FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 14, 2025
Chairman Green Opens DHS Budget Hearing With Secretary Noem: “The Trump Administration Has Ended the Immediate Crisis at Our Borders”
WASHINGTON, D.C. –– Today, House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN) delivered the following opening statement in a hearing to examine the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) budget, featuring testimony from DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
As prepared for delivery:
Good morning, Secretary Noem, and thank you for joining the Committee today to discuss President Trump’s budget to fund the crucial mission of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Before we begin, I want to mention that this is Police Week, a time for us to remember and honor the contributions of the men and women of federal, state, and local law enforcement across the country, including within DHS.
So much could be said about all of you who devote your lives to service and keep us safe, but for now, let me simply say thank you, and know that our Committee has your back.
Madam Secretary, this is your first appearance before the Committee, and I look forward to continuing to work closely with you and your team as we strive to undo the damage and chaos created by your predecessor, Alejandro Mayorkas.
When you took office, you inherited an unprecedented crisis at our borders created by President Biden, Vice President and “border czar” Kamala Harris, and Secretary Mayorkas.
For four years, the administration and unaccountable bureaucrats who helped craft their extreme agenda dismantled our secure border, gutted interior immigration enforcement, and implemented a policy of mass “catch and release” that flooded our communities with millions of illegal aliens.
Under the Biden-Harris administration, Customs and Border Protection recorded more than 11 million encounters of inadmissible aliens at our borders. On top of that astronomical number, CBP also recorded roughly 2 million known gotaways—a number that exceeded the previous 10 fiscal years combined.
That’s more than 13 million inadmissible aliens who violated our sovereign borders in just four years, around quadruple the numbers from the first Trump administration. And all because the administration’s policies and rhetoric encouraged them to do so.
The first few months of the second Trump administration provide a remarkable contrast.
Under your and President Trump’s leadership, the Border Patrol has apprehended just around 25,000 illegal crossers at the Southwest border. By comparison, in December 2024, more than 47,000 illegal crossers were apprehended.
We went from a record 301,000 illegal crossings at the Southwest border in December 2023, to just over 7,000 in March: an astounding 97-percent drop.
It turns out we didn’t need “comprehensive immigration reform,” or the woefully misguided Senate border bill pushed by Secretary Mayorkas. We just needed a president willing to enforce the laws Congress already passed.
Because illegal aliens now know that President Trump will have them removed from the country, they’ve stopped coming.
My colleagues on the other side of the aisle understand this. They do not want to talk about these victories because they know that for four years, they stood on the wrong side of the issue, defending open borders and the abolition of ICE.
They also understand the American people do not trust them on the issue of border security and immigration enforcement—in large part because of their radical stances. I expect they will spend a lot of time today twisting the truth to mislead the American people.
I look forward to hearing you set the record straight.
And while we’re talking about Democrats’ anti-enforcement extremism, I would like to briefly extend my regrets to you, Madam Secretary, and to the entire DHS workforce, for the antics we saw on display outside the Delaney Hall detention facility last week.
Right now, attacks on law enforcement across this country are up 400%. Public officials should be sending a clear signal that these brave public servants are to be respected, not assaulted.
However, on Friday, current and former Democrat members of this Committee stormed their way into the ICE facility in Newark, causing mass chaos, and verbally and physically accosting members of federal law enforcement in the process.
I am embarrassed by what I saw. Everyone should be. This behavior is utterly unbecoming for members of Congress. Democrats may talk a big game about law and order, but these actions are a violation of that sacred principle. Not only have Democrats excused these actions, but they have actually blamed ICE for what happened.
This behavior demands a swift and firm response. Action will be taken on this, trust me.
Despite Democrats’ best efforts to prevent it, the Trump administration has ended the immediate crisis at our borders. However, more work remains, particularly in removing the millions of individuals who have no lawful basis to be in the United States.
It is essential that we swiftly fund enforcement efforts through the reconciliation process. Congress must also codify President Trump’s successful policies to ensure they can withstand the schemes of other open-border radicals.
Meanwhile, the open border is not the only threat our nation has faced over the last four years. While the Biden-Harris administration had its back turned, the Chinese Communist Party executed brazen operations on U.S. soil, including running secret police stations in our cities and conducting surveillance operations.
On top of that, Chinese-affiliated firms are buying up U.S. farmland and commercial properties, including in areas near sensitive government sites.
More than 60,000 Chinese nationals illegally crossed our Southwest border between Fiscal Years 2021 and 2024. Most of them were released by the Biden-Harris administration into the interior, despite us not knowing their true intentions or backgrounds.
The CCP is pushing the envelope harder than ever. Consequently, we need a robust, innovative, and consistent effort to push right back. Our cyber borders also remain under assault.
Most notably, malicious cyber actors associated with the Chinese government have targeted us with some of the most sophisticated and sustained hacking operations we have ever seen. The Salt and Volt Typhoon intrusions revealed significant gaps in our cybersecurity posture, compromising Americans’ private data and key sectors of our critical infrastructure.
We have not forgotten devastating incidents like the Colonial Pipeline attack in the spring of 2021, which led to oil and gas shortages across the country and lines at almost every gas station.
We cannot stay ahead of these evolving cyber threats if we do not have the right people with the right skills to defend our nation.
Today, more than 500,000 cybersecurity positions across this country, in both the public and private sectors, are currently unfilled.
That’s half a million cyber professionals not on the frontlines to defend us from the malicious activity jeopardizing our national security.
That’s why I introduced the Cyber PIVOTT Act, which would create an ROTC-style scholarship program enabling men and women across this country to gain hands-on experience in cybersecurity or related fields in exchange for a period of required government service, across any level of government.
Earlier this year, the Committee favorably reported the Act to the House. Democrat Senator Gary Peters, ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Senator Mike Rounds, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, introduced companion legislation.
It’s time to bring this bill to the floor for a vote.
Madam Secretary, I look forward to working with you on finding creative solutions to our cyber workforce shortage, as well as ensuring that the agencies under DHS tasked with defending our cyber borders, primarily CISA, remain focused on that task.
As your budget rightly indicates, the agency’s censorship of millions of Americans will come to an end. Instead, CISA’s engagement with the private sector must focus on protecting critical infrastructure and our federal civilian networks.
This must include streamlining burdensome regulatory requirements and ensuring CISA remains a trusted and reliable partner to the public and private sectors.
I trust that over the next four years, you will devote maximum effort to dismantling the censorship industrial complex while ensuring CISA is positioned to succeed at its core mission.
These are some of the most substantial challenges, but many more await us.
Madam Secretary, I expect meaningful progress on all of them, but I am equally confident in your leadership and resolve to get the job done. Together, let’s re-secure our homeland.
###
