On the northern border: Illegal crossings rise along New York's 445-mile boundary with Canada

CHAMPLAIN — Donna Leduc woke up in the middle of the night to find a man in her living room and a woman in her bathroom. She woke her husband, Bill.

With the help of a translator app they discovered the pair had entered the country illegally by crossing the border near the couple’s home in this upstate town and were looking for shelter from the cold.

This wasn’t the first time the national immigration problem reached the Leducs' doorstep.

"You see ’em all the time. All over the place. We’re so close to the Canadian border that it obviously happens," Bill Leduc told Newsday.

Much of the national and political discussion on immigration has focused on the more than 2 million encounters along the U.S.-Mexico border, but encounters at the U.S.-Canadian border are on the rise. Encounters mean different types of events where a noncitizen is in contact with U.S. officials,  including the apprehension and expulsion of those who entered without legal permission.

Encounters at the northern land border have increased by nearly 82% percent from fiscal 2022 to fiscal 2024, going from more than 109,000 to nearly 199,000, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. The fiscal year ends Sept. 30, and each encounter is not unique, so individuals may be counted more than once if they try to reenter.

In New York State, border encounters increased by more than 41% from 81,000 in fiscal 2022 to nearly 115,000 in fiscal 2024.

"All the attention generally is about the southern border, but there is important consequential stuff happening at the northern border too," said Muzaffar Chishti, an attorney and director of the Migration Policy Institute’s office at New York University School of Law. "It’s a trickle compared to the southern border, but in terms of the rate of change, it is hugely significant and, as any demographer will tell you, rate of change is more important than the scale of change."

It’s very apparent to the residents who live along New York’s 445-mile border with Canada, known as the North Country. It’s not uncommon to have immigrants who entered the country illegally walking through their cornfields, sleeping in their barns and campers, sitting on their porches, washing their hands in their pools, and even flagging down school buses for a ride, several residents told Newsday.

Some seeking asylum sit on the side of the road and wait for law enforcement, but most just pass through on their way to larger cities such as New York City, said local officials and residents.

The incoming Trump administration said illegal immigration is one of its top priorities, with plans for mass deportations, focusing first on those who entered the country illegally and committed violent crimes. Local law enforcement officials say that while the number of illegal crossings has risen, there hasn't been a significant change in crime rates. 

Some New York State and congressional lawmakers have been calling for tightened border security and funding for technology and staff, as well as increased coordination between law enforcement agencies.

Other state lawmakers and immigration advocacy groups are calling for revamping the immigration system entirely, as well as adding more federal and state resources for immigrants and asylum-seekers — particularly because of the incoming Trump administration's stance on immigration.

"History has shown us that we are only as strong as our neighbors. We are only as strong as humanity is, and we need to really lean back into not just our humanity and compassion, but our humanitarian obligation as a nation,"  said Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, a policy and advocacy organization representing more than 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups statewide. 

Watch: Advocates want help for immigrants 'fleeing for their lives'

"The vast majority of people who are coming to the U.S. at our southern and northern border are seeking refuge and safety," he said. "No one wants to leave their home if they don’t have to."

Several advocacy and charity groups that aid immigrants declined to speak with Newsday, with at least one citing concerns over consequences and community or federal pushback.

Meanwhile, North Country residents are clamoring for help in the form of changes to immigration laws, support from the state and more federal resources, including the number of U.S. Border Patrol agents.

Federal staffing data shows 2,019 Border Patrol agents for the entire northern border, compared with 16,878 on the southern border as of 2020, the most recent public data available.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection declined to be interviewed by Newsday.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul in November reached out to the federal Department of Homeland Security, asking it to increase the number of Border Patrol agents on the state’s border with Canada.

“As border crossings surge at New York’s border with Canada and fall at the southern border, we need the federal government to target resources that ensure the northern border remains well-protected and secure,” Hochul wrote. Homeland Security acknowledged receipt of the letter, according to the governor’s office, but hasn’t yet responded to the request.

