Border Crossings Take Rare Turn

Northern border crossings from Canada into the United States have increased since November and are straining some states as the Biden administration finally received some positive news on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was impeached by House Republicans on Tuesday for his alleged negligence in combatting record-high numbers of migrant encounters. Total border crossings exceeded 988,900 between October and December, adding 242,587 in January, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data released Tuesday.

States like Texas, which experienced a decrease of about 81,550 encounters between December and January, have led the fight on border protection in the form of erecting razor wire in heavily traversed areas like Shelby Park, and employing National Guard troops to monitor illegal crossings.

In January, there were 242,587 migrant encounters across the United States' northern and southern borders—a decrease from the 370,925 encounters documented in December. The number also shows a 65,000-plus decrease compared with October (309,065) and November (308,636).

Migrant encounters at the Southwest land border fell from 301,983 in December to 176,205 in January.

However, encounters at the U.S.-Canada border increased by about 1,800 from November (14,053) to January (15,802). Encounters totaled 15,348 in December, and there was a decrease from October (15,399) to November.

Northern border crossings relatively pale in comparison to southern border encounters, though numbers have increased year over year during the Biden administration. The 2021 fiscal year ended with 27,180 crossings, increasing to 109,535 in 2022 and 189,402 last year.

Newsweek reached out to DHS via email for comment.

More than 12,200 people were apprehended crossing illegally from Canada last year, a 241 percent jump from the 3,578 arrested the previous year, according to the New York Times. The majority of crossings involved Mexicans, who do not require a visa to fly to Canada.

The states hit hardest during the surge have been New Hampshire, New York and Vermont—all part of a region known as the Swanton Sector, home to nearly 70 percent of illegal crossings in 2023.

"The record-breaking surge of illegal entries from Canada continues in Swanton Sector," U.S. Border Patrol Swanton Sector Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia wrote in an X post last Thursday. "A citizen's report in Champlain, N.Y., led to the arrest of 10 Bangladesh citizens. Agents rely on the vigilance of our community. If you see something, say something!"

More than 3,100 people from 55 countries have been apprehended since October 1, Garcia wrote in a post this month. Those numbers collectively dwarf the total illegal crossings in fiscal years 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019, he noted.

Raymond Bresnahan, the lead patrol agent at the Champlain Border Station, which is part of the Swanton Sector enforcing some 295 miles of border, told local CBS affiliate WCAX-TV that the increase in illegal crossings makes things more challenging for law enforcement.

"The vast majority of people we catch are still individuals looking for that American dream trying to get into the United States....There still are a lot of bad actors mixed in with them," Bresnahan said of crossings in New York. "We still see aggravated felons, we still catch a lot of bad people."

Clinton County Sheriff Dave Favro said his county jail is one of the only facilities in New York still accepting immigrant detainees. Hazards for patrol officers are real, he added.

"Given so much of the unknown that you are dealing with and all the turmoil and tension in the other countries that these people are coming from puts an awful lot of emotional strain and pressure on law enforcement and medical staff, including our 911 centers," Favro told WCAX.

Bernadette Jordan, Canadian consul general for New England, said this month that she believes the "border's working very well," according to the New Hampshire Bulletin.

"I guess my fear would be that if we put more stringent measures in, how it impacts all of the other things that we have for that border," Jordan said. "You know, whether it's tourism, whether it's trade, whether it's people visiting families. We can't impede that. But we still have to make sure that what we're doing is still working. It does seem to be working."