House Homeland Security Committee to Consider New DHS Requirements for Canada-U.S. Border

Introducing the Northern Border Security Enhancement and Review Act (HR 8734) last week, U.S. Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-NY) sought to increase security and attention at the U.S.-Canada border through several mandates within of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). ).

The bill, which has 16 initial cosponsors, is currently under review by the House Homeland Security Committee.

“Our northern border, the longest unsecured border in the world, poses a major threat to our national security, with hundreds of thousands of unidentified people streaming into our communities every year,” Langworthy said. “The Biden administration’s negligence has left us completely vulnerable. That’s why I introduced the Northern Border Security Enhancement and Review Act to hold the Department of Homeland Security accountable and ensure it reports to Congress. I have personally met with Border Patrol agents in New York and witnessed their struggle: they are sorely lacking in support and facing this crisis with limited resources.

Langworthy’s bill would require DHS to undertake and submit a northern border threat analysis annually to keep security risk assessments up to date. An update to the Northern Border Strategy should follow within 90 days of each threat analysis.

For oversight purposes, the bill would also require DHS to provide classified information to Congress within 30 days of submitting any threat analysis. The department would also be tasked with creating performance metrics to assess the effectiveness of Air and Maritime Operations (AMO) in securing the northern border.

The bill was introduced just two weeks after the Northern Border Coordination Act (S.2291) passed the Senate. This bill, authored by U.S. Senators Gary Peters (D-MI) and Susan Collins (R-ME), proposed creating and consolidating a Northern Border Coordination Center with an existing Border Patrol Sector Headquarters , a branch of air and maritime operations and others to enable coordination of the Northern Border Strategy. However, the House has so far left this bill on the desk and taken no action on it.

The Canada-US border is the longest international border, with 5,525 miles between them.