Anonymous ID: 624821 June 6, 2023, 3:01 p.m. No.18962758   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>2860 >>2956 >>3018

Subcommittee On National Security, The Border, And Foreign Affairs Hearing

0:05

Your report states that frequent deployment to the southern border are affecting staffing levels at the northern border.

 

0:12

This is an important issue to my home state of North Dakota.

 

0:15

Businesses rely on customers from both sides of the Canadian us.

 

0:19

Border commerce doesn't stop at five PM when C B P closes a port of entry crops still need to be planted, substantial detours to operating operating facilities significantly raise costs after years of shortened operational hours, C B P finally extended hours at three ports of entry in North Dakota on a trial basis.

 

0:39

But these hours are only temporary while C B P evaluates vehicular traffic which does not account for other ramifications including the transfer of goods and services.

 

0:48

Lawful economic access to the United States should not be based on volume.

 

0:52

It is the government's basic duty to maintain the northern border and drawing down at the northern border to beef up the southern border does not justify shutting down North Dakota.

 

1:01

North Dakota's eco economic sector.

 

1:05

DH S is not properly allocating resources and we talk about these things in large dollar amounts, but I'm just having to talk about what is actually in the grand scope of things, a fairly insignificant one.

 

1:15

However, it would be significant at the northern border.

 

1:19

One of your reports highlights that the ice, that ice spent over $17 million for hotel space and services that largely went unused in 2021.

 

1:29

Can you elaborate on how ice managed to waste $17 million in taxpayer resources?

 

1:36

If you're speaking about the contract that was between DH S and the Endeavors Corporation, the contract required a minimum number of beds to be available to a store in certain periods.

 

1:53

And those beds would be paid for regardless of whether a migrant was actually staying in the room in the hotel room.

 

2:03

Were the beds ever used?

 

2:05

Not to my knowledge.

 

2:07

No.

 

2:07

Why was I able to use sole source contracting and not award a contract based on an open competitive process?

 

2:16

because the question that you just asked relates to an ongoing matter, I'm not able to provide more sufficient information in this setting.

 

2:26

If the company had no experience, why were they awarded the contract over more experienced companies again?

 

2:31

Congressman the same answer as before.

 

2:34

So my next question, who is a, there's an ongoing investigation?

 

2:38

So hopefully somebody will be held accountable, sir.

 

2:43

Would $17 million help at the northern border?

 

2:46

I believe it would help anywhere.

 

2:48

I mean, we don't have the volume that they have on the southern border.

 

2:51

Everybody understands that.

 

2:52

But, we also move a lot of products that a lot of people need.

 

2:55

If you like bread, you like what goes on between North Dakota and Canada.

 

3:00

If you like, you know, to eat a hamburger, you care about what goes on in North Dakota and Canada.

 

3:07

I, I'm trying, I'm just trying to understand, where we end up and how we get to these places that we have these scenarios where we are paying for money.

 

3:19

I mean, we've seen people all over the country, many in sanctuary cities balk and revolt at the fact that we're moving migrants across and moving them out of a high density area into other places.

 

3:36

When we're, when we're talking about, do we have any analysis at this point yet of what we're spending on hotel rooms and other facilities while we have $17 million worth of unused beds?

 

3:48

I believe.

 

3:49

Congressman, we have an ongoing audit to look at the movement of migrants and what it's costing DH S to do that.