Border agency, RCMP make arrest at Niagara border after human smuggling attempt, officials say

Canadian authorities say they've intercepted a human smuggling attempt in the Niagara region as part of a larger border security effort.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and RCMP say they caught one person jumping off a moving freight train as it entered Canada in Fort Erie, Ont.

They say the intercept was part of Project Disrupt and Deter, launched in December and aimed at monitoring "vulnerable" areas along the International Railway Bridge that connects Fort Erie and Buffalo, N.Y.

Authorities say the person who jumped off the freight train was arrested, ultimately found inadmissible to Canada and returned to the United States, while two other people allegedly involved in the smuggling attempt were taken in for questioning.

Public Safety Minister David McGuinty said in a news release that "Canada's border plan is working" and CBSA's and RCMP's joint efforts are deterring criminal activities along the Canada-U.S. border.

The federal government promised last month to spend $1.3 billion over six years to beef up border security amid threats from U.S. President Donald Trump to impose hefty tariffs if Canada doesn't address the perception that migrants and fentanyl are flooding across the border into the United States.

The CBSA said Niagara's Project Disrupt and Deter is part of a larger intelligence and enforcement strategy called Project Northstar, which tracks "any increases in irregular northbound movements."

It said those projects and the renewed border security plan enable "the targeting and disruption of organized crime groups facilitating illegal border crossing."

Earlier this month, François Crépeau, a law professor at McGill University who has worked on immigration issues for 40 years, said the more limits placed on migration, "the more human and migrant smuggling you will have." He was responding to a question about the arrest, the RCMP says, of three men from Quebec facing conspiracy charges after allegedly helping to smuggle people across the border into the United States. 

Crépeau said human smuggling can easily be confused with human trafficking — the latter of which involves people who are exploited for the sex trade or forced labour. 

He said human smuggling, on the other hand, is similar to a contract between two individuals. 

"They are local people taking advantage of having a car or knowing the area …It's an illegal activity, but it's very low-key. However, presenting it as a horrible crime has been a trademark of law enforcement and border policing."