[House Hearing, 118 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



 
   BIDEN'S GROWING BORDER CRISIS: DEATH, DRUGS, AND DISORDER ON THE 
                            NORTHERN BORDER

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               before the

                            SUBCOMMITTEE ON
                       OVERSIGHT, INVESTIGATIONS,
                           AND ACCOUNTABILITY

                                 of the

                     COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                    ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                               __________

                             MARCH 28, 2023

                               __________

                            Serial No. 118-6

                               __________

       Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security
                                     


[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                                     

        Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov

                               __________

                     COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY

                 Mark E. Green, MD, Tennessee, Chairman
Michael T. McCaul, Texas             Bennie G. Thompson, Mississippi, 
Clay Higgins, Louisiana                  Ranking Member
Michael Guest, Mississippi           Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas
Dan Bishop, North Carolina           Donald M. Payne, Jr., New Jersey
Carlos A. Gimenez, Florida           Eric Swalwell, California
August Pfluger, Texas                J. Luis Correa, California
Andrew R. Garbarino, New York        Troy A. Carter, Louisiana
Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia      Shri Thanedar, Michigan
Tony Gonzales, Texas                 Seth Magaziner, Rhode Island
Nick LaLota, New York                Glenn Ivey, Maryland
Mike Ezell, Mississippi              Daniel S. Goldman, New York
Anthony D'Esposito, New York         Robert Garcia, California
Laurel M. Lee, Florida               Delia C. Ramirez, Illinois
Morgan Luttrell, Texas               Robert Menendez, New Jersey
Dale W. Strong, Alabama              Yvette D. Clarke, New York
Josh Brecheen, Oklahoma              Dina Titus, Nevada
Elijah Crane, Arizona
                      Stephen Siao, Staff Director
                  Hope Goins, Minority Staff Director
                       Natalie Nixon, Chief Clerk
                     Sean Jones, Legislative Clerk
                                 ------                                

     SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT, INVESTIGATIONS, AND ACCOUNTABILITY

                  Dan Bishop, North Carolina, Chairman
Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia      Glenn Ivey, Maryland, Ranking 
Mike Ezell, Mississippi                  Member
Dale W. Strong, Alabama              Shri Thanedar, Michigan
Elijah Crane, Arizona                Delia C. Ramirez, Illinois
Mark E. Green, MD, Tennessee (ex     Yvette D. Clarke, New York
    officio)                         Bennie G. Thompson, Mississippi 
                                         (ex officio)
                  Sang Yi, Subcommittee Staff Director
           Lisa Canini, Minority Subcommittee Staff Director
                   Luke Jennette, Subcommittee Clerk
                            C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              
                                                                   Page

                               STATEMENTS

The Honorable Dan Bishop, a Representative in Congress From the 
  State of North Carolina, and Chairman, Subcommittee on 
  Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability:
  Oral Statement.................................................     1
  Prepared Statement.............................................     5
The Honorable Glenn Ivey, a Representative in Congress From the 
  State of Maryland, and Ranking Member, Subcommittee on 
  Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability:
  Oral Statement.................................................     6
  Prepared Statement.............................................     9
The Honorable Bennie G. Thompson, a Representative in Congress 
  From the State of Mississippi, and Ranking Member, Committee on 
  Homeland Security:
  Prepared Statement.............................................    10

                               WITNESSES
                                Panel I

Hon. Claudia Tenney, a Representative in Congress From the State 
  of New York:
  Oral Statement.................................................    11
  Prepared Statement.............................................    12
Hon. Mike Kelly, a Representative in Congress From the State of 
  Pennsylvania:
  Oral Statement.................................................    13
  Prepared Statement.............................................    15
Hon. Brian Higgins, a Representative in Congress From the State 
  of New York:
  Oral Statement.................................................    17
  Prepared Statement.............................................    18
Hon. Pete Stauber, a Representative in Congress From the State of 
  Minnesota:
  Oral Statement.................................................    19
  Prepared Statement.............................................    21

                                Panel II

Mr. Brandon Judd, President, National Border Patrol Council:
  Oral Statement.................................................    23
  Prepared Statement.............................................    24
Mr. Robert Quinn, Commissioner, Department of Safety, State of 
  New Hampshire:
  Oral Statement.................................................    26
  Prepared Statement.............................................    28
Ms. Laura Dawson, Executive Director, Future Borders Coalition:
  Oral Statement.................................................    30
  Prepared Statement.............................................    33
Mr. Andrew R. Arthur, Resident Fellow in Law and Policy, Center 
  for Immigration Studies:
  Oral Statement.................................................    33
  Prepared Statement.............................................    35


   BIDEN'S GROWING BORDER CRISIS: DEATH, DRUGS, AND DISORDER ON THE 
                            NORTHERN BORDER

                              ----------                              


                        Tuesday, March 28, 2023

             U.S. House of Representatives,
                    Committee on Homeland Security,
                Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, 
                                        and Accountability,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:47 a.m., at 
Room 310, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. Dan Bishop 
[Chairman of the subcommittee] presiding.
    Present: Representatives Bishop, Green, Ezell, Strong, 
Crane, Stefanik, Ivey, Thanedar, Ramirez, Clarke, Correa, and 
Jackson Lee.
    Chairman Bishop. The Committee on Homeland Security 
Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability 
will come to order. Welcome, everyone, to this subcommittee's 
first hearing titled, ``Biden's Growing Border Crisis: Death, 
Drugs, and Disorder on the Northern Border''. I am honored to 
be Chairman of the subcommittee and to be joined by our Vice 
Chairman Mike Ezell, our colleagues, distinguished guests, and 
experts. I also congratulate Ranking Member Ivey on his new 
role. This subcommittee is excited to get to work. I want to 
also thank Sang Yi and staff for the careful preparation for 
this hearing.
    Today's hearing will examine the expansion of the Biden 
administration's border crisis to our very critical Northern 
Border. I ask unanimous consent--is the gentlelady from New 
York attending? I ask unanimous consent that the gentlewoman 
from New York, Ms. Stefanik, is permitted to sit with the 
subcommittee and ask questions of the witnesses.
    Without objection, so ordered.
    I now recognize Ranking Member Ivey for the purpose of 
seeking unanimous consent.
    Mr. Ivey. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and good morning. Mr. 
Chair, I ask unanimous consent that Ms. Jackson Lee and Mr. 
Correa be permitted to sit with the subcommittee and question 
today's witnesses.
    Chairman Bishop. Without objection, so ordered.
    I will now make my opening statement. The subject matter of 
this hearing is testament to the fact that the damage from poor 
decisions tends to compound in unexpected ways. While the 
historic crisis at our Southwest Border warrants primary focus, 
the disastrous consequences of the Biden-Mayorkas open border 
policy have spread to our once-secure Northern Border as well. 
While the Northern Border has terraneous areas, other areas, 
unlike the Southern Border, offer suburban and easy access for 
illegal migrant crossings.
    If we could, on the monitor, I would like to show a couple 
of pictures of the border at Derby, Vermont. This is within the 
Swanton sector. Can you go back to that first picture again? 
Yes. So, if you see the potted plants, that is actually the 
U.S.-Canadian border in that location. Then the second picture 
that you see, I don't know if you can make it out, but this is 
what would correspond to high security. They put some wooden 
sawhorses along with the potted plants. So, it is not exactly, 
as you would say, a fortified border. That last photo was the 
picture that--leave it there for a moment--that same traffic 
circle is in the upper right-hand area of the picture. Then 
down below to the lower left, you can see where the arrow 
indicates the Customs and Border Patrol offices. They don't 
even have a direct line of sight to that area of the border.
    [The information follows:]
    
    
   

    Chairman Bishop. So, it happens that the influx of illegal 
aliens has multiplied rapidly in that area, it is overwhelming 
Customs and Border Protection, local law enforcement, and local 
communities. The Biden administration's failed policies 
embolden criminal organizations to exploit the Northern Border, 
smuggling people, including children, drugs, and weapons, over 
the Northern Border. Sadly, since just March 10, the Swanton 
Sector alone, that touches on New Hampshire, Vermont, and New 
York's Northern Borders, has seen 28 children, all under the 
age of 14, crossing the Northern Border in extremely cold and 
snowy conditions. Just last week, authorities busted 17 illegal 
aliens from Nicaragua and Guatemala in one stash house in 
Lisbon, Maine. Two of them were previously removed from the 
country and 4 previously crossed the Southern Border.
    Meanwhile, due to the crisis at the Southwest Border, 
Secretary Mayorkas surged resources away from other areas 
critical to homeland security, including the Northern Border. 
There are now fewer than 2,000 Border Patrol agents to cover 
the 3,145-mile land border, more than twice the size of the 
Southwest Border in terms of geography. In 2022, Secretary 
Mayorkas sent over 20 percent of the Northern Border work force 
to help at the Southwest Border. Some remaining agents were 
tasked with remotely processing aliens in Texas. Now, the 
administration is doing an about-face recently detailing 25 
additional officers to the overwhelmed Northern Border. Customs 
and Border Patrol morale is suffering. Agents work long hours 
in extreme conditions and are exposed to death, crime, and 
suffering.
    The Northern Border is experiencing a huge increase in 
illegal migrant encounters. In the Swanton Sector alone, that 
same one I just mentioned, there has been over an 800 percent 
increase since the last fiscal year. So, while the numbers are 
not as large in absolute terms, the growth is astonishing. 
Smugglers take advantage of aliens, leaving them in treacherous 
conditions. Just last year, an Indian family of 4, including 2 
young children, were left to freeze to death at the Northern 
Border after being abandoned by a smuggler.
    The influx of illegal aliens also leaves the United States 
susceptible to terrorism and crime. In the last 6 months, 
Border Patrol apprehended an illegal alien listed in the 
Terrorist Screening Dataset between Northern Border ports of 
entry. At ports of entry, 176 individuals in the dataset have 
been apprehended this fiscal year at the Northern Border. That 
figure compares to just 38 at the Southern Border. I say just, 
that is probably the wrong term to use. Thirty-eight in that 
Terrorist Screening Dataset at the Southern Border, but 176 
individuals at ports of entry on that list from on the north on 
the Northern Border.
    The Biden administration admits that transnational criminal 
organizations take advantage of the Northern Border terrain to 
traffic drugs, weapons, and illicit proceeds over the border. 
The current crisis is giving those organizations the green 
light. Enough fentanyl came over the Northern Border in fiscal 
year 2022 and 2023 to kill 3.4 million Americans. Federal 
officials estimate that they are only seizing 5 to 10 percent 
of all drugs smuggled across the Southwest Border. With far 
less manpower in the north, over a much larger border, 
including much of these very rough terraneous areas, it is 
daunting to imagine what narcotics are coming over the Northern 
Border that we do not specifically know about.
    Every State is a border State, and local communities, 
especially on the Northern Border, are struggling to keep up. 
Local police departments along the Northern Border lack the 
resources and equipment to effectively patrol their 
jurisdictions, especially without the help of CBP agents who 
were sent to the Southern Border. Local businesses cannot 
accommodate the groups of aliens that congregate in their 
lobbies looking for shelter and rides to their final 
destinations. These communities need reprieve.
    President Biden's open border policies and Secretary 
Mayorkas' refusal to enforce our Nation's laws have jeopardized 
national security at the U.S.-Canada border and the operational 
readiness of Border Patrol agents. Just 2 weeks ago in front of 
us in McAllen, Texas, which some of our fellow folks on the 
other side of the aisle had been present, but the chief of the 
U.S. Border Patrol acknowledged in his testimony that we do not 
have operational control of the Southern Border, that the 
Southern Border in many places is not secure, and that it is 
the consequence of Biden administration policies that both 
those conditions obtain. Well, same problem in different ways 
is manifesting itself at the Northern Border. We will hold 
President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas accountable for this 
metastasizing crisis.
    I welcome our Members and appreciate the important work we 
will do together. I also welcome and thank our guests for 
joining. Thank you all.
    [The statement of Chairman Bishop follows:]
                    Statement of Chairman Dan Bishop
    The subject matter of this hearing is a testament to the fact that 
the damage of poor decisions tends to compound in unexpected ways.
    While the historic crisis at our Southwest Border warrants primary 
focus, the disastrous consequences of the Biden-Mayorkas open border 
policies have spread to our once-secure Northern Border as well.
    While the Northern Border has terraneous areas, other areas, unlike 
the Southern Border, offer suburban and easy access for illegal migrant 
crossings.
    The influx of illegal aliens has multiplied rapidly in that area. 
It's overwhelming Customs and Border Protection, local law enforcement, 
and local communities.
    The Biden administration's failed policies embolden criminal 
organizations to exploit the Northern Border, smuggling people, 
including children, drugs, and weapons over the Northern Border.
    Sadly, since just March 10, the Swanton Sector alone, that touches 
on New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York's Northern Border, has seen 28 
children all under age 14 crossing the Northern Border in extremely 
cold and snowy conditions.
    Just last week, authorities busted 17 illegal aliens from Nicaragua 
and Guatemala in one stash house in Lisbon, Maine. Two of them were 
previously removed from the country and four previously crossed the 
Southern Border.
    Meanwhile, due to the crisis at the Southwest Border, Secretary 
Mayorkas surged resources away from other areas critical to homeland 
security--including the Northern Border.
    There are now fewer than 2,000 Border Patrol agents to cover the 
3,145-mile land border, more than twice the size of the Southwest 
Border in terms of geography.
    In 2022, Secretary Mayorkas sent over 20 percent of the Northern 
Border workforce to help at the Southwest Border. Some remaining agents 
were tasked with remotely processing aliens in Texas.
    Now, the administration is doing an about-face, recently detailing 
25 additional officers to the overwhelmed Northern Border.
    Customs and Border Protection morale is suffering--agents work long 
hours in extreme conditions and are exposed to death, crime, and 
suffering.
    The Northern Border is experiencing a huge increase in illegal 
migrant encounters. In the Swanton sector alone, that same one I just 
mentioned, there has been over an 800 percent increase since the last 
fiscal year. While the numbers are not as large in absolute terms, the 
growth is astonishing.
    Smugglers take advantage of aliens, leaving them in treacherous 
conditions. Just last year, an Indian family of four, including two 
young children, were left to freeze to death at the Northern Border 
after being abandoned by a smuggler.
    The influx of illegal aliens also leaves the United States 
susceptible to terrorism and crime. In the last 6 months, Border Patrol 
apprehended an illegal alien listed in the Terrorist Screening Data Set 
between Northern Border ports of entry. At ports of entry, 176 
individuals in the data set have been apprehended this fiscal year at 
the Northern Border. That figure compares to 38 at the Southern Border.
    The Biden administration admits that transnational criminal 
organizations take advantage of the Northern Border terrain to traffic 
drugs, weapons, and illicit proceeds over the border.
    The current crisis is giving those organizations the green light. 
Enough fentanyl came over the Northern Border in fiscal year 2022 and 
fiscal year 2023 to kill 3.4 million Americans.
    Federal officials estimate that they are only seizing 5 to 10 
percent of all drugs smuggled across the Southwest Border. With far 
less manpower in the north, over a much larger border, including much 
of these areas of rough, terraneous areas, it's daunting to imagine 
what narcotics are coming over the Northern Border that we do not 
specifically know about.
    Every State is a border State, and local communities, especially on 
the Northern Border are struggling to keep up.
    Local police departments along the Northern Border lack the 
resources and equipment to effectively patrol their jurisdictions, 
especially without the help of the CBP agents who were sent to the 
Southern Border.
    Local businesses cannot accommodate the groups of aliens that 
congregate in their lobbies, looking for shelter and rides to their 
final destinations. These communities need reprieve.
    President Biden's open border policies and Secretary Mayorkas' 
refusal to enforce our Nation's laws has jeopardized national security 
at the U.S.-Canada border and the operational readiness of Border 
Patrol agents.
    Just 2 weeks ago, in front of us in McAllen, Texas, if some of our 
folks on the other side of the aisle had been present, the chief of the 
U.S. Border Patrol acknowledged in his testimony that we do not have 
operational control of the Southern Border and in many places it's not 
secure. And that it is the consequence of Biden administration 
policies. Well, the same problem in different ways is manifesting 
itself at the Northern Border.
    We will hold President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas accountable for 
this metastasizing crisis.

    Chairman Bishop. I now recognize the Ranking Member, the 
gentleman from Maryland, Mr. Ivey, for his opening statement.
    Mr. Ivey. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good morning. First, 
I would like to take a moment at the beginning of this hearing 
to express my deepest condolences to those affected by the 
devastating tornado that impacted Ranking Member Thompson's 
Mississippi district this past weekend. Second, I would 
certainly be remiss if I did not also acknowledge yet another 
tragic act of gun violence in our schools that left 6 dead in 
Nashville, 3 schoolchildren and 3 teachers. I think the 
contrast of the natural disasters and mass shootings that we 
are facing as a Nation is pretty sharp with respect to the 
issue that is being brought forward before this hearing, this 
committee today, this manufactured Northern Border crisis.
    The facts do not support the Republican claim that the 
Northern Border is, ``a source of death, drugs, and disorder.'' 
In fact, with respect to the Northern Border crisis, I think by 
contrast, if I could have, or quote one of our fellow 
colleagues here on the committee has said, I am not worried 
about the Northern Border. He is not alone in that statement. 
There are other Members who have made similar statements on, 
well, from the Republican side of the aisle also on this 
committee who stated that before.
    But let me say this if we are going to be here and discuss 
this today, and clearly we are, I want to make sure that 
everybody understands that this is not a problem that began 
under the Biden administration. In 2019, the GAO highlighted 
the Trump administration's decision to focus on the Southwest 
Border, which led to a significant staffing and resource 
challenge at the Northern Border. In fact, the Trump 
administration compounded that problem then that same year by 
terminating a contract with an outside contractor. I believe it 
was Accenture, but I will see that subject to check. But before 
they were able to actually expedite the much-needed staffing 
increases, the Trump administration terminated that contract 
for convenience.
    As a result, CBP's numbers of apprehensions between ports 
of entry hit a high watermark in fiscal year 2019 under the 
President Trump, with 4,408 apprehensions compared to the 2,856 
encounters the Border Patrol had in fiscal year 2023.
    Can we have the second exhibit as well? I think this chart 
shows, with the red being 2019, the number from the year I just 
was discussing, the high watermark being in the Trump 
administration. Fiscal year 2022 has gone up from fiscal year 
2021, but it is still short of the numbers we experienced in 
2019, or 2018 for that matter.
    I want to be clear about this as well. I know there's a lot 
of issues about the statistical discussions, and we will have 
more chance to discuss those at length. I think we will have 
witnesses who are going to give detailed comments and 
explanations. But I want to make sure we are on the same page 
with respect to our definitions of encounters, and 
apprehensions, and arrests. I will come back to that in a 
moment.
    But with respect to the major point of this hearing, I 
would assume is that if we are going to fix the problem, we 
have to commit resources to doing that. As I said at a previous 
hearing in this committee, this is the Show Me the Money 
moment. One way of measuring whether people are serious about 
addressing a problem is by looking at the budgets and the 
efforts they make to commit money to fix the problems.
    In December, Democrats passed the Omnibus Appropriations 
bill. As I discussed in our previous hearing back in February, 
to help DHS manage the border, the bill added 300 additional 
Border Patrol agents, 125 more CBP officers, and related 
personnel, and more than $400 million for nonintrusive 
inspections systems to interdict drugs. The nonintrusive 
inspections are important because Canada is our, I believe, No. 
2 trading partner. So, we don't want to delay the intercourse 
between the two countries with excessive and extensive 
inspections. We want to make sure that the products between the 
United States and Canada can flow quickly and efficiently.
    In addition to that, though, the bill also authorized a new 
$800 million Shelter and Services Grant program to improve 
CBP's operational capabilities, and to help manage the border 
by reducing overcrowding in facilities. Only two Republicans 
currently serving in the entire House of Representatives voted 
for that bill, and neither of them serve on this committee. Not 
only have Republicans voted against this funding, they failed 
to put forward a workable plan or mark up any viable 
legislation that could actually fix this so-called crisis at 
the Northern Border.
    I hope the witnesses will discuss H.R. 9023, which is 
Member Tenney's bill, and I believe Congressman Stauber is a 
cosponsor of that bill. But I do want to point out right now, 
so they will have a chance to respond, that this bill only 
speaks to even if we assume that the transfer of money from the 
IRS were to actually happen, under the actual provisions of 
this bill, the money could only go to the Southern Border. So, 
in a possible reflection of their view of the importance of the 
Northern Border, it isn't even addressed in that legislation.
    Instead of relying on the Republicans, we have had to count 
on the Democrats to address these problems. That continues to 
this day with President Biden's new budget proposal, which 
would fund even more major investments in both the technology 
and facilities at the Northern Border. For example, the 
President's proposed budget would provide $66 million for the 
construction of a new Border Patrol facility in Maine, as well 
as devoting $38 million for surveillance towers on both the 
Northern and Southern Borders. In addition, the President's 
budget request includes $600 million for work force pay raises 
and proposes the hiring of 350 more Border Patrol agents, 150 
field operations officers, 175 Border Patrol processing 
coordinators, 244 Border Patrol mission support staff, and 46 
field operations mission and operations staff. The Republicans 
had offered no specifics, only rhetoric.
    I will leave it to my colleagues and the witnesses to 
discuss our trading relationship with Canada. As I mentioned, 
it is clearly a critical relationship for the United States 
economy and there is nothing going on with respect to Canada 
that merits them being treated like some kind of rogue state. 
As a matter of fact, the Biden-Trudeau meeting, I think, from 
last week is an indication that they are a good working partner 
with the United States and that we have been able in the past 
and will continue to be able in the future to work through 
problems in a way that is joint and effective.
    Last, I want to mention that on a separate note, about a 
month ago, I sent a letter to the committee expressing my 
thoughts about additional, or another type of investigation 
that we should be pursuing. With respect to the DHS OIG, there 
have been allegations that surfaced in the last Congress and 
two chairmen at the time sent letters to the IG demanding 
documents on two fronts. One was with respect to allegations of 
sexual harassment going on inside that office and demanding 
documents in response to address that.
    The second was the failure of the OIG to produce, or inform 
Congress until 14 months later that text messages with respect 
to January 6 had been apparently deleted. That issue, I 
thought, merited a hearing, especially since given this 
committee's jurisdiction of oversight, it is sort-of right down 
the middle of the alley for where we should be looking as 
opposed to a border issue when we have got a subcommittee that 
is focused on borders.
    I would renew my request to have a hearing on those issues 
with respect to the OIG's conduct. I think it is critical for 
us to get to the bottom of it. The IG role in all of these 
departments, as we know from the Watergate era, is critical in 
making sure that they function appropriately, and we need to 
make sure that they are able to perform that mission and are 
focused on doing it correctly in a thorough, objective, and 
transparent way.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for giving me a chance to offer my 
opening statement. With that, I yield back.
    [The statement of Ranking Member Ivey follows:]
                 Statement of Ranking Member Glenn Ivey
                             March 28, 2023
    I would like to take a moment at the beginning of this hearing to 
express my deepest condolences to those affected by the devastating 
tornado that impacted Ranking Member Thompson's Mississippi district 
this past weekend. I would also like to acknowledge the tragic act of 
targeted violence that left 6 dead in Nashville yesterday, including 3 
children.
    These devastating incidents, over which the Department of Homeland 
Security has broad authority to address, puts into perspective the 
frivolity of holding a hearing on the manufactured Northern Border 
crisis. My Republican colleagues seem intent on using cherry-picked 
statistics, misleading statements, and inflammatory rhetoric to sell a 
story that the facts don't back up. So, let me be clear about what the 
facts do show.
    Republicans probably won't tell you that the number of times that 
U.S. Border Patrol has encountered migrants between ports of entry on 
the Northern Border peaked in fiscal year 2019, during the Trump 
administration, and has not reached that level since. It is true that 
the total number of times that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has 
encountered someone at ports of entry and between ports of entry has 
recently increased. But encounters on the Northern Border are a mere 5 
percent of total encounters. This is hardly a reason to paint the 
Northern Border as a source of ``death, drugs, and disorder.''
    As long-time allies and trading partners, Canadian officials have 
worked closely with our own Government to monitor and respond to 
changes in global migration patterns, while facilitating the legitimate 
trade and travel that serves as an economic lynchpin for both our 
countries. Canada is our country's largest trading partner, with nearly 
$2.6 billion in goods and services crossing our shared border every day 
and contributing to thousands of jobs in both countries. Canadian 
companies operating in the United States directly employ over 630,000 
Americans. And numerous industries benefit from trade agreements 
between the United States and Canada, from steel and aluminum 
manufacturers to auto parts, and most recently the two countries 
established an agreement to strengthen the cross-border semiconductor 
manufacturing corridor.
    Following the lifting of pandemic restrictions, CBP has worked 
closely with their Canadian partners to dramatically reduce the backlog 
of individuals requesting pre-screening for expedited travel across the 
Northern border. And just last week, President Biden met with Canadian 
Prime Minister Trudeau to announce a new agreement on how to treat 
migrants crossing the border in both directions.
    Canadian officials also announced a plan to welcome an additional 
15,000 migrants on a humanitarian basis from countries in Central 
American and the Caribbean. The Canadian government plans to accept 
over 460,000 new permanent residents this year. As we know, increasing 
legal pathways for migration reduces the numbers of people who seek to 
enter illegally.
    President Biden's visit last week also marked the announcement of a 
new global coalition to counter synthetic drugs, such as fentanyl. 
Canada and the United States will lead a concentrated effort to expand 
prosecution of drug traffickers, dismantle criminal networks, prevent 
the trafficking of drugs across our shared border, and disrupt the 
supply of precursor chemicals. While there are unique challenges on the 
Northern Border, the U.S.-Canadian partnership is strong and prepared 
to take these challenges head-on.
    So instead of making a mountain out of the molehill that is, in 
reality, a small increase in activity on the Northern Border, I'd ask 
that we focus on the issues that really matter. We can sit here and 
argue about statistics and play with numbers and percentages all day. 
But let's not forget that we're talking about real people with real 
lives that matter, and their trials and tribulations should not be 
boiled down to a misleading statistic used to score political points. 
As we look to our Northern Border and how we might best solve the 
challenges we see there, it's important to remember that modest 
challenges can be managed effectively with our Canadian partners.

    Chairman Bishop. Thank you, Mr. Ivey. That letter you sent 
was on March 20, that is 8 days ago, not a month ago, but we 
certainly will take it up in due course.
    So, other Members of the committee are reminded that 
opening statements may be submitted for the record.
    [The statement of Ranking Member Thompson follows:]
             Statement of Ranking Member Bennie G. Thompson
                             March 28, 2023
    We are here today to discuss our shared border with Canada and how 
we are working with our neighbors to effectively manage the more than 
5,000 miles of border that connect us geographically, economically, and 
culturally. Unfortunately, Republicans are trying to create a 
misimpression of chaos on the Northern Border. They are manipulating 
data and conveniently leaving out certain details to weave a 
politically-motivated story about an unmanageable surge of migrants and 
drugs--and blaming the Biden administration for long-standing border 
staffing shortages. However, the reality is far different.
    When discussing increased ``encounters'' on the Northern Border, 
Republicans use percentages to exaggerate small numbers. They also 
compare current levels of border encounters with encounters during the 
worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the border was effectively closed, 
creating a distorted view of the current situation. Republicans point 
to increases in drug seizures from fiscal year 2021 to 2022. They don't 
mention that so far this fiscal year, only 1 pound of fentanyl has been 
seized or that U.S. and Canadian officials continue to work closely to 
prevent drug smuggling across the border.
    Republicans say that Border Patrol staffing remains static, but 
they fail to mention the 300 additional agents Democrats funded this 
year or that every Republican on this committee voted against providing 
that money.
    Republicans will pay lip service to putting boots on the ground, 
but their votes show they aren't backing up that talk with action.
    Where there are issues on the Northern Border, they are manageable 
because of our strong security partnership with Canada. Just last week 
during President Biden's visit to Ottawa, he and Prime Minister Trudeau 
finalized new agreements to address irregular migration along the 
Northern Border. The Safe Third Country Agreement was revised to allow 
both countries to return migrants who cross between ports of entry to 
the other side. Canada also agreed to welcome 15,000 migrants from the 
Western Hemisphere this year, providing them with a path to safety, 
stability, and opportunity.
    These new agreements demonstrate our strong commitment to securing 
our shared border.
    That commitment certainly extends to personnel on the ground, with 
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Coast Guard, and State and local 
police working with their Canadian counterparts every day to keep the 
border secure and facilitate trade and travel. As challenges continue 
to arise, which they are bound to do given the vast border we share, I 
am confident our shared security commitment will serve us well.

    Chairman Bishop. I am pleased to have two distinguished 
panels of witnesses before us today on this very important 
topic. I will now introduce our first panel of witnesses, which 
is a Member panel. Questions by Members on the dais will be 
reserved for the witnesses on the second panel after those 
witnesses' opening statements.
    Representative Claudia Tenney represents the 24th District 
of New York and is a member of the Northern Border Security 
Caucus. Representative Mike Kelly represents the 16th District 
of Pennsylvania and is co-chair of the Northern Border Security 
Caucus. Representative Brian Higgins represents the 26th 
District of New York and is co-chair of the Northern Border 
Caucus. Representative Pete Stauber represents the 8th District 
of the great State of Minnesota and is a member of the Northern 
Border Security Caucus as well. I thank these Members and 
witnesses for being here today. I will now recognize 
Representative Tenney for 5 minutes for her opening statement.

