0:00
thank you mister chairman missed secretary thank you for joining us
today
0:03
thank you for your service like to address two different topics I
want to
0:08
an issue you raised with it which is ices
0:12
and and foreign fighters to the best to DHS is knowledge
0:19
about how many americans have traveled abroad
0:22
to join up with ice senator the way
0:26
I E the way we calculate that
0:30
is there are approximately
0:33
and this is the last time I looked it could be a little higher now
180
0:37
individuals who have left to join the conflict
0:41
in Syria and Iraq or attempted to leave that number
0:45
as I said is probably a little higher by now but that's the number
which said
0:49
publicly and I i think that that's a fairly accurate number there's
an
0:53
unknown factor clearly sir
0:55
so but on the order of magnitude 180 is is a good
approximation
0:59
the last time I did the last time I saw a number it was about that
but it's
1:03
probably higher by now
1:05
chairman Grassley and I have joined together
1:08
in introducing legislation the expatriate terrorist act
1:12
that provides that an American citizen who travels abroad and joins
ices and
1:17
with a foreign terrorist organization has in so doing
1:20
constructively forfeited his or her American citizenship
1:24
there's existing legislation on the book that provides for other
grounds for
1:28
forfeiting your citizenship it right now joining a foreign
terrorist organization
1:33
is not not one of those
1:35
in your judgment would be beneficial to have additional tools to
prevent US
1:40
citizens from using american passports
1:43
to come back to this country and put it potentially wage jihad an
attempt to
1:49
American citizens here at how senator I don't know
1:53
that stripping somebody up there americans citizenship
1:57
is is the most effective tool
2:01
I do believe that we need
2:04
to enhance our efforts
2:08
to interdict those who were attempting to leave the country
2:12
and prosecute them for material support or deny them boarding
2:15
or deny them boarding on the return flight or in some way
2:19
investigate and apprehend them before they can get on the fly to
once they
2:22
return and we have spent
2:24
allotted time with our counterterrorism partners overseas
2:28
and within the Department of Homeland Security at
2:31
better efforts to detect those who are engaging in travel to Iraq
and Syria
2:36
including broken trap
2:37
so we spent a lot of time in DHS and with law enforcement
2:41
doing exactly that although I guess the
2:44
track record of apprehending people when they're coming back is is
not what it
2:49
should be if I recall correctly the
2:51
elders are now brother brother who
2:54
carried out the Boston bombing one
2:57
when he came back to america
3:01
his his return in its travel was not flag other
3:04
supposed to be is that correct very clearly there were some lessons
learned
3:08
that case and we've done
3:12
I believe a better job at connecting the dots
3:15
in reaction to that case well
3:19
let's shift to a different topic which is the enforcement of the
book the
3:22
up I am very concerned by the lack
3:27
up and force minute the border the lack of enforcement of our
immigration laws
3:31
and I'm very concerned on on multiple levels number one
3:34
from a perspective national security and dangerous
3:38
illegal immigrants being allowed to come into this country and
number two from
3:43
the perspective of this administration on enforcing the law
3:50
the washington times ran an article the headline on which was
3:54
illegal immigrant deportations plummet as Amnesty hampers removal
efforts
4:00
and it describes this year deportations have fallen
4:06
by another 25 percent this year and indeed
4:10
overall deportations have those who are here illegally
4:14
are down 41 percent from three years ago
4:19
and indeed the article goes on to say and the drop began almost
exactly
4:25
at the beginning President Obama's illegal amnesty
4:29
mister secretary how do you explain a 41 percent
4:38
a valence here illegally a
4:41
a couple things sir one the apprehensions
4:46
are in fact lower on the southern border so the intake is
lower
4:50
this fiscal year in particular to I
4:54
Secure Communities Secure Communities was a controversial program
that led to
5:00
the enactment up restrictions prohibitions
5:03
on cooperating with our immigration enforcement personnel
5:07
in a number of different state and local municipalities
5:11
it so forth Secure Communities was coming so controversial
5:15
that mayors governors were passing laws ordinances
5:19
that prevented cooperating with us in our enforcement
5:22
efforts and so we ended the Secure Communities program as I
mentioned
5:26
and put in its place a new program that I believe
5:29
will promote enforcement so that we can get at the criminals but
Secure
5:34
Communities in my judgment is one of the reasons where we're
seeing
5:38
bpm select lower numbers along with a few other things certainly
East stated
5:42
you're interested in just a moment ago at
5:45
getting at the criminals sleep well I guess this is very much the
same as the
5:49
reported justification for his illegal amnesty program that it
would allow
5:55
the focus a prosecutorial Reese resources on violent
criminals
6:00
it strikes me as a fairly serious problem with that argument which
is
6:03
namely that the department is not focusing its resources on
violent
6:07
indeed the number of criminal aliens
6:11
deported from the interior has declined 23 percent since last
year
6:15
and declined 39 percent since the peak in 2011 so when it comes to
violent
6:21
the department is not stepping up its efforts and indeed
6:25
if you look to 2013 in 2013 the Department released
6:32
thirty-six thousand and seven criminal aliens
6:36
with serious convictions that included 116 with convictions for
homicide
6:42
43 with convictions for negligent manslaughter
6:45
14 with convictions for voluntary manslaughter one with a
conviction
6:50
for something ice classified as quote homicide
6:54
will fall kill public official gun and that individual was
released
7:00
in addition to that yet 15,000 635
7:06
criminal aliens who have been convicted of drunk driving
7:10
that were released back into the population
7:13
2,691 who had convictions for assault
7:18
that were released into the population why is that apartment
releasing so many
7:24
criminal aliens and and secondly
7:26
can you tell this committee in the six and a half years at the
Obama
7:30
administration's tenure
7:31
just how many criminal aliens have been released how many murders
how many
7:37
how many people who have been convicted a violent assault had been
released into
7:47
yes I as you pointed out senator and fiscal year thirteen
7:52
there were about 36,000 individuals convicted of a crime
7:57
who once in our immigration system were bonded out
8:01
that number declined to about 30,000 and fiscal year fourteen but
in my judgment
8:06
that number is still too high
8:08
so in reaction to this situation
8:12
I directed that we do a number of things differently including
elevating the
8:16
approval for a circumstance where somebody has been convicted of a
crime
8:22
is released from immigration detention it is the case that
8:26
some these cases are due to release is by immigration judges
8:29
or by the Supreme Court jurisprudence and zaba das purses
8:34
Davis but I do think we could do a better job which is why I've
directed we
8:39
elevate the approval level for that and
8:42
that we no longer release people for lack of space
8:46
that was an issue an f.y.i 13 especially when we were dealing
with
8:50
sequestration we had a situation where released a lot of people
because we were
8:55
concerned we didn't have the space and have directed
8:57
that should not be an excuse for releasing somebody we should find
the
9:02
and so this is a problem
9:05
I recognize exist and I'm interested in promoting public safety and
that's why
9:09
I've directed these changes sir
9:10
thank you mister secretary now follow up with a a written request
for the
9:14
information I asked for
9:15
thank you written thank you mister
