Human smuggling attempts aimed at crossing into the United States have escalated at the northern border along Quebec and New York, according to a report from CBC.
Reportedly, the flow of “irregular traffic” has increased at the northern border as tension has grown along the southern border of the United States. Since the beginning of last year, encounters at the northern border have been “rising sharply.”
In 2023, border agents recorded 12,000 apprehensions at the northern border, CBC noted. In 2022, this figure was 3,600. In 2021, it was 1,006. This year, there have been 5,600 apprehensions from January to April.
One area where apprehensions occurred was Roxham Road, which was closed for good in 2023 due to the overwhelming number of asylum seekers who used it to cross the border.
Sgt. Daniel Dubois of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who leads the Champlain border patrol unit, told the outlet that his team has been facing a “surge of human smuggling activity” this year. Over some weekends, they’ve recorded 300 interceptions of “U.S.-bound runs across along the 168-kilometre border stretch they patrol.”
"These are levels that are truly unprecedented for us," said Jonathan LaHart, deputy patrol agent-in-charge for the U.S. Border Patrol station in Champlain, N.Y. (via CBC):
That's how human smuggling networks operate in this area. Vehicles speed in and out after dropping people off at certain spots — on gravel roads that lead to the U.S. border, or along fields or forested areas with footworn trails heading south. Sometimes it's an Uber or cab drivers that drop people off, as part of a side hustle.
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In some cases, smuggling networks arrange everything from the airplane ticket to Toronto or Montreal, the ride to the border and the pickup vehicle waiting on the other side. It's a lucrative illicit business for smugglers, some of whom are based overseas. Canadian and U.S. court records show smugglers have charged people between $1,500 to $35,000 US to get spirited across the border.
The top encountered nationalities are from India, Mexico, Bangladesh, Haiti and Venezuela.
"There's a misconception that crossing from Canada into the United States is the safer alternative [to Mexico], which it is not," LaHart explained. LaHart patrols a region in New York State that runs parallel to Dubois. "There are mountains … lakes, streams. So the journey is very treacherous."
Reportedly, a Mexican national, who was pregnant, was found dead near Champlain after crossing the border from Canada. A Colombian living in Quebec is facing extradition to the states in connection with her death.
In another case, the RCMP announced that it took down a human smuggling ring connected to the drowning deaths of two families in the St. Lawrence River. One of the families was from India and the other was from Romania. Both families were being smuggled to the U.S.