STATEMENT OF HON. CLAUDIA TENNEY, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS 
                   FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK

    Ms. Tenney. Thank you, Chairman Bishop, and Ranking Member 
Ivey, and Members of the Oversight, Investigations, and 
Accountability Subcommittee for the opportunity to appear 
before you all today and testify on the crisis at our Northern 
Border. While a lot of attention, rightfully so, has been paid 
to our Southern Border, our Northern Border is also facing a 
crisis. The U.S.-Canada border is the longest international 
border between two countries in the world. I may just address 
the Ranking Member for a moment. This manufactured crisis that 
he describes, maybe we could discuss why President Biden 
recently went to Canada to visit with Prime Minister Trudeau to 
discuss the problems at the border. So, apparently, President 
Biden has recognized that this is an issue as well.
    Recent news reports, along with data compiled over the last 
2 years, show a surge in illegal migrant crossings and drug 
trafficking across the Northern Border. Specifically, in the 
north country sector of the border, which I partially 
represent, there has been nearly an 850 percent increase in 
border crossings, while the stats the Ranking Member shows do 
not count this past year.
    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. It is 
still at the same level as it was fiscal year 2009. I am 
honored to represent New York's 24th Congressional District, 
which runs along the Northern Border with Canada across Lake 
Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. This crisis is directly 
harming my constituents, as drugs and illegal aliens are 
trafficked along the border.
    Under President Biden's failed leadership, our borders are 
less secure and our communities are at risk. It is critical now 
more than ever for Members of Congress to come together with 
one voice to advocate against President Biden and Secretary of 
Homeland Security Mayorkas' reckless policies. It is time for 
the administration to finally focus on delivering the resources 
needed for our hard-working and courageous Border Patrol agents 
at the Northern Border to do their jobs effectively.
    Since President Biden has taken office, there has been 
nearly a 15-fold increase in northern land border encounters. 
There were 997 Northern Border land encounters in January 2021 
before President Biden took office. It is 15-fold since that 
date. But since then, we continue to see these crossings with 
no action on the part of the administration. In the month of 
October 2022, there were 15,938 northern land border 
encounters. In fiscal year 2020, there were 32,376 border 
encounters. In fiscal year 2022, there were 109,535 encounters. 
Under the Biden administration, drug smuggling has increased by 
596 percent along the Northern Border, including a 26 percent 
increase in fentanyl.
    Border Patrol staffing has remained flat, as I said, since 
2009. Since fiscal year 2009, staffing levels along the 
Northern Border sectors have been between 1,887 and 2,263 
personnel. Fiscal 2020 Northern Border staffing was at 2,019, 
actually less. 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.
    This shortcoming is especially impactful to my district, 
which shares a considerable border with Canada across Lake 
Ontario. Numerous traffickers utilize this large expanse of 
water to bypass more heavily-guarded sections of the border, 
funneling drugs into our communities. Others use the heavy boat 
traffic on the St. Lawrence in the summer to overwhelm and 
evade the border security there.
    Just a few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to meet with 
our Buffalo Border Patrol agents, and they discussed the many 
issues they are facing. However, by far the biggest challenge 
these public servants face is the lack of resources and 
assistance to effectively do their jobs. For example, under 
Secretary Mayorkas, each border sector must individually apply 
to receive permission to perform counter-Unmanned Aerial 
Systems operations. It took Secretary Mayorkas roughly 3 weeks 
to approve the Buffalo Sector's ability to perform to counter 
these CUAS operations. During this time, drug smugglers 
continued to use UAS to traffic fentanyl and other drugs across 
the border that directly harms our communities. Once again, I 
appreciate the opportunity to testify in front of the 
committee. I am glad to see the Northern Border crisis finally 
getting the attention it needs. May I ask the Ranking Member we 
are happy to amend my bill to include the Northern Border and I 
hope you will join us in those efforts. I do implore the 
committee to please join with our border agents at the Northern 
Border to really understand what is happening up there. It is 
really a crisis and it is tragic on a human level as well. 
Thanks so much. I appreciate the ability to testify.
    [The prepared statement of Hon. Tenney follows:]
                 Statement of Honorable Claudia Tenney
                             March 24, 2023
    Thank you, Chairman Green, Ranking Member Payne, Members of the 
Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability Subcommittee, for the 
opportunity to appear before you all today and testify on the crisis on 
our Northern Border.
    While a lot of attention, rightfully so, has been paid to our 
Southern Border, our Northern Border is also facing a crisis. The U.S.-
Canada border is the longest international border between two countries 
in the world. Recent news reports, along with data compiled over the 
past 2 years, show a surge in illegal migrant crossings and drug 
trafficking across the Northern Border. Specifically, in the North 
Country sector of the border, which I partially represent, there has 
been an 846 percent 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.
    I am honored to represent New York's 24th Congressional District, 
which runs along our Northern Border with Canada across Lake Ontario 
and the St. Lawrence River. This crisis is directly harming my 
constituents, as drugs and illegal aliens are trafficked along the 
border.
    Under President Biden's failed leadership, our borders are less 
secure and our communities are at risk. It is critical now more than 
ever for Members of Congress to come together with one voice to 
advocate against President Biden and Secretary of Homeland Security 
Alejandro Mayorkas' reckless policies and to focus on delivering the 
resources needed for our brave Border Patrol agents at our Northern 
Border to do their jobs effectively.
    Since President Biden has taken office 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 fiscal year 2020, there were 
32,376 border encounters. In fiscal year 2022, there were 109,535 
encounters. Under the Biden administration, drug smuggling has 
increased by 596 percent along the Northern Border, including a 26 
percent increase in fentanyl.
    Border Patrol staffing has remained flat since fiscal year 2009. 
Since fiscal year 2009, staffing levels along the Northern Border 
sectors have been between 1,887 and 2,263 personnel. Fiscal year 2020 
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. This is especially important in my district, 
which shares a considerable border with Canada across Lake Ontario. 
Numerous traffickers utilize this large expanse of water to bypass more 
heavily-guarded sections of the border, funneling drugs into our 
communities.
    Just a few weeks ago I had the opportunity to meet with our Buffalo 
Border Patrol agents, and they discussed the many issues they are 
facing. However, by far, the biggest challenge these public servants 
face is the lack of resources and assistance to effectively do their 
jobs. For example, under Secretary Mayorkas, each border sector must 
individually apply and receive permission to perform counter-Unmanned 
Aerial Systems (C-UAS) operations. It took Secretary Mayorkas roughly 3 
weeks to approve the Buffalo Border Sector to perform C-UAS operations. 
During this time, drug smugglers continued to use UAS to traffic 
fentanyl and other drugs across the border that directly harms our 
communities.
    Once again, I appreciate the opportunity to testify in front of the 
committee and I am glad to see the Northern Border crisis finally 
getting the attention it deserves.

    Chairman Bishop. Thank you, Representative Tenney. I now 
recognize Representative Mike Kelly for 5 minutes for his 
opening statement.

STATEMENT OF HON. MIKE KELLY, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM 
                   THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA

    Mr. Kelly. Thank you, Chairman, Vice Chairman, thank you 
for allowing us to be here today. You know, look, I think it is 
time for us to quit playing Who Struck John and talk about the 
problem we face. It is getting down to there is no secrets in 
our family. There are just a lot of things we don't talk about. 
Four-and-a-half million illegals have crossed into this country 
since the Biden administration went into effect. There is no 
way you can play with that. You can't twist it. You can't turn 
it. You can't make it a different color. The problem we have is 
we have nobody guarding our borders the way we are supposed to.
    The Northern Border is wide open. You heard what Ms. Tenney 
said, 5,500 miles or 1,000 miles, right? That is a long, that 
is 5,500 miles, that border. There is no way we can cover it. 
Then when you take and you will listen to the Border Patrol 
people when they come in, you take those folks from the 
Northern Border and take them down to the Southwestern Border 
because they are doing the intake. You are looking at 40 
percent of our Border Patrol down on the border in Southwest 
and understand that 40 percent of those are working on the 
intake place.
    So, you come down today, so, what is the problem? Now, 
Chairman, you have very clearly stated what is taking place. 
The numbers are incredible. They are off the charts. Ms. Tenney 
repeated a lot of what it is that you just said. Now, we can 
sit here and point fingers as no, it was the other 
administration. It is not this administration. I will challenge 
anybody to go the Southwestern Border and see who put up a 
fence. One is a really tall fence that you look and say, my 
God, there is nobody who can go over that. The other one looks 
like the outfield fence of the Little League.
    Now, we can keep saying it wasn't us that did it. It was 
the other party that did it. The truth of the matter is we have 
serious problems at our border. Four-and-a-half million illegal 
entries into our country. If they were wearing the uniform of a 
foreign country, we would think we were being invaded and we 
would be very say, my God, who is watching the border? The 
answer is the Border Patrol. But they are so strung out, they 
are so purposely sent one place to another. This 
administration, by its failure to admit that we have a problem, 
is the problem.
    Now, Ranking Member, I appreciate what you went through at 
the beginning, but again, it always comes down to no, no, not 
us, them. Now, you talk about pieces of legislation that 
control and have some information, but it gets blurred into 
what the total site of the legislation is. I would just say 
this and please----
    Mr. Ivey. Will the gentleman yield for a question?
    Mr. Kelly. No, no, no. No, I won't. I won't yield right 
now. I will not yield. It has taken us too long to get here. We 
had to form the Northern Border caucus in order to get some 
attention because it was being totally, it was just being 
ignored.
    When you hear what the Border Patrol goes through, then you 
can hear what those men and women on the border do. When I got 
to Erie and talked to those men years before when I stopped by 
to see them, everything was fine. This year you could see it on 
their face. They are drained. They are drained because they 
feel they have no help coming from this administration.
    Now, whether we like it or not, the truth of the matter is 
look at the game films. You can't alter them. Four-and-a-half 
million illegal entries into this country. That doesn't count 
the people that came through the right way. Just to think for 
that 4\1/2\ million people if their first action upon entering 
the United States was to break one of her laws, that is not 
somebody I want to have in my community and say I am glad you 
are here, come on in. If we do not address this crisis at the 
Northern Borders, if we do not look at that border that is 
totally unprotected, there is just not enough men up there to 
do it. They are just worn out.
    Now there are ways to I guess to address that, but a lot of 
that area is totally unpopulated. We don't know who is coming 
in or who is going out, but we do know the number of deaths. 
Those deaths from fentanyl are the ones that you look at and 
say, my God, this is somebody's son or daughter. This is 
somebody who we would love to have in our community. Because of 
this infestation, it is corrupting us. It is ruining us. It is 
causing us to fight them against--between each other, as 
opposed to saying look, we got a problem at our borders. If we 
don't recognize that as Americans. Forget about the red team 
and the blue team. Think about what it is that we are supposed 
to do. The office that we are in right now, we take an oath to 
protect this country and for us to say no, this is going to be 
a political battle. This is not political for me. This is about 
policy. Nobody can tell me that this administration has 
addressed this when you completely ignored her--ignore a crisis 
at our Southwestern Border and don't even mention the Northern 
Border. Forget about the thing with Trudeau over the weekend. 
That was a joke. That's not serious.
    So, I would just ask all Members of Congress to please stop 
looking at what side of the aisle you are sitting on and start 
looking about what is taking place in our country right now. 
Four-and-a-half million illegals since this administration went 
into office. Now, please don't tell me there is not a problem, 
and don't tell me it is being addressed, because the reality of 
it is not being addressed. It is being ignored by the 
President, the Vice President. They have turned a blind eye and 
a deaf ear to our borders. So, listen, we can football this 
back and forth, but the reality of it is America is suffering 
because of the inattentiveness and inactions taken by this 
administration. Thank you. I yield back.
    [The prepared statement of Hon. Kelly follows:]
                   Statement of Honorable Mike Kelly
                             March 24, 2023
    Chairman Bishop and Ranking Member Ivey: Thank you both for 
inviting myself and our fellow colleagues to join you all on this 
critical hearing to discuss America's Northern Border. I would also 
like to thank Congresswoman Stefanik, Congressman Stauber, and 
Congressman Higgins for their service and testimony today. Northern 
Border security is an issue that has been ignored for far too long. I 
am so pleased to see the committee giving our northern communities, 
Northern Border agents, and northern Members a voice in protecting all 
regions of our homeland.
    I have had the distinct pleasure of representing Pennsylvania's 
Northwest communities in the U.S. House for the last 12 years. I have 
made it my mission to actively engage with all different sectors of our 
area: Companies, schools, families, and hardworking Pennsylvanians. 
Among those hardworking Americans are our incredible Customs and Border 
Protection agents. We are blessed to have these brave men and women of 
the CBP Buffalo Sector patrolling the waters of Lake Erie, including 
the 40+ miles that I represent in Pennsylvania.
    Throughout my 12 years serving the district, I have met with these 
agents to discuss their needs, priorities, and day-to-day operations 
out of their sector and station. Typically, our meetings are upbeat and 
swift. Reports are standard and the agents are optimistic. Last year, I 
once again visited the Erie station to chat with agents. This time was 
different. Agents had serious concerns. They were seeing a spike in 
drug and gun smuggling along their patrol area. At the same time, 
agents were forced to be inside at a desk doing digital processing work 
to assist with the influx of migrants in the south. Overall morale for 
these men and women was clearly low. This change in tone led to me and 
my team digging into what exactly was going on along the Northern 
Border.
    Meanwhile down south, over the last 2 years, we have witnessed 
tragedies at our Southern Border. Southern States have been overwhelmed 
with record illegal immigration, drug smuggling, and crime that has 
continuously poured into the local communities. The Biden 
administration has sat back and watched these great States bear the 
brunt of disastrous and dangerous policies. Under the current 
administration, there seems to be no end in sight. Understandably, all 
the attention has been on the Southern Border. At the same time, as we 
found out, America's Northern Border has been ignored all while quietly 
facing its own crises.
    According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data, in fiscal 
year 2022, U.S. Border Patrol agents had 2,238 encounters at the 
Northern Border. Now, in just the first 4 months of fiscal year 2023, 
encounters have skyrocketed to 2,856 and surpassed the total of last 
year's encounters. Agents continue to put themselves in harm's way to 
keep our communities safe, and this 475 percent increase in encounters 
from the first 4 months of fiscal year 2022 is both unsustainable and 
symptomatic of this administration's broader failure to secure the 
border. As temperatures reach sub-zero levels and USBP agents conduct 
life-saving search-and-rescue missions, Secretary Mayorkas continues to 
insist that he is managing the border in a safe, orderly, and humane 
manner. However, our Northern Border is on track to see nearly 7,000 
encounters in fiscal year 2023, while the administration continues to 
downplay the threat posed by a wide-open Northern Border.
    Specifically, the Swanton sector apprehended more undocumented 
immigrants in the previous 4 months than the last 2 fiscal years 
combined. In December 2022, a record 441 migrants from 19 different 
countries were apprehended attempting to cross into the United States 
through this sector. Further west, tragic stories, like an Indian 
family of four freezing to death as they attempted to cross into North 
Dakota, highlight the dangers DHS leaders have created for migrants and 
the brave men and women of USBP.
    In addition to increases in illegal immigration, the Northern 
Border has seen a spike in drug smuggling. Excluding marijuana, drug 
smuggling seizure weight increased by nearly 600 percent along the 
Northern Border from fiscal year 2021 to fiscal year 2022. More 
specifically, khat increased 1,756 percent, ecstasy increased 1,736 
percent, ketamine increased 663 percent, and methamphetamine increased 
204 percent. Even more concerning, CBP seized 14 pounds of fentanyl in 
fiscal year 2022 along the Northern Border; enough to kill an estimated 
3.17 million people. The damage this lethal drug can do to a community 
has been well-documented over the years, notably across New England 
States. We cannot allow another avenue for fentanyl smuggling into our 
communities that are already inundated by the drug crisis down south.
    As record levels of border encounters and drug smuggling continue 
to rise, USBP staffing on the Northern Border has remained relatively 
static. In between the 13 8 ports of entry in our northern States, only 
2,019 USBP agents have been assigned to protect and monitor the 5,525 
border miles. Along with being under-staffed, our Northern Border 
agents and DHS does not even have situational awareness of the crises. 
In a 2019 analysis, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) 
stated DHS does not even have performance measures to assess security 
along the Northern Border. GAO concluded, ``While CBP has performance 
measures . . . some of which include data from the Northern Border, it 
does not have specific measures to assess its effectiveness at securing 
the Northern Border between ports of entry.''
    Not only do our States in the north face an ever-growing border 
concern, but we have first-hand knowledge and real-life experience of 
the broken immigration system. The Biden administration spent much of 
the last 2 years covertly dropping groups of migrants into communities 
across the country. This hit home when Health and Human Services 
shipped 144 unaccompanied migrant children to an emergency intake site 
in Erie, Pennsylvania. There was no notification or alert given to 
local leaders, the people of Erie, and myself. For months, we tried to 
get information regarding the situation--why was the Erie site chosen, 
what was the amount of taxpayer money spent, and where were these 
children taken following Erie? It took 17 months to get an answer from 
HHS and Secretary Becerra. Time after time, it has become clear to me 
that this administration is fine with security issues along our border 
and within our country as long as the headlines do not follow.
    Once we understood the increasing issues along our Northern Border, 
we knew attention had to be brought to the problems. I circled up with 
fellow Northern Border Members, such as Rep. Stefanik and Rep. Ryan 
Zinke. I thought I would be introducing them to these issues, but they 
were more than aware, bringing along stories of migrants freezing to 
death in the cold New York winters and deputized posses patrolling the 
Montana mountainside to combat drug traffickers.
    We all agreed the Biden administration had to be held accountable 
for their neglect to our Northern Border and that is why we introduced 
the Northern Border Security Caucus. The caucus is a coalition of 29 
Members of Congress who share the vision of securing all of America's 
borders and ensuring that the 13 border States and 5 Great Lakes in the 
north are receiving the attention and resources they deserve. Through 
the work of our new caucus, and that of House Republicans at large, we 
plan to show the Biden administration that our broken immigration 
system isn't simply a talking point: it's a critical issue that affects 
our entire country.
    By calling attention to the Northern Border, we do not want to 
minimize the record illegal immigration, drug smuggling, and crime that 
have ravaged communities along the U.S.-Mexico border. Instead, we are 
amplifying that message. More must be done to secure all of our 
borders; to protect our communities from deadly drugs; and to give 
leaders from northern States a greater voice in solving our Nation's 
troubled immigration system.
    Although we serve on House committees that address policies other 
than immigration, like so many in Congress, this issue found us. 
Members of Congress from both the north and the south have practical 
solutions to the joint border crises at hand. We plan to give a greater 
voice to the American people who, until now, have been left out of the 
conversation. I once again thank the committee for welcoming myself and 
my fellow colleagues to testify on the issues facing America's Northern 
Border.

    Chairman Bishop. Thank you, Representative Kelly. I now 
recognize Representative Higgins for 5 minutes for his opening 
statement.

 STATEMENT OF HON. BRIAN HIGGINS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS 
                   FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK

    Mr. Higgins. Thank you, Chairman Bishop, and Ranking Member 
Ivey, for allowing me to testify today. I served on this 
committee for three terms, and it is good to be back. My name 
is Brian Higgins and I represent Buffalo, Niagara Falls, and 
Western New York in the House. It is good that you are having 
this hearing on the Northern Border. I would argue that Canada 
is not a hostile neighbor to the United States. We share a 
history that is strong. In fact, on 9/11, when the airspace in 
the United States was shut down, 37 passenger planes landed in 
Gander, Newfoundland, a town in Canada of about 7,000 people. 
There were about 7,000 people on those planes. They were 
treated as friends. They were treated as neighbors, and they 
were helpful to each other.
    I grew up on the Northern Border. I spent most of my 
summers in the Canadian shores of Lake Erie, in the cottage 
communities of Bay Beach, Crystal Beach, Thunder Bay. I played 
ice hockey up in Canada. We are in close proximity to the 
Province of Ontario. The Province of Ontario is 15 million 
people. It is 38 percent of the entire country of Canada.
    The Canadian economy is a little less than $2 trillion. 
They value worker rights. They value human rights. They value 
environmental rights. The American economy is about $23.5 
trillion. We value the same things. My Western New York economy 
is deeply integrated economically with southern Ontario. Our 
life qualities are integrated.
    We need to have a border, which has been said is 5,500 
miles long with 120 land ports of entry, that is safe and 
secure. But we cannot characterize our Northern Border and our 
northern neighbors as hostile. You know, if you look at places 
throughout the world, in the Middle East, in Eastern Europe, 
and the Indo-Pacific, it is surrounded by hostility and 
instability. We, in North America, are surrounded by fish and 
friends. I think that we need to recognize that relationship. I 
think we need to celebrate it, yes, with good border 
protection, as my colleagues have said.
    We need to treat our Customs and Border Protection agents 
as the professionals that they are. We need to make sure that 
they are properly supported and that they are properly 
compensated for the work that they do. As my colleague from 
Pennsylvania, Mr. Kelly, has said, it is unacceptable. It is 
unacceptable that people who are hired on the Northern Border, 
who live in close proximity to it, are forced to go to the 
Southern Border. It is not good policy. It is not good 
practical sense because a lot of those people end up quitting. 
So, we lose those resources altogether.
    So, I would ask that this committee recognize the shared 
prosperity, the shared security that is so important to the 
United States and Canada without compromising the strong 
friendship that has existed between our two countries. We need 
each other. We have all kinds of examples of that in Buffalo 
and Western New York. Thirty percent of the people that use the 
Buffalo Niagara International Airport originate from Canada. We 
have two professional sports franchises, the NFL Buffalo Bills, 
the NHL Buffalo Sabres. Twenty percent of the ticket-buying 
base, the fan base, is in southern Ontario. Canadians spend $15 
million a year in health care in Buffalo and Western New York. 
It is a shared existence. We are mutually benefit from that 
relationship. My hope is that this committee will recognize 
that the immigration issue is being solved, as evidenced by the 
President and the Prime Minister coming up with an agreement 
about better management. Those diplomatic engagements need to 
continue to ensure that there is safety and security at the 
border. But let's not compromise our relationship with our 
northern neighbors who have been good neighbors, who are 
contributors, net contributors to our economy, and our life 
quality. With that, I will yield back. Thank you, sir.
    [The prepared statement of Hon. Higgins follows:]
                  Statement of Honorable Brian Higgins
    Thank you, Chair Bishop, and Ranking Member Ivey, for allowing me 
to testify. I served on this committee for 3 terms. It is good to be 
back.
    My name is Brian Higgins and I represent Buffalo, Niagara Falls, 
and Western New York in the House. It is good that you are having a 
hearing on the Northern Border today.
    The United States and Canada have a unique and special 
relationship. We enjoy a shared border and shared values. I am a 
lifelong resident of Buffalo, New York. I have lived at the Northern 
Border my entire life.
    My district is economically integrated with Southern Ontario. 
Buffalo is home to the Buffalo Bills football team and the Buffalo 
Sabres hockey team. Our community could not sustain them without 
Canadian season ticket holders. Nearly 4,000 United Auto Workers work 
at General Motors and Ford plants in Western New York. These plants--
which help make combustion engine and electric vehicles--are in the 
stream of commerce with plants in Ontario.
    The Buffalo airport has attracted low-cost airlines like JetBlue 
and Southwest because of proximity to the rapidly-growing Toronto 
market. Western New Yorkers travel to Ikea in Ontario to furnish their 
homes. Canadian cars fill the parking lots at the Walden Galleria Mall 
in Cheektowaga, New York many weekends. Americans have owned cottages 
along Lake Erie in Bay Beach, Crystal Beach, and Sherkston for 
generations. Canadians ski at Ellicottville, New York. This 
productivity and life quality is possible because our Customs agents 
work every day to enforce and uphold our laws.
    My district includes 4 land ports of entry and 1 rail crossing. 
They operate under treaties between the United States and Canada. At 
the bridges, our officers enforce our laws with great success.
    Customs and Border Protection last year seized 60,000 pounds of 
drugs at our Northern Border, 98 percent of which were at our ports of 
entry. Our country asks a lot of these professionals. They did not sign 
up to be public health managers during the pandemic, but they have been 
forced to interpret confusing and inconsistent travel rules. And they 
are stretched too thin.
    I oppose efforts to expand temporary duty travel. These assignments 
take officers away from their families and community for extended 
periods of time. I support the agreement that President Biden and Prime 
Minister Trudeau announced last week to address irregular migration. 
This collaboration shows we can work through challenges.
    A lot more must be done. I have long publicly argued that our 
Federal Government does too little to support Northern Border 
communities. There should be a dedicated Northern Border infrastructure 
fund to pay for improvements to land ports of entry. By failing to 
invest, we have lost out on economic activity. There should be greater 
support for Sector Buffalo Coast Guard stations, something I have been 
advocating for since 2005 and is proceeding much too slowly.
    Congress must also ensure that working conditions for border agents 
are optimal. This means funding an 8.6 percent cost of living increase 
in pay this year. We can also alleviate the strain of this work by 
increasing the number of officers, building on support from last year. 
It means funding for training--like expediting construction of a 
training facility in the Town of Lockport, New York and for resources 
to cope with mental health challenges. My community also needs more 
access to Preclearance programs.
    I urge you to push the Department to work with Canada to end the 
NEXUS backlogs that have piled up due to bureaucracy. You should also 
support my legislation to allow for more remote interviews--bringing 
trusted traveler programs into the 21st century. And we need your help 
pushing for PreClearance at Niagara Falls train station and other 
settings.
    I hope that this hearing can discuss these many challenges and 
think about practical solutions. In the last census, the population of 
the city of Buffalo increased for the first time in many decades. That 
increase was credited to the settlement of thousands of asylum seekers. 
Fleeing instability in far-away places, they have settled in Buffalo to 
make a new life. They are the latest generation to do so. I am the 
descendant of Irish immigrants whose predicament was not unlike these 
newcomers. I would say that many in this room may have a similar story 
in their histories as well.
    As you conduct this hearing today, I hope we can all remember that 
shared humanity. Thank you.

    Chairman Bishop. Thank you, Representative Higgins. I move 
to agree with you that--and say for the record, that the 
relationship with our neighbor in Canada is an entirely 
important one and they are friends, not anything other than 
that. Both countries benefit from an orderly and secure border, 
of course. I think your testimony illustrates that.
    If you take the example that you mentioned of the agreement 
entered into last week between the President and Prime Minister 
Trudeau, though, it was an example of a Safe Third Country 
Agreement. Canada can return migrants who are passing through 
the United States into Canada, they get to return them. Their 
exchange for that was they would accept 15,000. Frankly, if you 
consider our numbers, 15,000 migrants from the Western 
Hemisphere, it is a rounding error. The kind of Safe Third 
Agreement that will now benefit Canada, obviously, they don't 
think the United States is a hostile enemy either. We are 
friends. But they believe they see the value in that. Those 
Safe Third Agreements that the United States had with countries 
to our south have been allowed to lapse and abandoned by this 
administration. What Canada is pursuing, we should pursue on 
behalf of the United States. So, with that I recognize--thank 
you, Representative Higgins. I now recognize Representative 
Stauber for 5 minutes for his opening statement.
    Mr. Ivey. Mr. Chairman, would you yield so I could have a 
chance to ask that one?
    Chairman Bishop. You will have a chance a little bit when 
you have question time, sir. But at this moment, I will 
recognize Representative Stauber for 5 minutes.
    Mr. Ivey. I would only ask that we be able to have equal 
time as we go forward, Mr. Chairman.
    Chairman Bishop. Representative Stauber, you are 
recognized.

 STATEMENT OF HON. PETE STAUBER, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS 
                  FROM THE STATE OF MINNESOTA

    Mr. Stauber. Thank you, very much, Mr. Chairman. Mr. 
Higgins, I appreciate you mentioned the Buffalo Sabres because 
my younger brother was a goaltender there for a few years, and 
my brother, Rob Stauber, he played with Los Angeles and 
Buffalo. So, I appreciate you mentioned professional hockey.
    Chairman Bishop, Ranking Member Ivey, and Members of the 
committee, I would like to thank you for convening this very 
important hearing as well as for allowing me the opportunity to 
testify today on behalf of the people of Northern Minnesota. I 
am proud to represent Minnesota's 8th Congressional District, 
which contains a large portion of Minnesota's nearly 550-mile-
long border with Canada, including important crossings like the 
Northwest Angle, Grand Portage, and International Falls. 
Throughout the 8th District, cross-border traffic, commerce, 
recreation, and tourism play an incredibly important role. 
However, rather than benefiting the lives of my constituents, 
the proximity to our unsecured Northern Border with Canada is 
increasingly becoming a liability as the effects of the Biden 
administration's disastrous immigration and border security 
policies become a part of my constituents' everyday lives. As 
this administration fails to properly address our growing 
crisis at our Southern Border, the consequences are echoing 
throughout communities across the United States, particularly 
in our Northern Border communities.
    As I visit with hardworking--excuse me--as I visit with 
hardworking Custom and Border Patrol Protection agents in my 
district, I hear their concerns about staffing levels and the 
lack of focus to the north. According to agency data, CBP 
staffing levels along our Northern Border have remained 
stagnant over the past decade, even as threats have increased.
    Agents in my district are being pulled away from their 
patrols, either being dispatched to patrol our Southern Border, 
or being relegated to sit in their offices to process paperwork 
related to illegal crossings at the Southern Border. On 
average, there is now only one officer on duty for every 275 
miles of the border in my district. Every minute that these 
officers' attention is focused elsewhere, we are leaving our 
Northern Border vulnerable to illicit activity, whether it be 
illegal crossings by individuals, or trafficking of dangerous 
drugs. Drug smugglers and human traffickers are taking notice 
of the lack of the enforcement and growing vulnerability at the 
Northern Border and are using it to their advantage.
    As some of my colleagues have shared, drug trafficking 
along the Northern Border is increasing exponentially. 
According to Customs and Border Protection data, drug smuggling 
across the Northern Border has increased by nearly 600 percent 
since fiscal year 2021. These drugs are pouring over the 
Northern Border and flowing directly into our communities, 
killing our citizens. The communities in my district are being 
ravaged by the influx of lethal fentanyl. Today, fentanyl is 
the leading cause of death among adults in the United States, 
taking more lives each year than car accidents, suicide, heart 
disease, or cancer. In 2021, nearly 1,300 Minnesotans died of 
fentanyl overdose, a staggering 22 percent increase just from 
the previous year. Just last week, law enforcement officials in 
Hennepin County, Minnesota charged 6 individuals for possession 
of 34 pounds of fentanyl, 14 pounds of methamphetamine, and 
nearly 2 pounds of cocaine. As many of us in this room have 
unfortunately learned in recent years, it takes only 2 
milligrams of fentanyl to kill an adult. Last week's seizure, 
those 34 pounds of fentanyl would have been enough to kill 7.8 
million individuals, or enough to kill every Minnesotan nearly 
1.5 times over.
    During my 23 years working as a law enforcement officer in 
Duluth, Minnesota, I worked tirelessly to keep illegal drugs 
off the streets and out of the hands of our young children. You 
do not know the pain until you have to give a death 
notification to an unsuspecting parent, as I have had to do way 
too many times. The drug crisis in this country has grown out 
of control, taking the lives of countless Americans from all 
walks of life each and every day. We will never be able to 
overcome this epidemic until we address the Nation's porous 
borders and stop the flow of these drugs into our country.
    Over Memorial Day weekend in 2022, resort owners along the 
border in my district encountered individuals trying to cross 
the Northern Border illegally by boat. When the resort owners 
went to call Customs and Border Patrol, no one answered their 
call. In fact, the voice mail said they were closed through the 
holiday. Unfortunately, illegal immigrants do not observe 
Federal holidays, and 5 illegal immigrants escaped into our 
country.
    This is just one of countless examples. In fiscal year 
2022, we saw nearly 110 apprehensions of illegal immigrants 
across our entire Northern Border. So far this year, we are on 
track to see well over 150,000 apprehensions, according to the 
latest CBP data. In Minnesota, we are currently on track to see 
the number of apprehensions double year over year. Keep in 
mind, these numbers only reflect the ones who got caught.
    As Members of Congress, we have a duty to deliver results 
for the American people. The crisis at our Southern Border, and 
increasingly the growing threat at our Northern Border, is 
affecting the lives of Americans across the United States. We 
must act. Accordingly, I want to thank the Members of the 
Homeland Security Committee for taking on this issue. I stand 
ready to work with each of you to push back against the Biden 
administration's disastrous open border policies and once and 
for all address our growing dual border crisis. With that, Mr. 
Chair, I yield back. Thank you.
    [The prepared statement of Hon. Stauber follows:]
                  Statement of Honorable Pete Stauber
                             March 28, 2023
    Chairman Bishop, Ranking Member Ivey, and Members of the 
subcommittee, I would like to thank you for convening this very 
important hearing, as well as for allowing me the opportunity to 
testify today on behalf of the people of Northern Minnesota.
    I am proud to represent Minnesota's 8th Congressional District, 
which contains a large portion of Minnesota's nearly 550-mile-long 
border with Canada, including important crossings like the Northwest 
Angle, Grand Portage, and International Falls. Throughout the 8th 
District, cross-border traffic, commerce, recreation, and tourism play 
an incredibly important role. However, rather than benefiting the lives 
of my constituents the proximity to our unsecured Northern Border with 
Canada is increasingly becoming a liability, as the effects of the 
Biden administration's disastrous immigration and border security 
policies become a part of my constituents' everyday lives. As this 
administration fails to properly address our growing crisis at our 
Southern Border, the consequences are echoing throughout communities 
across the United States--particularly in our Northern Border 
communities.
    As I visit with the hardworking Customs and Border Protection 
Agents in my district, I hear their concerns about staffing levels and 
the lack of focus to the north. According to agency data, CBP staffing 
levels along our Northern Border have remained stagnant over the past 
decade, even as threats have increased. Agents in my district are being 
pulled away from their patrols, either being dispatched to patrol our 
Southern Border, or being relegated to sit in their offices to process 
paperwork related to illegal crossings at the Southern Border. On 
average, there is now only 1 officer on duty for every 275 miles of 
border in my district. Every minute that these officers' attention is 
focused elsewhere, we are leaving our Northern Border vulnerable to 
illicit activity, whether it be illegal crossings by individuals or 
trafficking of dangerous drugs. Drug smugglers and human traffickers 
are taking notice of the lax enforcement and growing vulnerability at 
the Northern Border and are using it to their advantage.
    As some of my colleagues have shared, drug trafficking along the 
Northern Border is increasing exponentially. According to Customs and 
Border Protection data, drug smuggling across the Northern Border has 
increased by nearly 600 percent since fiscal year 2021. These drugs are 
pouring over the Northern Border and flowing directly into our 
communities, killing our citizens.
    The communities in my district are being ravaged by the influx of 
lethal fentanyl. Today, fentanyl is the leading cause of death among 
adults in the United States, taking more lives each year than car 
accidents, suicide, heart disease, or cancer. In 2021, nearly 1,300 
Minnesotans died of fentanyl overdose--a staggering 22 percent increase 
from the previous year.
    Just last week, law enforcement officials in Hennepin County, MN 
charged 6 individuals for possession of 34 pounds of fentanyl, 14 
pounds of methamphetamine, and nearly 2 pounds of cocaine. As many of 
us in this room have unfortunately learned in recent years, it takes 
only 2 milligrams of fentanyl to kill an adult. Last week's seizure--
those 34 pounds of fentanyl--would have been enough to kill 7.8 million 
individuals, or enough to kill every Minnesotan nearly 1.5 times over.
    During my 23 years working as a law enforcement officer in Duluth, 
MN, I worked tirelessly to keep illegal drugs off the streets and out 
of the hands of our young children. You do not know pain until you have 
to give a death notification to an unsuspecting parent, as I have had 
to do too many times. The drug crisis in this country has grown out of 
control, taking the lives of countless Americans from all walks of life 
each and every day. We will never be able to overcome this epidemic 
until we address this Nation's porous borders and stop the flow of 
these drugs into our country.
    Over Memorial Day weekend in 2022, resort owners along the border 
in my district encountered individuals trying to cross the Northern 
Border illegally by boat. When the resort owners went to call Customs 
and Border Patrol, no one answered their call. In fact, the voice mail 
said they were closed through the holiday. Unfortunately, illegal 
immigrants do not observe Federal holidays, and 5 illegal immigrants 
escaped into our country.
    This is just one of countless examples. In fiscal year 2022, we saw 
nearly 110,000 apprehensions of illegal immigrants across our entire 
Northern Border. So far, this year we are on track to see well over 
150,000 apprehensions, according to the latest CBP data. In Minnesota, 
we are currently on track to see the number of apprehensions double 
year-over-year. And, keep in mind, these numbers only reflect the ones 
who got caught.
    As Members of Congress, we have a duty to deliver results for the 
American people. The crisis at our Southern Border, and increasingly 
the growing threat at our Northern Border, is affecting the lives of 
Americans across the United States. We must act. Accordingly, I want to 
thank the Members of the Homeland Security Committee for taking on this 
issue. I stand ready to work with each of you to push back against the 
Biden administration's disastrous open borders policies and once and 
for all address our growing, dual border crisis.
    Thank you.

