WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emergency Management and Technology Chairman Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) announced a hearing for Tuesday, December 10, 2024, at 10:00 AM ET, to examine how President Biden and “border czar” Vice President Harris’ disastrous open-borders, anti-enforcement policies have put all levels of law enforcement across the nation at heightened risk. This hearing was originally scheduled for Thursday, September 26, 2024.

“In an environment increasingly hostile to law enforcement, officers across the country are now also facing completely preventable threats from the Biden-Harris open border,” Chairman D’Esposito said. “From brutal attacks on NYPD officers by illegal migrants in Times Square to the Venezuelan-based gang Tren de Aragua issuing a ‘green light’ for its members to fire on U.S. law enforcement officers, our dedicated men and women in blue are at heightened risk due to the Biden-Harris administration’s refusal to secure the border or uphold law and order. As a retired NYPD detective, I look forward to shining a light on the concerns of law enforcement across the country so Congress can hold this administration accountable for endangering our communities.”

DETAILS:

What: A Subcommittee on Emergency Management and Technology hearing entitled, “Given the Green Light: Open Border Policies and Threats to Law Enforcement.”

When: Tuesday, December 10, 2024 at 10:00 AM ET

Where: 310 Cannon House Office Building

WITNESSES:

Jonathan F. Thompson
Executive Director and CEO, National Sheriffs’ Association

Commissioner Patrick J. Ryder
Commissioner, Nassau County Police Department, State of New York

The Honorable Michael L. Chapman
Sheriff of Loudoun County, State of Virginia, On behalf of the Major County Sheriffs of America

David J. Bier
Director, Immigration Studies, CATO Institute

Witness testimony will be added here. The hearing will be livestreamed on YouTube and will be open to the public and press. Press must be congressionally credentialed and should RSVP by Monday, December 9, 2024, at 6:00 PM ET.

BACKGROUND:

Last month, the Department of Homeland Security reportedly sent a memo to department officials, warning of the presence of the Venezuelan-based gang, Tren de Aragua (TdA) in at least 16 states across the country. In August 2024, the American Sheriff Alliance released a warning to their members that TdA had issued a “green light” to its members to attack and fire upon law enforcement officers across the U.S. The Homeland Security Investigations office in Chicago warned the same in a memo to its agents back in July. In June 2024, a Venezuelan illegal alien, connected to TdA and released into the country in 2023, shot two NYPD officers following a traffic stop. The man was a suspect in other criminal activity and had been living in a city shelter until May.

In January 2024, as many as 14 individuals in the U.S. illegally brutally attacked two New York Police Department (NYPD) officers in Times Square, New York City. At least two of the migrants charged are members of TdA. The alleged leader of the bunch was reportedly caught at the Southwest border in May 2023 and released into the country.

In December 2023, Bruce Blakeman, executive for Nassau County, New York, testified to the Committee, “[w]e have seen an increase in crime, basically because you have these organized gangs that are part of the drug cartels from Mexico and other countries who have come to the metropolitan area,” and that many illegal aliens are committing crimes to pay back their debts to the cartels.

In March 2023, Kinney County, Texas, Sheriff Brad Coe testified to the Committee that his deputies arrested 741 human smugglers in 2022, up from 169 in 2021, and that the department was on pace to apprehend more than 900 in 2023. “The number of pursuits has increased with the increase in human smuggling arrests. With these increases, the risk of traffic accident[s] and deaths associated to these accidents also increase,” he said.

Aside from increased threats, the Committee’s phase 4 report on the border crisis revealed that state and local law enforcement are also incurring large financial costs due to increased illegal immigration.

 
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