On Saturday afternoon, two days after the US president-elect, Mr. Donald Trump, threatened Canadian tariffs on immigrants and fentanyl, the RCMP notified the US Border Patrol about a group of people crossing illegally from Quebec entering the area near Chateaugay, NY.
Border Patrol agents initially spotted the group, but then got lost in the woods near the borders. Then, at about 7 pm ET, they found a white Acura with New Jersey plates parked on a dirt road near the border. The driver told the crew that he was looking for a hotel before driving off.
The group that crossed over from Canada remained happy as the day shift transferred its work to the night shift, which began the search. Then, shortly after midnight on Sunday, agents again saw a white Acura RDX, which headed to the back lane of the border and killed the pickup.
This led to a huge chase, the odometer hitting 140 kilometers per hour, which ended on the nearest highway.
“At this point there were six people, including one person in the trunk trying to hide under bags and clothes,” said the criminal complaint filed in the US Federal Court for the Northern District of New York, which described the encounter.
“The travelers say they were from Mexico, Colombia and Guatemala, and all admitted to crossing the border illegally in the evening.”
Between Thursday and Sunday, US Border Patrol agents arrested at least 16 foreigners crossing into the US illegally through the Quebec border with New York State and Vermont in three separate incidents, according to court records.
Each of the cases, involving people from India, Mexico, Colombia and Guatemala was the result of human trafficking, according to evidence detailed in US court documents. Court records show people smugglers charge between $3,500 and $5,500 each to bring people into the US.
US President Donald Trump visits the US-Mexico border at Eagle Pass, Texas, as seen from Piedras Negras, Mexico, in February 2024. (Go Nakamura/Reuters)
On Monday, Trump threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on all imports from Canada and Mexico unless the two countries stopped the flow of migrants and fentanyl into the US across their borders.
RCMP told CBC News Wednesday that there is no evidence that fentanyl produced in Canada poses any kind of threat to the US.
More illegal crossings in one place
Illegal border crossings from Canada to the US amount to half a trip across the northern Mexican border. The US Border Patrol apprehended more than 21,000 immigrants crossing illegally from Canada in the first 10 months of 2024, according to data released by US Customs and Border Protection.
US border agents apprehended more than 56,000 people crossing from Mexico last October alone.
However, the majority of illegal crossings from Canada – 18,000 in the past 10 months – flowed across the border between eastern Ontario-Quebec and New York State, Vermont and New Hampshire. It’s an area US border officials call the Swanton Sector, and has seen a dramatic rise in irregular border traffic over the past two years.
While illegal crossings since 2007 through this area have hovered between the low hundreds to around 1,000 per year, they saw a sudden rise in 2023 with more than 6,000 and a surge in the past several months.
The ongoing event has greatly angered local governments and residents in this part of New York State, known as the North Country. This is the home of Tom Homan, Trump’s recently appointed “border czar.” It also forms part of the home district of Rep. Elise Stefanik, named as the new UN ambassador nominated by Trump.
While Canada’s Minister of Public Security, Dominic LeBlanc and the Liberal federal government have promised new border resources, including more drones, helicopters and human resources, law enforcement on the ground has few tools to stop human trafficking by the US.
Jeannine Plamondon, a senior lawyer with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, has handled many human trafficking cases involving north and south border crossings with the US.
Plamondon said cases of illegal immigration into the US involve many agencies on both sides of the border.
“It’s not a crime in Canada to enter another country, so it’s accused and charged with conspiring to violate US law, which is human trafficking laws in the US,” said Plamondon, currently a Crown prosecutor with the RCMP’s Sensitive and International Investigations. .
“So it’s usually a long and difficult trial.”
Jeannine Plamondon, a senior attorney with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, has prosecuted several human trafficking cases involving north and south border crossings with the US (Olivier Hyland/CBC News)
Plamondon successfully prosecuted a 2014 case against a man named Marke Albinowski who was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in the US. Lawrence River in the US This case, which included an appeal and a constitutional challenge, ended in 2022.
The investigation required the involvement of the RCMP, the Canada Border Services Agency, the Akwesasne Mohawk Police in Quebec, the US Border Patrol and the New York State Police, Plamondon said.
Canada should look to US law
Matthew Eamer, a retired Ontario Provincial Police officer who has investigated cross-border smuggling throughout his career, said Canada should consider strengthening its Criminal Code provisions to make it easier for law enforcement to pursue these types of investigations.
“It may be time to upgrade the tools that the police have in terms of law enforcement,” Eamer said.
On this side of the Canada-US border, the human net is entering another path to the American dream. It is known as the Swanton section. (Patrick Morrell/CBC)
He said that Canada could look at how the US has developed human trafficking laws that cover all stages of the chain, from basements to transportation.
“We have seen them in previous investigations, there are these stash houses being operated here in Canada to keep people from other countries,” he said. “And again, it shows that the people who are providing these services know what they are doing – willful blindness is not a defense.”
Eamer was part of the investigation that led to the indictment of Thesingarasan Rasiah, the alleged head of an international human trafficking ring linked to the deaths of nine people – including two families from India and Romania – last March.
However, there is a reality of geography on Canada’s 9,000-kilometer border with the US that politicians must acknowledge, said Eamer.
“The size of our border makes it impossible for us to put a police officer, you know, a line of contact along the entire border,” he said.
“It takes tens of thousands of police to keep a watch on the border. And even with the help of machines, we can’t have eyes everywhere all the time.”