U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi warned Sept. 4 that human trafficking across the Canada-U.S. border is getting worse.
Her comments come only a week after she met with senior Canadian officials in Washington to discuss shared security priorities between the United States and Canada.
“It’s just not the southern border,” Bondi said during the news conference in Tampa, Florida, while outlining new indictments against human traffickers in the United States and increased anti-trafficking measures by Joint Task Force Alpha, an initiative launched in 2021 under former President Joe Biden to stop human smuggling.
“The task force will now cover our northern border in Canada of course, and all of our maritime borders,” Bondi said, adding that it will be expanded to include agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and FBI. “We will receive more resources to prosecute these cases and key figures in cartels, human trafficking, and transnational criminals,” she added.
Bondi said the United States will also be deepening its collaboration with foreign governments across the world to aid in the efforts to clamp down on human trafficking and anti-cartel efforts.
In terms of problems at the Canadian border, Bondi pointed to the recent grand jury indictment against 53-year-old Norma Lozano of Michigan, who is alleged to have worked with Canadian co-conspirators as part of a large-scale human trafficking operation over the Canada-U.S. border into Vermont.
“Law enforcement officers operating in these areas encountered aliens from 97 different countries, including China, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, North Korea, and Yemen,” Bondi said.
“Since President Trump took office, Joint Task Force Alpha has charged 56 defendants including convicting a monster who attempted to bring in Indian nationals into our country in subzero weather through Canada in the middle of a blizzard. This was a family of four. This family was eventually found dead in a blizzard, with the father holding the 3-year-old little boy wrapped in a blanket,” she added.
The case of the Patel family occurred close to a border crossing between Manitoba and the United States in January 2022, when 39-year-old Jagdish Patel was found deceased with his wife and two children in the snow.
Bondi also brought up the June arrest of Canadian-American dual citizen Timothy Oakes in New York, accused of conducting human trafficking via the St. Lawrence River into Massena, New York.
“In June, we arrested a Canadian-American citizen in New York for charging $1,000 for every illegal alien he smuggled over the St. Lawrence River into our country. One of the boats capsized, killing a family, including two children under the age of three,” Bondi said.
Canadian officials have said they are taking action to boost security at the Canada-U.S. border. Ottawa put forward a $1.3 billion plan to bolster border security in December 2024 and later appointed Kevin Brosseau as “fentanyl czar” in February. The Strong Borders Act (Bill C-2) was put forward in June for its first reading with the aim of boosting law enforcement authority at the border, including enhancing the search and seizure powers of the Canadian Coast Guard.
Ottawa says the new bill will do more to “keep our borders secure, combat transnational organized crime, stop the flow of illegal fentanyl, and crack down on money laundering.”
Among additional measures, Bill C-2 allows border authorities to do increased inspections of warehouses, boosts drone and helicopter patrols, restricts refugee claims and tightens asylum rules, and gives immigration authorities more power to cancel or pause immigration documents and applications. It also allows for warrantless searches in exceptional cases such as suspected child abuse and gives enhanced oversight and restrictions on any cash transfers over $10,000.
Bondi met Aug. 27 with Justice Minister Sean Fraser, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree, and federal drug strategy chief Kevin Brosseau. Their meeting was centred on issues at the Canada-U.S. border, including the trafficking of fentanyl into the United States.
Lack of border security and fentanyl trafficking were named as core reasons for U.S. President Donald Trump applying 35 percent tariffs on Canadian imports not covered under the U.S.-Canada-Mexico Agreement (USMCA), according to a July 10 letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney. Carney has said fentanyl trafficking across the Canadian border is very small, and that his government is taking further action to boost security at the border.
U.S. tariffs hiked up to 35 percent on Aug. 1, excluding all goods covered under the USMCA. Ottawa responded by increasing investment in border security and recently dropped counter-tariffs on around $30 billion in U.S. goods in an attempt to reach a new trade deal.
