Alberta Sheriffs to patrol border with Montana
By Lethbridge Herald on December 12, 2024.
A long line of vehicles approach the Coutts-Sweetgrass border crossing. The province has announced new measures to increase enforcement of the trafficking of illegal immigrants, drugs and weapons.
Herald file photo by Dale WoodardAl Beeber – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – abeeber@lethbridgeherald.com
The Alberta government is taking steps to ensure the security of the province’s border with the United States.
Premier Danielle Smith and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis on Thursday announced new measures to increase enforcement of the trafficking of illegal immigrants, drugs and weapons.
A new Interdiction Patrol Team of the Alberta Sheriffs, consisting of 51 uniformed officers plus 10 support staff, will be employed early in 2025 to patrol the province’s 298 kilometre border with the U.S.
The new team will have at their use four drug patrol dogs, 10 surveillance drones capable of operating in cold weather and high winds, and four narcotics analyzers to test for illicit drugs.
The unit of seven teams of specially trained Sheriffs will operate in a two-kilometre deep “critical border zone” which is being created by amending regulations under the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act.
This new “red” zone won’t apply to people who travel legally on Alberta roadways. To be designated as essential infrastructure, this so-called “red zone” will enable Sheriffs to arrest people found attempting to cross the border illegally or traffick illegal guns or drugs without needing a warrant.
“Today, Alberta’s government is taking immediate action to crack down on illegal activities at our shared Alberta-U.S. border, namely illegal migrants and the trafficking of drugs and guns,” Smith told media.
“This suite of measures will curb illegal border activities and strengthen our nation’s border security,” Smith said.
The new unit has a price tag of $29 million and will operate under the command of the Alberta Sheriffs.
NDP leader Naheed Nenshi responded to the announcement by saying it “is confusing. “For a premier who is forever telling Ottawa to stay in its lane, to spend Alberta taxpayer money on border control using Alberta sheriffs makes no sense and is out of step with the work being done by other provinces and the federal government.
“Our premier continues to weaken our country’s negotiating position and threatens our economy with her constant refusal to work with others. The threat of tariffs that, if implemented, will hurt Alberta jobs, investment to our province and our provincial economy, is very real and requires a serious, thought-out response. This isn’t it.”
Nenshi was referring to recent threats by president-elect Donald Trump to impose a 25 per cent tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico if the countries didn’t improve efforts to stop trafficking and illegal immigration.
Smith said the people behind trafficking destroy lives on both sides of the border. The premier said Alberta doesn’t intend to and doesn’t want to act alone in securing the border and will be working closely with federal counterparts at the Canada Border Services Agency and RCMP.
With federal law enforcement, the team will ensure Alberta’s portion of the border with the U.S. is well protected, said Smith.
“We’ll deny safe havens to criminals looking in both countries and if we succeed and maintain proper security, I expect we will have a very strong relationship with the United States as we always have,” added the premier.
Ellis said the border has a significant land mass between each official port of entry and more resources are needed to sufficiently patrol all of that space.
“Any gaps in coverage are exploited by organized criminals, drug traffickers, illicit gun dealers and other criminals all to the detriment of the public safety on both sides of the border,” said Ellis.
Issues such as human trafficking, illegal guns and other gang related activity have risen which leads to violence and illicit drugs such as fentanyl flooding Alberta streets, he said.
Williams said he was the first politician in Canada to call for action to recognize the opioid crisis which is why he came forward in 2016 with legislation called the ‘pill press’ bill. He said he has continued to sound the alarm on increased border security since he took his present role.
The team is a pro-active response to border safety, said Williams. Team members will be strategically deployed to patrol locations and will be focused on commercial vehicle inspection station on main highways.
Drones will be able to cover large areas of the border, he said. Sheriffs teams will also set up vehicle inspection stations near border entry points to stop illicit trafficking.
“We want to make sure we are part of the solution and not the problem,” he added.
Sheriffs teams will also crack down on illegal cross-border activity and will work closely with the RCMP, he said.
While the IPT will mainly focus on securing the border but will also provide coverage to major provincial highways and known inter-provincial travel routes.
“The teams are well trained and will be equipped with state-of-the-art equipment to take on this new function.”
The province will also have an option to assert jurisdiction over the prosecution of drug charges related to the border, he said.
“To be clear, there will be strict provincial punishment for drug dealers,” added Williams.
He added “today’s announcement reflects a strong investment from Alberta’s government that reflects the seriousness with which we’re treating this current situation. No amount of crime is acceptable along Alberta’s border” or anywhere in the province he said, and while the government works with federal and international partners to address the issue “we will not sit idly by and wait for a solution to be handed to us.” He said the government is taking a zero tolerance approach to the issue.
Angela Kemp, an inspector with the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams, said organized crime is the driving force behind the fentanyl trade and ALERT has been at the forefront of disrupting it in the province.
ALERT teams have seized more than 250,000 fentanyl pills, nearly 90 kilograms of fentanyl powder and a tonne of fentanyl precursors and buffing agents, Kemp said.
Fentanyl has changed the landscape of organized crime in Alberta and nobody has been immune from the issue, the inspector added, calling fentanyl a crisis law enforcement has never been before seen.
The drug puts record profits in the hands of criminals while “indiscriminately killing thousand of Albertans,” Kemp added.
Southeast Alberta ranchers along the boundary with Montana told the Medicine Hat News on Thursday they will help the province’s effort to step up border security measures, including allowing greater access to their land and grazing leases, but some stress that cooperation is a two-way street.
