Some migrants found ‘crammed’ into truck near Stanstead border deported to U.S.

Some of the 44 migrants who were intercepted by police at the Quebec border with the United States have been deported

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) intercepted three suspected smugglers and 44 migrants, including children, overnight into August 3rd, as they attempted to illegally cross near Haskell Road, not far from the Stanstead border in the Eastern Townships.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) claimed it had never seen a case of this magnitude in the area — and described them as being “crammed into a cube truck without any ventilation,” which could have endangered their health.

The CBSA laid two charges against three individuals on August 3 for attempting to facilitate the smuggling of 44 foreign nationals. They were intercepted by @rcmpqc near Stanstead. pic.twitter.com/T53k3PSAWT

— Border Services QUE (@CanBorderQUE) August 4, 2025

The suspected smugglers have been charged with inducing, aiding or abetting someone to commit an offence under section 131 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) and a charge under section 11 of the Customs Act for assisting people to enter Canada outside of a designated customs office.

Those charged are Ogulcan Mersin, 25, Dogan Alakus, 31, and Firat Yuksek, 31.

The CBSA tells CityNews that the 44 migrants filed claims for asylum and that they were processed, receiving “independent assessment of the eligibility of their claim.”

They confirm that all asylum claims related to this incident have been processed.

Without saying how many, they say that those deemed ineligible were remove to the U.S. for failing to meet the eligibility criteria.

The CBSA says due to privacy, they cannot comment further on the individual cases.

This comes as claims at the St-Bernard-de-Lacolle border have increased fivefold since the beginning of July compared to the same period last year.

But data shows that claims that are actually processed are decreasing.

The CBSA has processed 22,237 asylum applications in Canada as of July 27 — 14,874 of which were in Quebec.