Canada immigration department alerted about the surge in clandestine U.S.- Canada border crossings last year
Intelligence experts within Canada’s border agency informed the federal immigration department last December about a big rise in illegal crossings of the Canada-U.S. border, including into the States, which raises questions about why action to curb it was not taken earlier.
An intelligence document sent to senior Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada officials, says smugglers were moving people across the border in both directions, with some foreign nationals flying into Canada at major airports and swiftly slipping across the border into the United States.
The Canada Border Services Agency’s intelligence analysis says clandestine entries have led to thousands of refugee claims, mostly in the Greater Toronto Area.
The document says “the Southbound movement into the United States (US) has grown significantly since 2022″ adding that “the majority of individuals who attempt to cross southbound illegally arrive by air, mainly at Montreal Trudeau International Airport and Toronto Pearson International Airport and move quickly.”
It found that “the vast majority were very likely in Canada for less than 6 months of which a large portion were in Canada for less than 3 weeks.”
Ministers have insisted in recent weeks, amid heightened tensions between U.S. president-elect Donald Trump and Ottawa over illegal immigration into the U.S., that Canada’s borders are secure.
But the emergence of the detailed analysis by the CBSA’s Intelligence and Investigations Directorate raises questions about whether ministers were ignorant of the extent of people smuggling into the U.S. from Canada, and in the other direction.
Mr. Trump warned that when he takes office both Canada and Mexico will face 25-per-cent tariffs on their products until they take more action on illegal border crossings and the movement of drugs into the U.S. This spurred Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc to promise more funding for helicopters, drones, censors and “boots on the ground” to police the border in the past fortnight.
Immigration lawyer Richard Kurland, who obtained the document using Access to Information laws, said it confirms Mr. Trump’s concerns about border crossings from Canada, and shows that Ottawa knew at least a year ago about what was going on.
“There’s a disconnect between what the Ottawa politicians are saying and what they knew,” he said.
Renée Proctor, spokesperson for Immigration Minister Marc Miller, would not comment on whether the minister has personally seen a copy of the “intelligence placemat” that was circulated among senior officials in his department, including a director, last December.
The CBSA briefing says that since the border crossing at Roxham Road in Quebec was closed in 2023, stopping people immediately claiming asylum with a change to the Safe Third Country Agreement with the U.S., there has been a big increase in people clandestinely crossing the border into Canada.
People fleeing unsafe homelands are entitled to claim asylum in Canada but under the agreement, they are usually sent back to the U.S. at regular border crossings. Those who manage to cross secretly can claim asylum after 14 days in the country and have their cases heard.
“Clandestine entry into Canada has grown exponentially since the implementation of the Additional Protocol (AP) to the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA),” says the report entitled “Illicit Between the Ports (BTP) movements: April to September 2023.”
“Between April 1-September 30, 2023, there were approximately 1,921 refugee claims after clandestine entry from the US into Canada,” it says, adding in bold: “The true number is almost certainly higher.”
Opposition politicians and premiers have raised fears about an influx of migrants to Canada from the U.S. after Mr. Trump threatened to deport about 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally.
The CBSA intelligence report sheds light on how foreign nationals from particular countries are crossing the border clandestinely from the U.S. into Canada.
It says “human smuggling services are extensive for clandestine entries” and that payments “for end to end services” range from $3,200 to $45,000.
People crossing illegally use smuggling networks which vary in sophistication, it says, and the migrants using them are placed in vulnerable situations and often exploited. The routes used to smuggle people are “often very dangerous” and can result in “bodily harm and or death.”
Indian and Mexican nationals tend to be smuggled across the border from Quebec and British Columbia, the report by CBSA’s intelligence collection, analysis and production division says.
The Globe and Mail previously reported how CBSA has been investigating Mexican cartels’ involvement in people smuggling into America. To curb rising asylum claims from Mexicans, earlier this year Mr. Miller reimposed visa requirements on them.
“Sri Lankan nationals have quickly become one of the largest diaspora who enter Canada clandestinely,” the report adds, saying that historically they have been known to use fraudulent documents.
People from Turkey and Sri Lanka tend to cross the border from the U.S. into Quebec, it says.
Afghans are the largest group to enter Canada clandestinely, accounting for 28 per cent, often arriving from the south via Brazil and then claiming asylum once they get here.
Both Afghans and Colombians tend to slip across the U.S. border into British Columbia, the paper says.
It says that some claiming asylum in Canada were eligible to claim at regular ports of entry “but elected to still enter clandestinely, which raises questions about the possibility of ulterior motives or serious inadmissibility.”
Indian nationals “have increasingly exploited” genuine visitor visas, which they have improperly obtained to travel to Canada, and “are known to use the services of human smugglers.”
Historically a proportion of Romanians travelling into the U.S. “were a concern for organized criminality and it is suspected that amongst this cohort, there is a perceived fluidly of movement between Canada and the U.S.,” it says.
Rebecca Purdy, a CBSA spokesperson, said the document was shared with IRCC as well as the RCMP and others working on border matters. She said the agency continually monitors threats to the border, including between the ports of entry, adding that dozens of investigations are taking place into human smuggling.
Mary Rose Sabater, an IRCC spokesperson, said the department works with security partners including CBSA and RCMP to enforce immigration laws and is in regular contact with U.S. counterparts.
This article was first reported by The Globe and Mail
