Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) arrests in the Houlton border sector, encompassing all of Maine’s border with Canada, reached a 24-year high last month as a result of stricter enforcement activities across the state.
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“Here in Maine, Border Patrol Agents are working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to keep our border secure. If you attempt to cross the border illegally, you will be apprehended. If you are present in the United States without a legal status, you will be detained and removed in accordance with all applicable immigration laws,” said Houlton Acting Chief Patrol Agent Craig Shepley.
CBP agents arrested 113 illegal immigrants last month, including people from 16 countries of origin. CBP clarified that the 24-year high in arrests does not indicate an uptick in illegal crossings. It is instead the result of increased enforcement that has allowed agents to apprehend illegal aliens who would otherwise have escaped into the state, they said
The agency asserted that, despite the uptick in arrests, illegal entries through Maine are down.
The increase in arrests required the Houlton Sector agents to coordinate air transport with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) to bring 29 prisoners from Portland to other parts of the country where they can be processed for removal.
According to CBP, the majority of illegal aliens encountered by Houlton agents had entered illegally through the southern border in previous years.
Since President Donald Trump took office, illegal entries across the Southern border have plummeted by as much as 99.9 percent compared to the unprecedented invasion of illegal immigration facilitated in large part by the lax enforcement and permissive messaging of the Biden Administration.
