America’s northern border is increasingly becoming a gateway for illegal immigrants, according to new data.
The latest federal fiscal year, which ended Monday, showed that in just one part of the border between the United States and Canada, the number of illegal immigrants who were caught by Border Patrol agents almost tripled.
The Swanton Sector of the border covers 24,000 square miles and encompasses Vermont as well as Clinton, Essex, Franklin, St. Lawrence and Herkimer counties in New York and Coos, Grafton and Carroll counties in New Hampshire, according to Fox News.
To the north, parts of the provinces of Ontario and Quebec border the sector.
The 2024 fiscal year saw 19,222 illegal immigrants caught, up from 6,925 in the previous federal fiscal year.
Sector Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia tried to put the number into context over the long term.
“Border Patrol Agents in Swanton Sector have apprehended more than 19,222 subjects from 97 different countries since October 1, 2023, which is more than its last 17 fiscal years combined,” Garcia posted on social media platform X
Border Patrol Agents in Swanton Sector have apprehended more than 19,222 subjects from 97 different countries since October 1, 2023, which is more than its last 17 fiscal years combined.
Report suspicious border activity in Swanton Sector: 1-800-689-3362 @USBPChief@CBP@DHSgov pic.twitter.com/BhUaYYi15B— Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia (@USBPChiefSWB) October 2, 2024
Border Patrol data showed that in fiscal 2020, 574 illegal immigrants were caught. That dropped to 365 the next year, Fox News reported. That means that in fiscal 2024, more than 30 times the number of illegal immigrants were caught compared to the last year of the Trump administration.
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Overall, 190,000 illegal migrants were caught crossing from Canada to the U.S. in fiscal 2023, according to the New York Post.
Vermont resident Chris Feeley noted that times have changed.
“Now I’ve got the Border Patrol guys on speed-dial,” he said, according to the New York Post.
Feeley recalled an instance where, from a hunting stand, he watched two men “of Mexican descent” making their way through the woods.
One “stopped right underneath me and was looking at his iPhone and was following a trail, so obviously somebody gave him a route of which way to go,” Feeley said. “I was just stunned, I didn’t know what to do. I just let them walk off, I gave them 10 minutes before I went back to the barn to call Border Patrol.”
Kaitlynn Pease, 22, a volunteer firefighter in Alburgh, Vermont, told the Post she is used to seeing what she called “getaway vehicles” waiting in a gas station parking lot.
“They’re there early in the morning when there’s no traffic. It’s normally around 6 or 7 in the morning,” she said.
“Once you see the New Jersey plates, you know they’re a getaway car. Recently, New Jersey and Massachusetts are the big ones coming to pick up the migrants,” she said.
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