Letter to the Hon. Chad Wolf, Acting Secretary of the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security - Schumer calls on DHS Acting Secretary Wolf to immediately clarify all travel restrictions to Canada, allow vital cross-border medical personnel & other industries to help aid pandemic response

Letter

Dear Acting Secretary Wolf,

I write to express my concern regarding the President's announcement that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will prohibit travel of "non-essential traffic" at the U.S.-Canada border. While I recognize the necessity of tight border restrictions to contain this pandemic, the continued absence of proper guidance for our border staff could wreak havoc on the surrounding communities and further exacerbate the harm caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Area hospitals and healthcare clinics rely on Canadian doctors and health care personnel to treat patients. Buffalo is already a major medical hub with hundreds of Canadian employees. Western New York already faces over twenty confirmed Covid-19 cases according to the New York State Department of Health. Additionally, hundreds of nurses and physicians from Canada commute daily to North Country hospitals, clinics and medical practices. Now more than ever, the uninterrupted services of cross-border healthcare workers may mean life or death.

Furthermore, many employees who commute from Canada are vital to the missions of food banks, homeless shelters, and other non-profits organizations that are currently being over-stressed by this crisis. That is to say nothing of the hundreds of men and women who work in other fields like sanitation and manufacturing whose continued presence at their jobs is critical to New York's responsiveness. Given the current precarious state of the U.S. economy and our response network, we can ill afford any additional unnecessary shocks.

Before issuing any travel restriction orders, I ask that you respond to the following questions in order to provide more clarity on implementation for border staff, trans-national healthcare workers and other vital employees:

1. What is considered essential? Is it anyone with a work permit? Is it anyone in the health care field regardless of what kind of visa? Does this exemption include Tribal and Native Nation citizens under the Jay Treat? This designation is flummoxing the bridge personnel already.
2. What steps, if any, are being taken to ensure the safety of CBP officers? These men and women are on the front lines of this crisis. We must take adequate action to ensure our border personnel are given the protective equipment and access to testing that they need to keep themselves, their families, and our border safe. At present, they are unable to even identify whether or not they have questioned or searched someone who is symptomatic.
3. Are Americans who re-enter the country from Canada if they've been elsewhere automatically subject to a mandatory self-quarantine?

Thank you for your work to protect the American public and I hope to get your prompt attention to my inquiry. I look forward to our continued collaboration.

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