U.S. Customs and Border Protection has responded to concerns about a planned reduction in hours at U.S. ports of entry at Roseau and Lancaster, Minnesota. It announced earlier this fall that hours would be reduced starting January 7th. Local community and business leaders appealed to reverse the decision. Todd Peterson, Community Development Officer in Roseau, says they got their answer in a letter Monday.

"For the Roseau port, they did not change from their original proposal of cutting from 8:00 a.m. to midnight to 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. They did make a change in Lancaster. Instead of from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., which they currently have, they had proposed going to 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. They did change that to 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and then in the summer 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m."

Peterson says they not happy with the answer and they are working with their government representatives to make another appeal to keep the hours as they currently are.

"We just feel there was not enough economic analysis, community impact analysis or any of those types of things put into this. It was strictly, they looked at a few vehicles and said, well, that's not important. We're not going to give up. We have been pushing for a long time that this probably should be a 24-hour port so, for them to reduce that back even further from what it was, from what we thought was an unacceptable level, is even more unacceptable. We're not going to give up on this. We may not be able to change it but we're not going to give up. They're going to continue to hear from us for a long time."

Lancaster businessman Charlie Bernstrom says they are also appealing to keep the hours as they are now.

An answer is expected by next week.

Read more:

Ports Of Roseau And Lancaster Reducing Hours

Business People In Lancaster And Roseau Upset About Changes In Border Hours