CBP Office of Border Patrol conducts cold weather operations in the Wellesley Island, Alexandria Bay and Clayton region of New York along the border of the United States and Canada. Border Patrol Agents patrol frozen water ways along the border with the U.S. and Canada. Photo by James Tourtellotte
You’ve read stories about the chaos at America’s southern border, but Joe Biden is perhaps the first person to lose control of America’s border with Canada as well. NBC News reports on the flood of illegal immigrants coming into New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire from the north. Julia Ainsley and Didi Martinez write:
On the snowy border between New York and Canada, the local sheriff’s office is calling for the U.S. Border Patrol to put more manpower behind what the locals call a growing crisis: The number of illegal border crossings in the area over the last five months is nearly 10 times what it was over the same time last year, and the border crossers are in danger of freezing to death.
From Oct. 1 to Feb. 28, about 2,000 migrants crossed the border between Canada and New Hampshire, Vermont and New York south through the forests, compared to just 200 crossings in the same period the previous year.
The migrants are mainly from Mexico, and they can travel to Canada without visas before they cross illegally into the U.S., often to reunite with their families.
Last weekend, Clinton County, New York, Sheriff David Favro’s team assisted Border Patrol in rescuing 39 migrants, some whose clothes had frozen to their bodies.
“We are seeing more and more people, and it can be a deadly terrain if you’re not familiar with it,” Favro said.
He said responding to rescues like that has taxed the resources of his department, already stretched thin to cover the residents of his rural county, population 80,000, which shares about 30 miles of border with the Canadian province of Quebec.
“The only way to really be able to cover and protect [the northern border] is boots on the ground,” Favro said.
Just last week, Customs and Border Protection added 25 agents to the area, the Swanton Sector, to deter migration. But Favro and other locals who spoke to NBC News in Mooers, New York, said that’s not enough.
Governor Chris Sununu of New Hampshire has asked the DHS to allow the state to secure its border with Canada. Fox News’s Paul Best reports:
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu requested that the Department of Homeland Security allow state officials to assist in securing the northern border this week, writing to Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that local authorities have been hamstrung by the federal government’s refusal to accept help.
Sununu’s letter comes amid a spike in illegal crossings along the northern border, including New Hampshire’s 51-mile border with Canada.
Customs and Border Protection reported 13,127 migrant encounters at the entire northern border in January, nearly double the amount of encounters in January 2022, and 13 times as many as in January 2021.
The Swanton sector, which encompasses parts of New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York, saw 367 migrant encounters in January, eclipsing the 24 migrants who were encountered in January 2022.
New Hampshire officials formally requested on Feb. 17 that DHS allow state authorities to “enforce certain specific federal immigration laws in a manner that is appropriately tailored to account for New Hampshire’s unique circumstances.” That offer was rejected because DHS put a hold on new delegation agreements, according to Sununu.
“The Biden Administration has cut funding and hindered the state’s ability to assist in patrolling the northern border,” Sununu wrote in the letter to Mayorkas on Monday. “If the Biden Administration truly believes that securing the border is a priority, I hope you will partner with the State of New Hampshire to make this a reality.”
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