Indian reservation focus of human smuggling probe at U.S.-Canada border

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(The Center Square) – An Indian reservation that spans the U.S.-Canada border, including Ontario, Quebec and two upstate New York counties, is the focus of another human smuggling operation. 

So far, five are being prosecuted in a case that resulted in the death of a nRomanian family who attempted to illegally enter the U.S. and drowned while crossing the St. Lawrence River. 

Five have been charged; three have already pleaded guilty. 

One alleged ring leader, Akwesasne Mohawk Indian Reservation (AMIR) tribal member Stephanie Square, was extradited and appeared before a judge in Plattsburg, New York, on Friday.  

An alleged co-conspirator, Timothy Oakes, was arrested and remains detained pending trial. Three U.S.-based co-conspirators have already pleaded guilty: Dakota Montour and Kawisiiostha Celecia Sharrow of Akwesasne, New York; and Janet Terrance of Hogansburg, New York, according to the Department of Justice, which is prosecuting the case.

In this case, Square was the U.S.-based leader of an “alien smuggling organization” (ASO), which regularly smuggled illegal foreign nationals across the U.S.-Canada border through the AMIR, according to the charges.

In Canada, the AMIR borders Cornwall City at the Canadian Cornwall Port of Entry, includes Cornwall Island and smaller islands on the St. Lawrence River, and a coastal region of Quebec. In the U.S., it borders the Messena POE in upstate New York, and the northernmost parts of Franklin and St. Lawrence counties.  

Cornwall, Ontario, is roughly a 20-minute drive to Messena, New York. Ottawa to Messena is roughly a 1.5-hour drive. Locals who travel for work or school often cross the international boundary on a daily basis, including within the reservation. As a result, the AMIR has become a known location for human smuggling, authorities have found.

The case dates to 2023 at the height of the northern border crisis when upstate New York saw a record number of illegal border crossers, The Center Square exclusively reported.

In March 2023, “a prolific Canadian smuggler contacted Square to smuggle a Romanian family of four across the St. Lawrence River into the United States,” according to the charges. Square allegedly recruited multiple people to smuggle the family on a night when inclement weather and high winds on the St. Lawrence River were reported. 

“Undeterred by the dangerous weather conditions,” Square “enlisted one of her regular drivers, Dakota Montour, to transport the family via automobile to Timothy Oakes’ residence on Cornwall Island, a notorious staging area for cross-border smuggling operations,” the DOJ said.

The Romanian family arrived at Montour’s residence where they were transported to a public boat launch and got into a boat to cross the river, according to the charges. That night, Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service officers received multiple calls from Cornwall Island residents who reported hearing cries for help on the river. As the weather worsened, Square instructed Montour to search for the family and to delete their text messages, according to the charges.

For two days, AMPS conducted a search on the river. They found the bodies of the Romanian family, two adults and two small children, and recovered the boat. Eight months later, they found the boat captain’s body. 

Last June, a federal grand jury in the Northern District of New York indicted Square on several charges: “conspiring to engage in alien smuggling, four counts of alien smuggling for profit, and four counts of alien smuggling resulting in death.”

She was arrested in Canada last August. It took more than a year for her extradition. 

U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations Massena officers led the investigation with assistance from multiple U.S. and Canadian authorities. 

Transnational criminal organizations have long operated smuggling operations at the U.S.-Canada border, The Center Square reported. Earlier this year, Mexican nationals were charged in a human smuggling conspiracy involving the transporting of hundreds of people every week from Mexico, Central America, and South America through Canada, into Franklin and Clinton counties in upstate New York, The Center Square reported. 

The counties are located in the busiest U.S. Customs and Border Protection sector at the northern border. The Swanton Sector, which includes Vermont, six upstate New York counties and three New Hampshire counties, was inundated with the greatest number of illegal border crossers in U.S. history during the Biden administration of several hundred thousand, The Center Square exclusively reported.