Mexican cartels linked to migrant smuggling operations at US-Canada border

Migrants in America: The Northern Border | Part 2

While the national spotlight shines on the influx of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, the northern border remains porous, accessible and exploitable – and the Mexican cartel and other crime rings know it. So do New York City taxicab drivers, who are waiting and ready to take migrants to the Big Apple. FOX 5 NY traveled to Clinton County, New York, to uncover what's behind the surge in illegal crossings at the U.S.-Canada border and hear from the migrants themselves on their search for the American Dream.

CLINTON COUNTY, N.Y. - While the national spotlight shines on the influx of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, the northern border remains porous, accessible and exploitable – and the Mexican cartels and other crime rings know it.

FOX 5 NY's Stephanie Bertini and photojournalist Lenny Torres traveled to Clinton County, New York, to uncover what's behind the surge in illegal crossings at the U.S.-Canada border, where U.S. Border Patrol recorded a nearly 1000% increase in encounters with migrants between 2021 and 2023.

Who are the smugglers?

The federal government has long documented human smugglers at the southern border, the exploitation of migrants who are willing to do almost anything to get to America.

These crime networks are now cashing in on the northern border, Sergeant Charles Poirier of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police told FOX 5 NY's Stephanie Bertini.

A look at the continental U.S. land borders

"We have active investigations on the matter. We've also arrested and charged a few smugglers recently," he said. "The reality is that, just by the sheer volume of migrants, this is a highly sophisticated operation we're talking about."

Poirier said transnational crime rings like the Mexican cartels and other criminal entities are linked to facilitating illegal border crossings. These entities have recruits throughout the world, targeting migrants in their home countries, according to Poirier.

The Border Patrol's Swanton Sector, which covers the land border in rural northeastern New York, is where the majority of migrants crossing the U.S.-Canada border illegally are apprehended, according to a 2023 CBC report.

This boundary marker divides the U.S. in Clinton County, New York, from Quebec, Canada.

This area is particularly active because migrants will first fly to Canadian metropolitan hubs, like Montreal and Ottawa. From there, they embark on a smuggling run to the border, lined with farms and small towns, and told to walk across.

"They've been told how to cross. Most of them, when we intercept them, obviously they're scared. And when we ask them, they will often say that they have spent hundreds and thousands of dollars per person to cross." Poirier said.

FOX 5 NY's Stephanie Bertini talks to migrants who recently crossed the U.S.-Canada border.

Crime rings typically charge between $3,000 and $6,000 USD per person and run three to seven people at a time, according to the CBC.

"These people didn't magically show up in Montreal and come across the border on their own. We assume there's networks out there that are helping them," Major Nicholas Leon, a chief deputy with the Clinton Country Sheriff’s Office, told Bertini.

"The Border Patrol is flat-out understaffed on the northern border. They have long stretches of border that they just don't have enough people to cover," Poirier said.

The dangers to migrants

People who likely crossed the U.S.-Canada border illegally wait at a New York gas station.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, human smugglers "have no concern for humanity" and "are simply looking to make a profit" from a multi-billion-dollar industry. Just last month in Texas, a group of smugglers were charged after 26 migrants were found packed in a secret trailer compartment during high temperatures and with little water.

The border in the north poses equal but unique hazards to those being smuggled – especially in the frigid winter. These dangers made international headlines in 2022 when a family of four Indian nationals. including a baby and a teen, were found dead in Canada near the U.S. border in what authorities believe was a failed crossing attempt during a freezing blizzard.

Leon, who often partners with Border Patrol agents, said law enforcement has found frozen people in Clinton County.

Concrete barriers in Clinton County, New York, mark the U.S.-Canada border

"I've literally watched the Border Control carry an elderly woman out of the woods whose feet were frozen, and that risk is worth it to them," he said.

In another case, Leon described a woman who drowned trying to navigate swampy waters in the winter.

"The terrain's pretty rugged," said Clinton County resident Allen Racine, who routinely sees evidence of migrant travels as a highway superintendent. "The cedar is thick, swampy, and they got to go through that."

Who are the migrants crossing north?

The migrants crossing the U.S.-Canada border are primarily from:

India
Mexico
Romania
Guatemala
Haiti
Venezuela

As long documented in FOX 5 NY's Migrants in America, many are desperate to seek refuge in New York City, escaping various issues in their home countries and motivated by a mix of fear and determination.

In a statement, the USBP told FOX 5 NY: "Transnational criminal organizations pose significant dangers to migrants as they not only seek to profit from their exploitation but also have little regard for their well-being, exposing them to violent encounters, injury and death."

What we don't know

The big question for law enforcement: Who else – and what else – is crossing illegally?

Leon said his biggest concern is the influx of people and the fear of the unknown that comes with it.

"It's not the families that are seeking asylum … It's the people that want to bring that violence here," he said. "… We're going to introduce people that have a whole different set of beliefs and ideas that may actually not jive with what we want. And they're going to use that in an extremist way to attack us."

Poirier said criminals are also smuggling contraband between the borders, like firearms and drugs.

"When our patrol officers are responding to a call, they can never assume that it's going to be an illegal migration," he said.

"So this is a national security issue, for both the Canadian and the U.S. government?" Bertini asked.

"Yes," Poirier confirmed.

By the numbers

46.1 million

The estimated foreign-born population, or immigrants in the country both legally and illegally, according to the Census Bureau. That accounts for 14% of the total U.S. population.

11 million

The estimated number of immigrants in the country illegally.

1.6 million

The number of migrants the Border Patrol released with notices to appear in immigration court from January 2022 through April 2024, the Associated Press reports. Another 600,000 were released under presidential powers known as "parole." Since late 2022, the Biden administration granted entry to another 1 million migrants through new or expanded legal pathways using parole authority at land crossings or airports to stay up to two years and immediately obtain work authorization.

195,000

The estimated number of newly arrived migrants since the spring of 2022. The surge was fueled partly by Gov. Greg Abbott sending busloads of people at his state’s expense.