In a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the governor made an urgent request for federal resources to handle a rise in crossings.

ALBANY -- Gov. Kathy Hochul has called on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to more than double the number of Border Patrol agents on New York's border with Canada, following a sharp increase in illegal crossings in the region.

In a letter sent last week to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Hochul said additional federal resources are urgently needed on the state's northern border to manage the uptick in southbound illegal crossings.

The Swanton Sector -- the Border Patrol sector spanning from northern New York to Vermont -- as of early this year only had funding for 338 agents, despite needing more than 700 agents to adequately secure the region, Hochul wrote in her letter last week. And of the 338 agent postings in the sector currently being funded, only 260 are filled, she added.

In the 2024 fiscal year, which ended in early October, Border Patrol agents in the Swanton Sector reported over 19,000 arrests -- an unprecedented total. Just two years earlier, agents made just over 1,000 arrests.

"Unfortunately, our migration challenges have not been resolved and, in fact, they only continue to worsen," Hochul wrote. "This formal request to increase the number of border patrol officers to meet the Swanton Sector needs should be met expeditiously."

The governor also doubled down on her request for DHS to reverse a recently announced plan to cut hours at several border crossings in northern New York, beginning early next year.

Those crossings -- located at Chateauguay, Overton Corners, Rouses Point,and Trout River -- will cease operating 24 hours a day, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Hochul decried the move in a news release shortly after it was announced.

Hochul said the state has already taken independent action on the border, including allocating $5 million in federal and state homeland security grant funding to enhance security in the region and to "support investigations into transnational criminal organizations."

"While these important resources will help to keep New Yorkers safe and manage the spike in illegal border crossings, greater federal support is crucial to meet the magnitude of migration we are seeing," Hochul wrote in her letter to Mayorkas.

She also took an indirect swipe at congressional Republicans, contending that New York would've been better equipped to deal with the increase in southbound migration had a bipartisan border deal not been tanked following GOP lawmakers withdrawing support. Their lack of support was driven, in part, by what Republicans and president-elect Donald J. Trump had alleged was a politically motivated effort by Democrats to improve then-candidate Biden's low poll numbers on his handling of the border crisis.

"The state of New York is already responding to the broader, unprecedented humanitarian crisis that has seen hundreds of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers arrive in New York City requiring shelter, emergency care, and other resources," Hochul wrote in her letter. "As border crossings surge at New York's border with Canada and fall at the southern border, we need the federal government to target resources to ensure the northern border remains well-protected and secure."