Ramaswamy Issues Warning About Northern Border Security

Tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who is running for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, expressed his concerns about U.S. border security shortly after a vehicle exploded at a Niagara Falls, New York border checkpoint on Wednesday in a possible terrorist attack.

The Republican presidential candidate told Fox News that he has been calling for “secure” borders and reiterated his message about the northern border, which he described as the “new frontier of the border crisis.”

“I have been sounding the alarm bell about the northern border for a long time,” Ramaswamy said. “I visited the northern border earlier; I’m the only presidential candidate to do it. That’s where the new frontier of the border crisis is actually going. We have a bad crisis at the northern border.”

“More fentanyl was captured at the northern border last year than could kill 3 million Americans,” he continued. “And, in fact, in New Hampshire last fall, there was a Brazilian ex-military man who was captured and apprehended who had killed 11 people. So this is a mounting crisis. We are ignoring it.

“The crisis at the southern border needs to be dealt with, but it can’t cause complacency to the northern border either. I think it’s sad what’s happening.”

The blast at Rainbow Bridge, which connects the United States to Canada across the Niagara River, reportedly occurred on the U.S. side of the crossing. Ramaswamy said the facts are “evolving,” but border security should be increased regardless.

“These are facts that are evolving in real time,” he said. “But I want to take the lessons we can learn early on. The security at that northern border … it’s not nearly as serious as the southern border, and I think we need to take that more seriously. Border security goes for all security near the border, not just the other side but on ours as well.

“And we have a situation in the country. We have a number of people, tens of thousands, who have entered the country with bad intentions — and not just coming from the southern border, they are coming from the northern border, too,” he said. 

“So I do think protecting our homeland has not been a priority for a long time, frankly, in either political party,” Ramaswamy continued. “That needs to change now. I hope that we will get more facts as the situation evolves, but this is unfortunately another startling reminder of that reality.”

The vehicle explosion on Wednesday caused four border crossings in the area to be shut down, authorities said.

The two occupants of the vehicle were killed in the blast when it went the wrong way into an inspection booth; one border protection agent suffered injuries that were not life-threatening in the explosion as well.

The car explosion came at the height of the pre-Thanksgiving travel rush, which is forecast to be the third-busiest since 2000. According to AAA, 55.4 million Americans are expected to travel for the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, which is an increase of 2.3% over last year.