    Chairman Bishop. Thank you, Representative Stauber. Thank 
you again to each of the Members for participating in the first 
panel and for your valuable testimony. The witnesses are 
dismissed and the subcommittee will stand in brief recess while 
the clerks arrange for the second panel of witnesses.
    [Recess]
    Chairman Bishop. The committee will again come to order, 
please. I am pleased to welcome our second panel of witnesses. 
I ask at this time that the witnesses please rise and raise 
their right hand.
    [Witnesses sworn.]
    Chairman Bishop. Let the record reflect that the witnesses 
have answered in the affirmative. Thank you.
    I will now introduce our second panel of witnesses. Mr. 
Brandon Judd is the president of the National Border Patrol 
Council. Mr. Robert Quinn is the commissioner of the Department 
of Safety for the State of New Hampshire. Dr. Laura Dawson is 
the executive director of the Future Borders Coalition. Mr. 
Andrew Arthur is resident fellow in law and policy for the 
Center for Immigration Studies and a former immigration judge. 
Thank you to each of you for being here today.
    I now recognize Mr. Judd for 5 minutes for his opening 
statement.

 STATEMENT OF BRANDON JUDD, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL BORDER PATROL 
                            COUNCIL

    Mr. Judd. Chairman Bishop, Ranking Member Ivey, I really 
appreciate the opportunity to be here today to testify before 
you on behalf of my membership. I want to give a little 
perspective. The National Border Patrol Council, we boast the 
highest rate of organized membership of any other union in the 
entire Federal Government. Ninety percent of Border Patrol 
agents are voluntary members of the National Border Patrol 
Council, whereas the Federal Government as a whole is somewhere 
around 45 percent organized. We represent, to the best of our 
abilities, exactly what the agents would have us tell you 
today.
    What we have seen in my 25 years of experience, 8 of those 
years have been spent on the Northern Border, 3 in Maine and 5 
in Montana. What we are currently seeing is something that we 
never dreamed would have ever happened. When you look at the 
total numbers back in 2019, 2018, we did reach a high 
watermark, but that was in the best of times. We had more 
agents in the field than we ever had in the history. So, of 
course, we are going to apprehend more people when you have 
more people in the field.
    But then you look at what we currently experience and what 
we have experienced in the past. When we look at what we deal 
with and we face on the Northern Border, you can't quantify the 
unknown. In fact, when I was stationed in Montana, there was a 
Canadian rancher who noticed that there were new trails that 
were going through his land. So, what he did was he set up game 
cams to try to figure out what was going on. He actually 
captured right on the Canadian-U.S. border, he captured a 
vehicle that pulled up and picked up several people that 
crossed the border illegally. He turned the footage over to the 
RCMP. The RCMP then turned it over to HSI. HSI did an 
investigation and they determined that an organization believed 
to be the Gulf Cartel operating out of Texas, was making 
regular trips up to the Northern Border and were picking up--to 
Montana specifically, on a regular basis, they were making 
these trips, and they were picking up people illegally. This 
was a complete and total unknown, and it had been taking place 
for years. So, we have no idea how many people actually enter 
the country illegally.
    Then, of course, you have to look at what just happened 
north of Minnesota right there on the Minnesota-North Dakota 
border. When you had four Indian nationals who perished due to 
the weather, and they were intending to cross the border 
illegally. In fact, we would not have even known that they were 
there if it wasn't for the people that did enter the country 
illegally and then called 9-1-1. If it wasn't for that, we 
would have had no idea.
    So, when you look at that, the unknown just can't be 
quantified. But what we do know is that it is very scary. When 
I look at my time on the Northern Border, I am only aware of 3 
groups in the State of Maine that were apprehended, that 
actually crossed the border illegally. There were countless 
number of incursions that actually got away, but only 3 that I 
am aware of that we actually detected and apprehended. That's 
simply because we don't have the manpower or the resources that 
are necessary.
    When you look right now, we are deploying one agent for 
about every 30 miles. It's impossible to patrol the border. 
It's impossible to think that Border Patrol agents would be 
able to patrol the border when you're responsible for 30 miles 
for one agent. Your nearest back-up could be as far as an hour 
away. There was a time that I was deployed to the field, that I 
was the only agent that was responsible for nearly 60 miles of 
border. It is impossible. It's also impossible to know what's 
crossing when you have gaps in that coverage.
    So, when we look at the number of apprehensions and we're 
apprehending those people with the fewest number of agents in 
the field that we've ever had, that is a scary prospect, 
especially where they're currently coming in.
    When we look at all the technology and the resources, we 
can throw as much technology as we want at this issue, but if 
we do not have the manpower in the field, we will not be able 
to detect and apprehend these people. We must do everything 
that we can to retain agents. You can give me as many ground 
sensors, you can give me as many aero stats as you possibly 
want, but if I do not have the agents in the field to detect 
and apprehend these people, the only thing those arrow stats 
and the ground sensors will be doing is they will be counting 
our got-aways, nothing more. It is very important that we look 
at this issue, look at what we can do to solve this problem, 
and implement those solutions. I appreciate the time.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Judd follows:]
                   Prepared Statement of Brandon Judd
                             March 28, 2023
    Chairman Bishop, Ranking Member Ivey, and distinguished Members of 
the subcommittee, I would like to thank you for inviting me to testify 
before you today in order to communicate the resource gaps and 
vulnerabilities that currently exist along our Northern Border with 
Canada.
    My name is Brandon Judd and I currently serve as the president of 
the National Border Patrol Council, where I represent approximately 
16,000 Border Patrol field agents and support staff. I have more than 
25 years of experience as a Border Patrol agent and a thorough 
understanding of the issues and policies affecting border security. 
During my career as a Border Patrol agent, I have been assigned to two 
Northern Border Sectors--Houlton, Maine and Havre, Montana.
    While nearly all of the focus in recent years has been on our 
Southern Border with Mexico, I applaud the committee for holding this 
hearing and conducting much-needed, and timely, oversight of the lack 
of resources and the very real vulnerabilities that exist along our 
Northern Border.
    Our 5,500-mile land and water border with Canada is well over twice 
the length of our border with Mexico. Even with such a vast amount of 
territory to patrol, we have only about 2,000 Border Patrol agents 
assigned to the Northern Border. Given the 24/7 nature of our work, 
which is spread across 3 shifts per day, this leaves us with only about 
450 agents on duty at any one time. That is all.
    Our Northern Border has some of the most rugged conditions you can 
imagine, both in terms of topography as well as weather, and we have to 
patrol it without the infrastructure we have along the Southern Border. 
We have many agents who lack the ability to simply communicate with one 
another in the field. Even when they can talk, back-up might be more 
than an hour away if they request assistance.
    To help the subcommittee better understand the threat landscape, 
last year about 107,000 individuals were denied entry into the United 
States from Canada. About 40,000 of these individuals were Canadians 
and were most likely denied entry because of a criminal record. The 
other 60,000 were not from Canada and tried to enter our country 
through the front door but were denied. Many of them will now try to 
enter the United States between the ports of entry where are limited 
personnel resources are spread razor-thin.
    Furthermore, Canada has a more permissive visa system than we have 
in the United States. Let me give you two examples. First, Mexican 
citizens can travel to Canada without a visa. Mexican citizens can land 
in Toronto and illegally cross into New York in just a couple of hours. 
They don't have to contend with security measures such as fencing, 
aerostats, or drones, like we have on the Southern Border. Individuals 
crossing illegally can cross either on land or even more easily by boat 
on one of the Great Lakes if the weather is good.
    Second, Chinese tourists or students seeking entry to the United 
States are required to provide extensive documentation including being 
interviewed at a U.S. consulate. However, the bar for a visa to Canada 
is lower. They can land in Vancouver and, in a matter of hours, 
illegally cross our border by land or by boat into Washington State.
    Canada is a sovereign country and they are free to determine who is 
eligible to enter their country, be granted asylum, or resettled as a 
refugee. Last year Canada processed over 4.8 million visa applications. 
This is for a country of 38 million people. In contrast, we processed 
6.8 million visa applications, and we have a population of 330 million. 
So the number of travelers to Canada is significant.
    The reality is that while the vast majority of those visa 
applicants to Canada are likely law-abiding individuals, there are many 
that see entry to Canada as a gateway to the United States given our 
more stringent visa standards.
    Last year, Border Patrol apprehended over 2,000 people along the 
Northern Border. However, because we lack the personnel and situational 
awareness on the Northern Border, and due to the forced deployment of 
agents stationed on the Northern Border down to the Southern Border--in 
response to President Biden's border crisis--we are apprehending only a 
small fraction of illegal crossings.
    While I have described a number of vulnerabilities and challenges 
we're contending with along the Northern Border, Congress does have the 
ability to dramatically improve border security, situational awareness 
and agent safety along both the Northern and Southern Borders.
    Border Patrol staffing currently hovers around 19,300 agents 
Nation-wide. In February, Tucson Sector Chief John Modlin testified 
before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee that Border 
Patrol needs at least 22,000 agents to deal with the current crisis.
    Increasing net personnel by 2,700 agents is going to take a 
tremendous effort that will require us to do two things simultaneously. 
First, we need to keep the agents we already have and recruit more 
agents. Sounds simple, but we have a problem. Border Patrol's attrition 
rate is currently 6.9 percent which is 72 percent higher than the 
Office of Field Operations. Furthermore, our attrition rate is expected 
to climb to over 9 percent by 2028.
    The primary reason we cannot adequately recruit and retain agents 
is that we lack pay parity with other Federal law enforcement agencies.
    If we continue to hemorrhage personnel, there is no way we will 
secure the border. We have spent billions on fencing, aircraft, and 
technology over the course of my career. All of these investments are 
important--and I want to thank you for it. However, we have not 
sufficiently invested in our agents, which are the most important 
element in border security.
    Last Congress, Senators Portman, Sinema, Lankford, and Kelly 
introduced S. 4775 which has a provision, section 4, to address our 
recruitment and retention issues. I know the committee is working on 
significant reform legislation to address the border crisis and we 
greatly appreciate your efforts. I respectfully ask that you take 
action and that action must include addressing our recruitment and 
retention issues.
    I thank the subcommittee for inviting me here today and I look 
forward to answering any questions you may have.

    Chairman Bishop. Thank you, Mr. Judd. Mr. Quinn, you are 
now recognized for your 5 minutes.

STATEMENT OF ROBERT QUINN, COMMISSIONER, DEPARTMENT OF SAFETY, 
                     STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

    Mr. Quinn. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, and Members of the 
committee. My name is Robert Quinn. I am the commissioner of 
the New Hampshire Department of Safety, which oversees the New 
Hampshire Divisions of State Police and Homeland Security. By 
way of background, I was a sworn law enforcement officer for 30 
years with the New Hampshire State Police, culminating as the 
colonel before eventually becoming commissioner of the 
department.
    I have been invited here today to testify about New 
Hampshire's recent efforts to augment and support the 
humanitarian crisis that appears to be building along the 
Canadian border in our neighboring States. New Hampshire shares 
an international border with Canada that is over 50 miles long 
and lies within what is known as the U.S. Border Patrol's 
Swanton Sector. The Swanton Sector includes the border area 
containing New Hampshire, Vermont, and a small portion of New 
York.
    Just this past Friday, I had the fortune of touring our 
Northern Border in New Hampshire and meeting some of the 
excellent State, local, and Federal law enforcement officers 
who work along the border. New Hampshire is unique in that the 
vast majority of our border consists of State forest land 
accessible through one main road and an intricate system of 
forest roads built for logging companies, and snowmobile and 
ATV enthusiasts. Many of these roads are not on GPS maps, touch 
the Northern Border, and can only be traversed by offroad 
vehicles. In the winter, the terrain is cold, snowbound, and 
difficult to travel using conventional vehicles. I learned on 
Friday that Pittsburgh, New Hampshire, which is the town along 
the border, is the largest town by area in New England, with 
281.3 square miles of vast mountainous terrain and overseen by 
a part-time chief and one part-time officer. Just for 
perspective, I was told it takes over an hour to reach the 
closest hospital to the border. As with most Northern Border 
States, travel times can greatly increase based on local 
weather conditions.
    On January 25, 2023, the U.S. Border Patrol announced that 
the Swanton Sector witnessed a 743 percent increase in 
apprehensions and encounters in the first quarter of the 
Federal fiscal year 2023 when compared to the same period a 
year ago. Apprehensions and encounters from October to December 
increased from 136 in 2021 to 1,146 in 2022, exceeding the 
1,065 apprehensions and encounters for all of 2021. As of early 
March 2023, the total number of apprehensions in this area was 
2,227. While this amount appears small in comparison to numbers 
experienced at the Southern Border, this is a large and 
unexpected increase for a very remote area of the country with 
few resources available to address it. To be clear, although 
New Hampshire has seen an increase in crossings, we have not 
seen the large increases that Vermont is presently 
experiencing. However, as more resources focus on the Vermont 
border, I believe it is only a matter of time for New Hampshire 
to experience the same or similar increases.
    During my recent visit to the border, I met with the State 
police troop commander who was responsible for patrolling the 
north country. He indicated that it is important to be aware 
that many noncitizen migrants are victims of human trafficking. 
During my conversations with the local police chief and 
residents, I learned that many are generally nervous due to 
reports of increased activity and significant drug seizures in 
recent years. I spoke with an individual who was concerned and 
nervous when she returns home after work that increased border 
crossings will result in individuals trespassing on her 
property.
    New Hampshire is not waiting for the crisis to cause 
further impact to our State. Without complete operational 
control of the Northern Border in New Hampshire, we learned our 
residents are at increased risk. Under the leadership of 
Governor Chris Sununu, our State started taking steps to 
address the crisis in January. As I understand from the New 
Hampshire Attorney General's Office, the U.S. Supreme Court has 
placed Constitutional limits on what types of border protection 
laws they can enact on their own. However, under existing 
Federal law, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has the 
ability to deputize State and local law enforcement officers 
with the authority to enforce Federal immigration laws by 
entering into an agreement under U.S.C. 1357(g), sometimes 
referred to as a Section 287 agreement or an ICE Delegation 
agreement. From our perspective, it's critical that Homeland 
Security delegate its authority to our State police to detain 
and apprehend those who are crossing the border illegally into 
our State.
    We started the process to obtain such a delegation back in 
early February, culminating with a letter dated February 17, 
2023, in which we formally requested that the Federal 
Government delegate its authority to enforce Federal border 
security laws. On that same day, we received a response 
explaining no agreement could be entered into due to a national 
freeze on all delegation agreements, and that no one-off custom 
agreements were authorized either. Unfortunately, 2 days later, 
we received word that a migrant passed away while attempting to 
cross the border in the Swanton Sector. Although that occurred 
in Vermont, we certainly want to use every public safety 
resource available we can to prevent this from happening in New 
Hampshire.
    Our troopers are accustomed to having presence along the 
border and are among the most professional and dedicated law 
enforcement officials in the country. Since they have 
experience along the border, I believe it'd be seamless for 
them to augment and support the border security effort through 
a delegation. After we received the denial from Homeland 
Security at the regional level, Governor Sununu spoke with 
Homeland Security Director Mayorkas about this and sent a 
letter directly to him asking his department to enter into such 
an agreement. To date, Homeland Security has not granted our 
State a delegation agreement, and no one from the department 
has reached out to any State officials to begin drafting such 
an agreement.
    There is one other request that we have made to the 
Department of Homeland Security that has also not been 
addressed. Since approximately 2011, the State police have 
assisted in patrolling the Northern Border through a grant 
funded by FEMA, another State agency within the Department of 
Homeland Security, by participating in what is----
    Chairman Bishop. Mr. Quinn, your time has expired. If you 
could wrap up in just a little bit, I would appreciate it.
    Mr. Quinn. So, in this last request, in our request, we 
asked for $337,000 to fund Operation Stone Garden. We 
appropriated $180,000, not allowing for more patrols and 3 
ATVs. So, we would respectfully request that these two requests 
be honored.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Quinn follows:]
                   Prepared Statement of Robert Quinn
    Good morning/afternoon, Mr. Chair, Members of the Committee: My 
name is Robert Quinn, I am the commissioner of the New Hampshire 
Department of Safety which oversees the New Hampshire Divisions of 
State Police and Homeland Security. By way of background, I was a sworn 
law enforcement officer for 30 years with the New Hampshire State 
Police culminating with my appointment as the colonel before eventually 
becoming the commissioner of the Department.
    I have been invited here today to testify about New Hampshire's 
recent efforts to augment and support the humanitarian crisis that 
appears to be building along the Canadian border in our neighboring 
States. New Hampshire shares an international border with Canada that 
is over 50 miles long and lies within what is known as the U.S. Border 
Patrol's Swanton Sector. The Swanton Sector includes the border area 
containing New Hampshire, Vermont, and a small portion of New York.
    Just this past Friday, I had the fortune of touring our Northern 
Border in New Hampshire and meeting some of the excellent State, local, 
and Federal law enforcement officers who work along the border. New 
Hampshire is unique in that the vast majority of the border consists of 
State Forest land accessible through one main road and an intricate 
system of forest roads built for logging companies, and snowmobile and 
ATV enthusiasts. Many of these roads are not on GPS maps, touch the 
Northern Border, and can only be traversed by off-road vehicles. In the 
winter, the terrain is cold, snow-bound, and difficult to travel using 
conventional vehicles. I learned on Friday that Pittsburgh, NH, which 
is the town along the border, is the largest town by area in New 
England with 281.3 square mile of vast mountainous terrain and overseen 
by a part-time chief and 1 part-time officer. Just for perspective, I 
was told that it takes over an hour to reach the closest hospital to 
the border. As with most Northern Border States, travel times can 
greatly increase based on local weather conditions.
    On January 25, 2023, the U.S. Border Patrol announced that the 
Swanton Sector witnessed a 743 percent increase in apprehensions and 
encounters in the first quarter of the Federal fiscal year 2023 when 
compared to the same period a year ago. Apprehensions and encounters 
from October to December increased from 136 in 2021 to 1,146 in 2022 
exceeding the 1,065 apprehensions and encounters for all of 2021. As of 
early March 2023, the total number of apprehensions in this area was 
2,227. While this amount appears small in comparison to numbers 
experienced at the Southern Border, this is a large and unexpected 
increase for a very remote area of the country with few resources 
available to address. To be clear, although New Hampshire has seen an 
increase in crossings, we have not yet seen the large increase that 
Vermont is presently experiencing. However, as more resources focus on 
the Vermont border, I believe that it is only a matter of time for New 
Hampshire to experience the same or similar increases.
    During my recent visit to the border, I met with the State Police 
Troop Commander who is responsible for patrolling the north country. He 
indicated that it is important to be aware that many non-citizen 
migrants are victims of human trafficking. During my conversations with 
the local police chief and the residents I learned many are generally 
nervous due to reports of increased activity and significant drug 
seizures in recent years. I spoke with an individual who was concerned 
and nervous when she returns home after work that increased border 
crossing will result in individuals trespassing on her property.
    New Hampshire is not waiting for this crisis to cause further 
impact to our State. Without complete operational control at the New 
Hampshire border, we leave our residents at increased risk. Under the 
leadership of Governor Chris Sununu, our State started taking steps to 
address the crisis in January. As I understand from New Hampshire 
Attorney General's Office, the United States Supreme Court has placed 
Constitutional limits on what types of border protection laws they can 
enact on their own. However, under existing Federal law, U.S. 
Department of Homeland Security has the ability to deputize State and 
local law enforcement officers with the authority to enforce several 
Federal immigration laws by entering into an agreement under 8 U.S.C.  
1357(g). This is sometimes referred to as a Section 287(g) agreement or 
a ``I.C.E. Delegation Agreement.'' From our perspective, it is critical 
that Homeland Security delegate its authority to our State Police to 
detain and apprehend those who are crossing the border illegally in our 
State.
    We started the process to obtain such a delegation back in early 
February, culminating with a letter dated February 17, 2023, in which 
we formally requested that the Federal Government delegate its 
authority to enforce Federal border security laws. On that same day, we 
received a response explaining that no agreement could be entered into 
due to a national freeze on all delegation agreements and that no one-
off custom agreements were authorized either. Unfortunately, 2 days 
later we received word that a migrant passed away while attempting to 
cross the border in the Swanton Sector. Although that occurred in 
Vermont, we certainly want to use every public safety resource 
available we can to prevent that from happening in New Hampshire.
    Our troopers are accustomed to having a presence along the border 
and are among the most professional and dedicated law enforcement 
officials in the country and since they have experience along the 
border, I believe that it would be seamless for them to augment the 
border security effort through a Delegation Agreement. After we 
received a denial from Homeland Security at the regional level, 
Governor Sununu spoke with Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas about 
this and sent a letter directly to him, asking his department to 
entering into such an agreement. To date Homeland Security has not 
granted our State a delegation agreement and no one from his Department 
has reached out to any State officials to begin drafting such an 
agreement.
    There is one other request that we have made of the Department of 
Homeland Security that has not yet been addressed. Since approximately 
2011, State Police has assisted in patrolling the Northern Border 
through a grant funded by F.E.M.A., another agency within the 
Department of Homeland Security, by participating in what is known as 
Operation Stone Garden. Operation Stone Garden is a joint task force 
where State, county, and local law enforcement officers partner with 
the U.S. Border Patrol to conduct joint patrols along New Hampshire's 
border with Canada. Last year, State and local participants requested 
collectively approximately $337,000 for additional Border Patrol 
details and funds to purchase three (3) all-terrain vehicles for State 
and local law enforcement agencies. Homeland Security denied this 
request for additional resources, including the vehicles, and instead 
level-funded (with the 2021 grant year) the Stone Garden Grant at 
$180,000. In his letter to Secretary Mayorkas, Governor Sununu 
requested that his Department reconsider this decision to give our 
State, county, and local law enforcement officers the funds and tools 
needed to help protect the border in this Operation.
    We believe it is imperative to quickly respond to today's crisis 
with enhanced border security and prevent any further loss of life and 
limit illicit activity along our border. New Hampshire cannot fully 
unlock its resources for this effort without the help of the leadership 
at Homeland Security. I cannot emphasize enough that the I.C.E. and 
Border Patrol agents working along the New Hampshire border are hard-
working and doing the best they can. New Hampshire law enforcement 
stands by ready to assist them just as soon as Homeland Security 
authorizes a Delegation Agreement and provides the requested increase 
in funding for Operation Stone Garden.
    In the mean time, our Governor, in his 2024/2025 budget has 
proposed dedicating approximately $1,400,000 toward the creation of a 
Northern Border Alliance Program. If enacted, this program will 
establish a task force of State, county, and local law enforcement 
officers to patrol the roads, highways, and State forest land along the 
border to detect and deter illegal activity and to prevent any further 
escalation of the humanitarian crisis facing our borders.
    We believe all of the above efforts, done in conjunction with one 
another, will prevent the Northern Border crisis from escalating within 
New Hampshire's borders.
    Thank you for your time and attention to this important matter. I 
am happy to take any questions.

    Chairman Bishop. Thank you, Mr. Quinn. I appreciate that. 
Now, I recognize Dr. Dawson for her 5 minutes for her opening 
statement.

 STATEMENT OF LAURA DAWSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FUTURE BORDERS 
                           COALITION

