U.S. Border Patrol agents on Wednesday apprehended 20 Romanians who illegally entered Maine from Canada, two of whom were reported as members of a transnational criminal organization.
Border Patrol agents tracked four vehicles entering the province from New Brunswick just after 6 a.m., arrested the occupants and transported them to Fort Fairfield for processing, Border Patrol said. statement.
“This incident is indicative of the overall heightened level of insecurity we have witnessed here in the Houlton area,” Acting Patrol Agent in Charge Dennis Harmon said in a statement.
“Over the past three Octobers, the Houlton Sector has encountered a total of 33 individuals. In fiscal year 2024 alone, there have been 55 encounters. Although this increase poses a challenge to Border Patrol resources, , does not deter the great work of our dedicated agents here in the Houlton area.”
The “coordinated” effort involved 10 juveniles and 10 adults, two of whom were “transnational organized crime suspects and subject to expedited removal procedures,” according to a press release. .
Photo published by Fox 23 It shows a line of black minivans and midsize SUVs staggering onto the hamlet’s snow-covered roads in the early morning hours.
Hours later, a car exploded at the Rainbow Bridge checkpoint in Niagara Falls, which connects New York and Ontario, killing both occupants and sparking an FBI-led investigation.
Federal law enforcement officials told the Post that the man’s car was traveling at 160 mph when it crashed into a barrier near a checkpoint on the U.S. side of Rainbow Bridge around 11:15 a.m., sending it flying into the air. He said it broke into several pieces upon impact. I landed.
Sources said there were conflicting reports about the direction the car was traveling, but investigators believe the car was headed from Niagara Falls to Ontario when it suddenly made a U-turn and headed toward the United States. It is believed that he went back to the hospital.
Officials said the driver was waved off and drove past one checkpoint before accelerating and crashing into a barrier at a second checkpoint.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer was also injured in the explosion.
Border Patrol announced that it arrested more than 6,100 people from 76 countries who entered the United States illegally from the northeast border with Canada between October 2022 and September 2023.
Officials say this number is higher than the number of illegal aliens apprehended in the past 10 years.
Swanton District Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia issued a memo in February calling for more troopers to be deployed to his district to combat illegal railroad crossings, which have spiked 850% since last year, according to a copy. Ta. obtained by fox news.
He said in a note that “primarily Mexican immigrants without legal documents” were entering the country, and later shared a photo on X of a group entering the country through the woods.
CBP data show There were a total of 189,402 encounters with migrants at the U.S. northern border in fiscal year 2023, up from 109,535 in 2022 and 27,180 in 2021.
A spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection did not respond to a request for comment.
