At the U.S. border with Canada, migrant apprehensions increased 550 percent, with 6,925 apprehensions in fiscal 2023.
Border Patrol agents have apprehended people from 79 countries in the Swanton Sector, which includes New York, New Hampshire and Vermont’s borders with Canada.
However, Chief Patrol Officer Robert Garcia said most of the migrants come from Mexico, India, Venezuela, Haiti and Romania.
It’s a significant increase since last year, when a thousand migrants were apprehended in the same border area — and also since 2021, when just 365 were detained during the pandemic.
The northern border in general is seeing more migrants than in previous years; there were 189,402 encounters with migrants in 2023, compared to 109,535 in 2022 and 27,000 in 2021.
At the U.S. Northern Border, Migrant Arrests Increased 550 Percent, with 6,925 in Fiscal Year 2023
There is no fencing along the intersection and much of the area consists of woodland and unpaved paths
The northern border is more than 5,000 miles long and has only 115 entry points, meaning large parts of it are understaffed, officials say.
Chief Garcia sounded the alarm about the situation at the northern border earlier this year and called for help from volunteers.
He warned that traffickers are exploiting desperate asylum seekers with potentially fatal consequences amid freezing temperatures and dangerous passages.
There is no fencing along the intersection and much of the area consists of woodland and unpaved paths.
Nearly two-thirds of southbound migrants apprehended by U.S. border agents in the Swanton sector are from Mexico, according to CBP figures.
In March, U.S. Customs and Border Protection transferred 25 additional agents to the northern border.
A CBP spokesperson told NBC that their agency has begun temporary Border Patrol agents from sectors “not experiencing an influx” into the Swanton sector of the U.S.-Canadian border “due to migration fluctuations along the northern border.”
“While the apprehension figures are small compared to other areas with irregular migration flows, the apprehensions in the Swanton sector represent a major change in this area,” the spokesperson said.
“The deployed team will serve as a force multiplier in the region and assist in deterring and disrupting human trafficking activities taking place in the Swanton Sector Area of Responsibility.”
Yet the northern border crossings pale in comparison to the U.S.-Mexico border, which has seen more than 2.4 million encounters with migrants this year.
Representative 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 all of fiscal year 2022, but in the first four months of this fiscal year, encounters with migrants increased to 2,227, nearly surpassing last year’s total.
In a photo shared by the Border Patrol, migrants are seen walking through deep snow along the US-Canada border
Garcia shared images of migrants walking along the border at night
Migrants from Mexico, Venezuela and other countries on the border with Canada
Migrants who reach Mexico and can afford the $350 plane ticket from Mexico City or Cancun to Montreal or Toronto then cross into the U.S. at the northern border, where they are less likely to be turned away than at the southern border.
It is an option that many migrants are choosing because of the crackdown at 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, U.S. border agents provided lifesaving aid to migrants they found in the cold and snow.
The problem goes both ways, as migrants also cross the border from the United States into Canada.
Last year, more than 39,000 refugees entered Canada through unofficial border crossings, the vast majority through Roxham Road, which connected 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.