and 43 cbp agents have died from the virus so far. so i would urge my democratic colleagues to join me in cosponsoring my bill, hr 2776, the covid protection act, which would require the developments of mission a comprehensive plan of action to testing quarantine every migrants at the southern border and execute on that plan. i would also, mister chairman, like to submit for the record, an article dated august 4th that highlights the number of covid positive cases and it is titled texas border city says more than 7000 positive migrants released in the last week alone. i request unanimous consent for this to be added to the record. >> may i say something, congressman? you touch upon a very important subject. you touch upon a that is the health and well-being of our workforce. we launched operation vaccinate our workforce to make sure that vaccinations are accessible to our frontline personnel. and we have -- >> okay -- >> it is a tremendous part of our workforce that has been vaccinated and -- >> thank, you thank you, i appreciate that

i know that is something that tsa is working with cbp on. and at this time i would ask the clerk if she would please put up a photo to accompany my question. and mr. chairman, i would like this photograph to be entered into the record as well. as that is being put up i will let you know this was the photograph that was taken at dca, and it says the particular section of the document i want a question to, that the photo capture is optional. and as it relates to migrates, that migrants may decline to have their photograph taken as part of this screening process. and so it would seem to me we have a two tiered system. so we have a system by united states citizens where we're required by law tsa requires us to show feteo i.d. before traveling and then we have a second system for noncitizens in which not only are they required to show a photo i.d., but they can even decline to have their photograph taken if they decide to do so. and so i would ask if you could if at all possible please talk about the disparity in when u.s. citizens travel versus

instead cbp relies on local public health systems to test systematic individuals. according to cbp officials as a front line law enforcement agency it does not have the necessary resources to conduct such testing. i don't have to tell you that we're in a pandemic, mr. secretary. and i believe that testing of people coming across our southern border is one of the many keys to controlling the spread of covid-19. that is why back in march i introduced my first bill, the react act, to require covid-19 testing for all migrants. the oig recommendation coming out of the september 10th report said dhs should reassess its covid-19 response framework to identify areas for improvement to mitigate the spread of covid-19. the report went on to say dhs leadership must commit to strengthing these measures. without stronger measures in place dhs is putting its workforce, support staff, communities, and migrants at greater risk for contacted the virus. initially, with the predictable surge of the haitian migrants from mouth -- south america, they may before a with them the lambda v

>> cbp and tsa and force it. yes sir. >> i yield back. >> . >> thank you mr. chairman and to each of our witnesses for an informative discussion we are having. so with the ranking member and with the front-line workers here. and then to have a predictability for a career and this would have on —- up with the morale issues. i have unique question in the 2t century with the board to hijack it and planes and trains and subways and buses to become increasingly automated so they inevitably it is launching a cyberattack against the operational or navigational system of the transportation target at least with the ransomware attack adversaries considered new targets off-limits. so administrator like to speak to you about this. how does tsa work with the partners to prevent malware from the systems with the planes or trains are subways or buses et cetera? to make sure the threat is addressed. >> and in close coordination with css a and all modes of transportation. so that coordination is very good. additionally it is important we coordinate closely with owners and op

we're going to ban horses at our border by our cbp. so essentially you've taken trained horse men and women whose job is to use horses and rugged terrain, difficult terrain that you should use horses and now they can't use horses. we're now defending our border with our hands tied behind our back literally and figuratively. so now you also see a camp of haitian refugees that i can't wait to hear how they arrived at that place, but thousands, tens of thousands of haitians encamped at our southern border. and what were we doing? did we turn these people away? did we use our title 42 regulations to say because of covid we can't allow anybody? no, we have essentially a process that appears based on last night's video that we processed almost two thirds of these folks and released them into our country. and you know why? because we sent a few pack. my understanding is we sent a few single males back under our authorities. and why did we -- and haiti said they didn't want anymore back. they wouldn't take their own citizens back. and so we sa

cbp as an app that is used, i know that that is something that tsa is working with cbp on. and i would ask the clerk at this time if you would please put up a photo to accompany my question. and i would like this photograph to be entered into the record as well. i will let you know that -- thank you. this is a photograph taken at dca and it says they are that photo capture -- the particular section i want to look at is this action that says that photo capture is optional. and migrants may have the ability to decline to have their photo taken. so it seems that we have a two tier system. a system for united states citizens where we are required by law, with tsa requiring us to show photo i.d. before traveling. and then we have a second system for non citizens, in which not only are they not required to show a photo i.d. but they can even declined to have their photograph taken if they decide to do so. and so i would ask, if you could, if it all possible, please talk about the disparity we are u.s. citizens travel versus when migrants travel, and why migrants have the ability