A porous border

While the U.S.-Canada border is the longest in the world at 5,525 miles — more than twice as long as the border with Mexico — it’s pretty porous.

Parts of the border in northern New York look as expected, with official border crossing stations, fences and long lines to cross. But the majority of it is forests, mountains, farmland, swamps, lakes and rivers, and residential properties with only a small stone pillar denoting the border.

Watch: No fence. No barricade. Much of northern border looks like this.

The factors make both crossing and patrolling the border a major challenge.

In part of Rouses Point, the border is a ditch on the side of the road. On one side is a field of corn in New York, the other, a field of corn in Canada.

For Ozzie Glidden, of Mooers Forks, the border is a small, ridged slope covered with trees, shrubs and a small fence that runs along his property line. And where the road ends in front of his house: a sign says, "Stop. Do Not Cross," next to a person-sized hole in the fence. 

When asked the last time he saw someone crossing illegally he replied: "About 6:30 this morning."

Watch: He lives steps from the border. Illegal crossings have become a common sight.

Crossings have become more frequent in the past four years, and more destructive, he said.

He still sees evidence of people walking across who left garbage and dirty clothing, but over the summer Glidden said he had about five vehicles drive across the border through his property.

And a few drove through his fence and into his cattle enclosure. One even clipped his septic tank as it drove to get to the road, causing thousands of dollars in damage, he said.

Large stone barriers were being put up in September to prevent vehicles from crossing.

One time, Glidden was woken by the Border Patrol in the middle of the night alerting him to damage to his fence, so he could get his cows back before they ended up in Canada. “That’s the most frustrating part, that and the dog waking me up in the middle of the night,” he said, adding that both the dog and cows alert him to intruders.

Immigration shifts

The Swanton Sector, a 295-mile area running from the New Hampshire-Maine state line to Alexandria Bay on the St. Lawrence River in New York State, is one of the most active areas of the northern border, said Clinton County Sheriff David Favro. It includes about 28 miles of Clinton County, he said.

Swanton Sector encounters increased from about 1,000 in fiscal 2022 to more than 19,000 in fiscal 2024, according to the federal data. The weather plays a role in the number of encounters, with more in warmer months and fewer in the winter, Favro said.

Thomas Trombley, supervisor for the Town of Champlain, about 2.75 miles from the border, said it seems to come in waves.

Trombley, who is also a school bus driver, said he’s constantly reporting immigrants who crossed the border illegally out on the streets in the early mornings. "It’s almost every day," he said.

Shifts in immigration can happen for many reasons, including changes in federal law and policy and geopolitical issues, said Alexander T. Holtzman, an attorney who teaches immigration and border enforcement classes at Hofstra University.

Political decisions can influence families' considerations of whether they can make a living, exercise political rights and whether they’re safe in the new country, said Holtzman, who also serves as director of the Deportation Defense Clinic at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra.

Much of federal policy only applies to the U.S.-Mexico border, where individuals are typically seeking refuge from violence or for economic or other reasons, he said.

The perception of the presidential administration’s stance on immigration also is a factor, Chishti said. "Trump ran on a punitive immigration platform," he said. Biden ran on ending policies such as the separation of children from their families, and people believed it was a new regime and came in larger numbers, he said.

But in 2024, the Biden administration strengthened asylum policies, particularly at the southern border, which slowed immigration from Mexico. 

Encounters have decreased at the southwest land border from nearly 2.4 million in fiscal year 2022 to about 2.1 million in fiscal year 2024, according to federal data.

Some realized that the northern border is not as strict and not as patrolled as the southern border because of limited resources, Chishti said. "Immigrant networks are extremely smart."

Biden also strengthened asylum treaties with Canada, so that immigrants can’t claim asylum in the U.S. if they’re coming from Canada, and vice versa.

North Country residents remember immigrants coming by the thousands from other parts of the state and country several years ago to enter Canada, but when laws changed it went the opposite way.

Local officials and residents said now people are flying into Canada with a short-term visa for vacation and instead crossing into the U.S.

