 million gotaways crossed the border and escaped law enforcement altogether. didn't even know who they all are and where they all are living. The open southwest border created a drug crisis, a human smuggling crisis, and a violent crime crisis. Unfortunately, none of this was by accident. It happened because the Biden-Harris administration chose chaos over control, ideology over enforcement of the law, and politics over the American people. The numbers just don't show a crisis. They show a full-scale collapse of our sovereignty, our security, and the very idea that a nation without borders is still a nation at all. The worst part of it all is that it just didn't happen. It was designed. On day one of his presidency, the Biden-Harris administration canceled border wall construction. Day one. It gutted the remain in Mexico policy. It abused immigration patrol authorities to release hundreds, thousands of illegal aliens into our communities.
It virtually stopped enforcing immigration laws on the interior of the United States, which resulted in more than a 60% increase in ICE arrests during the first few months of the administration. And the Biden-Harris administration turned a blind eye to the spread of violent gangs like Trend, Diagra, and MS-13 across the country. The result? Terrorists on watch lists entering our country. Criminals with prior convictions for violent crimes such as assault, rape, Murder being released instead of removed. And an immigration enforcement system overwhelmed, underfunded, and pushed well beyond its limits. The only bright side of this chaos is that the American people made their choices overwhelmingly clear by rejecting these chaotic and terrible policies. They removed President Biden and Border Czar Harris and gave Republicans control of the House, the Senate, and the presidency.
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