Secretary Mullin Holds Press Conference on the Need to Fully Fund CBP & ICE for Next Three Years

I guess I'm going first. Well, thank you everybody for being here. We want to thank obviously Congressman Mark Alford for taking the time. He said I got him out of yard work, so you're welcome to that. Of course, that just means it piles up. And of course, our Customs, Border, and Protection officers behind us. It's kind of interesting to me that, you know, they still showed up every single day knowing that they were still shut down. I mean, 76 days the Democrats kept the Department of Homeland shut down, yet they still wanted their backyard protected. They still wanted to make sure that their state, their constituents were secure, but yet they were willing to shut us down. When I became Secretary of Homeland, my number one focus was to get us funded. Hands down, that was my number one focus. Seventy, eighty percent of my time was trying to negotiate a solution to reopen. At the end of the day, just for the sake of, I actually don't even know why it would be nice, but I am. I shouldn't be, but I am. Just for the sake, I don't want to throw the guy underneath the bus right now because I don't want to do this again September 30th, but there was someone in House leadership and in Senate leadership with the Democrat Party after we negotiated for almost five weeks with them, went from three issues that they had all up to nine issues. Tom Holman and I had worked every single day, that's Saturday, that's Sunday, and through the days of the week, we were trying to come up with a solution. In fact, what we said is, and this is what we told the Democrats, listen, we will negotiate all the way up to the point to where it hurts our mission and it puts the officers' lives and families in jeopardy. After we got through nine issues, they came back with two more and I said, are you ever going to get to yes? And one of them told me, in private, said we can't get there until the primaries are over because it may cost our colleagues their job. Now, I understand politics as good as anybody, but at some point you are elected to be a leader and when you're putting your own career over doing what's right, meaning you're willing to put the safety of this nation at risk because you want to win an election, being in office is supposed to be an office of service, not a career, and if you're not willing to fire yourself at some point over what's right, then you should never be there. But as the president likes to say, these kamikaze Democrats will do anything, anything to destroy our nation as long as they can find a way to get back to power. That has to stop. Kansas City, right here in Kansas City, is going to host six FIFA games. Now, let me just put that in perspective. Interesting, talking about FIFA and we talk about football. Now, you think about that, right here in Kansas City, you're going to host six games. That's equivalent to six Super Bowls in 38 days. It put our mission at in jeopardy. Now, can we still deliver? Yes. Were we able to be as proactive? No, absolutely not. We had local law enforcement, not just federal, but we had local law enforcement, MOU signed with us that we couldn't reimburse. We haven't been able to reimburse since February. We're writing the checks now, and they knew that. We have 11 host cities hosting 78 games in 38 days, and as I said, six right here in Kansas City. It's the largest sporting event in the world, and leading up to it for 76 days, the Democrats want to shut us down. And one congressman right here in our own backyard, Democrat Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, I'm going to read you his quote. He said, I voted against funding for the Department of Homeland Security because I refuse to endorse an agency that's lost their moral compass. How do we lose our moral compass? We're simply enforcing the laws that Congress passed. We didn't make the laws. We didn't even make the statutes. Congress did, and if they want to change it, they could have. They had two years underneath the Biden administration with Nancy Pelosi as speaker that they could have changed it if they wanted to. Chuck Schumer was leader of the Senate. They could have changed it if they wanted to. No, they didn't. Why? Because if you really get down to it, it's not about enforcing the law. It's about going against their policy. What's the Democrats policy? They want open borders, and they spend more time protecting the criminals than they do fighting for justice for their own constituents. Open borders, which is obvious when they want to defund custom border protection, and they want to prevent ICE from going out and rounding up the criminals and the worst of the worst, and they're willing to shut down all 20 other components throughout the Department of Homeland to do that. That has to change. The American people decided they wanted to change when they put President Trump in office. That's evident, but they haven't. They've lost their moral compass. Million Cleaver needs to understand you've lost your moral compass when you're willing to put the lives of your constituent at risk so you can have political talking points and get reelected. Thankfully, I'm here with a congressman that's willing to do what's right every time. Carson Mark Alford is someone that's willing to stand up. This is a patriot right here. This is a patriot. He understands that we're here today. We're