New policy aims to deter glut of migrant crossings from Canada

U.S. authorities say illegal crossings from Canada are happening at an unprecedented level.

By Cam Smith
Published: Aug. 14, 2024 at 4:35 PM EDT|Updated: 2 hours ago

DERBY, Vt. (WCAX) - Across more than 290 miles of international border with Canada, U.S. authorities say illegal crossings are happening at an unprecedented level. Some residents in Derby agree that the situation in their backyard is getting out of hand.

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Data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows a sharp rise in the number of encounters in recent years. Between October and June, there have been 12,860 encounters in the Swanton Sector alone. Apprehensions are higher than all those recorded in the area in the past 13 years combined. While July’s data is not out yet, officials say the total is much higher.

“I can say that we are currently over 15,000 thousand apprehensions for that period of time. That is something we’ve never seen before,” said USCBP’s Joshua Cozzens. He says while illegal entry is a crime itself, there are other concerns including drugs, guns, and human smuggling. Although they’ve added extra patrols along the Swanton Sector, he says nothing seems to be slowing the problem down.

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One way to help slow down the illegal crossings is to make the asylum-seeking process easier. CBS News reported on Tuesday that the Biden administration is implementing new policy changes to expedite processing for asylum seekers at the border. Those changes were expected to begin Wednesday but we were unable to confirm that.