By Jennie Taer
More than a dozen Republican lawmakers asked Department of Homeland (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Tuesday urging him to act on the crisis at the northern border, according to a letter exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The U.S.-Canadian border’s Swanton sector, which covers parts of New York and Vermont, has recently seen a nearly 900% increase in migrant encounters. Much attention has been paid to the southern border, which has seen major records of migrant encounters, including more than 2.3 million in fiscal year 2022 alone.
“We write to express our serious concern about the unprecedented surge in encounters along our country’s northern border. This recent influx, along with spikes in drug smuggling and lack of U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) agent staffing, is yet another troubling example of your failure to protect and secure the homeland,” the lawmakers, which include New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, whose district is situated on the northern border, wrote.
“These surges in border encounters and drug smuggling coupled with a shortage of Border Patrol agents and lack of security measures place America’s northern border at serious risk. As winter turns to spring, we are deeply concerned the northern Border Patrol agents will be even more overwhelmed, under-resourced, and under-manned,” the lawmakers wrote.
While the migrant surge at the southern border continues amid a recent influx at the northern border, the federal government has shifted resources, according to border officials who previously spoke with the DCNF. Border Patrol agents have been pulled from the north to the south to help process illegal migrants.
“We ask that you provide a full account of what the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will do to mitigate the flow of illegal migrants and illicit drugs into the U.S. across our northern border,” the lawmakers concluded.
A DHS official told the DCNF that the agency responds to congressional inquiries “via official channels,” adding that the “Department will continue to respond appropriately to Congressional oversight.”
Read the article in the Daily Caller here.
