The United States has seen a surge in illegal border crossings from Canada, according to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memos obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. From October 2022 to March 2023, border authorities reportedly apprehended over 3,200 illegal immigrants who had entered the U.S. from Canada outside of ports of entry, the highest figure on record. Customs and Border Protection recorded 2,238 migrant encounters on the U.S.-Canada border in the fiscal year 2022 and 916 the previous year.
The Swanton Sector, which includes all of Vermont and counties in New York and New Hampshire that border Canada, has seen a more than 2,000% increase in illegal border crossings since the start of the fiscal year. Over 60% of all illegal crossings from Canada have been detected in this sector. House Republicans have held a hearing on security at the northern border, where witnesses alleged that cartels and smugglers were exploiting a lack of attention as U.S. immigration authorities deal with a flood of illegal aliens from Mexico.
Brandon Judd, president of the Border Patrol union, called for increased funding to secure the northern border, stating that the roughly 2,000 agents assigned to patrol the 5,500-mile U.S.-Canada land and water border were insufficient, particularly during a crisis. Judd added that moving agents from the southern border was unsustainable. Since President Joe Biden took office, U.S. authorities have logged over 5.5 million migrant encounters at both borders, the most in U.S. history.
