U.S. Customs and Border Protection transferred 25 more agents to the northern border on Monday as the number of migrants crossing the border from Canada continues to rise.
Some of those agents were previously assigned to the southern border, NBC news reported.
While illegal crossings at the southern border remain a bigger overall problem, the number of crossings at the northern border has increased by almost 850%, which is concerning.
It’s a two-way problem: Some migrants are actually sneaking into Canada from the US, causing a spike in immigration rates for America’s northern neighbor. Leaders there are demanding they talk to President Joe Biden about the problem.
Migrant families at the Roxham Road border crossing in Quebec
A CBP spokesperson told NBC that their agency began temporarily deploying Border Patrol agents from sectors that were “not experiencing an influx” to the Swanton sector of the US-Canadian border “due to migration fluctuations along the northern border.”
“While the number of detentions is small compared to other areas with irregular migration flows, the detentions in the Swanton Sector represent a major change in this area,” the spokesman said.
“The deployed team will serve as a force multiplier in the region and assist in deterring and disrupting human trafficking activities carried out in the Swanton sector area of responsibility.”
The Swanton sector, which includes parts of Vermont, New Hampshire and New York, saw an 846% increase in detentions from October 2022 through January compared to the previous year.
Agents detained 367 people in January, which they say is more than they have encountered since 2011 combined.
The average annual number of encounters in the Swanton sector over the last 12 years is just 28.
The Swanton Sector is a 2,200 square mile area of USCBP agents in Swanton, Vermont.
There is no fencing along the crossing. A large part of the area consists of forests and unpaved paths. This time of year sees heavy snowfall and wetlands in the region.
According to USCP figures, nearly two-thirds of the southbound migrants arrested by US border agents in the Swanton sector are from Mexico.
The border problem works both ways as Canada also receives an influx of migrants – above, migrants disembark a bus in Plattsburgh, New York, where taxi drivers wait to take them to the Canadian border
Migrants cross the US-Canada border in snowy, frigid conditions
The number of crossings on the northern border has increased by almost 850%
Rep. Elise Stefanik, whose New York district borders Canada, wrote Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas last month to complain about the problem.
She said CBP agents reported 2,238 encounters with migrants for the entire fiscal year 2022, but that in the first four months of this fiscal year, the number of encounters with migrants rose to 2,227, nearly surpassing last year’s total.
Migrants who reach Mexico and can afford the $350 one-way plane ticket from Mexico City or Cancun to Montreal or Toronto then cross into the US at the northern border, where they are less likely to be rejected than at the southern border.
It is an option that many migrants are taking because of the crackdown on the southern border.
But hypothermia and freezing to death are risks, especially this time of year, as families make the journey on foot in the cold and snow.
In December, US border agents found themselves providing life-saving aid to migrants they found in the cold and snow.
The problem works both ways, as migrants also cross the border from the United States into Canada.
More than 39,000 refugees entered Canada last year through unofficial border crossings, the vast majority via Roxham Road that connects Quebec to New York state.
It is the highest number since 2017, when there was a spike due to then-President Donald Trump’s crackdown on migrants.
Migrants from Mexico, Venezuela and other countries on the Canadian border
Agents arrested 367 people on the northern border in January, which they say is more than they’ve seen put together since 2011
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said earlier this month that he plans to discuss border issues with Joe Biden when the president visits Ottawa in March.
Trudeau wants to rewrite the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), which would allow anyone attempting to cross the Canada-US border to be returned to the first of the two countries they arrived in, with few exceptions.
But the agreement does not cover unofficial border crossings such as the Roxham Road route, an unpaved road where migrant traffic is on the rise.
“That will certainly be a conversation that we will continue to have with the U.S. government, including during the president’s visit,” Trudeau said.
He noted that for years his government had tried to ‘close down’ Roxham Road by rewriting the STCA.
“The challenge isn’t to say, ‘Oh, we have to close it.’ The challenge is how to close it, how to make sure people don’t choose to enter Canada illegally, how to protect the integrity of our immigration system, but also how to stay true to the values we have.”
Border agents rescued migrants freezing in the cold
Some migrants cross by taxi (above), but others walk on unpaved paths at night
