This New York farmer is plagued by illegal crossings from Canada, caught on camera
The frame of a liquor bottle is carved into the boards under the eaves on one side of Chris Oliver’s barn, a few feet from the Canadian border along the northern edge of his farm near Fort Covington, NY.
The frame echoes other years near these border areas when runners transporting illegal alcohol from southern Canada crossed the stretch of land between Quebec and New York state during prohibition.
Now a different kind of traffic moves through Oliver’s farm: people.
Over the past few months a growing wave of men, women and sometimes children have used Oliver’s farm as a transit point for secret treks from Canada to the US.
They all passed in front of his house, where he lives with his wife and three children, and everything was captured on his cameras.
In the week before this past Labor Day, Oliver’s cameras recorded 48 people dropping by his door.
“And that’s one camera, in one place, so it’s hard to tell how many are going through,” Oliver, 32, said.
Dozens of migrants are seen crossing New York State from Quebec on security cameras set up by local farmer, Chris Oliver. The CBC blurred the faces of the migrants in the photos as the CBC could not speak to them to confirm their stories.
Oliver’s farm is just east of Dundee, Que., on the border crossing about 170 kilometers southwest of Montreal. It’s part of an area that stretches about 100 kilometers from Cornwall, Ont., and east to Champlain, N.Y., that sees the highest rates of illegal crossings into the US of anywhere on the Canada-US border, according to court records and data. of US Customs and Border Protection.
I The US Border Patrol apprehended just over 8,000 peoplemainly from India, crossing between June and August in an area called the Swanton Sector, which includes Oliver’s farm. That was almost four times the amount for the same period last year.
‘Keeps everyone on edge’
Law enforcement in Canada and the US say human trafficking organizations operate across rivers, brush and farms. The movement patterns captured by Oliver’s trail cameras suggest that his current farm is one of their chosen paths.
In other videos, the same man is seen talking or using a cell phone and lead groups walking around the area in the evening or early morning like clockwork, Oliver said.
An American farmer tells CBC News that large numbers of immigrants are crossing illegally from Quebec across his land, even after the recent arrest of a suspected terrorist in Ormstown, Que., has put a spotlight on border security.
“Usually you get one group, maybe one or two people around 8:30 at night and you’ll see another or a big group of four to five people and those usually come in between midnight and 5:30 in the morning,” he said.
Oliver installed the first camera in his house last year — after the dogs woke his wife up around 2 a.m. one morning while she was at work and she saw three men standing by their car in the driveway.
“Whether they were trying to get into it or not, I don’t know,” he said.
Oliver’s grandfather David Holden, 80, grew up on these farms and heard stories of the Prohibition era. His family’s roots extend to both sides of the border. He says he has never seen such a crossing in his area.
“This is an unusual method,” Holden said. “It keeps everyone on edge.”
One video stands out for Oliver. From 1:27 a.m. on September 5. A group of three men and two women went out at night to cut the frame. One of these men leads the group with a mobile phone, holding the hand of another person as if leading them as they walk in the dark.
This came less than 12 hours after the RCMP arrested a Pakistani man accused of planning a terrorist attack in the US.
Canadian and US court records say Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 20, was using smugglers to cross into the US through the border between Quebec and New York.
RCMP arrested Khan in Ormstown, Que., about 40 miles northeast of Oliver’s farm. There are several road routes to the US border from Ormstown, the shortest of which is about 18 miles from the line.
“A few hours after that I had people on my camera…That guy could have been on that team,” Oliver said.
RCMP say they have increased patrols along the border after Khan’s arrest.
It is difficult to fight trafficking
Matthew Eamer, a recently retired detective with the Ontario Provincial Police, was the lead investigator with the joint law enforcement team out of Cornwall, Ont. The team includes the RCMP, Canada Border Services Agency and other agencies.
He was part of a team that disrupted a human trafficking ring linked to the deaths of four Indian and four Romanian family members. drowned in the river St. Lawrence during a a human trafficking attempt failed last March.
Eamer says investigators are always concerned that a fanatic like Khan finds a way to cross the border.
“Some of them are economic migrants who are looking for a better life in another country,” said Eamer.
“But there are people with bad intentions.”
He said Ottawa could give law enforcement more tools to fight human trafficking organizations, which he says often trade and boldly advertise their services on social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and the Telegraph.
Eamer says Canada’s current laws targeting this type of human trafficking focus on the element of conspiracy — that there is a clear intent for someone to cross the border.
He says the federal government could amend the Criminal Code or the Immigration and Refugee Act to criminalize all aspects of the border – be it driving, waiting, or helping to cross in any way, similar to US laws.
However, even stricter laws in the US leave people on the New York side, like Oliver, feeling vulnerable.
When he works night shifts, Oliver says he is always worried about his family’s safety.
“I always check the cameras to see if anyone is coming down the road or if someone is passing by my house because you never know. “Not all of these people are good,” said Oliver.
“I don’t know what the answer is, but this is not the answer. This is absolutely wrong.”
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