The Republican governor of New Hampshire has taken border security matters into his own hands after expressing exasperation with what he said was the Biden administration’s inaction.
“The Federal Government refuses to take action on our Northern Border,” New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said in a statement on Thursday while announcing the launch of a special law enforcement task force to run its own patrols along a 58-mile stretch of the U.S.-Canada border.
“We need an all-hands-on-deck approach,” Mr. Sununu said at a press conference at the State House, with the new task force funded by $1.4 million in grant money from the Department of Safety.
The task force will be comprised of state, county, and local law enforcement officers and will patrol the northern border in a bid to reduce all manner of criminal activity and will cooperate with federal officers in fighting criminal violations of America’s immigration laws.
“Without adequate federal support, the state is stepping up,” Mr. Sununu said, adding that Biden administration officials have “cut funding, limited our resources, and have thrown their hands up.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Mr. Sununu’s remarks.
While the Biden administration has taken some actions on the northern border, such as reaching a deal in March with Canada to reduce the number of illegal border crossings, this has had limited impact.
Northern Border In Focus
While America’s northern border has received far less attention than the deeply porous U.S.-Mexico one in the south, the problem of illegal immigration has become dramatically worse up north.
Consequently, the Swanton Sector (which includes the states of Vermont, New Hampshire, and northeastern parts of New York) has seen a tenfold increase in the number of illegal border crossings in the current financial year through September.
“Over 6,100 apprehensions from 76 different countries in just 11 months, surpassing the last 10 years combined,” Swanton Sector Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia said in a post on X.
National Security Threat
Mr. Sununu touched on the stark numbers cited by Mr. Garcia in a statement announcing the formation of the new task force, called the Northern Border Alliance Task Force.“Encounters with individuals on the terrorist watch list at the ports of entry on the northern border have doubled since 2017,” Mr. Sununu said, while noting there have been “more apprehensions along our northern border in just this past year than in the last ten years combined.”
The question of border security along the northern border is a matter of national security, Mr. Sununu said noting that 85 percent of all land border encounters with people on the terror watchlist so far this year took place along the U.S.-Canada border.
Law enforcement officers comprising the new task force will be vested with the authority and jurisdiction to enforce all state criminal laws within 25 air miles from the Canadian border. They will also have the authority to work with federal law enforcement within the same area of jurisdiction to detect and prevent crime, including immigration-related crimes.
“The increase in personnel provided by the Northern Border Alliance Program and Task Force will add ten thousand patrol hours near the border through June 30, 2025,” New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said in a statement.
“This will shorten response times to calls for service in the region, increase the effectiveness of crime detection and prevention in a remote area of the State, and enhance border security efforts,” he added.
The Swanton Sector includes rural and remote areas, as well as mountains and lowland swamps. Besides that, the region experiences sustained sub-freezing temperatures and unpredictable storm fronts, as well as terrain and weather patterns that make it challenging for law enforcement efforts. The terrain also poses hazards for border crossers that can easily prove fatal.
