MANCHESTER, N.H. — Former President Donald Trump described the U.S. border as “not so hot.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said it’s the site of a worsening problem. And Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said she would do whatever it takes to stop illegal crossings there, up to and including building a massive wall.
The rhetoric wouldn’t be out of place for Republicans in reference to the U.S. border with Mexico, a staple of Republican campaign speeches and the site where Customs and Border Protection apprehended more than 2.4 million people who entered the country illegally from October 2022 to September.
But those remarks weren’t about the southern border. Rather, they were about the border with Canada.
As Republican voters time and time again rate immigration as a top-three issue facing the country, GOP presidential candidates are increasingly bringing the northern border with Canada to the political forefront. In New Hampshire, the site of the first-in-the-nation primary and a state that shares a border with Canada, that focus has been turned up a notch.
Before he dropped out of the race two days ago, DeSantis pledged to New Hampshire voters Friday that he would provide increased resources to bulk up protection at the northern border, blaming President Joe Biden for what he sees as a problem that’s getting worse.
Trump made his comment about the northern border’s being “not so hot, either,” at a stop in Iowa this month, adding that he “started to use that” in discussing immigration and border security. At a rally for Trump in Concord on Friday, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., described “a skyrocketing of illegals crossing our northern border,” including some, she said, who were “on the terrorist watch list.”
But no one has talked up northern border security more than Haley, who has mentioned the border with Canada at numerous campaign stops in New Hampshire over the past week.
During a CNN town hall in Henniker on Thursday, Haley said that “we don’t talk enough about the northern border,” saying hundreds of suspected terrorists were being apprehended there.
Customs and Border Protection statistics show nearly 500 people on the terrorist watch list were apprehended at the northern border from October 2022 to September, compared to 80 on the southern border.
Speaking to reporters Saturday at an event in Peterborough, Haley promised to “do whatever it takes to keep people out.”
“We will do a wall,” she said. “We will do any sort of border patrol that we need to have on there. Whatever it takes to keep people out that are illegal from coming in, we will do it.”
Apprehensions at the northern border have increased over the past three fiscal years, though they are a mere fraction of the apprehensions at the southern border. Compared to the more than 2.4 million encounters there, CBP recorded roughly 189,000 apprehensions at the northern border. But that was a substantial increase from the previous fiscal year — when nearly 110,000 apprehensions took place — and fiscal year 2021, when about 27,000 were recorded.
In the Swanton Sector, which includes New Hampshire, Vermont and parts of upstate New York, 6,925 people were apprehended from October 2022 to September, a substantial increase over the 1,065 apprehended the previous year.
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu — who has campaigned across the state with Haley — late last year announced a tenfold increase in patrols along his state’s border with Canada. But most voters here said in a recent survey that they weren’t concerned about the northern border.
A Suffolk University/Boston Globe/USA Today poll of New Hampshire voters this month, which showed widespread concern about the number of migrants entering the country, found that just 37% were concerned about the northern border, while 61% weren’t. When the results were limited to Republicans, 64% said they were concerned, while 32% said they weren’t.
Maria Martins, a Trump supporter from Manchester, said she thinks immigration is “a huge issue.” But she was less sure of any crisis developing to her state’s north.
“I personally haven’t noticed it,” she said. “But to me, it doesn’t matter where they’re coming from. They have to be prepared to support themselves.”
Julie Smith, a New Hampshire voter backing Trump, said she thinks the northern border should be of greater focus for lawmakers.
“I don’t think it gets enough attention,” she said. “But again, I’m not there. I just think that law should be enforced.”
In a Republican primary in which candidates have unified around militarizing the borders, completing the border wall Trump began in his first term and conducting large-scale immigration raids and mass deportations, Democrats say the focus on the northern border is merely the latest GOP attempt to gin up fears among its right-wing base as an election nears.
A national Democratic strategist, speaking on condition of anonymity without authorization to speak publicly, said the latest pitch brought back memories of migrant caravans that were a focus of conservative media news cycles ahead of recent elections.
“You know, Vivek [Ramaswamy] tried this,” this person said, noting that his focus on the northern border didn’t boost his candidacy. “This is the same playbook that [Republicans have] tried over and over, and it has failed over and over.”
Ramaswamy, the businessman who ended his presidential campaign and endorsed Trump after a fourth-place finish in Iowa, was the first candidate to bring a sustained focus on the border with Canada. At an NBC News debate in November, he said: “Don’t just build the wall; build both walls.”
Before he dropped out, Ramaswamy made a campaign stop in Pittsburgh, New Hampshire, which sits along the rocky border, to visit it firsthand. And at his final campaign rally in Iowa last week, he said he would “use our own military to secure our own borders in the United States of America, southern border and northern border.”
The issue isn’t entirely new for Republicans. Early last year, more than two dozen House Republicans formed the Northern Border Security Caucus.
Matthew Knoedler, a spokesman for Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., a co-chair of the caucus, wrote in a message that Kelly “is encouraged to see that candidates in the 2024 presidential race are also focusing on the real needs along America’s Northern border as well as our Southern border.”
With Senate negotiators working on a bipartisan immigration package that has Biden’s blessing, change could soon be coming for both borders. What’s more, in March, the Biden administration struck a deal with the Canadian government allowing both countries to turn back asylum-seekers who crossed their shared border.
In a statement to NBC News, a Customs and Border Protection spokesperson sought to discourage people from illegally crossing into the U.S. from Canada.
“There are very real dangers involved in crossing the international border between the U.S. and Canada,” the spokesperson said. “No matter what smugglers say, those who do not have a legal basis to remain in the country will be removed and people should not make the dangerous journey. Especially as the weather changes and winter is upon the North Country, it’s dangerous to attempt to try this trek.”
Reached for comment, a spokesperson for the Canadian Embassy to the U.S. said Canada “is working with its closest friend and greatest ally, the United States, to strengthen the protection of our shared border — land, air and waterways.”
“As threats at the border evolve, Canada continues to make significant investments to reinforce our shared border,” the spokesperson continued. “We are actively collaborating with U.S. counterparts to share intelligence and to detect and intercept unlawful activity at the earliest opportunity. Our countries share the same objective: keeping the border open to legitimate trade and travel but closed to terrorists, criminals and threats to citizen health and safety.”
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
