Over the weekend, US Border Patrol arrested 25 undocumented immigrants. According to the agency, they also confiscated two pounds of marijuana at a checkpoint on Interstate 93, in the White Mountain National Forest. Checkpoints have been established for more than 15 years, but can only be legally carried out within 100 miles of the nation’s border.
The operation lasted three days, during which Swanton Sector Border Patrol agents arrested 25 undocumented immigrants, according to a press release by the agency. Fourteen of those arrested were Columbians who had overstayed their US visas, while others came from Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, and Colombia. Small amounts of other drugs, such as hash oil, cocaine, and psilocybin mushrooms, were also seized. These were given to Woodstock Police Department for investigation and prosecution purposes.
The roadblock was set up on Interstate with full cooperation between Border Patrol and Woodstock Police Department. John C Pfeifer, the Chief Patrol Agent of the Swanton Sector, said that checkpoints are one of the many tools used to enforce immigration and other US laws, and help to block access to important egress routes from the border into American communities.
Border Patrol said that one American citizen attempted to run the checkpoint, and was chased at high speed for almost five miles, eventually being caught and charged with reckless driving, endangering a minor, and the possession of a controlled substance. The Swanton Sector secures the land border between New York, New Hampshire, and Vermont points of entry.