Pappas’s Bipartisan Legislation to Strengthen Security Coordination at Northern Border Included in Defense Authorization Bill

Congressman Chris Pappas’s (NH-01) Securing Our Northern Border Act was included in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2025 that the House passed yesterday. This bipartisan legislation would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to establish the Northern Border Mission Center to strengthen implementation and coordination of the Northern Border Strategy, which 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 between October 2023 and September 2024, more than the previous 12 Fiscal Years combined.

“Strengthening operations at our northern border is critical to drug interdiction efforts and keeping our communities safe,” said Congressman Chris Pappas. “This center will provide a central hub for implementing the Northern Border Strategy, including enforcing our immigration laws and stemming drug trafficking, and bolstering coordination efforts between U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel, local law enforcement, and other partners. I’m pleased that important legislation to do this was included in the annual national defense bill. I will continue to support investments in border security, law enforcement, and anti-smuggling technology.”

The Securing Our Northern Border Act would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to establish the Northern Border Mission Center, to be collocated 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 support implementation of the Northern Border Security Strategy, help to track Northern Border security metrics, serve as a training location for DHS personnel and as a testing grounds for new border security technologies. The legislation also requires Air and Marine Operations to maintain quick reaction capabilities at the Center to support the border security mission along the Northern Border, including against the rising threat of illegal cross-border drone activity.

Background:

Pappas has been an ardent supporter of bipartisan efforts to address America’s northern and southern border and has called on House Republican leadership to stop blocking the consideration of legislation to restore order and fix the U.S.’s immigration system that has been broken for decades. 

Pappas is a cosponsor of the Dignity Act, which is comprehensive, bipartisan legislation to address security and infrastructure challenges at the border, hire additional border patrol personnel, establish new pathways for asylum seekers, and create a path to citizenship.

In September, Pappas introduced the bipartisan Improving Coordination for the Northern Border Act, which would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to establish the Northern Border Coordination Center to strengthen implementation and coordination of the Northern Border Strategy.

In March, Pappas helped launch a new border security task force to focus on the need for comprehensive, bipartisan solutions to address the border and fix the broken immigration system. Later that month, Pappas helped to pass the fiscal year 2024 government funding package, which included a $3.2 billion increase in funding for Customs and Border Patrol (CPB), providing for a record 22,000 agents, including 150 counter-fentanyl officers, and needed investments in fentanyl detection equipment.

In September 2023, Pappas called on House leadership to advance a supplemental appropriations package that expands fentanyl interdiction capacity and improves border security across the country, including along our northern border.