The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) say they rescued a man over the weekend who got lost in a snow-covered wooded area while trying to cross the border into the United States from the Townships of -ballast.
Corporal Tasha Adams said on Monday that a person called the police on Saturday morning to express concern about a family member who wanted to seek asylum in the United States after walking across the border in the area. of Mansonville.
According to Mme Adams, officers walked for an hour and a half, in three feet of snow, to find the man who she said was conscious but appeared to be suffering from hypothermia and frostbite.
The man was able to get out of the woods with the help of the police and he received first aid at the scene, before being taken to hospital.
Mme Adams clarified that there should be no criminal charges in this case.
Less than a month ago, on January 4, Fritznel Richard, a 44-year-old man from Montreal, was found frozen to death in a wooded area near Roxham Road, in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, in Monteregie. The Sûreté du Québec maintained that the man was also trying to enter the United States.
Corporal Adams said the RCMP are concerned that people are putting their lives at risk to cross the border in “incredibly dangerous” conditions.
“We’re talking about a meter of snow that (the police) were sinking into, very mountainous terrain, across the rivers,” she said.
Rise south
This new incident comes as US authorities report an increase in the number of people trying to cross the border south from Canada between official border crossings.
Between 1er October and December 31, the Swanton Sector US Border Patrol — which patrols Vermont, New Hampshire and part of New York State — saw an increase of about 743% in arrests and stops compared to in the same quarter of 2021, the agency said in a statement last week.
Corporal Adams said the RCMP does not have data on increased crossings from Canada to the south, but added that Saturday’s search and rescue operation was not the first to take place near the border.
Firefighters from the neighboring municipality of Potton were also called to provide first aid to the man, who spoke English and Spanish, said James Bouthillier, director of the fire prevention department, in an interview.
Mr. Bouthillier did not notice a noticeable increase in the number of people trying to cross the border in his area, but he pointed out that a similar rescue took place about a year ago.