The ACLU of New Hampshire is suing U.S. Customs and Border Protection to get more detailed information on recent immigration enforcement efforts along the Canadian border.
Earlier this year, the Border Patrol’s Swanton Sector — which covers parts of New York, Vermont and New Hampshire — issued apress release announcing an 846% increase in apprehensions and encounters between Oct. 2022 and Jan. 2023, compared to a year earlier. Border agents said they made 367 apprehensions in January 2023 alone, ”part of an upward trend dating back to the beginning of [fiscal year 2022].”
More from NHPR: Sununu says more people are illegally crossing into NH. But the data is unclear.
In a federal lawsuit filed this week, the ACLU alleges the federal government balked when asked to provide more specific data to back up those statistics. The ACLU said they asked the Border Patrol for information on how many of the crossings were at the New Hampshire border, which covers about 58 of the 295 miles patrolled by the Swanton Sector.
“Please be advised that CBP does not release enforcement statistics and/or enforcement data at less than a Sector or Field Office level,” the government wrote in response to the request.
The ACLU says the government has failed to cite any specific exemptions preventing it from releasing the information.
The lawsuit comes as New Hampshire lawmakers continue to debate a $1.4 million task force proposed by Gov. Chris Sununu to more aggressively patrol the northern border. While the New Hampshire House stripped that funding from its budget proposal, the Senate recently revived it.
In a March letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Sununu cited the Swanton Sector’s statistics as he called for a stricter federal border response.
But when the ACLU asked the state for any records about New Hampshire border crossings, Sununu’s office and the Department of Safety said they couldn’t provide any materials.
In its recent court filing, the ACLU alleges that “to date, no concrete evidence indicates that apprehensions have significantly increased at the New Hampshire/Canada border.”
