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The return of Donald Trump as United States president has sparked new security measures along the Canada-U.S. border.

After Trump on Canadian imports if irregular migration and illegal drugs were not curtailed, and pledged . Trump may still go ahead with his tariff threats despite .

Research shows that . Policing borders , and . One outcome of heightened border security is clearly an .

Our work documenting deaths at the Canada-U.S. border shows that irregular crossings have taken the lives of at least 38 people. The actual number of migrant fatalities is likely much higher.

We're concerned that additional border security measures will lead to . Recent incidents lend weight to these concerns: one migrant on Feb. 4, while another on Feb. 3.

Crossing the Canada-U.S. border

People from around the world cross the Canada-U.S. border daily. Most people enter Canada and the United States formally through official ports of entry. Still, some migrants also travel across the border, in both directions, without official permission.

Because irregular border crossings are hidden by nature, we will never know how many people enter Canada or the U.S. unofficially. Agencies charged with border security track and "apprehensions" in the U.S. and the of asylum-seekers in Canada. But there is no common measurement used to estimate irregular crossing in either country.

Irregular border crossing cases are affected by policy changes in both countries. In recent years, they appear to have been affected by and .

Death at the border

Our research identified 15 deaths at the Canada-U.S. border between 2020 and 2023, and another 23 deaths going back to 1989. Given the lack of official records, the actual number is likely higher.

We filed access-to-information requests on both sides of the border. The RCMP acknowledged just one death in Canada, and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) produced no results. Instead, we systematically collected media reports on border deaths and analyzed that data.

Roughly three-quarters of migrants whose deaths were covered in news reports were traveling towards the U.S. Their remains were mainly recovered on the Canadian side of the border.

Migrants face a range of dangers when crossing the Canada-U.S. border irregularly, but , followed by —23 and six of the 38 recorded deaths, respectively.

Three people died in encounters with border patrol agents, with two on the and one dying in a car crash while being chased by Canadian agents.

Invisible deaths

Our requests for official data on border deaths in both the U.S. and Canada came up empty-handed. After more than a year and the conclusion of an independent complaint investigation into the RCMP's lack of response to our Canadian request, we were provided with information on one single death. The request filed in the U.S. returned no information.

Researchers in both countries regularly report and a from such requests.

This experience led us to believe that border enforcement agencies do not track deaths along the Canada-U.S. border in either country. This is a problem. The public is left in the dark, while potential migrants are not provided with information about the dangers of irregular crossings.

It is particularly odd that American authorities don't provide information on deaths at this border, given that deaths along the U.S.-Mexico border are .

If there's been a policy decision not to track deaths at the Canada-U.S. border, it reveals a lack of concern and a willingness to obscure the full picture from the public. Both the Canadian and American governments need to change their approach to documenting border deaths, detailing all known cases publicly.

More death on the horizon

Trump's return to the American presidency might lead to an increase in irregular migration between Canada and the U.S. The Canadian government's move to beef up border security enforcement, in turn, makes it after choosing dangerous crossing points.

Even when migrants die amid human smuggling operations, a lot of the responsibility lies with government decisions.

As , more difficult border crossings lead to increased criminality in human smuggling. Government decisions drive people away from safer crossing points and into the influence of criminal organizations.

The governments of Canada and the United States have a moral obligation to inform the public about deaths—and do everything in their power to prevent further tragedies.

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