U.S. concerns about northern border security could mean big problems for Canada

Canada could be in serious trouble with the incoming administration south of the border. While everything from water issues and tariff policies could prove to be stumbling blocks for the two nations, one problem is dominating headlines: the border. 

Ottawa is worried about how President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed deportation plan could affect Canada, but Trump’s new Border Czar Tom Homan is just as troubled about America’s northern border as he is about the border in the south. 

During a 25-minute interview with New York CBS News affiliate station 7News, Homan explained he believed the American-Canadian border was “an extreme national security vulnerability” that he planned to tackle once in the White House. 

On November 10th Trump announced that Homan was going to be put in charge of the U.S. National Border with broad powers to manage the southern and northern border, as well as all maritime and aviation security in a Truth Social Post.

Homan isn’t unqualified for his upcoming role in Trump’s administration. He previously served as an acting Director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under Trump from 2017 to 2018. However, he is already drawing the ire of some.

The Maine Wire reported Homan recently made his position and plans for illegal immigrants in the United States very well-known. During the 2024 Republican National Convention, Homan warned that a crackdown was coming. 

“To the millions of illegal aliens that Joe Biden’s released in our country in violation to federal law, you better start packing now,” Homan said. This type of rhetoric was also displayed in Homan’s recent interview with 7News. 

Homan told 7NEWS reporter Jeff Cole that border agents in the U.S.-Canadian borders have been left “overwhelmed” and “overrun” according to CTV News. "The problem with the northern border is a huge national security issue," Homan explained. 

Homan said his main concern was “special interest aliens from countries that sponsor terrorism” since they have the financial ability to fly to Canada and cross into the United States from the north, where fewer agents are stationed. 

"It's an extreme national security vulnerability… and it's one of the things I'll tackle as soon as I'm in the White House,” Homan explained. His analysis of what’s happening on the U.S.-Canada border wasn’t entirely wrong either. 

According to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported on by CBC News, border agents encountered 19,498 migrants between border posts from October 2023 to July 2024, something the American agency called a record high. 

Over 15,000 of the encounters occurred in the Swanton Sector, an area of the northern border that runs along the province of Quebec’s border with the states of New York and Vermont according to CBC News, which noted the figure was double the amount border agents encountered in the same period before the previous year. 

In response to Homan’s comments. Canadian Immigration Minister Mark Miller told reporters during a November 13th press conference that he expected there would be some “tough conversations” ahead regarding the border. 

"When it comes to our southern border and the U.S.'s northern border, you see there the alignment of interests in making sure that it is safe, that it is secure," Miller said. "I expect there to be some tough conversations," he said.

During a November 17th interview with Mercedes Stephenson on ‘The West Block’,  the Canadian Minister of Public Safety Dominic LeBlanc said that Canada would “‘do the work’ to ease the concerns about the border coming from Trump officials. 

“We recognize the increased public attention around some of the proposals of the incoming administration,” he said. “So that’s why they’ve been preparing literally for months in terms of scenario planning. And I’m confident that they’re ready to do the work that Canadians expect them to do,” LeBlanc told Stephenson.

LeBlanc said that the work being done by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) should prove to the incoming administration that Canada is serious about the border’s security. But he added Ottawa would devote more resources to the border if needed. 

What will happen next has yet to be seen, but it’s likely that issues surrounding the U.S. Canada could become a focal point of the bilateral relationship between Washington and Ottawa after Trump returns to the White House in January. 

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