Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem spoke in Detroit over the weekend, discussing how the Trump administration is working to secure America’s northern border with Canada.
Noem said that steps have already been taken toward that goal, but that much more still needs to be done.
“It has to be all hands on deck,” Noem said. “We’ve got more resources here than we ever have before, and more is coming.”
Noem spoke at a roundtable hosted by America’s Future Tour, a project of Building America’s Future. The U.S.-Canada partnership, impacts on the tribal communities on the border, and struggles for local law enforcement were all touched during the roundtable.
U.S. Rep. John James, R-MI, joined Noem and other border security and law enforcement advocates at the event. James called illegal immigration and drug trafficking a “crisis,” both for Michigan and other northern border states.
“Michigan is at the forefront. We are the epicenter of the northern border crisis,” James said. “We have a vital opportunity to secure our border and no one is doing a better job than President Donald J. Trump.”
There are 13 U.S. states that border Canada, including Alaska. Yet, Noem said the consequences of the border crisis extends beyond the states on either the northern or southern border.
“We are dealing with this as a failure of the Biden administration and how tragically they destroyed the security of the families that live in this country,” Noem said. “Every state has become a border state.”
Currently, the majority of all illegal drugs and terrorists entering the U.S. is entering through the northern border, The Center Square previously reported. This is due to the lockdown of entry at the southern border.
“Since we have secured the southern border, the TDA [Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal organization from Venezuela], the MS-13, and the cartels are bringing their drugs and coming across this northern border as well,” Noem said. “It’s very important for folks to realize that, as we’re encountering them, that we’re not letting down our guard here at the northern border.”
Under the Biden administration, the northern border saw its greatest number of apprehensions of illegal border crossers in U.S. history, including the greatest number of Canadian illegal border crossers, The Center Square previously reported. The majority of those illegal border crossers were reported in New York, Washington and Vermont.
The flow has not stopped though, with April data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection showing the number of arrests made by the Border Patrol in Maine had reached its highest level in more than two decades.
James said more federal attention should now be turned to the northern border, as they work with Canada to help enforce America’s border policies.
“Next, we need to secure our northern border, and we need a less than laissez-faire approach from our Canadian neighbors,” he said. “We need them to take our border security as seriously as they want us to take their sovereignty. We need to use every tool at our disposal.”
James applauded the use of tariffs against the Canadians to get them to the table, while Noem said she hopes the new political leadership in Canada will be more willing to work with the U.S. to enforce the border.
“The former Prime Minister of Canada was a train wreck, and he was hard to work with,” Noem said. “We are really hopeful that this new leader, Prime Minister Carney, will be a different individual – a different individual who will work closely with the Trump administration to give us the security, the information and the partnerships we need . . . Now we have the opportunity for a better partnership going forward.”
For Michigan, Noem said that will include border enforcement not just on land, but also on the Great Lakes.
“We’re strengthening not just what we do at our ports of entry to scan shipping containers, trucks, cars, passengers, people and pedestrians that may cross, but also what we’re doing out on the waters,” she explained.
If the additional funding for DHS is passed by Congress in the Trump-supported One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Noem said even more support would be headed to the northern border.
“This [bill] is extremely important to fund the operation that we need to get these criminals out of our country,” Noem said. “We need to be able to have the resources for our law enforcement to have backup, to build the infrastructure at the wall that we need, and to be able to go out there and have the officers that we need to do the work that needs to be done to restore law and order.”
