Members of US Congress are growing concerned about what they say is a shortage of agents on the southern side of the Canada-US border that is causing “disarray” at entry points to the country.

The management of the Canada-US border has grown “wholly unacceptable” in recent months, said New York Rep. Brian Higgins, a champion of streamlined bilateral travel and frequent critic of border bottlenecks.

The reason, Higgins says, is that there is a southbound surge of US Customs and Border Protection personnel being temporarily reassigned to help fortify the American border with Mexico, which has led to unstaffed kiosks and generally longer delays for those entering the country from the north.

Higgin adds that’s despite the fact that cross-border traffic between Ontario and New York is still only about 85% of what it was before the COVID-19 pandemic.

A total of 421 officers from across the country were reassigned to the southern border for 60-day deployments beginning June 18, including 145 from northern offices such as Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago, and Seattle.

It’s not clear whether personnel from similar redeployments announced in May, part of a DHS effort to head off an anticipated surge in irregular migration with the end of Title 42, have returned home yet.

Title 42 was the pandemic-era public health measure that allowed the U.S. to turn away countless would-be refugee claimants in an effort to limit the spread of COVID-19. It expired for good on May 11.

“It’s like a train wreck – one thing happens, and the whole system of Customs and Border Protection is adversely affected,” Higgins said.

He cited growing delays on the U.S. side at the busy Peace Bridge crossing in Buffalo, as well as a persistent 12-month backlog in preliminary reviews for U.S. applicants seeking to join the Nexus frequent-traveller program.

Republicans are also worried and several wrote to CBP last month to request details about staffing levels amid fears that illegal crossings are on the rise.

“We are concerned … that ports of entry along the United States’ border with Canada are being left open and unattended for extended periods of time,” the June 20 letter reads.

The department has yet to respond to the request.