Eight illegal migrants found dead in swamp on Canada-US border | Abroad

Eight people, including a baby and a child less than three years old, have been found dead in a swamp of the Saint-Laurent River on the US-Canadian border. This is reported by the Canadian police. They tried to enter the United States illegally.

They would be members of two families, one Canadian-Romanian and one Indian. Their bodies were found near a capsized boat. The weather conditions were very bad when the boat’s occupants attempted the crossing. It was raining and there was a lot of wind.

“A total of eight bodies have been pulled from the water,” police chief Shawn Dulude said at a news conference. Six bodies had already been recovered on Thursday, including a child less than three years old. “Two more bodies have been found. It concerns a baby, a Canadian citizen of Romanian descent, and an adult woman who presumably has Indian nationality.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was shocked. “It is incomprehensible what the families of these people are going through right now,” he said.

Authorities are still looking for the boat’s owner. He has been missing since Wednesday. It is believed to be someone from the indigenous community of Akwesasne, an area that is located in both Canada and the United States. According to the Indigenous Community Police, there has recently been an “increase in the number of people entering the United States through Akwesasne.”

Since the beginning of this year, 48 people have reached the US in this way and about 80 others have been intercepted.

Canada and the US reached an agreement on illegal migration along their border last week during President Joe Biden’s visit to Ottawa. According to an amendment to the immigration agreement, migrants can now be returned along the entire border between the two countries and not just at official border crossings, as was previously the case.

A family illegally crosses the US-Canadian border. © AP

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