    Ms. Dawson. Thank you. Good morning, Chairman Bishop, 
Ranking Member Ivey, and Members of the subcommittee. Thank you 
for the opportunity to speak to you today. My name is Laura 
Dawson, and I'm the executive director of the Future Borders 
Coalition, which is a U.S.-Canada organization dedicated to 
better borders for travel and trade.
    The Northern Border is a vital gateway for U.S. prosperity 
and jobs. Our two countries, as you've heard, boast the longest 
international border, spanning 5,525 miles, alongside 13 U.S. 
States and 8 Canadian provinces and territories. Every day, 
400,000 people and $2 billion in trade cross that border, and 
the vast majority of those crossings are problem-free.
    On the trade side, Canada is the largest customer for 30 
U.S. States. Canadians buy more than $30 billion worth of 
American goods annually. That's more than the United Kingdom, 
Japan, and Germany combined. On travel, Canada is the largest--
Canada is the United States' largest source of tourism revenue 
at approximately $20 billion a year. Tourist services are a top 
export to Canada.
    Adding new impediments to cross the border hurts Americans, 
especially in vulnerable Northern Border communities such as 
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, which is about half a mile from 
where I was born. So, before we start piling on new barriers, 
we must have a realistic view of the risks. We have been 
hearing a lot about multi-thousand percent increases in CBP 
encounters on the U.S.-Canada border. These numbers will get 
your attention to be sure. But the data presented compares the 
present day with early 2021, when borders were all but closed 
for COVID. Of course, we are going to see a much busier border 
nowadays. What do we mean by encounters? It turns out these can 
be anything from an irregular migration crossing to someone who 
forgets to bring their passport to the border.
    Clearly, the risks we should be worried about are people 
crossing between official border posts. Of the 165,000 Northern 
Border encounters reported by CBP since the start of fiscal 
year 2022, only 2.7 percent, I repeat, 2.7 percent have 
occurred between official border points of entry. In absolute 
terms, we are talking about approximately 4,500 people. Now, 
this is not nothing. Canada and the United States must work 
together to bring these numbers down. But to give you a sense 
of proportion, between October 1, 2022, and February 28, 2023, 
just 0.5 percent, that's one-half of 1 percent of Border Patrol 
encounters outside of normal ports of entry occurred along the 
Northern Border.
    So, what does a secure and efficient U.S.-Canada border 
look like? Well, on immigration, we have to remember that 
Canada is a sovereign nation, so it will have different 
immigration rules from those of the United States. These are 
not necessarily looser or easier, they're just different. For 
example, Canada uses employment skills as a deciding factor for 
immigrant applications. Canada also welcomes temporary foreign 
workers to do specific jobs for time-limited periods. Their 
work authorization is not connected to citizenship. Canada and 
the United States have a long history of working together, such 
as last week's amendments to the Safe Third Country Agreement, 
which will stem the tide of asylum-seekers crossing into Canada 
at non-border posts. This is also a great example of Canada and 
the United States working together on a really challenging 
treaty issue where they were able to make progress in heroic 
time.
    Both countries also have a role to support stability in 
Latin America and the Caribbean, thereby ensuring that the 
burden does not rest on the United States alone. On law 
enforcement, one of the great strengths of the U.S.-Canada 
relationship is that officials speak to each other each and 
every day. There are also formal mechanisms for collaboration 
such as the Ship Rider program and the Cross-border Crime 
Forum.
    Compared to what most countries are dealing with, the U.S.-
Canada border is the envy of the world but there's always room 
for improvement. Here are some suggestions where investment 
should be sustained or increased. I agree with Mr. Judd that we 
do need more investment in our Border Patrol and border 
personnel.
    Sufficient staffing means that trusted traders can sail 
through designated corridors without excessive wait times, and 
bad actors can be more easily identified and dealt with. 
PreClearance and trusted traveler programs filter out those who 
mean us harm and prevents them from reaching U.S. soil. 
Infrastructure modernization means that bridges, tunnels, 
roads, and rail crossings can meet volume demands and are 
resilient in the face of climate challenges and cyber attacks.
    With technologies like facial biometrics, officials don't 
have to make on-the-spot judgments about who to admit. With the 
right technology, officers can confirm admissibility using data 
collected and verified before the person or vehicle reaches the 
border crossing.
    The secure and prosperous U.S.-Canada border is unique in 
the world and it cannot be taken for granted. It is both a 
shared benefit and a shared responsibility for our two nations. 
Thank you.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Dawson follows:]
                   Prepared Statement of Laura Dawson
                        Tuesday, March 28, 2023
    Good morning, Chairman Bishop and Members of the committee. Thank 
you for the opportunity to speak to you today.
    My name is Dr. Laura Dawson and I am the executive director of the 
Future Borders Coalition--We are a U.S.-Canada organization dedicated 
to building better borders for travel and trade.
    First, I'd like to talk to you about the importance of the Northern 
Border for U.S. prosperity and jobs.
    The United States and Canada boast the world's longest 
international border, spanning 5,525 miles, adjacent to the territory 
of 13 U.S. States and 8 Canadian provinces and territories, under the 
management of 119 official land border crossings.
    Every day, 400,000 people and $2 billion in trade cross the border. 
The vast majority of those crossings are problem-free.
    On the trade side, Canada is the largest buyer of U.S. products for 
30 U.S. States.
    Canada buys $300 billion in goods and $100 billion in services 
annually from the United States.
    Canada buys more from the United States than do the United Kingdom, 
Japan, and Germany combined.
    The United States and Canada build things together through 
integrated and effective supply chains, building good jobs at in both 
countries and competitiveness in the world.
    On travel, Canada is the United States' largest source of tourists 
and tourism revenue. Valued at around $23 billion per year during the 
pre-COVID period, tourist services used to be the United States' sixth 
largest export to Canada.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ See U.S. Travel Canada Factsheet 2018, https://
www.ustravel.org/system/files/media_root/document/Research_Country-
Profile_Canada.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    I use the past tense, because while air travel numbers have 
recovered post-pandemic, passenger vehicle crossings and day trips have 
not.\2\ This is especially difficult for border communities in remote 
areas such as Grand Forks, North Dakota, and Sault Ste Marie, Michigan 
which are closer to Canadian population centers than American ones.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ In January 2023, Canadian residents returned from 2.7 million 
trips to the United States, 4 times the number taken in January 2022 
(690,200) and 89.4 percent of the pre-pandemic level from the same 
month in 2020. The number of trips returning by air was 1.1 million, 
higher (+18.2 percent) than the same month in 2020, exceeding the pre-
pandemic level for the fifth consecutive month since September 2022. Of 
the total return trips by Canadian residents in January 2023, 1.6 
million trips were by automobile, nearly two-thirds (64.6 percent) of 
which were same-day (Source: Statistics Canada).
    \3\ See Tu-Uyen Tran, ``Canadian shoppers and tourists return to 
border cities but in smaller numbers than pre-pandemic,'' Federal 
Reserve Bank of Minneapolis (July 25, 2022). https://
www.minneapolisfed.org/article/2022/canadian-shoppers-and-tourists-
return-to-border-cities-but-in-smaller-numbers-than-pre-pandemic.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Adding new impediments to cross the border hurts the prosperity of 
Americans and Canadians. This does not mean abrogating our shared 
commitment to border security but it does mean having a realistic view 
of what our challenge areas are and how to address them.
    We have heard recently about multi-thousand percent increases in 
CBP ``encounters'' on the U.S.-Canada border in recent years but it's 
important to compare apples to apples. The data presented by the 
Northern Border Security Caucus compares the present day with early 
2021 when land borders were closed due to COVID for all non-essential 
travel.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ See Alexander Panetta, ``Republicans talked about the Canadian 
border. They skipped all sorts of details,'' Canadian Broadcasting 
Corporation (March 3, 2023). Data cited from U.S. CBP and Canada Border 
Services Agency (CBSA) sources. https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/
republicans-canada-border-analysis-1.6767883.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    It's also important be clear on what we're talking about so that we 
respond appropriately.
    What do we mean by ``encounters''? These can be anything from an 
irregular migration crossing to someone showing up at the border 
without a passport or vaccination record.
    Clearly, the security priority should be irregular migration that 
takes place between border crossings. Of the 165,000 Northern Border 
encounters reported by CBP since the start of fiscal year 2022, only 
2.7 percent of these occurred between official border ports of entry.
    In absolute terms, we are talking about some 4,500 people being 
stopped from migrating from Canada into the United States. This is not 
nothing, and this challenge must be dealt with appropriate tools, 
border staffing, and cooperation between the United States and Canada.
    And, while my role here is not to pit U.S.-Canada border against 
the U.S.-Mexico border, it is important to maintain a sense of 
proportion. Between October 1, 2022 and February 28, 2023, just 0.5 
percent (one half of 1 percent) of U.S. Border Patrol encounters 
outside normal Ports of Entry occurred along the U.S.-Canada border.
 what does safe and effective u.s. canada border management look like?
    On immigration, the first thing to keep in mind is that Canada, as 
a sovereign nation, may have different rules when it comes to 
immigration but these are not looser or easier than the United States--
just different. Canada has a well-developed skills-based migration 
program, it has temporary foreign worker programs that welcome 
specialized workers for on-going work periods in Canada punctuated by 
returns to home countries, work authorization that is unconnected to 
citizenship. Canada also has a successful program for community-based 
sponsorship of new refugees. Many of the lessons from the Canadian 
program have been used as a model for the U.S. Welcome Corps program.
    As we look to the future, Canada and the United States must work 
together to help manage the push factors that are sending asylum 
seekers to our borders. Both countries have a role to support 
democratization and stability in Latin America and the Caribbean, 
therby helping to help mitigate the crisis on the U.S. Southern Border 
and ensure the burden does not rest on the United States alone.
    Where there are frictions, Canada and the United States have a long 
history of working together to find equitable and effective solutions, 
such as the recently-announced amendments to the Safe Third Country 
Agreement which contributed to surging numbers of asylum seekers 
crossing into Canada at non-border posts. To help share the burden with 
the United States, Canada agreed to accept an additional 15,000 asylum 
seekers per year from Western Hemisphere countries and work with the 
United States to promote lawful labor mobility pathways.
    On law enforcement, one of the great strengths of the United 
States-Canada relationship is that American and Canadian officials have 
a personal relationship with their counterparts and are in 
communication every single day. There is no other country for which 
this is the case. When there is a question or problem U.S. and Canadian 
officials have each other's backs.
    But, sometimes person-to-person relationships are not enough. There 
are also formal mechanisms for collaboration such as the Shiprider 
program where jointly crewed vessels enforce the law on both sides of 
the border in international waterways. There are trusted trader and 
trusted traveler programs, joint deployments U.S. ATF and DEA officials 
and the RCMP, and numerous intelligence-sharing agreements to share 
information on cross-border crime and prevent immigration fraud. Many 
of these initiatives are advanced through the Cross-Border Crime Forum. 
Launched in 2022, this is a bilateral effort to tackle such joint 
challenges as cyber crime, violent extremism, human smuggling, and 
firearms.
                            support for cbp
    I am firmly convinced that the U.S.-Canada Border is strong, 
secure, and a conduit for prosperity and employment in both of our 
nations. But that doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement. I urge 
all Members of Congress to support investment in U.S.-Canada border 
infrastructure, bilateral economic development programs, and to provide 
the dedicated men and women who are our border officials with the 
financial resources, tools, and technology they need to build and 
sustain the smart and secure border of the 21st Century.
    An investment in Northern Border staffing and infrastructure helps 
both security and commerce at the same time. Sufficient staff means 
that trusted traders can sail through designated corridors without 
excessive wait times. Infrastructure modernization means that bridges, 
tunnels, road and rail crossings that can meet volume demands and are 
resilient in the face of climate challenges and cyber attacks.
    State-of-the-art technologies such as AI sensors for vehicles and 
facial biometric tools mean that officials don't have to make on-the-
spot judgments about admissibility with insufficient data. With the 
right technology and the staffing to use it, officers can confirm 
admissibility using data collected and verified before the vehicle 
reaches the border crossing.
    Airports and even cruise ships play a role in securing the U.S. 
border. U.S.-Canada PreClearance and trusted traveler programs filter 
out bad actors before they reach U.S. soil. They are also good for the 
economy, inspiring even more Canadian tourists to spend money and time 
in the United States.
    The secure, and prosperous, U.S.-Canada border is unique in the 
world and cannot be taken for granted. It is both a shared benefit and 
a shared responsibility for our two nations.
                         additional information
    Cross-Border Crime Forum, https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-and-
canada-reestablish-cross-border-crime-forum.
    Canada Travel, https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/subjects/
travel_and- _tourism/international_travel.
    U.S. Travel, https://www.us.travel.org/sites/default/files/2022-08/
inbound-travel-market-profile_ca_mx_fin.pdf.

    Chairman Bishop. Thank you, Dr. Dawson. I now recognize Mr. 
Arthur for 5 minutes for his opening statement.

   STATEMENT OF ANDREW R. ARTHUR, RESIDENT FELLOW IN LAW AND 
             POLICY, CENTER FOR IMMIGRATION STUDIES

    Mr. Arthur. Thank you. Chairman Bishop, Ranking Member 
Ivey, and Members of the subcommittee, thank you for inviting 
me here today to discuss these important and increasingly 
topical issues. Sorry about that.
    CBP encounters the total of aliens deemed inadmissible at 
the ports of entry, plus aliens apprehended between those 
ports, as the Ranking Member noted, at the U.S. border have 
surged under the Biden administration from just over 27,000 CBP 
encounters at the Northern Border in fiscal year 2021, to 
encounters well over more than 109,000 aliens in fiscal year 
2022. CBP is on pace for more than 165,000 Northern Border 
alien encounters in fiscal year 2023.
    The majority of those encounters, again as the Ranking 
Member noted, have involved aliens at the ports where the 
demographics are changing quickly. Whereas most 60 percent of 
the aliens deemed inadmissible at those ports in fiscal year 
2021 were Canadian nationals, likely aliens inadmissible on 
criminal and other grounds, more than 77 percent of the aliens 
stopped at the northern U.S. ports this fiscal year came from 
somewhere else, including nearly 16,000 Indian nationals. But 
most troubling, more than 27,000 nationals of other countries. 
Those are countries that aren't included in DHS's list of 21 
top migrant-sending countries.
    Border Patrol apprehensions, again, as the Ranking Member 
noted, at the Northern Border are lower than port encounters, 
but the figures are still high and rising. Northern Border 
apprehensions increased 144 percent between fiscal year 2021 
and fiscal year 2022 to more than 2,200 and are nearing 3,000 
in just the first 5 months of fiscal year 2023, on track to top 
6,800 this fiscal year. Just 44 of those illegal entrants have 
been Canadians, while more than 1,600 are Mexican nationals, 
likely aliens who exploited visa free travel to Canada to cross 
the Northern Border illegally, where they're all but guaranteed 
not to be expelled under Title 42.
    Credible reports, including some from the Federal 
Government, reveal that cartel members and transnational 
criminal organizations are operating across the Northern Border 
smuggling guns--drugs, guns, and migrants. They're able to 
exploit an already understaffed Border Patrol, which has been 
further weakened, as the Chairman noted, as agents were 
stripped from the Northern Border and sent to deal with the 
chaos at the Southwest Border. In a twist, a surge of third-
country aliens, including migrants released after apprehension 
at the Southwest Border, have flooded into Canada, seeking the 
generous benefits offered to asylum applicants there.
    That has strained both Federal and provincial governments 
north of the border. To stem that surge, the Trudeau government 
has renegotiated a 2004 agreement between that country and the 
United States that limits asylum claims by third country aliens 
crossing the Northern Border. As amended, that agreement now 
applies to illegal entrants as well, not just aliens at the 
ports as in the past, a move that benefits Canada to the 
detriment of the United States. More than 40,003 third-country 
migrants claimed asylum in Canada at just one entry point last 
year. Under this amendment, nearly all such entrants from this 
point forward will be sent back to the United States. This move 
is a tacit admission by the Biden administration that its 
catch-and-release policies at the Southwest Border, which a 
Federal judge just determined this month are driving the 
migrant surge there, are harming Canada's security and its 
taxpayers.
    To address the national security and humanitarian disaster 
at the Southwest Border the administration should extend a 
similar courtesy to our overworked agents and State governments 
Nation-wide that are straining under a massive increase in 
newly-released migrants. President Biden inherited what his 
first Border Patrol chief described as, ``arguably the most 
effective border security in our Nation's history,'' which he 
squandered as ``common-sense border security recommendations 
from experienced career professionals were ignored and stymied 
by inexperienced political appointees.''
    The effects of that erosion in border security are being 
felt in towns and cities Nation-wide. Drug poisoning deaths are 
hitting new records. Cities as big and rich as New York are 
scrambling to provide for newly-arrived migrants and our 
national security is increasingly imperiled. Never in my 31 
years of involvement in immigration including at some of the 
highest levels of government have I ever seen our borders in 
such dire shape. The catastrophe at the Southwest Border is now 
exacerbating and driving a smaller but increasingly significant 
disaster at our Northern Border where the number of migrant 
deaths is growing as apprehensions on both sides of the border 
swell.
    For the good of the United States and of our partner in 
Canada with whom we are each other's largest exporting 
countries, Congress must act. Action is already overdue. I 
thank you again and I look forward to your questions.
    In the last couple of seconds I have left, Mr. Bishop, I do 
want to make an interesting notation. The Ranking Member, Mr. 
Ivey, represents the 4th District of Maryland. I don't know if 
you're aware of this, but Henry Stockbridge, who was one of 
your predecessors in that role, actually left Congress so he 
could become the Immigration Commissioner at the Port of 
Baltimore. Under Commissioner Stockbridge, many of my relatives 
and many of the relatives of my friends came into our country. 
I thank you. I thank the 4th District of Maryland. With that I 
yield back.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Arthur follows:]
                 Prepared Statement of Andrew R. Arthur
                             March 28, 2022
    Chairman Bishop, Ranking Member Ivey, and Members of the 
subcommittee, I thank you for inviting me here today to discuss the 
increasing insecurities at our Northern Border.
    Lost amidst the chaos at the Southwest Border is a burgeoning surge 
of migrants at the Northern Border--the international boundary between 
the United States and Canada. While the number of U.S. Customs and 
Border Protection (CBP) Northern Border encounters is low compared to 
the Southwest Border, what is happening at the Northern Border is still 
troubling--particularly in the Border Patrol's Swanton (Vt.) Sector.
                          the northern border
    The Northern Border is massive, stretching 5,525 miles \1\ and 
separating 7 Canadian provinces (New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, 
Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia) and one 
territory (Yukon) from 13 U.S. States (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, 
New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, 
Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Alaska).\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ ``Boundary Facts''. Int'l Boundary Comm. (undated). Source: 
https://www.internationalboundarycommission.org/en/the-boundary-and-
you/interestingfacts.php- 
#:?:text=The%20International%20Boundary%20Commission%2C%20under,on%20256
%20- official%20boundary%20maps.
    \2\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Some 2,380 of those boundary miles cut across bodies of water, 
including the St. Lawrence River and Seaway, 4 of the 5 Great Lakes 
(Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Huron, and Lake Superior), and through 
Boundary Bay, the Strait of Georgia, the Haro Strait, and the Pacific 
Ocean.
    By contrast, there are 3,145 miles of Northern land border,\3\ much 
of it rugged, isolated, and relatively unpopulated.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    There are about 120 land-border ports of entry along the Northern 
Border,\4\ through which $2.6 billion in goods and services pass 
daily.\5\ As the State Department explains:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ ``U.S. Relations With Canada''. U.S. Dep't of State (undated). 
Source: https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-canada/.
    \5\ Id.

``Canada and the United States are each other's largest export markets, 
and Canada is the No. 1 export market for more than 30 U.S. States. In 
addition, Canada is the single largest foreign supplier of energy to 
the United States.''\6\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\ Id.

                     northern border patrol sectors
    There are 8 Border Patrol sectors along the Northern Border.\7\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \7\ ``Border Patrol Sectors''. U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
(undated). Source: https://www.cbp.gov/border-security/along-us-
borders/border-patrol-sectors.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The easternmost is Houlton Sector,\8\ which has jurisdiction over 
the State of Maine, with stations in Van Buren, Jackman, Fort 
Fairfield, Houlton, Rangeley, and Calais, Me.\9\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \8\ ``Houlton Sector Maine''. U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
(modified July 22, 2022). Source: https://www.cbp.gov/border-security/
along-us-borders/border-patrol-sectors/houlton-sector-maine.
    \9\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Heading west, the next sector is Swanton,\10\ with jurisdiction 
over about 24,000 square miles including Coos, Grafton, and Carroll 
Counties in New Hampshire; all of Vermont; and Clinton, Essex, 
Franklin, St. Lawrence, and Herkimer Counties in New York.\11\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \10\ ``Swanton Sector Vermont''. U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
(modified July 22, 2022). Source: https://www.cbp.gov/border-security/
along-us-borders/border-patrol-sectors/swanton-sector-vermont.
    \11\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The sector has responsibility for 295 miles of border (203 on land 
and 92 on water, primarily the St. Lawrence River),\12\ and there are 8 
stations in Swanton Sector: at Ogdensburg, N.Y.; Massena, N.Y.; Burke, 
N.Y; Champlain, N.Y.; Swanton, Vt.; Richford, Vt.; Newport, Vt.; and 
Beecher Falls, Vt.\13\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \12\ Id.
    \13\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Directly to the west of Swanton Sector is Buffalo Sector,\14\ which 
has jurisdiction over 29 counties, including all the western portion of 
New York State, and parts of central New York and Pennsylvania.\15\ The 
450 miles of international border in Buffalo Sector is almost all over 
water, including Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, the Niagara River, and 
part of the Saint Lawrence Seaway.\16\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \14\ ``Buffalo Sector New York''. U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection (modified July 25, 2022). Source: https://www.cbp.gov/
border-security/along-us-borders/border-patrol-sectors/buffalo-sector-
new-york/.
    \15\ Id.
    \16\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The sector has five stations in New York State (Buffalo, Niagara 
Falls, Rochester, Oswego, and Wellesley Island), and in Erie, Pa.\17\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \17\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Bordering Buffalo Sector to the west is Detroit Sector,\18\ which 
has jurisdiction over 863 miles of the Northern Border, and the States 
of Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois. The sector is headquartered 
at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Mich., and it has 4 stations in 
Michigan (at Detroit, Marysville, Sault Ste. Marie, and Gibraltar) as 
well as a station in Port Clinton, Ohio.\19\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \18\ ``Detroit Sector Michigan''. U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection (modified July 25, 2022). Source: https://www.cbp.gov/
border-security/along-us-borders/border-patrol-sectors/detroit-sector.
    \19\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The adjoining Grand Forks Sector \20\ is massive, with jurisdiction 
over 861 miles of the Northern Border (403 on land, 458 on water) in 
North Dakota and Minnesota.\21\ There are 6 stations in the sector, 3 
in North Dakota (Portal, Bottineau, and Pembina) and 3 in Minnesota 
(Warroad, International Falls, and Grand Marais), as well as ``back-up 
stations'' in Grand Forks, N.D. and Duluth, Minn.\22\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \20\ ``Grand Forks Sector North Dakota''. U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection (modified July 22, 2022). Source: https://www.cbp.gov/
border-security/along-us-borders/border-patrol-sectors/grand-forks-
sector-north-dakota.
    \21\ Id.
    \22\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Heading west, the next sector is Havre, in Montana,\23\ with 
jurisdiction over 456 miles of the Northern Border in eastern Montana 
(ending at the Continental Divide) served by 6 stations in (at Havre, 
Plentywood, Scobey, Malta, Sweetgrass, and St. Mary, Mont.).\24\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \23\ ``Havre Sector Montana''. U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
(modified July 22, 2022). Source: https://www.cbp.gov/border-security/
along-us-borders/border-patrol-sectors/havre-sector-montana/.
    \24\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In western Montana, Idaho, and eastern Washington is Spokane 
Sector,\25\ with jurisdiction over 308 miles of the Northern Border, 
including the Cascade Mountain Range and 3 miles of water boundary.\26\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \25\ ``Spokane Sector Washington''. U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection (modified Jan. 19, 2023). Source: https://www.cbp.gov/
border-security/along-us-borders/border-patrol-sectors/spokane-sector.
    \26\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Spokane Sector has Eureka and Whitefish Stations in Montana; 
Bonners Ferry Station in Idaho; and Oroville, Curlew, Colville and 
Metaline Falls Stations as well as sector headquarters in Spokane in 
Washington State.\27\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \27\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Responsibility for the western part of Washington State and Alaska 
falls on Blaine Sector,\28\ with stations in Blaine, Sumas, Bellingham, 
and Port Angeles, Washington.\29\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \28\ Blaine Sector Washington. U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
(modified Jan. 19, 2023). Source: https://www.cbp.gov/border-security/
along-us-borders/border-patrol-sectors/spokane-sector.
    \29\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                         border patrol staffing
    Given the awesome length of the Northern Border, it is understaffed 
by any measure, and certainly compared to the 1,954-mile \30\ U.S. 
Southwest Border, which itself suffers from an unconscionable lack of 
staffing and resources.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \30\ MIROFF, Nick and BLANCO, Adrian. ``Trump ramps up border-wall 
construction ahead of 2020 vote''. Washington Post (Feb. 6, 2020). 
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/national/
immigration/border-wall-progress/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    As of the end of fiscal year 2020 \31\ (the last year for which 
published statistics published are available), there were 16,878 Border 
Patrol agents stationed at the Southwest Border, compared to 2,019 
total at the 8 Northern Border sectors (a figure that has remained 
almost unchanged since fiscal year 2014, and 243 agents fewer than in 
fiscal year 2010).\32\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \31\ ``United States Border Patrol, Sector Profile--Fiscal Year 
2020''. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (undated). Source: https://
www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2021-Aug/
U.S.%20Border%20Patrol%20Fiscal%20Year%202020%20Sector%20Profile%20%2850
8%29.- pdf/.
    \32\ ``Border Patrol Agent Staffing By Fiscal Year.'' U.S. Border 
Patrol (undated). Source: https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/
assets/documents/2021-Aug/U.S.%20Border%20- 
Patrol%20Fiscal%20Year%20Staffing%20Statistics%20%28FY%201992%20%20FY%20
2020- %29%20%28508%29.pdf/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Of those 2,019 Border Patrol agents, 188 were stationed at Houlton 
Sector, 298 at Swanton Sector, 261 at Buffalo Sector, 406 at Detroit 
Sector, 171 at Grand Forks Sector, 167 at Havre Sector, 254 at Spokane 
Sector, and 274 at Blaine Sector.
    Despite the already meager level of staffing at the Northern 
Border, when investigators from the Office of the Inspector General 
(OIG) at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) visited the 
Southwest Border's Rio Grande Valley (RGV) Sector in July 2021,\33\ 
they found 300 agents from the Northern and Coastal Borders there who 
had been detailed to assist RGV agents.\34\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \33\ ``U.S. Border Patrol Faces Challenges Administering Post-
Apprehension Outcomes Consistently Across Sectors'', p. 9. Dep't of 
Homeland Sec., Off. of the Inspector Gen. (Sept. 13, 2022). Source: 
https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2022-09/OIG-22-68-
Sep22.pdf.
    \34\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The frequency of agent details from the Northern to the Southwest 
Border was likely best illustrated by an anecdote told by Rep. Tony 
Gonzales (R-Tex.), as quoted in recent reporting from Canadian outlet 
CTV:\35\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \35\ McCarten, James. ``House Republicans aim to make Canada-U.S. 
border part of national security debate''. CTVNews (Feb. 28, 2023). 
Source: https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/house-republicans-aim-to-make-
canada-u-s-border-part-of-national-security-debate-1.6293453.

``Customs and Border Protection officials at the Northern Border are 
often called upon to help support their Mexico-U.S. colleagues, said 
Rep. Tony Gonzales, whose Texas district includes a large swath of the 
Southwestern Border.
`` `Oftentimes, there are more Border Patrol agents from the Northern 
Border in my sector than there are in their own areas,' Gonzales said, 
as he described meeting agents during a shift change last Christmas.
`` `One of the things that I asked was, ``How many of you all are not 
from this area?'' Literally, every hand went up, they're all Northern 
Border areas,' he said.
`` `And I smile, and I go, ``Welcome to south Texas. Is this your first 
time here?'' They go, ``No, no, Tony, this is our fifth time here.'' '

    That said, Border Patrol agents in the RGV plainly need--and 
needed--the help. In fiscal year 2021,\36\ RGV agents apprehended more 
than 549,000 illegal entrants, and an additional 468,124 in fiscal year 
2022 \37\--more than 1.017 million alien apprehensions in just the last 
2 fiscal years.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \36\ ``Nationwide Encounters''. U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
(modified Mar. 10, 2023). Source: https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/
nationwide-encounters.
    \37\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Those fiscal year 2021 and fiscal year 2022 apprehension numbers 
were more than 38 percent and 28 percent higher, respectively, than RGV 
apprehensions in fiscal year (339,135)\38\--a year in which the 
Southwest Border had reached such a state of crisis that DHS declared a 
``border emergency''.\39\ As then-DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen 
explained at that time:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \38\ ``U.S. Border Patrol Nationwide Apprehensions by Citizenship 
and Sector in fiscal year 2019''. U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
(undated). Source: https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/
documents/2021-Aug/USBORD?3.PDF.
    \39\ ``Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen Statement on Border Emergency''. 
U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec. (Mar. 29, 2019). Source: https://
www.dhs.gov/news/2019/03/29/secretary-kirstjen-nielsen-statement-
border-emergency.

``Today I report to the American people that we face a cascading crisis 
at our Southern Border. The system is in freefall. DHS is doing 
everything possible to respond to a growing humanitarian catastrophe 
while also securing our borders, but we have reached peak capacity and 
are now forced to pull from other missions to respond to the 
emergency.''\40\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \40\ Id.

    The reason why Southwest Border apprehensions have reached all-time 
records under the Biden administration is clear from a March 8 opinion 
in Florida v.
U.S.,\41\ a challenge by the State of Florida to the administration's 
border release policies.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \41\ Florida v. U.S., __F. Supp. 3d__, No. 3:21-cv-1066-TKW-ZCB 
(N.D. Fla. Mar. 8, 2023). Source: http://myfloridalegal.com/
webfiles.nsf/WF/GPEY-CPQPAB/$file/final+order.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    As Judge T. Kent Wetherell II of the U.S. District Court for the 
Northern District of Florida explained:

``[T]he evidence establishes that [the Federal Government has] 
effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the 
sand and little more than a speedbump for aliens flooding into the 
country by prioritizing `alternatives to detention' over actual 
detention and by releasing more than a million aliens into the 
country--on `parole' or pursuant to the exercise of `prosecutorial 
discretion' under a wholly inapplicable statute--without even 
initiating removal proceedings.''\42\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \42\ Id. at pp. 4-5.

    While it may be understandable that additional, experienced agents 
were needed to assist their overwhelmed colleagues at the Southwest 
Border, it was and is irresponsible to leave an already under-resourced 
Northern Border vulnerable to national security and humanitarian risks 
to do so.
    Before any administration changes effective policies implemented by 
a previous administration in a way that could create national security 
and humanitarian vulnerabilities, it is incumbent on that new 
administration to ensure that it has sufficient resources to address 
such vulnerabilities in advance.
    There is no question that the border policies implemented by the 
Trump administration were effective.
    As his first Border Patrol chief, Rodney Scott, explained in a 
September 2021 letter \43\ to Senate leadership, President Biden 
inherited ``what was arguably the most effective border security in our 
Nation's history'', only to have ``[c]ommon sense border security 
recommendations from experienced career professionals . . . ignored and 
stymied by inexperienced political employees''.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \43\ Letter from Rodney Scott to Sens. Charles Schumer, Mitch 
McConnell, Gary Peters, and Rob Portman (Sept. 11, 2021). Source: 
https://justthenews.com/sites/default/files/2021-09/
Honorable%20Rob%20Portman%20%20US%20Senate%20Security%20Concerns%20-
percent20- Rodney%20Scott.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    It is also patently obvious that President Biden knew a rapid shift 
away from those Trump-era border policies risked chaos and disaster.
    As the Washington Post reported on December 22, 2020,\44\ just over 
a month before Inauguration Day 2021, President-elect Biden vowed to 
``keep his pledge to roll back the Trump administration's restrictive 
asylum policies'' but would do so ``at a slower pace than he initially 
promised, to avoid winding up with `2 million people on our border' ''.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \44\ MIROFF, Nick and SACCHETTI, Maria. ``Biden says he'll reverse 
Trump immigration policies but wants `guardrails' first''. Washington 
Post (Dec. 22, 2020). Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/
biden-immigration-policy-changes/2020/12/22/2eb9ef92-4400-11eb-8deb-
b948d0931c16_story.html.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    As President, however, Biden backtracked on that pledge, quickly 
reversing \45\ Trump's successful border policies without ``setting 
up'' any promised ``guardrails'' that would have avoided a 
``crisis''\46\ at the Southwest Border.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \45\ LAW, Rob. ``Biden's Executive Actions: President Unilaterally 
Changes Immigration Policy''. Center for Immigration Studies (Mar. 15, 
2021). Source: https://cis.org/Report/Bidens-Executive-Actions-
President-Unilaterally-Changes-Immigration-Policy.
    \46\ MIROFF, Nick and SACCHETTI, Maria. ``Biden says he'll reverse 
Trump immigration policies but wants `guardrails' first''. Washington 
Post (Dec. 22, 2020). Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/
biden-immigration-policy-changes/2020/12/22/2eb9ef92-4400-11eb-8deb-
b948d0931c16_story.html.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Consequently, in fiscal year 2022, Border Patrol agents at the 
Southwest Border apprehended more than 2.2 million \47\ illegal 
migrants, not counting more than 599,000 \48\ other illegal entrants 
who successfully evaded apprehension to make their way into the United 
States, identified in statute \49\ as ``got aways''.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \47\ ``Nationwide Encounters''. U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
(modified Mar. 10, 2023) (2,206,436 Border Patrol Southwest border 
apprehensions in fiscal year 2022). Source: https://www.cbp.gov/
newsroom/stats/nationwide-encounters.
    \48\ MELUGIN, Bill and BLITZER, Ronn. ``Border officials count 
599,000 `gotaway' migrants in Fiscal Year 2022: source''. Fox News 
(Oct. 2, 2022). Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/border-
officials-count-599000-gotaway-migrants-fiscal-year-2022-source.
    \49\ 6 U.S.C.  223(a)(3). (``Border Metrics''. ``Got away. The 
term `got away' means an unlawful border crosser who (A) is directly or 
indirectly observed making an unlawful entry into the United States; 
(B) is not apprehended; and (C) is not a turn back.''). Source: https:/
/uscode.house.gov/
view.xhtml?req=(title:6%20'section:223%20edition:prelim).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                     cbp northern border encounters
    DHS leadership, however, was likely ``robbing Peter to pay Paul'' 
when it stripped agents from the Northern Border and sent them south, 
as CBP encounters at the Canadian border have subsequently--and 
inevitably--surged.
    In fiscal year 2022, CBP encountered 109,535 aliens at the Northern 
Border, four times as many (27,180) as they had the fiscal year 
before.\50\ Already, in just the first 5 months of fiscal year 2023, 
CBP has encountered 68,784 aliens \51\ at the Northern Border, and at 
their current pace, CBP agents and officers will record more than 
165,000 CBP Northern Border encounters by the end of the fiscal year.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \50\ ``Nationwide Encounters''. U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
(modified Mar. 10, 2023). Source: https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/
nationwide-encounters.
    \51\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    ``Encounter'' in this context is a term of art, defined as the sum 
of aliens deemed inadmissible at U.S. ports of entry by CBP officers in 
the agency's Office of Field Operations (OFO) plus aliens apprehended 
by Border Patrol agents after entering the United States illegally at 
the border between those ports.
    Of those CBP Northern Border encounters in fiscal year 2022, 
107,297 of them involved aliens deemed inadmissible by CBP officers at 
the ports.\52\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \52\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Nearly 38 percent of those encounters involved Canadian nationals, 
likely aliens with criminal convictions that rendered them inadmissible 
to the United States,\53\ or visitors without proper documents that 
would allow them to be admitted \54\ to the United States. Whatever the 
reason, however, there was a 152 percent increase in fiscal year 2022 
in the number of Canadian nationals deemed inadmissible at the Northern 
Border ports compared to fiscal year 2021.\55\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \53\ See section 212(a)(2) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 
(2023) (``Criminal and related grounds''). Source: https://
uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?edition=prelim#=0&req=gran- 
uleid%3AUSCprelim-title8-section1182.
    \54\ Id. at para. (a)(7) (``Documentation requirements'').
    \55\ ``Nationwide Encounters''. U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
(modified Mar. 10, 2023). Source: https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/
nationwide-encounters.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Of somewhat greater concern is the fact that the number of ``other 
than Canadian'' nationals deemed inadmissible at the Northern Border 
ports jumped six-fold between fiscal year 2021 and fiscal year 2022--
from around 10,250 to nearly 67,000.
    Almost 16 percent (17,094)\56\ of the aliens deemed inadmissible at 
the Northern Border ports in fiscal year 2022 were nationals of India, 
around 10 percent of them (6,686)\57\ were from China, 1,938 \58\ came 
from Colombia, 1,521 were from the Philippines, and 1,314 were from 
Ukraine. Most interesting were the 31,941 aliens deemed inadmissible at 
the Southwest Border who came from ``other'' countries around the 
world, that is countries that CBP does not include in its specific list 
of the top 21 ``migrant-sending'' countries.\59\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \56\ Id.
    \57\ Id.
    \58\ Id.
    \59\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Northern sector Border Patrol apprehensions increased 144 percent 
between fiscal year 2021 (916) and fiscal year 2022 (2,238),\60\ and 
already in the first 5 reporting months of fiscal year 2023, agents at 
the Northern Border have exceeded last fiscal year's total, 
apprehending 2,856 illegal entrants through the end of February, and on 
pace for more than 6,850 apprehensions this fiscal year.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \60\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    A handful (44) of the aliens apprehended in fiscal year 2023 have 
been Canadians, almost certainly aliens who were otherwise inadmissible 
through the legal admissions process.\61\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \61\ See fns. 53 and 54.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Meanwhile, the number of Haitians apprehended there has jumped from 
8 in fiscal year 2022 to 161,\62\ the number of Venezuelans from 5 to 
76, \63\ and Border Patrol apprehensions of nationals of ``other'' 
countries at the Northern Border has already reached 77 percent of last 
year's total (from 204 in fiscal year 2022 to 157 in the first 5 months 
of fiscal year 2023).\64\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \62\ ``Nationwide Encounters''. U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
(modified Mar. 10, 2023). Source: https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/
nationwide-encounters.
    \63\ Id.
    \64\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Notably, Mexican apprehensions are almost 82 percent higher in 
fiscal year 2023 (1,604) than they were in fiscal year 2022 (882), and 
Border Patrol is on pace to apprehend nearly 3,850 Mexican nationals at 
the Northern Border this fiscal year.\65\ I will explain those Mexican 
apprehensions, below.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \65\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    These projections are likely low, however, because the 628 \66\ 
Border Patrol apprehensions in February (the shortest month of the 
year) are the highest monthly total at the Northern Border in the last 
4 fiscal years, more than 4 times higher than last February (122),\67\ 
but more importantly, nearly twice as high as February 2020 (256),\68\ 
the last month before the Covid-19 pandemic was declared.\69\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \66\ Id.
    \67\ Id.
    \68\ Id.
    \69\ See fn. 80.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                             swanton sector
    As significant as these increases are, they only tell part of the 
story, because one Northern Border sector--Swanton--has borne the brunt 
of this surge in migrant entries.
    Of the 628 illegal migrants apprehended at the Northern Border in 
February, 418 \70\--66.5 percent--were caught in the Swanton Sector. 
What's more, 67.6 percent (1,932)\71\ of the 2,856 migrants apprehended 
at the Northern Border thus far in fiscal year 2023 were stopped by 
agents there, up from 47.6 percent (1,065)\72\ of the 2,238 total 
illegal entrant apprehensions at the Northern Border in fiscal year 
2022.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \70\ Id.
    \71\ Id.
    \72\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Why would the agents at a 295-mile portion of a 5,525-mile border 
in Swanton Sector be seeing such a surge in illegal migration? 
Proximity likely has a lot to do with it.
    It is about 50 miles \73\ from the biggest nearby Canadian city--
Montreal, Quebec (population 1,785,042)\74\--to the U.S. border just 
north of the town of Swanton, Vt., and 40 miles \75\ to the U.S. border 
north of Champlain, N.Y. (again, also in Swanton sector). Nearly all 
(1,383) \76\ of those Swanton sector apprehensions in fiscal year 2023 
have occurred on the New York side.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \73\ ARTHUR, Andrew. ``Migrant Surge--At the Northern Border''. 
Center for Immigration Studies (Feb. 23, 2023). Source: https://
cis.org/Arthur/Migrant-Surge-Northern-Border.
    \74\ ``Montreal Population 2023''. World Population Review (2023). 
Source: https://worldpopulationreview.com/canadian-cities/montreal-
population.
    \75\ ARTHUR, Andrew. ``Migrant Surge--At the Northern Border''. 
Center for Immigration Studies (Feb. 23, 2023). Source: https://
cis.org/Arthur/Migrant-Surge-Northern-Border.
    \76\ ``Nationwide Encounters''. U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
(modified Mar. 10, 2023). Source: https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/
nationwide-encounters.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The city's Montreal-Trudeau International Airport (YUL) is the 
fourth-busiest airport in Canada in terms of passenger volume,\77\ 
serving 5.2 million passengers per year. A Google search \78\ shows 
that there are three nonstop flights from Mexico City to YUL daily (two 
on Aeromexico and one on Air Canada), and numerous cheaper flights with 
connections outside the United States as well.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \77\ WONG, Daniel. ``Top 5: A Look At Canada's Busiest Airports By 
Passenger Traffic''. Simple Flying (Jun. 13, 2022). Source: https://
simpleflying.com/canada-busiest-passenger-airports/#edmonton-
international-airport-yeg_2-8-million-passengers.
    \78\ Source: https://www.google.com/travel/flights/
search?tfs=CBwQAhojagwIAhIIL20- 
vMDRzcWoSCjIwMjMtMDQtMDdyBwgBEgNZVUwaI2oHCAESA1lVTBIKMjAyMy0wNC0- 
xMXIMCAISCC9tLzA0c3FqcAGCAQsI_____AUABSAGYAQE&tfu=EgYIARABGAA&hl=- 
en≷=us&curr=USD.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Most of the migrants apprehended in Swanton Sector (1,185 out of 
1,932 or 61 percent)\79\ in fiscal year 2023 have been Mexican 
nationals. There are various, logical reasons why Mexican nationals 
would choose to fly to YUL and cross the Northern Border instead of 
simply crossing from Mexico into the United States.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \79\ ``Nationwide Encounters''. U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
(modified Mar. 10, 2023). Source: https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/
nationwide-encounters.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued 
its first order \80\ under Title 42 of the U.S. Code \81\ directing the 
expulsion of illegal migrants at U.S. land borders in response to the 
COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, 89.7 percent \82\ of Mexican nationals 
apprehended by Border Patrol at the Southwest Border have been expelled 
under Title 42. Many of the rest have likely been allowed to 
``voluntarily depart'' back to Mexico in lieu of removal.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \80\ ``Order Suspending the Introduction of Certain Persons from 
Countries Where a Communicable Disease Exists''. U.S. Dep't of Health 
and Human Servs., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Mar. 20, 
2020). Source: https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/pdf/CDC-Order-
Prohibiting-Introduction-of-Persons_Final_3-20-20_3-p.pdf. Accessed on 
27 Feb. 2023.
    \81\ See id.; 42 U.S.C.  265 (2023) (``Whenever the Surgeon 
General determines that by reason of the existence of any communicable 
disease in a foreign country there is serious danger of the 
introduction of such disease into the United States, and that this 
danger is so increased by the introduction of persons or property from 
such country that a suspension of the right to introduce such persons 
and property is required in the interest of the public health, the 
Surgeon General, in accordance with regulations approved by the 
President, shall have the power to prohibit, in whole or in part, the 
introduction of persons and property from such countries or places as 
he shall designate in order to avert such danger, and for such period 
of time as he may deem necessary for such purpose.''). Source: https://
uscode.house.gov/
view.xhtml?req=(title:42%20'section:265%20edition:prelim).
    \82\ ``Nationwide Encounters''. U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
(modified Mar. 10, 2023). Source: https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/
nationwide-encounters.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    By contrast, just 8.25 percent \83\ of the Mexican nationals 
apprehended at the Northern Border in that same period have been 
expelled under Title 42. That's likely because, unlike Mexico, Canada 
is under no obligation to accept the return of Mexican nationals who 
entered the United States from its territory who the U.S. Government is 
trying to expel.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \83\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    It was not surprising, then, that CBP announced \84\ in early March 
that it would be detailing 25 extra agents--including agents from the 
Southwest Border--to Swanton Sector to help deal with the flow. 
According to a CBP spokesman quoted by NBC News:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \84\ AINSLEY, Julia and MARTINEZ, Didi. ``U.S. transfers Border 
Patrol agents to northern border as migrant crossings from Canada 
rise''. NBC News (Mar. 6, 2023). Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/
politics/immigration/us-transfers-border-patrol-agents-canada-border-
migrant-crossings-rcna73623/.

