Hoeven leads effort calling on appropriators to fully fund border professionals

U.S. Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) recently led a bipartisan group of nine other lawmakers in requesting that the necessary resources to properly staff and secure the nation’s northern and southwest borders be included in the fiscal year 2023 homeland security appropriations bill.

Specifically, Sen. Hoeven and his colleagues urged U.S. Senate appropriators to provide U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Border Patrol agents with the necessary personnel, technology and tools to properly do their jobs.

“It is important that the federal government effectively carry out its responsibility to safely and effectively secure both of our land borders,” Sen. Hoeven and his colleagues wrote in a May 18 letter sent to U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security Chairman Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV). 

“That is why we urge you to dedicate the needed resources to secure our border with Canada,” wrote the lawmakers, who included U.S. Sens. Steve Daines (R-MT), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Jon Tester (D-MT). 

The senators outlined the importance of helping border professionals successfully carry out their mission, which includes alleviating the need for temporary duty assignments that move officers and agents away from the northern border, and implementing technologies that improve situational awareness and monitoring of the northern border.

“U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and U.S. Border Patrol agents have the critical mission of protecting the American people by securing our borders,” wrote Sen. Hoeven and the lawmakers. “Continued temporary duty assignments take a significant toll on officers and agents as well as families assigned to northern border duties. We encourage the subcommittee to provide the necessary resources to ensure personnel on the northern border can fulfill their mission without the constant need for temporary duty assignments.” 

They also called for ensuring that northern ports of entry be open and accessible for lawful travel and trade, and called for the committee to advance efforts to restore operating hours at northern ports of entry as they were prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It is essential to have ports of entry open to accommodate lawful travel between the United States and Canada,” the senators wrote. “As we turn the corner on the pandemic, the subcommittee should ensure that CBP has the necessary resources to resume pre-pandemic operating hours at northern border ports of entry.”