Shaheen Visits New Hampshire-Canadian Border

PITTSBURG — U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) visited with officials at the border last week to receive a briefing on immigration enforcement efforts and ongoing communications challenges due to the area’s remoteness and lack of technology infrastructure.

Shaheen met with the chief border patrol agent for the Swanton sector, the patrol agent in charge of the Beecher Falls Border Patrol Station, the acting director of field operations for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) overseeing the ports of entry, and a group of state, local and county law enforcement officials.

The Senator heard directly about ongoing communication challenges and reported increases in border crossings and apprehensions, particularly in the Swanton sector, an area spanning approximately 300 miles from New York to the border of Maine that includes 58 miles of the New Hampshire border.

In addition to numerous grants to departments in New Hampshire, Senator Shaheen is advocating for $4.8 million through congressionally-directed spending for the New Hampshire Public Safety Interoperable Communications Network project, as requested by the NH Department of Safety. The funding aims to upgrade existing communications systems into a single modern network that provides greater capacity and resiliency for first responders throughout the state.