CHAMPLAIN, N.Y. — The Great Chazy River flows by a wooded clearing where about 10 people gather for a private ceremony to honor a woman they never met.
Ana Karen Vasquez-Flores illegally crossed the border from Canada into New York on Dec. 11, 2023, according to court documents. She walked into the river not far from here; her body was found downstream a few days later.
Vasquez-Flores isn’t buried here, but at the ceremony a few people position a bright yellow cross in the ground. It was made by Arizona-based artist Álvaro Enciso as part of a project that memorializes migrants who’ve died crossing into the U.S.
Janet McFetridge, a volunteer with a local group that assists migrants, says Vasquez-Flores was from Mexico and worked as a quality control technician. She says her family described her as funny and kind.
“She was a daughter. A sister. An aunt. Granddaughter. And soon-to-be mother.”
An unprecedented number of crossings
Vasquez-Flores was part of what Border Patrol officials here say is an unprecedented number of people crossing illegally into the U.S. from Canada during the last couple years.
Agents in the Swanton Sector, which covers almost 300 miles of rural eastern New York, Vermont and New Hampshire, are busy with the influx of migrants.
This area recorded more than two-thirds of all apprehensions on the northern border during the 2023 fiscal year, about 7,000 encounters, according to Customs and Border Protection.
That’s a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of encounters along the busiest parts of the southern border, but Brian Lorimor, one of the sector’s patrol agents in charge, said it was still a record-breaking year for Swanton Sector.
“From 2012 up to and including 2022, it was less people (crossing the border) than we encountered in 2023,” he said.
And fiscal year 2024 has already more than doubled that record, with 15,612 encounters from October through July.
Locals notice the increase
Lorimor says there’s a false perception that it’s safer to cross into the U.S. from Canada than from Mexico.
“Extreme weather, extreme temperatures, highs and lows, you can easily get dehydrated, and there are some very rural, remote areas out here,” he said.
Migrants who cross from Canada into northern New York make their way through sprawling fields, swamps and forests.
Residents who live along the border say they’re noticing people crossing through their property; some are worried for their families’ safety.
Kyle Koss, who lives in the small border town of Mooers, says migrants leave traces on the trails on his property. On a walk through the woods, he points to tire ruts in the muddy ground as well as clothing and a baseball cap.
“There’s another water bottle over there in the woods. There’s another one over here in the woods,” Koss says. “There’s a sneaker, another sneaker.”
Policies and broader trends
The increase in migrants crossing the border and passing through these communities is something local elected officials blame on the federal government’s policies.
Mark Henry, who chairs the Clinton County Legislature and is a retired Border Patrol deputy chief for the Swanton Sector, said only the federal government can intervene to stop them.
“They’re not doing it.”
Recent efforts to pass border enforcement legislation stalled in a divided Congress. CBP spokesperson Steven Bansbach says his agency continues to call on Congress to increase its resources and personnel.
The Biden administration is making changes to expedite asylum processing and thus deportations at the northern border in an effort to deter crossings there.
The changes, first reported by CBS News and confirmed to NPR by the Department of Homeland Security, follow actions the Biden administration took to curtail illegal crossings at the southern border.
Muzaffar Chishti, a senior fellow with the Migration Policy Institute, said human smugglers adjust to increased enforcement at the borders.
“So if they think that the system of the southern border is changing, they will try to divert traffic to the northern border,” he said.
Authorities: Any crime increase “hasn’t been substantial”
Koss says the increased presence of migrants has made him and his family more cautious out on their trails and in their backyard. He says he’s used a handgun in the woods recreationally, for squirrel hunting, but now carries it for protection.
“I would rather have it with me and not need it, than need it and not have it with me,” he says.
Local authorities haven’t reported a spike in crime. Clinton County Sheriff David Favro said any crime increase “hasn’t been substantial.” He said his office has dealt with a few more vehicle pursuits lately. “We’ve had two or three additional vehicle pursuits with people that were coming across the border,” he said.
Nationwide, a recent study by Northwestern University found immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than people born in the U.S.
Copyright 2024 NCPR
