Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI), chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs, announced in advance of the March 8 hearing on “Force Multipliers: Examining the Need for Additional Resources to Disrupt Transnational Crime at the Border and Beyond” it would analyze the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) methods for addressing crime, drugs, and human trafficking at the southern border.
“For the first hearing this subcommittee is going to have we’re going to have an opportunity to examine the technology and resources that work to keep our nation safe at the border points of entry and between points and entry,” Grothman said.
Witnesses who testified at the hearing were Diane J. Sabatino, the deputy executive assistant commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Office of Field Operations; and Anthony Salisbury, the deputy executive associate director U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the release reported.
National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs is a subcommittee of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee. It includes 11 Republican and 9 Democratic members, with Grothman and Ranking Member Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), according to its web page.
“Now I know some people like to fantasize about sealing the border or shutting down our asylum system or invading Mexico as I believe our full Committee Chairman actually mentioned on Fox News last night," Garcia said, "but we know that those are not reasonable.”
He said Congress should streamline border crossings for commerce and immigrants using a lawful immigration process that addresses the root causes of migration.
HSI’s Operation Hydra uses traditional investigative techniques with industry partnership, computer-based analytic tools and interagency collaboration to disrupt and dismantle chemical supplies, Salisbury said.
“In the last few years Operation Hydra is credited with seizing or disrupting the delivery of approximately 1 million kilograms of precursor chemicals destined for use by narcotics production labs in Mexico,” he said.
CBP doesn’t wait for illegal drugs to show up at U.S. ports of entry, Sabatino said.
“All CBP operational environments have sophisticated detection technology, including non-intrusive inspection systems, commonly called NII, that reliably and quickly detect the presence of suspects, illegal narcotics," Sabatino said. "And K9 operations also provide invaluable detection capabilities."
Salisbury said HSI tries to push crimes farther from the border through relationships with foreign governments working with the State Department. They identify the money flow and gas the cartels use to cross the border with its legacy Customs, Treasury Department and immigration days, noting a shift toward cryptocurrency.
Mexican cartels basically took over methamphetamine manufacturing from the U.S., bringing precursor chemicals from China and India and pumping it into the U.S., he said.
"It’s such a massive amount that it basically stopped the domestic supply of methamphetamine,” Salisbury said.
Now they are doing this cheap option with fentanyl, he said.
In fiscal year 2022, U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered more than 2.7 million undocumented people attempting to enter the U.S. through the southern border, NBC reported. That number broke the previous annual record of 1.7 million encounters in fiscal year 2021.
