Canada, U.S. must confront surge of border encounters together: expert

The issue of increased encounters at the Canada-U.S. border has come under scrutiny after recent high-profile arrests of alleged terrorists in Canada.

Canada and the U.S. must work together to confront a surge of migrant encounters at their shared border, one expert says, particularly after a man was arrested in Quebec for planning to commit a terrorist attack in New York City.

Keith Cozine, an associate professor of homeland security at St. John’s University in Queens, N.Y., says while the issue may not yet damage the Canada-U.S. relationship, a lot depends on how it is politicized in both countries in the coming months.

“I think (the arrest) shows the importance of, number one, intelligence being the first line of defence when it comes to issues with this, but also the need for cooperation by these two security partners but also economy partners,” he told Mercedes Stephenson in an interview that aired Sunday on The West Block.

Canada’s immigration system is under renewed scrutiny after a Pakistani citizen, Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, was arrested last week in Quebec as he was allegedly about to cross the border to carry out an ISIS terrorist attack targeting Jews in New York City.

According to U.S. prosecutors, Khan allegedly wrote in online communications that “if we succeed with our plan this would be the largest Attack on US soil since 9/11,” referring to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller said Tuesday that Khan, who the U.S. had been investigating since last November, received a student visa in May 2023 and arrived at Toronto’s Pearson airport the following month.

The government was already facing questions over how security screening failed to flag a father and son from Egypt, Ahmed and Mostafa Eldidi, charged in July with allegedly plotting an ISIS attack in Toronto. The House of Commons public safety committee is investigating that matter and has been asked to consider a separate probe into Khan’s entry into Canada.

Those incidents come amid a dramatic rise in encounters by U.S. Border Patrol at the northern border, which has caught the ire of U.S. conservative politicians who have made immigration a top campaign issue.