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.