Page 70 of Twice Missing
Noah raised an eyebrow. "A different reserve?"
McKenzie shook his head. "No, it's the same territory straddling the border between Canada and the United States. Two portions of the reserve are spread across Ontario and Quebec, and the other part is what makes up St. Regis Mohawk Reservation. Any of the Native Americans can travel back and forth between the two because they consider it to be one community."
"But they still need ID when crossing," Noah pointed out.
"Yeah, but whether or not they use it is another matter," McKenzie replied. "Initially, when Selena went missing, they thought she might have crossed the border back toCanada. Attached to the report were some details that showed tribal police checked with border. Her status card wasn't used at the border. Then again, it appears because of the Freedom of Movement act, the unique geography, and them seeing it as one community divided by international and provincial borders, some residents don't bother and just cross in the water across the ice, or by boat in the summer. If they do that, they are supposed to report their crossings, even when there isn't a staffed border post at a specific crossing point."
Noah’s brow furrowed. "There are none?"
McKenzie grimaced. "It's complex. The border control is outnumbered. They don't have enough staff. Look at it this way, there's a 5,500-mile border to cover. That's a lot of ground between the U.S. and Canada. It's not a case of there being no border posts. The posts exist. There's one in Clinton County, one in Franklin County, and two in St. Lawrence. Then you have some unstaffed or special crossing points in Franklin County at the East Richford Slide Road, but it gets a little tricky when they're dealing with the Akwesasne Mohawk Territory. There are no staffed border crossings from the U.S. side of Akwesasne to Kanatakon and Tsi Snaihne in Quebec, but they are supposed to report the crossing to the customs area even if they use an unstaffed crossing point."
"They just walk over," Noah said.
"Yep. They don't even have to use the St. Lawrence River. The border between us and our northern neighbors spans across farmers’ fields. All they need to do is pull up within half a mile of the border and dart into a cornfieldand come out the other side. There's no wall, no barbed wire or anything stopping them."
"That’s because we don't really worry about Canadians fleeing to the USA.”
McKenzie nodded. "Exactly. Canada is much like the USA. You can live a good life there. But south of the border, they have Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras. There's a lot more motive to get into the USA. Most of the ones coming across from Canada are Indian or Mexican."
"How do you know so much about this, Mac?" Noah asked, impressed by his partner's knowledge.
McKenzie shrugged. "You’re not the only investigator I work with. I know guys from the Franklin and Clinton County sheriff’s offices. The whole human smuggling across the border has been a huge issue as of late. It's big money for the cartel. They don't need to get them into America via the south anymore. That's a headache. They fly people into Canada on a tourist visa and have them travel down. Some cross at the Akwesasne territory using the St. Lawrence River and boats, others use the farmers' fields further east. It seems it's been an ongoing issue."
"So they're entering at night?"
"Night, day, they don't seem to care nowadays. That's because some want to be caught."
"Run that by me again?" Noah said. He was familiar with human trafficking but a large part of his career had been further south in New York, dealing with migrants in hotels and criminal activity far from the border. It had only been in the last year he'd been privy to the ongoing issue facing upstate New York.
"Again, like I said, it's complex. Not every person crossing is being smuggled in or smuggling drugs in. Some come of their own volition. They don't go to the border post as they'll be turned back. So, instead they cross via the river or a farmer’s field and then give themselves up as soon as they are in the USA. They want to get processed and claim asylum and because the courts are so backed up, that case won't get processed for at least five years."
"How does that help?"
"Because they got processed by border control, they are now technically legal to be in the United States and so they get released and head south to New York City."
Noah shook his head.
"And that's the ones that give themselves up. There are others that don't.”
"Those that were smuggled over or were bringing in drugs."
"You got it. So that whole spiel Sheriff Roberts gave you is bang on the money. The cartel is here in upstate New York, to what extent? Well that's to be determined, as is who they're working with — aka, prince of darkness, Luther Ashford."
Noah laughed.
"But they are here."
Noah's laugh faded as they got closer to Massena. "I figured Canada and the USA wouldn't make it that easy."
"They didn't at one time. The policies have changed. Now people are exploiting the laws of Canada to do it."
"How many are crossing?"
"There were around 200,000 apprehensions by bordercontrol last year, but it's been ticking upwards compared to back in 2021 when there were only 27,000 apprehensions. But that doesn't include migrants who have entered and fled from the cops."
"Crazy."
"No wonder 9/11 happened."
