The Biden border crisis is shifting to the north. An increase in illegal immigrants showing up at the northern border is large enough now that the U.S. Border Patrol needs more personnel.

The Border Patrol has launched an appeal for agents to volunteer for redeployment to the northern border. The agency needs help with the increase in illegal aliens entering the United States from Canada. Now is the first time in years that the Border Patrol leadership is calling to transfer agents from the southern border to the northern border. Backup is urgently needed in the Swanton Sector that covers New Hampshire, Vermont, and eastern New York.

Even with the frigid weather in Canada, where temperatures drop below zero, there has been an 846% increase in illegal crossings. That number is compared to the same period a year ago. The number of encounters at the northern border has increased for seven straight months. Agents apprehended 115 people from 12 countries, the majority Mexcian nationals, in the first week of February.

There is an increase in families with young children and infants crossing the border, according to Swanton Sector Chief Patrol Agent Robert N. Garcia. More people are evading law enforcement, as well as pedestrian and vehicle apprehensions because border agents are “task saturated” responding to large groups.

Agents are asked to volunteer to deploy for one month – from March 1 until April 1, according to an internal CBP email. The National Border Patrol Council said this isn’t a solution. The National Border Patrol Council is a labor union that represents agents and support staff on the United States Border Patrol.

“We already have a threat right now. We have a very porous border. We have an administration that you know, pretty much has turned their back on the American public and turn their back on the agents that are out there putting their lives on the line,” said Art Del Cueto, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council.

Can the southern border spare agents to go to secure the northern border? The southern border is already lacking enough resources as it is, with many requests for assistance falling on deaf ears in the Biden administration. The Tucson Arizona sector has already farmed out 20 to 30 agents to other sectors. That sector is leading the nation in gotaways. It needs more, not less help.

Morale is so low among Border Patrol agents that the Department of Homeland Security is struggling to hire agents. The department has doubled the hiring incentive from $10,000 to $20,000. Nonetheless, many agents are no longer encouraging family and friends to join the Border Patrol because they don’t feel supported. They don’t want that for their loved ones.

It’s unclear when the memo was sent, but it instructs volunteers to submit their names no later than February 23, for a redeployment period to Swanton lasting from March 1 to April 1.

The memo from Border Patrol Assistant Chief Juan E. Garcia says the redeployment is in support of ‘Operation Jagdkommando’, a reference that is not fully clear from the context.

The Biden border crisis has been an unprecedented disaster. The severe winter weather isn’t deterring illegal aliens from using Canada as a gateway to the United States. Officials are concerned about the safety of the agents who are out in the weather to secure the border and for the illegal aliens, too. Porous borders invite criminal organizations, though, and just as is happening at the southern border, the northern border is attracting transnational criminal organizations who traffic humans for profit.

‘Swanton Sector’s greatest concern in carrying out our mission of border security is the preservation of life – the lives of community residents we are sworn to protect, the lives of our Border Patrol Agents carrying out the mission day-in and day-out in the field, and the lives of the individuals, families, and children we are charged with apprehending as they attempt to circumvent legal processes for entry,’ said Garcia.

‘Unfortunately, the transnational criminal organizations that stand to profit from the increased flow of human traffic care only about profits and have no concern for the welfare of those whose plight they seek to exploit for financial gain.’

Kathryn Siemer, acting patrol agent in charge of the station in Pembina, North Dakota – one of seven stations in the Grand Forks sector – said the sharp spike in encounters was due in part to Canada loosening its COVID restrictions.

Migrants have been able to make their way to Canada, and, if unsatisfied with their life there, try their luck in the US.

Biden has a chance to get the northern border secured now before it truly becomes like the southern border. Will he act to do so? Don’t hold your breath. He doesn’t care.