Lawmakers push Biden admin to pay more attention to northern border threats

FIRST ON FOX: House Republicans are moving to bolster security along the northern border as the U.S.-Canada line becomes more of a concern for illegal immigration hawks.

Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., is leading a new bill that would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to conduct a yearly threat assessment of the northern border.

It would also direct DHS to update its northern border enforcement strategy within 90 days of the threat assessment’s release.

The Biden administration has been grappling with a crisis at the southern border for much of the president’s term.

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House Republicans want to push Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for a comprehensive assessment of the northern border. (Getty Images)

Recent months have seen the U.S.-Canada border become a growing problem as well, though it is equipped with far fewer resources to deal with it.

There were 2,019 Customs and Border Patrol agents patrolling the northern border in fiscal year 2020 compared to 16,878 at the southern border. The northern border also saw over 150,000 fewer encounters than the southern border at the time, but the figure has more than quadrupled since then.

The first seven months of fiscal year 2024 saw 9,460 people apprehended at the northern border, nearly twice the 4,849 people apprehended for all the previous fiscal year, according to figures provided by Langworthy’s office.

Langworthy’s bill currently has 13 co-sponsors, including fellow Republicans from northern border states.

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Rep. Nick Langworthy is leading the new bill. (Getty Images)

“I’ve personally met with Border Patrol agents in New York and witnessed their struggle firsthand — they are severely under-supported and left to face this crisis with limited resources,” he told Fox News Digital. “This legislation is not just a necessity; it’s a demand for more transparency from the Biden administration as it comes to the safety and sovereignty of our nation.”

Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., a co-sponsor who has a modest part of the border in her district, said, “Since President Biden took office, there has been an unprecedented surge in illegal crossings at our northern border, including an 846% increase across a single sector, threatening our national security and the safety of communities across NY-24.”

“President Biden has let our southern border completely crumble, and because of that, our northern border is now being targeted,” said Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich.

Democrats, in turn, have blamed Republicans for further fueling the border crisis by refusing a bipartisan border and immigration policy overhaul earlier this year. GOP lawmakers had said the legislation was not sufficient for the scope of the problem.

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The southern border has far more policing resources than the northern border. (Photo by HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

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The White House said in a recent statement announcing new executive actions on the southern border, “Republicans in Congress chose to put partisan politics ahead of our national security, twice voting against the toughest and fairest set of reforms in decades.”

Fox News Digital reached out to DHS and the White House for comment on Langworthy’s bill.