US patrol agents being transferred to northern border with Canada

US Customs and Border Protection transferred an additional 25 agents to the northern border Monday as the number of migrants crossing from Canada continues to increase.

Some of those agents had previously been assigned to the southern border, nbc news informed.

While illegal crossings at the southern border remain a larger overall problem, the number of crossings in the north has increased by almost 850% and is cause for concern.

It’s a problem that works both ways: some immigrants are actually infiltrating Canada from the US, causing an increase in the number of immigrants to the United States’ northern neighbor. The leaders are demanding to speak to President Joe Biden about the problem.

A CBP spokesperson told NBC that his agency began temporarily deploying Border Patrol agents from sectors “not experiencing an influx” to the Swanton Sector of the US-Canada border “due to migration fluctuations along the Northern Border”.

“While the arrest numbers are small compared to other areas with irregular migration flows, the Swanton sector arrests are a big change in this area,” the spokesman said.

“The deployed team will serve as a force multiplier in the region and help deter and disrupt people smuggling activities taking place in the Swanton Sector area of ​​responsibility.”

The Swanton Sector, which includes sections of Vermont, New Hampshire and New York, experienced an 846% increase in apprehensions from October 2022 to this January, compared to the previous year.

Agents detained 367 people in January, which they say is more than they have found since 2011 combined.

The annual average number of encounters in the Swanton Sector over the last twelve years is only 28.

The Swanton Sector is a 2,200 square mile area with USCBP agents based in Swanton, Vermont.

There are no fences along the crossing. Much of the area is woods and dirt roads. There is heavy snowfall and wetlands throughout the region at this time of year.

Nearly two-thirds of southbound migrants apprehended by US border agents in Swanton Sector are from Mexico, according to CBP figures.

Rep. Elise Stefanik, whose New York district borders Canada, wrote to 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, in the first four months of this fiscal year, encounters with migrants increased to 2,227, which is nearly higher than last year’s total.

Migrants who arrive in Mexico and can afford the $350 round-trip 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 turned away. than on the southern border.

It’s an option many immigrants are making due to the crackdown on the southern border.

But hypothermia and freezing to death are risks, particularly this time of year, as families make the journey on foot in the cold and snow.

In December, US border agents found themselves providing vital aid to migrants they encountered 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 crossings, the vast majority through Roxham Road, which links Quebec and New York state.

It’s the highest number since 2017, when there was a surge due to then-President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigrants.

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 allows anyone attempting to cross the Canada-US border in either direction to be sent back to the first of the two countries they arrived in, with few exceptions.

But the agreement does not cover unofficial border crossings such as Roxham Road, a dirt road that is experiencing a growth in migrant traffic.

“It will certainly be a conversation that we will continue to have with the US administration, including during the president’s visit,” Trudeau said.

He noted that his government had been trying to ‘close’ Roxham Road for years by rewriting the STCA.

“The challenge is not to say ‘Oh, we should shut it down.’ The challenge is how to close it, how to make sure that people don’t choose to cross into Canada irregularly, protect the integrity of our immigration system but also stay true to the values ​​that we hold.”