US Court Hears How Border Agents’ Chased Human Smugglers Crossing From Quebec

A border crossing checkpoint connecting Canada to the state of Vermont, USA, on Jan. 22, 2024. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

A U.S. court case has shed light on how human smugglers operate to move people across the Canada-U.S. border.

The case involved American border agents, who became engaged in a high-speed chase after human smugglers were discovered crossing into the United States from Quebec.

Three men—two Guatemalan nationals and one Mexican—were arrested on immigration-related charges after being caught illegally crossing the U.S.-Canada border, according to a Jan. 28 release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont.

At roughly 9:15 a.m. on Jan. 25, U.S. Border Patrol agents responded to a report of multiple people crossing a remote dirt road just south of the U.S.-Canada border near Newport, Vermont.

While searching the area, agents spotted a vehicle with Virginia licence plates speeding down a nearby driveway. As they followed the car, the border agents noticed foggy windows and multiple people in the back seat—signs commonly associated with human smuggling operations, according to the court document.

Border Patrol agents stopped the vehicle and found three individuals: Saul Mazariegos-Estrada, 29, and Byron Sicajau Socoy, 40, both from El Tejar, Guatemala, and Christian Rafael Hernandez Villa, 34, from Jalisco, Mexico. All three confessed to entering the United States illegally and were arrested.

The three men appeared in U.S. court on Jan. 27. Mazariegos-Estrada was ordered to be detained pending a hearing, and could face up to five years in prison if convicted. Sicajau Socoy and Hernandez Villa pleaded guilty and received time-served sentences, having faced up to six months in prison, according to the press release.

Canada recently introduced measures to enhance its border security, including a $1.3 billion investment in border agencies, law enforcement, and national security to address illegal immigration and drug smuggling, particularly fentanyl. The move follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to impose a 25 percent tariff on Canadian imports starting Feb. 1, over border security concerns.

In a separate case, Canadian authorities intercepted a human smuggling attempt in Ontario’s Niagara region, where a suspect was arrested after jumping off a moving freight train as it entered Canada near Fort Erie. The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and RCMP arrested the individual, along with two others involved in the suspected human smuggling attempt, according to a Jan. 29 press release from the CBSA.

The arrest is part of CBSA’s Project Disrupt and Deter, which was launched last December to monitor vulnerable areas along the International Railway Bridge connecting Fort Erie and Buffalo, N.Y.

“Canada’s border plan is working,” Public Safety Minister David McGuinty said in the release. “The joint efforts between CBSA and RCMP to detect and prevent human smuggling and other criminal activities along the Canada-U.S. border are keeping Canadians and Americans safe.”