The greatest number of Canadians who’ve illegally entered the U.S. or attempted to illegally enter in recorded U.S. history has been reported under the Biden-Harris administration and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s administration.
Since fiscal 2021 through July 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 150,701 Canadians illegally entered or attempted illegal entry into the U.S.
The majority were apprehended at the US-Canada border, followed by other locations nationwide, with a small number at the US-Mexico border, according to the data.
The greatest number of Canadians encountered or apprehended by CBP or Border Patrol agents was in fiscal 2022 of 47,126. U.S. officials at the northern border reported the most of 40,600; the next greatest number was reported nationwide totaling 6,413, followed by 113 at the southwest border, according to the data.
In fiscal 2023, the numbers were slightly less, totaling 44,700, with the majority reported at the northern border of 37,169, followed by 7,431 nationwide and 100 at the southwest border.
These numbers are up significantly from fiscal 2021, of 22,371. The majority in 2021, 16,193, were reported at the northern border, followed by 6,178 nationwide and 76 at the southwest border.
The overwhelming majority are single military age adults.
Several retired CBP officials have pointed out that not all Canadian border crossers are native-born but include foreign nationals who received Canadian travel documents. Canadian citizens for years have legally traveled to the U.S. for work and as tourists.
Another record-breaking number coming from Canada is over 1,100 individuals on the U.S. terrorist watch list, referred to as known or suspected terrorists (KSTs), who attempted to illegally enter the US-Canada border since fiscal 2021, The Center Square first reported.
This is the greatest number in U.S. history under any administration. They total more than a U.S. Army battalion.
They are being apprehended by U.S. authorities, not Canadians. They include an Iranian with terrorist ties living in Canada and a Canadian woman previously arrested by Texas officials for claiming to threaten to kill former President Donald Trump.
Canadian authorities claim to thoroughly vet so-called refugees when permitting entry. One granted entry in 2018 was a member of ISIS who was granted citizenship this year and went on to allegedly plot a terrorist attack against Canadians, The Center Square reported.
Some members of the Canadian Parliament continue to express alarm about increasing terrorist threats under the Trudeau government after the ISIS member was only arrested after French authorities notified Canadian authorities about his alleged terrorist connection. Another recent example is Canadian authorities taking nine years to arrest a Canadian woman on terrorism-related offenses after she traveled to Syria in 2015 to join ISIS, The Center Square reported.
More recently, a Pakistani national living in Canada was arrested after announcing his plan to carry out a mass shooting at a Jewish Center in Brooklyn, New York, after publicly expressing his support for ISIS for nine months, according to a Department of Justice announcement.
Members of Congress have introduced bills to secure the northern border, created a northern border security caucus. The U.S. House impeached Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over the border crisis. Republican lawmakers have also demanded increased security after Canadian authorities expanded a visa program to Palestinians, expressing concerns about a vetting process that may not identify those who support the terrorist organization Hamas. Ushered into power by Palestinian voters in 2006, Hamas holds a majority in the Palestinian Authority’s government. The U.S. State Department designated Hamas as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997.
All officially reported CBP data excludes gotaways, those who evaded capture and illegally entered the U.S. They total over 2 million, The Center Square first reported. Officials have expressed concerns about how many unknown gotaways are in the U.S. connected to countries of foreign concern, state sponsors of terrorism and terrorist organizations. Several hundred connected to ISIS have illegally entered the U.S., authorities confirmed this year.
Despite claims by Canadian authorities that “the Canada-U.S. border is the best-managed and most secure border in the world,” numerous U.S. border security officials disagree, telling The Center Square the CBP data alone disproves their claim.
The number of Canadian illegal border crossers is not comparable to the nearly 3 million Mexican illegal border crossers under the Obrador administration since fiscal 2021. Among them, more than 22,000 Mexicans were apprehended by U.S. federal agents after illegally entering or attempting entry from Canada.
CBP data indicates that illegal border crossers holding travel documents from Canada and Mexico, America’s NAFTA partners, appear to be circumventing U.S. immigration law.
