Ottawa needs to lead on illicit border crossings: Manitoba justice minister

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This article was published 19/04/2023 (921 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s justice minister says he expects the federal government to find solutions to irregular crossings of the U.S. border, one day after American officials detained nine men who had walked into Minnesota.

The group crossed illicitly in a wooded area near Sprague in Manitoba’s southeast. They called 911, as they were suffering from hypothermia, and reached the RCMP.

Mounties then contacted U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents.

USCBP public affairs official Steven Bansbach said agents and local emergency agencies located the group at about 4:50 a.m. Tuesday, in a flooded bog west of Warroad, Minn.

The American agency said border agents needed special equipment, including protective suits, to reach the men in the freezing water, as temperatures were below 0 C.

All of the men, including one who had to be airlifted, were taken to regional medical facilities for treatment due to cold weather exposure.

Steve Gust, sheriff of Roseau County, told The Canadian Press most of the crossers were OK, despite frozen clothing.

However, one person was initially reported missing from the group.

Manitoba RCMP were called in to assist with a search Tuesday, Mounties spokeswoman Cpl. Julie Courchaine said, but it was called off in the evening. She said RCMP officers did not find anyone.

On Wednesday, Bansbach said American border agents were still gathering information about whether there was a 10th person who crossed or tried to cross the international boundary.

Manitoba Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen told reporters the province has engaged “significantly” with the federal government on the issue over the past several years.

“We need to ensure we’re having people cross the border in the right way, that they’re going through the right process, recognizing that there are international treaties that are involved as well,” he said, alluding to the Safe Third Country agreement between Canada and the United States.

The agreement, recently expanded to cover the entire land border, requires refugee claimants to request refugee protection in the first country in which they arrive, unless they qualify for an exception.

Goertzen said he has discussed irregular crossings with his federal counterparts over the years in the variety of roles he has held in the provincial government.

Such events can result in significant harm or lost lives, he said, pointing to the tragic deaths of an Indian family who died near Emerson while attempting to walk across the border in frigid temperatures.

Jagdish Patel, 39, wife Vaishaliben Patel, 37, their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi, and three-year-old son, Dharmik, were found dead Jan. 19, 2022, just metres from the U.S. border.

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Border agents have since determined all of the men found Tuesday, who range in age from 19 to 46, entered the United States illegally.

Seven of them are citizens of Mexico, U.S. customs officials said, and none had proper immigration documents.

The two remaining men are still in hospital, so border agents haven’t been able to determine where they are from. The other seven are in the custody of the U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement agency.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera

Erik Pindera
Reporter

Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020.  Read more about Erik.

Every piece of reporting Erik produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.