safe today because the men and women in law enforcement are willing to protect us every single day. The guy standing behind you that's protecting us every day. These guys right here, Mark and I both know they're willing to put their lives on the line to make sure we get home safe to our family before they will go home to their family. And I've said this once and I'll say it again. I guarantee you their family loves them and wants him home as much as our family wants us home. But they answer the call. We're celebrating this week police week. We're celebrating what they do every single day that some people, not all some people, mainly the Democrat Party that's working in Washington D. C. Takes them for granted and actually holds them hostage for their own political gain. We don't. And thank goodness I have people like Mark standing beside President Trump and myself fighting for them every day. So with that, I'm gonna let Mark have the mic. Thanks, brother. Thank you, Secretary. I first want to thank you to Kansas City. Great town. I'm honored to represent the fourth congressional district of the great state of Missouri. Um, this is a big day for Kansas City to have the secretary here driving home the differences between the Democrats and the Republicans in this matter, this national security matter. You know, as the secretary said, the house, we did our part. We kept our promises. We kept our word. We passed full funding for the Department of Homeland Security four separate times. Unfortunately, the Democrats in the Senate reneged on a deal that was previously agreed to because they didn't like the way that the Department of Homeland Security was deporting and repatriating criminal illegal aliens. They walked away from a bipartisan agreement that would have kept our law enforcement fully funded and operational. That reckless decision has left ice and CBP in limbo at a time when threats against our homeland are on a rise. And believe me, they are. That's why Congress must act urgently through the budget reconciliation process to deliver multi year funding for ice and CPP. We've got to make sure that they are funded. And that's what this reconciliation process is all about. Look, I'm on the Appropriations Committee. Uh, the secretary as a secretary was on the Senate Appropriations Committee. This is not the way we like to fund things. We like to fund things through the appropriations process. That's what our committee is all about. But when people for political reasons stand in the way for purely political reasons to try to win the midterms and to try to keep being from being primary like Chuck Schumer trying to get him not to be primary by A. O. C. As you saw in the previous shutdown in November and now this one, it's disgusting. My dad was a special Texas Ranger and he used to say these words when he got really frustrated. It's a crying shame. And you know what? It is a crying shame what the Democrats have done to ice and CBP here in America. It's a crime shame that they can't get behind our unified what should be a unified force to to deport criminal illegal aliens and send them back to their home countries. We cannot afford another round of short term continuing resolutions that leave our front lines vulnerable. Make no mistake. Robust immigration enforcement is not a political issue. It is a national security imperative every day that ice and CBP remain in limbo. We risk a return to the Biden era status quote, one in which our borders are once again porous as fentanyl gang members and potential terrorist flow into our communities. And folks, if you doubt what I'm saying, I was down on that border just 2.5 years ago with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and we saw as we were standing there with 40 members of Congress, 30 illegals crossing trying to get into the United States of America just south of Del Rio, Texas. And yet Alejandro Mayorkas, the biggest liar since Pinocchio would have you believe that there was no chaos, there was no crisis, there was no security breach. There is not a problem at the border. There was a problem at the border. But thank God we have President Donald J. Trump who fixed that and closed the border to make sure that those coming across become part of the fabric of America, not those looking to rip apart America. The American people elected us to secure the homeland, not to manage the decline of the homeland. So now is the time for the House and Senate Republicans to unite with the Trump administration to pass a multi-year funding through reconciliation and give ice, give CBP the certainty, the resources that they need to protect our nation, to protect everyone in this room and to protect everyone watching right now. Last week, on the House floor, I had the honor to lead the effort to pass the funding for the rest of the Department of Homeland Security. I look forward to leading this fight in the House as well with leadership there to help Secretary Mullen, House Republicans to unite in one singular purpose and mission to fully fund these agencies. Because ladies and gentlemen, Secretary, I'm telling you, failure is not an option. Thank you. To address reconciliation, understand why President Trump and myself had to make this play call. We didn't, we don't want to separate two components from the other 20 components there, but we didn't have a choice. Why didn't we have a choice? Because Congressman Representative