BOWBELLS – Area law enforcement officials met with Sen. John Hoeven, R-ND, Wednesday to outline challenges of securing the northern border and preventing illegal border crossings.

Hoeven, a member of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Committee,reviewed operations along the northern border with Burke County Sheriff Shawn Brien, Divide County Sheriff Zachary Schroeder, Renville County Sheriff Roger Hutchinson and other local law enforcement officials. The officials showed the senator the Short Creek Crossing, an area where the Burke County Sheriff’s office has purchased two game cameras to assist CBP in preventing illegal crossings.

“While the nation’s attention is focused on the southern border, we need to ensure the security of our northern border as well,” Hoeven said. “The Grand Forks Sector Border Patrol is responsible for securing nearly 900 miles of the northern border. We appreciate our local law enforcement stepping up to help fill existing needs, and we appreciate this opportunity to see firsthand the challenges our law enforcement faces in securing our northern border. At the same time, we’ll continue working to put in place the infrastructure, personnel and technology needed to secure both our northern and southern borders.”

Hoeven has worked to provide more than $1.3 billion in border infrastructure funding in Fiscal Year 2021 as well as $28 million in FY 2021 and $83 million in FY 2020 to deploy CBP remote surveillance technology and surveillance towers along the U.S. northern and southern borders. He introduced the bipartisan CBP Hiring and Retention Innovation Act, legislation that would require the Department of Homeland Security to improve the hiring and retention of CBP personnel.

Wednesday’s visit to the northern border follows Hoeven’s review of the crisis on the southern border. At the end of March, Hoeven was part of a Senate delegation that traveled to the Rio Grande Valley to meet with Border Patrol agents, review CBP operations and processing facilities, visit border crossings and hear directly from local officials.