Feds Received Intelligence of Increased Clandestine Border Crossings Last Year

Asylum-seekers are met by RCMP officers after crossing the Canada-U.S. border at Roxham Road, Quebec, into Canada on Feb. 9, 2023. Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press

Border intelligence agents informed the government last year that there’s increased illicit movement of people coming in and out of the country. The news comes as Canada works to bolster border security in the wake of the incoming U.S. administration’s threat to impose tariffs.

A 2023 intelligence document from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) obtained by The Epoch Times says “clandestine entry into Canada has grown exponentially” since an agreement with the United States on asylum seekers was updated in 2023.

CBSA noted approximately 1,921 refugee claims were made after clandestine entry from the United States between April 1 and Sept. 30, 2023. “The true number is almost certainly higher,” said the agency.

The intelligence product, referred to as a “placemat” document containing maps and a chart, also said the “southbound movement into the United States (US) [redacted] has grown significantly since 2022.”

CBSA said the “rising numbers of southbound apprehensions” by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol is a “bilateral irritant between Canada and the U.S.”

The placemat on “Illicit Between the Ports (BtP) Movements” was produced by a CBSA intelligence division and was sent to the email addresses of multiple teams within Immigration Canada on Dec. 13, 2023.

CBSA spokesperson Luke Reimer told The Epoch Times it was also shared with the RCMP, which is responsible for securing the border between ports of entry.

“Both the RCMP and the CBSA work alongside their partners, including U.S. law enforcement, to disrupt human smuggling networks and to combat international criminal organizations that seek to profit from the desperation and vulnerability of others; this intelligence document was developed in support of that joint work,” said Reimer.

The partly redacted CBSA document was obtained via the Access to Information process by immigration lawyer Richard Kurland, who then provided it to The Epoch Times. The Globe and Mail first reported on the document.

CBSA noted the exponential growth of clandestine entry into Canada after Ottawa and Washington agreed on the additional protocol to the Safe Third Country Agreement in March 2023. The agreement says asylum seekers must make a claim in the country they first arrive in. The additional protocol closed a loophole that migrants used to enter Canada illegally and claim asylum between ports of entry, such as at the Roxham Road crossing, which was subsequently shut down.

Tariff Threat

The information from CBSA was released publicly as Ottawa seeks to reassure the incoming U.S. administration it takes border issues seriously.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump threatened Canada and Mexico with 25 percent tariffs if they don’t do more to tackle illegal immigration and drug smuggling at their borders.

The threat followed Trump’s pick for border czar, Tom Homan, saying the U.S. northern border is an “extreme national security vulnerability” because of border crossers originating in countries that sponsor terrorism.

“There has to be an understanding from Canada that they can’t be a gateway to terrorists coming to the United States,” Homan told TV network WWNY on Nov. 11.

While the flow of people and drugs has been much higher at the Mexico border, there have been more individuals on a U.S. terrorist watchlist crossing from Canada, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. From Oct. 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2024, the northern border saw 358 such encounters compared to 52 at the southern border.

Concern around illegal immigrants having problematic backgrounds also appears in the recently released CBSA document. The document said some individuals were eligible to claim asylum at ports of entry “but elected to still enter clandestinely, which raises questions about the possibility of ulterior motives or serious inadmissibility.”

The border agency added that a “small portion” of clandestine entry claims have represented “serious inadmissibility concerns” over the period, primarily coming from Afghan and Sri Lankan nationals. Afghanistan and Sri Lanka have both experienced war and terrorism in recent years.

Afghan nationals had the most involvement in clandestine entry and refugee claims over the April to September 2023 period with 431 occurrences. CBSA said Afghans mostly used the “Southern Corridor,” travelling north from Brazil. After Afghans came nationals from Turkey (224), Sri Lanka (108), and Colombia (90).

CBSA said Sri Lankans are quickly becoming the largest diaspora group to enter clandestinely, relying on “fraudulent documents, mass marine ventures and, increasingly, complex multi-modal facilitation.”

The border agency said human smuggling services are “extensive” for clandestine entries, with migrants who used the services saying they paid from $3,200 to $45,000. CBSA said migrants who use smugglers face an increased risk of debt bondage and are “vulnerable to being exploited and coerced by threat actors following their entry to Canada.”

The CBSA spokesperson said approximately 50 investigations into human smuggling were conducted in the last fiscal year.

Southbound Movement

The CBSA document also contained information on the flow of illegal crossings from Canada to the United States, but a large portion is redacted. No numbers are provided, although maps of the Pacific and Quebec regions show that Mexican and Indian nationals are the largest groups of foreign nationals crossing into the United States.

“Indian nationals have increasingly exploited improperly obtained genuine TRV’s [Temporary Resident Visas] in order to travel to Canada and are known to use the services of human smugglers,” said the border agency.

The Epoch Times asked CBSA for details but was referred to Immigration Canada. The immigration department did not respond by publication time.

CBSA said the majority of individuals who make a run for the U.S. border first arrive by plane at Montreal-Trudeau or Toronto-Pearson airports and “move quickly.”

“The vast majority were very likely in Canada for less than 6 months of which a large portion were in Canada for less than 3 weeks.”

Kurland, who obtained the CBSA document, said it confirms Trump’s concerns about the Canadian border.

It “shows a disconnect between what was said by Ottawa politicians, and what they knew,” he told The Epoch Times in an email.

The Canadian government says it is currently working on a plan to boost border security by procuring new surveillance equipment, and is also looking into boosting personnel. RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme said his force is limited in what it can do to prevent illegal crossers into the United States since an offence is only committed at the time of crossing.

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc has said that before Trump announced his tariff threat, the government was in the process of adding more security resources to the border, in part because of receiving intelligence about drug trafficking.

“We were in the process of adding resources as we received intelligence information about certain threats, principally in terms of drug trafficking, before Mr. Trump’s [tariffs threat],” LeBlanc told CTV’s Power Play program on Dec. 2. He added that the other reason for looking into deploying more resources to the border before the tariffs threat was concern that more migrants may head to the Canadian border, given Trump’s plan to deport illegal immigrants.

Trump has mostly focused on the southern U.S. border during his presidential campaign and has promised to begin the “largest deportation operation in American history.”