- Title: Canada promised Trump a border crackdown. Easier said than done.
- Date: 16th December 2024
- Summary: HEMMINGFORD, QUEBEC, CANADA (RECENT - DECEMBER 5, 2024) (REUTERS) VIEW OF ROAD NEAR CANADA-U.S. BORDER FROM ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE VEHICLE AS OFFICERS PATROL (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE SERGEANT, DANIEL DUBOIS, SAYING: “All right, so, right now we are on a road heading south toward the border. This road is used quite frequently for either northbounds or southbounds.” SIGN READING ‘STOP. DO NOT CROSS.’ IN FRENCH AND ENGLISH AT ROXHAM ROAD WHICH HAS BEEN USED AS AN UNOFFICIAL CROSSING POINT BETWEEN QUEBEC AND NEW YORK STATE (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE SERGEANT, DANIEL DUBOIS, SAYING: “So it was determined that the best way to deter people from using vehicles to cross southbound was to put some cement blocks and that’s exactly what we did.” POINTING OUT ROXHAM ROAD WHICH WAS USED AS AN UNOFFICIAL CROSSING POLICE CAR PARKED AT ROXHAM ROAD (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE SERGEANT, DANIEL DUBOIS, SAYING (REFERRING TO CEMENT BLOCKS): “It’s like a border wall, not natural border wall, because we have so many border walls that are pretty natural here. It’s either trees, fences, other things. So this one is just an extra layer of protection for that specific area.” ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE OFFICER WALKING ALONG CONCRETE BLOCKS AND USING FLASHLIGHT TO SHOW CANADIAN AND U.S. SIDES (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE SERGEANT, DANIEL DUBOIS, SAYING: “People can still hop over them.” POLICE OFFICERS STANDING IN FRONT OF POLICE VEHICLE NEAR CANADA-U.S. BORDER AS SNOW FALLS SAINT-BERNARD-DE-LACOLLE, QUEBEC, CANADA (RECENT - DECEMBER 5, 2024) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE SERGEANT, CHARLES POIRIER, SAYING: "We’re in charge of all of the border between Canada and the U.S. with the notable exception of the designated point of entry, where it is the CBSA, the Canadian Border Services Agency that has the mandate to man those posts. So our job essentially is to patrol the area, to look for anything suspicious so we’re talking about illegal migration and contraband and anything else that comes out of the ordinary.” WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE SERGEANT, CHARLES POIRIER, SAYING: "Even if we were everywhere, we couldn't stop it. That’s the reality of it” HEMMINGFORD, QUEBEC, CANADA (RECENT - DECEMBER 5, 2024) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE SERGEANT, DANIEL DUBOIS, ,SAYING: “We do have technology, different systems and whatnot, and these systems can help us in tracking people down. And also we have access to drones. So I have drone operators as well and this is a very effective way to help track people.” SNOW FALLING IN DENSE WOODS ALONG THE CANADIAN–U.S. BORDER SAINT-BERNARD-DE-LACOLLE, QUEBEC, CANADA (RECENT - DECEMBER 5, 2024) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE SERGEANT, CHARLES POIRIER, SAYING: “But for us, we typically will not arrest a migrant because there is no crime. Those people are here legally. They’ve come to Canada with either travel, work or student visa, and within a few hours of their arrival, we catch them at the border. Well here’s the thing: they haven’t committed an offense until they’ve crossed into the United States. So our focus for the past few months, actually the past year and a half, has been on arresting and prosecuting the smugglers.” HEMMINGFORD, QUEBEC, CANADA (RECENT - DECEMBER 5, 2024) (REUTERS) PERSON WALKING THROUGH DENSE WOODS ALONG CANADA-U.S. BORDER MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA (RECENT - DECEMBER 7, 2024) (REUTERS) ACTION REFUGIES EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR CARLOS ROJAS SALAZAR LISTENING DURING INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTION REFUGIES EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CARLOS ROJAS SALAZAR, SAYING: “You will push people to cross through unguarded areas of the border, more dangerous areas of the border. We already saw the family that was trying to cross the river, or the Mexican woman who got frozen last year after Christmas, in this case trying to get into the United States. A border, when you try to close a border, the only thing that you do is that you are pushing people to risk it and you are increasing the royalties that organized crime are getting.” HEMMINGFORD, QUEBEC, CANADA (RECENT - DECEMBER 5, 2024) (REUTERS) CAR DRIVING ON ROAD NEAR CANADA-U.S. BORDER SAINT-GEORGES-DE-CLARENCEVILLE, QUEBEC, CANADA (RECENT - DECEMBER 5, 2024) (REUTERS) CAR PARKED NEAR HOUSE NEAR CANADA-U.S. BORDER SAINT-BERNARD-DE-LACOLLE, QUEBEC, CANADA (RECENT - DECEMBER 5, 2024) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE SERGEANT, CHARLES POIRIER, SAYING: “Fear might drive some people into fleeing the United States and coming to Canada hoping for a better future. So we had to be ready. We are ready. We have redeployed some officers right here at the border to make sure that if there is a surge in migration, we'll be ready for it." HEMMINGFORD, QUEBEC, CANADA (RECENT - DECEMBER 5, 2024) (REUTERS) CAR DRIVING AWAY ON ROAD NEAR CANADA-U.S. BORDER CHAMPLAIN, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (RECENT - DECEMBER 6, 2024) (REUTERS) (MUTE) DRONE SHOT OF BORDER DIVIDING CANADA AND U.S. VARIOUS OF BORDER BETWEEN U.S.-CANADA AS SEEN FROM THE GROUND ROUSES POINT, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (RECENT - DECEMBER 6, 2024) (REUTERS) CAR DRIVING ON ROAD ALONG U.S.-CANADA BORDER AN ABANDONED SHOE IN CORNFIELD ALONG U.S.-CANADA BORDER CHAMPLAIN, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (RECENT - DECEMBER 6, 2024) (REUTERS) SIGN READING ‘ROXHAM ROAD’ WHICH HAS BEEN USED AS UNOFFICIAL CROSSING BETWEEN U.S. AND CANADA ALBURGH, VERMONT, UNITED STATES (RECENT - DECEMBER 6, 2024) (REUTERS) HOUSE NEXT TO CEMENT BLOCKS ALONG CANADA-US BORDER AS SEEN FROM U.S. INTO CANADA CHAMPLAIN, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (RECENT - DECEMBER 6, 2024) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) TERRY ROWE, U.S. MAN WHO LIVES ON THE NEW YORK SIDE OF THE CANADIAN-U.S. BORDER AND WHOSE CAMERAS HAVE FILMED MIGRANTS CROSSING, SAYING: “That’s the last, last house in the U.S. here. I mean, there are many houses on this road. You could stop at any house on this road and you will get stories like mine. They cross.”
