Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey (D-NY), Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, delivered the following remarks at the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee's hearing on the fiscal year 2020 budget request for the Department of Homeland Security:
I’d like to thank Chairwoman Roybal-Allard and Ranking Member Fleischmann for holding this hearing. And thank you to our witnesses for joining us today.
The Department of Homeland Security’s mission to secure our nation from consistent and pervasive threats is not an easy one. We know this all too well in New York. To keep us safe, different components within DHS must effectively coordinate and cooperate, all while working closely with other federal, state, and perhaps most importantly, local and tribal agencies.
That is why the chaotic state of the Department of Homeland Security today is so troubling. It seems like the car is driving off the cliff with no one to take the wheel - although I guess, Acting Secretary McAleenan, you are now the driver. It’s even been reported that your predecessor, Secretary Nielsen, was so wary of angering President Trump that she tip-toed around addressing Russian hacking and interference in our elections so as not to ignite his no-collusion, anti-Mueller ire.
I hope you will take a less coy approach when it comes to one of the biggest threats our country and democracy face.
Your predecessor also instituted cruel and inhumane policies of ripping children from their families, which you helped implement. I want to be clear: ensuring the integrity of our borders and enforcing immigration laws are difficult but necessary jobs. But this administration’s politicization of border security and heartless obsession with aggressive immigration enforcement are un-American and unacceptable. You have an opportunity to turn it all around and work with Congress to humanely and ethically secure our borders.
Turning to Fiscal Year 2020, the budget request asks for an outrageous increase in ICE Operations and Support, including more than 1,000 additional ICE agents and support positions and a large increase in detention beds. These increases leave too much flexibility for ICE to support this administration’s overly aggressive interior enforcement policies. Democrats simply will not provide these dangerously high levels of detention for an agency that has remained opaque and whose enforcement tactics are unbalanced.
ICE should prioritize removal efforts on those with serious criminal histories, not those who have lived and worked peacefully in our communities for decades, or those who are fleeing unspeakable violence in hopes of safety and a better future.
The budget also proposes a large cut to the preparedness grants programs, including a $214 million decrease for the Urban Areas Security Initiative, which assists high-threat, high-density urban areas where the consequences of attacks would be most catastrophic. That also includes a $193 million cut to the State Homeland Security Grant Program, which enhances local law enforcement’s ability to prevent and respond to acts of terrorism and other disasters. State and local jurisdictions, like those in my district, cannot effectively plan for the worst when support from their federal partner is inconsistent or insufficient. These programs need adequate funding to keep our communities safe.
This Committee is eager to support the Department’s essential and complex missions, but we cannot do that at the expense of state and local preparedness or our American values. I look forward to a productive discussion today. Thank you.
Source: U.S. Department of HCA
