(USNewsMag.com) – New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu is looking to help in securing the northern border. He submitted a request to the Department of Homeland Security to allow state and local authorities to assist federal authorities with border control. While the focus has been on the southern border, migrants are flying to Canada, and, in winter conditions, crossing the northern border into the U.S., according to Sununu. Border patrol agents have reported encounters with migrants from Central America, South America as well as Europe.
On Feb. 17, officials from New Hampshire made a formal request to the Department of Homeland Security to allow state law enforcement officials to assist with the enforcement of federal immigration laws. According to Sununu, the Biden administration has new delegation agreements put on hold and therefore the Department of Homeland Security rejected the offer.
The letter from Sununu comes amid a reported 13,127 migrant encounters in January by Customs and Border Protection across the entire northern border. This is 13 times the January 2021 number, and double the January 2022 migrant encounter numbers.
In January 2022, 24 migrant encounters were reported in the Swanton sector, which includes parts of New Hampshire, as well as parts of both Vermont, and New York. In January 2023 the number of migrant encounters rose to 367. Feb. 19 a migrant from Mexico died during a crossing in the sector from Canada into Vermont.
The border between Canada and New Hampshire is dangerous, filled with rough mountainous terrain and limited access to emergency medical services.
The Department of Homeland Security announced in early March that it would deploy 25 more border patrol agents to the sector.
In Sununu’s budget proposal he is requesting funding which would create a Border Alliance Program allowing for police operating within 25 miles of the border to have the arrest powers such as those that forest rangers have on state forest lands. He is requesting $1.4 million.
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