It should come as no surprise that the nation's northern border, as well as the one in the south, continues to be a significant threat, considering the cartels that are operating in both places, former acting Border Patrol Commissioner Mark Morgan said on Newsmax Wednesday.
"Our focus has been on the southern border for obvious reasons, because of the unmitigated catastrophic level of numbers coming across," Morgan told Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "But the cartels don't just operate in Mexico along our southern border. They operate in the entire world, including Canada."
The same cartels in operation along the southern border are pushing threats across from the north as well, said Morgan, pointing out that the U.S.-Canada border is the largest shared land border between two nations in the world.
"The cartels are constantly changing their tactics and techniques, and what they saw was an easy opportunity," he added. "In the past two years, resources have been pulled off the northern border to help the southern border. They saw a great opportunity to exploit the northern border, and that's exactly what we're seeing right now."
The Border Patrol's Swanton sector, which covers New Hampshire, Vermont, and the northern tip of New York, reported 367 more illegal crossings in January than in the previous 12 Januarys combined, and the majority of people slipping through were originally from Mexico.
Morgan said it's important to understand that Canada's immigration laws are "very lax" and it's easy to enter the country with a visitor visa with very little documentation.
The cartels are also providing the money to fly someone from Mexico to Canada so they can come across the northern border, he added.
"It's exactly the same cartels that are pushing threats across our southern border," said Morgan. "They're handling this operation as well. It's just about money. If you can pay a little bit more money, you're able to take advantage of this new tactic and technique that the cartels are using, and you're seeing it expanding every single day."
Further, the U.S. intelligence community has been "very clear" that Canada poses a threat, either from the homegrown violent extremists there or the fact that there is a large area of maritime entries that are vulnerable, said Morgan.
"It's why we say what's happening on our borders is not about immigration," he said. "It's about border security and national security."
Migrants coming in from the north are facing a particular danger because of the cold weather, Morgan added.
"They're not equipped or dressed for this type of weather," he said, noting there are reports that migrants have frozen to death trying to come into the United States as "it's happening in other northern states like Montana as well."
Meanwhile, a new federal policy blocking migrants who fail to use existing legal pathways to enter the United States or to seek protection in countries they pass through will automatically be considered ineligible for asylum, unless they qualify to enter otherwise.
Morgan, though, said the administration is not being honest about what the legal pathways are.
"They're continuing to say, Hey, look, come to our ports of entry, and we'll look the other way as you continue to file fraudulent claims, and we'll let you into the country illegally, never be heard from again," said Morgan. "They call that a legal pathway, so if they use that they're still in. Nothing's going to change. It's all smoke and mirrors."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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