Ten Romanian citizens were apprehended in New England by Border Patrol agents after allegedly attempting to illegally enter the United States from Canada earlier this week.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Thursday said agents from its Swanton Sector Border Patrol Sector arrested three groups of European nationals in separate incidents that stretched from Vermont to upstate New York.
Two women and two children unlawfully crossed into Champlain, N.Y., on Tuesday afternoon and were taken into custody, according to a CBP press release.
Hours later, a woman and her son illegally entered the U.S. from Canada near the Haskell Library in Derby Line, Vt., authorities said. The two were taken in and determined to be from Romania. Like the women and children taken in before them, they admitted to not having documents that allowed them to have entered the country.
On Wednesday, Swanton agents again apprehended more Romanians — two men and two children — after they had entered the U.S. by going around the Champlain checkpoint.
The 10 Romanian citizens were turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations, which will handle their deportations.
Agents from this Swanton region oversee land between official crossings in Vermont, New Hampshire, and northeastern New York.
In fiscal year 2017, which runs from Oct. 1, 2016, through Sept. 30, 2017, Border Patrol agents based at the Swanton Sector apprehended 449 illegal immigrants, according to government data. In total, the northern border’s eight sectors arrested 3,027 people compared to the southwest border’s more than 303,000 apprehensions.
[Also read: Caravans of migrants continue pouring over US-Mexico border]
