Contact:

Austin Altenburg

austin_altenburg@hsgac.senate.gov

WASHINGTON — The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee heard Thursday from Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan about the resources and authorities DHS needs to secure the country as it deals with a crisis on the border.

“We have a crisis at our southern border,” Chairman Ron Johnson noted in his opening statement. “According to the department, Customs and Border Protection will likely apprehend one million migrants by the end of the year. We have not seen numbers like this in over a decade, and the nature of the problem has changed fundamentally: Unlike past migration spikes, the migrants crossing today are mostly families and unaccompanied children. Congress needs to take action, including a serious look at the resources and authorities that DHS requires to address the crisis and secure our open borders.”

In the first seven months of the fiscal year, apprehensions of unaccompanied minors and individuals in family units at the southwest border or claiming asylum at ports of entry have exploded to more than 300,000.

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