Desperate CBP agents at the northern U.S. border are now offering $20,000 bonuses and $100,000 starting salaries in an effort to recruit more personnel to crack down on illegal border crossings.
Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia, head of the Swanton sector in northern Vermont, recently posted an informal advertisement for jobs at four locations in the state, along with two more in New York.
It comes as illegal crossings from Canada into the US increased 500 per cent last year to 10,021 compared to 2022. Of these, 6,925 took place in the Border Patrol’s Swanton sector.
Alongside a sunrise photo taken at the border, Agent Garcia wrote on X: “Not a bad day at the office! RENT NOW!
“Incentive: $20,000. Starting Salary: $48,000 to $99,000 + Swanton Industry Locations: Massena, NY Champlain, NY Swanton, VT Richford, VT Newport, VT Beecher Falls, VT Call a recruiter today at 802-868-3361 for more information.”
Desperate CBP agents at the northern U.S. border are now offering $20,000 bonuses and $100,000 starting salaries in an effort to recruit more staff to crack down on illegal border crossings
Pictured: Migrants in Vermont. Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia, head of the Swanton sector in northern Vermont, recently posted an informal advertisement for jobs at four locations in the state, along with two more in New York.
Pictured: U.S. Border Patrol encounters a group of four adult men from Bangladesh near Mooers, New York, on February 1, 2024, after crossing illegally from Canada
Officer Garcia previously said most of the migrants come from Mexico, India, Venezuela, Haiti and Romania.
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.
Kirsty Brow, a Vermont resident, recently revealed that cameras on her property catch migrants trudging through the snow “every week.”
Brow’s home is along the Swanton Sector, a border strip spanning parts of New York, New Hampshire and Vermont, which is becoming a particularly problematic hot spot.
“It’s scary to know that you never know what’s lurking in your woods. We never know what we are going to discover in our field,” she told Fox News.
‘We found clothes, thermoses, you never know what you’re going to find there. Border Patrol followed footprints. You don’t feel very safe.’
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.
As the crisis at America’s southern border has reached unprecedented levels, experts say some migrants looking to sneak into the country are seeing crossing from Canada as the “easier” option.
Canada’s 9,000-kilometer border with the United States is the longest international border in the world.
In a photo shared by the Border Patrol, migrants are seen walking through deep snow along the US-Canada border
At the U.S. Northern Border, Migrant Arrests Increased 550 Percent, with 6,925 in Fiscal Year 2023
Garcia previously shared images of migrants walking along the border at night
Migrants from Mexico, Venezuela and other countries on the border with Canada
Nikki Haley, Donald Trump’s last remaining candidate in the race to become the Republican nominee for president, has referenced preventing border crossings at the northern border in her campaign.
The sheer size of the border, along with the grueling conditions along much of it, make it nearly impossible to completely prevent clandestine border crossings.
Nikki Haley, Donald Trump’s last remaining candidate in the race to become the Republican nominee for president, has referenced preventing border crossings at the northern border in her campaign.
Vivek Ramaswamy, who dropped out of the race in mid-January, was mocked after calling for a border wall between the US and Canada.
Mexican migrants were responsible for almost half of all interceptions last year (4,868). There were 1,630 crossings by Indian nationals, 753 by Venezuelans and 443 from Guatemala.
Mexico is on Canada’s list of visa-exempt countries, meaning Mexican citizens can easily travel there provided they have an electronic travel authorization, which can be quickly obtained online.
The figures still pale in comparison to the situation at the southern border, where, according to CBP figures, 2,045,838 people crossed the border illegally last year.