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However, with heightened attention over illegal crossings, it may not be a bad idea for the government to re-evaluate how the border is managed, the former official said.

During a briefing for the media in Ottawa Thursday, public safety and immigration officials said Mounties intercepted more than 400 people who crossed the border illegally from Feb. 1 to Feb. 21, including 290 in Quebec, 94 in Manitoba and 51 in B.C. Most asylum-seekers are from Africa and the Middle East, they said.

None has been charged with a criminal offence and the majority were deemed eligible to make a refugee claim after undergoing security checks, the officials said. It is still up to the Immigration and Refugee Board to assess their claims.

One official said it would be “speculative” to say whether the spring season will bring more illegal border crossings.

Fortin is convinced the numbers will rise with the warm weather. “I guarantee you it’ll keep climbing,” he said.

One border officer who works in Lacolle, Que., said staff are already feeling overwhelmed.

“The officers are getting tired. It’s been like this for quite some time due to lack of personnel,” the officer, who asked not to be identified, told the National Post.

Just this past weekend, RCMP brought in more than 100 asylum-seekers over the course of one evening for processing, the officer said. “They were constantly going through every hour.”

While most people crossing the border in places such as Lacolle and Emerson, Man., are seeking a better life and not putting up a fuss when they encounter authorities, Fortin says he worries about a certain percentage of people — he could not offer an estimate — who are sneaking in using less visible routes and not reporting to authorities because they have “bad intentions.”