Cartels took ‘advantage’ of northern border holes when agents went south: Stefanik

According to Rep. Elise Stefanik, the southern border crisis of illegal immigration that resulted in more than 5 million illegal entries since 2021 has forced federal police personnel to be shifted away from the northern border that separates US from Canada. Criminal organizations that profit from illegal immigration into the US have now started to exploit the resultant weakness of the northern border. Stefanik suggested that the laxity in addressing southern border issues paid dividends by these cartels who have now resorted to smuggling through the northern border too.

Stefanik added that the thousands of Border Patrol agents that were transferred from the northern border to the southern border left it vulnerable to infiltration from criminal organizations that indulge in drug and human trafficking. She further stated that this situation was brought to her attention by regional Border Patrol officials a few weeks ago and that it was very concerning.

It is pertinent to note that citizens of Mexico can enter Canada without a visa, which makes it easier for immigrants to fly cash to the country and then head to the US. Some immigrants choose to enter the US through the border entry point while others attempt to cross illegally.

The northern border spans 5,500 miles, almost three times the 1,950-mile southern border, and has fewer Border Patrol agents deployed across it. Publicly available data shows that 2,856 individuals were encountered by Border Patrol since fiscal 2023; this number has raised concern, given that the highest annual number of arrests since the year 2008 was nearly 8,000.

Stefanik added that the New England region had seen more than half of all the immigrant arrests made on the northern border. In January 2023, Border Patrol agents apprehended 367 individuals attempting to cross, which was more than the total number of arrests made in January over the previous 12 years combined. By February, another 418 illegal immigrants were arrested in the same region. The number of monthly arrests has remained above 300 since October, suggesting that the situation is far from resolved.

Stefanik, while acknowledging that the hundreds of arrests per month were small compared to the number made on the southern border in the past two years, emphasized that the situation needed addressing. She argued that a lack of southern border security would leave the northern border vulnerable to exploitation, given its lack of a major border wall.