Man offered $10,000 to sneak illegal immigrant into Detroit from Canada

Kim Russell 3:55 PM, Feb 2, 2015



DETROIT (WXYZ) - A local man is speaking only to 7 Action News after he was offered $10,000 to smuggle an illegal immigrant into Detroit from Canada. We learned, it's a growing problem.

RELATED: EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Border protection raid caught on camera

“He said, ‘I’ll give you ten grand cash right now,’ and he pulled it out,” said the man who wants to remain anonymous.


It was an innocent hobby that inspired the offer. The wrong person had learned he had a boat that he often took out fishing near the U.S.-Canadian border. That person wanted him to pick a relative up anywhere on the Canadian border and smuggle that relative into the United States.

“They’re asking anybody out there with boats, ‘Will you bring my family over?’ and some people will do it,” our anonymous source said.

Those putting their lives on the line to secure our international border aren’t surprised by his story. The Detroit Sector of the U.S. Border patrol arrested 647 people from 43 countries trying to cross the northern border illegally last year. The question remains, how many are getting across unnoticed?

People are also wondering why they are coming into our country. It is known that many come for work, but agents have discovered some with plans to commit crimes or terror.

“We have caught terrorists in this area,” Joseph Vermaas, a Border Patrol Agent said. “We’ve had drug interdictions, human trafficking in this area. I don’t think people realize how much goes on.”


Vermaas also took us on a patrol of Lake St. Clair.

He is one of approximately 400 Border Patrol agents working the Detroit Sector, which covers 863 miles of border in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana. It is a daunting task.

A 2011 Government Accountability Office study found there is an acceptable level of border control across less than two percent of the northern border.

Since that study, work has been done to improve the situation. Manpower has been increased and new technology has been installed.

7 Action News got a behind the scenes look at a command center at Selfridge Air National Guard base where a team working to secure the border works.


Some of them sit in front of a giant wall of video screens and radar images. The radar detects anything passing the border.

The video screens show video live streamed from high tech surveillance cameras along our border in metro-Detroit. The cameras, which were installed in recent years, cover sixty miles and can zoom in on anything suspicious.

“The technology serves as a force multiplier,” Alan Booth, Deputy Chief of the Detroit Sector Border Patrol said.


Several Federal agencies are working together to increase border security. The Coast Guard, Office of Air and Marine, and Office of Field Operations all work together at the command center. They are also in the field, patrolling by land, air and sea. They coordinate their work with each other in an effort to be efficient.

They hope to raise awareness of the criminals exploiting the border so the public reports anything suspicious.

“We need all of the upstanding people in our communities when they see something to say something,” Booth said.

As for the source offered money to smuggle a man across the border, he says he made the right decision by turning down the cash.

“I said 'take it and stick it,'” he said. “I ain’t gonna go to jail for your son.”

If you would like to reach 7 Action News Reporter Kim Russell, you can do so at krussell@wxyz.com.

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