The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently announced a plan to temporarily
transfer approximately 750 Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
officers from the Canadian border to the Mexican border to help
address the influx of asylum seekers from Central America. The
transferred officers are being reassigned from their posts along
the 5,525-mile Canadian border, creating worries about the
potential for travel delays at busy ports of entry.
On May 3, 2019, 13 members of the U.S. House of
Representatives' Northern Border Caucus sent a letter to Acting
Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin K. McAleenan, asking him to
rescind the transfers. In the letter, representatives from six
border states, including Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New
York, North Dakota, and Washington, raised concerns about the
already low staffing levels along the northern border. According to
the representatives, the Canadian border suffers from a
"consistent inability" to meet statutorily
