Vermont Town Gets Firsthand Look at Border Invasion

For months, the tiny Vermont town of Swanton has been getting a firsthand look at migrant smuggling across the northern border, even as the nation's attention has remained focused on the southern border.

Residents of the hamlet, which is home to roughly 6,500 people, told the New York Post they're working with Border Patrol to help stop smugglers and carrying firearms to protect themselves at the agency's recommendation.

Usually providing camouflage for hunters, the town's abundant woods — located about 10 minutes from the Canadian border — have, in recent months, helped provide cover for migrant smugglers.

"Now I've got the Border Patrol guys on speed dial," Swanton resident Chris Feeley, 52, told the Post.

More than 12,200 migrants illegally crossed into the U.S. at the northern border last year, according to Customs and Border Protection data — a 240% increase from 2022.

Approximately 70% of the northern border crossings occurred along the Swanton Sector, which stretches for 295 miles along upstate New York, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

Migrants who have the means to afford a one-way plane ticket from Mexico City or Cancun to Montreal or Toronto have figured out that they are far less likely to be caught at the northern U.S. border, which is nearly three times as long as the U.S.-Mexico border and understaffed due to the southern border priority.

An avid hunter since he was a teenager, Feeley told the Post that his favorite tree stand sits 18 feet above ground on a local farm property just 250 yards from the Canadian border.

In the past, it wasn't unusual to go an entire day while hunting without seeing another person. He said that all changed three years ago.

One morning while in his tree stand, Feeley said he saw two men "of Mexican descent" with backpacks and walking sticks.

"He stopped right underneath me and was looking at his iPhone and was following a trail, so obviously somebody gave him a route of which way to go," Feeley told the Post.

"I was just stunned, I didn't know what to do," he said. "I just let them walk off; I gave them 10 minutes before I went back to the barn to call Border Patrol."

Spotting groups of migrants on his trail camera, and calling Border Patrol, soon became a regular occurrence.

In the past year or so, Feeley said things have become "real crazy" in the northwestern corner of Vermont and he now carries a pistol on days when he goes bow hunting.

"The border patrol actually told us, 'You guys might want to put a pistol in your backpack' because nine out of 10 of them are just here for a better life, but there's that one guy that's got a rap sheet," he said.

Dairy farmer Lawrence Rainville, who lives less than 10 minutes from Swanton in Highgate Center, told the Post that the relationship between locals and Border Patrol has become much more trusting amid the migrant smuggling operations.

"You have to give the Border Patrol credit — they've become a lot more willing to work with us," he said. "They used to not trust any of us, but now they're totally open with us. There's still stuff they obviously can't reveal — but they rely on us really."

Kristy Brow, 46, said Border Patrol helicopters searching for migrants will sometimes fly so low over her house that the walls shake.

Brow, who runs a doggy daycare and boarding facility on 21 acres at her Highgate Springs home, has captured multiple migrant groups on trail cameras around her property.

She told the Post she has "absolutely" seen a spike in the number of migrants in the area.

"I don't go outside by myself much at night anymore," Brow said. "It's just nerve-wracking. Maybe they're good people, but you just don't know their intentions."