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Canada may add more resources at the U.S. border after tariff threats: minister

  • David Baxter

    David Baxter

  • Canadian Press

  • November 26, 2024

<p>Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Marc Miller arrives to appear before the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, in West Block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang</p>

OTTAWA -- Immigration Minister Marc Miller says Canada is considering a number of measures at the American border, including additional resources.

This comes after president-elect Donald Trump 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.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, its officers recorded nearly 200,000 encounters at the northern border in the fiscal year that ended in September.

That figure includes apprehensions, people who are deemed inadmissible and those who are expelled from the U.S.

Chief border patrol agent Robert Garcia recently said 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.

The U.S. border agency says it also seized more than 11,000 pounds of drugs at the Canadian border in the last year, including 43 pounds of fentanyl.

Earlier this month, the RCMP announced two significant operations with ties to Mexican drug cartels.

This includes the arrest of three men in Surrey, B.C., in a drug bust and a joint operation with the FBI that saw nine Canadians arrested from Ontario to Mexico.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 26, 2024