PLATTSBURGH — Much of the discussion in recent years about border security issues in this country has focused on the southern border with Mexico, but this past year, the northern border with Canada, including Clinton County, has become much more of a concern.
Area officials have repeatedly asked for a federal solution to the problem of more and more migrants entering Clinton County from Canada.
North Country Congresswoman and House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-Schuylerville), who represents New York’s 21st District, addressed the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. last week and introduced H. Res. 1371 with the purpose of “condemning the Biden Administration and its Border Czar, Kamala Harris’s failure to secure the United States Border.”
‘DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES’
Stefanik addressed the U.S. House to further elaborate on the purpose for the new resolution.
“And on our Northern Border in the Swanton Sector which I represent,” Stefanik said. “I have seen firsthand with the Border Patrol the disastrous consequences of Kamala Harris and Joe Biden’s Administration’s failed far left open border agenda which caused a historic surge in illegal crossings–the likes of which we have never seen on a Northern Border before including individuals on the terrorist watchlist. and this is not just a national security crisis. It is a humanitarian crisis.”
HOUSE RESOLUTION
According to H. Res. 1371, “the American people deserve elected officials who understand the gravity of the crisis at the border and who will execute the policies to fix the border crisis,” and “the continuation of the Biden, Harris border policies would be disastrous for the United States.”
The resolution asserts that “there have been over 9.7 million illegal immigrant encounters nationwide” since President Biden and Vice President Harris took office in 2020 and the “border crisis is costing the United States approximately $150.7 billion each year and each taxpayer $1,156 each year.”