Border Patrol agents in Maine recently arrested 13 foreign nationals, including seven adults from Mexico and six from Vietnam, for illegally entering the United States from two locations in western New Brunswick, Canada, Global News reported on Saturday, citing U.S. officials.
The two separate arrests were announced by the government on Thursday, and were reported on by the press on Saturday.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency said in a statement on Thursday that Border Patrol agents based in Calais, Maine pulled over a suspicious vehicle on January 20, according to Global News.
Six adult Vietnamese passengers were found in the vehicle, suspected of paying to be brought into the U.S. secretly.
They were accused of illegally entering the U.S., and the vehicle driver -- a U.S. citizen -- was detained on suspicion of human smuggling.
One day earlier, Border Patrol officials guarding the Maine-New Brunswick border arrested seven suspects from Mexico after agents were alerted to a potential illegal entry and later spotted footprints near Caswell, Maine.
Subsequently, agents were able to follow the footprints and apprehend the group.
One of the suspects was showing signs of frostbite and was taken to the local hospital.
Two others had previously been removed from the U.S. after an illegal entry, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency said.
In both cases, the foreign nationals were each fined US$5,000 and were processed for removal from the U.S.
The Global News report did not specify where these people will be returned, their destination in the U.S. nor their motive for crossing the border.
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