U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) called out President Joe Biden’s (D) Fiscal Year 2025 budget for not doing “nearly enough to address the flood of illegal migrants and fentanyl entering the United States” at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing last week.
Also at this hearing, Sen. Collins asked Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas to address Customs and Board Protection (CBP) staffing shortages in Maine that are jeopardizing the arrival of international cruise ships in Eastport this fall.
According to a press release published by Collins this past Thursday, CBP has told Eastport that it “cannot accommodate the four planned international cruise ship arrivals this fall.”
This comes in spite of the fact that CBP reportedly “staffed a larger number of international cruise ship arrivals” this past year.
Collins also noted that Bar Harbor is “seeing a reduction in international cruise ship arrivals” this year.
[RELATED: Bar Harbor Town Council Unanimously Dissolves Cruise Ship Committee]
During these same remarks before the Appropriations Committee last week, Collins also raised concerns about security along the country’s northern and southern borders.
After calling out the “flood of illegal migrants and fentanyl” entering along the southern border, she drew attention to the fact “migrant encounters have also grown dramatically –albeit from a much lower base — at the northern border increasing 73 percent in Fiscal Year 2023.”
[RELATED: 18 Romanian Illegal Aliens Who Stormed Maine-Canada Border Released Into Community — Collins]
Collins’ comments appeared to imply a connection between the nation’s border crisis and CBP’s inability to provide the necessary staffing to the port of entry in Eastport for this summer’s cruise ship season.
“The cruise ship industry is vital to many Maine communities and delivers millions in economic benefits to our state annually,” Collins said. “This is the flip side of the problems that we’re now seeing on the southwest border, creating also problems on the northeast border and northern border in general.”
“Mr. Secretary, what I’m asking from you today is to look into this staffing issue and follow up with me, to try to resolve this problem,” said Collins.
Click Here to Read Sen. Collins Full Press Release
“The Eastport Port Authority thanks Senator Susan Collins for taking the time to bring real issues, affecting real operations in our parts of the world to the forefront,” Executive Director for the Port of Eastport Chris Gardner said in a statement last week.
“To see a Cabinet Secretary have a hearing start off by being asked specifically about issues of our port, and our friends to the south in nearby Bar Harbor, shows that good representation matters,” Gardner said.
“Let us hope this work lends itself to us to finding the solutions we need to continue to grow our port and continue to bring much needed economic activity to the entire region,” said Gardner.
“Sometimes it can seem that the world is so big and its problems too numerous for attention to be brought to the little corners of the country in our smaller communities,” the Eastport Port Authority said in a statement on Facebook last week. “Although the smaller communities vastly outnumber the larger centers across this country, they seem to lose ‘airtime’ to the issues of the urban centers that dominate most discussions.”
“Let us hope this work lends itself to us to finding the solutions we need to continue to grow our port and continue to bring much needed economic activity to the entire region,” the Port Authority concluded.
Eastport is one of only a few Maine ports that are certified to serve as an initial port of entry for international vessels, which reportedly account for a large percentage of cruise ships docking along the Maine coast.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="27422 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=27422">14 Comments
Blah, blah, blah! You’re a bit late to the party, Susan, after the damage to our country has already been done.
She votes with dimwits all the time. If you do biz with SW Collins you support her. She;s a rhino through and through.
Want to rent a wood chipper, park it in front of Susie C s office and offer to let her use it, free of charge
As much as l need to run it here at home, it would better serve society if she took advantage
Hey Collins how long have you been in DC and just now you realize there is a problem on our borders? How many Mainers will die this month from a drug overdose because you and the rest of you ilk have refused to secure our borders, shame on you and King, Pingree and Golden.
Right, as Republicans rejected their own border security bill that was the strongest in U.S. history. The bill had the full backing of the Border Control members. The bill was spiked because Trump told Johnson to ki!! it. Facts are facts and the author of the bill, Senator Lankford, said his own party did the bill in.
“Never Trump” Collins who is the largest Republican Biden supporter in the Senate talks big but does nothing to end the invasion, protect our Constitutional rights while supporting increased spending driving up inflation hurting the citizens od Maine. she is another RINO who must be replaced in the next election
I take it Sue is thinking about the words “DEATH TO AMERICA” . Is the Independent Senator, who votes with the DEATH group in DC thinking about the words?
Collins is laughable. Hey Susie , it’s time that you just go away. You’re nothing but a swamp critter.
…yeah, whatever, Collins. Your lips move, but, your actions speak louder. You’re as useless as any Democrat!
…anyone remember when she promised to only serve 2 terms if elected to the Senate? I do…she’s on her 5th term! Congress must be a very lucrative endeavor.
Too little too late Senator Collins. I remember when you sided with the Dems and RINOs and told President Trump that there wasn’t enough money to build a wall. As a member of the Appropriations Committee, when was the last time you appropriated any funds to secure our border? You continue to do the bidding of Joe Biden and spend us into oblivion, and won’t support the candidate who WANTS to secure our border.
Isn’t that rich ! The traitor that helped the crook get in the house, is upset that’s he’s stealing the silverware. Lmao….it doesn’t get much better than this !
Ms Collins, maybe you should take a long hard look in the mirror… You are one of the people responsible for this invasion and as such you will be held accountable.
You did nothing for the people of Maine when you voted with the Democrats, time after time after time. Be honest, change your ‘party’ for you are NOT and never have been a Republican. You may want to talk to your friend Ms Mills, she has opened Maine up to ILLEGALS, housing them, feeding them, providing medical care and education all on the tax payers dime.
Stop the insanity and do something positive for Mainers who you are supposed to represent!
Collins has been on GAN numerous times with Shawn Moody talking about how wonderful it is to have the thousands of illegals from Africa in the state.
Saying they’re here to work.
No. They will tell you they’re here because America is rich and should be paying for everything for them.
Also, economics is not a valid legal reason for asylum.
Go look in on the Ptld library during the week. You’ll see it full of them working hard sitting in chairs on their smart phones.
A day late and dollar short is an under statement! What the @#$% have you and Angus steak been doing for the past 4 years?