Fear of the unknown

Erik Richard, of Rouses Point, has had people in his cornfields, in his camper and sitting on the road near his home.

"It’s unnerving when alarms are sounded and you’re in the middle of the night and there’s people in your backyard and all you can do is just hope their intentions are good," he said.

But while the number of crossings has increased, Favro said, "there hasn’t been a significant increase in crime."

There has been a major spike in 911 calls for lost immigrants, especially in the warmer months, Favro said. For example, in June, there were 390 computer-aided dispatching incidents involving immigrants, compared with seven in February of the same year, he said.

It puts a strain on resources and first responders who don’t know what they’re responding to, Favro said.

Randy LaCount, a retired law enforcement officer who owns a farm in Mooers, said he’s so used to finding immigrants sleeping in his barn that every morning when he goes to feed the animals he hollers, "Time to leave!"

Though he’s never had a problem, he said. "I believe it’s a fear of the unknown," LaCount said. "This needs to stop before something bad happens."

Glidden said he doesn’t feel threatened by the immigrants who entered illegally. “I believe when they come through, they want to get to the U.S.,” he said. “They’re not going to stop here and bother me." 

Enforcement, staffing

To help monitor the area, Border Patrol has hidden cameras on trees and posts.

Agents patrol the roads and common paths regularly and respond quickly when residents call, LaCount said. "We contact them pretty much daily. We have them on speed dial on our phones."

But they’re "understaffed, overworked, they don’t have the manpower," he said.

The Swanton Sector alone has only a fraction of the northern Border Patrol agents, Hochul wrote in her letter. As of early 2024, Swanton had funding for 338 agents with only 260 positions filled in an area requiring 728 to "carry out sufficient enforcement for elevated levels of illegal border crossings," Hochul wrote.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection in November said it would reduce operating hours at four northern border crossings in New York, which Hochul publicly decried, calling on the agency to reverse the decision.

The governor said she redirected $5 million of the state’s federal Homeland Security dollars to boost security efforts at the border, including an additional license plate reader network to support investigations into transnational criminal organizations. The funds also will help increase state police staff and technology such as a comprehensive drone management system and handheld X-ray machines, Hochul wrote.

Local law enforcement agencies, such as the Clinton County Sheriff’s Department, also help to increase patrols, particularly around the three schools that are within a hundred yards of the border, Favro said. The Sheriff’s Office, city and state police and Department of Environmental Conservation rangers are all working together, he said.

"When we’re along the northern border, we are just a force multiplier for the border patrol," Favro said.

There’s particular concern with security since the September arrest of a Pakistani citizen who was planning to cross the Canadian border to carry out a mass shooting at a Jewish center in Brooklyn, Favro said. “This is the first line of defense for our country,” he said of the border.

"Criminals try to exploit the border both ways," the Canada Border Services Agency, which works in conjunction with U.S. border and security agencies, said in a statement. "U.S. authorities count on us in the same way we count on them: to share information and identify threats to our countries. It is a tried and tested partnership that has kept our countries safe for decades."

Not an easy fix

Many residents and state and local officials told Newsday they’d like to see changes to federal and state law and policies.

Whatever is broken in the immigration system needs to be fixed, Trombley said: "If they have to come through a back door in order to come into this country illegally, obviously there’s something not working with the immigration system."

Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in September co-sponsored legislation to update and strengthen security at the border by requiring an updated threat analysis every three years along with strategic updates.

And Reps. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove), Claudia Tenney (R-New Hartford) and Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) introduced legislation in November that would create a northern border "Mission Center" to coordinate efforts to enforce immigration laws and stop illegal drug trafficking. The legislation was passed in December as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. 

In New York, State Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt said open border and sanctuary policies must end. He called for the passage of state legislation that would eliminate barriers and allow law enforcement to work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol. "The flow of migrants and crimes has been endless. It’s time we invest in the safety of New Yorkers and put an end to this crisis," Ortt said in an emailed statement.

State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D-Manhattan) has been pushing for the passage of a state law to increase immigrants’ access to legal representation. It’s especially crucial now with hundreds of thousands of pending immigration cases in the state, only about half with representation, he said.

