Washington, D.C. – House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL), delivered the following opening remarks at a
hearing on the U.S. military posture and security challenges in the Western Hemisphere.
Chairman Rogers' Statement As Prepared For Delivery:
Today, we begin our fiscal year 2027 posture hearings with U.S. Northern and Southern Commands.
During the last administration, failed open border policies allowed illegal immigrants to flood into our country and deadly narcotics to poison our people.
Criminal cartels exploited that chaos, profiting from drug and human trafficking that threatened our communities.
At the same time, reckless “defund the police” efforts weakened law enforcement and made many American cities less safe.
President Trump came into office pledging to fix these failures.
One year later, we are seeing the results.
- We have finally achieved operational control of the southern border;
- Illegal crossings have dropped to the lowest levels on record;
- Violent criminals are being deported;
- Fentanyl trafficking into the United States is down more than 50 percent;
- Overdose deaths are declining nationwide; and
- Crime rates have plummeted, especially in cities where the National Guard is supporting local law enforcement.
But defending the homeland does not stop at our border.
It also requires confronting threats at their source.
The President has made it clear that narco-terrorists and hostile foreign powers will find no sanctuary or foothold anywhere in our hemisphere.
Operation Southern Spear is dismantling cartel networks before their drugs cross our border.
Maritime narcotics trafficking has been substantially reduced.
The historic mission that brought Nicolás Maduro to justice demonstrated that we will not tolerate threats in our backyard.
Nor will regimes aligned with Beijing, Moscow, or Tehran be allowed to undermine U.S. interests just beyond our border.
But the United States cannot confront these threats in the Western Hemisphere alone.
That’s why I commend the administration for establishing the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition.
This coalition of 17 countries will leverage capabilities to combat the cartels that profit from drug trafficking and illegal migration.
I look forward to hearing from General Donovan about how we are working with regional partners to build their capacity to secure their borders and take the fight to the cartels.
These partnerships also play a critical role in countering China’s growing influence.
For decades, Beijing expanded its presence across the region by embedding itself in ports, telecommunications networks, critical minerals processing, and other strategic infrastructure.
These investments are not benign.
They are part of a deliberate strategy to expand Beijing’s influence in our hemisphere and undermine U.S. security.
That is why this administration has acted decisively to push back.
Successes like denying Chinese control of the Panama Canal demonstrate the results of that leadership.
China’s ambitions extend well beyond Latin America, reaching toward our northern approaches and the Arctic, where Russia is also testing our defenses.
In the past two years, we’ve seen Russian and Chinese bombers and warships operating jointly near Alaska.
This is a significant demonstration of military cooperation between our two most capable adversaries right off our shores.
Moreover, the growing missile capabilities of our adversaries make the President’s Golden Dome Initiative essential to defending the homeland.
I look forward to hearing from General Guillot on his efforts to secure our borders and improve our homeland defense.
Thank you to our witnesses for being here today.
I look forward to your testimony.
