Migrants still missing after crash near Canada-U.S. border: RCMP

Quebec provincial police say they are searching for a group of undocumented migrants after the vehicle they were travelling in crashed.

The RCMP continues to search for a group of undocumented migrants who were involved in a collision near the Canada-U.S. border on Sunday.

According to Quebec provincial police (SQ), about 10 to 12 migrants were inside a seven-passenger SUV when it flipped after colliding with another SUV near Hemmingford, Que., just a few kilometres north of the New York state border.

Four migrants were found at the scene and taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The rest fled on foot before authorities arrived.

The driver of the second SUV, a 48-year-old American man, was arrested for impaired driving. Police said there was at least one passenger in his vehicle at the time of the crash.

Frantz André, a spokesperson and coordinator for the Comité d’action des personnes sans statut, a Montreal organization that advocates for people without legal status in Canada, said incidents like this are likely to become more common as anti-immigration rhetoric ramps up in the U.S.

“People are fleeing the United States because they are threatened to be deported, because if they were on the TPS [Temporary Protected Status] program, or the humanitarian parole program, which has been canceled. People are running away from the States, and they are using smugglers,” explained André.

Smuggling migrants is a lucrative business — but one that carries steep risks, advocates say.

“They will have to go and hide for 14 days before they claim asylum. And that is also a concern, they can be abused while being hidden somewhere. So, I’m worried about this.”

Under the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), migrants who cross into Canada from the U.S. are generally ineligible to make a refugee claim unless they’ve been in the country for at least 14 days. Those who apply earlier can be returned.

Last week, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) said it had recorded an increase in migrants at the Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle border crossing since the beginning of the year.

From Jan. 1 to July 6, 8,396 asylum applications were processed at the Lacolle port of entry — up from 4,613 during the same period last year.

Additionally, the agency recorded 761 claims at Lacolle in the first six days of July, compared to 149 over the same stretch in 2024.

“It’s definitely more, because the ones that enter illegally are not [being counted]. So definitely there’s going to be more coming. It is July 14th, so if we extrapolate, we’re talking maybe 2,000 people and more, because the 14 days are not known,” André said.

André noted that changes made to the STCA in 2023 have made it more difficult for migrants to seek asylum in Canada, pushing them to take risks that could endanger their lives.

“Canada is no longer the country that we used to be. We used to be so much more welcoming. By closing Roxham Road, they created what is happening right now, and this is people going and dying at the border,” he said.

In a statement, the RCMP said it had not yet apprehended the migrants, adding that the investigation was ongoing with the help of the SQ and CBSA.

With files from Swidda Rassy and Joe Lofaro.