Photo: AFP
The United States-Canada border may be more of a hotspot for people and drugs entering the U.S. than the southern border with Mexico.
Earlier this week, FBI Director Kash Patel testified before the House Intelligence Committee, telling lawmakers that as the crisis at the southern border has essentially evaporated, adversaries such as China, Russia and Iran have now shifted their resources to the U.S. northern border.
"The enemy adapts," Patel said. "We need to be more vigilant as to what's coming in through our northern border as well."
Illegal border crossings and drug activity has dropped significantly ever since President Trump took office in January. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said recorded encounters have sunk by 90% in most sectors compared to the same time period last year. President Trump has deployed thousands of U.S. military troops to the southern border to assist CBP agents and help curb illegal immigration and drug moving.
With the boost in security at the southern border, Patel warned that new threats may become more common to the north.
"The Mexican cartels along with their illicit partners in the CCP and other adversarial countries that are doing harm are not just taking the fight down south but they're bringing up north," he said.
Regardless, efforts to secure the border on both ends and stop known or suspected terrorists from coming into the U.S. has not let up.
"Known and suspected terrorists are flowing in through our northern border more than they are through our southern border," said Patel.
Patel also told lawmakers that between 2022 and 2025, roughly 178,000 Chinese nationals attempted to cross the southern border. Chinese nationals were among the most likely to attempt illegal crossings. CBP data shows that the number of crossings increased by 5,200% from the 450 encounters recorded just a year earlier.
One of President Trump's biggest reasons for applying tariffs on neighboring countries like Mexico and Canada was due to the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. According to U.S. border patrol chief Michael Banks, the fentanyl flow into the country has plummeted ever since President Trump took office. Banks said they've seen "unprecedented assistance and cooperation from Mexico and Canada."
"Fentanyl and illegal narcotics kill an American citizen every seven minutes," Patel said. "That is a national security crisis, not just at the southern border but at the northern border."
Canada's new Prime Minister Mark Carney recently responded to the tariffs from President Trump and the U.S. with "retaliatory trade action," stating that the political, economic, and military relationship between them and the United States is dead.
"The old relationship we had with the United States based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperation is over," Carney said Thursday, adding that Canada will respond "forcefully" to the tariffs.
Carney said his country will now aim to reshape their economy and seek other 'reliable' trading partners.