At least two people have been found suffering from hypothermia following a search for suspected migrants crossing through a First Nations territory which straddles the both the Canada-U.S. and Ontario-Quebec borders, according to police.
Akwesasne Mohawk Police told CBC News on Thursday that both were sent to a local hospital.
The police service, which patrols the portion of Akwesasne in Canada, said in a statement earlier in the day it had received reports of migrants crossing through the territory’s eastern Tterrsi Snaihne area.
The Hogansburg-Akwesasne Volunteer Fire Department, the Saint Regis Mohawk Police, which patrols the U.S. portion of the territory, and the Akwesasne Mohawk Ambulance were all dispatched to deal with the situation, it said.
Akwesasne, a Haudenesaunee community, sits about 120 kilometres west of Montreal. It spreads across the Ontario, Quebec and New York state borders.
While the Tsi Snaihne district sits within Canada, it is only accessible by road through the U.S. Local residents said searchers were combing through an area of marshlands.
In March 2023, nine people died after a boat capsized in the St. Lawrence River following a failed human smuggling attempt into the U.S. through Akwesasne. The dead included four members of a family from India and four from Romania with a toddler and an infant.
The boat’s pilot, Casey Oakes, from Akwesasne, also died.
Akwesasne sits in a region known to U.S. border authorities as the Swanton Sector which stretches from the Thousand Islands regions east to the Quebec-New Hampshire border.
U.S. Border Patrol intercepted more than 21,000 migrants crossing illegally from Canada in the first 10 months of 2024, the most across any point along the Canada-U.S. border.
However, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said recently that the pace of interceptions had dropped by 69 per cent between June and October.