Vermont State Police have opened an investigation into a man who collapsed and later died after walking across the border from Quebec to the United States last week.
U.S. Border Patrol agents saw 45-year-old Jose Leos Cervantes and two others crossing the border into Holland, Vermont, around 10:30 p.m. on February 19, Detective Jason Danielsen said in a statement.
Holland is located southeast of Stanstead, in the Eastern Townships.
“When Border Patrol agents arrived and encountered the men, Leos Cervantes collapsed, while the other two ran towards Canada. Officers reported that they immediately provided first aid, including CPR, to Leos Cervantes,” Officer Danielsen said.
Mr. Leos Cervantes, originally from Aguascalientes, Mexico, was then taken to hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Police said his death was not being treated as suspicious and an autopsy showed no signs of trauma.
In court papers, Border Patrol Agent Brian Wilda said Mr Leos Cervantes was “clinging to a tree and looking distressed” when officers found him.
A 31-year-old Ecuadorian woman who lived in Connecticut was charged last week with attempting to illegally transport three people to the United States after the death of Mr Leos Cervantes. Maria Constante-Zamora was scheduled to appear in Vermont district court earlier this week.
One of the men suspected by prosecutors of having traveled with Mr. Leos Cervantes, Oscar Soto-Acosta, was later tracked down by Border Patrol agents. He is currently being held as an important witness in the proceedings against Ms. Constante-Zamora.
This is the second time this winter that a person has died crossing the US border from Quebec. Fritznel Richard, 44, was found frozen to death in early January in a wooded area near Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, in Montérégie. Police said he was trying to enter the United States irregularly.
Richardson Charles Alida, a friend of Mr. Richard, said in late January that the Haitian asylum seeker had been unable to obtain a work permit in Canada and he believed he could obtain legal status in the United States, but also find his wife in Florida.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service said earlier this month that officers “encountered” or apprehended 367 people in January attempting to illegally cross the border into southern Quebec and southeastern Quebec. ‘Ontario.
The US agency said the number of encounters and arrests in January 2023 was higher than the previous 12 Januarys combined.