cbp officials in those sectors consistently talk about the importance ofth title 42 authory in managing the situation at the border inn those sectors but recent court decisions could limit the use of title 42 authority in thehe future which would put more pressure on our border force and processing capacity. additionally with the severe challenges in the del rio sector we learned last week cbp will be transporting migrants each week to arizona forra processing. so w what steps does dhs need t take to improve processing capability and capability at the southwest border to manage this ongoing crisis including the situation we're seeing in del rio? >> thank you so much, senator. we've taken a number of steps, some of which i alluded to earlier in my response to senator hawley's question. we are moving individuals across the t southwest border to facilitate the expulsions under the centers for disease control title 42 authority. we are using expedited removal under title 8 as an additional authority.r we have begun prosecution of individuals who have prior removal ordersor and who are recid

they must take appropriate action on noncompliance, leading to [inaudible] with which the cbp [inaudible] . we must upgrade federal security law. there are limits to the ways in which individual consumers can meaningfully make choices about how their data is used. as a legal scholar argues, an important factor for the digital economy is to predict broader trends on social and collective behavior. corporate and government actors frequently do not even know about collection until after they analyze the data and identify processes. consent is not exist when people cannot know the information they are revealing. as a matter of public policy, we should not be able to forfeit our right to privacy and security simply by clicking agree, as injury would have us believe. ultimately, congressman shift the burden to data protection from consumers and litigators to regulators and tech companies. that collusion of big tech and wall street in the state and [inaudible] demand careful scrutiny. regulation in processing [inaudible] strictly necessary to carry out such as [inaudible] and their intentional

inspection stations open, operational and say, congress must ensure there is a a sufficient number of cbp and tsa officers as well as technology to support the return of international travel. we must avoid the long lines at checkpoints that create security vulnerabilities and minimize potential for passengers and baggage to miss their connecting flights. third, several provisions contained in the draft at the omnibus travel and tourism act would have a direct benefit to airports and the travel and tourism industry. we appreciate the inclusion of the insuring health safety in the skies act which acina strongly supports, a task force of federal agencies made up of us aviation industry partners would be very helpful in developing meaningful guidelines and developing recommendations to address the challenging operational and infrastructure issues related to covid-19 recovery and future pandemic planning. we also appreciate the inclusion of a tsa pilot program for one-stop security for international passengers connecting to domestic flights in the united states. acina has been a long supporter

since that time cbp showed data of two straight months of illegal border encounters above 200,000, which hasn't happened in decades. my question is when is your plan going to work? >> in fact, we are implementing the plan, senator hawley, and i can walk through the measures we've taken. >> my question is when is it going to work? >> it is, in fact, working. we have seen in the last several weeks, if not a month, a drop in the number of encounters at the united states border. we have been working very closely with mexico to increase interdictions. we have addressed the issue of recidivism. if, in fact, people have been previously removed, we are referring them to criminal prosecution. we have increased lateral flights across the border to facilitate the expulsion of individuals under title 42. >> i want to make sure i understand. 200,000 border encounters over two straight months, a record for over decades, and you're telling me this is success? are you happy with what's happening at the border right now? is this success? >> senator, as i said then and i say now. we have a plan, we're exe

>> on that question, the 1.3 million are arrests i think made by cbp. they are referred. they are -- cbp makes the decision about whether with those people into removal proceedings or to refer them to the justice department for prosecution. we have this year charged thousands of cases, thousands of cases, criminal cases, with respect to violations of the immigration laws, with respect to crossing of borders. i don't have the exact number. but the number is in the thousands. >> my time is expired. i express the concern, because when the department becomes focused on things that are not part of its business, harassing, intimidating parents of america, sometimes lose focus on the things that only the federal government can do. like controlling our border from the dangerous effects of illegal immigration. thank you. >> senator cruz and cotton are speaking three-minute rounds, is that correct? senator booker as well. senator booker. >> in recent months, there's been a disturbing spike in harassment and intimidation and threats of violence against school administrators, teacher

inaudible ] pay for itself so that as international flights come in, they can have border agents or cbp custom agents to receive the flights. is that still a program that dhs supports, if local airports want to do that? >> it is. congressman, thank you. it is a program that is implemented on a fact-specific circumstance, a specific basis,s and we look forward to speakingk with you about it in the jurisdiction that you identified.sd >> great, thank you. mr. chairman, i yield back. >> the gentleman yields back.. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. secretary mayorkas, good to see you. we have a letter that i know has been referenced from outgoing ha border patrol chief rodney scott that basically claimed great concern that he's witnessed lack of meaningful effort to secure the southern border. i would like to ask you, this person was 29 years in the department, a nonpartisan actor, somebody that served five administrations with the only o goal of securing this country. is the border more secure under your leadership than when you star