North Dakota officials voiced their opinions before members of the House Judiciary Committee late last month, claiming the northern border can not withstand the border crisis that's already wrought chaos on America's southwest border with Mexico.
According to Fox News, North Dakota communities that sit along the U.S.-Canada border have noticed an increase in crime, drugs, and homelessness due to the rise of illegal alien crossings. That is why four North Dakota officials stood before House lawmakers on Wednesday to describe the crisis at the border in hopes that they could help fix the problem “orchestrated” by the Biden administration.
Since 2023, North Dakota has seen an increase of 7 percent in violent crime, a 29 percent increase in homelessness, and a 79 percent increase in drug overdose deaths since 2019, according to Fox News' reporting.
“We have illegals crossing into the farmers’ field that destroy crops,” Walhalla Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Rebecca Davis told “Fox and Friends First” ahead of her congressional testimony. “And then with the lack of [border] staffing, it comes down on the residents to call in when they see something…that takes the police resources out of our small towns.”
Davis also said that “reduced” staffing hours at the Walhalla Port of Entry have “impacted” trade and travel with Canada. People now have to travel 39 miles away to the next 24-hour port of entry.
At the hearing titled “The Biden Border Crisis: North Dakota Perspectives," Davis said that the “reduced” staffing hours and “lack of adequate border staff” have had “severe humanitarian impacts.” Illegal alien families have been found “deceased” and are being “told” that crossing the northern border is “easier” than the southern border.
📺 Rebecca Davis, the Executive Director of the Wahalla Area Chamber of Commerce, describes how local businesses and industries suffer as a result of substantial border crossings and mass illegal immigration in North Dakota. pic.twitter.com/2wQlrFRB6B
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) May 29, 2024
North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley testified that his state's border crisis is being caused by “negative law enforcement impacts” caused by the “Biden’s administration’s refusal to shut down the border.”
Wrigley and Cass County Sheriff Jess Jahner said the state was being negatively impacted by the border crisis at the southern border, too. Drug trafficking over the southern border from Mexico, “especially” fentanyl, had brought a strong presence of the deadly drug into the state.
For instance, Jahner said Cass County is connected to two major highways, making “narcotic trafficking” “accessible and enticing” to the community.
Jahner claims to have contacted the Border Patrol for “matters” related to illegal crossings but was told by the Border Patrol that they did not have enough resources to give Cass County the help needed to support local law enforcement bearing the brunt of the crisis.
The sheriff of Renville County, a county sitting directly on the U.S.-Canada border, agreed with Jahner, warning Republican lawmakers that a “lack of resources” has left the border open for national threats as illegal aliens flood into the U.S.
Roger Hutchinson testified that law enforcement is now spending much of their time answering calls on “dead bodies, high-speed pursuits, property damage, and humanitarian rescues” – all involving or caused by illegal aliens unlawfully crossing the border.
In March, House Republicans sent a letter to Alejandro Mayorkas, Biden's impeached and derelict Homeland Security Secretary, voicing “serious concern” over an “unprecedented surge in apprehensions” happening along the northern border.
According to Rep. Mike Kelly's (R-PA) office, in the 2023 fiscal year, Border Patrol agents apprehended 10,021 illegal aliens who had entered between ports of entry—2,229 of those arrests were in the first four months. Compared with the first four months of FY 2024, in which the Border Patrol apprehended 4,772 illegal aliens, the problem is clearly worsening.
“It is time to shut down the border or come up with structured policy…that starts putting citizens of our country first,” Jahner said.
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