(NewsNation) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday agreed to border security measures with President Donald Trump in exchange for a 30-day pause on sweeping tariffs.
Canada will spend $1.3 billion to reinforce the U.S.-Canadian border with new helicopters, technology and personnel to target fentanyl trafficking and other crimes.
The Canadian border, including what and who crosses it, is a problemover which journalist and “No BS Newshour” host Charlie LeDuff has long raised red flags.
“I own it. You called me months ago saying you need to talk about what’s happening up there,” NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo said Monday, imploring LeDuff to share what he’s learned in his investigation.
LeDuff warned the U.S.-Canada border poses a threat to national security, one that is often overlooked due to the louder calls for change at the southern border.
“Canada and United States have a 5,500 mile border,” LeDuff said on “CUOMO.” “The Mexican border’s 2,000 miles. In Mexico, on that border, 10 times the Border Patrol agents” as in the north.
LeDuff told NewsNation that, in the last four years, around 500 people on the terror watch list crossed into the U.S. from the Mexico border. Those crossing from Canada totaled nearly 1,000, he said.
“It’s not a good deal up there, man,” he said. “It’s wide open.”
LeDuff couldn’t speak to Canada’s fentanyl flow for certain, telling NewsNation that the border’s porosity lends itself to unclear numbers.
“As you saw today, Trudeau bent. When you’re throwing $1.5 billion for a fentanyl czar, you know something’s up,” he said.
Cartels make the synthetic opioid in labs and then smuggle it into the U.S., largely at official land crossings in California and Arizona.
Fentanyl can also be made in Canada and smuggled into the U.S., but apparently that’s happening to a much lesser extent. U.S. customs agents seized 43 pounds (19.5 kilograms) of fentanyl at the Canadian border during the last fiscal year, compared with 21,100 pounds (9,570 kilograms) at the Mexican border.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.