Schumer Announces Border Enforcement Security Task Force In Massena; Schumer Pushed For Multi-Agency Team to Identify an Squash Border Security Threats

Press Release

Today, United States Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that he has successfully pushed the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to form a Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST) team in Massena, New York to better protect and regulate the New York-Canadian Border. BEST teams are lead by ICE, and partner with federal, state, local and foreign law enforcement counterparts to create a multi-agency team that aims to identify, disrupt, and dismantle criminal organizations from posing significant threats to border security. During CR negotiations, Schumer advocated that budget money be more heavily focused on New York border security, and that funding has made possible the creation of this BEST team in Massena. Once in place, Massena's BEST team will dramatically increase security in border communities, while allowing more fluidity for cross-border businesses and job-creating economic development.

"It is absolutely essential that we fully secure our Northern border, with federal, state, and local law enforcement working hand-in-hand to make sure that terrorists and drug smugglers don't sneak into the United States," said Schumer. "That's why I pressed for a Border Security Task Force that will help coordinate all levels of law enforcement as we seek to improve border security. This team will go a long way towards making our border safer, and I'm going to keep pushing to make it as safe as it possibly can be."

Schumer today revealed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has confirmed there is sufficient federal funding to create a Border Enforcement Security Task Force in Massena. This BEST team in Massena will join federal, state, local and foreign law enforcement officials to create a multi-agency team that will identify, disrupt and dismantle criminal organizations posing significant threats to border security. Massena's BEST Team will include individuals from ICE, Customs and Border Protection, police from localIndian tribes, local and state police in the United States and Canada. This team will work from the DHS headquarters in Massena, and coordinate joint responses from one location to track and apprehend illegal cross border activity, addressing previous concerns that federal agencies and state and local law enforcement along the Northern Border were working at cross-purposes.

This BEST team in Massena will step up security in border communities, while also allowing for more fluidity for law-abiding citizens to do business and develop local economies. Schumer anticipates this cross-border economic development will create jobs in the region, in addition to the new ICE employees that will go to Massena to implement the BEST team. Schumer points out that an existing BEST team in Buffalo, based out of Seaport, is making serious strides in stopping cross-border drug smuggling and crime, and anticipates the Massena team will have comparable success.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative agency in the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is charged with enforcing a wide array of laws, including those related to securing the border and combating criminal smuggling. The United States borders have experienced a dramatic surge in cross-border crime and violence in recent years. In response to this trend, ICE has partnered with federal, state, local and foreign law enforcement counterparts to create the Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST) initiative, a series of multi-agency teams developed as a comprehensive approach to identifying, disrupting and dismantling criminal organizations posing significant threats to border security. The teams are designed to increase information sharing and collaboration among the agencies combating this threat on both sides of the border. In select locations, BEST teams have been established at critical seaports to address smuggling and other criminal activity at maritime ports of entry.

Source