New data on the number of apprehensions of suspected migrants crossing New Hampshire’s remote international boundary with Canada show there has been little activity through the first six months of 2024.

But whether that’s a sign that more aggressive patrols are dissuading individuals from entering — or evidence that the Sununu Administration is wasting money on increased enforcement for a non-existent crisis — remains a subject of intense debate.

This week, the ACLU of New Hampshire released records obtained from U.S. Customs and Border Protection that showed there were zero apprehensions of migrants made by federal authorities along the international border in New Hampshire between January and May 2024.

Federal border agents previously announced two arrests in June, when a Mexican national and another man were apprehended after allegedly crossing Hall Stream in the town of Pittsburg. Authorities say they searched Jose Rodriguez-Garcia, 26, and found that he was allegedly in possession of a thumb drive containing sexually explicit images of minors, leading to the filing of criminal charges.

On Thursday, the latest report from New Hampshire authorities showed that increased patrols of the 58-mile border by State Police and local law enforcement through the Northern Border Task Force Alliance initiative, a $1.4 million program included in the last state budget, resulted in a handful of arrests for driving infractions in the region, but not a single apprehension for suspected illegal migrant crossings.

Gov. Chris Sununu and Attorney General John Formella both issued statements contending that the increased patrols launched late last year are deterring crossings.

“With the right team and approach, we’ve showed that illegal crossings can be prevented,” said Sununu.

The report disclosed that the state has spent approximately $167,000 in overtime expenses to cover the increased law enforcement patrols. The state has spent another $113,000 on the purchases of a pick-up truck and two snowmobiles, though the equipment has not yet been put into use.

The ACLU of New Hampshire has repeatedly criticized increased spending by the state on border enforcement issues as a misguided and unnecessary use of taxpayer money. The civil liberties group echoed those criticisms this week after releasing the new data.

“There was no issue fixed, nothing was prevented, because there was no issue to begin with,” said Amanda Azad, the group’s policy director.

A previous report obtained by the ACLU from Border Patrol found that there were 21 encounters or apprehensions of suspected migrants  between October 2022 and December 2023 in New Hampshire.

New Hampshire’s border with Canada is largely remote and heavily forested, with a smattering of logging roads. There is one official border crossing along Route 3 in Pittsburg, but the bulk of activity around suspected crossings has been in the western corner of the boundary, near the Vermont-New Hampshire border.

Residents who live along a stretch of road in that region have raised concerns in recent years about migrants crossing Hall Stream and then entering their properties. In 2023, there were at least two apprehensions of groups of people in New Hampshire who allegedly crossed into the country illegally in that area.

While migrant crossings in New Hampshire appear to be almost non-existent in 2024, In Vermont and portions of eastern New York, which is patrolled by the Border Patrol’s Swanton Sector office, encounters continue to spike.

Since October 2023, more than 15,000 people have been apprehended for suspected immigration violations across a 295-mile stretch of border patrolled by the Swanton Sector, more than the total number of apprehensions made between all of 2011 and 2023, according to the Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia. Those apprehended for allegedly crossing the border without proper documentation are from dozens of different countries, including India, Bangladesh and Mexico.

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