SWANTON, Vt. – The Border Patrol is desperate for help and asking agents to volunteer in the north after a nearly-850% surge of mostly-Mexican migrants are illegally crossing into the U.S. from Canada, the New York Post reported.
Border Patrol’s Swanton Sector in Vermont, which covers parts of upstate New York and New Hampshire, requested a “quick turnaround” of agents from the already overwhelmed southern border to make their way north to work for at least a month beginning next week, according to the news outlet.
Swanton’s Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia wrote in a memo obtained this week by Fox News that help is needed to control the “strain caused by the surge” of “primarily Mexican migrants with no legal documents.”
“Due to the increased numbers, stations are task saturated with processing large groups, which has contributed” to more migrants being able to slip into the country, the memo said.
NEW: Border Patrol leadership is asking for agents to voluntarily deploy to the northern border’s overwhelmed Swanton sector (VT/NH/NY), which has seen an 846% increase in illegal crossings since October, and saw more illegal crossings in January (367) than the previous 12… https://t.co/fx52UmaJsI pic.twitter.com/sb4UnJAWOy
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) February 19, 2023
Garcia reported a week ago that crossings had reached “historic highs,” despite temperatures plummeting to lows of minus-four degrees, which create deadly conditions for people exposed to the elements.
The sector chief said that the current fiscal year — which started in October — “demonstrates an approximate 846% increase in encounters and apprehensions compared to the same period” in the previous year.
According to the Post, the first four months of the current fiscal year have seen more encounters than the previous two years combined.
