(The Center Square) – Not soon after President Donald Trump laid out his plans for border security on Monday, a Border Patrol agent was killed in the line of duty in Vermont.
The agent was involved in a shooting after performing a traffic stop in Coventry, Vermont, near the US-Canada border, WCAX3 News first reported. One of the suspects is also deceased, Vermont Public reported. The incident occurred about 3:15 pm EST, according to state police.
Interstate 91 remains closed in both directions between Newport and Orleans, Vermont, according to the Vermont Department of Public Safety. The FBI, Vermont State Police, Homeland Security and other authorities are investigating.
The shooting reportedly involved an individual in the country illegally, according to several reports. No federal, state or local law enforcement official has yet to confirm this on the record.
The shooting occurred as the greatest number of illegal border crossers, including the greatest number of known or suspected terrorists, were reported at the northern border in U.S. history under the Biden administration, The Center Square reported.
Trump’s border security plan will involve deploying the U.S. military to the U.S. borders after he directed Canada to increase its border security efforts. Under outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, terrorism and national security threats increased, including in the U.S., The Center Square reported.
Unlike the 1,954-mile U.S.-Mexico border, there are no border walls and significantly less technological equipment and agents to patrol the U.S.-Canada border, the longest international border in the world totaling 5,525 miles, The Center Square reported.
Because there are far fewer Border Patrol agents in the field and less technological surveillance, U.S. lawmakers have warned about a lack of operational control there as well as national security threats posed by Canadian policies, The Center Square reported.
“There’s always been a national security vulnerability there; it remains a national security vulnerability,” Trump’s border czar Tom Homan told The Center Square. “There are hundreds of miles of open border that is not being patrolled, and that’s just a stone-cold fact.”
The agent was killed in the Swanton Sector, the busiest U.S. Customs and Border Protection sector in the U.S., The Center Square reported. The Swanton Sector includes all of Vermont, six upstate New York counties, and three New Hampshire counties. It spans 295 miles of international boundary with the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and is the first international land boundary east of the Great Lakes.
In fiscal 2024, Swanton Sector agents apprehended nearly 20,000 from 97 countries after they illegally entered from Canada, “smashing” the previous year’s record, and totaling more than the previous 17 years combined, according to Swanton Sector Chief Border Patrol Agent Robert Garcia. Every year under the Biden administration, Swanton Sector agents broke apprehension records, The Center Square reported.
Over all, Border Patrol agents at the northern border broke records in fiscal 2024, reporting the greatest number of apprehensions in U.S. history of nearly 200,000, The Center Square reported.