BUFFALO, N.Y. — Reported wait times for people crossing the Peace Bridge from Southern Ontario into Buffalo are sometimes up to an hour or even two.

Rep. Brian Higgins, D-NY-26, said it's a significant difference from the typical 10-15 minutes going the other direction into Canada.

"Yesterday at noon, it took 46 minutes to travel into the United States from Canada. It took about 10 minutes to travel from the United States to Canada, so that is a disparity that has to be closed,” he said.

Higgins attributes the backups over the last year to Customs and Border Protection redeploying agents to the Southern Border for 60-day stints. This week, he and Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-NY-21, the co-chairs of the Northern Border Caucus, wrote to the CBP commissioner calling on him to address the issue.

"What we need is for Customs and Border Protection to be decisive about their commitment to either not reassign Customs and Border agents on a mandatory basis to the Southern Border or simply hire more Customs and Border Protection agents,” he said.

Higgins said the longer it goes on, it becomes more than just a tourism, commerce and safety issue, but a systemic recruitment problem.

"They live in Western New York. They have families in Western New York. They expect to work in Western New York,” he said. “They don't expect to be reassigned on a mandatory basis to the Southern Border.”

The Congress members have sent similar letters in the past to some effectiveness.

"Last time we made a big issue of this was the Fourth of July weekend, and the next day more Customs and Border Protections were assigned to create more booths, but over time that is not sustained," Higgins said.

He said 21 million people from Canada visit the U.S. annually but northern border communities are still trying to restore pre-pandemic levels.

"When you go back to a semblance of normalcy, it doesn't fully come back,” he said. “There's a slow return and my concern is you lose people permanently because they've adjusted their economic behavior to avoid the bridge altogether.”

Higgins said the congestion issue is also compounded by a continued backlog of Nexus application that would expedite crossings for pre-approved travelers. He said while the backlog has improved, CBP still lists processing times at 12-14 months.

He has a bill that would allow for virtual interview to speed things up.