Seth Magaziner Asks Mayorkas How DHS Is Addressing Domestic Terrorism Threats Leading Up To Election

5 months ago

During a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on Tuesday, Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-RI) spoke to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about the need to pass security funding and preventing domestic terrorism threats.

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Transcript

00:00 I now recognize Mr. Magaziner, the gentleman from Rhode Island, and the ranking member of

00:04 the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Law Enforcement and Intelligence for his five

00:08 minutes of questions. Thank you, Chairman, and thank you, Mr. Secretary, for being here.

00:12 Our country faces a range of security threats from foreign terrorist organizations,

00:18 domestic extremists, cartels, organized crime, and natural disasters, just to name a few.

00:24 And while you have been diligently doing your job, along with your colleagues at the Department,

00:29 to protect the American people in the face of these challenges, our Republican colleagues in

00:34 the House have instead been playing politics, culminating with a political impeachment that

00:40 had no legal basis. I am sorry that some of our colleagues have chosen to make you the target of

00:46 political attacks instead of getting you the tools that you need to do your job to keep people safe.

00:53 And I want you to know that many of us are still willing to put politics aside

00:59 and work with you and work with each other on a bipartisan basis to protect the homeland.

01:05 The President's fiscal year 2025 budget requests $62 billion for the Department,

01:11 including hundreds of millions more for staffing and technology to secure the southern border.

01:17 It also proposes $4.7 billion for a Southwest Border Contingency Fund to provide resources

01:24 to the Department when migration along the southwest border warrants additional capacity.

01:29 This is the right thing to do, and I hope that our Republican colleagues will support this funding,

01:35 unlike last year when they delayed action on the President's supplemental funding

01:39 request for the border for months while they wasted time with impeachment.

01:45 It is inexcusable that our Republican colleagues did not pass the final fiscal '24 funding for the

01:51 Department for nearly six months, forcing the Department to work under multiple

01:56 CRs, reducing operations and overstraining the workforce of the Department. And I hope

02:02 that fiscal '25 will be different. Funding the Department of Homeland Security is also critical

02:08 because our nation faces an increased threat from the rise of domestic violent extremists.

02:14 Now, we heard from you, Mr. Secretary, and from FBI Director Wray last November,

02:18 during the worldwide threats hearing, that the top domestic terrorism threat we face

02:24 continues to be from racially and ethnically motivated and anti-government motivated

02:29 violent extremists. Some of these are organized groups, like the group that engaged in the plot

02:35 to kidnap the governor of Michigan, and some of the groups who stormed the Capitol on January 6th

02:41 in a violent attempt to overturn a legal and lawful election. Others are lone actors, like

02:48 the individual who attacked Paul Pelosi. And many of these individuals are shamefully inspired by

02:54 and scapegoated by members of this Congress and by former President Trump. But the Government

03:00 Accountability Office has shown that domestic terrorism-related cases has increased dramatically

03:06 in recent years. So with this alarming fact in mind, I would like to turn to you, Mr. Secretary.

03:11 Can you tell us, what is the Department of Homeland Security seeing with respect

03:16 to the threat from domestic violent extremists, particularly as we grow closer to the election?

03:21 And what steps are the Department taking to address any potential threats to government

03:26 bodies, officials, and the public at large? Congressman, we are, as Director Wray and I have

03:34 expressed previously, in a heightened threat environment. Indeed, individuals drawn to violence

03:42 because of ideologies of hate, false narratives, anti-government sentiments are a significant

03:50 concern of ours. We do a number of things. We disseminate information and analysis to state,

03:59 local, tribal, territorial law enforcement and other officials. We distribute grant funds. We are

04:06 grateful for Congress's support of those grant funds. We need those funds to increase, to enable

04:15 local communities to protect and guard themselves. As I mentioned in my opening statement,

04:22 we have a very important Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention Grant Program that enables

04:28 communities to employ best practices in the identification of an individual who may be

04:34 drawing to violence and intervene before a tragedy occurs. Those are some examples.

04:40 Well, I thank you, Mr. Secretary, for that, and particularly the support of state and local law

04:44 enforcement agencies. As we saw on January 6th, it is often law enforcement in uniform who are,

04:50 you know, on the receiving end of these assaults and this violence, and we need to do everything

04:55 we can to support them against this threat. So I thank you very much, and I'm out of time,

05:00 so I'll yield back.

Seth Magaziner Asks Mayorkas How DHS Is Addressing Domestic Terrorism Threats Leading Up To Election

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