US-Canada border has seen a staggering 6,100 migrants from 76 countries apprehended this year- more than in the last 10 years combined

A section of the U.S.-Canada border has held more than 6,000 migrants from 76 countries so far this fiscal year — more than in the past decade combined, officials said.

Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia sounded the alarm Wednesday about the Swanton Sector, which includes the New York, New Hampshire and Vermont borders with Canada.

“More than 6,100 apprehensions from 76 different countries in just eleven months, surpassing the last decade combined,” Swanton Sector Chief Garcia wrote on to maintain the border.’

There were only about 1,000 Border Patrol apprehensions in the region in all of 2020, and only 365 in 2021. The fiscal year runs from October to September.

At the end of July, there were 7,633 border crossings across the entire border. That is already more than in all of 2022, when there were 2,238 arrests, and for all of 2021, when there were 916.

Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia sounded the alarm on Wednesday, saying the Swanton Sector border crossing is seeing unprecedented numbers

In March, U.S. Customs and Border Protection transferred 25 additional agents to the northern border as the number of migrants entering from Canada continues to rise.

According to CBP data, most migrants are Mexican, with many Guatemalans and Haitians.

While illegal crossings remain a larger overall problem at the southern border, with more than 200,000 migrants crossing each month, northern border crossings have been causing concern lately.

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.

At the end of July, there were 7,633 border crossings across the entire border. That is already more than in all of 2022, when there were 2,238 arrests

There were only about 1,000 Border Patrol apprehensions in the region in 2020, and only 365 in 2021.

Last year, more than 39,000 refugees entered Canada through unofficial border crossings

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.

In early January, a Haitian man, Fritznel Richard, died just north of the Swanton Sector after freezing to death while trying to reach his wife in the US.

“The Swanton Sector’s paramount concern as we carry out our border security mission is the preservation of life – the lives of residents of the community we are sworn to protect, the lives of our Border Patrol agents who carry out the mission day in and day out in the and the lives of the individuals, families and children we must arrest as they attempt to circumvent legal processes for entry,” Chief Garcia previously said.

The U.S.-Canada borders have only 115 entry points, and Garcia said the stations are saturated due to the surge.

Migrants from Mexico, Venezuela and other countries on the border with Canada

Migrant families at the Roxham Road border crossing in Quebec

Kathryn Siemer, acting patrol officer in charge of the station in Pembina, North Dakota — one of seven stations in the Grand Forks sector — said the sharp spike in encounters was partly due to Canada’s COVID restrictions have been relaxed.

Migrants have been able to find their way to Canada and, if they are not satisfied with their lives there, try their luck in the US.

Another factor driving the increase is Canada’s increasing barriers to migrants, said Frantz André, an immigration consultant who heads an organization that helps asylum seekers.

He told CBC migrants they have better opportunities to work in the U.S. without papers.

Meanwhile, New York Mayor Eric Adams has warned that the wave of asylum seekers will “destroy” the city.

Adams has called on the federal government to “take action” amid the crisis, saying the lack of intervention is causing people from “all over the world” to flock to the border in the hope of ending up in the Big Apple come.

He added that it will cost the city more than $4 billion this fiscal year, without any help from the federal government. That amount is equal to the budgets for municipal sanitary facilities, fire brigade and parks combined