Just a day after Canadian Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale gave a thumbs-up to border security “enforcing the law,” the president of the union representing border officers said the border is like “Swiss cheese” and that the federal government is misrepresenting the numbers of illegals getting through.

Jean-Pierre Fortin, president of the Canadian Customs and Immigration Union, said his members are passing on figures that are inconsistent with the ones the immigration officials are releasing — “they’re higher.”

“The frontline officers are actually the ones giving me the numbers and they’re slightly different. They’re higher right now,” Fortin told CTV News Sunday.

He is advocating the creation of a 300-person team that would be designated to patrol the areas between official border crossings — where most of the illegals are getting in.

Fortin also wants the federal government to bring back 1,053 jobs that have been phased out over the last five years because he says the border guards are understaffed.