Press Releases

East Greenbush, N.Y. – Congresswoman Elise Stefanik co-led a letter with Representatives Nick Langworthy (R-NY), Mike Kelly (R-PA), and Ryan Zinke (R-MT) to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas concerning the spike in apprehensions of illegal immigrants at the Northern Border.

Stefanik and the members of Congress contend that according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, in the previous Fiscal Year, Border Patrol agents apprehended 10,021 aliens illegally crossing the border between ports of entry, while there have already been 4,772 apprehensions in the first four months of the current Fiscal Year.

In the letter, the lawmakers state, “In the first four months of FY 2024, through January 2024, the Border Patrol has already apprehended 4,772 subjects along the Northern Border, a 114% increase from the first four months of FY 2023.2 This 114% increase in apprehensions is unsustainable and symptomatic of your broader failure to secure the border.”

The lawmakers continue, “More alarmingly, the surge of Terrorist Screening Data Set (TSDS) encounters at the Northern Border continue to skyrocket. Through the first four months of FY 2024, there have been 103 encounters with individuals at ports of entry at the Northern Border, compared to just eight at Southwest Border ports of entry.5 This is not a new phenomenon, in FY 2023, the Northern Border had 484 TSDS encounters at ports of entry, compared to 80 at the Southwest Border. In FY 2022, the Northern Border had 313 while the Southwest border had 67. Dangerous individuals continue to take advantage of the vast Northern Border, which is the longest land border between two countries in the world, and relatively unguarded by natural barriers.”

Read the full letter here.