Feds deny Burgum's request to restore border crossing hours

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The U.S. Customs and Border Protection won’t restore hours of operation to pre-pandemic levels at some ports of entry in North Dakota, despite pressure from Gov. Doug Burgum.

In a letter to the agency and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security sent Friday, Burgum said the reduced hours at several North Dakota port crossings along the U.S.-Canadian border “causes significant hardship on the movement of citizens, goods and tourists between our two nations.”

In a statement to The Associated Press Friday, the federal agencies said longer opening hours cannot be justified because of the shrinking volume of traffic at the border crossings — a decline that began even before the pandemic.

“For several years, pre-COVID, CBP documented a reduction in vehicles and pedestrian traffic along our northern border, and CBP’s obligation is to utilize all available resources responsibly to perform our mission of safeguarding the homeland,” the statement said.

North Dakota has 17 border crossings and the one at Pembina on Interstate 29 in the northeastern part of the state is the busiest. In April 2020, hours of operation were reduced by several hours in the evening at 10 of crossings. Hours also were shortened at some ports of entry in Montana, Minnesota, Idaho and Washington, and will remain that way, agencies said.

The federal government said at the time that the reduction in hours would be temporary.

On April 1, 2022, the federal government rescinded the requirement for fully vaccinated travelers into the U.S. to be tested for the coronavirus.

Burgum said in his letter that the relaxed rule spurred a 40% increase in the number of people entering the U.S. through North Dakota. But Burgum said the number of people crossing the border is still half of...