U.S. Senator Katie Britt Questions Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche During Appropriations Hearing

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today questioned Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche during a Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee hearing to reviewthe President's Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 Budget Request for the Department of Justice. Senator Britt spent her time asking questions about funding for our nation's immigration courts, supporting partnerships with state and local law enforcement-highlighting Operation Southern Star in Montgomery, Alabama-and combatting fraud.

Senator Britt began her line of questioning by saying "I wanted to start with an issue that I raised with you at your confirmation hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee. We talked about the Executive Office for Immigration Review. … As you're aware, there was a significant backlog that was left by the Biden-Harris administration. Unfortunately, they created a culture of that, of dragging their feet, and not actually completing these cases. I know they also rolled back a number of reforms that were put in place during the first Trump administration to ensure that our immigration courts functioned in an efficient manner. By contrast, obviously, under the current Trump administration, the courts in FY25 have completed the highest number of cases that we have seen in a single year in EOIR's history …

"I saw in your budget that you increase this by 12% … Is that going to help you continue … on eliminating this backlog, improve efficiencies and operations of these immigration courts? And then also on that, how does the budget request support efforts to actually modernize this process, making sure that we're not only using the current system, but we're looking at how can we be more efficient in the future?"

Acting AG Blanche responded saying that "The first answer… in reverse order, we have asked for $37 million to modernize the IT programs that the immigration courts use. That in and of itself will create efficiencies that will help us in ways that should have happened years and years ago, and it didn't. We're also asking for more money because we need more judges … And we're continuing to try to find good judges that will work hard … we have almost 500,000 cases [that] were processed last year. That's extraordinary. And we're getting into the backlog, but … when you have something like 4 million immigration cases, 4 million immigration cases backed up, even if you cut it down by a million a year, you're still looking at 3 or 4 years to catch up … We're very focused on doing that … So this budget is really addressing that, the IT problem and the staffing challenge that we have."

The Senator then asked about the crackdown on crime across the country under the Trump Administration: "I talked to Director Patel about this last week, but there's great work being done by the FBI and DOJ and in my home state. Operation Southern Star in Montgomery has been significant, that's where I live, I appreciate that effort. I know that communities across the country appreciate the work that you're doing. Can you discuss how this request[ed] increase in resources that you have in this budget is going to allow us to build on the current successes and enhanced cooperation with state and local partners across the country, so that we can do more of what we've seen in Montgomery with Operation Southern Star?"

Acting AG Blanche noted the importance of partnerships with local and state law enforcement agencies, saying, "…[T]here is nothing more important than our state and local partnerships when it comes to combating violent crime. Nearly every violent criminal that's arrested by the Feds, the Feds are assisted by a cop or a detective or a trooper in that case. And so, when we talk about the work that the federal government and the FBI and DEA and Marshalls and ATF and HSI have done over the past year, we are really talking about the work that they did, partnering with the state and local [law enforcement], so our budget reflects that. We want $2.9 billion for state and local grants. That's money that's going to go to law enforcement to combat violent crime. $12 billion for our budget for violent crime. And you said that, but I want to make sure I'm giving props to the great men and women of law enforcement in our country. It worked. And we did see meaningful reductions in violent crime, which means everybody, everybody's streets are safer than they were a year and a half ago."

The Senator's last question focused on fighting fraud, where she noted that, "It is important we make sure that taxpayer dollars are used judiciously, and the people who do not do that are held accountable. Can you talk about some of the work that the division has been doing, and how the funding will allow DOJ to continue protecting Americans and their hard-earned tax dollars?"

General Blanche responded, saying, "We asked for $30 million because we need lawyers to help build this new division up, and what we've done already, and you've seen it in the news in Minnesota and other locations, really everywhere, Minnesota's been a focus, but in every state, the National Fraud Division has an [Assistant United States Attorney] assigned to that division now. And their goal is very simple, to find criminals who are stealing from the government."

Senator Britt concluded her line of questioning by remarking, "Americans are sick of people not being held accountable, so we hope that we see some people actually prosecuted for these crimes."

You can watch Senator Britt's full line of questioning here.

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