Bennie Thompson

We must ensure our first responders have the tools they need to get the job done and keep us safe.

The importance of these grants cannot be understated.

I think everyone on this panel agree that harassment, bullying, and retaliation is illegal.

I have also advocated for the Coast Guard to do more, to do better represent the country it serves.

Chairman Cummings knew that the Coast Guard work force needed to reflect the diversity of this great nation and I couldn't agree more.

Most people would have given up.

I am happy to be here simply because it has been a long time coming.

Today, the committee has the opportunity to hear about Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) needs at land ports of entry (POE).

The deck is stacked against an asylum seeker. Statistically, only 1 out of every 10 win their case.

I believe we are circumventing our international obligations, which are codified in U.S. law.

What Remain-in-Mexico has done is taken a small pebble of law in section 235 and created a wrecking ball with it.

I think we have to be mindful of that.

We are a Nation of laws. We have values that we have to uphold.

I think our concern, more than anything else, is when you implement a policy that lowers your standard as a country, then that is changing the values of who we are as a country.

Blocking the asylum process for vulnerable people and risking their lives by putting them in harm's way does not make us any safer; it just makes us less than the America we have held ourselves out to be.

Every step that can be taken to limit the amount of time an attorney can meet with their client is taken.

These organizations have been repeatedly denied access to the new temporary port courts in Brownsville and Laredo.

Establishing secretive courts that DHS uses to process asylum seekers forced to return to Mexico runs contrary to our values.

Returning migrants with known physical, mental, and developmental disabilities in Mexico is unacceptable.

Today the subcommittee will hear about how the Trump's administration Remain-in-Mexico Policy has distorted our immigration system by effectively closing the door to people seeking safety in this country.

As Members of Congress, we have a duty to act.

Since 2016, officials throughout the intelligence community have described in disturbing detail the many ways the Russian government sought to meddle in our elections.

Our adversaries have hardly kept their desire to undermine the integrity of our elections a secret.

Members of Congress should remember that under this administration, DHS has acted with impunity.

It's incredibly dangerous to pour indiscriminate taxpayer dollars into a Government agency that has little to no oversight.