The United States/Canadian border has been closed for all but essential travel at land crossings for nearly a year. That mark will happen on March 21 with the closure extended until that date.

What You Need To Know

  • The U.S. border with Canada has been closed to non-essential land traffic for nearly one year due to COVID-19 restrictions
  • Nearly 9 million fewer personal vehicle passengers crossed into the U.S. in 2020 than the previous year at the Port of Buffalo
  • Narcotics seizures for the Buffalo Field Office were up nearly 1000 percent from fiscal year 2019 to 2020
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The Port of Buffalo saw some drastic changes from 2019 to 2020.

"We have to adjust a little bit and we have to do things a little bit differently," said Jeffrey Toth, U.S. Customs and Border Protection public affairs liaison and program manager.

There were nearly 9 million fewer personal vehicle passengers who crossed the border in the U.S. last year compared to the year before. And that number doesn't include pedestrians and bus and train passengers, which also saw steep declines.

"Due to those travel restrictions, we had a lot less travel coming from the passenger side, but we had a relatively same amount of cargo trucks and shipments coming through," Toth said.

And a growing number of those shipments include things that are illegal.

"We've started to notice a substantial increase in narcotic seizures so that started to pose some adjustments," Toth said.

Customs and Border Protection officers have been part of massive drug busts in the past year. In fact, the Buffalo Field Office reports some 40,000 pounds of narcotics seized at the 16 New York ports of entry it covers. That's up nearly 1,000 percent from the previous year. Officers say it's tough to determine the exact reasons, but some of it could have to do with the legalization of marijuana in Canada, as well as supply and demand for drugs with the Northern and Southern borders both closed.

"When we restricted their travel, they had to find another means to bring those narcotics into the United States still," Toth said.

He added that most people have learned who is deemed essential past year, including U.S. citizens and permanent returning from Canada, members of the military, people who work or go to school in the U.S. or receive medical treatment here. Commercial traffic is also allowed.

"Each individual that crosses whatever their situation is we have to look at these things on a case-by-case basis to make the determination if they are indeed falling in the essential travel category or not," Toth said.

Congressman Brian Higgins, D - Buffalo, who co-chairs the Norther Border caucus, has been pushing for talks about loosening the restrictions in some ways. President Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau held a binational meeting this week, which Higgins calls a positive step as we near one year of border closure.