By Dave Thompson
Bismarck, ND – Senator Byron Dorgan says North Dakota will see another 45 Customs agents assigned to the border with Canada.
Dorgan says that's part of a 28-million dollar increase in spending for Northern Border security that Congress approved and President Bush signed.
Dorgan says that will include border inspectors and canine agents.
"We want to keep terrorists out. We want to keep out those who associate with terrorists or have a relationship with terrorists. We don't want to, however, create five and ten mile backups of lines of people and trucks, because we have a relationship with Canada that has a substantial trade and visitor component. So we don't want to shut our borders. We don't want to create backups at the borders that would injure our opportunity to have this trade with Canada and a free exchange of visitors."
Dorgan says Canada and the U-S are now working on technology that will do a better job in scanning vehicles that cross the border.