Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (NY-21), Co-Chair of the Northern Border Caucus whose district covers the Northern Border, today released the following statement after Biden’s border crisis has weakened the security of the Northern Border and forced border patrol leadership to ask for agents to voluntarily deploy to New York's Northern Border due to a dramatic increase in illegal crossings.
This follows reports that the Swanton Sector of the Northern Border has seen an 846% increase in illegal crossings since October and more illegal crossings in January than the previous 12 Januarys.
“Joe Biden has brought his Southern Border crisis to New York State, and now the Biden Administration finally admits the Northern Border across my district is not secure,” Stefanik said. “From the beginning, I have stood up for our border patrol and warned against how Joe Biden’s Southern Border crisis has forced border patrol agents in my district into no-notice deployments, weakening morale and leaving security openings at the Northern Border. But it has taken months for him to admit his crisis at the Northern Border. My office is in touch with numerous families along the Northern Border who are documenting vast amounts of illegals crossing their own properties. Instead of addressing this crisis, Joe Biden has passed the buck and shipped his crisis to New York State with the assist from Kathy Hochul and Eric Adams, who both support policies to incentivize illegal immigrants to continue to pour into New York. Our taxpayers, border patrol agents, and Upstate communities are unfairly bearing the brunt of this crisis. We must secure our border and support our border patrol agents.”
Stefanik has been leading the charge on bringing attention to the impact of Biden’s border crisis on the Northern Border from the beginning. Her actions include:
- In April 2021, Stefanik brought to President Biden’s attention the ramifications his Southern Border crisis was having at the Northern Border.
- In January 2022, following reporting on video footage that shows illegal immigrants arriving by plane in White Plains, New York, Stefanik led a letter calling on President Biden to cease any transportation of illegal immigrants from the Southern Border to New York State and requesting the location and status of each illegal immigrant transferred to New York.
- Stefanik highlighted how President Biden’s border crisis was impacting communities in Upstate New York and the North Country by bringing the concerns of Brandon Budlong, Local President 2724 of the National Border Patrol Council, to the highest levels.
- After dozens of immigrants recently arrived in the small Upstate community of Jamestown, Stefanik led a letter with Tenney demanding that the Biden Administration answer questions about secretly transporting migrants across the U.S.
- In July 2022, Stefanik conducted oversight on DHS’ use of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to facilitate illegal immigrants’ travel. Specifically, she requested all documents and information related to the use of NGOs to release illegal border crossers, including a list of NGOs relied on by DHS and the use of taxpayer funds to subsidize these activities.
- Stefanik has called out NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ use of taxpayer funds to transport illegal migrants from New York City to Canada, right through New York’s 21st District.
New York’s 21st District includes parts of the Swanton Sector of the Northern Border, which includes Clinton, Essex, Franklin, St. Lawrence, Hamilton, and Herkimer Counties, as well as the Buffalo Sector, which includes Jefferson and Lewis Counties.
