'Don't risk it': border patrol agents seeing huge spike in illegal crossings from Manitoba

United States border patrol agents have seen a spike in illegal border crossing attempts from Manitoba.

United States border patrol agents have seen a spike in illegal border crossing attempts from Manitoba.

David Marcus, a border patrol agent in Grand Forks, N.D. said there have been 100 illegal border crossing attempts in the first six months of the fiscal year. This time last year, there had been only 22 attempted crossings.

"The biggest thing we're seeing is people are just desperate to come to the United States," Marcus said.

Marcus said in his five years with the Grand Forks sector, he has never seen this many attempts to cross the border.

Those numbers don't include the most recently reported crossing attempt that happened early Tuesday morning.

Nine people had tried to illegally cross into the United States from Manitoba near Sprague, Man. They called 911 and had to be rescued after ending up in a flooded bog, suffering from hypothermia.

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