Beto O'Rourke

A deeply unpopular decision that the NCA made was to xeriscape that cemetery, remove all of the grass, put in gravel, rock, and dirt.

You know, on one end of the spectrum, you could pat down every single person who enters a Federal facility; search every square inch of their cars they are driving into a Federal garage.

When you have an event like the Navy Yard's shooting, how does that change your assessment?

The government shutdown continues to harm the communities I represent and the more than 43,000 Federal employees in El Paso who dedicated their careers to public service. The Federal district court in El Paso is one of the busiest in the…

I wanted to add to a comment you made about the VA and veterans being dependent on other Federal departments and agencies.

I received the following email from Stu Harris in El Paso yesterday. He's the vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, Local 1929. He writes: Our Border Patrol agents in the El Paso sector are outraged by this nonsense. We…

43,000 El Pasoans are Federal employees. This is the fifth highest concentration of Federal employees in the Nation. Many of them work at Fort Bliss. Others are Border Patrol agents or customs officers at the busiest ports of entry in the…

the cost can be measured in a number of ways; certainly what it costs to purchase that and maintain it and operate it

for every minute of additional wait time at a port of entry it costs the U.S. economy $166 million

For Ms. Gambler, one of the memories that I think looms large for this committee and certainly for me in making any decision on a biometric exit system was our failure with SBInet, where we spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a border…

I appreciate hearing that. And I also wanted to follow up on one other thing that you said.

When we talk about users, are you talking about Border Patrol agents?

I am a big believer that those things that we measure tend to improve.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you for holding this hearing today.

You referred to yourself as a customer service organization, and I really like to hear that.

the SBInet program, also known as the virtual fence, which was billions of dollars' worth of surveillance and communications equipment, that was ultimately canceled in 2011, because it was costly, it was proven to be ineffective.

It is a way to encourage, at no cost to the VA or the Federal Government, veterans to file fully developed claims online.

I am very honored to be here today to speak on the topic of immigration reform, immigration reform that is humane, that is rational, that is fiscally responsible, and to be doing so with the guidance and leadership of Congressman Cardenas…

I want to revisit a decision that preceded your tenure.

It saves you money, the VA, in processing those claims, and it saves the veteran hundreds upon hundreds of days in getting a more timely response.

We are trying to hold you accountable. We are held accountable by our constituents.

I want to also thank you for convening this panel. And I really appreciate the nature of your questions about how do we ensure that something that is perhaps working well becomes fully successful.

we had nearly 100 veterans come in. We were able to give them current status, file additional information.

I think it is important to acknowledge that Mr. Murphy from the VA has remained. He is listening to your testimony.

This is perhaps the most solemn responsibility we have as a country.