Homeland Security Director Kristi Noem talks northern border at town hall

Homeland Director Kristi Noem talks Canadian border at Detroit town hall

Noem claims Canada is weak on border security and allowing drug traffickers, human smugglers, and organized crime rings access to the US.

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Homeland Security Director Kristi Noem was in Detroit Friday with the tour called "America's Future."

At the town hall Noem said that the attention and focus on the southern border, has led to questions about what's being done here.

"We’re not letting down our guard here at the northern border," she said.

Noem pledged to protect the northern border with Canada.

"We’re strengthening not just what we do at our ports of entry," she said. "To scan shipping containers, trucks, cars, passengers, people and pedestrians that may cross. Also what we're doing out on the waters and on your Great Lakes and what we're doing to make sure that we're stopping and doing interdictions going forward."

Noem claims Canada is weak on border security and allowing drug traffickers, human smugglers, and organized crime rings access to the US.

She is advocating for better technology – stronger surveillance and better sensors – to keep dangerous criminals out of the US.

Noem cited the example like the accused murderer from El Salvador who killed Patty Morin’s daughter, Rachel – a 37-year-old mother of five in Maryland.

"He threw her up against the wall and raped her as blood was gushing out of her head," said Patty Morin, her mother.

But the Trump administration’s recent immigration policies have come with controversy and criticism – with recent protests in Los Angeles over immigration raids.

But Noem claims the administration’s policies are making a difference.

"We have broken the record for the lowest illegal alien encounters at the southern border for two months in a row, in the history of the nation," she said.

More: To watch the entire town hall, watch the video link below

Noem says the encounters at the northern border are down as well. But as she mentioned, Canada needs to do more.

Canada Border Service Agency told FOX 2 that their border plan is "the largest investment in the border in Canadian history" and they have partnered with the US to strenghthen border security, combat organized crime, disrupt the supply chain for fentanyl, and other illicit drugs."