Illegal crossings at northern border sector reach 'record-breaking milestone'

Illegal immigrant crossings at a northern border sector reached a "record-breaking milestone" last month, according to Border Patrol Swanton Sector Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia.

Garcia wrote in a social media post on Tuesday that the Swanton Sector experienced a significant increase in illegal alien encounters.

"Another record-breaking milestone in northern border history! Swanton Sector continues to encounter an unprecedented number of undocumented migrants, with well over 1,400 apprehensions in the month of April, surpassing the total number of apprehensions of FY 21 and FY 22 combined," he stated.

'It was a flood we had never seen before.'

The sector witnessed 365 encounters in fiscal year 2021 and 1,065 in 2022, according to Customs and Border Protection data. The following year, that number skyrocketed to 6,925. Over the first seven months of fiscal year 2024, the Swanton Sector has already executed more than 6,500 illegal alien apprehensions. This year is on track to far outpace 2023's record-breaking stats.

From April 28 through May 4, the sector apprehended 492 illegal immigrants, Garcia noted.

"Since 1924, the U.S. Border Patrol has been entrusted with safeguarding the American homeland. Despite a century of changes, Swanton Sector's commitment to upholding our core values of vigilance, integrity and service to country has remained constant," Garcia stated in an April post on X.

The Swanton Sector comprises eight stations that support several counties in New York and New Hampshire and the entire state of Vermont. The area includes 295 miles of border, including 203 miles of land and 92 miles of water boundary.

Champlain Border Patrol agents, who cover one of the sector's eight stations, detained 220 illegal immigrants over just one week in April. The prior month, the station apprehended 158 illegal aliens from 14 different countries, Garcia stated.

Erik Lavallee, the Border Patrol agent in charge of the U.S. Border Patrol Beecher Falls Station in the Swanton Sector, told WBZ-TV in March, "It was a flood we had never seen before. It was an exponential shift, something we were not expecting, and it just hit us hard."

"We understand completely that the northern border issues versus the southern border issues are apples and oranges. However, that being said, having been up in this sector for almost 20 years, I have never seen anything like it," he added.

According to Border Patrol, the vast majority of illegal immigrants crossing the northern border are from India, Bangladesh, Haiti, and Venezuela.

Lavallee told WBZ that most of the illegal aliens are single adult men, many of whom are involved in human smuggling.

"We know there are multiple organizations that are utilizing Canada to smuggle individuals into the United States," he stated.

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