Ranking Member Cuellar Statement at the Subcommittee Markup of the 2024 Homeland Security Funding Bill

Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks at the Subcommittee's markup of the 2024 funding bill:

Mr. Chairman, thank you so much, I am pleased to join you today as we markup the Homeland Security Appropriations bill.

The process of working with you and your team in drafting this bill has been a good one, consistent with the tradition of this subcommittee – although there are some parts of the bill where we are not in agreement.

I want to take a moment to acknowledge and convey my deep appreciation to all the Department’s personnel for the critical work they do every day to protect our country. And I want to emphasize that my appreciation extends to all of the Department’s personnel.

It is this subcommittee’s responsibility to provide DHS the resources necessary to carry-out their missions and to protect their health and safety; that must always be at the forefront of our work.

While this is not the bill I would have written, I do want to acknowledge that there are a number of bipartisan funding initiatives in the bill. For example, the bill provides:

• $287 million above the request to sustain existing and acquire some additional Border Security Technology capabilities;
• $20 million to sustain investments in Child Welfare Professionals;
• $430 million above the request for the U.S. Coast Guard;
• $37 million above the request for Homeland Security Investigations;
• $20 million above the request to sustain investments to combat forced labor practices;
• $13 million above the request for Employee Care and Suicide Prevention programs; and
• an additional $35 million for additional TSA screening technology at passenger checkpoints.

There are also several bipartisan directives and oversight requirements throughout the bill and report, including: budget execution and hiring plans; data on ICE’s detention population; communications support to better respond to disasters; a capabilities gap analysis regarding our ability to combat the flow of illicit drugs into the U.S.; and a plan to achieve 100 Percent Scanning of commercial and passenger vehicles entering the U.S, as you know that’s where the drugs mainly come into the United States, including fentanyl.

Despite these investments and reporting requirements, there are funding decisions and policy riders that I simply cannot support. When it comes to the border, the bill relies on outdated strategies that we know do not work.

For example, the bill would require $2.1 billion be rescinded and reappropriated for wall construction, a 14th century solution to a 21st century challenge— $36 million a mile, all it requires is a $100 ladder to take care of that.

It also strips funding to support border communities and nonprofit organizations dealing with increased migration. This is a provision that we added many years ago in a bipartisan way back in 2014 and 2017, and I hope we can reconsider and work together on that.

Furthermore, it eliminates required funding for better border management such as necessary processing capacity for asylum seekers, like a third Joint Processing Center, and funding for short-term facilities, migrant care, personnel overtime, and other costs.

The bill also reduces funding for the oversight of our immigration detention facilities, including the elimination of the Office of Immigration Detention Ombudsman, and it cuts funding for the Family Reunification Task Force.

It also does not provide funding to USCIS to reduce backlogs of immigration, refugee, and asylum applications and help Lawful Permanent Residents.

The bill also misses opportunities to make smart investments to address urgent issues facing our country – such as:

• providing more resources to counter the trafficking of illicit narcotics into our country, such as fentanyl and opioids;
• expanding our capacities at our ports of entry and interior checkpoints, that’s where most of the drugs will come – 94% of meth and fentanyl are ports of entry and checkpoints, and we need to support our men and women in green and blue to do that; intel specialists, inspection and detection technology, and infrastructure upgrades to keep pace with increasing volumes of trade and travel to the U.S. as global supply chains and international travel rebound to pre-pandemic levels; and
• requiring an updated Border Security Improvement Plan – which is now completely outdated.

It also includes several policy riders on which we will not be in agreement.

Mr. Chairman, I look forward to continuing to work together, so that by the end of this year’s appropriations process, we can produce a final bill that we can fully support, because this is important, especially if you look at the latest numbers. Yesterday we had 2,800 border encounters by border control, and we need to find out what’s working so we can fund that.

In the meantime, I want to acknowledge your leadership as the new chairman of this subcommittee. You have been open to input from us, willing to find compromise whenever possible, and faithful to the institutional oversight role of the subcommittee. 

I also want to thank the committee staff on both sides who have been highly professional and collegial and have served the Committee well.

With that, I yield Mr. Chairman.