Port of Wild Horse starts summer hours

U.S. Customs and Border Protection did an about-face this week and announced that it has decided to extend the summer hours of the Port of Wild Horse at the U.S.-Canadian Border north of Havre to its usual summer hours for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.

After U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., sent a letter to a letter to Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Troy A. Miller the last week of May asking for the summer hours to resume, CBP said the agency planned to continue with the 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. hours, with CBP continuously evaluating workload, staffing, operating costs and traffic volume at all land ports to use resources responsibly.

“Overall, the current operating hours allow CBP to align officer staffing to ports with higher operational demand,” spokesperson Jason Givens said at the time. “Reducing hours of operation at ports of entry during times where there is little to no traffic enables CBP to provide additional staffing during peak hours to better serve the public and protect our country.

“We are sensitive to the concerns raised by local communities regarding reduced hours of operation,” he added. “We will continue to accommodate the agricultural community with longer hours when a stakeholder calls with an individual request for a late harvest or other need.”

But this week, without explanation, the agency said the summer hours would resume.

CBP said in a press release sent to Havre Weekly Chronicle Monday that, beginning Sunday, June 9, summer hours of Wild Horse will be 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week.

Those seasonal hours will remain in effect until Sept. 30 when they revert to the winter schedule of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week.

That had been the normal operation of Wild Horse, with the summer hours typically started in mid-May and ran to the end of September.

With the border closure during the COVID-19 pandemic, once the border started opening, the shorter winter hours were kept year-round.

As travel across the border normalized through the duration of the pandemic, the winter hours were kept year-round.

In his letter to Miller, Tester said the extended hours were “critical for the agricultural sector, tourism, and everyday trade and travel between the U.S. and Canada.”

Tester also noted that the Canadian side already implemented summer hours, and the U.S. matching that was crucial to avoid confusion and problems for people trying to cross the border.

Tester said Monday he was pleased with CBP’s decision.

“Expanding the summer hours of operation at the Port of Wild Horse is great news for Montanans along our northern border who rely on access with our number one trading partner to keep their businesses running, make a living, and support their families,” Tester said in a statement to Havre Weekly Chronicle. “I told the Biden Administration that reduced hours of operation simply would not cut it during this busy season, and I’m glad to see they got the message. I’ll keep fighting until the hours of operation are restored at all of Montana’s northern ports of entry.”

The hours of the border have been an issue for more than two decades.

A group from both Montana, focused on Havre, and Canada, with the focus on Medicine Hat, has been pushing for Wild Horse to be upgraded to a commercial port with 24-hour operation.

A committee with representatives from both sides of the border has started pushing for the upgrade more than 20 years ago, saying the nearest commercial port — Sweetgrass-Coutts north of Shelby — is too far of a detour for many commercial shipments and inconvenient for many travelers.

The Wild Horse port also requires commercial shippers to obtain a permit before crossing the border.

Tester, long a supporter of upgrading Wild Horse, who has sponsored legislation to do just that, which never has passed, said he still wants to see the upgrade but his priority now is getting all northern ports back to the pre-pandemic hours of operation.