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U.S.-Canada Border Community's Culture Changes As Security Tightens

A member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police holds Scott Wheeler's identification while asking another officer to collect the passports of Wheeler's passengers. Wheeler was pulled over after inadvertently driving into Canada from Canusa Avenue, which straddles the U.S.-Canadian border.
Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for NPR
A member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police holds Scott Wheeler's identification while asking another officer to collect the passports of Wheeler's passengers. Wheeler was pulled over after inadvertently driving into Canada from Canusa Avenue, which straddles the U.S.-Canadian border.

Scott Wheeler was born and raised in what's known as the Northeast Kingdom, the rugged and beautiful countryside where Vermont abuts Canada. Even so, he didn't realize he was supposed to check in with Canadian immigration authorities when driving across the border recently.

Two polite, officious Mounties tell him to make a U-turn and follow them back to the port of entry where he's questioned about his intentions inside Quebec. He explains his mistake, and eventually, the Mounties return his identification and he's free to go.

"That's pretty much life on the border; it's changing," Wheeler says, resignedly.

While the southern border gets all the attention with President Trump's massive wall and the backlog of desperate asylum-seekers stuck in Mexico, things are tense on the northern border with Canada, as well. The number of illegal crossers is on the rise. And residents complain that heightened security has changed the character of the once-neighborly frontier.

"It's even confusing for a local to understand," says Wheeler, a former state representative and history buff who publishes the Northland Journal. "Back when I was growing up, you could come across the border with a wave to the border agents."

"It's a barrier, and we feel it"

In the past two fiscal years, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has logged a 400% jump in apprehensions of people crossing illegally from Canada. That's the biggest increase anywhere along the 5,525-mile northern border.

Neighbors Janice Beadle (left) and Marie Vallieres stand on their respective sides of the white stripe that marks the international border on Canusa Avenue, with the U.S. on the left and Canada on the right.
/ Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for NPR
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Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for NPR
Neighbors Janice Beadle (left) and Marie Vallieres stand on their respective sides of the white stripe that marks the international border on Canusa Avenue, with the U.S. on the left and Canada on the right.

Border authorities made it harder to cross freely after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but things have gotten even stricter since President Trump took office.

Consider Canusa Avenue — the name is a hybrid of Canada and USA. The international boundary runs for a third of a mile along this street. This is where Wheeler inadvertently turned into Canada.

There are 14 houses, with Americans living on the south side of the street and Canadians on the north. Two residents recently met on their respective sides of the white boundary line.

"We cannot leave our street on our own free will," says Janice Beadle, who describes herself as a retired snack bar owner, dairy worker and maple syrup-maker.

Richard Ross (right), agent in charge of the U.S. Border Patrol's Newport Station, greets a Canadian border agent at the Beebe, Quebec, and Beebe Plain, Vt., crossing.
/ Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for NPR
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Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for NPR
Richard Ross (right), agent in charge of the U.S. Border Patrol's Newport Station, greets a Canadian border agent at the Beebe, Quebec, and Beebe Plain, Vt., crossing.

Beadle owns a century-old yellow house on the U.S. side, which she is trying to sell. Because of the Customs and Border Protection checkpoint at the end of her street, she has to identify herself to a uniformed agent every time she goes to the drugstore or gets groceries.

"You get asked a lot of questions," she says, exasperated. "And sometimes they want proof you live here, even if they know you."

Then last year, it got worse. A big steel barrier was installed at the end of Canusa Avenue to control vehicle access.

Charles Harvey (center) and Tonya Wyche stopped to look at a building sitting on the U.S.-Canada border, on their way back from a vacation in Montreal.
/ Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for NPR
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Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for NPR
Charles Harvey (center) and Tonya Wyche stopped to look at a building sitting on the U.S.-Canada border, on their way back from a vacation in Montreal.

"To me, I feel it's very intimidating just to have the barrier there," Beadle says. "It's like a wall."

Marie Vallieres, a retired nurse, is her neighbor in Canada.

