In yet another brag-worthy win for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, federal immigration agents apprehended two Guatemalan nationals crossing the U.S. border illegally – from Canada.
CBP proceeded to send out a press release hailing their great success, and even thanked the U.S. citizen who called in “two suspicious men” (profiling, anyone?!) walking through Highgate Springs, Vt., and alerted border patrol.
From CBP’s press release:
After questioning and database verifications, both subjects, ages 22 and 24, were determined to have legal status in Canada, but no immigration or criminal history in the United States. Both men were en route to visit family members in Massachusetts and planning on returning to Canada to continue working.
Since both individuals have legal immigration status in Canada, the two were granted a voluntary return to Canada through the Champlain, New York, port of entry.
According to the press release, CBP determined the two men, ages 22 and 24, had come crossed into the United States to visit family in Massachusetts. (Apparently, no one told them how long it would take to walk from across the entire state of Vermont.)
But because the two men had come across from Canada, where they lived legally, they were immediately spun around and sent back across the border, and CBP sent out a press release championing their effective border protection efforts.
The agency then encouraged other U.S. citizens to assist them by reporting border crossers:
The Swanton Sector thanks and appreciates the concerned citizen for reporting this incident. Your assistance is invaluable to our border security mission and we welcome other community members to help us keep our nation’s borders safe and report suspicious activity at 1-800-689-3362.
Meanwhile, another massive surge in illegal immigration continues to wash up on the shallow shores of the Rio Grande at the Southwest U.S. border, where a whopping 12,500 family units and 10,600 unaccompanied minors, most of them from Central America, crossed into the United States illegally during October and November alone.
That’s on top of the 108,500 unaccompanied minors and the 108,300 family units CBP apprehended in fiscal years 2014 and 2015.