Nine migrants were rescued from an icy swamp trying to enter the United States illegally from Canada and received medical treatment for the extreme cold, federal authorities said Wednesday.
The nine men, ranging in age from 19 to 46, were found Tuesday near Warroad, a small lakeside Minnesota community about 7.5 miles (about 12 kilometers) south of the Canadian border.
The area is southwest of an official port of entry.
Rescue workers search on March 31, 2023 for victims who drowned while trying to cross into the United States through a river in Canada.
Ryan Remiorz/AP
Border Patrol agents and rescue teams from other agencies began the search around 5 a.m., when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police alerted that one of the migrants made an emergency call, according to a statement.
They were found in a swamp where temperatures "were below freezing," according to Border Patrol, and were rescued by agents "wearing special clothing" for the cold.
[They denounce that the CBP One application "is collapsed" and with it the despair of migrants grows]
The migrants were taken to a medical center for treatment;
seven of them are Mexican and were subsequently detained by immigration authorities.
The Border Patrol indicated that the nationality of the other two men, who were still hospitalized but whose health status was not disclosed, is still unknown.
"We are cold, we can't stand the pain": the hard odyssey of migrants who want to seek asylum in Canada
Feb 10, 202302:06
In January 2022, four members of a family from India, including two children ages 3 and 11, were killed trying to walk into the United States from Canada during a snowstorm.
They were part of a group of 11 people trying to cross the border between Minnesota and North Dakota.
Their frozen bodies were found near Emerson, Manitoba, a short distance from the US border, after they became separated from the group, according to authorities.
A Florida man was charged with human smuggling in that case but was not charged in the deaths of the migrants.
[USA. redoubles the persecution of the coyotes of the Darién and promises to expand the legal channels of reception to stop the flow of migrants]
In the last five months, irregular border crossings have multiplied by 10 compared to the same period last year, according to official data.
From Oct. 1 to Feb. 28, some 2,000 migrants crossed the border between Canada and the states of New Hampshire, Vermont and New York through forests, compared with just 200 crossings in the same period a year earlier.
Most of the migrants are originally from Mexico, which allows them to travel to Canada without a visa before crossing illegally into the United States, where they often seek to reunite with their families.