
The border officer's union in Canada wants to beef up security along the United States border after 382 people made asylum claims at a single entry point in January and a further 200 entered illegally in the last week.

Jean-Pierre Fortin, president of the Customs and Immigration Union, said he believes there are more illegal crossings taking place than officials are aware of.

One port in Quebec has experienced a particularly large number of asylum-seekers and illegal immigrants - the Saint Bernard Lacolle port near Montreal.

Fortin said that last week alone, at least 200 immigrants entered the country illegally near the Lacolle port. He said the influx began in November 2016 - the month Donald Trump was elected president.

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The border officer's union in Canada believes that the country needs to upgrade presence along the United States border after 382 people reportedly made asylum claims at a single entry point in January

Jean-Pierre Fortin, president of the Customs and Immigration Union, said those on the ground have said there are more illegal crossings taking place than officials are aware of

Officials say that people are crossing the border illegally about eight kilometers down the road with their belongings in tow, according to CTV News.

The CIU are suggesting a 300-person team to man the areas in between official entry points - and that the border right now is 'like swiss cheese'.

He continued: 'Since last November up to now, there's a clear trend. It's climbing. It's going up.'

Fortin believes that in order to provide the security he would find ideal, more than 1,000 jobs would need to be reinstated that were previously cut.

One port in Quebec has experienced a particularly large number of asylum-seekers and illegal immigrants - the Saint Bernard Lecolle, just outside of Montreal

The government is willing to put more resources in place to deal with the influx of asylum-seekers from the United States, federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said Saturday.

Goodale visited Emerson, Manitoba, a small border town that has seen more than 200 illicit crossings so far this year.

'We all need to work together. We have to have good communication with one another. This is a set of issues that span national, provincial and local responsibilities,' Goodale told reporters at a conference Saturday.

Goodale announced US$22,000 to cover extra costs borne by Emerson-Franklin's volunteer fire department and other agencies in the community, saying more resources will become available.

Dramatic photos show asylum seekers flooding into Canada across unmanned borders every day from the United States amid fears of a Donald Trump presidency. An extended family of eight people from Colombia were detained by the Canadian Mounted Police officers near Hemmingford, Quebec, last week

A group of asylum seekers two men, a woman and a baby cross the border illegally from the United States into Canada near Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Quebec

More asylum seekers are crossing illegally into Canada from the U.S., many trekking across snow-covered fields along unguarded stretches of the border, in the wake of the Trump administration’s push to tighten immigration rules

At least 450 people crossed illegally in January and February, despite bitter cold that usually discourages such traffic, government officials said. In all of last year, the total was 2,400

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canada Border Services Agency have shifted some resources in southern Manitoba to the Emerson area. The border services agency recently set up a trailer to help process the border-crossers.

The Manitoba government has said the influx has created more demand for housing and other support services.

Migrants have been crossing through fields and ditches because, under the Canada-United States Safe Third Country Agreement, they are turned back at official border crossings if they have already made refugee claims in the U.S.

Canada, however, adheres to the UN Convention on Refugees, obligating them to hear out asylum claims for people who are already within the territories of the country, which could be prompting the increased illegal entries.

Unaccompanied minors and those with close relatives in Canada are permitted to make asylum claims from the United States at the border entry.

Police in Quebec, which borders four northeastern U.S. states, have also reported an increase in illegal entries

A Syrian refugee boards a bus at the Travelodge Hotel, which is headed towards the Armenian Community Centre of Toronto, for a welcome mass

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been under increasing pressure to deal with asylum seekers illegally crossing into Canada from the US.

Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel has called on the government to ensure migrants who sneak across the border are charged with crossing illegally, but Goodale said they cannot be charged if they make a refugee claim, at least until the claim is dealt with.

'Charges in relation to the crossing of the border cannot be laid until after the case of the particular individual under immigration rules has been finally disposed of,' Goodale said.

He also said the government is examining requests for more aid from refugee support agencies, but did not provide specifics.

