Press release:
Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-24), today announced that she has joined the newly formed "Northern Border Security Caucus." The caucus is a coalition of 28 members of Congress who are concerned about the increased human and drug trafficking along the U.S.-Canada border.
The Northern Border Security Caucus, which all House Republicans and Democrats were invited to join, is supported by House Republican Leadership and the National Border Patrol Council, among other groups and organizations.
The U.S.-Canada border is the longest international border in the world. Recent news reports, along with data compiled over the past two years, show a surge in illegal migrant crossings and drug trafficking across the Northern border. Specifically, in the North Country sector of the border, there has been an 846% increase in illegal border crossings. As the national security threat at our Northern Border continues to grow exponentially, there has been no corresponding increase in U.S. Border Patrol staffing, which is still at the same level as it was in Fiscal Year 2009.
“There’s been an unprecedented surge in illegal crossings at our Northern Border, including an 846% increase across the North Country alone," said Congresswoman Tenney. "Under President Biden’s failed leadership, our borders are less secure, and our communities are at risk. 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.”
NORTHERN BORDER FAST FACTS:
- Drug smuggling has increased by 596% along the Northern border since Fiscal Year 2021, including a 26% increase in fentanyl.
- Since President Biden took office nearly two years ago, there has been an almost 15 times increase in Northern land border encounters.
- There were only 997 Northern land border encounters in January 2021. But that number has increased each month since. In the month of October 2022, there were 15,938 Northern land border encounters. In FY2020, there were 32,376 border encounters. In FY2022, there were 109,535 encounters.
- Border Patrol staffing has remained flat since FY 2009. Since FY09, staffing levels along the Northern border sectors have been between 1,887 and 2,263 personnel. FY2020 Northern border sector staffing was 2,019.
- The longest international border in the world, measuring 5,525 miles, the U.S. Northern border has only 115 ports of entry with no performance measures to assess security between ports.