"I used to be able to cross over and see my friend that used to own that house, and just go have a glass of wine with her and come back," Vallieres says. "And now, like Janice says, it's a barrier and we feel it."

These days, Vallieres likely wouldn't even be able to take a bag of fresh-baked cookies to her neighbor without drawing the attention of authorities.

A motion-triggered camera is mounted on a tree and pointed toward a soft border crossing on the Haskell Free Library & Opera House, which is bisected by the border.
/ Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for NPR
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Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for NPR
A motion-triggered camera is mounted on a tree and pointed toward a soft border crossing on the Haskell Free Library & Opera House, which is bisected by the border.

A new way of life

Fernando Beltrán, the retired Border Patrol agent who has been in charge at the nearby Newport, Vt., station, points out this is a smuggling route used to move potent, hydroponically grown Canadian cannabis across this border. CBP seized more than 2 tons of marijuana this year — a 362% increase over 2017 seizures.

"Like, if I bring a bag of cookies to you, how does a guy at the port that sees it on camera know that the bag was just cookies?" Beltrán says. "People here used to say, 'Well, we were always on the honor system.' That's just not the way of life anymore."

The fact is, illegal activity is increasing here in the northeastern corner of Vermont.

Ann Kasowski, of Stanstead, Quebec, crosses into the United States from Canada to enter the Haskell Free Library & Opera House. Kasowski said she lives four houses from the border.
/ Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for NPR
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Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for NPR
Ann Kasowski, of Stanstead, Quebec, crosses into the United States from Canada to enter the Haskell Free Library & Opera House. Kasowski said she lives four houses from the border.

In 2017, CBP agents caught 165 immigrants; this year they took 822 people into custody in the sector that includes Vermont and parts of New York and New Hampshire. Agents call them P-WACs — people without admission from Canada.

With Trump's clampdown on the southern border, more migrants are discovering the northern route.

People illegally cross into the U.S. from Canada. With President Trump's clampdown on the southern border<em>,</em> more migrants are discovering the northern route.
/ U.S. Customs and Border Protection
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection
People illegally cross into the U.S. from Canada. With President Trump's clampdown on the southern border, more migrants are discovering the northern route.

"They're feeling a lot more pressure than they ever have down south, and they found loopholes to exploit via Canada," says Richard Ross, the current patrol agent in charge of the Newport Station. "It definitely has an effect on what we see up here."

Many illegal crossers are Mexicans and Romanians, among the nationalities that don't require a visa to travel to Canada. It's much simpler than swimming the Rio Grande and trekking through sweltering Texas ranchland. They go online to request an electronic travel authorization from Canada, fly to Toronto or Montreal, and pay a smuggler to show them where to cross.

"We're the first land border east of the Great Lakes," Ross says. "There are several major interstates that run to points south, either New York City, Boston, all the way down to Washington, D.C. It's very easy to be in the country and down the road in short order."

Richard Ross, patrol agent in charge of the United States Border Patrol's Newport Station, stands near the international boundary, marked by the slash in the forest.
/ Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for NPR
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Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for NPR
Richard Ross, patrol agent in charge of the United States Border Patrol's Newport Station, stands near the international boundary, marked by the slash in the forest.

Ross drives along a road that parallels the border, pointing out the open areas where people cross illegally amid the dairy farms, hayfields and maple groves. Without a 30-foot-tall border wall or a heavy deployment of agents, the Border Patrol up here depends on ground sensors and game cameras.

Of course, the numbers are a drop in the bucket compared with those on the southern border. Last May, a single group of more than 1,000 people crossed into El Paso, Texas. Yet, 822 apprehensions in a year are significant by the standards of the sleepy northern divide.

Even the public library has gotten dragged into border intrigue.

The Haskell Free Library & Opera House actually straddles the international boundary — the children's section is in Vermont, and the rest of the stacks are in Quebec. The stately old edifice opened more than a century ago when both towns were one close-knit community. But these days, the librarians have to keep an eye out for more than noisy patrons.

