Border securityLawmakers want more attention to be paid to security along the northern border
Over the years, concerns over U.S. border security have largely focused on the southern border, where hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants have been apprehended and millions of dollars in illegal drugs have been seized by border patrol agents. One reason for the inattention to the northern border is that it is not associated with highly charged issues such as immigration, day laborers, and violent drug traffickers.Scotty Greenwood, a senior adviser to the Canadian-American Business Council, is not surprised that the southern border gets more attention than the northern border. “The political theater isn’t as intense when you’re talking about what a good job we do.”
Over the years, concerns over U.S. border security have largely focused on the southern border, where hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants have been apprehended and millions of dollars in illegal drugs have been seized by border patrol agents. U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) tried to shift lawmakers’ focus toward the U.S.-Canada border at last week’s Senate hearing on border security, “Securing the Border: Understanding Threats and Strategies for the Northern Border.” At one point during the hearing, Booker focused on a ditch which separates western Washington state and British Columbia, one of many weak spots along the border. Areas like the ditch are left unguarded, making it easy for drug smugglers, terrorists, and human traffickers to cross over without detection.
The hearing last week was a fifth in a series exploring the challenges associated with U.S. entry points. Drawing attention to the security risks on the Canadian border has been a challenge. “It’s kind of the forgotten border,” said Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-North Dakota). The border is not associated with highly chared issues such as immigration, day laborers, and violent drug traffickers.
Heitkamp, who has been vocal on security concerns at the northern border, drafted two amendments during the Senate’s 2013 immigration reform debate. One amendment aimed to speed up commercial goods flowing between the two countries by allowing border patrol agents to work more closely together; another tried to ensure the northern border received adequate resources- financial and manpower- just as lawmakers flooded the southern border with more patrol agents and program funding. Neither of Heitkamp’s amendments received a vote.
“It’s extraordinarily difficult in this climate to try and convince people that we’re all one border,” Heitkamp lamented. “It’s like anywhere you have a leak you have a potential breach.”
Senators understand the difficulty in getting funding for security improvements on the northern border, considering the budget-cutting environment, but risks cannot be ignored. “I, for one, am not calling for any fence,” Booker said. “But also what I’m really looking for is a proportionate focus on our northern border threats.”
Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin), the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committeetold Politico that he had “an awful lot of unanswered questions” about the challenges facing the northern border, but the southern border trumps it in terms of crime and illegal crossings. “What’s coming through the northern border pales in comparison to what’s coming through the southern border,” Johnson said.
Scotty Greenwood, a senior adviser to the Canadian-American Business Council, is not surprised that the southern border gets most of the attention during discussions on U.S. border security matters, but she said there is good reason for that. Cooperation between the U.S. and Canadian governments over border security is for the most part in good standing. “The story on Northern border law enforcement security is largely a good one that tends to not be dramatic. Not a lot of fireworks,” Greenwood said. “The political theater isn’t as intense when you’re talking about what a good job we do.”