Thompson, I believe it was, said, yeah, he's willing to shut it down again September 30th if he doesn't get his way. If they don't defund CPB and ICE. So the President and I, with a phone call with with Leader Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson as we sat in the office, said what do we do here? If we reopen it, the Democrats are going to shut us right back down for the fifth time in a year, because we've been shut down four times already, if we continue to play this game. The only option we had is, okay, let's do it through reconciliation. Yeah, you're right, it's not a way to fund government, but because of the political theater that the Democrats continue to play, we have no choice. President Trump said, fine, let's do it through reconciliation, and we'll do it for three years. That way they can't continue to play games with our men and women out there protecting us every single day. I get that people have strong opinions about this, but the truth is, it's the only option we have. We're going to fight every single day to make sure that they can't play games with our law enforcement anymore. So with that, we're going to stop. You guys have any questions? We'll be happy to answer them. If not, then I'm going to shake some more hands and go back to Oklahoma. So, yes sir. I can answer it, but I think they'd be better answer that. Sir, you want to answer that? Introduce yourself. I'm sorry. I should have done that. No problem at all. My name is Mike Pfeiffer. I'm the acting director of field operations for the Chicago Field Office, which includes the board of Kansas City, Missouri. We stand by at each one of our ports of entry, and we stand ready to serve. Although we may go through some difficulties, we deal with those difficulties and we move forward. We're always there for the American people, and we're always there with national security in our forefront, protecting trade, protecting America, protecting us against harmful drugs and harmful goods that are entering the country. And so we continue to do that mission. We continue to remain focused on it. Thank you. Now I'll tell you this, the stories that I got. Morale was low. Retention was low. Recruiting was almost impossible. How do you recruit somebody to come work for you when you say, Hey, by the way, we're shut down for the fourth time. I can't pay you, but hey, come on, let's let's do this. Oh, now you have to wait for a second because we can't even put you into a class yet because the academy can't open because we're shut down. But come work for us. How do you think that's gonna happen? We're trying to staff up. The Biden administration gutted CPP custom border protection. People say I say that too fast and ice we're trying to build it back up, fighting the Democrats for funding the whole time. My number one focus outside with funding is dealing with morale. Now I can't tell you how proud I am to be secretary of such a great department. I mean, think about the greatest job in the world. I mean that outside of being president United States, I I get to protect the homeland, the homeland, and that means that I'm even going to protect the Democrats backyard like I protect Republicans backyard. That means I'm going to protect California, even though they're got a ridiculous governor out there, just like I'm going to protect Oklahoma. I'm even going to protect New York just like I'm going to try to protect Florida. I don't see the difference between red and blue. I see that I have one job and it's to lead an agency that's trying to protect the homeland every single day. And you know what? They feel the exact same way. They do their job regardless of if you voted for him. If you didn't, Emmanuel Cleaver could call right now and need help. And these guys would respond. All right. I don't even know how he could look him in the face. What else guys? Well, I mean, if we needed to go two years, six months, and I think it's 23 days we could have. The fact is, three years is just kind of a rounding number. We just wanted to make sure we get it one out of out of the, uh, the political fight underneath President Trump. And then the next president wouldn't have to come in and immediately deal with it. So our thought process is, let's let's make sure we take this out of the primary election and the presidential election. And that way they can't use them once again for political theater. Anything else, guys? Well, it's because of the six games and it's close to Oklahoma. No, I'm kidding. Uh, it really has to do with the six games. It's right here in kind of my backyard. It's four hours from my house and, um, Kansas City's. They take a lot of pride in the fact they're hosting FIFA here and the in people, I think, overlook what ice and custom and border protection is doing because they think of it being on the border. They don't understand. It's being in the heartland. Kansas City's in the heart land. These guys work here every single day, by the way. And I say, guys, I mean, male and female, both. That's just Oklahoma for you. Um, and so no one is so close to home, knowing the fact that, uh, that they're hosting six, uh, games, knowing that, um, that they're that that that mission was put at risk for 76 days, knowing that they're gonna have to work overtime to catch up now. Uh, it's a I just wanted to expose that. Well, we have 5 to 7 million visitors that's going to that's gonna be coming to the