Tonight, border towns in the
southern US are bracing for impact.
Video from San Diego, CA,
El Paso, TX, and Brownsville,
TX show thousands of migrants along
the Mexico border waiting for Title
42 to end about 24 hours from now.
The COVID era border policy allowed
the US to quickly expel migrants
trying to cross the border instead
of letting them request asylum first.
We have been talking about this humanitarian
crisis at the southern border for years,
but we haven't talked as much about
what's happening at the northern border,
where this year a record number
of migrants are trying to enter
the US through Canada.
This spring,
Danny Spiewok traveled to northwestern
Minnesota to get a first hand look
at the border and learn more about
what's driving so much immigration.
Over the vast farmland where Minnesota,
North Dakota and Canada intersect.
Here, there's literally no
there's no border wall.
It's hard to know which country you're in.
There's nothing on either side of the border.
Agent Xavier Ruiz overseas the US Border
Patrol station in Pimbena, North Dakota.
It's just a straight shot, right?
It's been to Canada before the snow melted.
This spring, we followed Agent
Ruiz to some of the most remote
points on the US Canada border,
which is the longest undefended boundary.
In the world almost 5500 Miles COVID
era rules under the Trump and Biden
administrations have restricted many migrants
from entering the US through Mexico.
So now some are flying to Canada to get
into the US through the northern border
out east. Thousands have been
flowing into states like New York
and Vermont to seek asylum status
in the US because of persecution
in their home countries that can
include gang and cartel violence.
Their lives are threatened,
their family members are
harmed and or killed.
So that pushes a lot of
migrants out of their country.
A similar increase in crossings is
happening in Minnesota and North Dakota,
although on a smaller scale given the remote
population on this part of the border.
During the latest six month period,
the Border Patrol Grand Fork Sector
reported 100 apprehensions of migrants,
already surpassing the entire
total from the previous year.
Many are natives of Mexico.
Who can fly to Canada first without a visa?
We are probably going to see about 2
1/2 times the amount of apprehensions
that we keep on this pace, but
the journey into the upper Midwest
is difficult with flooding and
heat in the spring and summer and
Blizzard conditions in the winter.
In January 2022, the Patel family
from western India froze to death
trying to cross this exact area.
They perished out here.
And just last month,
Border Patrol rescued nine people from
freezing floodwaters near War Rd.
Minnesota, including seven
citizens of Mexico.
These are just a few examples of the
desperation migrants are facing.
Well, we see in our community
clinics are just regular families
looking for a better life.
Who are in extreme poverty
and just have no way out.
Dr. Miguel Fiol coordinates a
Minnesota community group that works
with migrant families, particularly
those from Latin America, Swing
American or the American Dream.
It's always in their minds.
Fiol's work has become especially
urgent over the last decade due to
increasing economic and political
turmoil in parts of Latin America.
They say we're just going to
die here or die crossing.
That is such a repetitive theme.
The stories have been well
documented at the southern border,
but less so in the north where people
have been afraid to speak publicly.
We have not had a lot of families
come up and said, you know,
I cross through international fall,
so I cross through northern Minnesota,
but you we know there has been attempts
which have ended up in fatalities.
Adding a layer of complexity to
this story is a new agreement
this spring announced by the
United States and Canada.
That impacts where people can
seek asylum and who can do it.
For the past two
decades, both the US and Canada
have been able to turn away asylum
seekers at official entry points,
but the policy did not apply to people
crossing in between those ports.
Under the new agreement,
the policy will apply to the entire border.
Separately, the Bite administration
also wants broader restrictions on
asylum seekers who've traveled through
other countries to get to the US.
We have
both a legal and a moral
obligation to process asylum,
claims Mitchell Hamlin immigration
law expert Ana Pottrats Acosta
is part of a coalition that
opposes these new rules. It's going
to continue to drive people to go.
Be a more dangerous routes.
Stop this regulation. Stop it. At
the US Canada border agent Ruiz
says he doesn't think the new
asylum rules have led to more
dangerous crossing attempts.
We have not seen that,
so it's sort of a wait and
see approach right now.
But as the weather warms,
sometimes they walk through
some areas just like this.
And get picked up by a vehicle.
Ruiz says he expects more crossings
facilitated by human smugglers
with the wrong intentions they
entice them with being able to cross
the border easily coming into the US,
getting them jobs, you know.
But on the flip side, I think the
harsh reality sets in once they cross.
The restrictions between the US and Canada
have been in place since late March. But now,
with Title 42 expiring tomorrow night,
the Biden administration's broader
asylum restrictions will take effect.
In the North and South,
migrants need to either apply
online and present themselves in
an official entry point,
or claim asylum in the first country
they've passed through previously,
such as Mexico.
Otherwise they will be denied entry,
with some limited exceptions. It's
just so incredibly complicated.
Heartbreaking, you know,
we heard from a couple people like Mr.
Feel in your story who?
Say get rid of some of these restrictions,
but then there are a lot of other
people saying they're not tough enough.
Sure, the Biden administration has
really been criticized on both sides from
from many who say that this is going to
drive people to more dangerous roots.
But then like you said, many Republicans,
especially those elected in the South,
who say they they point to the fact
that there's been about 10,000 people
each day crossing here Monday and
Tuesday at at the US Mexico border
and and they're pushing the Biden
administration to do more to restrict.
So that's where you you
kind of find those those.
Criticisms on both sides?
Yeah. And unfortunately, no easy answers.
But, Danny, great story. Thanks so much.