Tim Piotrowski, of Lost River Ranch located south of Manyberries, told the News that he’s happy to help.
He said that he’s motivated to help prevent crime and human trafficking as a matter of good conscience, but his relationship with RCMP has improved when the force is more forthcoming.
“We’ve had issues in the past, but … for several years they’ve been pretty good to work with,” said Piotrowski, whose holdings along the boundary include two deeded quarter-sections and 11 sections of leased grazing land.
“I’ve given a lot of access with quads, and even gone up with (RCMP officials) in a helicopter to show them where access roads go.”
“Since 9/11 the U.S. has maybe been overboard, but Canada has been too lax. If we don’t do something to appease Trump, it’s going to affect business.”
Gary Armstrong, who runs East and West Ranching Company, located east Highway 41 and the Port of Wildhorse, said he’s also had a good working relationship with federal agencies but “really, anything we can do to improve border security is fantastic.”
– with files from Collin Gallant / Medicine Hat News
42-41
Trump : jump
Smith : how high?
three things Trump wants, you know what they are. Here is a taster
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/drug-superlab-rcmp-bust-falkland-1.7371488
The war on drugs has never stopped anything and he should look in his own backyard.
I’m curious on the estimate on how many illegals and how much drugs cross the border each year outside of our current border crossings? I haven’t seen any numbers that justify the +30 million dollars being spent on Smiths private police force. She is just sucking up to Trump so she can tell Orange Man that Alberta is stopping all those illegal immigrants and drugs from entering the US.
Moreover, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency unclassified report, China is named as the primary source of fentanyl and fentanyl-related products. The report also names two major cartels as the likely source of illicit drug trafficking coming into the United States from Mexico. India is also noted in trafficking fentanyl to the United States. Canada receives a small fine print mention in the DEA report.
https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2020-03/DEA_GOV_DIR-008-20%20Fentanyl%20Flow%20in%20the%20United%20States_0.pdf
In reality, the premier of this province is undermining the solidarity of this nation in adopting this blatant fifth-columnist position. Shame!
South Asian gangs are also working with bike gangs such as Hells Angels and the drug crisis has increased organized crime, because of the money made from various areas connected to the crisis: human trafficking, illegal weapons sales, drugs and even child pornography/exploitation.
This is another good read:
https://vancouversun.com/feature/lethal-exports-bc-gangsters-global-drug-trade
Coutts has seen many major drug bust coming into Alberta, but there is a flow to the US, but not as much as in BC, Ontario or Quebec.
The feds have ingored our porous, open border and more and more criminals are taking advantage of this!
And then there is this
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/drug-superlab-rcmp-bust-falkland-1.7371488
Just like the NDP to not recognize the threats. Always out of touch!
The Premier recognizes the threats.
Rob Miyashiro never recognized the threats of the consumption site to our community either, and the NDP wanted to destroy our.province like they did BC, but Smith saw the threat.
Charlie Angus addressed the falsehood of Canada being a major player in trafficking illicit drugs into the United States. He addresses this issue at 5:12 minutes into his speech.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0SAfA_ziw4
Isn’t he the one that wanted to lock climate questioners.
Ah yes, the great Nenshi has once again spewed garbage. Maybe if you didn’t campaign for Trudeau as you have each federal election, and the NDP didn’t prop up the Liberals, we would not have to be protecting ourselves.
The US is our biggest trading partner, employing over 900,000 Albertans from their trade, with revenues annually of $178 billion.
Alberta does not trust your buddy Trudeau, Mr. Nenshi, and Calgarians don’t trust you. Still trying to find someone to give up a seat for you?
at what point do the ucp finally declare the sheriffs as our provincial police force? and, when will smith declare alberta to be a distinct society…perhaps when she steals away with what she can from the cpp?
I thought you were smarter than that Biff to fall into the huge disinformation campaign of the NDP to cause fear in Albertan’s that the UCP was going to force the APP on us. You often are more well read! To update you, the referendum details for the APP clearly state that there must be a majority of Albertan’s in a referendum who chose the APP. Do you really think a majority of Albertan’s will vote for it in a referendum? You know how many people used to die of overdoses in Alberta and how those numbers are now much lower, while BC numbers continue to rise, when you add the safe supply overdoses into their ‘illegal toxic drug’ overdoses.
thank you for your reply, sheran. you share your take well, and i appreciate your respectful tone, too.
i suppose given the ever increasing roles bestowed upon our sheriffs do get my back up. recall, they were instituted and sold to the public as a means to enforce the rules of the road. they are now the everything department.
i am also concerned about an app. the referendum you reference is nonbinding, of course. there is nothing to prevent the ucp from doing as it wishes…just as it forced many pension plans into its aimco. forced, indeed, as that was counter to the wishes of most, which the ucp knew, and, thus, not even a meaningless referendum on that matter. moreover, i am a long time cpp invested citizen of canada, having worked and resided in several provinces. i invested in the cpp, not in an app. if ever the ucp wish to begin an app, that should not be forced upon those that are wishing to continue with the cpp. create an app with those choosing an app, no? that should have been the way with public pensions in alberta, as well.
with regard to drugs and overdoses, i am sure you know my take very well by now 🙂 however, i will reiterate that the ucp has left cities high and dry with regard to support – look at how lethbridge has been left to cover costs it has no ability absorb. in fact, being a significant health and social problem at its root and core, each of the federal and provincial levels are far more responsible than are municipalities; are they not?