A bottle shape is carved into the boards just below the roof of one side of Chris Oliver’s barn. The barn sits just feet from the Canadian border along the north end of his farm near Port Covington, New York.
The outline is reminiscent of another era, when runners transporting smuggled liquor south from Canada during Prohibition traveled along this land along the border between Quebec and New York.
Now Oliver’s farm is visited by a different type of transport: people.
Over the past few months, more and more men, women, and sometimes children have used Oliver’s farm as a stopover on their secret walking journey from Canada to the United States.
They all passed by his home where he lives with his wife and three children, and the whole scene was captured on his walking camera.
In the week leading up to Labor Day, Oliver’s cameras recorded 48 people walking past his door.
“And it’s only one camera in one area, so it’s hard to tell how many people actually passed by,” said Oliver, 32.
Watch | Crossing South in Canada:
Family and group of immigrants who illegally crossed from Canada to US, security footage released
Dozens of migrants were captured on security cameras set up by local farmer Chris Oliver as they crossed from Quebec into New York state. CBC was unable to speak to the migrants, so their faces were blurred in the footage.
Oliver’s farm is just east of the border in Dundee, Quebec, about 170 km southwest of Montreal, and about 100 km east of Cornwall, Ontario, to Champlain, New York, which is the largest source of illegal immigration along the Canada-U.S. border, according to court records and U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.
that The U.S. Border Patrol has arrested more than 8,000 people.Most of them come from India and pass through the Swanton area where Oliver Farm is located between June and August. That’s almost four times more than the same period last year.
‘Everyone is on edge’
Law enforcement agencies in Canada and the United States say the trafficking ring operates throughout the river, bushland and farmland. The movement patterns captured on Oliver’s trail camera suggest his farm may be one of their current routes.
According to Oliver, some of the footage shows the same man leading a group through the area at set times, usually late at night or early in the morning, while talking or using a cell phone.
View | More on illegal crossing:
CBC News investigates human smuggling highway along Quebec-New York border
Even after the recent arrest of a terror suspect in Ormstown, Quebec, brought attention to border security, an American farmer showed CBC News how much illegal immigration is crossing the border from Quebec through his farm.
“Usually around 8:30 at night, a group comes, maybe one or two, and then another big group, usually four or five, comes. And those groups usually come between midnight and 5:30 in the morning,” he said.
Oliver first installed cameras in his home a year ago. One morning, his wife was woken up by the dog at 2 a.m., and she saw three men standing next to a car in the driveway.
“I don’t know if they tried to intervene in it or not,” he said.
Oliver’s grandfather, David Holden, 80, grew up on this farm and heard stories of the Prohibition era. His family roots stretch on both sides of the border. He says he’s never seen so many crossings across his area.
“This isn’t normal,” Holden said. “It makes everyone nervous.”
Oliver shows the methods traffickers use to get migrants across the border. (Jorge Barrera/CBC)
One of Oliver’s videos stands out. It’s 1:27 a.m. on September 5. A group of three men and two women emerge from the night and walk across the frame. One man leads the group, holding a cell phone and another man’s hand in one hand, as if guiding them through the darkness.
The incident comes less than 12 hours after RCMP arrested a Pakistani national accused of planning a terrorist attack in the United States.
According to Canadian and U.S. court records, 20-year-old Muhammad Shaheb Khan was smuggled into the U.S. through a human smuggler between Quebec and New York state.
David Holden, 80, says he’s never seen so many illegal border crossings in the area. (Jorge Barrera/CBC)
RCMP arrested Khan. It is located in Ormstown, Quebec, about 40 km northeast of Oliver Farm. There are several road routes from Ormstown to the U.S. border, the shortest being about 18 km from the border.
“A few hours later I got a picture of people on my camera… It’s very likely that he was with that group,” Oliver said.
RCMP said they have increased border patrols following Khan’s arrest.
Muhammad Shaheb Khan was arrested on September 4 in Ormstown, Quebec, along with three others. (Quebec Superior Court)
It is difficult to respond to smuggling.
Matthew Imer, a recently retired Ontario Provincial Police detective, was the lead investigator for the Integrated Border Enforcement Team in Cornwall, Ontario, which includes the RCMP, Canada Border Services Agency and other agencies.
He was part of a team that brought down a human trafficking ring linked to the deaths of four Indian families and four Romanian families. drowning in the st. lawrence river during A failed human trafficking attempt in March.
Immer said investigators were always concerned that radicalized individuals like Khan would find a way to cross the border.
“Some of them are economic migrants who move to other countries for a better life,” Imer said.
“But there are also people with malicious intentions.”
He said Ottawa could provide law enforcement with more tools to combat human trafficking organizations, which he said often cross borders and boldly advertise their services on social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and Telegram.
Matthew Imer, who recently retired from the Ontario Provincial Police, was head of investigations for the Integrated Border Enforcement Team in Cornwall, Ont. (Jorge Barrera/CBC)
Immer says Canada’s current laws targeting this type of human smuggling focus on the conspiracy part of the act, meaning there must be a clear intent to physically transport someone across the border.
He said the federal government could amend criminal or immigration and refugee laws to criminalize any aspect of border crossings, similar to U.S. law, including driving, harboring, and assisting in crossing borders.
But no matter how strict the laws in the United States are, people like Oliver who live on the New York side feel vulnerable.
Oliver says he always worries about his family’s safety when he works the night shift.
“I always check my cameras to see if there’s anyone coming down the street or walking past my house, because you never know. They’re not all good people,” Oliver said.
“I don’t know what the answer is, but this is not the answer. This is completely wrong.”
Footage captured on Oliver’s security camera shows a family crossing a wooded area from Canada to the United States. (Submitted by Chris Oliver)
