Bennie Thompson

It is incomprehensible that the Trump administration continues to roll back regulations that help to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

The very real and sad truth is that climate change is upon us.

The DHS mission is too important to the National security of our country.

Efficiency in operations and efficiency in management.

I thank the Chairman, and I echo the comments of my Democratic colleagues in restating the importance of this hearing today.

I am proud that on April 1, 2019, the House passed my bill, the CLASS Act, which would establish a council within DHS to ensure the Department coordinates its school safety activities.

If the children of God get to this border we have to clearly take care of them.

As a father and grandfather I am very concerned with how we treat children when they get to our border. We should not separate them from their parents.

We should not put them in cages. We should provide adequate medical and other care that they need.

As Americans, we are a Nation of laws. Our value system says that we should take care of people.

Real oversight of this family separation policy and how DHS and CBP are currently treating asylum-seeking families and children is long overdue.

No other administration has carried out a policy that deliberately separates migrant families--in some instances by default--when they reach the border at the scale we have seen over the past 2 years.

We must be clear. Though systematic challenges with detention conditions, due process and family screening protocols have been persistent over many years, the Trump administration is unique.

I adamantly hope we do not see a repeat of this cruelty this summer.

FEMA's poor response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico highlighted how far behind we are in emergency management.

I am pleased that the subcommittee's first hearing of the 116th Congress is focused on the state of the Nation's emergency preparedness.

I will remind everyone here that we have only until April 2020 to reauthorize this important program.

DHS's failure to integrate this kind of information into its tiering methodology is particularly troubling because communities along a chemical facility's fence line tend to be poorer and have first responders who may not be well-resourced…

As a former volunteer fire fighter who fought to include first responder information access provisions in the CFATS Act of 2014, I am disturbed that gap still exists nearly 5 years after the West, Texas disaster.

The perspectives we will hear today are often underrepresented in conversations about how to improve this important anti-terrorism program, and I am proud we have given them a seat at the table.

As Chairman, I am committed to getting a CFATS reauthorization package across the finish line.

I thank the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lofgren) for yielding. Mr. Chair, before I close, I would like to thank Speaker Pelosi, Chairwoman Lofgren, and Mr. Sarbanes for all the work they and their staffs have done to bring this…

I am encouraged CBP came to its senses and issued a partial stop work order on the contract.

I continue to have doubts about CBP's decision making as it tries to address its hiring struggles.

I am confident that under the Chairwoman's leadership, this subcommittee will do great work on behalf of the committee and the American people.