For years, Roxham Road was synonymous with the movement of migrants across the Canada-US border: until its closure in 2023, tens of thousands of asylum seekers used it to cross the border into Quebec.

But it is not the only route used by migrants to enter the province, and some residents living along the border say their land is being used as a crossing point more than ever.

For two years, André Labelle has seen his property in Saint-Armand used as a passageway for hundreds of migrants heading towards Canada and the United States.

“I must have woken up around two in the morning and there was a pickup truck in the cornfield trying to get out,” he told CTV News.

Another day, someone came to his door around 1 a.m.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) regularly patrol the area, and some nest boxes have been equipped with cameras monitoring the US border.

“If people started crossing that border, which is basically forest area and farmland, it would be very difficult for our agents to maintain coverage,” said Sgt. Charles Poirier, spokesperson for the RCMP.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) regularly patrol the U.S. border, and some nest boxes have been equipped with cameras monitoring the area. (Kelly Greig/CTV)

According to U.S. data, a stretch of land from the Maine-New Hampshire border to Alexandria Bay, New York, has seen nearly 19,000 interceptions since October 2023.

Most migrants arriving in Canada crossed the border at Roxham Road, but that was before the Safe Third Country Agreement was amended.

“It’s no longer beneficial for people to cross the border illegally unless they want to do it without getting caught,” Poirier said.

The mayor of Saint-Armand, Caroline Rosetti, is concerned about the fact that the city is now recognized as a crossing point.

“What people fear most is that it now seems organized. So we have vans or vehicles coming in and dropping people off, and there seem to be vehicles on the other side waiting for people,” she said.

Saint-Armand is not the only place where we see migrants crossing the border into Canada. Nearly 150 kilometers to the west, in Dundee, Quebec, a landowner shared surveillance camera footage showing people crossing the border.

Labelle said people are crossing the border at all hours of the day and night and despite calls from the U.S. Border Patrol and RCMP, there aren’t enough agents to keep up.

With the new U.S. administration taking office this winter, he fears his garden will become even busier.