Canada intercepts people trying to cross border in ‘incredibly cold’ conditions

More than a dozen people have been caught making the hazardous crossing into Canada, renewing focus on the closely watched – and seasonally perilous – border with the United States.

Police in Alberta this week intercepted two groups attempting to cross into Canada illegally, including one which included five children who were ill-prepared for the cold which can plunge as low as -30C (-22F) at this time of year.

Assistant Commissioner Lisa Moreland told reporters in Edmonton that nine people from Venezuela were found trudging through the snow and dragging suitcases. The group was bound for Alberta and made the journey in “incredibly cold” weather. A second group, composed of six adults from Jordan, Sudan, Chad and Mauritius, was found in a forest near Manitoba’s border with the US after an RCMP plane using thermal cameras detected them. Neither group had clothing suitable for the frigid conditions.

Assistant Commissioner Lisa Moreland. Photograph: Canadian Press/Rex/Shutterstock

Moreland said the migrants might have succumbed to a “heartbreaking situation” similar to the freezing death of the Patel family, the Indian couple who died alongside their toddler and 11-year-old near the border in 2022. “There’s the cross-border piece, but also the humanity piece,” she said. “[There have been] incidents where people did not make it.”

Underscoring the deadly realities of the northern border in the winter, a man extradited from Canada was arraigned in New York state on human smuggling charges on Thursday over the death of a 33-year-old pregnant woman from Mexico. Searchers found footprints in the snow leading to a New York river, where Ana Vasquez-Flores drowned in December 2023.

Ever since he was elected, Donald Trump has turned his focus to Canada’s border with the United States, alleging it is the source of vast amounts of fentanyl and illegal migration – neither of which is borne out by evidence.

US Customs and Border Protection says 23,721 people were apprehended last fiscal year crossing its northern border, up from the 2,238 caught two years prior. But border agents made 1.5 million apprehensions at the border with Mexico last year.

Still, to appease the president, Canada’s federal government has promised Trump C$1.3bn (US$900m) in spending along the border, including two Black Hawk helicopters and drones. Provincial premiers have also committed new resources. Earlier this year, Alberta’s premier, Danielle Smith, said her province would create a new sheriff patrol unit, with 50 armed sheriffs, 10 cold weather surveillance drones and several drug detection dogs at a cost of C$29m.

Moreland said police were “doing our part to secure the border” but none of the apprehensions are linked to new border efforts.

Trump’s victory last year – and a promise to enact the country’s largest mass deportation – initially prompted concern among political leaders in Canada that the country could experience a surge of migrants fleeing north and crossing unpatrolled areas of the 5,500-mile border – as happened during Trump’s first term.

“What we saw in the days and weeks after Trump won was fearmongering,” said Abdulla Daoud of the Refugee Centre in Montreal. “And none of that – the idea that hundreds of thousands would come to the border – has ever come to fruition.”

During Trump’s first term in office, tens of thousands of Haitians fled to Canada after the president ended temporary protected status for the group.

At the time, Trudeau posted on social media: “To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada.”

In 2022, nearly 40,000 people entered Canada at Roxham Road, an informal crossing in the forests of upstate New York that has become a political flashpoint in recent years. The following year, Canada overhauled an agreement with the United States on the border, in effect shutting down Roxham Road as a point of entry.

The closure shut off irregular crossings but asylum claims at ports of entry have since increased. “The data shows that many of them – 83% – are successful in court. The majority of people coming to claim asylum are actually in danger and are seeking safety from persecution,” said Daoud.

Even in the face of crackdowns and the threat of deportation, no notable uptick of irregular crossings into Canada has been recorded.

Daoud said the wave of people that fled for Canada in 2017 were those using the United States as a transition because there was no way for them to claim asylum.

“But now Trump is targeting individuals in the United States who have been there for decades. Some were even born there. It’s a totally different profile of person now.”

Under the current rule, a person can make an asylum claim if they remain undetected in Canada for 14 days, incentivizing risky and possibly deadly crossings.

“The current rules, and the landscape, are very much a deterrent to most people,” said Daoud. “But we’ll still see people crossing because the reality is, that it’s not a deterrent for those with no options left.”