U.S. rivals like China and Russia have begun focusing their attention on the northern U.S. border with Canada, FBI Director Kash Patel shared with lawmakers on Wednesday.
During his testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, Patel explained that the “effective resolution” of the southern border crisis has led adversaries such as China, Russia, and Iran to reallocate their efforts, now targeting the northern border instead.
“The enemy adapts,” Patel remarked.
Although Patel acknowledged that these adversaries have not completely abandoned the southern border, he emphasized that the “monumental effort” to secure it, particularly in preventing the entry of terrorists and other threats, has made it far more difficult to smuggle people and substances like fentanyl into the U.S. since President Donald Trump’s administration took over.
Patel’s remarks come amidst significant changes at the U.S. southern border under Trump, where encounters recorded by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have dramatically dropped by 90% across many sectors when compared to the same period last year.
This shift has been further supported by the deployment of thousands of U.S. military personnel to the border, assisting CBP agents in tasks such as reinforcing physical barriers and conducting surveillance on suspected illegal border crossers.
The sudden decline in activity along the southern border follows a period of record-high illegal crossings under the Biden administration, a period which also saw a notable rise in attempts from immigrants coming from outside North and Latin America.
Among the most frequent illegal crossers were Chinese nationals, with over 24,000 attempts in 2023, marking a staggering 5,200% increase from just 450 encounters in the prior year, as reported by CBP data.
Patel further revealed that between 2022 and 2025, approximately 178,000 Chinese nationals tried to cross the southern border.
He cautioned that the enhanced security along the southern border could shift threats to the northern border, suggesting that U.S. adversaries may employ the same methods previously used on regions less heavily protected.
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