Jonathan Kaiser, a grandson of local farmer Matthias Kaiser, approaches the area where a body was found on their land in St-Bernard-de-Lacolle, QC, near the US border Bernard Brault/The Globe and Mail
As politicians in Ottawa and Quebec City bicker and negotiate over what to do with Roxham Road, locals endure frequent stops from the RCMP while trying to keep their eyes peeled to help Mounties enforce border rules .
Matthias Kaiser, a farmer who owns land in the area now known internationally as the official unofficial point of entry for asylum seekers into Canada, is used to interacting with law enforcement officials from both sides of the border.
But with the increase in irregular crossings at Roxham Road and the RCMP operation there, “it’s more serious now,” he said. Mr. Kaiser, members of his family and associates were stopped by the RCMP on a number of occasions last fall.
He was once intercepted driving with his wife on the Alberton Road – Mr Kaiser’s private farm road, lined by his soybean, alfalfa and corn fields, which runs 1.5 miles east of the Roxham Road and is the subject of intense investigation by the RCMP . Five police cars followed them.
Matthias Kaiser is a farmer and owns land in St-Bernard-de-Lacolle, near the US border. The area has become known as an unofficial point of entry for asylum seekers into Canada.Bernard Brault/The Globe and Mail
“Unbelievable. I thought they were going to arrest me… When they asked me what I [was doing] here I said, ‘Well, I’m driving on my road, and what are you do on my street?’ ‘ Mr Kaiser recalled.
He allowed the RCMP to patrol the Alberton Road on the condition that they “put down some gravel now and then,” which they haven’t done, he said.
On another occasion last fall, officers stopped his youngest son who was driving with a Guatemalan employee. Someone had to go and get the clerk’s papers to prove he wasn’t smuggled.
RCMP officers also stopped other employees while hauling truckloads of grain during harvest season, saying they were looking for someone who got out of a car in the area. The interruption disrupted Mr. Kaiser’s operations and he lost patience with the officials. “I had to apologize,” said the farmer after the heated exchange.
“I’m surprised they’re not here yet,” Mr Kaiser said of the RCMP when The Globe and Mail met him on the private road on Friday morning.
RCMP officers return to their vehicle after approaching The Globe’s rental car on a private farm road near Mr. Kaiser’s property Bernard Brault/Special for Globe and Mail
Indeed, the flashing lights of a police squad car and two agents appeared near The Globe’s rental car, which was parked on the farm road. Constable Tommy Pepin politely asked for ID and explained that they wanted to make sure the vehicle was not abandoned by anyone planning to cross the US border on foot through the fields.
Mr. Kaiser emphasized that he had nothing against the officers and wanted to maintain a good relationship with the RCMP. Most stops are brief, he said, and he understands how important it is for federal agents to be on the lookout for potential smugglers.
However, he questions the relevance of such efforts on the Canadian side. “They’re chasing us, they’re chasing a man, but on the other hand they’re letting thousands come in over which they have no control,” he argued, referring to Roxham Road.
The famous cul-de-sac on the border between upstate New York and the Montérégie region of Quebec has become the main route for irregular entry into Canada in recent years. According to data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, the RCMP intercepted 39,171 asylum seekers who did not use official ports of entry to enter Quebec in 2022, compared to just 369 in the rest of the country.
People who cross irregularly elsewhere are often taken to the RCMP’s Roxham Road facility to have their application processed there, said Sergeant Charles Poirier, a spokesman for the Mounties.
An RCMP officer enters a migrant processing center near Roxham Road, where people crossing irregularly elsewhere are often tricked into trying to cross the US-Canada border.Christinne Muschi/The Globe and Mail
The long-standing Safe Third Country Agreement requires border officials from the United States and Canada to turn away asylum seekers from the other country when they arrive at official land border crossings. For this reason, and given all the media attention it has received, most people from the US seeking asylum in Canada use Roxham Road to avoid being turned away.
But sometimes, through bad luck, lack of knowledge of the area or other reasons, people cruise elsewhere, Sgt. Poirier said.
The RCMP’s main concern remains smuggling of items such as firearms and drugs, he said. As interaction with Constable Pepin has shown, Mounties are also on the lookout for smugglers and migrants heading in the opposite direction to the US, sometimes risking their lives attempting to cross remote areas in difficult weather.
That’s probably what happened to Fritznel Richard, a Haitian migrant whose body was found on Mr. Kaiser’s land on January 5. A little less than a year earlier, an Indian family of four died near the Manitoba-US border
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has noticed a sharp increase in people attempting to enter North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin illegally from Canada in recent months. The Swanton sector, which includes counties in New Hampshire, New York and Vermont, has also had “historic highs” in fears and encounters with migrants entering the U.S. illegally, the U.S. Border Service said in a news release last week.
Coolbreeze Camping on Montée Glass in St-Bernard-de-Lacolle, February 17.Bernard Brault/The Globe and Mail
Sergeant Poirier worked for years with the local RCMP squad, whose agents handle Roxham Road arrivals and patrol a vast area between Valleyfield and Lake Memphremagog. He said good relations with local people are paramount to preventing smuggling and avoiding other deaths.
Dominique Martin, the owner of the Coolbreeze campsite in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, said RCMP officers questioned his customers on occasion. “If you walk down the street with a backpack, they’ll stop you for sure,” he said. Conversely, Mr. Martin called the Mounties several times when taxis dropped people off near the campground, suspecting they were making the hour-long drive from Montreal to enter the United States irregularly
“It’s often people who call us,” Sgt. Poirier said of the locals. The RCMP monitors numerous surveillance cameras at the border, but “we need their intelligence,” he stressed.
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