Grand Forks, ND – In an effort to examine state and national security along the northern border, U.S. Senator Mark Dayton today kicked off a two-day tour of the northern Minnesota border at the Grand Forks Regional Airport Authority. Dayton will host border security discussion forums in Roseau, International Falls, and Duluth, today and tomorrow, with local law enforcement and elected officials, border patrol agents, emergency management personnel, and concerned citizens. Dayton will also tour the border patrol facility in International Falls, and will join the sheriffs of Lake of the Woods and Kittson counties for an aerial tour of the border, to see its most vulnerable areas.

Dayton will discuss the challenges faced by Minnesota law enforcement and northern border agents, as well as his amendment that would provide $44 million for the hiring of 236 additional agents along the U.S.-Canada border.

“They say they can’t rely on our federal border patrol agents, because there aren’t any there,” Dayton said. “So, these five or six-person local law enforcement departments are nearly entirely on their own.”

The Dayton measure, passed by the Senate in July as part of the Homeland Security spending bill, now awaits approval by the joint House-Senate Conference Committee.

The northern U.S. border, which stretches across 13 states and 5,525 miles, currently has 950 patrol agents – with only some 250 guarding the border at any one time. By contrast, the southern U.S. border currently has approximately 10,000 agents. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is required, by the 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, to increase the number of agents along the northern border by 20 percent each year, until 2010. Yet, today there are 44 fewer agents there than in 2004.

Following his tour of the northern border, Dayton will travel to the U.S. southern border, including stops in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. In coordination with DHS, Dayton will tour border patrol facilities, observe tactics and infrastructure, and receive debriefings on immigration and illegal drug issues. Dayton seeks to compare the security level of the northern border with that of the U.S. - Mexico border.

Below is the schedule for Senator Dayton’s northern border security forums. The discussions are open to the public and area residents are encouraged to attend and ask questions.

Monday, August 21, 2006

3:00 P.M. Roseau County Courthouse Conference Room

606 5th Avenue, Southwest

Roseau, MN

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

10:00 A.M. Rainy River Community College

Room SC115

1501 Highway 71

International Falls, MN

2:30 P.M. St. Louis County Courthouse

Room 202

100 North 5th Avenue, West

Duluth, MN

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