Press Releases

Washington - This week, Rep. Jack Bergman joined with 27 colleagues in forming the new “Northern Border Security Caucus.” The U.S. - Canada Border is the longest international border.

Rep. Bergman released the following statement:

“Ensuring our borders are secure is a top priority for Congress – this includes our Northern border. With fentanyl and other illicit drugs pouring across our Nation’s borders, Congress must act. The Biden Administration has failed to enforce our Nation’s immigration laws resulting in unprecedented and illegal crossings, not only on our Southern border, but also on our Northern border.

“For years, Congress has been reactionary as problems arise. However, this new caucus will allow us to work together to begin addressing our Nation’s security and identify problems facing our Law Enforcement on our Northern border before they get out of control.”

Northern Border Facts:

· Drug smuggling has increased by 596% along the Northern border since Fiscal Year 2021, including a 26% increase in fentanyl.

· Since President Biden took office about two years ago, there has been an almost 15 times increase in Northern land border encounters.

· There were only 997 Northern land border encounters in January 2021. But that number has increased each month since. In the month of October 2022, there were 15,938 Northern land border encounters. In FY2020, there were 32,376 border encounters. In FY2022, there were 109,535 encounters.

· Border Patrol staffing has remained flat since FY 2009. Since FY09, staffing levels along the Northern border sectors have been between 1,887 and 2,263 personnel. FY2020 Northern border sector staffing was 2,019.

· The longest international border in the world, measuring 5,525 miles, the U.S. Northern border has only 115 ports of entry with no performance measures to assess security between ports.