- Embargoed: 30th December 2024 11:29
- Keywords: U.S.-Canada border migration
- Location: VARIOUS
- City: VARIOUS
- Country: Canada
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,North America,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001720214122024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Six Lego-like concrete blocks mark the end of a rural road at the U.S.-Canada border. The police vehicle, revving through blowing snow, crunches to a stop.
The barriers, installed last August in a joint venture with President Joe Biden's administration, stop vehicles bearing migrants from barreling across the border into the United States.
But they do not stop migrants crossing on foot.
“People can still hop over them,” said Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Sergeant Daniel Dubois.
Canadian police say they have installed more cameras and sensors over this section of the border over the last four years. Ottawa promised this month to deploy more officers and technology targeting southbound border-crossers after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump threatened Canada and Mexico with sweeping 25% tariffs if they do not reduce the movement of migrants and drugs into the U.S.
But Canadian law enforcement officials acknowledge they are limited in what they can do to stop southbound migrants.
"Even if we were everywhere, we couldn't stop it," said Charles Poirier, an RCMP spokesperson in Quebec.
Canadian authorities turned back about 1,000 people trying to cross into Canada between formal crossings in the 12 months ending in October, according to data obtained by Reuters, compared to more than 23,000 apprehended on the U.S. side by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. The apprehensions of U.S.-bound migrants doubled from the previous year but still represent a tiny fraction of the 1.5 million apprehensions over the same period near the U.S.- Mexico border, which experiences higher irregular migration overall.
At the Canada-U.S. border, recent movement has been southbound. That could change.
Canadian politicians admit the show of strength at the border is in part about creating an impression of security.
"We have a very important activity to undertake to make sure that we give confidence to the U.S. that we have an immigration system that they can manage for," Canada's Immigration Minister Marc Miller told a private meeting last month with the Canadian Council for Refugees advocacy group, according to a recording obtained by Reuters.
Miller was not available for an interview.
PATROLLING THE WORLD'S LONGEST LAND BORDER
Reuters spent four hours with RCMP officers patrolling part of a 105-mile (170 km) stretch of the border known for frequent migrant crossings, watching out for tips from the public; calls from U.S. authorities; suspicious movement captured by surveillance cameras and erratic drivers suspected of carrying potential crossers.
Securing the world's longest land border - about 4,000 miles (6,400 km) across forests, fields, ditches and lakes - is a gargantuan task. And police cannot arrest migrants who are in Canada legally, even if they suspect they intend to cross, Poirier said.
Four migration experts Reuters spoke with were unsure what the promised new border security technology and equipment would do to prevent crossings.
Refugee advocates argue that the restrictions do not deter migrants but put them at greater risk. At least nine people have been found dead near the Quebec-New York border since a 2023 rule change allowed each country to turn back asylum-seekers crossing between ports of entry.
“The only thing that you do is that you are pushing people to risk it,” said Action Refugies executive director Carlos Rojas Salazar.
Some migration specialists suggest preventing potential U.S.-bound migrants from entering Canada in the first place could be a more effective strategy.
Police told Reuters they have stopped people at the border coming directly from the airport but could not say how many.
Canada earlier this year started refusing more visas and turning away visa-holders at ports of entry.
CITIZEN SURVEILLANCE
Terry Rowe, a resident of Champlain, New York, whose home lies about a mile from the Canadian border, set up six motion-sensing cameras on his property to watch the wildlife. He ended up watching migrants.
He pulls out his phone to play an eight-second night-vision clip of a figure carrying a backpack and trundling across the snow.
He figures he has amassed more than 40 such videos over the past three years.
"It makes us a little nervous - you know, when it’s 70 feet from your bedroom window," Rowe said. "We keep our doors locked. We have our cameras. We have our wild, vicious animals here.”
He regularly reports people crossing through his yard to U.S. border patrol, he told Reuters. For southbound crossers, they usually show up within minutes. "Going north not so much," Rowe said.
Rowe said U.S. authorities used to offer rewards for apprehensions. Canadian police said they encourage residents to report migrant crossings.
Until last month, most of the traffic was from Canada to the U.S., Rowe said.
That may be about to change. Canadian law enforcement is bracing for a potential influx of migrants fleeing Trump's threat to carry out mass deportations once he is in the White House, Poirier said.
"We've redeployed some officers right here at the border to make sure that if there is a surge in migration, we'll be ready for it," he said.
From Rowe's vantage point, it looks like that surge might already be starting.
Of the most recent five people he has seen crossing, four have been northbound, he said.
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