In Canada, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) staffs 1,200 designated ports of entry, including at airports, while the RCMP is responsible for policing the vast U.S.-Canada border. A CBSA officer is silhouetted as motorists wait to enter Canada at the Douglas-Peace Arch border crossing, in Surrey, B.C., on Aug. 9, 2021.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Ottawa is being urged to expand the powers of border agents so they would be able to patrol hot spots at the U.S.-Canada land border where people illegally cross, amid fears about an influx of asylum seekers after the election of Donald Trump.
Mark Weber, national president of the Customs and Immigration Union that represents border officers, called on Ottawa to expand the mandate of Canadian border agents so they can patrol the frontier beyond regular crossing points.
Last week, Tom Homan, U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s choice as “border czar,” said the security of the northern border with Canada will be a priority for the incoming administration. He called on the Canadian government to enforce its immigration laws to stop people, including alleged terrorists, from slipping across the border illegally into the U.S.
The U.S. Border Patrol, part of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, conducts roving checks near the Canada-U.S. border and can stop vehicles suspected of transporting people who have made unlawful crossings, or carrying drugs.
In Canada, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) staffs 1,200 designated ports of entry, including at airports, while the RCMP is responsible for policing the vast U.S.-Canada border.
The responsibilities were set out in a government order dating back to 1932, which Mr. Weber said needed updating.
Mr. Weber said the Customs and Immigration Union he heads has been calling on Ottawa to extend the CBSA’s mandate for years. Currently, Canadian border agents have no responsibility “to do any work between ports of entry whatsoever,” he said.
In an interview, he said the government needs to “properly interpret” the Customs Act, which does not technically prohibit CBSA agents from operating outside designated ports of entry.
Mr. Weber said to give border agents the power to patrol the land border along with the RCMP, the federal government could simply expand the CBSA’s mandate, and give it the resources to do the work. He said the RCMP also should be given more financial support for border surveillance.
Since Mr. Trump won the U.S. election, Ottawa has faced calls, including from Quebec Premier François Legault and Bloc Québécois MPs, to do more to secure the border. They fear an influx of asylum seekers, warning that those who manage to slip across the border and evade authorities for 14 days can claim asylum in Canada.
President-elect Trump has warned that an estimated 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally will be removed from the country in the biggest deportation in American history.
Although most undocumented migrants are in states near the U.S.’s southern border, there are estimated to be at least two million unauthorized U.S. residents living in states near the Canadian border.
The Migration Policy Institute, a U.S. think tank, estimated that between 2015 and 2019, there were 835,000 unauthorized residents in the state of New York and 246,000 in Washington.
The U.S.-Canada border is the world’s largest continuous land border. Mr. Weber said that in remote areas, people coming into the country are expected to “phone in to report,” and the CBSA would then contact the RCMP.
Figures from U.S. Customs and Border Protection show an increase during the 2024 fiscal year of “encounters” at the northern land border. In 2024, there were 198,929 encounters, compared with 189,402 in 2023. The vast majority of those involved single adults.
Gabriel Brunet, spokesman for Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, said “the minister is regularly briefed on the situation at the Canada-U.S. border by national-security agencies, which have been preparing for a number of months to be ready to respond and adapt to any situation that might arise.”
“If additional investments are required to support law enforcement at our borders, we will step up, as we always have, with further support,” he added.
“The CBSA has approximately 8,500 front-line employees who work across the country to keep our border safe,” said CBSA spokesman Luke Reimer. “In 2023, the CBSA removed more than 15,100 inadmissible foreign nationals, seized over 900 prohibited firearms and 27,100 weapons and intercepted over 72,200 kg of prohibited drugs.”
On Monday the CBSA announced that it intends to adjust the hours it works at land ports of entry across Canada to align them better with the U.S. The change, made in collaboration with the U.S., will “enhance overall security for both countries,” it said in a statement.