US Border Services says it has noted an 846% increase in interceptions of travelers crossing the border from Canada to the United States irregularly, through the woods, in the Quebec and Eastern Ontario sector, since October.
In January alone, US Border Patrol agents say they apprehended on US soil 367 people who had crossed the border irregularly in this area, including a recent incident in which a child as young as eight months old and another two-year-olds were carried by adults despite the cold.
The total interceptions in January surpassed the number of interceptions for all of January in the past 12 years combined, at 344, according to a statement released Monday by authorities.
“The risk of hypothermia is high among vulnerable populations,” says the US Border Patrol Agency.
The number of interceptions between 1er October and January 31 increased by 846% compared to the same period the previous year, adds the US Border Patrol, which recalls having rescued groups of migrants lost by extreme cold on more than one occasion in December.
“As we push even further into winter and continue to manage the pace of illicit cross-border trafficking, the level of concern for the lives and well-being of our officers and the people we encounter – particularly vulnerable populations – continues to climb,” said Robert N. Garcia, sector chief for the US Border Patrol.
The figures released Monday mainly concern the American sector vis-à-vis Quebec, but also a small portion of the territory of Eastern Ontario, in the St. Lawrence Valley.