While the humanitarian crisis at the southern border grows under the Biden administration’s watch, two Republican lawmakers are urging President Biden to open the Canadian border. Fox News first reported that Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) are planning to introduce legislation that would compel Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to fully open the northern border for travel.
The "Restoring Northern Border Travel Act" would compel Mayorkas to allow the following within 10 days of the bill’s enactment.
(1) An individual traveling to visit a member, who is a United States citizen or permanent resident, of the immediate or extended family of such individual.
2) An individual traveling to visit property, including boats, within the United States owned or leased by such individual.
(3) An individual traveling to the United States to attend business meetings or site-visits.
4) An individual traveling directly to a United States airport to board a flight to a United States or international destination.
Vaccination rates are on the rise and new COVID cases are dropping in both countries, but DHS still extended restrictions apart from “non-essential travel.”
"Extending the travel restrictions for yet another month, despite the tremendous progress the U.S. has made in fully vaccinating Americans and safely reopening, is absolutely unacceptable to the families, businesses, and communities along the northern border," Stefanik said, per Fox.
The bill would then require Mayorkas to outline a plan for full reopening of the northern border within 20 days.
