The House's Northern Border Security Caucus, made up of 24 House GOP members, are warning that while illegal border crossings from Canada have dropped precipitously, enforcement has, too, because of the repurposing of assets to secure the southern border.
It makes the U.S.-Canada border an exploitable "opportunity for terrorists," according to caucus co-founder and co-chair Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa.
"They had to shift manpower to the southwest border which opened up an even greater opportunity for terrorists to come through our northern border," Kelly warned in an interview with the New York Post published Sunday morning.
"The numbers aren't as big as the southern border — I get that — but the most dangerous people are coming through the northern border."
With the northern border's declining resources leaving the crossings largely unchecked more now, Kelly warns "most dangerous people are coming through" from Canada and not Mexico.
The 5,525-mile border between the U.S. and Canada is the longest international border in the world, making it a target-rich environment for terrorists.
"That border is so easy to access and to get through, all you have to do is go from one piece of grass to the next piece of grass," Kelly said. "You just step over a line to get to the United States."
The latest Customs and Border Protection data showed a 66% drop in illegal crossings from November (12,085) to February (4,098), and a 78% drop from the August 2024 peak of 18,944, the Post reported.
The redeployment of northern border assets to the south has effectively cut illegal crossings in the southern border 90% from the December 2023 peak (301,981) to 11,709 in February, according to the Post.
"As this new administration begins, we, as co-chairs of the Northern Border Security Caucus, want to highlight the importance of protecting the Northern border, which as you well know has been overlooked considering the ongoing crisis at our Southwest border," Kelly and caucus co-chair Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., wrote in a letter to border czar Tom Homan.
"During the last two years, the Northern Border Security Caucus tried to sound the alarm with the Biden-Harris administration to deaf ears."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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