Graphic Truth: Are migrants crossing the US-Canada border?

Immigration has been a polarizing political topic in the US since, well, forever. This is particularly true during election years. A recent Gallup poll found that Americans are most likely to cite immigration as the most important problem facing the US, which hasn’t been the case since 2019.

But defining the nature of the “problem” largely depends on who you ask. Republican presidential candidates, for example, have recently contended that not enough attention is being paid to the northern border — and some have gone as far to suggest that a wall could be necessary. While encounters at the US-Canada border have increased exponentially in recent years, they are still far below the record-setting numbers recently seen at the US-Mexico border. But it’s a sign that migrants with the means to fly into Canada increasingly see it as a viable route for entering the US. Much like the trek from Latin America to the US, this approach has proven to have deadly consequences at times — people have gotten lost and frozen to death.

Are lawmakers in Washington focusing enough on the US-Canada border when they discuss immigration? And are they approaching the issue in a substantive way, or just exploiting xenophobic sentiments for cheap political points? These questions will continue to loom large over the 2024 election.