By Anna Mehler Papern
SAINT-GEORGES-DE-CLARENCEVILLE (Reuters) – Six Lego-like concrete blocks mark the end of a rural road on the U.S.-Canada border. A police car rolling through the snow pulls to a stop.
The barriers, installed last August in a joint venture with President Joe Biden’s administration, stop vehicles carrying migrants from crossing the US border.
But they do not stop migrants from crossing on foot.
“People can still jump over them,” said Sergeant Daniel Dubois of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
Canadian police say they have installed more cameras and sensors along this stretch of the border over the past four years. Ottawa this month promised to deploy more officers and technology to border crossings heading south after US President-elect Donald Trump threatened Canada and Mexico with 25% tariffs unless they cut back on migrant and drug traffic into the US.
But Canadian law enforcement agencies admit they are limited in what they can do to stop migrants heading south.
“Even if we were everywhere, we couldn’t have stopped it,” said Charles Poirier, a spokesman for the RCMP in Quebec.
Canadian authorities turned back about 1,000 people trying to cross into Canada between official crossings in the 12 months ending in October, according to data obtained by Reuters, while on the US side, US Customs and Border Patrol detained more than 23,000 people. Apprehensions of U.S.-bound migrants doubled from the previous year, but still represent a small fraction of the 1.5 million apprehensions during the same period along the U.S.-Mexico border, where illegal immigration is higher overall.
The last traffic on the Canada-US border was headed south. This may change.
Canadian politicians recognize that the show of force at the border is partly about creating an impression of security.
“We have a very important activity to reassure the US that we have an immigration system that they can manage,” Canadian Immigration Minister Mark Miller told a private meeting with the Canadian Council of Refugees last month. group, according to a memo obtained by Reuters.
He added: “There is a credibility challenge I think we face.”
Miller was not available for an interview.
Patrolling the longest land border in the world
Reuters spent four hours with RCMP officers patrolling a 105-mile (170 km) stretch of the border known for frequent migrant crossings and following up on tips from the public; calls from US authorities; Suspicious traffic was captured by surveillance cameras and erratic drivers who were suspected of driving at potential intersections.
Protecting the world’s longest land border – some 4,000 miles (6,400 km) across forests, fields, ditches and lakes – is a formidable task. Police cannot detain migrants who are in Canada legally, even if they suspect they are about to cross, Poirier said.
Four migration experts interviewed by Reuters were unsure what the promised new border security technology and equipment would do to prevent crossings.
“There’s a lot of talk about whether we’re going to increase technological capabilities at the border. There’s a lot of talk about increasing patrols. But all of this so far, I think, is primarily to show that we’re serious about the border,” said Lama Murad of Carleton University’s Norman Patterson School of International Affairs. Assistant Professor.
Refugee advocates argue that the restrictions do not stop migrants, but rather put them at greater risk. At least nine people were found dead near the Quebec-New York border after a 2023 rule change allowed each country to turn back asylum seekers crossing between ports of entry.
“All you’re doing is encouraging people to risk it,” he said action (WA:) Refugees Executive Director Carlos Rojas Salazar.
Public Safety Minister Dominique LeBlanc was not available for an interview, and his office did not directly respond to requests for comment on his border plan.
Some migration experts suggest that preventing potential US-bound migrants from entering Canada in the first place may be a more effective strategy.
Police told Reuters they had stopped people at the border coming directly from the airport, but could not say how many.
Canada began refusing more visas earlier this year and turning away visa holders at ports of entry.
“It’s wrong that people should be able to get visas under certain conditions, come here, claim asylum or not, and then cross the U.S. border in large numbers into the U.S.,” Miller said at the refugee meeting. lawyers.
Murad agreed that restricting the entry of potential migrants could be effective. “But it’s not a wall, it’s not a helicopter, it’s not tangible in that sense. And so, it’s not clear to me whether it’s going to be effective in convincing anybody of Trump,” he said.
Trump’s transition team did not respond to a request for comment.
Citizen surveillance
Terry Rowe, a resident of Champlain, New York, whose home is about a mile from the Canadian border, installed six motion-sensing cameras on his property to watch for wildlife. He finished watching the migrants.
He pulls out his phone to play an eight-second night vision clip of a figure carrying a backpack and trudging through the snow.
According to him, he has collected more than 40 such videos in the last three years.
“These migrants are coming within 72 feet of our bedroom window,” Rowe said. “We saw them take a shortcut in the front yard.”
He regularly reports people who cross into his yard to the US Border Patrol, he told Reuters. For southbound crossings, they usually appear within minutes. “Going north not so much,” Rowe said.
Rowe said US authorities were offering a reward for his arrest. Canadian police said they are urging residents to report migrants crossing the border.
Until last month, most of the traffic was from Canada to the U.S., Rowe said.
This may change. Canadian law enforcement is bracing for a potential influx of migrants fleeing Trump’s threat to carry out mass deportations once he’s in the White House, Poirier said.
“We’ve redeployed some officers right here at the border to make sure that if there is an increase in migration, we’re ready for it,” he said.
From Rowe’s perspective, that growth may have already begun.
He said that of the last five people he saw cross, four were from the north.
“It’s the opposite, and I think it’s going to grow.”