WASHINGTON — The north country’s legislators have banded together to form a caucus focused on the northern border’s security.
On Tuesday, Reps. Elise M. Stefanik and Claudia L. Tenney announced they had joined the Northern Border Security Caucus, a coalition of House Republicans who say they are concerned that the security of the northern border has decreased in recent years.
After a leaked report from U.S. Customs and Border Protection indicated a more than 800% increase in illegal border crossings in the “Swanton Sector,” covering St. Lawrence County to New Hampshire, Reps. Tenney and Stefanik have joined 26 other Republicans to advocate for new policies.
“In just the first four months of this fiscal year, illegal encounters in the Swanton Sector, which includes six counties in my district, increased by over 800%,” Rep. Stefanik said in a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday.
Rep. Stefanik said she has received reports from constituents that undocumented immigrants are crossing through their properties regularly, and the burden has become too large for local Border Patrol agents to manage alone.
“It took our local Border Patrol leadership calling for agents to voluntarily deploy to our northern border for the Biden administration to finally admit they had a problem,” she said.
Rep. Tenney said she blames the policies of President Joseph R. Biden and intends to push firmly for a change to the administration’s border policies.
“The Northern Border Security Caucus is needed now more than ever for members of Congress to come together with one voice to advocate against Joe Biden’s reckless policies and to focus on delivering the resources needed by our brave Border Patrol agents at our northern border to do their jobs effectively,” Rep. Tenney said.
The northern border has become a point of contention recently, with Canadian officials expressing concerns that illegal crossings between Quebec and New England in the wintertime will lead to deaths. A Mexican citizen died last week while crossing from Quebec into Vermont.
Rep. Stefanik and a number of the members of the Northern Border Security Caucus sent a letter Tuesday to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas demanding action and a plan to secure the northern border.
“Our taxpayers, brave border patrol officers and northern border communities should no longer have to bear the brunt of this crisis,” she said.
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(1) comment
The problem is actually the Republicans themselves. They complain all the time, but refuse to do anything meaningful to fix it.
And they have been saying since Biden took office how the ‘border is wide open’, which eventually filters down to those who seek to move here one way or the other.
Record apprehensions do not equal open borders. It’s proof that the borders are NOT open.
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