Despite frigid mid-winter temperatures, a U.S. Border Patrol station in Vermont is reporting 367 apprehensions and encounters in January 2023, including family groups with young children and infants. The January numbers are more than the combined January apprehensions at that station spanning the last 12 years.
The U.S. Border Patrol’s Swanton Sector, which is based in Swanton, Vermont, and is responsible for a 2,200-square-mile area, also reported Monday that it has experienced seven straight months of “encounter increases,” part of a trend that the border patrol said dates back to 2021.
“As we progress deeper into winter and continue to address the ongoing pace of illicit cross-border traffic, the level of concern for the lives and welfare of our Border Patrol Agents and those we are encountering — particularly vulnerable populations — continues to climb,” Swanton Sector chief patrol agent Robert Garcia said in a written statement. “It cannot be stressed enough: not only is it unlawful to circumvent legal means of entry into the United States, but it is extremely dangerous, particularly in adverse weather conditions, which our Swanton Sector has in incredible abundance.”
Swanton Sector said encounters and apprehensions are up 846 percent between October 1, 2022, and January 31, 2023, compared to the same period a year prior, with fiscal year 2023 apprehensions and encounters already surpassing the two previous fiscal years combined.
Agents in December also led search-and-rescue efforts, providing life-saving aid in separate incidents occurring in Newport, Vermont and Burke, New York.
Massachusetts and other states have been seeing a steady influx of migrants, and state officials and legislators are grappling with the associated increased demand for public services and the cost of those services.
The Swanton Sector is responsible for securing the land border between ports of entry in Vermont, New Hampshire, and northeastern New York.
New to NewBostonPost? Conservative media is hard to find in Massachusetts. But you’ve found it. Now dip your toe in the water for two bucks — $2 for two months. And join the real revolution.
