Beto O'Rourke

I want to thank the President for this very difficult decision that he made, a very imperfect decision by its very nature.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Secretary, I want to begin by thanking you for your accountability.

I feel like there has been this implicit political bargain where there is going to be stepped-up enforcement and deportations.

In a community like mine, El Paso, where 25 percent of the population are immigrants... this is going to be a boon.

I think the status quo is untenable. As you and others have said, it amounted to effective amnesty.

I do, however, want to address an issue that Congressmen Smith and Duncan brought up, and that is the release of convicted criminals.

I hear from a number of veterans in my community that go to the VHA clinic in El Paso that they receive exemplary care in a timely fashion.

What are the audit and accountability mechanisms for CDC Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) grants?

For Dr. Merlin, my understanding is that there are experimental treatments for Ebola...

I would love to get your answers to those in a little more specificity.

What are the threats at our other ports of entry, sea ports and land ports, from a public health perspective?

I join my colleagues who said earlier that there is perhaps no way that the American public can know everything that each of you and the men and women who work with you have done to protect this country.

If you are missing legislative authority to do any of the things that you are talking about doing to turn around and improve the culture at the VA I hope that you will come to us as quickly as you know that.

I think we need to institutionalize these cultural changes.

But common sense tells me, just from cases that I have seen in my district, that there is a cause and effect relationship between care that is delayed, that ends up being care that is denied, that ends up in veterans dying.

I think we have to be far more creative and really be rigorous and disciplined about applying resources to where those threats are or where they could be based on established risk.

I think the ability to fire senior executives, get the dead wood and the fraudulent actors out of the way quickly...

We know in this country 22 veterans a day sadly take their own lives.

What intelligence has the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or the U.S. Department of State collected that may demonstrate whether or not a known or suspected terrorist individual(s) or group(s) has entered through the U.S…

According to Deputy Under Secretary for Analysis Jennifer Lasley, to date, there is no credible information that indicates that known or suspected terrorists have entered through the U.S. border.

When a Member of the Congress says, we all know that terrorist networks are using our Southern Border to enter the United States, I think it is very important for all of us in our sworn responsibility to know whether or not that is a true…

Thank you for raising the profile of this issue, you along with the ranking member, ensuring that this does not go unnoticed.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

There is, in fact, from everything that I know about this, absolutely no connection to the border.

But it does mean that we should only traffic in the facts and the data, and we should only raise these kinds of fears and anxieties when there is--there are facts to support them.