Canadian border officials aware of significant rise in illegal immigration to the US: Intel report

The report was prepared by the Canadian Border Service Agency’s Intelligence Collection, Analysis and Production Division (ICAP), and obtained by Vancouver-based immigration lawyer Richard Kurland, who shared it with the Hindustan Times.

The document, which was shared with officials of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in December 2023, noted, “The southbound movement into the United States has grown significantly since 2022.”

More than a year before Trump’s post, the intelligence report warned, “The rising numbers of southbound apprehensions reported by the United States Customs and Border Patrol (USCBP) is a bilateral irritant between Canada and the US.”

“The intelligence document, which confirms President Trump’s concerns about the Canadian border, shows a disconnect between what was said by Ottawa politicians, and what they knew,” Kurland said, in an email to the Hindustan Times.

“Indian nationals have increasingly exploited improperly obtained genuine TRVs in order to travel to Canada and are known to use the services of human smugglers,” it said, referring to temporary resident visas (visitor visas).

“The majority of individuals who attempt to cross southbound illegally arrive in Canada by air, mainly at Montreal Trudeau International Airport and Toronto Pearson International Airport and move quickly; the vast majority were very likely in Canada for less than 6 months of which a large portion were in Canada for less than 3 weeks,” it added.

According to data of encounters at the northern border from the USCBP, the number of Indians attempting to enter the United States illegally grew to 22% of the total, which, in itself, has also increased.

The CBP provides data according to its fiscal year, which runs from October to September the next year. In 2022, of the overall 109,535 such attempted crossings into the US, Indians comprised nearly 16%. That percentage remained constant in 2023, though the figures rose sharply to a total of 189,402, with Indians accounting for 30,010. There was an appreciable increase this year, with 43,764 Indians, close to 22% of the total 198,929, trying to enter the US illegally.

The data is for those who were apprehended by border officers and the numbers of those not detected are unavailable.

A smaller number attempted to made the illicit crossing in the opposite direction. Between April and September 2023, the report pointed out, there were 1,921 refugee claims made in Canada after such clandestine entry into the country. The largest cohort making that journey are Afghan nationals, at 431, followed by Sri Lankans and Turks.

At 54, Indians made a relatively small part of the northward movement.