ROSEAU, Minn. – Citing savings it says have fallen far short of the resulting economic damage, the Roseau City Council this week passed a resolution calling on U.S. Customs and Border Protection to restore 8 a.m. to midnight hours at the Roseau Port of Entry. The agency in January 2018 set reduced hours of 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. as part of an effort to reduce overtime costs at 24-hour ports in Pembina, N.D., and Warroad, Minn.
In its resolution, the council said the economic loss in Roseau as a result of reduced vehicle crossings is “conservatively estimated” at more than $100,000 a year, far in excess of the $15,000 in savings CBP achieved by reducing hours at ports in Roseau and Lancaster, Minn.
That doesn’t include “the lost time and inconvenience to travelers who must use alternate ports requiring one- to 1½-hour detours,” the resolution states.
On behalf of the council, Todd Peterson, Roseau community development coordinator, asked that people forward their concerns to U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the House Committee of Homeland Security; U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; and Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
“We believe the resolution speaks for itself,” Peterson said in an email.
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The council’s resolution follows recent comments made by U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., who also criticized CBP for the reduction in hours that has cost Roseau and Lancaster “more than $100,000 a year in economic losses while saving the government a paltry $15,000.
“Given that the administration wants to spend $500 million on a nonessential project to paint the southern border wall black, this seems like less than a drop in the bucket,” Rep. Peterson wrote May 25 in his weekly newsletter. “CBP’s diversion of resources from the northern to the southern border highlights their dismissive attitude towards Minnesota residents and businesses along the Canadian border.”