United States. So, yes, U. S. C. I. S. State Department. We're working hand in hand. Keep in mind every team 8% of the tickets are specifically for their fans. So that's even including, uh, the Iranian soccer team that's coming in. 8% of their tickets are for their fans. Most countries are bringing their own individuals in. That's why we're seeing 5 to 7 million visitors coming in. 90% of the tickets are already sold out. That means for all 78 games, 90% is sold. And the only reason why the other 10% isn't is because they're slowly rolling them out. So the other 10% will be slowly rolled out. But we know just like the other ones that you're gonna go just like that. And, um, and so, yes, there's gonna be a huge influx of visitors coming to Kansas City. What else? Guys? DHS is a whole. We're gonna flex pretty hard. We're at. We're asking the governors to help, uh, activate the National Guard. That way they can take care of the soft area. The thing that that really worries us with stadiums is everybody remembers the, you know, the correspondent dinner with the active shooter. That shooter barely made it past the first line of security. And that was two flights of stairs up and through two closed doors before they could even before he could ever even made it to the, uh, to the ballroom to where the speech was taking place. And that's why we have layers of security put in place. All of us has been to a football game, baseball game or any stadium understands the only line of security you have is going into the stadium. So we don't have one line of actual security put in place. Now, T. S. A. Um, our custom border protection, um, local law enforcement. We're gonna have a presence there, but we also need a soft area. That's where the fans are gathering before they go into the stadium. We need a present strong presence there, and we know what the National Guard does. Um, we could see that. Uh, you can see it in Washington, D. C. Where the president said the National Guard out on the streets. You can see a change in the city's the seven of the safest cities in the nation are cities that crop cooperate with the president's plan to bring safer cities to to to the country and to the cities. Um, and a lot of that has to do with the National Guard is simply walking. So their presence alone, uh, will will help bring down the threat of violence in the in the South area. So, yes, we're gonna be flexing hard and using every asset we have. Sure. Well, technically, this is Emanuel Cleaver's district, but this does affect me. Um, and it affects Sam Graves. I guess, technically, this is Sam Graves district. Um, but look, we all have a concern. I was waved in on the Homeland Security Committee about a month ago when Deputy Chief Mabry was there testifying about the need to get this 25 million that we got in the one big, beautiful bill, the working families tax cut. This money was to go to these cities to provide security, and it's not like you can just spend that money overnight and hire people. This takes months of planning preparation to sign the memorandums of understanding and the contracts to get housing for the security that's gonna come from Nebraska and Texas and Colorado. So what they did was put this process in jeopardy and really put the 600,000 people who are going to be at these matches over a period of 30 or 35 days, put their safety in jeopardy. And that's what disgusts me. This did not have to be this way. We've got to make sure that D. H. S. Is fully funded. Quit putting the politics in front of our security as a nation. That's all I'm asking. And let me let me discuss this to some agencies that people don't even think about having to respond. Um, uh, to, um, to events like this, for instance, our sister cyber cyber security agency. They're down 1100 people. That's a third down a third of other staff because of the shutdowns we've had four in one year. Try to have communications. They're gonna be at every single match. They're gonna be at every single stadium. Try to have communications without secured cyber connection. What happens if something takes place? What about our drone defense that we have to partner with other agencies on and private contractors? What happens in that case? Um, well, the truth is, we weren't able to be as proactive and start putting those products in line because since this was so, um, uh, devastated by the shutdown and T. S. A. Who's taking care of 11 the matches because they had lost a little over 8% of the workforce. We haven't been as proactive, and that's what Mark was was referring to the 25 million. We haven't been to be as proactive on putting those positions those, uh, uh, safety measures in place. And the first match is June 11th. The first one in the U. S. Is in L. A. June 12th. That is around the corner. We have so much work to do if it wasn't for a local law enforcement and guys and gals standing behind me like this that will wasn't willing to go out there and work for free, knowing they're gonna get paid eventually, but not knowing when and to make sure that the mission was still delivered, we would be in horrible shape. But it goes to show that our men and women that get up every single day and put the badge on, they do it not necessarily for the income. They do it because it's a calling, and we get to celebrate them all the next week. So anything else, guys? Thank you so much for your time. Appreciate him. Get these guys. Summer.