Canadian border crossings triple in 2022 compared to 2021

FARGO — U.S. Prospects and Border Safety is reporting 109,537 encounters between border patrol brokers and folks illegally crossing on the northern border between the U.S. and Canada in 2022.

It represents an over 300% improve to what they reported in 2021.

Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., met with officers from the U.S. Border patrol in Grand Forks to debate the rise in encounters and the necessity for added assets for coping with the spike.

Hoeven says it is laborious for border patrol brokers to cowl the a whole lot of miles of the border between the 2 nations.

He is working to safe funding by means of the Senate Appropriations Committee to assist handle border patrol staffing shortages, and to enhance recruitment efforts.

WDAY Information spoke with Dr. Julie Younger, a professor and immigration researcher on the College of Lethbridge, Alberta about what could possibly be inflicting the spike. She mentioned evaluating the 2 years simply by the numbers is not a good comparability.

For one, COVID-19 period journey insurance policies have been very completely different between the 2 years and pent-up demand from journey restrictions would possibly account for the spike.

She worries merely placing extra money into the identical insurance policies may truly make points on the border even worse.

“The reflex to crack down on the border to make it tougher to cross, in reality, truly drives human smuggling,” Younger mentioned. “It simply pushes individuals to extra distant and harmful routes and strategies of journey.”

Hoeven mentioned securing the border is crucial to combat each human trafficking and drug trafficking, particularly as communities throughout the nation wrestle with rising fentanyl overdoses.