"We're trying to come up with ideas to help fund that very basic right to have an attorney, particularly when so much is at stake: the potential for deportation or even worse, families being divided," he told Newsday. "Immigrants with representation are over 10 times more likely to prove their right to remain in the U.S."

Illegal immigration numbers may naturally go down under President Donald Trump, because people may believe it will no longer be safe for getting asylum, Chishti said, adding that there’s a big concern in Canada that there may be an exodus of immigrants coming in.

"Immigration is not a policy issue; immigration at the end of the day is a system," he said, adding that like a balloon, if it's pushed one way it goes in the other direction.

LaCount said that in the last few months, he’s seen traffic both ways, with some immigrants crossing illegally into the U.S. and some crossing illegally into Canada because “we’ve got the changing of the guard happening real soon,” referring to the incoming Trump administration.

But it’s not as simple as asking for immigrants to enter the country legally, experts said.

"There’s this idea that there’s this line out there that people can get in to get into the United States, and that’s not how U.S. law works," Holtzman said.

There are strict rules around entering the country and they vary based on the situation. For example, there are caps on visas from certain countries that could take many decades, he said.

The New York Immigration Coalition has been calling for the immigration system to be fixed, with the addition of multiple immigration pathways and safe entry points, Awawdeh said. Instead, "We continue having conversations about putting a Band-Aid on a broken arm," he said. 

Aid for immigrants

The northern border, like the southern border, can be dangerous to cross. Temperatures soar in the summer and drop below freezing in the winter.

Last March two men died of hypothermia just south of the Canadian border. And in December 2023, the body of a pregnant woman who had crossed the border on foot was found in the Great Chazy River near Champlain.

Whether it’s the southern or northern border, "these are not easy journeys," Chishti said. "This is not a picnic. These are people who are willing to risk their lives and they’re willing to mortgage their life savings to get to the U.S. That’s why the drive is so strong."

There aren’t many, if any, nongovernmental organizations helping those who crossed illegally from Canada based in the North Country. Most of the legal services and immigrant resources are in larger cities such as Albany, Buffalo and New York City, experts said.

A group of local residents and nonprofits has been trying to help by making emergency aid bags for the immigrants. The group, as well as a local mission, declined to comment.

One resident who works with the nonprofits in Plattsburgh, but declined to be identified for fear of backlash from other community members, said there’s tremendous goodwill in the community.

"When you see people in desperate need, this is where we try to offer just a little help," the resident said. "We know that it’s just a small piece of the solution."

Immigrants and asylum-seekers contribute enormously to the state and local economy, Hoylman-Sigal said. 

Preventing the deportation of 53,000 immigrants would result in an estimated net benefit of $8.4 billion for federal, state and local governments over 30 years, according to a March New York City comptroller’s report, citing the benefit of helping to provide legal services to those individuals.

"If there’s one place that is a safe haven for new arrivals, it’s New York, and we have to remain true to that legacy," Hoylman said. "I think we have a responsibility to protect the interests of asylum-seekers, but also it's in our self-interest."

Watch: This couple awoke to find two strangers inside their home. What they did next may surprise you.

For the Leducs, who came face-to-face with two immigrants who had crossed the border illegally and ended up in their living room in September 2023, they did what they thought was right: They cooked them breakfast.

"They were cold and tired. It was late in the fall. It was cold and damp and they just wanted a place to stay to warm up. I knew they were all right, you could tell," Bill Leduc said.

“I hate to send them off with no food, so we fed 'em,” Donna Leduc said, adding that the pair left at 7 a.m. to catch a ride.

Their friends tease now that they’re Leducs' bed-and-breakfast, they said.

Bill Leduc said he doesn’t blame the immigrants. "Gotta be pretty hard over there when they come over here walking in the middle of the night with nothing on other than a little backpack and hardly no clothes," he said.

Donna Leduc, chuckling, said she does lock the doors now, adding, Bill "laughed at me, but after that it was like no, I'm not taking the chance."