BUFFALO, N.Y. — Senator Chuck Schumer and Congressman Brian Higgins have introduced a new piece of legislation that would set minimum staffing requirements at the northern border as a way to prevent the backups and other issues we've seen lately.
This spring, U.S. Customs and Border Protection started to move several hundred officers from the north down to the border with mexico. That led to delays and backups here.
Most of the officers have returned, but not all of them. That's where their proposal comes in.
It's called the BOUND Act. That stands for Border Officer Utilization for National Defense Act.
It would alleviate security and economic issues that have come up when we didn't have enough Customs and Border Protection officers manning our border with Canada.
Higgins and Schumer believe they can use leverage from the budget process to force this through, with the help of other lawmakers who represent the northern border areas.
Meanwhile, 2 On Your Side was supposed to get a report from the Department of Homeland Security, required by law, specifying how many officers were transferred, from where, to where, for how long, and when staffing would get back to where it should.
That report was due July 31. It's more than a month late. The Department of Homeland Security won't even respond to our messages.
Schumer and Higgins haven't had much luck either. Both seem pretty ticked that the Trump Administration is just ignoring the law by not putting out that report.