``While the apprehension numbers are small compared to other areas with 
irregular migration flows, Swanton Sector apprehensions constitute a 
large change in this area . . . The deployed team will serve as a force 
multiplier in the region and assist to deter and disrupt human 
smuggling activities being conducted in the Swanton Sector area of 
responsibility.''\85\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \85\ Id.

          the costs of visa-free travel from mexico to canada
    The price of a plane ticket aside, it is not that difficult for 
Mexican nationals to get into Canada.
    The Canadian government has vacillated over the years on the issue 
of whether Mexican nationals should be permitted to enter to the 
country without first obtaining a visa, as The Atlantic explained in 
2016:

``From 2005 to 2008, asylum claims in Canada had tripled, and many of 
those were from Mexican citizens. In 2009, the conservative Canadian 
government, headed by then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper, imposed the 
visa restrictions to cut down on asylum applications. Last year, [now-
Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau ran on a platform to repair the 
country's relationship with its North American partners, which included 
a promise to rid the visa requirement for Mexico.''\86\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \86\ PHIPPEN, J. Weston. ``The Opening of Visa-Free Travel From 
Mexico to Canada''. The Atlantic (Jun. 28, 2016). Source: https://
www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2016/06/canada-mexico-visa/489203/.

    Trudeau made good on that promise (in exchange for, among other 
concessions, an agreement by the Mexican government to allow the sale 
of Canadian beef there for the first time since the outbreak of mad-cow 
disease in Canada in 2003),\87\ and a visa exemption for Mexican 
nationals traveling to Canada has been in place since December 1, 2016 
(perhaps coincidentally, 24 days after Donald Trump was elected 
President).\88\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \87\ Id.
    \88\ ``Mexico Visa Exemption''. Public Safety Canada (modified Oct. 
15, 2020). Source: https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/trnsprnc/brfng-
mtrls/prlmntry-bndrs/20200621/037/index-en.aspx.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Many of the costs and risks associated with that shift in visa 
policy are detailed on the website of Public Safety Canada:\89\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \89\ See ``About Public Safety Canada''. Public Safety Canada 
(modified Aug. 10, 2022) (``Public Safety Canada was created in 2003 to 
ensure coordination across all Federal departments and agencies 
responsible for national security and the safety of Canadians. Our 
mandate is to keep Canadians safe from a range of risks such as natural 
disasters, crime, and terrorism. Our mission is to build a safe and 
resilient Canada. Our vision is to, through outstanding leadership, 
achieve a safe and secure Canada and strong and resilient 
communities.``). Source: https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/bt/index-
en.aspx.

``When the visa requirement was lifted, funding in the amount of $212 
million over 5 years and $47 million ongoing was sought across all 
partners to manage the immigration-related risks. Ongoing pressures due 
to irregular migration associated with the Mexico visa exemption 
contributed to the Government's decision to allocate additional funding 
for Canada's asylum system in Budget 2019.
``Trends and risks associated with the visa exemption for Mexican 
nationals are expected to continue. Likewise, funding pressures on the 
[Canada Border Services Agency, `CBSA' \90\] are expected to grow as 
the Agency manages the risks associated with these migration trends.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \90\ See ``Canada Border Services Agency''. Government of Canada 
(modified Mar. 21, 2023) (``The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) 
facilitates the flow of legitimate travellers and trade. The agency 
also enforces more than 100 acts and regulations that keep our country 
and Canadians safe.''). Source: https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/menu-
eng.html.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
``The CBSA will continue to work with partners to monitor and to 
respond to those risks to ensure the integrity of Canada's immigration 
system and the safety and security of Canadians.
``Of note, at the time of the visa exemption, the Government set a 
threshold for asylum claims which would trigger a reconsideration of 
the visa exemption [Redacted in original]. However, this number should 
not be made public.\91\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \91\ Id.

    Apparently, the Canadian government's (still redacted) threshold 
for Mexican asylum claims has not yet been met, though 11,000 
individuals who traveled on Mexican passports have applied for asylum 
since the visa exemption was implemented (Mexico is the second-leading 
source for asylum claims in Canada after Haiti \92\), but visa-free 
travel from Mexico to Canada has not been without costs to the Federal 
Government in Ottawa or risks to that country and the United States.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \92\ ``Claims by Country of Alleged Persecution--2022''. 
Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (modified Mar. 1, 2023). 
Source: https://www.irbcisr.gc.ca/en/statistics/protection/Pages/
RPDStat2022.aspx.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    My colleague, Todd Bensman, recently detailed some of those costs 
and risks, explaining that the renewal of visa-free travel from Mexico 
to Canada brought about a result that ``was both predictable and 
predicted at the time'':\93\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \93\ BENSMAN, Todd. ``The Canadian Policy Behind the Surge of 
Illegals--and Mexican Cartel Operatives--at the Northern Border''. 
Center for Immigration Studies (Mar. 22, 2023). Source: https://
cis.org/Bensman/Canadian-Policy-Behind-Surge-Illegals-and-Mexican-
Cartel-Operatives-Northern-Border.

``By mid-July 2017, after Trudeau restored the visa waiver to Mexicans, 
leaked [CBSA] intelligence reports said Mexican cartel operatives--
`drug smugglers, human smugglers, recruiters, money launders and foot 
soldiers'--were turning up in greater numbers than ever before. The 
cartels began facilitating the human smuggling business of other 
Mexicans south over the America's Northern Border, just as they did all 
along the Southern Border.
``Global News, which published the intelligence reports in July 2017, 
quoted them as saying Mexican crime groups such as the ultra-violent 
Sinaloa cartel had turned up in Canada and would `facilitate travel to 
Canada by Mexicans with criminal records'.
``Besides the Sinaloa Cartel, Mexican entrants were identified as 
belonging to La Familia Michoacana, Jalisco New Generation, and Los 
Zetas cartels.
``For instance, whereas the reports said 37 Mexicans linked or possibly 
linked to organized criminal groups had entered between 2012 and 2015, 
65 involved in `serious crimes' were identified midway through just 
2017, compared to 28 in 2015. Another 15 Mexicans cited for national 
security problems were caught in the first 6 months of 2017, more than 
the two previous years combined.''\94\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \94\ BENSMAN, Todd. ``The Canadian Policy Behind the Surge of 
Illegals--and Mexican Cartel Operatives--at the Northern Border''. 
Center for Immigration Studies (Mar. 22, 2023). Source: https://
cis.org/Bensman/Canadian-Policy-Behind-Surge-Illegals-and-Mexican-
Cartel-Operatives-Northern-Border.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In that vein, the Toronto Sun reported in May 2019:

``Hundreds of criminals connected to the illegal drug trade are freely 
plying their trades as importers, go-betweens and hitmen in Canada--
according to Quebec news outlet TVA Nouvelles--largely because Prime 
Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government dropped the visa 
requirement for Mexican travelers.''\95\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \95\ GORDON, Graeme. ``100's of drug cartel members have entered 
Canada since Liberals waived Mexican visa: Report''. Toronto Sun (May 
24, 2019). Source: https://torontosun.com/news/crime/100's-of-drug-
cartel-members-have-entered-canada-since-liberals-waived-mexican-visa-
report.

    Four hundred such criminals according to that reporting, to be 
exact. That article and similar ones prompted Public Safety Canada to 
craft a response.\96\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \96\ ``Mexican Drug Cartels.'' Public Safety Canada (modified Sep. 
10, 2020). Source: https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/trnsprnc/brfng-
mtrls/prlmntry-bndrs/20200621/fp001/index-en.aspx/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In its response, Public Safety Canada asserted that after checking 
its databases, CBSA had ``determined that the number of inadmissibility 
cases for all types of criminality for Mexican foreign nationals during 
this period referenced by the media was'' only ``238'', 27 of whom were 
``reported inadmissible due to links to known organized 
criminality''.\97\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \97\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Twenty-one of those 27 were gang members, three were members of 
cartels, and three others ``were involved in human smuggling 
organizations''.\98\ An additional 154 individuals ``were reported as 
inadmissible due to serious criminality which includes convictions for 
the following crimes: sexual assault, aggravated assault, drug 
trafficking, child pornography, rape of a child, manslaughter, drug 
trafficking''.\99\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \98\ Id.
    \99\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
            the movement of drugs across the northern border
    Which brings me to the movement of drugs across the Northern 
Border. As the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy 
\100\ (ONDCP) has explained:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \100\ ``National Drug Control Strategy, Northern Border 
Counternarcotics Strategy'', p.1. Office of National Drug Control 
Policy (2022). Source: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/
2022/04/National-Northern-Border-Counter-Narcotics-2022Strategy.pdf.

``Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) operating on both sides 
of the United States Canada border (Northern Border) often exploit the 
international boundary's vulnerabilities for illegal activities, at 
times in conjunction with outlaw motorcycle gangs. They smuggle illegal 
drugs as well as both weapons and the illicit proceeds from drug sales 
between the two countries. The predominate drugs trafficked across the 
Northern Border are cocaine, which is smuggled into Canada, and MDMA 
(ecstasy), which is smuggled into the United States. Though marijuana, 
heroin, and illicitly manufactured fentanyl are also trafficked across 
the Northern Border, their volume is substantially less than that which 
is trafficked across the Southwest Border.
 . . . ``The TCOs occasionally exploit the mountain valleys in 
Washington and Idaho and the deep ravines in Montana, while the 
waterways connecting and bordering the United States and Canada create 
a conducive environment to move contraband across the international 
border. Quickly traveling across the international border and making 
landfall on the opposite side, individuals and TCOs can take advantage 
of the narrow width of many river areas along the border to escape 
apprehension when detected by United States law enforcement 
authorities. In the winter months, snowmobiles and vehicles are used to 
transport contraband over frozen rivers and lakes. Similarly, 
apprehending maritime smugglers is challenging in the Pacific 
Northwest, due to a high number of short smuggling routes across the 
Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the high volume of legitimate maritime 
traffic between the United States and Canada.''

    According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA),\101\ 
the supply of MDMA/ecstasy in the U.S. market is controlled by Asian 
TCOs in this country, which collaborate with Asian TCOs in Canada. It 
continues: ``MDMA, in both tablet and powder form, is typically either 
imported from China to Canada or manufactured in clandestine 
laboratories in Canada, then smuggled across the Northern Border into 
the United States.''\102\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \101\ ``2020 National Drug Threat Assessment'', at p.75. U.S. Dep't 
of Justice, Drug Enforcement Admin. (Mar. 2021). Source: https://
www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2021-02/DIR-008-
21%202020%20National%20Drug%20Threat%20Assessment_WEB.pdf.
    \102\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The DEA explains that Indian reservations \103\ on U.S. borders are 
commonly exploited by cross-border drug smugglers, and in the 
particular case of the Northern Border:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \103\ Id. at p. 83.

``TCOs [] smuggle large amounts of illicit drugs into the United States 
through reservations that border Canada, especially the St. Regis 
Mohawk Reservation in New York, commonly referred to as the Mohawk 
Nation at Akwesasne. TCOs smuggle marijuana and thousands of MDMA 
tablets into the United States and multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine 
into Canada through the reservation.''\104\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \104\ Id.

    The police force for the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne (MCA), which 
has responsibility for law-enforcement on the Canadian side of the 
Akwesasne Mohawk territory, recently received a C$6 million grant \105\ 
from the Quebec provincial government to fight gun smuggling across the 
St. Lawrence River.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \105\ Clarke, Celia. ``Akwesasne police force in Canada gets $6M to 
stop gun smuggling from the U.S.'' NCPR (Jun 28, 2022). Source: https:/
/www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/46130/20220628/akwesasne-
police-force-in-canada-gets-6m-to-stop-gun-smuggling-from-the-u-s.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In February \106\ the MCA issued a notice about the increase in 
illegal entries, reminding residents that ``human smuggling is a crime 
and poses serious concerns for not only the individual(s) committing 
the act but the entire community of Akwesasne''.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \106\ ``Recent Increase in Illegal Entries to Community''. Mohawk 
Council of Akwesasne (Feb. 17, 2023). Source: http://www.akwesasne.ca/
recent-increase-in-illegal-entries-to-community/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    All that illicit activity has had a negative impact on the lives of 
those living in the reservations:

``The widespread availability and abuse of drugs in Indian Country, 
coupled with drug trafficking groups operating in Indian Country, 
contribute to high rates of crime on reservations. Due to the wide 
range of violent and property crimes in which traffickers engage, the 
crime rates on some reservations can be higher than the national 
averages for similar crimes. [Drug trafficking organizations ``DTOs''] 
engage in these crimes to facilitate their operations, while users 
generally engage in such crimes to support their drug use.''\107\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \107\ ``2020 National Drug Threat Assessment'', at p. 83. U.S. 
Dep't of Justice, Drug Enforcement Admin. (Mar. 2021). Source: https://
www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2021-02/DIR-008-
21%202020%20National%20Drug%20Threat%20Assessment_WEB.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                   cbp northern border drug seizures
    In the first 5 months of fiscal year 2023,\108\ CBP officers at the 
ports and Border Patrol agents have seized 3,500 pounds of drugs, down 
significantly from fiscal year 2022,\109\ when CBP drug seizures at the 
Northern Border totaled more than 60,000 pounds, which itself was a 
decline from drug-seizure totals in fiscal year 2020 \110\ (nearly 
85,000 pounds of drugs).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \108\ ``Drug Seizure Statistics fiscal year 2023''. U.S. Customs 
and Border Protection (modified Mar. 10, 2023). Source: https://
www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/drug-seizure-statistics.
    \109\ Id.
    \110\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Those totals are not quite as positive as they may appear, as I 
will explain below. In any event, the largest decline has been in 
marijuana seizures, which has had a significant effect on the total 
decline.
    In fiscal year 2020,\111\ CBP seized 54,700 pounds of marijuana at 
the Northern Border, while marijuana seizures increased there in fiscal 
year 2021 \112\ (to 79,600 pounds).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \111\ Id.
    \112\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Northern Border marijuana seizures dropped to 23,200 pounds in 
fiscal year 2022,\113\ and thus far in fiscal year 2023,\114\ CBP has 
seized less than a ton (1,900 pounds) of the narcotic.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \113\ Id.
    \114\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    For years, high-potency Canadian-grown marijuana, and in particular 
a popular strain known as ``BC [British Columbia] bud'', was a popular 
illicit drug on both sides of the Northern Border. According to a DEA 
Drug Intelligence Brief from December 2000:\115\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \115\ ``Drug Intelligence Brief, BC Bud: Growth of the Canadian 
Marijuana Trade''. U.S. Dep't of Justice, U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency 
(Dec. 2000). Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20080910203741/ http:/
/www.hawaii.edu/hivandaids/BC_Bud_Growth_Of_The_Cana- 
dian_Marijuana_Trade.pdf.

``Marijuana and other cannabis products are the most widely abused and 
readily available illicit drugs in Canada. Canadian law enforcement 
intelligence indicates that marijuana traffickers there increasingly 
are cultivating cannabis indoors. Such indoor grow operations have 
become an enormous and lucrative illicit industry, producing a potent 
form of marijuana that has come to be commonly known as `BC Bud.' 
Canadian officials estimate that cannabis cultivation in British 
Columbia is a billion-dollar industry and that traffickers smuggle a 
significant portion of the Canadian harvest into the United States.
``Canadian growers produce cannabis plants with powerful buds, often 
using sophisticated hydroponic cultivation techniques. While the term 
`BC Bud' literally refers to the bud of the female cannabis plant grown 
in British Columbia, the term has become synonymous in the popular 
media for high-potency Canadian-grown marijuana. Such marijuana has a 
THC1 content ranging from 15 percent to as much as 25 percent, far more 
potent than the naturally grown cannabis plants of the 1970's, which 
had a THC content of only 2 percent.''\116\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \116\ Id. at 1-2.

    While the Canadian Federal Government and provincial governments 
regularly and rigorously policed marijuana cultivation operations in 
the early 2000's,\117\ the Federal Government there has subsequently 
changed course and passed ``The Cannabis Act'', which went into effect 
in October 2018.\118\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \117\ See EBNER, David. ``Summer boom for B.C. bud means big-time 
drug busts for RCMP''. The Globe and Mail (Oct. 12, 2009) (``In the 
British Columbia marijuana business, this year's hot, sunny summer has 
been hailed as the best-ever for growing pot outdoors. For the RCMP, 
using helicopters to search vast and densely forested regions, the 
bumper weed crop has led to the seizure of tens of thousands of 
marijuana plants. The latest bust, announced Monday by the Kootenay 
Boundary detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, had 14,130 
plants taken from 88 sites in the southern central region of B.C. 
around Nelson, with most of the pot grown on Crown land. The police 
estimated the street value of the drugs at nearly $80-million, based on 
the individual sale of 15.5-million joints. The wholesale value was 
pegged at roughly $25-million.''). Source: https://
www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/summer-boom-for-bc-bud-
means-big-time-drug-busts-for-rcmp/article1203433/.
    \118\ ``Taking stock of progress: Cannabis legalization and 
regulation in Canada''. Government of Canada (modified Oct. 26, 2022). 
Source: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/programs/engaging-
cannabis-legalization-regulation-canada-taking-stock-progress/
document.html.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    That act ``legalized and strictly regulated the production, 
distribution, sale, import and export, and possession of cannabis for 
adults of legal age'', making the country:

``[T]he first major industrialized country to provide legal and 
regulated access to cannabis for non-medical purposes, signalling a 
shift away from the reliance on prohibitive measures to deter cannabis 
use, and the adoption of an evidence-informed public health and public 
safety approach.\119\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \119\ Id.

    It's almost certain that the legalization of marijuana in Canada 
led to an uptick in the illicit smuggling of the drug into the United 
States in the years directly following the passage of The Cannabis Act. 
Drug legalization efforts in several U.S. States,\120\ though, have 
also likely diminished the demand in the U.S. market for Canadian 
marijuana, particularly as the potency of locally grown marijuana here 
has mushroomed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \120\ ``Recent Developments in Marijuana Law''. Congressional 
Research Serv. (updated Dec. 6, 2022). Source: https://
crsreports.Congress.gov/product/pdf/LSB/LSB10859.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    With respect to the latter point, as one research paper has 
explained:

``Many people who have voted for legalization thought they were talking 
about the marijuana of the 1960's to 1980's when the THC content was 
less than 2 percent. However, without any clear guidelines or 
regulations from government officials, the cannabis industry has taken 
a page from the tobacco and alcohol industries' play book and developed 
strains of marijuana and concentrated marijuana products with much 
higher concentrations of THC, the psychoactive component that causes 
addiction. The more potent a drug is, the stronger the possibility of 
addiction and the more likely the person will continue to purchase and 
use the product.
`` . . . The primary problem with the current available cannabis in 
dispensaries in Colorado is that the THC content is not like it used to 
be. Prior to the 1990's it was less than 2 percent. In the 1990's it 
grew to 4 percent, and between 1995 and 2015 there has been a 212 
percent increase in THC content in the marijuana flower. In 2017 the 
most popular strains found in dispensaries in Colorado had a range of 
THC content from 17-28 percent such as found in the popular strain 
named `Girl Scout Cookie.' Sadly these plants producing high levels of 
THC are incapable of producing much CBD, the protective component of 
the plant so these strains have minimal CBD. For example the Girl Scout 
Cookie strain has only 0.09-0.2 percent CBD. [Internal footnotes 
omitted].''\121\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \121\ STUYT, Elizabeth. ``The Problem with the Current High Potency 
THC Marijuana from the Perspective of an Addiction Psychiatrist''. 
Missouri Medicine (Nov.-Dec. 2018). Source: https://
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6312155/.

    The fiscal year 2022 Northern Border CBP drug seizure statistics 
were likely also skewed by major seizures that fiscal year (33,400 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
pounds) of khat. According to the Alcohol and Drug Foundation:

``Khat is a stimulant drug, which means it speeds up the messages 
between the brain and the body. Chewing khat is part of some social 
traditions in parts of the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia and Yemen, 
and in Eastern Africa, such as Somalia.
``The buds and leaves of the khat plant (Catha edulis) are chewed for 
stimulant and euphoric effects, and traditionally have been used for 
medicinal purposes as well as recreationally. Khat contains cathinone 
and cathine, which are the chemicals that produce the stimulant 
effects.''\122\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \122\ ``What is khat?'' Alcohol and Drug Foundation (updated Nov. 
29, 2022). Source: https://adf.org.au/drug-facts/khat/.

    In a July 2022 joint operation, CBP officers and the U.S. Coast 
Guard seized more than 20,000 pounds of dried khat (estimated street 
value: $3.6 million) at the Seattle (Wash.) Maritime Port, which had 
been shipped from Kenya and marked as ``tea''.\123\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \123\ ``CBP, US Coast Guard Seize more than 10 tons of khat''. U.S. 
Customs and Border Protection (July 21, 2022). Source: https://
www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media-release/cbp-us-coast-guard-seize-more-
10-tons-khat.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Excluding marijuana and khat, CBP at the Northern Border has seized 
1,300 pounds \124\ of drugs this year, running slightly behind last 
year's seizures of 3,500 pounds.\125\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \124\ ``Drug Seizure Statistics fiscal year 2023''. U.S. Customs 
and Border Protection (modified Mar. 10, 2023). Source: https://
www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/drug-seizure-statistics.
    \125\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Again, that is likely not as good news as it may appear, for 
reasons that, again, I will explain below.
    OFO seizures of drugs at the Northern ports of entry are well 
behind last fiscal year's totals. Through the first 5 months of fiscal 
year 2023,\126\ CBP officers have seized just 2,000 pounds of drugs, 
compared to 58,800 pounds in fiscal year 2022,\127\ and 81,400 pounds 
in fiscal year 2021.\128\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \126\ Id.
    \127\ Id.
    \128\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Once more, marijuana and khat seizures lead the decline. OFO 
Northern Border seizures of marijuana have declined from nearly 77,000 
pounds in fiscal year 2021 \129\ to 22,400 pounds in fiscal year 
2022,\130\ and to 1,500 pounds in fiscal year 2023.\131\ Khat seizures 
have declined from 33,400 pounds last fiscal year \132\ to 293 pounds 
in fiscal year fiscal year 2023.\133\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \129\ Id.
    \130\ Id.
    \131\ Id.
    \132\ Id.
    \133\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Seizures of other drugs at the Northern Border ports have seen 
similar declines. Methamphetamine: 546 pounds in fiscal year 2022; 23 
pounds in fiscal year 2023.\134\ Cocaine: 1,000 pounds in fiscal year 
2022, 2 pounds in fiscal year 2023.\135\ Ketamine: 145 pounds in fiscal 
year 2022; 18 pounds in fiscal year 2023.\136\ MDMA/ecstasy: 398 pounds 
in fiscal year 2022; 2 pounds in fiscal year 2023.\137\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \134\ Id.
    \135\ Id.
    \136\ Id.
    \137\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Border Patrol seizures of certain drugs, however, are way up at the 
Northern Border.
    Agents have seized 479 pounds of marijuana in the first 5 months of 
fiscal year 2023, compared to 759 pounds in all of fiscal year 
2022.\138\ Agents have also seized 9 pounds of cocaine this fiscal 
year, equaling total cocaine seizures in fiscal year 2022,\139\ and 45 
pounds of MDMA/ecstasy, more than 6 times as much as in fiscal year 
2022 (7 pounds).\140\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \138\ Id.
    \139\ Id.
    \140\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The Border Patrol haul of ``other'' drugs--that is any controlled 
substance that is not marijuana, meth, cocaine, fentanyl, ketamine, 
khat, heroin, or ecstasy--are also up significantly, with 943 pounds 
seized this fiscal year compared to just 15 in fiscal year 2022.\141\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \141\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    CBP does not provide a breakdown of what those other drugs are, 
however, it is common for illicit chemists to slightly change the 
composition of synthetic drugs to stay ahead of drug scheduling 
laws,\142\ which may explain those seizures. Alternatively, those 
seizures may involve ``commonly abused prescription drugs''\143\ that 
are being smuggled into the United States for sale to illicit users.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \142\ See MUNIZ, Yandiel. ``Designer Drugs and the Federal Analog 
Act''. FIU Law Review (Mar. 11, 2017) (``Traditionally, the Federal 
Government has classified drugs, such as marijuana and cocaine, as a 
controlled substance. Enforcement by prosecutors was relatively easy 
since the composition of the drug was known. Today, chemists are 
manufacturing synthetic drugs that have similar effects to controlled 
substances, but are able to escape prosecution since the synthetic 
drug, a.k.a. designer drug, has a slightly different chemical 
composition than its controlled counterpart.''). Source: https://
law.fiu.edu/2017/03/11/designer-drugs-Federal-analog-act/.
    \143\ See ``Commonly Abused Prescription Drugs''. Nat'l Inst. of 
Health (revised Oct. 2011). Source: https://nida.nih.gov/sites/default/
files/rx_drugs_placemat_508c_10052011.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    I will note, however, that Border Patrol seizures of one drug is 
way down: meth. In fiscal year 2022, agents seized 470 pounds of meth, 
compared to just 1 pound in fiscal year 2023.\144\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \144\ ``Drug Seizure Statistics fiscal year 2023''. U.S. Customs 
and Border Protection (modified Mar. 10, 2023). Source: https://
www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/drug-seizure-statistics.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Given that fact that, as a standing committee of the Canadian House 
of Commons found in June 2019,\145\ meth ``on the streets in Canada 
mainly comes from Mexico through organized crime, with some domestic 
production depending upon the region'', those earlier loads were likely 
stopped on their way into Canada and not from the country.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \145\ ``Impacts of Methamphetamine Abuse in Canada'', at p. 18. 
House of Commons, Standing Committee on Health (Jun. 2019). Source: 
https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/421/HESA/Reports/
RP10533589/hesarp26/hesarp26-e.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
            human and drug smuggling at the northern border
    The reason that I believe the recent decline in seizures of certain 
drugs at Northern Border ports may not be as positive as these 
statistics may suggest is that there is not always a clear correlation 
between the quantity of drugs seized at the border and the quantity 
being shipped by smugglers, particularly sophisticated TCOs and 
cartels.
    According to the special agent in charge at the U.S. Immigration 
and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) 
office in Buffalo, N.Y.,\146\ ``traditional organized crime, Asian 
organized crime, East Indian organized crime, [and] outlaw motorcycle 
gangs \147\'' are involved in the illegal transshipment of drugs across 
the Northern Border, and as noted, reports have indicated that Mexican 
cartel members are present in Canada, as well.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \146\ BARR, Luke. ``Drug seizures along Canadian border up 1,000%, 
CBP says''. ABC News (Sep. 16, 2020). Source: https://abcnews.go.com/
Politics/drug-seizures-canadian-border-1000-cbp/story?id=73049477.
    \147\ See LEJTENYI, Patrick. ``How the Hells Angels Conquered 
Canada''. Vice (Oct. 27, 2016) (``The Hells Angels' path to eventually 
dominating the Canadian crime scene was a bloody one, but also one that 
was carefully thought out and executed. The biker gang has maintained 
that dominance through a savvy combination of diplomacy, business 
sense, marketing, and bloodshed.''). Source: https://www.vice.com/en/
article/bn3vnq/how-the-hells-angels-conquered-canada.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    It is reasonable to conclude, if not likely, that such organized 
criminal groups are increasingly exploiting the broad expanse of the 
Northern Border and overworked Border Patrol agents and local and State 
police there to move drugs from one side of the U.S.-Canadian boundary 
to the other between the ports, not through those ports--where the 
likelihood of apprehension is much higher.
    CBP officers at the ports have several advantages compared to 
Border Patrol agents in the field, and thus are better able to identify 
and seize drug loads.\148\ For example, all traffic--cars, trucks, and 
pedestrians--must stop for inspection at the ports, while smugglers 
crossing the border illegally between ports of entry do so to avoid 
detection and apprehension by agents.\149\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \148\ ARTHUR, Andrew. ``Border Patrol Keeps Finding the Fentanyl 
that Supposedly Only Comes Through the Ports''. Center for Immigration 
Studies (Oct. 28, 2022). Source: https://cis.org/Arthur/Border-Patrol-
Keeps-Finding-Fentanyl-Supposedly-Only-Comes-Through-Ports.
    \149\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    CBP officers also have tools like X-ray machines that can 
unobtrusively examine entire vehicles and drug-sniffing dogs trained to 
``scent'' on contraband that are unavailable to most Border Patrol 
agents in the field.\150\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \150\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The increase in Border Patrol seizures of MDMA/ecstasy, marijuana, 
cocaine, and ``other'' drugs, coupled with the decline in the seizures 
of those drugs at the ports, suggests that organized and sophisticated 
drug traffickers, in fact, have shifted their smuggling operations at 
the Northern Border away from ports to the largely open expanses 
between those ports, with cocaine headed north to the Canadian market 
and other drugs flowing south into the U.S. market.
    Sophisticated human smuggling efforts across the Northern Border 
are also occurring, best exemplified by one particularly horrendous 
case that ended in tragedy.
    On January 19, 2022, Canadian authorities near the U.S. border in 
Emerson, Manitoba found the bodies of 4 Indian nationals: Jagdish 
Patel, aged 39; Vaishaliben Patel, his wife, aged 37; the Patels' 
daughter, Vihangi, aged 11-year-old; and their son, Dharmik, who was 3 
years old.\151\ They had frozen to death attempting to cross illegally 
into the United States.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \151\ HOBSON, Brittany. ``One year after death of Indian migrants 
at border, U.S. still sees illegal crossings''. National Post (Jan 19, 
2023). Source: https://nationalpost.com/news/one-year-after-death-of-
indian-migrants-at-border-u-s-still-sees-illegal-crossings.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The family had come from Dingucha, a village in the Indian State of 
Gujarat, and entered Canada at Toronto more than a week prior to their 
deaths, on visitor visas.\152\ From there, they traveled west, to 
Manitoba, arriving in the border town of Emerson sometime around 
January 18.\153\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \152\ HENDRICH, Holly and GAGDEKAR, Roxy. ``Family who died in 
freezing cold by US-Canada border identified''. BBC News (Jan. 28, 
2022). Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60162500.
    \153\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    They and other would-be migrants were dropped off near the border 
to begin the trek into the United States when they became separated 
from the rest. As the National Post reported:

``Investigators believe a human smuggling network was behind the 
family's journey to Canada from a village in the State of Gujarat in 
western India, as well as the border-crossing attempt.
`` . . . Border patrol agents stopped a van with a driver and two 
Indian nationals just south of the border . . . Agents later spotted 5 
others from India walking in the snow. They told officers that they had 
been walking for more than 11 hours in the cold and that 4 others had 
become separated from the group overnight.''\154\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \154\ HOBSON, Brittany. ``One year after death of Indian migrants 
at border, U.S. still sees illegal crossings''. National Post (Jan 19, 
2023). Source: https://nationalpost.com/news/one-year-after-death-of-
indian-migrants-at-border-u-s-still-sees-illegal-crossings.

    Border Patrol agents thereafter coordinated with officers from the 
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and RCMP officers found the 
bodies of the Patel family about 3 hours later.\155\ It was around 30 
degrees below zero in the area that night.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \155\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Steve Shand, a 47-year-old U.S. citizen from Florida, has been 
charged in Federal court in Minnesota with human smuggling in 
connection with the case,\156\ and an investigation into the incident 
is also on-going in India.\157\ As the Times of India reports: 
``Dingucha village has several agents who facilitate the illegal 
journey to the US.''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \156\ ``Press Release, Florida Man Arrested at U.S./Canada Border, 
Charged with Human Smuggling''. U.S. Attorney's Office, District of 
Minnesota (Jan. 20, 2022). Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/
florida-man-arrested-uscanada-border-charged-human-smuggling-0.
    \157\ CHAUHAN, Ashish. ``Another family member of Jagdish Patel 
from Gujurat under scanner''. Times of India (Feb. 27, 2023). Source: 
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/another-family-
member-of-jagdish-patel-under-scanner/articleshow/98261358.cms.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    A similar but more recent case involves Haitian national Fritznel 
Richard, who died of hypothermia south of Montreal in early January 
during an attempted illegal entry into the United States.\158\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \158\ STEVENSON, Verity. ``Fritznel Richard, who died near Roxham 
Road border crossing, made final phone call to his wife''. CBC News 
(Jan. 11, 2023). Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/
fritznel-richard-wife-phone-call-1.6708299.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Richard had originally left Haiti and traveled with his wife and 
son to Brazil, and then made a week-long perilous journey up through 
the infamous Darien Gap and, apparently, into the United States.\159\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \159\ STEVENSON, Verity. ``The life and death of Fritznel Richard: 
What happens after Roxham Road''. CBC News (Feb. 17, 2023). Source: 
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/the-life-of-fritznel-richard-
1.6750509.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    As CBC News reported: ``Richard had heard Canada was more welcoming 
for Haitians, that there were less chances of being deported to Haiti, 
that it would be easier to obtain residency as an asylum seeker than in 
the U.S.'', and so the family kept traveling north, settling in 
Montreal.\160\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \160\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Their Canadian work permits were delayed, and government aid did 
not provide sufficient sustenance for the family, and so Richard's wife 
and son returned to the United States in October with the assistance of 
a smuggler, ending up in Florida.\161\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \161\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Missing his family, and with his asylum case stalled, Richard hired 
the same smuggler a few months later ``to take him to the border near 
Roxham Road, the popular irregular crossing point between New York 
State and Quebec's Monteregie region south of Montreal, where he'', his 
wife, and son had ``first made their way into Canada''.\162\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \162\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Richard apparently attempted to reschedule the trip in the face of 
unusually inclement weather, but the smuggler refused. As his wife told 
CBC News: ``This is what this person does . . . It's a job for 
them.''\163\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \163\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The predatory nature of smugglers is a common refrain on both the 
Southwestern and Northern Borders, and world-wide. As Anthony Good, 
then-Border Patrol sector chief in Grand Forks, explained in February:

``You know, the smugglers do not care about their lives at all. You 
know, all they care about is the money. Somebody that might smuggle 
human beings who are also on their way back, might smuggle guns into 
Canada or smuggle drugs with these people in the United States . . . 
''.\164\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \164\ LAURITSEN, John. ``Illegal crossings increasing at U.S.-
Canada border despite dangerous, deadly conditions''. CBS News 
Minnesota (Feb. 16, 2023). Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/
news/illegal-crossings-increasing-at-u-s-canada-border/.

                     u.s.-canadian border relations
    The boundary between the United States and Canada is often 
described as the ``world's longest undefended border'',\165\ and with 
good reason, particularly as relates to immigration. As the Canadian 
government notes:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \165\ ``World's Longest Undefended Border''. Parli. The Dictionary 
of Canadian Politics (undated). Source: https://parli.ca/worlds-
longest-undefended-border/.

``It is estimated that around 400,000 people crossed the Canada-United 
States border every day (pre-pandemic) and that there are about 800,000 
Canadian citizens living in the United States. There are many Canadian 
First Nations residents and U.S. Native American Tribes whose culture 
spans the border.''\166\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \166\ ``Canada-United States relations''. Government of Canada 
(updated Mar. 22, 2023). Source: https://www.international.gc.ca/
country-pays/us-eu/relations.aspx?lang=eng.

    Under the U.S.-Canadian December 2011 bilateral ``Beyond the Border 
Plan'', the two countries share biographic and biometric information 
for visa applicants as well as ``no-fly'' lists, and engage in other 
mutually advantageous immigration-related endeavors.\167\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \167\ ``Beyond the Border U.S. Fact Sheet''. U.S. Dep't of Homeland 
Security (Jan. 2017). Source: https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/
publications/2017%201%2019%20BTB%20Fact%20- Sheet.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Most significantly, however, Canada is the only country with which 
the United States currently shares an agreement for dealing with would-
be asylum applicants. That ``Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country 
Agreement''\168\ has been in effect since late December 2004.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \168\ ``Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement''. Government of 
Canada (modified Dec. 8, 2022). Source: https://www.canada.ca/en/
immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/mandate/policies-
operational-instructions-agreements/agreements/safe-third-country-
agreement.html.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Pursuant to that agreement, aliens present in the United States or 
Canada must first apply for asylum in that country.\169\ U.S. nationals 
can still seek asylum in Canada, of course, and vice-versa.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \169\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Notably, though, as the Congressional Research Service \170\ 
explains, the agreement applies only to aliens ``who present themselves 
at ports of entry on the U.S.-Canada land border and to aliens in 
transit during removal from the U.S. or Canada'' and does not apply to 
illegal entrants to either country. That was the rule up until 
recently, as least, as I will explain below.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \170\ ``Safe Third Country Agreements with Northern Triangle 
Countries: Background and Legal Issues'', at p.2. Congressional 
Resource Service (Jan. 30, 2020). Source: https://
crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/LSB/LSB10402.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    One other notable exception applies to aliens with family ties in 
either the United States or Canada.\171\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \171\ Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement''. Government of 
Canada (modified Dec. 8, 2022). Source: https://www.canada.ca/en/
immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/mandate/policies-
operational-instructions-agreements/agreements/safe-third-country-
agreement.html.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    If an asylum applicant at a U.S. port of entry who hasn't applied 
for protection in Canada has a spouse, son, daughter, parent, legal 
guardian, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, aunt, uncle, niece, or 
nephew in the United States with asylee, refugee, or other legal 
status, or who is applying for asylum, that alien can seek an exception 
under the agreement here.\172\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \172\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The third-country agreement traditionally has favored Canada, which 
has rather stringent immigration laws (but eagerly accepts immigrants 
who follow its rules) and natural advantages over the United States in 
enforcing those laws. Or, as the Council on Foreign Relations puts it:

``Canada's geography--bordered by three oceans and the United States, 
which is itself a magnet for immigrants--has helped Ottawa limit flows 
of undocumented people. Its highly regulated immigration system, 
including some of the world's strictest visitor-visa requirements, is 
designed to further curb this phenomenon.''\173\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \173\ CHEATHAM, Amelia and ROY, Diana. ``What Is Canada's 
Immigration Policy?''. Council on Foreign Relations (updated Mar. 7, 
2023). Source: https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-canadas-
immigration-policy#chapter-title-0-10.

    The exception to the third-country agreement for aliens entering 
Canada illegally has, however, placed strains on the Canadian Federal 
Government, which of late has seen a surge in asylum claimants since 
the U.S. Southwest Border crisis began.
    One flashpoint has been the Roxham Road crossing, about 30 miles 
south of Montreal, that Richard was attempting to reach when he died in 
January.\174\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \174\ MAJOR, Darren. ``Roxham: The little country road that became 
a big political headache for the Trudeau government''. CBC News (Feb. 
25, 2023). Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/roxham-road-
explainer-1.6756753.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    CBC News describes Roxham road as ``a well-travelled unofficial 
border crossing for asylum seekers hoping to enter Canada'', 
explaining:

``Quebec Premier Francois Legault recently wrote a letter to Prime 
Minister Justin Trudeau asking him to close Roxham Road to asylum-
seekers. Thousands of them have crossed into Canada from the United 
States at Roxham in recent years.
``Legault claimed that the influx of people waiting to have their 
claims heard has put heavy pressure on the province's public services. 
In a similar letter published Tuesday in the Globe and Mail, Legault 
asked other provinces to help.
    Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre also has called on Trudeau to 
close Roxham Road. Trudeau himself said Wednesday the government is 
working on shutting down the irregular border crossing. But it's not at 
all clear how Ottawa could do that.
    Almost 40,000 people used the ``unofficial'' Roxham Road border 
crossing to enter Canada last year.\175\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \175\ Cecco, Leyland. ``Trudeau-Biden talks to tackle asylum 
seekers surge at migration hotspot''. The Guardian (Mar. 22, 2023). 
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/22/canada-asylum-
seekers-biden-talks-immigration.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The Trudeau government appears to be on the verge of ``shutting 
down the irregular border crossings'' at Roxham Road and elsewhere, 
however, to its advantage and the likely detriment of the United 
States.
    On March 23,\176\ the New York Times reported that the two 
countries had reached a deal, in advance of President Biden's first 
visit to Ottawa, amending the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement 
to apply to migrants entering either country from the other illegally 
as well as legally.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \176\ SHEAR, Michael D. and AUSTEN, Ian. ``U.S. and Canada Reach an 
Agreement on Turning Away Asylum Seekers'' (Mar. 23, 2023). Source: 
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/23/us/politics/us-canada-asylum-
seekers.html?campaign_id=190&emc=edit_ufn_20230323&instance- 
_id=88494&nl=from-the-
times&regi_id=80398174&segment_id=128590&te=1&user- 
_id=605a5facbf0fe857251b64502c28f590.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    As the Council on Foreign Relations explained, it is extremely 
difficult for migrants to enter Canada illegally from any other country 
other than the United States, and thus all the benefits in this 
agreement will flow to the Canadian side of the border. While irregular 
crossings to Canada had provided some small measure of relief to the 
overwhelmed U.S. asylum system, that relief is now, assuming the Times' 
reporting is correct, gone.
    To give you an idea how effectively its geographic advantages have 
protected Canada from illegal entrants to this point, or how different 
illegal immigration has been as a problem in that nation compared to in 
the United States, consider the following, from The Guardian this 
month:

`` `Asylum seekers on our borders is not something that Canada 
typically deals with,' said Abdulla Daoud, executive director of the 
Refugee Centre in Montreal. `This is in many ways a new issue. And 
while there's been an uptick, there's no denying that, we've seen that 
Canada's immigration infrastructure can handle an increase in 
population--but the asylum system wasn't ever built to accommodate this 
sort of issue.' ''\177\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \177\ Cecco, Leyland. ``Trudeau-Biden talks to tackle asylum 
seekers surge at migration hotspot''. The Guardian (Mar. 22, 2023). 
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/22/canada-asylum-
seekers-biden-talks-immigration.

    With that in mind, and to demonstrate how overwhelmed the U.S. 
asylum system is compared to the asylum system in Canada, as of the end 
of December 2022, the Canadian government had a backlog of 70,223 
pending asylum claims.\178\ By comparison, there were nearly 1.566 
million asylum claims pending in the United States at that time \179\--
22 times as many claims in a country with roughly 8.65 times the 
population.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \178\ ``Claims by Country of Alleged Persecution--2022''. 
Immigration and Refugee Board Canada (modified Mar. 1, 2023). Source: 
https://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/statistics/protection/Pages/
RPDStat2022.aspx.
    \179\ ``A Sober Assessment of the Growing U.S. Asylum Backlog''. 
TRAC Immigration (Dec. 22, 2022). Source: https://trac.syr.edu/reports/
705/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In his deal with Biden, Trudeau has, apparently, also ``agreed to 
provide a new, legal refugee program for 15,000 migrants who are 
fleeing violence, persecution, and economic devastation in South and 
Central America'', which the Times asserts will ``lessen[] the pressure 
of illegal crossings into the United States from Mexico''.\180\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \180\ SHEAR, Michael D. and AUSTEN, Ian. ``U.S. and Canada Reach an 
Agreement on Turning Away Asylum Seekers'' (Mar. 23, 2023). Source: 
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/23/us/politics/us-canada-asylum-
seekers.html?campaign_id=190&emc=edit_ufn_20230323&instance- 
_id=88494&nl=from-the-
times&regi_id=80398174&segment_id=128590&te=1&user- 
_id=605a5facbf0fe857251b64502c28f590.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    There are a lot of ``unknowns'' involved (including whether those 
15,000 migrants would have otherwise illegally entered the United 
States) but given that more than 30,000 migrants from the Central 
American countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua 
were apprehended crossing the Southwest Border illegally in the month 
of February \181\ alone, this concession won't do much to ``lessen the 
pressure'' on U.S. borders.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \181\ ``Nationwide Encounters''. U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
(modified Mar. 10, 2023). Source: https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/
nationwide-encounters.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                          cross-border threats
    The most significant known threat posed by the dearth of law-
enforcement resources and staffing at the Northern Border is the flow 
of illicit drugs into the United States, in much the same way that 
illegal drug, gun, and migrant smuggling poses a threat to Canada.
    The much bigger problem is ``unknown'' threats, which cannot be 
anticipated and addressed, such as national security threats posed by 
terrorists and other hostile actors. Both countries have experienced 
such national security threats from third-country aliens entering from 
the other in the not-so-distant past.
Ahmed Ressam
    The most notable such threat was posed by Ahmed Ressam, a 32-year-
old Algerian national who was apprehended by U.S. Customs officers 
entering the United States at Port Angeles, Wash., in December 
1999.\182\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \182\ ``Millennium Plot/Ahmed Ressam''. U.S. Federal Bureau of 
Investigation (undated). Source: https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-
cases/millennium-plot-ahmed-ressam.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    As the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) later explained, an 
ensuing search of Ressam's car ``revealed more than 100 pounds of white 
powder--later determined to be urea sulfate--as well as approximately 8 
ounces of a highly volatile nitroglycerine mixture and fusing systems 
components'', which he intended to use to bomb Los Angeles 
International Airport (LAX) on the millennium, Dec. 31, 1999.\183\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \183\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Ressam had initially traveled from France to Montreal in February 
1994, using a photo-substituted French passport.\184\ He was stopped at 
the airport and requested asylum, claiming that he had been tortured by 
Algerian authorities who had wrongly accused him of terrorist 
activities.\185\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \184\ ``Ahmed Ressam's Millennium Plot''. Frontline (undated). 
Source: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/trail/inside/
cron.html.
    \185\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Canadian authorities released him pending a hearing on his claim, 
and he lived for 4 years in Montreal. The apartment building where 
Ressam took up residence there was ``later identified by Canadian and 
international police as the Montreal headquarters of a terrorist cell 
connected to the Osama bin Laden network, and, more specifically, to an 
Algerian terrorist organization called the Armed Islamic Group, or 
GIA.''\186\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \186\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Ressam missed a scheduled June 1995 hearing on his asylum claim, 
and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was not deported, however, 
and at some point, used a falsified baptismal certificate to obtain a 
Canadian passport in the name of ``Benni Antoine Noris''.\187\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \187\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    On March 17, 1998, Ressam left Canada and traveled to Peshawar, 
Pakistan, then onward that April to Afghanistan, where he received 
terrorist training at ``camps funded and administered by Osama bin 
Laden''.\188\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \188\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    While in Afghanistan, Ressam claimed, he began his planning for an 
attack on the United States based out of Canada.\189\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \189\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Ressam thereafter left Afghanistan and returned to Canada, flying 
from Pakistan through LAX, and landing in Vancouver, where he presented 
his fraudulent Canadian passport on February 7, 1999, and was 
admitted.\190\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \190\ BERNTON, Hal, CARTER, Mike, HEATH, David, and NEFF, James. `` 
`A Bunch of Guys' ''. Seattle Times (June 23-July 7, 2002). Source: 
http://special.seattletimes.com/o/news/nation-world/terroristwithin/
chapter9.html.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    As the Seattle Times asserted in the summer of 2002: ``The ease 
with which Ressam re-entered Canada after attending terror-training 
camp illustrates why U.S. counterterrorism officials sometimes deride 
their neighbor to the north as `the aircraft carrier'--meaning 
terrorists can land and take off from there with impunity.''\191\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \191\ Id. Note that the Canadian government has improved its 
national-security apparatus and information-sharing protocols in the 
interim, and in particular since the September 11 attacks. See fn. 167.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Ressam went back to Montreal in April 1999, but returned to 
Vancouver on November 17, 1999, where he rented a car and checked into 
a local motel. In was in this motel room where he and an accomplice, 
Abdelmajid Dahoumane, (a friend from Montreal), assembled the 
bomb.\192\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \192\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Dahoumane returned to Montreal, and on December 14, 1999, Ressam 
boarded the ferry MV Coho \193\ in Victoria, B.C. on his way to Port 
Angeles, with the explosives in the spare tire compartment of the 
rental car.\194\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \193\ Bell, Jeff. ``Victoria focus of 1999 terrorist plot involving 
al-Qaeda-trained Ahmed Ressam''. Times Colonist (Jul 2, 2013). Source: 
https://www.timescolonist.com/local-news/victoria-focus-of-1999-
terrorist-plot-involving-al-qaeda-trained-ahmed-ressam-4596668.
    \194\ BERNTON, Hal, CARTER, Mike, HEATH, David, and NEFF, James. `` 
`A Bunch of Guys' ''. Seattle Times (June 23-July 7, 2002). Source: 
http://special.seattletimes.com/o/news/nation-world/terroristwithin/
chapter12.html.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    After landing at Port Angeles, he presented the fraudulently-
obtained Canadian passport in the name of Benni Noris to the U.S. 
Customs inspector. The inspector found him to be ``fidgeting, jittery, 
sweating'', and she commenced a search, during which the explosives 
were found and Ressam arrested.\195\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \195\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In April 2001, Ressam was convicted on nine counts in connection 
with the attempted bombing of LAX and was re-sentenced (for the third 
time) to 37 years in prison in October 2012.\196\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \196\ Millennium Plot/Ahmed Ressam''. U.S. Federal Bureau of 
Investigation (undated). Source: https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-
cases/millennium-plot-ahmed-ressam.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gazi Ibrahim Abu Mezer
    Another would-be terrorist who entered the United States from 
Canada was Gazi Ibrahim Abu Mezer, born in 1973 in the Israeli West 
Bank town of Hebron.\197\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \197\ ``Bombs in Brooklyn: How the Two Illegal Aliens Arrested for 
Plotting to Bomb the New York Subway Entered and Remained in the United 
States''. U.S. Dep't of Justice, Office of the Inspector General (Mar. 
1998). Source: https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/archive/
special/9803/index.htm.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In May 1993, Mezer applied for a Canadian T-1 student visa, and 
after receiving an Israeli passport (showing Jordanian nationality), 
was issued the visa. On September 14, 1993, Mezer entered Canada.\198\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \198\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    He almost immediately applied for a nonimmigrant visa from the U.S. 
consulate (which was denied), later filing for asylum in Canada in 
November 1993.\199\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \199\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Mezer thereafter was apprehended twice by agents from the Border 
Patrol's Blaine Sector attempting to enter the United States illegally 
in June 1996;\200\ on each occasion he was allowed to return to Canada 
voluntarily.\201\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \200\ Id.
    \201\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Following a third illegal entry and apprehension miles south of the 
border in Blaine Sector in January 1997, Mezer was taken into custody, 
largely because of his prior two apprehensions and because he was 
suspected by agents of being an alien smuggler.
    At the end of his first deportation proceeding, Mezer was ordered 
deported to Canada, but after Canada refused to take him back his case 
was reopened, and he was allowed to apply for asylum. Mezer was 
released on a $5,000 bond in February 1997, and traveled to New 
York.\202\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \202\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In its report, ``Terrorism in the United States 1997'',\203\ the 
FBI explained what happened thereafter:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \203\ ``Terrorism in the United States 1997'', at p. 5. U.S. Dep't 
of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (1997). Source: https://
www.fbi.gov/file-repository/stats-services-publications-terror_97.pdf.

``On July 31, 1997, a cooperating witness informed the New York City 
Police Department (NYPD) that a recent Palestinian immigrant to the 
United States was planning to rig a bomb to a trip wire on the `B-line' 
of the subway. The NYPD conducted a raid on an apartment in Brooklyn, 
New York. Two improvised explosive devices consisting of five pipe 
bombs were recovered by the NYPD bomb squad.
``Upon entering the apartment, NYPD officers confronted two subjects: 
Gazi Ibrahim Abu Mezer and Lafi Khalil. Both men were shot by the 
officers as they tried to reach switches on the pipe bombs; they were 
subsequently taken to an area hospital.''

    In 1999, Mezer was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the 
bombing plot.\204\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \204\ TRAN, Mark. ``Brooklyn judge jails Palestinian for life for 
plot to bomb subway''. The Guardian (Mar. 2, 1999). Source: https://
www.theguardian.com/world/1999/mar/03/marktran.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Abdulahi Hasan Sharif
    Not all third-country aliens posing a national security threat are 
on the U.S. side of the Northern Border.
    Abdulahi Hasan Sharif, a Somali national, was born in 1997 in 
Mogadishu.\205\ He left Somalia in approximately 2008, making his way 
through Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Namibia, and Angola, before eventually 
joining a group of migrants headed to Brazil.\206\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \205\ WAKEFIELD, Jonny. ``Everything we know about the man charged 
in Edmonton's truck attack from the woman who knows him best''. 
Edmonton Journal (Sep. 28, 2018). Source:  https://edmontonjournal.com/
news/crime/who-is-abdulahi-hasan-sharif-one-year-later-everything-we-
know-about-the-alleged-edmonton-attacker.
    \206\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    From there, he headed to Mexico, arriving on foot at the San Ysidro 
(Calif.) port of entry in July 2011.\207\ He had no entry documents, 
and was handed over thereafter to ICE, which detained him at the Otay 
Mesa Detention Center in San Diego.\208\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \207\ Id.
    \208\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    On September 22, 2011, Sharif was ordered removed to Somalia, and 
he waived his right to appeal.\209\ ICE was unable to remove him to 
Somalia, however, and so he was released on an order of supervision and 
directed to appear at ICE's San Diego office in January 2012.\210\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \209\ Id.
    \210\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Sharif never showed up, having made his way to Buffalo, N.Y. and 
crossing into Canada at the Fort Erie, Ontario port of entry in early 
January 2012.\211\ He applied for, and was granted, asylum by the 
Canadian government thereafter.\212\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \211\ Id.
    \212\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    After spending approximately 1 year in Ontario, Sharif moved to 
Edmonton, Alberta, where he worked as a laborer.\213\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \213\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    He first came to the attention of the RCMP there in 2015, when 
officers investigated him for ``espousing extremist ideologies'', an 
investigation that was dropped for lack of evidence.\214\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \214\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In September 2017, Sharif struck Constable Mike Chernyk--who had 
been directing traffic outside an Edmonton Eskimos football game--with 
a car, and then stabbed him several times in the head.\215\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \215\ DERWORIZ, Colette. ``Abdulahi Sharif sentenced to 28 years 
for trying to kill Edmonton police officer, pedestrians''. Global News 
(Dec. 13, 2019). Source: https://globalnews.ca/news/6295290/sharif-
sentenced-edmonton-vehicle-uhaul-police-officer-attack/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Sharif ran away, and a few hours later was driving a U-Haul van 
when he was pulled over at a police checkpoint. He sped off and 
thereafter ran down 4 pedestrians. After he was arrested, an ISIS flag 
was found in his car.\216\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \216\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In December 2019, Sharif was sentenced to 28 years--18 years for 
stabbing Constable Chernyk, and 10 years for running down the 
pedestrians.\217\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \217\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                               deterrence
    Whether you realize it or not, the reason that there is a 
burgeoning crisis at the Northern Border is simple: Joe Biden is the 
first President in history to reject the deterrence of illegal migrants 
as a border policy.
    Nowhere was this clearer than in an exchange between DHS Secretary 
Alejandro Mayorkas and host Bret Baier on the May 1, 2022, edition of 
Fox News Sunday.\218\ Baier asked Mayorkas: ``Is it the objective of 
the Biden administration to reduce, sharply reduce, the total number of 
illegal immigrants coming across the Southern Border? Is that the 
objective?''\219\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \218\ FOX NEWS SUNDAY (2022). ``Sec. Mayorkas: `I'm looking forward 
to testifying before the US Senate'.'' Fox News (May 1, 2022). Source: 
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6305481541112.
    \219\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    To which Mayorkas replied: ``It is the objective of the Biden 
administration to make sure that we have safe, legal, and legal 
pathways to individuals to be able to access our legal system.''\220\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \220\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    By ``pathways . . . to access our legal system'', Mayorkas means to 
``apply for asylum'', and in fact the Biden administration has treated 
all illegal entrants as ``asylum seekers'', regardless of the strength 
of their claims or even whether they come seeking asylum at all.\221\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \221\ Arthur, Andrew (2022). ``Biden's Plan to Enable Everyone in 
the World to Apply for Asylum in the U.S.'' Center for Immigration 
Studies, 11 May 2022. Source: https://cis.org/Arthur/Bidens-Plan-
Enable-Everyone-World-Apply-Asylum-US.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In line with the administration's shift from reducing the total 
number illegal immigrants coming across the border to providing all 
migrants with ``safe, legal, and legal pathways . . . to access our 
legal system'', the President has largely abandoned the primary tools 
Congress has given the Executive branch to deter illegal entrants--
detention and prosecution.
    Illegal entry is both a civil violation (subjecting the offender to 
removal) and a criminal offense, punishable as a misdemeanor carrying a 
sentence of up to 6 months and a fine for the first offense and a 
felony subject to up to 2 years' imprisonment and a fine for subsequent 
offenses under section 275 of the INA.\222\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \222\ Section 275 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (2023). 
Source:https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-
title8-section1325#=0&edition=- 
prelim#:?:text=Any%20individual%20who%20knowingly%20establishes,%2C%20%C
2%A7275%- 2C%2066%20Stat.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Criminal prosecutions under this provision peaked in 2018 and 2019 
under the Trump administration and then plummeted with the onset of the 
COVID-19 pandemic, which limited available detention space.\223\ Even 
as illegal entries surged under the Biden administration and pandemic-
related restrictions on detention have eased, however, the number of 
prosecutions for improper entry have remained low.\224\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \223\ ``Major Swings in Immigration Criminal Prosecutions during 
Trump Administration.'' TRAC Immigration, 18 Dec. 2020. Source: https:/
/trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/633/.
    \224\ ``Criminal Immigration Referrals Up from the Border Patrol.'' 
TRAC Immigration, 7 Jul. 2022. Source: https://trac.syr.edu/
immigration/reports/688/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The same is true of the number of illegal migrants who have been 
detained under the Biden administration.
    Since President Biden took office, Border Patrol at the Southwest 
Border has set new yearly records for migrant apprehensions, first in 
fiscal year 2021, as agents apprehended nearly 1.6 million illegal 
migrants,\225\ and again in fiscal year 2022, as apprehensions exceeded 
2.2 million.\226\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \225\ ARTHUR, Andrew (2021). ``All-Time Record for Southwest Border 
Apprehensions in FY2021.'' Center for Immigration Studies, 22 OCT. 
2021. Source: https://cis.org/Arthur/AllTime-Record-Southwest-Border-
Apprehensions-FY-2021.
    \226\ ARTHUR, Andrew (2022). ``Late Night CBP `News Dump' Reveals 
the Border's in Freefall.'' Center for Immigration Studies, 24 OCT. 
2022. Source: https://cis.org/Arthur/Late-Night-CBP-News-Dump-Reveals-
Borders-Freefall.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Despite that historically unprecedented surge in illegal migrants, 
however, President Biden asked Congress to cut the number of daily beds 
DHS has available for immigration detainees, to 25,000 from 34,000, in 
his fiscal year 2023 budget request.\227\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \227\ SULLIVAN, Eileen (2022). ``Biden to Ask Congress for 9,000 
Fewer Immigration Detention Beds.'' New York Times, 25 Mar. 2022. 
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/25/us/politics/biden-
immigration-detention-beds.html.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Instead of detaining those illegal migrants--as, again, Congress 
has mandated--Biden has released an estimated 1.8 million of them into 
the United States since taking office.\228\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \228\ ARTHUR, Andrew (2023). ``The `Unknown Unknowns' of Biden's 
Latest Border Plan.'' Center for Immigration Studies, 27 Jan. 2023. 
Source: https://cis.org/Arthur/Unknown-Unknowns-Bidens-Latest-Border-
Plan.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In his opinion in Florida,\229\ Judge Wetherell concluded that the 
Biden migrant release policies have encouraged even greater numbers of 
migrants to enter the United States illegally. More saliently, as he 
also found in his March 8 order,
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \229\ See fn. 41.

