OTTAWA — Canada is considering supplying the RCMP and border agency with more resources including drones, helicopters and personnel in case of a "surge" at the border, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Tuesday in response to Donald Trump's threat to impose steep tariffs on Canadian imports into the U.S. The president-elect threatened to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports unless action is taken to stem the flow of both migrants and illegal drugs crossing the border. "As everyone is aware, thousands of people are pouring through Mexico and Canada, bringing Crime and Drugs at levels never seen before," Trump said on Truth Social on Monday night. LeBlanc said his office has been working with finance officials, the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency "for months" to see what is needed and feasible. The minister added that Canada shares many of the same concerns as the Americans when it comes to illegal migration, and drugs and other contraband making its way across the border. LeBlanc said Canadian agencies work collaboratively with their U.S. counterparts. "For decades, this collaborative work happening literally daily with American authorities and Canadian authorities has allowed us to keep both countries safe, including dealing with some of the real challenges around the opioid crisis," LeBlanc said. Immigration Minister Marc Miller was asked on Tuesday about deploying more officers to oversee the New York-Vermont border area, which sees the highest rates of illegal crossings from Canada into the United States. He cautioned that there is no comparison to the flow of migrants entering the U.S. from Mexico. "It's the equivalent on a yearly basis with a significant weekend at the Mexico border. At the same time, it's not something I want to not take seriously, because it is serious," Miller said. "We have a job to not make our problems the Americans' problems and they have a job not to make their problems ours." U.S. Customs and Border Protection data shows its officers recorded nearly 200,000 encounters at the northern border between October 2023 and September 2024. The same period in 2022 saw more than 109,000 encounters and there were around 32,000 in 2020. The term "encounters" includes apprehensions, people who are deemed inadmissible and those who are expelled from the U.S. Between October 2023 and September 2024, U.S. officials recorded more than two million encounters at the Mexican border. The two prior years also saw more than 2 million encounters each at the southern border. Chief border patrol agent Robert Garcia said last month on X that agents in the Swanton Sector, which covers Vermont's border with Quebec, apprehended more than 19,000 people from 97 countries in the last year — more than the last 17 years combined. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it also seized nearly 5,000 kilograms of illegal drugs at the Canadian border between October 2023 and September 2024. That included 19.5 kilograms of fentanyl. Comparatively, border agents seized nearly 125,000 kilograms of narcotics at the border with Mexico, including almost 10,000 kilograms of fentanyl. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, two milligrams of fentanyl is a potentially fatal dose. Cannabis is by far the most commonly seized drug coming from Canada, accounting for almost 60 per cent of total seizures. From Mexico it's methamphetamine, accounting for about 57 per cent of seizures at the southern border. Drug seizures coming from Canada to the U.S. are down significantly from the prior two years, according to border patrol data: about 25,000 kilograms of narcotics were seized between October 2022 and September 2023, down from about 27,200 kilograms in the year before. Both Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet called on the Trudeau government to ensure the border is secure on Tuesday. Poilievre focused on government data that was raised at the immigration committee on Monday that said 4.9 million people will have their Canadian visas expire by the end of December 2025. In question period Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the "overwhelming majority" of people leave when their visas expire and there are measures in the immigration system to deal with cases where that does not happen. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she is open to talks with the Trump administration on the tariff issue, but said drugs were a "public health and consumption" issue in the U.S. She added most of the weapons entering Mexico are smuggled in through the U.S. In recent months the RCMP have announced two significant operations with ties to Mexican drug cartels. This includes the arrest of three men in Surrey, B.C., earlier this month, who police say are connected to an organized crime group with ties to Mexican drug cartels. Police seized "multiple kilos" of illicit drugs, and said the accused were allegedly "planning large-scale distribution" of drugs out of Surrey. In October, the RCMP, FBI and other policing partners arrested nine Canadians in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. The accused are alleged to have ties to a Mexico cartel-linked criminal network. Charges include murder, conspiracy to commit murder and drug trafficking. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 26, 2024. — With files from The Associated Press David Baxter, The Canadian PressRubrik's chief revenue officer sells $1.6 million in stockNone
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An illegal alien, wanted in Ecuador for his ties to the rape of a child, was released into the United States by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Adrian Patricio Huerta-Nivelo, a 25-year-old illegal alien from Ecuador, first crossed the border near San Luis, Arizona, and was apprehended by Border Patrol on June 4, 2021. Huerta-Nivelo, like millions of illegal aliens under Biden and Harris, was given a Notice to Appear (NTA) before a federal immigration judge and was released on an order of recognizance that same day. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents learned days after Huerta-Nivelo’s release from DHS custody that he was wanted in connection to the rape of a child in Ecuador. ICE agents arrested Huerta-Nivelo on June 12, 2021, in Boston, Massachusetts. Huerta-Nivelo remained in ICE custody pending deportation proceedings. A federal immigration judge ordered Huerta-Nivelo deported from the U.S. on October 22 of this year. He was deported on December 3 and turned over to Ecuadoran law enforcement. John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here .SURREY, B.C. - Mounties say a Chilliwack, B.C., man has been charged with three criminal offences after a crash between a tractor and BC Highway Patrol vehicle during a 2023 protest. They say the 54-year-old was arrested on Dec. 18 and will appear in Surrey Provincial Court on Jan. 16, charged with fleeing police, dangerous operation of a vehicle and assaulting a police officer with a weapon. RCMP said last year that the tractor was one of several vehicles involved in a convoy that began in Chilliwack and was travelling to Vancouver. The tractor driver sustained serious injuries in the crash that left an officer with minor injuries. Photos from the collision posted to social media at the time showed a John Deere tractor on its side, and that it was flying a black and white flag that read “stop SOGI 123,” an apparent reference to a set of classroom guidelines on sexual orientation and gender identity. Several protests erupted in cities across Canada last fall by those opposed to the educational resource intended to create more inclusive classrooms. The Independent Investigations Office issued a statement in February after concluding its investigation into the Highway 17 crash in Surrey, saying it had cleared police of any wrongdoing. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 23, 2024.
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