Two men from Montreal are facing charges for allegedly trying to smuggle people from Canada into the United States last summer, the RCMP said Tuesday.
Marcos Chagolla Rojas, 39, and Lino Guerrero Martinez, 29, were arrested on Aug. 3, 2023.
Police said they were found in East Pinnacle, about two kilometres from Vermont, with a group of 11 people.
“According to the Estrie Integrated Border Enforcement Team’s investigation, the two men conspired to transport a group of people to an unguarded location on the Canada-U.S. border,” the RCMP said in a statement.
The RCMP said Rojas and Martinez are charged with conspiracy to commit an offence in the United States.
They are expected to appear in court in Granby, Que., on Feb.19.
The news comes as United States Border Patrol is reporting a surge in the number of people trying to cross the border from Canada illegally.
The agency recently said that agents in the Swanton Sector, who patrol Vermont, New Hampshire, and northeastern New York, apprehended more than 3,100 people from 55 countries between October and the beginning of February.
— with files from The Canadian Press