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This is the United States' forgotten border, where federal agents and police play cat-and-mouse with smugglers and illegal immigrants along 4,000 miles of a mostly unmarked and unfortified frontier with Canada. Unlike the southern border with Mexico, where drug-related violence has exploded in recent years, the northern border rarely makes headlines.
That changed this month after the U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report warning that the terrorist threat from Canada was higher than from Mexico because of the vast swaths of unprotected frontier. Just 32 miles of the 4,000-mile border have an acceptable level of Border Patrol security, with agents available to make on-site arrests, the report said.
Senators from northern border states urged the Obama administration to deploy military radar and more unmanned planes. The head of the Senate's Homeland Security committee, Conn. Sen. Joe Lieberman, suggested the government should examine whether to require visas of Canadian visitors.
"There are more drugs on Wall Street than here," said Jonathan Maracle, 35, who owns a gift shop on the 12,000-member Akwesasne Mohawk reservation, straddling New York and Canada on both sides of the St. Lawrence River. "All they're trying to do is make us look bad up here because they can't control up here. The United States government is nothing but bullies."
"Yes, 'terrorists' come thru Akwesasne. They are N.Y.S.P. (state police), Border Patrol, ATF, FBI, etc., etc.!"
U.S. Border Patrol agents rarely go onto the territory without a tribal police escort, said Wade Laughman, agent in charge at the Massena Border Patrol.
"You get a lot of intimidation techniques: blocking in of your vehicles, people yelling at you, screaming at you, guys surrounding you," Laughman said. "It's not safe for one agent to go down there by himself."
Opposition politicians in Canada have accused Harper, the prime minister, of buying into U.S. paranoia with the new border security agreement.
Originally posted by buni11687
The article says that the DHS has tripled the amount of agents working on the northern border...
Originally posted by randomname
Originally posted by buni11687
The article says that the DHS has tripled the amount of agents working on the northern border...
canada is the u.s. biggest trading partner, it would cost literally trillions of dollars to seal the border.
companies would go out of business in hours, banks will lose billions of dollars on credit defaults, it would be an economic disaster.
In Waddington, N.Y., 20 miles west of Massena on the St. Lawrence River, visitors used to boat over from Canada to shop at the IGA or sip a beer at one of the four bars near the waterfront, said resident Herb Champion.
The trips were technically illegal, but no one cared, he said. But in recent years federal agents have been stopping boats and even coming into bars to check IDs, he said. Three of the bars have closed for lack of customers.
Originally posted by buni11687
reply to post by AeonStorm
I havent been up to date on Canadian politics lately, but Im getting the feeling this Harper character isnt really that popular up there. I really hope the Canadians dont buy into the US propaganda.
Military style custom's with armed guards and dogs.
Originally posted by ChrisF231
Military style custom's with armed guards and dogs.
In case your not aware, HM Canadian Customs has K9 dogs as well, and all officers working at ports of entry have been armed since 2006.