Forty -four asylum seekers and three alleged smugglers who were trying to enter Canada from the United States were intercepted in Stanstead, which., By the Royal Canadian police mounted police (RCMP) during Sunday night.
With the help of the Provincial Police, the RCMP arrested asylum seekers, who were traveling in a truck, near Haskell Road. Some of them included children. RCMP brought the Asylum seekers to the Office of the Border Services Agency of Canada (CBSA) in Stanstead, according to Miguel Bégin, director of the CBSA East border district.
Arrests occur when the president of the United States, Donald Trump, continues to quote illegal crosses and fentanyl traffic on the border with Canada-United States as one of the main reasons for Your administration raising higher tariffs Against the country.
Canada is carrying out a Plan of $ 1.3 billion To improve border control, which includes hiring thousands of law agents and increasing aerial surveillance.
Bégin said that most migrants were transferred to the Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle Regional Processing Center, where they are being examined for their eligibility for asylum in Canada.
“It is very likely that several migrants will be returned to the United States in the next few hours,” Bégin told Radio-channel on Monday morning. “Some were already returned yesterday because they did not comply with the exemption criteria of third country safe.”
The treaty is based on the notion that the United States is a safe country to receive refugees that Canada moves away. It prevents people from claiming asylum in Canada if they enter an official crossing of the land border with the United States.
It did not specify the country of origin of migrants.
The alleged smuggers have been accused of advice crimes under the immigration protection law and refugees for allegedly inducing, helping or inciting the entry of individuals to Canada through an entry point that is not a designated customs office, in violation of the Customs Law. They appeared in court by videoconference Sunday and are being arrested in a provincial prison.
The defendants are expected to return to court on August 6, Begin saying.
The Canada Border Services Agency says it registered more than 3,000 asylum applications at the crossroads in July 2025, compared to 600 last July.
Frantz André, spokesman and coordinator of the Committee d’Action des Persons Sans StatutHe said he is worried about the Trump administration Mass deportation of migrants And he asked Prime Minister Mark Carney to withdraw from the Segure Agreement from the Third Country.
“People are very afraid of what is happening south of the border,” said André, and said that “it will probably not be the last time,” the large groups of people will try to cross the border.
While André acknowledged that Canada will probably continue to participate in the third country’s safe agreement, it suggests that the federal government establishes a special program for people from countries, such as Haiti, who seek security, similar to Canada settlement support provided Ukrainians.
In July, the CBSA registered more than 3,089 asylum applications at the Saint-Bernard-de Comparison of Lacolle crossing compared to 613 in July 2024.
