A US Border Patrol boat strayed into Canadian territorial waters while chasing “illegal immigrants” off the coast of the US state of Maine and the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, Canadian fishermen said on Wednesday.
A border patrol launch out of Maine attempted to stop a Canadian fishing vessel in Canadian waters, Grand Manan Fishermen’s Association chairman Laurence Cook said on Facebook.
Grand Manan is a Canadian island in the Gulf of Maine, right off the coast that hosts the border between the US and Canada.
Cook said that the incident took place on June 24 near Machias Seal Island, a tiny and rocky outcrop 20km south of Grand Manan with rich lobster grounds whose sovereignty is disputed by Washington, although the Canadian Coast Guard maintains a lighthouse there.
The Canadian fishing captain, Nick Brown, informed the US vessel that “he was a Canadian vessel legally fishing in Canadian waters,” Cook said.
“Typical American bullies,” said Cook, who said that he was “not surprised to see the Americans trying to push people around.”
Ties between Canada and the US have been strained since US President Donald Trump slapped tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, citing US national security, with Trump calling Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “very dishonest” and “weak” after a spat at the G7 meeting in Quebec last month.
“They claim to be looking for illegal immigrants,” Cook wrote on Facebook. “Pure bullshit, to be illegal they would have to be in sovereign waters and they know it.”
The Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it has launched an inquiry into the incident off the island, which Canada insists is its territory.
“Canada’s sovereignty over the Machias Seal Island and the surrounding waters is longstanding and has a strong foundation in international law,” ministry Global Affairs spokeswoman Elizabeth Reid said, adding that Ottawa was reaching out to US authorities for more details on the incident.
A US Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said that the “US Border Patrol was conducting regular patrol operation to enforce immigration laws and other violations of federal law that they may encounter in the course of their duties.”
US Border Patrol does not patrol for fisheries or boating contraventions, which are enforced by the US Coast Guard.
“Additionally, Border Patrol does not board Canadian Vessels in the Gray Zone without consent or probable cause and only conduct interviews as a vessel runs parallel to it, bow to stern,” it said.
Trump has made cracking down on illegal immigration a cornerstone of his administration’s policy and his now-abandoned “zero tolerance” practice of separating migrant parents from their children at the Mexican border triggered international condemnation.
He has also bolstered border security on the northern frontier with Canada and the American Civil Liberties Union has said that US police have been setting up more checkpoints on roads leading to the Canadian border to check people’s citizenship.
Statistics showed that more migrants are heading out of the US for Canada rather than the other way around.
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