The number of asylum seekers crossing into Canada at isolated and unguarded border crossings has increased in recent as many believe Trump will start expelling illegal immigrants. The desperate family crossed the border illegally, according to authorities

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came under increasing pressure on Thursday to deal with asylum seekers illegally crossing into Canada from the US. A woman is pictured carrying a young boy

Trudeau, who stresses that Canada welcomes refugees, has so far avoided political fallout with Trump. The two talked on the phone about the border and other issues on Thursday but neither government gave many details of the conversation. Officers spoke with the family on Saturday

Allies and opponents alike say they want a strategy to cope with the dozens of people - mainly from Burundi, Eritrea, Syria, Ghana and Sudan - walking across the border every day

Trudeau, who stresses that Canada welcomes refugees, has so far avoided political fallout with Trump.

Allies and opponents alike say they want a strategy to cope with the dozens of people - mainly from Burundi, Eritrea, Syria, Ghana and Sudan - walking across the border every day.

The premier of the western province of Manitoba, where many of the refugees end up had previously asked Ottawa for more resources to deal with the new arrivals, some of whom have lost fingers to frostbite in the dangerous crossing.

While Brian Pallister said his province will welcome those in need with 'open arms and open hearts,' his call for a national strategy to deal with the arrivals adds to opposition criticism that Trudeau has put national security at risk by embracing asylum seekers.

As of February 13, some 3,800 people had made an asylum claim in 2017, up from the same period last year and on track to approach the 2008 peak of 36,867, said Scott Bardsley, spokesman for Public Safety Minister.

Allies and opponents alike say they want a strategy to cope with the dozens of people - mainly from Burundi, Eritrea, Syria, Ghana and Sudan - walking across the border every day. A man carrying bulky suitcases also crossed into Canada on Saturday

On Thursday, some asylum claimants were arrested by Canadian authorities after they crossed into Canada from the US. The man (left) claimed to be from Turkey, authorities said

A woman, who also claimed to be a claimant from Turkey, was handcuffed near the US-Canada border on Thursday

The White House said Trump emphasized the importance of working closely with Canada on cross-border issues, 'including implementation of his administration's actions to protect America from terrorist attacks by foreign nationals and others'.

The number of migrants claiming refugee status at the Canadian-US border rose to over 7,000 last year, up from 4,316 in the previous year

Officials say Trump will soon issue a new executive order to replace the administration's directive suspending travel to the US by citizens of seven mostly Muslim countries.

Polls show Canadians are split over whether Canada should be accepting more or fewer refugees. But even Liberal legislators are starting to hear from constituents concerned about the arrivals.

'One or two people have raised the issue with me ... and I expect I'll have a few more' conversations with constituents about the arrivals, said Kevin Lamoureux, member of parliament for Winnipeg North, where many asylum seekers settle awaiting their refugee hearing.

Other dramatic photos captured the moment eight asylum seekers, including four children, barely made it across the Canadian border as a US border patrol officer tried to stop them.

The photos, which included smiling Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) greeting men, women, teens and children went viral last week.

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.

As the man was being questioned, four adults and four young children fled the cab and ran to RCMP on the other side.

The asylum seekers (pictured on Monday) are breaking the law because Canada's policy under a Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement is to turn back refugees if they make claims at border crossings

Experts have said that warmer weather could spur more arrivals of asylum-seekers in Canada. 'They know they are in a pickle. If people are coming over in February, what's it going to be like in June and July?' said University of Toronto political science professor Nelson Wiseman

Polls show Canadians are split over whether Canada should be accepting more or fewer refugees. But even Liberal legislators are starting to hear from constituents concerned about the arrivals. A family talks with police on Monday near Hemmingford, Quebec

A refugee claimant from Mauritania crossed the border into Canada from the US on near Hemmingford, Quebec

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

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.

A local group put together gift bags for arriving refugees, the bags had items added as people arrive to greet refugees

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

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.

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 US illegally and that he would have detained him.

Other dramatic photos that were taken last week, captured the moment eight asylum seekers, including four children (pictured), barely made it across the Canadian border as a US border patrol officer tried to stop them

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 . As the man was being questioned, four adults and four young children fled the cab and ran to RCMP on the other side

One by one they scrambled across the snowy gully separating the two countries. 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. One officer flashed a smile as he helped a little girl over a gully

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.

Canadian police 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.

'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 Trump took office and instated a ban on travel from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Sudan and Somalia.

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 in Canada cold and hungry from difficult border crossings in the dead of winter

A family is escorted to police vehicles after crossing into Canada last week

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

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

'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'.

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.