``Collectively, [the Biden administration's migrant release policies] 
were akin to posting a flashing `Come In, We're Open' sign on the 
Southern Border. The unprecedented `surge' of aliens that started 
arriving at the Southwest Border almost immediately after President 
Biden took office and that has continued unabated over the past 2 years 
was a predictable consequence of these actions. Indeed, [U.S. Border 
Patrol] Chief [Raul L.] Ortiz credibly testified based on his 
experience that there have been increases in migration `when there are 
no consequences' and migrant populations believe they will be released 
into the country. [Footnote omitted].''\230\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \230\ Florida v. U.S., __F. Supp. 3d__, No. 3:21-cv-1066-TKW-ZCB, 
slip op. at pp. 18-19 (N.D. Fla. Mar. 8, 2023). Source: http://
myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/GPEY-CPQPAB/$file/final+order.pdf.

    Consequently, Border Patrol agents at the Southwest Border are 
increasingly too overwhelmed apprehending, transporting, processing, 
caring for, and--all too often--releasing illegal migrants at the 
Southwest Border to perform their other duties, such as keeping 
terrorists and drugs out of the United States.
    That has prompted Border Patrol to reassign hundreds of agents from 
the Northern Border to assist their colleagues at the Southwest Border, 
leaving the Northern Border increasingly understaffed and undefended.
    Local and State police in the Northern Border States cannot be 
expected to pick up the slack. They, too, are understaffed, but more 
importantly, most lack the skills that Border Patrol agents rely upon 
daily.
    That enforcement void at the Northern Border has been exploited by 
opportunistic criminals--drug and human smugglers. They care little 
about the lives and well-being of those aliens they are transporting, 
or the thousands of Americans and Canadians whose lives they adversely 
impact with their drugs, or firearms crimes in Canada. They are 
strictly in it for the money.
    Moreover, a significant number of the illegal migrants released 
into the United States at the Southwest Border have been drawn by the 
more generous benefits available under the Canadian asylum system to 
enter that country illegally, which has created a crisis for the 
Federal and provincial governments on the other side of the Northern 
Border.
    The Trudeau administration appears to have resolved that issue 
through agreement with the Biden administration--to its advantage and 
to the detriment of the migrants seeking to go to Canada as well as 
U.S. interests.
    In amending the safe third country agreement to allow Canada to 
return illegal asylum-seeking illegal migrants, the Biden 
administration has essentially admitted that it created a hazard at the 
Northern Border for Canada, which it now expects the American people to 
clean up and deal with.
    This crisis at the Southwestern and Northern Borders will continue 
until the Biden administration follows the example set by all prior 
administrations and begins deterring migrants from entering the United 
States illegally--which means detaining them, as, again, the law 
already requires.\231\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \231\ ARTHUR, Andrew. ``DHS Can't Just Release Illegal Migrants at 
the Border''. Center for Immigration Studies (Oct. 22, 2021). Source: 
https://cis.org/Arthur/DHS-Cant-Just-Release-Illegal-Migrants-Border. 
See also Florida v. U.S., __F. Supp. 3d__, No. 3:21-cv-1066-TKW-ZCB, 
slip op. at p. 75 (N.D. Fla. Mar. 8, 2023) (``Notwithstanding the plain 
text of [section 235(b) of the INA] and the Supreme Court's holding in 
[Jennings v. Rodriguez, 583 U.S.__(2018) https://www.supremecourt.gov/
opinions/17pdf/15-1204_f29g.pdf.], DHS argues that detention of 
applicants for admission is discretionary. In DHS's view, [section 
235(b) of the INA's] mandatory language flows in only one direction--
the statute prevents aliens from obtaining release, but it does not 
create obligations for DHS. In other words, DHS interprets the 
``shall'' language in [section 235(b) of the INA] to limit the rights 
of aliens but not to limit its discretion. The Court rejects DHS's 
argument and concludes that [section 235(b) of the INA's] `shall be 
detained' means what it says and that is a mandatory requirement.''). 
Source: http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/GPEY-CPQPAB/$file/
final+order.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    As Judge Wetherell held after considering all the evidence in 
Florida: ``There is nothing inherently inhumane or cruel about 
detaining aliens pending completion of their immigration proceedings. 
The CBP and ICE witnesses admitted as much in their testimony and there 
is no contrary evidence in the record.''\232\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \232\ Florida v. U.S., __F. Supp. 3d__, No. 3:21-cv-1066-TKW-ZCB, 
slip op. at p. 8 (N.D. Fla. Mar. 8, 2023). Source: http://
myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/GPEY-CPQPAB/$file/final+order.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                               conclusion
    In its final report, the 9/11 Commission noted, ruefully:

``In the decade before September 11, 2001, border security--
encompassing travel, entry, and immigration--was not seen as a national 
security matter. Public figures voiced concern about the `war on 
drugs,' the right level and kind of immigration, problems along the 
Southwest Border, migration crises originating in the Caribbean and 
elsewhere, or the growing criminal traffic in humans. The immigration 
system as a whole was widely viewed as increasingly dysfunctional and 
badly in need of reform. In national security circles, however, only 
smuggling of weapons of mass destruction carried weight, not the entry 
of terrorists who might use such weapons or the presence of associated 
foreign-born terrorists.''\233\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \233\ ``The 9/11 Commission Report'', at pp. 383-84. Nat'l Comm. on 
Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (Aug. 21, 2004). Source: 
https://9-11commission.gov/report/.

    That lesson has ostensibly been lost on this administration. In my 
more than three decades of involvement in immigration and border 
security--both before and after September 11--our borders have never 
been less secure.
    Again, thank you for the invitation to appear today, and I look 
forward to your questions.

