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U.S. seeing uptick in illegal border crossings from Canada
Global News
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has seen a drastic uptick in recent months of people trying to enter North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin illegally from Canada.
A year after a family of four from India froze to death while trying to walk to the United States from Manitoba, the agency tasked with patrolling the border says others have not been deterred from attempting the same treacherous journey.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has seen a drastic uptick in recent months of people trying to enter North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin illegally from Canada.
Those states have seen about 90 apprehensions since October, said Kathryn Siemer, acting patrol agent in charge of the station in Pembina, N.D. The same area saw roughly 80 apprehensions from October 2021 to September 2022.
“The numbers are definitely increasing back to a pre-pandemic type situation,” she said.
“It’s a pretty well-known fact that the organizations don’t care about the loss of life. They care about people as revenue.”
The frozen bodies of Jagdish Patel, 39; his wife Vaishaliben Patel, 37; their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi; and their three-year-old son, Dharmik, were found on Jan. 19, 2022, near Emerson, Man., just metres from the U.S. border.
Investigators believe a human smuggling network was behind the family’s journey to Canada from a village in the state of Gujarat in western India, as well as the border-crossing attempt.
The family was dropped off near the border in frigid temperatures and was trying to cross into the U.S. on foot among a larger group when the four became separated.