Border officials say 13 foreign nationals have been arrested for illegally entering the United States from New Brunswick in two separate human smuggling attempts.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said they were alerted to several people making an illegal entry near Caswell, Maine — west of Grand Falls, N.B., — on Jan. 19.
Agents found footprints in the snow and, as a result, arrested seven adult males from Mexico, including two were had previously been removed from the United States.
One of the men was transported to a local hospital to be treated after showing signs of frostbite.
The next day, on Jan. 20, agents pulled over a suspicious vehicle near Lambert Lake — west of St. Croix, N.B., — and arrested six adult Vietnamese passengers.
The operator of the vehicle, who was a U.S. citizen, was detained under suspicion of human smuggling and later released.
“We may not have the large influx of illegal entries here in Maine, such we are experiencing on the Southwest Border of the United States, but there certainly is transnational criminal activity occurring here,” said Chief Patrol Agent William Maddocks said in a news release.
“My team will make every effort to deliver maximum legal consequences and penalties to those we arrest in violation of federal law.”
In addition to being processed for removal, all 13 foreign nationals were fined $5,000 each for entering the U.S. illegally.
Follow