    Chairman Bishop. Thank you, Mr. Arthur, for connecting us 
all together there too. Members will be recognized in order of 
seniority for their 5 minutes of questioning. An additional 
round of questioning may be called after all Members have been 
recognized. I now recognize myself for 5 minutes of 
questioning.
    Mr. Judd, we know that the Biden border crisis has forced 
Border Patrol agents to detail and retask agents from the 
Northern Border to the Southern Border to deal with the massive 
influx of people there. You have stated recently that agents on 
the Northern Border were asked to deploy to Florida to deal 
with the surge of illegal migrants there as well. Your 
testimony also referenced a mere 450 agents on duty at any one 
time to cover this 5,500 miles of land and water border with 
Canada. Can you describe the impact of the administration's 
robbing Peter to pay Paul approach to border security and then 
what that has done to the jobs and circumstances at the north?
    Mr. Judd. Certainly. When you currently look at the 
staffing levels right now, not only are we not deploying as 
many agents to the field as what we have in the past, we also 
have a staffing model that is just completely and totally 
antiquated. When you look at we have 1--I'm sorry--1 supervisor 
to every 2 agents, that's just not something that we can 
actually deploy agents to the field to actually do the job. 
Then on top of that, when you pull more agents out of the 
field, what it does is it requires agents to patrol an area 
that is just not patrolable with just 1 single agent. Again, 
you cannot control an area if you are deploying an agent to 
patrol for every 30 miles, that agent is responsible for 30 
miles. It's impossible to do that. It's impossible to detect. 
It's impossible to quantify how many people are crossing when 
you do that.
    Chairman Bishop. So, I fully agree that we need to not rob 
resources from a particular place in the border to go 
elsewhere. But then the Ranking Member's opening statement 
suggested that the issue is Republicans won't support enough 
resources. But it seems to me that is, in general, with respect 
to the open borders policy the Biden administration has 
pursued, the way they have converted everything into processing 
people into the country faster, if we apply more resources, in 
general, we are just going to process people into the country 
faster, and it is not going to secure the border or make it 
more orderly. What do you say about that?
    Mr. Judd. No, that's absolutely correct. When you look at 
what he's proposed, 300 new agents, that's a drop in the 
bucket, especially when we're losing agents at a 6.8 percent 
attrition rate right now. Again, it's just absolutely 
unsustainable. We cannot send agents from the Northern Border 
to the Southwest Border and expect to keep control of the 
Northern Border.
    Chairman Bishop. Thank you, Mr. Judd. Mr. Arthur, you made 
reference to what you referred to as visa-free travel for 
Mexican nationals. What was interesting to me to learn is, 
notwithstanding the flood that we have across the Southwest 
Border, about which we have done lots of hearings and heard 
lots of information, that the largest group of folks who are 
encountered at the Northern Border now are Mexican nationals. 
You talked about all the different countries. You said visa-
free travel. Explain that a bit. How does that work? Why are 
people from Mexico entering through the Northern Border from 
Canada?
    Mr. Arthur. Yes, so, we actually have visa-free travel into 
the United States from a number of countries all around the 
world. As most of you know, if you travel on a U.S. passport, 
you generally don't need to get a visa to go to most countries. 
Back in 2016, Mexico and the Trudeau government reached an 
agreement that would allow Mexicans to enter Canada without 
first obtaining a visa to go to that country. Looking at these 
numbers, looking at the trends, it would appear that a number 
of those individuals are exploiting--a number of Mexican 
nationals are exploiting that loophole. I think 89.7 percent of 
all Mexican nationals were expelled under Title 42 at the 
Southwest Border. At the Northern Border, it was about 8.25 
percent. So, the odds are a lot better getting into the United 
States if you come over that way, even if you get caught.
    Chairman Bishop. So, presumably they get on a plane in 
Mexico, fly to maybe Montreal, and then come across the border. 
Is that right?
    Mr. Arthur. Yes. In fact, in my written testimony, I note 
the fact that there are three nonstop flights to Montreal every 
day, YUL, from Mexico City----
    Chairman Bishop. You know, recently, in that case decided 
in the Florida United States District Court, Judge Wetherill 
said that Biden administration migrant release policies were, 
``akin to posting a flashing come in, we are open sign on the 
Southern Border.'' Is the same effect being had on the Northern 
Border?
    Mr. Arthur. Well, it's interesting because at the Northern 
Border, we don't know what the release numbers are up there. 
CBP only quantifies them. But given how broad the border is, 
given how few agents that we have, the opportunities to enter 
illegally and not be caught are much higher. I'd love to know 
what the got-away numbers are at the Northern Border. They're 
not published.
    Chairman Bishop. One of the interesting figures in the 
staff's memo was this fact that so far in fiscal year 2023, the 
Office of Field Operations operates ports of entry, has 
encountered 176 individuals in the Terrorist Screening Dataset 
at the Northern Border. How about that? That seems to me to be 
I mean, that is even more than encountered on the Southern 
Border. I understand that sort of a repeating circumstance, but 
that seems you don't need that many terrorists to enter the 
country to cause spectacular harm.
    Mr. Arthur. No, and in fact, in my written testimony, I 
talk about one such foreign national who entered the United 
States, Ahmed Ressam, his plan was to blow up Los Angeles 
International Airport in the millennium. He was apprehended 
December 14, 1999. But yes, it is interesting because a great 
deal of attention has been paid to people on the Terrorist 
Watch List being apprehended at the Southwest Border. When you 
look at those Northern Border port numbers, they're sky-high. 
That is definitely a source of concern.
    Again, Canada and the United States, good partners. Canada 
does a very good job, certainly today, defending itself and 
defending the United States from terrorist incursion. We can't 
make it any easier for terrorists to get into this country.
    Chairman Bishop. Thank you, Mr. Arthur. I now recognize the 
Ranking Member, Mr. Ivey, for 5 minutes of questions.
    Mr. Ivey. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Judd, let me start 
with you. I believe on page 3 of your testimony, you talk about 
the need for recruitment and retention of agents and the 
challenge of lacking pay parity. Would it make sense for 
additional funds to be made available to you and your agents so 
that you can recruit and retain more agents so they can do the 
work at the border?
    Mr. Judd. It's vitally important.
    Mr. Ivey. All right. Then with respect to the funding, you 
mentioned in the paragraph just above that, that there was an 
increase of 2,700. I guess this is a proposal that will require 
two challenges. One, is to have and recruit more agents. But 
that entails having additional funding to recruit them, right?
    Mr. Judd. It does, yes.
    Mr. Ivey. Yes, in fact, right now, there is a national 
competition for agents, police officers, and the like. There 
are shortages everywhere across the country. So, there is 
competition based in part on increasing salaries and then 
sometimes offering bonuses for people to sign up so we can 
attract them. Isn't that correct?
    Mr. Judd. Yes, sir.
    Mr. Ivey. All right, so having additional funding for 
recruiting and retaining officers would be important?
    Mr. Judd. It would. In fact, I submitted that to DHS, and I 
heard nothing back from DHS. What we saw wasn't anything what 
we were hoping for in any budget request from this 
administration.
    Mr. Ivey. All right, you mean the new budget?
    Mr. Judd. Yes.
    Mr. Ivey. OK. So, additional funding on top of that would 
be important and useful.
    Mr. Judd. Absolutely.
    Mr. Ivey. All right. So, you would ask Congress to provide 
additional funding, potentially to help address that need?
    Mr. Judd. Absolutely.
    Mr. Ivey. All right. Then let me ask Mr. Stauber, actually, 
I guess I can ask both of you. I'm sorry, Mr. Judd and Mr. 
Quinn, you both testified about the length of the border. I 
guess, Mr. Judd, you talked about it more. Mr. Quinn, you 
mentioned that you have a shorter border with Canada from New 
Hampshire. But with respect to you, Mr. Judd, you mentioned 
that what is it, 5,500-plus miles of border?
    Mr. Judd. Yes, sir.
    Mr. Ivey. All right. Then while you were working on the 
border, I think you said you had to cover, was it 275 miles of 
border by yourself?
    Mr. Judd. No, sir. The most that I ever covered at one time 
was 60 miles.
    Mr. Ivey. Sixty miles, OK.
    Mr. Judd. Yes, sir.
    Mr. Ivey. Is that bigger than it should be, from your 
perspective?
    Mr. Judd. To properly patrol the border on the Northern 
Border, with as little technology as we have, you would need 1 
agent for every 3 to 5 miles. One agent to every 30 to 60 miles 
just isn't going to do it.
    Mr. Ivey. All right. So, increasing the number of agents 
would be helpful.
    Mr. Judd. Absolutely.
    Mr. Ivey. Even if we don't get to 1 per 3 miles.
    Mr. Judd. Absolutely.
    Mr. Ivey. More agents would be helpful?
    Mr. Judd. Yes, sir.
    Mr. Ivey. And more funding so that we can hire more 
agents----
    Mr. Judd. Yes, sir.
    Mr. Ivey [continuing]. Would be necessary----
    Mr. Judd. Absolutely.
    Mr. Ivey [continuing]. For that to happen. Then 
Commissioner Quinn, let me ask you about Operation Stone 
Garden. This is a FEMA-funded or -managed program?
    Mr. Quinn. Yes, sir. It started in 2011, Operation Stone 
Garden.
    Mr. Ivey. OK. You mentioned in your testimony that I guess 
there was a request, I don't know if it was just by you, but an 
effort to get additional funding for Operation Stone Garden.
    Mr. Quinn. Yes. Those funds go to a collaborative local, 
State, county officers that work together along the border to 
support CBP.
    Mr. Ivey. OK. The additional funding would be useful so 
that maybe you could hire more officers and do more to cover 
the border as well.
    Mr. Quinn. Well, actually, the funding would be for more 
patrols and specifically 3 all-terrain vehicles. That's what we 
had requested and was denied.
    Mr. Ivey. All right, all right. So, more funding would be 
helpful.
    Mr. Quinn. Yes, sir.
    Mr. Ivey. All right. With respect to Representative 
Tenney's comments, at the end of her testimony, she invited me 
to join in cosponsoring her bill, which is H.R. 9023. The 
reason I pointed it out as problematic, and apparently she 
agrees, is it only references the Southern Border. But the 
additional problem I have with the bill and the reason I 
wouldn't cosponsor it at this point is it contains no funding 
source. So, it calls for increasing salaries and expenses for 
new agents and officers, but it doesn't talk about how to pay 
for that other than a monopoly money approach of trying to get 
it from the Inflation Reduction Act, which I think we all know 
isn't going to happen.
    So, I would join with your calls and the previous panel's 
calls to get additional funding. Stop playing games with the 
issue about who struck John or who caused it first. That is 
fine. We can do that for purposes of this hearing. But if we 
are going to be serious about it, and Mr. Judd and Mr. Quinn, I 
think your testimony reflects that, as does some of the other 
information we presented, a lot more funding is going to be 
necessary. I am calling on my Republican colleagues to come up 
with proposals to do that. So, with that, I yield back, Your 
Honor--Your Honor--Mr. Chairman.
    Chairman Bishop. I can tell where you have been, sir.
    Mr. Ivey. Flashback.
    Chairman Bishop. I have the same predilection. I thank the 
Ranking Member, and I now recognize the gentlewoman from 
Georgia, Ms. Greene, for her 5 minutes of questions.
    Ms. Greene. Thank you very much. I think funding is 
extremely important for our programs, especially when it comes 
to securing the border. I would like to address the funding 
issue. The Ranking Minority Member on the committee that failed 
to discuss this with Representative Claudia Tenney, who is not 
even here on the panel, to talk about her bill and defend her 
bill that he was saying he refused to cosponsor.
    You know, unfortunately, many of the bills that were funded 
during the last Congress funded trillions of dollars into 
programs that made no sense. I will just give you an example. 
An infrastructure bill that less than 10 percent actually went 
toward infrastructure. But I digress. Let's get back to the 
Northern Border.
    I am from Georgia, so I don't know much about it because I 
live in a southern State. But I am impressed with the fact that 
it has 5,525 miles and nearly half of that is over water. I was 
also extremely concerned to find out that before, in the past 
10 years, there were approximately 2,000 Border Patrol agents 
to cover that gigantic expanse of land. I also am very 
concerned to find out that DHS moved more than 20 percent of 
Northern Border officers to have to go process the gigantic 
influx of illegal aliens at the Southern Border, leaving 
Northern Border States to have to handle these problems on 
their own. A major problem. That comes from lack of funding 
from the Biden administration in the last 2 years when they had 
full control in the House and the Senate.
    I would also like to point out that it is extremely 
concerning and dangerous to the United States of America's 
national security that Canada's immigration policy allows 
Mexicans to travel to Canada without a visa. It seems that 
Canada wants to participate in Mexico's invasion of the United 
States because many of these Mexicans are obtaining an 
electronic travel authorization to fly into Canada, and they 
get that approved within minutes, and then they end up coming 
into the United States. One State in particular, Mr. Quinn, you 
come from, you are from New Hampshire. I am amazed that you 
have a population in your State of approximately 1.4 million 
people, but yet thinking about nearly 5 million illegal aliens 
that have attempted to come to the United States, that has to 
be pretty intimidating.
    Mr. Quinn, it was reported that in 2022, a family of 4 
Indian nationals, including 2 children, died of exposure to the 
extreme cold in Canada near your border with the United States 
on their way to enter the United States illegally. In December 
of last year, a Haitian man was found dead in the woods trying 
to enter the United States illegally from Canada. In just 
February of this year, a Mexican man entering the United States 
illegally from Canada died during the trek. In your experience, 
Mr. Quinn, being from a Northern Border State, what type of 
environments do those who attempt to cross the Northern Border 
illegally usually face during the winter months?
    Mr. Quinn. Yes, ma'am. Thank you for the question. Those 
elements could be harsh and unforgiving. Just to be clear, I 
don't work at the Northern Border, but I spend time with those 
that do, and there is limited and often no cell coverage in 
some areas. If you don't know where you're going, you can 
succumb to the weather very quickly. So, it is quite dangerous.
    Ms. Greene. So, it is very dangerous to people's basic 
needs and survival. Mr. Quinn, the 287(g) Program gives local 
law enforcement officers the authority to enforce immigration 
laws. It has been vilified by advocates, including the ACLU. 
The Biden administration has not approved an application for 
the 287(g) Program since 2021. As you note in your testimony, 
this includes the New Hampshire State Police's request to 
participate, which was recently rejected. As commissioner of 
the New Hampshire Department of Safety, can you please describe 
the value local law enforcement, such as the New Hampshire 
State Police, can bring to this border crisis if they were only 
authorized to detain and apprehend those that are illegally 
crossing the border and dying on the way?
    Mr. Quinn. Yes, it's critical. Our Governor has requested 
and asked twice for the delegation agreement. Just to be clear, 
our troopers can be working alone up there on that border. What 
we want, we cannot enforce Federal law, so we are just looking 
for this delegation so that we can act and take measures if 
they do come across those that are crossing in these remote 
areas. We have a great partnership with Border Patrol, but 
oftentimes they may be alone. Some of these Stone Garden 
details may just be State and local officers. You know, we 
would like to have a partnership at each one. But in the event 
that the troopers come across these crossings, they want to be 
able to enforce the law.
    Ms. Greene. Thank you so much, Mr. Quinn. Hopefully, the 
Biden administration will come to their senses. I yield back 
the remainder of my time.
    Chairman Bishop. The gentlewoman yields back. The Chair now 
recognizes the gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Thanedar, for his 5 
minutes of questions.
    Mr. Thanedar. Thank you, Chairman, and good morning. Just a 
response to the gentlewoman from Georgia and her comments about 
the infrastructure bill. I want to point out that the 
infrastructure bill funds 20 modernization projects at ports of 
entry. So, I just want to say that for record, the truth.
    I would also like to show recent video footage of the Peace 
Bridge connecting the United States and Canada. As you can see, 
this is hardly the picture of disorder. My home State of 
Michigan is also a shining example of how efficient cross-
border cooperation with Canada can benefit both our countries. 
Michigan exports approximately 21.7 billion in goods to Canada 
annually, including automobiles, pharmaceutical products, and 
natural gas. Every day, thousands of people travel across the 
bridges that connect our countries.
    I am pleased to note that CBP has invested in new 
infrastructure to facilitate this trade and travel with the 
Gordie Howe International Bridge Project. Once this bridge is 
open next year, port of entry on both sides will allow for 
improved border processing. We couldn't have asked for a better 
partner than Canada, which contributed funding for a new 
inspection plaza. Dr. Dawson, my question is, can you speak to 
how investments in infrastructure like the Gordie Howe 
International Bridge help accelerate our critical trade 
relationship with Canada?
    Ms. Dawson. Thank you, Mr. Thanedar. I just wanted to 
correct that even though I was born in Canada, I too am a 
gentlewoman of Georgia as I reside in Atlanta, which is also a 
major hub for direct flights back and forth to Canada and trade 
with Canada as well. So, I agree heartily investment in 
infrastructure is a great tool to propel economic development 
and prosperity in the United States. When you have, in the 
current condition, $1 million a minute going across the 
Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, which is an old 
piece of infrastructure that needs to be updated, that presents 
a lot of challenges because if you can't get folks across the 
border rapidly, then you end up with trucks idling at the 
border. Terrible for admissions, terrible for business 
competitiveness if you can't get the willing buyer to the 
willing seller.
    Also, if you've got border congestion, you end up with 
cars, and school buses, and soccer teams in the same lineups as 
those trucks that are trying to get through. If you invest in 
infrastructure, you can spread folks out into the correct lanes 
and you can screen better for who might be a problem actor and 
who just needs to get to their soccer game or get to the GM 
plant.
    Mr. Thanedar. Now, for my home State of Michigan, the trade 
relationship with Canada is of vital importance. How can we 
support CBP's efforts to facilitate this trade while ensuring 
we maintain robust border security?
    Ms. Dawson. Thank you. The CBP does a great job. The 
remarks about robbing Peter to pay Paul, I agree entirely with 
that. Our CBP men and women are trying to do a lot and they 
need more, not just in terms of staffing and extra hours, but 
in terms of technology and the ability to deploy these 
technologies in infrastructure that allows that. We are not 
talking about replacing officers with technology, but rather 
giving them decision support tools so that they can do their 
crossings easier, better, and also with an increased security 
profile.
    Mr. Thanedar. Thank you, Dr. Dawson, and thank you, the 
witnesses, for your testimony. Chairman, I yield back.
    Chairman Bishop. The gentleman yields back. The Chair now 
recognizes the Vice Chairman of the subcommittee, the gentleman 
of Mississippi, Mr. Ezell, for 5 minutes.
    Mr. Ezell. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the 
opportunity to discuss how the Biden administration's 
disastrous border policies have worsened the crisis at all of 
our borders, not just the Southern Border. The Northern Border 
is the longest border in the world, providing plenty of 
opportunities for dangerous cartels to traffic illegal drugs 
and smuggle humans.
    Mr. Judd, as President of the National Border Patrol 
Council, you represent 16,000 brave Border Patrol agents who 
dedicate their lives to serving this Nation. As a former law 
enforcement officer, I understand the difficulties our men and 
women in uniform have to face. Can you describe some of the 
challenges the Border Patrol agents are facing at the Northern 
Border?
    Mr. Judd. Yes, the main issue that we're dealing with right 
now is we just don't have the infrastructure, technology, nor 
the personnel that's necessary. Now, I'm not going to say that 
we need to burden the taxpayer by giving us a lot more of the 
same type of technology that what we need on the Southwest 
Border. But I absolutely will say that we need to start with 
looking at what are the personnel that we have to have on the 
Northern Border, and then we can expand out from there. But 
until we do that, we're just not going to maintain the control 
that we must have between the ports of entry.
    Mr. Ezell. How have some of these challenges curtailed some 
of your ability to recruit and retain agents?
    Mr. Judd. When you look at what's going on on the Southwest 
Border, it all starts there. When you look at the United States 
Border Patrol, nobody figured that what happened in Florida was 
going to take place. Nobody anticipated that what is currently 
happening in Swanton, in Burke, was going to take place. Let me 
take that back. It's not that we didn't anticipate it, it was 
we just didn't prepare for it. That was what is necessary. We 
have to look at and we have to project out and say, this is 
what our failings could be if we rob Peter to pay Paul.
    If we have our agents in doing processing of the Southwest 
Border, then we're not going to have control on the Northern 
Border. But it all starts there. It has to start on the 
Southwest Border. If we can get control of the Southwest 
Border, then we can control the Northern Border. We can control 
our coastal borders as well. But it all starts on the Southwest 
Border.
    Mr. Ezell. It is very dangerous crossing that Northern 
Border. The terrain is tough, temperatures below freezing. Why 
are some of these migrants choosing to go up there now?
    Mr. Judd. Because of the ease of crossing. When you look at 
if you can come into Canada without a visa and then just work 
your way down, again, those individuals from the country of 
India, within 13 days, they were on our Northern Border and 
intended to cross into the United States, and unfortunately, 
they hit a blizzard. That's horrendous.
    When you talk to any Border Patrol agent, when they have to 
deal with the death that we currently see, I personally 
witnessed somebody take their last breath, and that will be 
with me for the rest of my life. When you see that and when you 
see that there are simple solutions, but we just don't have the 
political will to implement those simple solutions, it's very 
frustrating. It's very upsetting to every single Border Patrol 
agent that there is.
    Mr. Ezell. Thank you for that. I plan on working with the 
committee to address the problems that you have described. With 
that, Mr. Chair, I yield back.
    Chairman Bishop. The gentlemen yields back. The Chair now 
recognizes the gentlewoman from Illinois, Mrs. Ramirez, for 5 
minutes of questioning.
    Mrs. Ramirez. Thank you, Chairman. Well, for those of you 
that don't know, I am an American, and I am also a proud 
daughter of a woman who crossed the Southwest Border 40 years 
ago. I have to tell you that I have been sitting here, a little 
scorecard of a number of things that I have heard that almost 
directly say that my mother and asylum seekers are less than 
human. I have heard a member, a Republican member, talk about 
immigrants as an infestation and another one call it an 
invasion.
    Mr. Arthur, you and your organization have frequently 
proposed and defended extreme anti-immigrant policies, such as 
the Trump administration's so-called zero tolerance policy, 
which resulted in thousands of children being taken from their 
parents at the border, hundreds of whom still have not been 
reunited. In fact, you called this cruel and inhumane policy, 
and I quote, ``absolutely crucial.'' You also referred to 
provisions in law meant to protect migrant children as, and I 
quote, ``loopholes'' and ``flaws'' and argued for their 
elimination. Maybe this kind of awful rhetoric is to be 
expected from a witness representing an organization founded by 
an anti-immigrant racist White nationalist like John Tanton, 
but it should have no place before this committee.
    Then we have Mr. Judd, who has used media appearances to 
repeat the great replacement theory, tropes regularly pushed by 
hate groups. This kind of dangerous rhetoric has inspired a 
rising number of domestic terror incidents across the country 
in recent years. All of this for a hearing about a nonexistent 
crisis along a shared border with our friend, our ally, and 
partner, Canada.
    So, I want to direct my question to you, Dr. Dawson. Since 
you have spent your career working on U.S.-Canada matters, I am 
interested in your take on how the revised Safe Third Country 
Agreement will affect migration along our Northern Border. As 
part of the agreement, Canada has agreed to take 15,000 
migrants from the Western Hemisphere this year. Briefly, can 
you tell me a little bit about the United States and Canada and 
how this important issue is being carried on?
    Ms. Dawson. Thank you. The United States and Canada are 
very closely aligned on hemispheric migration issues, and I 
think our leaders look at the humanitarian elements very 
strongly. The recently revised Safe Third Country Agreement is 
a way to impose greater rule of law. It was really a loophole 
that meant that folks would be turned away if they came to the 
border post, but if they walked across the border and got 
arrested in Canada, they would have the opportunity to sort-of 
park in Canada for up to 24 months while they waited for their 
asylum claim to be adjudicated. It wasn't a guaranteed you get 
to live in Canada forever, but it was a way to spend time in 
Canada. For folks who are fleeing desperate circumstances, it's 
totally understandable.
    But it was not a situation that Canadians or Americans, but 
Canadians found tolerable, for the most part, because of the 
equity issue. We know that there are hundreds of thousands of 
people who are displaced in the world. Many asylum seekers are 
doing all the right things, following all the right rules, and 
are languishing in refugee camps around the world.
    Mrs. Ramirez. Thank you, Dr. Dawson. I want to follow up on 
that, particularly from a place of equity. What role, if any, 
does the Future Borders Coalition see itself taking on 
addressing and eradicating some of the racial implicit bias 
that we see in facial recognition technology, given that the 
technology is a key recommendation of the organization's 2022 
Path Toward Border Digitation Report. But we know that there is 
racial bias in face technology, and we have seen that, 
particularly with Haitian and African asylum seekers.
    Ms. Dawson. Thank you for that question. Our organization 
has been engaged with U.S. CBP and with Canada CBSA on the very 
issue of demographic bias in facial recognition technology. We 
have spoken to them and are learning how the technology is 
being improved, how it is being tested, and that the 
opportunities for demographic bias are shrinking. They are not 
nothing, but they are shrinking. So, we recommend facial 
recognition technologies only as we have the assurance that 
they are secure and we have public trust in their use.
    Mrs. Ramirez. Thank you. I yield back.
    Chairman Bishop. The gentlewoman yields back. The Chair now 
recognizes the gentleman from Alabama, Mr. Strong, for 5 
minutes.
    Mr. Strong. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to yield 
1 minute to Mr. Arthur to respond to some of the attacks that 
were directed his way, if that would be appropriate.
    Mr. Arthur. Thank you, Mr. Strong. I do appreciate that. 
No. 1, I disagree with almost everything that the honorable 
woman said. The Center for Immigration Studies was founded by 
Otis Graham who was a professor at the University of 
California, San Diego. On our board of directors, we have the 
first Hispanic U.S. Attorney from San Diego. We have the former 
executive director for the Congressional Black Caucus who was 
also the former graduate Dean of Morgan State University in the 
home State of Mr. Ivey and I. We also have the president of the 
Urban League of Miami.
    With respect to families and family units and the 
separation policy, it was poorly handled. But in an April 2019 
report, a bipartisan panel of the Homeland Security Advisory 
Committee found that those children are being used as pawns and 
that they are all traumatized on the trip to the United States. 
With respect to unaccompanied alien children, I believe the 
Washington Post editorial board may have used the word loophole 
to refer to the TVPRA as well. I can't remember if they did, 
but they certainly alluded to it.
    But in June 2014 in Guatemala, President Biden talked about 
how those kids are being placed in the hands of criminals to be 
smuggled to the United States who physically and sexually 
assault them. If you took all of the children who have been 
released into the United States under the Biden administration, 
put them all in one school district, it would be the sixth 
largest in the United States. If you had a school district in 
which there were a significant number of physical and sexual 
assaults going on every day, that would be the only thing, God, 
I pray that this committee and every committee on Capitol Hill 
would be looking at every day. Thank you.
    Mr. Strong. Thank you, Mr. Arthur. Mr. Judd, I would like 
to say thank you for the time that you have spent with us. I am 
in my first 11 weeks as a United States Congressman. It has 
been very informative. The thing that we saw at the Southern 
Border, I have been there twice since I have been a United 
States Congressman. They are not just coming from Mexico. They 
are coming from Honduras, Guatemala, Cuba, El Salvador, Haiti, 
Iran. They are coming from China, too. Mr. Arthur, we often 
hear every migrant that comes to our border referred to as an 
asylee. However, does DHS admit that of all the people subject 
to expedited removal who claimed fear between 2014 and 2019, 
only 15 percent of their asylum claims were ever actually 
granted?
    Mr. Arthur. Yes, it is actually 14.7 percent. Actually, I 
think it was 17 percent of all the people. But that was 14.7 
percent or 14 percent of 83 percent. It's a little confusing. 
But yes, a significant number of individuals pass credible fear 
are allowed to apply for asylum. Yet during that 12-year 
period, we saw that nearly it was almost twice as likely that a 
migrant would be ordered removed in absentia when they failed 
to appear at their hearings than that they were actually 
granted asylum.
    Mr. Strong. Thank you. You are an immigration judge and 
have studied and translated the data. Is it your opinion that 
the migrants pouring over the border, particularly the Northern 
Border, are all asylees?
    Mr. Arthur. You know, it's actually interesting, Mr. 
Strong, because in my written testimony, I talk about Canadian 
officials, Canadian NGO officials, who are talking about our 
system was never built to handle this many asylees. At the end 
of 2022, there were 70,000 and change asylees in Canada, a 
period of time in which there were 1.566 million in the United 
States.
    I was an immigration judge. I granted people asylum. It is 
absolutely important that we keep the asylum system, we be able 
to grant people asylum.
    Mr. Strong. Thank you.
    Mr. Arthur. This is breaking the asylum system, Mr. Strong.
    Mr. Strong. Thank you. It has been reported that President 
Biden and Prime Minister Trudeau have reached an agreement to 
apply the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement to illegal 
aliens that have crossed in between the borders. Will this 
modification act as a deterrent or is it more smoke and mirrors 
from the Biden administration?
    Mr. Arthur. It is a strong protected measure for the 
Canadian government because the Canadian government was 
inundated, 40,000 people came through the Roxham Road 
unofficial port of entry in 2022 into Canada. So, this really 
just benefits Canada. It doesn't benefit the United States. 
Canada has three oceans surrounding it and their only border is 
with the United States. The only illegal migration that they 
get primarily, almost exclusively, is across that border into 
Canada.
    Mr. Strong. Thank you. Ms. Dawson, in January 2023, there 
were numerous reports of at least one Canadian providence that 
voted to decriminalize the possession of hard drugs, cocaine, 
heroin, fentanyl, along with others. Ms. Dawson, what does your 
data show will occur in the next 10 years when many in Canada 
believe the solution is to legalize cocaine, heroin, fentanyl? 
What do you think this is going to do?
    Ms. Dawson. Thank you for the question. That's not 
something that I have the data to answer. As I mentioned in my 
presentation, Canada has different rules with respect to many 
things as a sovereign state, use of drugs among them. But I can 
tell you that the United States and Canada do cooperate 
extensively on cross-border movement of criminals, eradication. 
There's a Cross-Border Crime Forum that's looking at these 
issues every single day. I recommend that you look to the 
Cross-Border Crime Forum to make sure that this issue is high 
on their priority list.
    Mr. Strong. Thank you, Ms. Dawson. Mr. Chairman, yield 
back.
    Chairman Bishop. The gentlemen yields back. I now recognize 
the final Member of the subcommittee to ask questions before we 
reach the guests. That is Mr. Crane of Arizona for 5 minutes of 
questions.
    Mr. Crane. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you all for 
hearing here today before our committee. It is true that you 
guys are under oath. Is that correct?
    Mr. Judd. Yes, sir.
    Mr. Crane. All right. Ms. Dawson, my first question for 
you. What is better, ham or Canadian bacon? We are on the 
clock, Ms. Dawson.
    Ms. Dawson. I have no answer. I have no answer.
    Mr. Crane. OK, all right.
    Ms. Dawson. I have no answer. I can say that Montreal 
bagels are better, though.
    Mr. Crane. OK, all right. Moving on to Mr. Judd. Mr. Judd, 
it is good to see you. I don't know which one of us brought the 
warm weather from Arizona, but it is nice up here. Mr. Judd, 
how many years have you been an agent?
    Mr. Judd. Twenty-five, but I'd first like to start. I'm 
amazed that a Member of Congress can actually impugn somebody's 
character without letting that individual answer the question. 
She said that I repeated white nationalist tropes when in 
reality, all I did was repeated what John D. Podesta said. John 
D. Podesta's think tank said demographics. I believe that this 
is a direct quote, ``demographics is destiny.''
    I had never heard of the great replacement theory until USA 
Today wrote a story on it. It is amazing that a Congresswoman 
can impugn somebody's character without even allowing them to 
answer. I've been a Border Patrol agent for 25 years.
    Mr. Crane. Well, I'm glad you got to address that. If you'd 
like to say anything else on my time, go for it. What else you 
got?
    Mr. Judd. Sorry about that.
    Mr. Crane. Now, how long have you been representing Border 
Patrol agents in the National Border Patrol Council?
    Mr. Judd. I've been in a position, one or the other, for 
about 15 years, approximately.
    Mr. Crane. Thank you, sir. Would you say you are proud of 
your job?
    Mr. Judd. I am.
    Mr. Crane. If so, why?
    Mr. Judd. Very, very proud of my job. I think that it's 
very important for the safety and security of the American 
people.
    Mr. Crane. I think you told me a couple of years ago, sir, 
the first time I ever met you that your organization has 
endorsed candidates from both parties. Is that correct?
    Mr. Judd. We have. So, would you say that your organization 
is bipartisan? It absolutely is.
    Mr. Crane. That is weird, because that doesn't happen a lot 
up in this town. Can you elaborate on why your organization is 
bipartisan?
    Mr. Judd. We'll work with anybody that wants to secure the 
border. That's what we want. We work for the safety and 
security of the American people. Any law enforcement, when they 
put on a uniform, what they want to do is they want to protect 
citizens. That's what we want to do, and we'll work with 
anybody that will work with us.
    Mr. Crane. Thank you, sir. Would you agree with Secretary 
Mayorkas' assessment that we have operational control at the 
Southern Border?
    Mr. Judd. Absolutely not.
    Mr. Crane. Can you briefly describe some of the most 
detrimental policy changes that current administration has put 
into place?
    Mr. Judd. When you look at the main magnet that draws 
people to cross our borders illegally is whether or not they're 
going to be released into the United States. Right now, nearly 
everybody that crosses the border illegally, if they're not 
expelled under Title 42, which is only about 30 percent right 
now, then they're released into the United States. That's the 
main magnet that drives people. He has put that, if you will, 
he's put that on steroids.
    Mr. Crane. Yes. Does it bother you on a personal level to 
see these changes made?
    Mr. Judd. It does, because I know that we can't properly 
protect the American people with these policies.
    Mr. Crane. Yes, one of the things that was covered earlier, 
sir, was the attrition rate in the Border Patrol. In your 
professional and long-standing position in the Border Patrol, 
do you think that has anything to do with Border Patrol agents 
feeling like it doesn't even matter what they do?
    Mr. Judd. It does. I speak with agents on a regular basis 
that are leaving the agency because they know that they can't 
do the job that they wanted to do.
    Mr. Crane. That's got to be kind-of heartbreaking to 
somebody who has, you know, devoted so much of your time----
    Mr. Judd. It is.
    Mr. Crane [continuing]. And life, sacrificed time away from 
your family to protecting American citizens.
    Mr. Judd. It is.
    Mr. Crane. Yes. Sir, do you know when President Biden's 
first visit to the border was? Was it January '23?
    Mr. Judd. It was, yes, yes.
    Mr. Crane. So, how many years into his presidency was that, 
sir?
    Mr. Judd. Just over 2 years.
    Mr. Crane. Do you know how many trips President Trump made 
to the border, Mr. Judd?
    Mr. Judd. I don't know exactly, but I know that he made 
multiple trips.
    Mr. Crane. Yes, we were looking it up this morning. I think 
it was about five. Do you think it has, as a leader yourself, 
do you think it has anything to do with leadership if you 
actually show up to the places that you represent and the 
people that follow you, see you show up?
    Mr. Judd. Yes, anytime that you know that somebody supports 
what you're doing, what your mission is, you're going to be a 
lot more energized to do the job.
    Mr. Crane. Awesome. Mr. Arthur, my last question is for 
you. My colleague over here from Michigan, Mr. Thanedar, showed 
a video of some vehicles going over a bridge in Michigan and 
then stated that this is hardly a picture of disorder. I asked 
a couple of other Members if they got the same implication that 
I did that, hey, because of the video I am showing where cars 
are going over a border and trucks are going over a border, 
there is no issue here. When you saw that, what did you think 
about that example that he made in the video that he showed? Do 
you think that that described the border issues that we have 
going on here in the United States, sir?
    Mr. Arthur. Well, actually, the interesting thing is that 
the conclusion that I drew from that talks about why this 
hearing today was so important. We listened to Dr. Dawson, the 
Ranking Member, talked about the importance of trade between 
the United States and Canada. We need to continue that 
relationship. Our relationship with Canada is absolutely 
crucial to our vitality, our economic vitality. I know that the 
time is up. I'll make it short. We need to make sure that that 
continues. I was in, not this building, but two buildings down 
on September 11. Everything changed that way. Certainly 
changed. I was oversight counsel for immigration. The dangers 
that we would have to shut down our economy, shut down our 
borders, shut down our commerce because something had happened, 
were real.
    Mr. Crane. Mr. Arthur, sir, I was asking about a specific 
video.
    Mr. Arthur. I understand that. But I mean----
    Mr. Crane. Real quick, real quick, I am going to go to Mr. 
Judd. Mr. Judd, when you watched that video----
    Mr. Ivey. Point of order.
    Chairman Bishop. The gentleman's time has expired.
    Mr. Crane. OK, all right.
    Chairman Bishop. I thank the gentleman. We are blessed to 
have several strong guest Members here. So, at this time, I 
yield to Mr. Correa, recognize Mr. Correa for 5 minutes of 
questions.
    Mr. Correa. Thank you, Chairman Bishop. I want to thank you 
for holding this hearing on the Northern Border. We do have to 
look at all points of entry to this country and see how things, 
the state of how things are.
    In preparation for this hearing, I called the Canadian 
ambassador to the United States, Kristen Hillman, to ask her 
about what she thought about this hearing. She reminded me of 
some very important facts. No. 1, Canada is our biggest trading 
partner. No. 2, Canada is our strongest security partner in the 
world. The only nation that we have a joint military command 
with. It is called NORAD. Mr. Arthur, we talked about 9/11, 
Canada protected us when 9/11 happened----
    Mr. Arthur. Absolutely.
    Mr. Correa [continuing]. The aftermath.
    Mr. Arthur. They absolutely were, sir. The RCAF took place, 
took part----
    Mr. Correa. Thank you. Thank you.
    Mr. Arthur. Sir----
    Mr. Correa. It is not a question, just a statement, boss. 
Canada also fought with us in every major war in this last 
century. World War I, World War II, Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, 
Afghanistan.
    Just recently, the administration announced a new agreement 
with Canada to address the issue of refugees. Because refugees 
is not a U.S. issue, not a Canadian issue, not a Mexican issue. 
It is a regional issue. The solution is going to demand all of 
us working together. Dr. Dawson, would you use the word 
disorder to characterize what is going on at the Canadian 
border?
    Ms. Dawson. No, sir, I would not. Thank you for bringing so 
many of the great relationship facts to the table today.
    Mr. Correa. You know, Democrats passed an infrastructure 
bill. It included 26 major modernization of land ports of 
entry, 20 of these in the Northern Border. I have been going to 
the Southern Border all my life. I was in San Ysidro recently, 
spoke to Mr. Judd. A lot of you Members who told me the 
investments we have made in that infrastructure in San Ysidro 
transformed that port of entry, probably the biggest in the 
world. Order, processing, efficiency: 2023 fiscal year funding 
bill, 125 additional CBP officers, 300 additional Border Patrol 
agents.
    You are absolutely right. It is not enough, but it is 
better than zero. The big issue is not the funding as you know, 
it is finding qualified agents because of the rigorous 
standards that are there in place. I am working, hopefully with 
a lot of folks here, to address those requirements so we can 
get folks hired.
    Dr. Dawson, do you believe infrastructure, personnel, 
technology, which Democrats passed bills for over the last 2 
years, will streamline commerce and help process folks at 
border entries?
    Ms. Dawson. Yes, absolutely. I just want to underscore that 
these are not distinct, that security and prosperity are 
interlinked. If you get----
    Mr. Correa. If you have got----
    Ms. Dawson [continuing]. You're right, if you got----
    Mr. Correa [continuing]. Your biggest partner to the north 
and your second-largest trading partner to the south, you got 
to have both of them going together.
    I want to show you a picture of Roxham Road. This was sent 
to me by U.S. Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz. This is the largest 
irregular crossing point of U.S.-Canada border with a vast 
majority of traffic, human drugs, and weapons crossing into 
Canada from the United States. That is right. Crossing into 
Canada from the United States. I am going to show you irregular 
crossing. Does this look like chaos?
    Finally, in my last 45 seconds here, let me say that the 
Ambassador also pointed out another issue to me. The Ambassador 
said to me, Lou, irregular crossing, there was a spike because 
the United States was requiring COVID vaccine and COVID tests 
to enter the United States. People in Canada didn't have those 
things, so they resorted to irregular crossings.
    Finally, my question you, Dr. Dawson, is recent agreement 
between the United States and Canada passed last few days ago, 
does this benefit Canada or is this a win-win agreement?
    Ms. Dawson. This is a win-win. Thank you for the question. 
This is a win-win and it's one part of a multipronged, I don't 
even know if the solution, but efforts to mitigate a 
humanitarian crisis. Safe Third Country Agreement helps to 
provide a greater amount of law and order to asylum-seeking 
processing. Canada also agreed to accept a larger number of 
Western Hemisphere asylum seekers. There's also the Los Angeles 
Declaration which was signed at the Summit of the Americas----
    Mr. Correa. Chair, if I may----
    Ms. Dawson [continuing]. In 2022.
    Mr. Correa [continuing]. Three seconds. I guess Dr. Dawson 
is looking for----
    Chairman Bishop. Mr. Correa, I did enforce from Mr. Crane 
earlier at the instance of the Ranking Member. I hate to cut 
you off, but I certainly appreciate the----
    Mr. Correa. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Chairman Bishop [continuing]. Appreciate you being here, my 
friend.
    Mr. Correa. Your time.
    Chairman Bishop. With that I am honored to recognize the 
Chairman of the Republican Conference and Member from New York, 
Stefanik for 5 minutes of questions.
    Ms. Stefanik. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Dr. Dawson, have you 
been to the Swanton Sector of the Northern Border?
    Ms. Dawson. Yes, quite often.
    Ms. Stefanik. Where have you been?
    Ms. Dawson. I was a resident of Ottawa, so, Ontario. So, I 
was up and down the up-state New York, New England area very 
frequently, especially along the lakes.
    Ms. Stefanik. Have you spoken with Border Patrol officers 
in up-state New York or the north country?
    Ms. Dawson. I have not spoken to Border Patrol officers 
recently from that area, no.
    Ms. Stefanik. Well, I will tell you, I speak to Border 
Patrol officers all the time in my district. I represent 
700,000 hardworking Americans that live in my district. It is 
an abject disaster what is happening at our Southern Border and 
the impact it is having on our Northern Border. Dr. Dawson, are 
you aware that encounters at the Northern Border have surged up 
to 846 percent in the Swanton Sector that you are so familiar 
with?
    Ms. Dawson. I think during my testimony earlier, I 
indicated that----
    Ms. Stefanik. Are you aware of 846 percent?
    Ms. Dawson. That is not a number that I----
    Ms. Stefanik. So, you disagree with that number put out by 
the U.S. Government?
    Ms. Dawson. I don't have the information to agree or 
disagree.
    Ms. Stefanik. OK. Well, that is the number. Mr. Judd, 
because you are familiar with Northern Border Patrol officers, 
because I know you speak to them regularly as I do in my 
district, I want to get your input. Do we have operational 
control over the Northern Border?
    Mr. Judd. No, we don't. In fact, what happens is we 
conflate the issue. We conflate the ports of entry. Between the 
ports of entry, we have to subtract out the two. In fact, 
that's the reason why we have two different agencies that work. 
You have the port of entry, which is the Office of Field 
Operations and then you have between the ports of entry, which 
is the Border Patrol. We have to take those two issues apart 
from each other and look at them individually.
    Ms. Stefanik. Mr. Judd, walk me through. I am very familiar 
hearing from my constituents about the crisis on the Southern 
Border, how that has impacted the morale of Border Patrol 
officers up north who have been transferred over and over again 
to the Southern Border with no-notice deployments. No. 1, the 
morale impact, and No. 2, the fact that we do not have the 
personnel we need operationally along the Northern Border, 
specifically the Swanton Sector.
    Mr. Judd. A little over 25 years, I've never seen the 
morale lower in the Border Patrol than what it is today. Make 
no mistake, we will continue to put on the uniform. We will 
continue to go out and do the job that we're supposed to do. We 
just won't be happy about the job that we're doing because we 
know that we do not have the support of this administration to 
actually protect the American people.
    Then when you look at how we have taken away from the 
Northern Border to support the Southwest Border, it all starts 
on the Southwest Border. If we control the Southwest Border, 
then we won't have to touch the Northern Border agents. But 
because we don't have the policy that's necessary to secure the 
Southwest Border, then the Northern Border gets robbed, and 
then it opens up the gaps that we're currently seeing.
    Ms. Stefanik. We know when we had a secure border in this 
country, it was not that long ago. What tools or policies were 
taken away by the Biden administration that led to this crisis 
on both the southern and Northern Border?
    Mr. Judd. It was actually the reimplementation of a tool, 
which was what we call catch-and-release. When you look at 
under President Trump, we got rid of catch-and-release. When 
you get rid of catch-and-release, when you get rid of the 
promise that you're going to reward people for violating our 
laws, they're going to stop coming. We saw that under President 
Trump. Once that was reimplemented, that's why we saw the huge 
increase. If individuals know that they can violate our laws 
and be rewarded for violating our laws, of course it's going to 
happen.
    Ms. Stefanik. My additional question is, you are all 
familiar, the Biden administration and Secretary Mayorkas have 
repeatedly claimed they have operational control of the 
Southern Border, something that the chief of the Border Patrol 
recently disputed in a hearing. Mr. Quinn, do you believe that 
we have operational control over the Southern and Northern 
Border?
    Mr. Quinn. I can only speak to my border and I don't 
believe we do. We have 58 miles of border in New Hampshire. I 
was at the Swanton Sector on Friday. I know that they are 
working very hard to the west, so I'm concerned with our 58 
miles. What are the resources that are there 24/7 in the event 
that somebody called and it was an issue of an illegal 
crossing, whether it's through 9-1-1 or however.
    Ms. Stefanik. Dr. Dawson, since you seem to be an expert on 
the Swanton Sector, even though you are unfamiliar with the 840 
percent increase that we have had in terms of encounters, do 
you believe that both the Southern and Northern Border are--we 
have operational control?
    Mr. Arthur. Yes, I was there when this committee drafted 
the Secure Fence Act of 2006. Under the definition set forth in 
Section 2 of that act, we don't have anything even 
approximating operational control. Again, as I said during my 
opening statement, I've never seen the border this bad in 
history.
    Ms. Stefanik. Well, that is the sentiment shared with 
Border Patrol officers, border families in my district, and I 
am proud to be one of the strongest advocates for U.S.-Canadian 
partnership, U.S.-Canadian trade. I co-chair the Northern 
Border Caucus, which is bipartisan. I was one of the leading 
advocates for making sure we implemented USMCA. We want to 
continue to strengthen that partnership, not at the risk of 
having a strong security partnership and a partnership when it 
comes to securing our border. I am very confident it is not a 
partisan issue in my district. This administration has 
absolutely failed and it is because of their failures that have 
caused this crisis on both the Southern and Northern Border. 
With that, I yield back.
    Chairman Bishop. The gentlewoman yields back. I now 
recognize the gentlewoman from New York, Ms. Clarke, for 5 
minutes of questions.
    Ms. Clarke. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank our Ranking 
Member. I thank our panelists of witnesses here today. My first 
question is for Dr. Dawson. Dr. Dawson, the U.S.-Canada border 
separates two friendly and collaborative nations, very similar 
to what my colleague Mr. Correa shared with you. We have a long 
history of social, cultural, and economic ties. As a matter of 
fact, I have two aunts living in Toronto.
    This relationship was on full display last week with 
President Biden, when President Biden met with Canadian Prime 
Minister Justin Trudeau to announce a historic new agreement on 
managing migration between our two nations. The agreement 
ensures that our countries can return migrants who come between 
ports of entry and includes a promise from Canadians to accept 
15,000 migrants from the Western Hemisphere this year. Dr. 
Dawson, how will this new agreement address irregular migration 
and better secure the Northern Border?
    Ms. Dawson. So, the new agreement--thank you for the 
question. The new agreement will help to ensure that asylum 
seekers and people who see opportunities to settle in the 
United States and Canada don't take advantage of a system that 
is intended to help the very, you know, people who are most in 
need. There is an established asylum-seeking process that 
exists in the world. The United States has recently taken 
measures to expedite asylum seeking, and we applaud that. So, 
the changes to the Safe Third Country Agreement really help to 
impose a greater level of lawfulness rule of law on that 
border.
    But really what we are talking about is how we can secure 
our perimeter. We are friends. We are neighbors. The folks who 
mean us harm are coming from the outside. Many of them are 
coming from the outside. So, we need to collaborate together to 
ensure strong perimeter security, not bigger border walls or 
bigger barriers between us.
    Ms. Clarke. I thank you. We have heard a lot today about an 
increase in migrant activity along the Northern Border. I would 
like to point out something obvious that I don't think my 
Republican colleagues seem intent to sort-of gloss over. From 
March 2020 to October 2022, the Canadian border was effectively 
closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While there were still 
some crossings, comparing the numbers that we are seeing today 
well into post-pandemic reopening to the numbers we were seeing 
just last year or the year before, at best, is at best 
disingenuous and misleading.
    In fact, when we drill down into the number of 
apprehensions that Border Patrol has made between ports of 
entry, we find that they actually hit a high watermark in 
fiscal year 2019 under President Trump, with 4,408 
apprehensions compared to 2,856 encounters Border Patrol has 
had in fiscal year 2023. This is hardly an out-of-control 
crisis, but, you know.
    Dr. Dawson, can you describe how CBP has worked with 
Canadian officials to facilitate the reopening of the U.S.-
Canada border following the lifting of the COVID pandemic 
restrictions?
    Ms. Dawson. Sure, thank you for the question. CBP and CBSA 
officers work together every single day and are in constant 
communication on operational issues, challenges, et cetera. 
They have reopened our nexus enrollment centers, which is part 
of the Global Access Trusted Trader program. They're working 
together on things like the Ship Rider program, on bilateral 
issues related to child sexual exploitation, and screening out 
the traffickers who move between our two countries. There are 
more problems than there are solutions, but CBSA and CBP are 
dedicated to finding answers to joint challenges.
    Ms. Clarke. Thank you so much, Dr. Dawson. Mr. Chairman, I 
thank you for the time. Let me just say that I think, you know, 
it is time that we get beyond performance art and get to 
comprehensive immigration reform, that, you know, we need to 
look at this in a holistic manner. The steady drumbeat of, you 
know, what I would consider to be issues that don't get us to 
that point does not solve the problem. So, with that, Mr. 
Chairman, I yield back and I thank you once again.
    Chairman Bishop. I thank the gentlewoman for appearing. I 
will say that I wish she had been with us in McCallum to hear 
the chief of the Border Patrol say that we don't have 
operational control of the Southern Border, that the border is 
not secure and that it is the Biden administration's policies 
that was--I mean, we all have an opportunity to learn from 
things. With that, I recognize my friend from Texas, the 
gentlelady, Ms. Jackson Lee, for 5 minutes of questions.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. I thank the Chairman and the Ranking 
Member. I join with my colleague and friend from New York, Ms. 
Clarke, on the number of iterations that we have had since my 
tenure on this committee, which is more than 2 decades to be 
able to really get to the serious work of immigration reform 
and working together to secure our borders. For every trip that 
I may have missed, to my friend from North Carolina, I think I 
have literally lived at the border at every crisis that there 
have been. I am from Texas and I know the border very well.
    Mr. Judd, let me thank you for 25 years and I think we have 
been on this Homeland Security journey almost the same amount 
of time. You started a little bit before 9/11. Of course, you 
know, we created the Homeland Security Department, and of 
course and--excuse my voice--and also the Homeland Security 
Committee. I am very proud to have had under our jurisdiction 
the Border Patrol, of which I have known almost all of the 
leaders in your council as well. Just a question, Mr. Judd, 
would a decrease in funding for the Border Patrol and border 
needs be of help in any way, decreasing the funding?
    Mr. Judd. No, it would not.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you. I am committed to making sure 
that as we proceed in appropriations, I am on the authorizing 
this committee that we work very hard to ensure funding for the 
needs of our border patrols, our CBP, some of the physical 
infrastructure. I was at the Brownsville just a couple of weeks 
ago, crossed over the border, as I often do, and I see the 
continuing need. So, let me put that on the record, first of 
all.
    Let me put on the record as well, that our Republican 
friends who are here in this committee are part of the effort 
to fund the discretionary funding, which is Border Patrol, 
Homeland Security at 2019 funding that would be a sizable 
seismic cut to the needs of our Nation. Let me count myself as 
a strong fighter and opponent to that, along with the Biden 
administration.
    But let me also try to clarify very quickly before I raise 
questions with one of the witnesses. This is a straw man on 
this 100 percent operational control. Even the former Homeland 
Security Chairman, Mr. McCaul, on May 15, 2013 during the 
markup of H.R. 1417, the Border Security Results Act of 2013, 
shows I have been on this committee for a very long time. We 
have defined operational control in this bill based on the 
oversight work of the committee. It is a reflection of 
testimony from the chief of the Border Patrol, a 90 percent 
standard for success. Over all administrations, we have never 
gone beyond 70-75 percent. It doesn't mean we don't need to 
continue to achieve because I am reminded that it was the 
Border Patrol and FBI that saved us in 9/11--not 9/11 the--I'm 
sorry--the turn of the century when the terrorist was caught at 
the border, it was the Northern Border. It was through the law 
enforcement work of all of you, Border Patrol, FBI that we were 
saved in terms of the Northern Border. So, let's be more 
accurate in our assessment.
    Let me go to Dr. Dawson. How does irregular migration into 
the United States over the Northern Border compare to irregular 
migration into Canada? Isn't it true that most weapons and 
people move north, not south? How is the cooperation on this 
combating this journey of the irregular migration? Did you hear 
me? My voice is a little rough.
    Ms. Dawson. Yes--sorry. Really, the percentage in Canada is 
minuscule compared to the Southern Border. But as I said in my 
testimony, this is not nothing and this is something that we do 
have to continue to deal with. It is both an enforcement 
problem, but it is also a root causes issue and we need to work 
together to provide options for asylum seekers, options for 
folks that are in crisis, and regularize migration throughout 
the hemisphere.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Let me also ask because I would just get 
it in before the Chairman gavels me, we have had a lot, heard a 
lot about the people and drugs coming into the United States 
over the Northern Border. We understand, however, that only 1 
pound of fentanyl has been found on the Northern Border this 
year. Is that true?
    Ms. Dawson. That's my understanding as well, 1 pound this 
year, yes.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. OK. So, let's get the correct narrative. 
We should be working together, but we shouldn't put up straw 
men or false information about what is transpiring. We know we 
don't want fentanyl here from any border. But what I hope you 
are saying is that we can get this done by working together, 
including the agreement that the President just signed with the 
president of Canada.
    Ms. Dawson. That's exactly what I'm saying, ma'am.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you very much. I yield back.
    Chairman Bishop. The gentlewoman yields back. I thank the 
witnesses for your valuable testimony and your answers. I thank 
the Members for their attendance and questions. Members of the 
subcommittee might have additional questions for you in 
writing. If they do, we would ask you to respond to those in 
writing. Pursuant to Committee Rule VII(D), the hearing record 
will be open for 10 days for that purpose.
    Without objection, the subcommittee stands adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 12:17 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]