Senator Hassan Tours Swanton Sector, Receives Update on Northern Border Security

PITTSBURG – U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan, a senior member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, on Friday toured sections of the Northern border and received updates from U.S. Border Patrol leaders on security in the Swanton Sector. The Swanton Sector covers portions of the U.S.-Canada border in New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York, and there has been a significant increase in attempted border crossings in this area over the last year.

Senator Hassan started the visit at the Beecher Falls U.S. Border Patrol Station in Canaan, VT, where Border Patrol leaders updated her on challenges that they have faced with attempted border crossings and drug trafficking, and then Senator Hassan and the officials walked and drove along segments of the border, including in Pittsburg, NH.

“I appreciated the opportunity to sit down with Border Patrol leaders and tour segments of our Northern border with them. I am grateful for the work that they are doing to strengthen security and keep our North Country communities safe, especially as the Swanton Sector continues to see an increase in attempted border crossings,” said Senator Hassan. “I will keep working to support the efforts of our law enforcement personnel at both our Northern and Southern borders.”

The visit was part of Senator Hassan’s ongoing efforts to support border security. The Senator has visited the U.S.-Mexico border three times as a member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, and earlier this year, she visited Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras as part of a bipartisan Congressional Delegation trip where she spoke with foreign officials about economic and public safety priorities – and in particular the need to crack down on fentanyl and other drug trafficking. To address the needs that she has heard on these trips and in other briefings and hearings, she has worked to increase funding for border security. Senator Hassan also worked with her colleagues to pass into law the bipartisan INTERDICT Act, which has provided critical tools to Customs and Border Protection to help detect and intercept fentanyl and other illegal synthetic opioids. Additionally, Senator Hassan recently joined her colleagues on both sides of the aisle in introducing legislation to direct Customs and Border Protection to update its policies in order to help Border Patrol stop drug smuggling.

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