Pappas proposes coordination center for Northern Border

MANCHESTER — U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., introduced bipartisan legislation to require federal officials create a Northern Border Coordination Center to deal with the dramatic increase in arrests of suspected illegal immigrants in the Swanton Sector.

Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-New York, is joining onto the bill that would direct the Department of Homeland Security to set up this center to strengthen coordination of law enforcement efforts to include includes training, information sharing, intelligence, and engagement with federal, state, Tribal, local, and international government partners.

In the Swanton Sector, which includes New Hampshire’s northern border, Border Patrol agents arrested almost 7,000 migrants trying to cross the border illegally from October 2023 through September 2024, which is more than the previous 12 federal fiscal years combined.

“Strengthening operations at our northern border is critical to drug interdiction efforts and keeping dangerous substances out of our communities,” Pappas said.

“I thank Representative Tenney for partnering with me on this bill, and I will continue fighting to pass legislation that supports and invests in border security, law enforcement, and anti-smuggling technology.”

The Improving Coordination for the Northern Border Act would require the center be located with an existing U.S. Border Patrol sector headquarters, an Air and Marine Operations Branch, and a U.S. Coast Guard air station.

The center would serve as a training location for DHS personnel and as a testing grounds for new border security technologies and also requires Air and Marine Operations to maintain quick reaction capabilities, including against the rising threat of illegal cross-border drone activity.

Immigration advocates note this year there haven’t been any illegal crossings reported from Canada into New Hampshire, with the arrests occurring at the border stops in New York and Vermont.

They maintain claims of illegal immigration issues at the Canadian border are overblown.

Gov. Chris Sununu used $1.4 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act grants to create a Northern Border Alliance that provided grants and training to local, county and state law enforcement agencies within a 25-mile radius of the border with Canada.

State officials maintain the alliance has helped prevent illegal crossings into New Hampshire.

Pappas has called upon House Republican leadership to stop blocking the consideration of legislation to restore order and fix the U.S. immigration system that has been broken for decades.

He’s seeking a fourth term in the U.S. House and faces no primary opposition on Tuesday.

His Republican primary opponents blame Pappas for the Biden administration’s failures to slow until recently the large increase of illegal migration into this country from the southern border.

They accuse him of trying to paper over an issue that has been neglected for years.