Biggs takes charge of northern border oversight amidst port staffing shortages.

Rep. Andy Biggs Raises Concerns Over Unattended Ports of Entry at Northern Border

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), co-chairman of the House Border Security caucus, has sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas expressing his concerns about reports of “unattended” ports of entry at the northern border with Canada.

Biggs, along with Reps. Matt Rosendale (R-MT) and Tom Tiffany (R-WI), questioned Mayorkas and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Senior Official Troy Miller regarding reports that CBP officials are being instructed to extend the operating hours of northern ports of entry to up to 24 hours, even without sufficient agents to guard them.

“We are concerned with recent reports from concerned citizens and members of the public that ports of entry (POEs) along the United States’ border with Canada are being left open and unattended for extended periods of time,” Biggs stated in the letter.

“This information accompanies publicly available reporting on increases in illegal border crossings along the Northern border, including by foreign nationals from countries in Asia and the Middle East,” the letter added.

The letter was sent on Tuesday, the same day CBP published its latest report on illegal border crossings. While the report revealed that 170,284 people were arrested for entering illegally in May, only 140 were arrested on the Canadian border. However, there have been over 98,000 migrant encounters at the northern border in fiscal 2023, an increase from the 27,000 encountered in fiscal 2020.

Rep. Biggs expressed his concerns about the lack of border security, stating, “Americans deserve to know why their borders are not being secured. Now that the Biden administration has dismantled our southern border security, they have moved to dismantle our northern border security. It’s unconscionable to hear that the Biden administration would authorize inadequately supervised or even completely unmanned ports of entries. The American people deserve to understand the extent of this problem.”

Biggs also requested information on the hours of operation, staffing levels, and documents related to the opening hours of ports of entry at the northern border. Secretary Mayorkas has until July 10 to respond to the inquiry.

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