While crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border account for most illegal crossings into the country, officials are warning about a spike in crossings at some unexpected – and chilly – locations.
“The record-breaking surge of illegal entries from Canada continues in Swanton Sector. A citizen’s report in Champlain, NY, led to the arrest of 10 Bangladesh citizens,” said a Feb. 8 X post from Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia of the United States Border Patrol Swanton Sector.
Data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows that single adult crossings at the northern border increased from 24,895 in 2021 to 92,737 in 2022 and 147,666 in 2023. Over the same period, crossings at the southwest border in 2021 totaled around 1.1 million, increased to around 1.7 million in 2022 and then decreased slightly to 1.5 million in 2023.
As of Jan. 4, there were a reported 413,304 single adult crossings at the southwest border and 35,068 at the northern border.
Per The New York Times, officials said there has been a 41% increase in encounters with people at the northern border last year. More than 12,200 people were apprehended crossing illegally from Canada in 2023, a 241% jump compared to the previous year.
“Most of them were Mexicans, who can fly to Canada without a visa and may prefer the northern border to avoid the cartels that exploit migrants in their country,” said the Times. “The phenomenon has transformed a 295-mile border area along northern New York, Vermont and New Hampshire into a hot spot of migration: About 70% of the illegal crossings in 2023 happened on this stretch, known as the Swanton Sector.”
Garcia posted Feb. 2 that Swanton Sector Border Patrol Agents have apprehended more than 3,100 subjects from 55 countries since Oct. 1. He said that was more than fiscal years 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019 combined.
According to the Times, migrants from Latin America have been risking their lives to cross illegally at the northern border, which isn’t as fortified as the southwestern border. It said that the Mayor Janet McFetridge of Champlain, N.Y. even keeps knit hats and gloves in the trunk of her car for migrants.
“The weather is so severe you just can’t survive,” she said. “Border Patrol is working extremely hard to save people’s lives because that’s what it’s come down to.”
Garcia recently posted a photo of a communications tower in Vermont covered in snow to show the harsh conditions those crossing at the northern border face.
“The environment, the remoteness & unpredictable weather along the Canadian border in northern NY, VT & NH is unforgiving,” he said. “Don’t Risk It!”