Quebec boosts border security resources as Trump tariff threat looms

Quebec's public security minister said Tuesday the province was sending more officers to the U.S. to help fight organized crime near the border. 

Six more Sûreté du Québec (SQ) investigators will deploy as part of the Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST), which the U.S. Department of Homeland Security co-ordinates. The SQ already has three investigators assigned to the task force. 

The task force works on cross-border organized crime cases involving the smuggling of people, drugs and firearms. The increased SQ deployment is part of a broader effort by provincial and federal officials to crack down on illegal cross-border migration and smuggling in response to a threat from incoming President Donald Trump. 

Public Security Minister François Bonnardel said he had met recently with U.S. officials, who said the number of illegal crossings has risen in recent years. In 2024 alone, out of 26,000 total illegal crossings across all of Canada, 19,000 of them took place in the Swanton Sector, which runs from Akwesasne, which straddles the U.S. border in Ontario, to Sherbrooke, Que. 

Bonnardel said he and Premier François Legault will soon meet with federal officials to seek answers from Ottawa about their newly announced plan to invest in border security. 

The $1.3 billion plan, announced in December, features investments in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and new technology, like drones and surveillance towers.  

But Bonnardel said he hoped most of the money will be spent in Quebec. 

"The border is massive, I understand, but the problem is here I think the efforts have to be mostly made here," he said at a morning news conference. 

Meanwhile, he and Legault would also seek clarity from the federal government about what could be done to reduce the flow of migrants even further. 

He said U.S. officials had told him that statistics show the vast majority of people crossing the border illegally were Indian nationals who had travelled legally to Canada. 

"Are we too permissive?" Bonnardel asked. "At some point, it's up to Immigration Canada to explain why one community comes to Canada legally to go to the United States illegally."

Bonnardel said there was so far no surge of migration coming northward from the U.S., even though there is still concern that more people will try to cross into Canada because of Trump, who has promised mass deportations of illegal immigrants. 

Still, the SQ is prepared to deploy 300 officers in less than 48 hours should they be needed to help police an increase in illegal migration, Bonnardel said. 

Bonnardel said despite Trump's concerns around fentanyl smuggling from Canada, he had heard from U.S. officials that drug trafficking was not a concern in the Swanton sector.