Northern states see record surge in illegal border crossings, Border Patrol says

Officials are urging the public to make a report when they see something suspicious.

Published: February 12, 2024 2:42pm

Northern states are battling a record-breaking surge of illegal immigrants entering the United States from Canada, Border Patrol officials said.

Swanton Sector Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia, whose territory includes portions of Vermont, New Hampshire and New York, wrote last week on X, formerly Twitter: "The record-breaking surge of illegal entries from Canada continues in Swanton Sector."

He is urging the public to make a report if they see something suspicious. Garcia said that a private citizen's report in Champlain, N.Y., led to the arrest of 10 citizens from Bangladesh who attempted to enter the U.S. from Canada.

Garcia said earlier this month on X: "Since October 1, 2023, Swanton Sector Border Patrol Agents have apprehended more than 3,100 subjects from 55 countries (more than Fiscal Years 2022, 21, 20 & 19 combined)."

While data has not been released for January 2024, every month since the start of Fiscal Year 2022, which began in October 2021, the Swanton sector has seen more encounters than that same month the year before, data shows. For example, December 2024 saw more encounters than any other December on record, as did December 2023 and December 2022 by that point.

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