Hazardous Crossings into Canada
As cold weather persists along the northern border, attempting to cross into Canada has become deadly. This week, Canadian police stopped more than a dozen people in extreme weather conditions. Two groups were stopped including one with five children and all were unprepared for the bitter cold that can dip to −30°C (−22°F).
In Alberta, the last week, nine Venezuelans were found walking through the snow with their luggage on their backs, trying to reach the border. Assistant Commissioner Lisa Moreland described the situation as “incredibly cold,” stressing that the group had no protection against the cold that can get as low as −30°C. An other group of six adults from Jordan, Sudan, Chad and Mauritius were discover in a forest near Manitoba’s border with the United States. A plane with thermal cameras of the RCMP found them in the last moment.
Moreland highlighted the danger, recalling the tragic 2022 death of the Patel family who froze to death while trying to make it over the border into Canada. It isn’t just a border issue, she said. “It’s also a humanitarian issue. We have seen cases where people didn’t make it,” she added.
The realities of these crossings grew sharper as a man in New York was indicted on human smuggling charges, and linked to the death of a pregnant Mexican woman, whose body was recovered in December 2023 after she tried to cross into the U.S. from Canada.
Even with stepped up border control, people are still getting through. In 2022, 23,721 people were apprehended at the U.S.-Canada border, far fewer than the 1.5 million detained at the Southern U.S. border. But Canadian officials have upped funding for new tools, including drones, helicopters and more officers.
The rise in crossings was first feared after Donald Trump’s election because many assumed his strict immigration policies would create a surge of migrants heading north. Although those fears were never fully realized, they did materialize in 2017 when Trump ended temporary protected status for Haitian migrants.
In response, Canada has beefed up its border controls and shut down routes such as Roxham Road. Irregular entries are down, but asylum claims at ports of entry are up, and 83% of those claims have succeeded in court.
Some experts say that many of the people making these dangerous crossings have no choice. “The current rules are a deterrent for most,” said Abdulla Daoud from Montreal’s Refugee Centre. “But for those with no other options, they’ll keep crossing, no matter how high the risk.”
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