Dramatic photos capture the moment that eight asylum seekers, including four children, barely made it across the Canadian border on Friday as a US border patrol officer tried to stop them.

As a US Customs and Border Patrol officer seized their passports and questioned a man in the front passenger seat of a taxi that had pulled up to the border in Champlain, New York, four adults and four young children fled the cab and ran to Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) on the other side.

One by one they scrambled across the snowy gully separating the two countries.

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Canadian Mounties greeting asylum seekers from Africa who walked across the US border into Canada near Hemmingford, Quebec on Friday

Family members dragged luggage and pushed their toddler in a stroller through the snow before officers detained them

As a US Customs and Border Patrol officer seized their passports and questioned a man in the front passenger seat of a taxi

A man who claimed to be from Sudan has his and his family's passports checked by a US border patrol officer at the border into Canada

Family members dragged luggage and pushed their toddler in a stroller through the snow before Canadian officers detained them, per standard procedure for refugee claimants.

RCMP officers watching from the other side helped them up, lifting the younger children and asking a woman, who leaned on her fellow passenger as she walked, if she needed medical care.

The children looked back from where they had come as the US officer held the first man, saying his papers needed to be verified.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers assisted the family as they walked across the border into Hemmingford, Canada

The Sudanese man waited until the opportune moment to snatch his passport out of the official's hand and make a run for it

The man who had his passport checked grabbed belongings and heaved pieces of luggage two at a time into the gully

He threw pieces of luggage two at a time into the gully, including enormous wheeled suitcases, plastic shopping bags and a black backpack

He said they were all from Sudan and had been living and working in Delaware for two years

The children looked back from where they had come as the US officer held the first man, saying his papers needed to be verified

RCMP officers watching from the other side helped them up, lifting the younger children

RCMP officers also asked a woman, who leaned on her fellow passenger as she walked, if she needed medical care

The pile of luggage belonging to the family before one of the men attempts to throw it over the border into Canada

A RCMP officer carries luggage over the border of the family fleeing to Canada

The man turned to a pile of belongings and heaved pieces of luggage two at a time into the gully - enormous wheeled suitcases, plastic shopping bags, a black backpack.

'Nobody cares about us,' he said. He said they were all from Sudan and had been living and working in Delaware for two years.

A photo showed that at least one of their passports was Sudanese.

Some media reports list the family as being from Somalia.

The man then appeared to grab their passports from the US officer before making a run for the border.

A pregnant woman from Africa is escorted by Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers after crossing the US-Canada border near Hemmingford, Quebec

A number of refugee claimants are braving the elements to illegally enter Canada

The officer yelled and gave chase but stopped at the border marker. Canadian police took hold of the man's arm as he crossed.

The border patrol officer told his counterpart that the man was in the United States illegally and that he would have detained him.

Officers on both sides momentarily eyed the luggage strewn in the snow before the US officer took it, and a walker left on the road, to the border line.

The RCMP carried the articles to their vehicles, and the people piled in to be driven to a nearby border office to be interviewed by police and to make a refugee claim.

Members of an African family are escorted to waiting vehicles by Canadian Mounties

The only way for refugees and asylum seekers already in the US to gain refugee status in Canada is to physically cross the border illegally

Some people have been tracking down police officers to arrest them immediately

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has admitted that he is 'very concerned' with the amount of asylum seekers crossing into rural areas

People seeking refugee status have been pouring over the Canada-US border as the United States looks to tighten its policies on refugees and undocumented immigrants.

'The RCMP aren't there to treat them like bandits. They're here to apply the law', retired Sûreté du Québec police officer and Hemmingford resident François Doré told CBCNews.

The small town of Hemmingford has seen a surge of asylum seekers since President Donald Trump took office and instated a ban on travel from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Sudan and Somalia.

A Somali man wipes a tear after crossing the US-Canada border into Canada near Hemmingford, Quebec

The Somali man carries his belongings after crossing into Canada over the US-Canada border near Hemmingford, Quebec

He is frisked by a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer after crossing the US-Canada border into Canada near Hemmingford, Quebec

Residents of US-Canada border towns predict the number of asylum seekers crossing into Canada illegally will continue to increase, especially as the weather gets warmer

Though key parts of the ban have been blocked by a federal judge, there is still confusion.

Asylum seekers from around the world have shown up here cold and hungry from difficult border crossings in the dead of winter.

'Sometimes when you’re left with no options and you’re looking for a better life for yourself, people do take risks', Mohamud Noor, executive director of the Confederation of Somali Community in Minnesota told Global News.

'It will increase rather than decrease … This is not going to reduce'.

The Canadian government does not have statistics on the number of people seeking refugee status who enter the country illegally.

RCMP officers assist a child from a family of refugees seeking asylum and trying to escape the United States

A man looks back over to the United States as he is detained by RCMP officers after running across the border to join his family in Canada

A US border patrol officer looks over into Canada with luggage by his feet after the family owning the luggage fled to Canada

But Sergeant Harold Pfleiderer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police told The New York Times that 'there has been an increase in illegal migration in Quebec, Manitoba and British Columbia, with the largest increase being seen in Quebec'.

The reason they are crossing into Canada is because the country is part of an agreement that bars refugees that have already arrived in another 'safe' country from trying to trade up to another country.

Asylum-seekers sneak across because even if they are caught, they can make a claim in Canada; if they make a claim at a border crossing, they are turned away.

A man named Abdullah is a student from Yemen, he walks towards the US -Canada border to cross into Hemmingford

A Canadian Mountie extends his hand to help a young man from Yemen cross into Canada at the US-Canada border near Hemmingford, Quebec

The Canadian government does not have statistics on the number of people seeking refugee status who enter the country illegally

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has admitted that he is 'very concerned' with the amount of asylum seekers crossing into rural areas.

But Trudeau did not say whether he would seek to suspend Canada's agreement with the US and allow these people to apply for refugee status at official borders.

The majority of these crossings have been happening on the New York-Quebec border, which authorities attribute to its closeness to the major East Coast cities.