releases: https://www.heitkamp.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=FAFC31BA-357E-4F06-9629-8076A439EBC4
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://www.heitkamp.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=FAFC31BA-357E-4F06-9629-8076A439EBC4 | Heitkamp Releases New Podcast on Protecting the Northern Border | 2018-09-11 | 2018 | 2018-09 | Democrat | House | ND | Heidi Heitkamp | H001069 | www.heitkamp.senate.gov | legacy | WASHINGTON, D.C. U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp today released the latest episode of her podcast, The Hotdish,' on the need to secure the Northern Border. In this episode, Heitkamp speaks with Mary Delaquis, who was on the front lines of securing North Dakota's busiest port of entry for 16 years as Pembina's Area Port Director. Then, Heitkamp talks to author Porter Fox, who traveled the Northern Border by canoe, car, freighter, and foot. Fox illustrates the vastness of the border and challenges we face to secure it in his book, Northland: A 4,000-Mile Journey Along America's Forgotten Border. The Hotdish is available on Spotify, iTunes and Simplecast. Current episodes are also available on Soundcloud. The border between the United States and Canada presents a unique national security challenge, Heitkamp said. While we must continue to address the security shortfalls on the Southern Border, we can't lose sight of what lies to the north a 5,500 mile long, largely remote border that sees the largest exchange of goods and people of any border in the world. That's why I worked on a bipartisan bill to require a comprehensive threat assessment of the border, which led the Department of Homeland Security to release an updated Northern Border strategy this past June. In this episode of The Hotdish, I speak with two people who have intimate knowledge of the Northern Border and the challenges we face in defending it. Their stories and experiences offer a captivating window into what makes the Northern Border unique, and why we must strategically defend it to keep our communities strong and safe. In June, Heitkamp announced that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a new strategic plan to tackle chronic and emerging security issues along the Northern Border. The new strategy flows froma comprehensive assessmentof the Northern Border and its challenges that was required by Heitkamp's bipartisan legislation, the Northern Border Security Review Act, which was signed into law in December 2016. The legislation was a key piece of her Strong & Safe Communities Initiative. Click here for more information about the new strategy. A central component of the updated strategy calls for increased cooperation between U.S. agencies and state, local, tribal, and Canadian partners something former Pembina Area Port Director Mary Delaquis strongly agrees with. That relationship needs to be strong. We need to have faith in one another, and we have to be able to trust one another, Delaquis said. There's a lot of space between the border stations and even at the stations, where we maybe only have two officers working at any given time we need to rely on our partners, the Canadians. Whether it's U.S. Customs and Border Protection, local law enforcement agencies and the office of Border Patrol all of those agencies need to work together in order to make sure the borders are secure. Author Porter Fox traveled 4,000 miles along the Northern Border and observed many oddities that highlight the unique nature of the border. In Northern Vermont, he found an apartment building that straddles the border line, where Americans dating Canadians have historically gotten apartments. There's a door on the American side, a door on the Canadian side, and no one seems to care, he says. In Northern Maine, there's a factory built over the Saint John River there's a line painted across the factory floor separating the U.S. side from the Canadian side. But what Fox mostly saw was a sprawling, unmarked border that is often vulnerable to incursions. I saw so many situations where the border was not marked. If it was guarded, it was by remote cameras and motion sensors, but the Ports of Entry and CBP are so far away that routinely people slip across. They get caught on camera or trip a motion detector, but CBP can't get there in time, Fox said. The vulnerability of the Northern Border is also addressed in DHS's updated strategy, which calls for greater exchange of timely, actionable information about border incursions, strategic placement of technology based on risk assessments and capability gaps, and deterrence efforts to prevent adversaries from exploiting the Northern Border. According to DHS, approximately 400,000 people and over $1.6 billion in goods and services cross the Northern Border each day representing the largest bilateral flow of goods and people in the world. Recent reports indicate that illegal Northern Border crossings increased 142 percent in the first six months of 2018, underscoring the need to quickly work to deploy resources and implement a smarter strategy to ensure the security of North Dakotans and the nation. Background Heitkamp's work to make sure sufficient attention is paid to protecting the Northern Border includes meetings with border security officials in North Dakota and in Washington D.C. visiting the border in Pembina and Portal, raising awareness about the challenges at the border for top federal officials and agency heads, and introducing legislation. More details about action she has taken to make sure the Northern Border receives the proper attention include: Bringing then-DHS Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to North Dakota. When Heitkamp brought Mayorkas to Pembina's Port of Entry and Border Patrol Facilities in April 2015, they spoke about ways to improve issues federal border security officials face in attracting and maintaining a strong border security workforce. During the visit, they also discussed ways to improve efforts to combat human and drug trafficking, as well as ways to expand the use of technology to help protect the border. Reducing drug crime and flow at the border. In August 2014, Heitkamp joined then-White House Drug Czar Michael Botticelli to unveil a new national strategy to fight drug crimes in the Bakken and at the Northern Border that she specifically pushed for. Calling attention to chronic challenges at Northern Border ports of entry. In March of last year, Heitkamp questioned key U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) union officials about actions that could be taken to help effectively tackle consistent challenges faced by CBP officers at the Northern Border's 120 ports of entry. Currently, the CBP's Office of Field Operations needs additional officers to adequately secure the nation's ports of entry, which hundreds of millions of travelers crossed last year more than ever before and where international travel is expected to increase exponentially. Holding border security meetings in Minot, Portal and Grand Forks. In August, Heitkamp brought together CBP officials and other federal, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies in Minot to discuss thenew Northern Border Strategy and gain input on their needs as the strategy is implemented. Last November, Heitkamp visited the Portal Port of Entry where she met with CBP officers and managers about the challenges they face in helping secure the Northern Border. Heitkamp visited the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facility in Grand Forks in January 2014, and she held a discussion in June 2014 with law enforcement in Minot to discuss stressed law enforcement personnel in the border region. About The Hotdish: Heitkampkicked off her podcast last Februarywith an episode on her efforts to combat human trafficking, interviewing anti-human trafficking leader Cindy McCain and North Dakota journalist Kevin Wallevand. Since then, Heitkamp's podcast has covered a wide range of topics, including negotiations for the nextFarm Bill, the role ofmoderates in Congress,U.S.-Russia relations,health care, her bipartisan bill that wouldpromote carbon capture, therole of refugees and immigrants in our communities, thethreat posed by North Korea, andtackling the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women, tax reform, an update on her effort to combat human trafficking, the importance of smart trade policies and NAFTA, Capitol Hill interns, Vietnam veterans, and the Farm Bill. ### | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |