According to U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) agents in the north, there has been a 743 percent increase in migrant encounters. The USBP Grand Forks Sector covering Minnesota and North Dakota has reported 90 apprehensions between October and December 2022. This exceeded the 80 apprehensions recorded throughout the entire fiscal year between Sept. 3o, 2021 and Oct. 1, 2022.
Meanwhile, Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia of the USBP Swanton Sector – which covers Vermont, New York and New Hampshire – also shared alarming numbers. He disclosed in a tweet that "in less than four months, Swanton Sector's apprehensions have surpassed the combined [apprehensions from] two prior years." Garcia mentioned that a record 441 people were apprehended in the sector in December 2022 alone.
The Swanton Sector chief patrol agent expressed concern over the increasing popularity of the people-smuggling route. He warned that traffickers are exploiting desperate asylum seekers with potentially lethal consequences, adding that dangerous passages and freezing temperatures mean nothing to these unlawful border-crossers.
"Unfortunately, the transnational criminal organizations that stand to profit from the increased flow of human traffic care only about profits and have no concern for the welfare of those whose plight they seek to exploit for financial gain," said Garcia.
Kathryn Siemer, acting USBP agent in charge of the Grand Forks Sector's Pembina, North Dakota station, said the sharp spike in encounters was due in part to Canada loosening its Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions. Migrants have been able to make their way to Canada, crossing over to the U.S. if they become unsatisfied with their life. (Related: Biden administration proposes permanently opening all borders between US, Mexico and Canada.)
"The numbers are definitely increasing back to a pre-pandemic type situation," she remarked. "It's a pretty well-known fact that the organizations don't care about the loss of life. They care about people as revenue."
Siemer divulged to Canada's Global News that the thought of the Patel family who died crossing into the U.S. haunted her a year on. She had been the agent in charge the day the frozen bodies of the four family members, who hailed from India's western Gujarat state, were discovered.
On Jan. 19, 2022, the frozen bodies of 39-year-old patriarch Jagdish Patel, his 37-year-old wife Vaishaliben Patel and the couple's 11-year-old daughter Vihangi and three-year-old son Dharmik were found near the Emerson district in Canada's Manitoba province.
The Patels entered Canada via Toronto in Ontario province a week earlier on Jan. 12, 2022 as part of a human smuggling operation. They made their way northwest into Manitoba, before making the deadly attempt. The family was dropped off near the border in frigid temperatures with a larger group, but were separated from the bigger party.
USBP agents managed to apprehend the party. The bodies of the Patels were later discovered. Fifty-seven-year-old Steve Shand, who drove the Indians to the northern border, was charged with human smuggling.
A year later, Fritznel Richard – an illegal immigrant who hailed from Haiti – was found dead just north of the Swanton Sector, which is under the purview of Garcia. Richard's body was discovered in early January 2023 in a wooded area south of Montreal. According to law enforcement from the Canadian province of Quebec, the migrant had been trying to enter the U.S. illegally to reach his wife prior to his death due to hypothermia.
Check out OpenBorders.news for more stories about illegal aliens crossing the northern border.
Watch Mike Martins discuss how illegal aliens crossing the northern border from Canada is affecting the United States.
This video is from the Mike Martins Channel on Brighteon.com.
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