The Haskell Free Library has a piece of black tape along the floor marking the international boundary. "The library staff has to keep a sharp eye on who comes and goes," Scott Wheeler, who publishes a local history magazine, says.
/ Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for NPR
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Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for NPR
The Haskell Free Library has a piece of black tape along the floor marking the international boundary. "The library staff has to keep a sharp eye on who comes and goes," Scott Wheeler, who publishes a local history magazine, says.

"It's even been used to smuggle, because you can go in and out of the Haskell without checking in at either customs," says Scott Wheeler, standing outside the library.

Last year, a Montreal man was sentenced to prison for stashing a backpack full of handguns in the library bathroom for an accomplice to take across the border.

Moreover, Iranian families from Canada and the U.S., prevented from going back and forth by Trump's travel ban, had been using the library's reading room for emotional family reunions. A green and white Border Patrol vehicle now parks outside the library.

"The library staff has to keep a sharp eye on who comes and goes," Wheeler says.

The Border Jets, a novice hockey team, practice at the Pat Burns Arena in Stanstead, Quebec. The team is made up of both Canadian and American players.
/ Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for NPR
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Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for NPR
The Border Jets, a novice hockey team, practice at the Pat Burns Arena in Stanstead, Quebec. The team is made up of both Canadian and American players.

Two towns and two countries

Vermont state Rep. Brian Smith, a Republican, misses the old days.

"It was like it was one town and two countries," he says, wistfully. "Now it's two towns and two countries. And now nobody goes back and forth as much anymore. There's still a little bit."

Yet some of the vibe of "one town, two countries" survives.

Stanstead, Quebec, provides water and sewer service to Derby Line, Vt. Their fire departments help each other out with big blazes. There's even a binational youth hockey team called the Border Jets.

Philippe Dutil, mayor of Stanstead, Quebec, says he had flower planters installed after several incidents when Canadian visitors drove down Church Street and accidentally crossed into the U.S., only to be surrounded by Border Patrol vehicles.
/ Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for NPR
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Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for NPR
Philippe Dutil, mayor of Stanstead, Quebec, says he had flower planters installed after several incidents when Canadian visitors drove down Church Street and accidentally crossed into the U.S., only to be surrounded by Border Patrol vehicles.

And not every cross-border street has a steel barrier. Church Street connects Derby Line and Stanstead. Right next to the Haskell Library, the street is blocked off, with the border demarcated by a row of flowerpots.

"Basically what happened is I was the one that put the flowerpots there," says Stanstead Mayor Philippe Dutil. He says he had the planters installed after several incidents when Canadian visitors drove down Church Street and accidentally crossed into the U.S., only to be surrounded by Border Patrol vehicles.

"I put those flowerpots there so you can't cross with a car anymore," says the mayor, proudly, from Stanstead City Hall.

So there you have it: a floral border barrier, and Canada paid for it.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Flower planters delineate the border line and block what was once an open street along the U.S.-Canada international border connecting Stanstead, Quebec, and Derby Line, Vt.
/ Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for NPR
/
Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for NPR
Flower planters delineate the border line and block what was once an open street along the U.S.-Canada international border connecting Stanstead, Quebec, and Derby Line, Vt.

Corrected: November 20, 2019 at 11:00 PM CST
Previous audio and Web versions of this story incorrectly stated that a man was smuggling guns into the U.S. from Canada. The man was smuggling guns out of the U.S. and into Canada.
As NPR's Southwest correspondent based in Austin, Texas, John Burnett covers immigration, border affairs, Texas news and other national assignments. In 2018, 2019 and again in 2020, he won national Edward R. Murrow Awards from the Radio-Television News Directors Association for continuing coverage of the immigration beat. In 2020, Burnett along with other NPR journalists, were finalists for a duPont-Columbia Award for their coverage of the Trump Administration's Remain in Mexico program. In December 2018, Burnett was invited to participate in a workshop on Refugees, Immigration and Border Security in Western Europe, sponsored by the RIAS Berlin Commission.
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