PBI-Canada to follow the human rights implications of RCMP Black Hawk helicopters deployed at US-Canada border
Photo: Heavily armed RCMP officers onboard a Black Hawk helicopter near the Alberta-Montana border, January 29, 2025.
Peace Brigades International has accompanied the struggle for migrant rights, notably the Saltillo Migrant Shelter in Mexico.
The Saltillo Migrant Shelter is situated in the state of Coahuila which shares a 512-kilometre border with Texas.
PBI-Mexico has noted: “The Saltillo Migrant Shelter offers daily humanitarian assistance — including clothes, medicines, food, rest, and medical and psychological care — to hundreds of migrants crossing Mexico to reach the United States.”
Video: Saltillo Migrant Shelter director Alberto Xicotencátl Carrasco denouncing federal police attempting an immigration check at the Shelter, July 24, 2019.
In his inaugural speech on January 20, 2025, Trump stated: “I will declare a national emergency at our southern border” and further noted: “I will send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country.”
The Washington Post has also reported: “At times, Trump has tied tariffs to border security, citing an ‘invasion’ of migrants and fentanyl from Canada. About 1.5 percent of migrants apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and 0.2 percent of fentanyl seized at U.S. borders in the 2024 fiscal year came from Canada.”
To counter Trump’s threat of the US imposing 25 percent tariffs on Canada as early as February 1, Public Safety Minister David McGuinty stated: “We have deployed 60 new drones along our border with the United States, and we will be deploying additional surveillance towers. We are acquiring new technology such as x rays, mobile x rays, and handheld chemical analyzers. As of this week, we are deploying new helicopters at the Canada U.S. border.”
On January 22, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) began patrolling the Manitoba-US border with Black Hawk helicopters. On January 28, patrols with Black Hawk helicopters began on the Alberta-US border.
The RCMP says: “The helicopter patrols will transverse the Prairie border to search for, and target, all illegal activity along the border region; this includes searching for individuals who illegally enter Canada between official ports of entries and for the human smugglers who facilitate their travel. It will also be used to detect and stop illegal smuggling and trafficking of contraband such as illicit drugs into, and out of, Canada.”
Another Washington Post article notes: “Trump has complained about irregular crossings into the United States from Canada. But after his election in November, officials here have been preparing for a surge in crossings in the opposite direction — a repeat of what happened during his first term.”
Either way, migrants detained by Canada and returned to the United States face deportation flights on US military aircraft while handcuffed or even being held at the notorious US Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Trump administration says up to 30,000 migrants could be held there.
The Toronto-based Migrant Rights Network has commented: “Seven years ago, when Trump was first elected, Prime Minister Trudeau declared that ‘refugees are welcome’. Now, as Trump returns to power, the Canadian government has allocated $1.3 billion to increase border policing and create a ‘border strike force’.”
For 2025, they are calling on people to “commit to ending wars, genocides, climate collapse, and capitalist extraction that force people to migrate.”
We are following the human rights implications of Canada’s border policies and are seeking to amplify the voices of migrant rights defenders.
Further reading: PBI-Mexico: “The dignity of people is beyond any border” (PBI-Canada, December 18, 2021).
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