Canada Border Services Agency/Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) play a key role in ensuring the integrity of our immigration system. Today, they announced the interception of a human smuggling attempt along the Niagara River, as part of Project Disrupt and Deter.
In December 2024, the CBSA launched Project Disrupt and Deter, an intelligence initiative aimed at monitoring vulnerable areas along the International Railway Bridge in the Niagara region. This project focuses on gathering intelligence related to irregular migration and disrupting organized human smuggling operations.
As part of this project, CBSA intelligence officers isolated an attempted human smuggling incident in which an individual jumped off a moving freight train as it entered Canada and attempted to flee in Fort Erie, Ontario. The CBSA, along with the RCMP, successfully intercepted the individual, who was subsequently arrested under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). Additionally, two other individuals involved in the smuggling attempt were located nearby and taken into custody for questioning.
The individual was assessed under the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement and was ultimately found inadmissible to Canada and returned to the United States.
Niagara's Project Disrupt and Deter is part of a larger initiative dubbed Project Northstar, a national intelligence and enforcement strategy. Project Northstar positions the CBSA and the RCMP to develop early warning and monitoring to respond to any increases in irregular northbound movements whether by port of entry or between the ports. In line with the Government of Canada's Border Plan, these projects enable the targeting and disruption of organized crime groups facilitating illegal border crossing, and advance Canada's ongoing efforts to strengthen border security and immigration integrity.
In Canada, border security and integrity is a shared mandate between the CBSA and the RCMP. The CBSA is responsible for enforcement at 1,200 ports of entry across the country, while the RCMP is responsible for enforcement between ports of entry. The results of these joint operations aimed at dismantling organized human smuggling efforts strengthens enforcement and security along the Canada-U.S. border.
