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Boreal Community Media

Seven detained, snowmobiles seized after illegal crossing from Canada into Minnesota

Mar 28, 2018 06:11AM ● By Editor
News release from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection - March 27, 2018

INTERNATIONAL FALLS, Minn.—Seven people were detained Saturday after allegedly crossing from Canada to the United States near International Falls illegally.

According to a news release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, border patrol agents saw five snowmobiles travel south from Canada and enter the U.S. on Rainy Lake near Dryweed Island. While investigating, agents found seven people at a local lodge.

All seven were U.S. citizens who had been fishing in Canada, the release said. Three of the detainees said they were working as fishing guides for the other four. The guides were cited for failing to report arrival into the U.S., the four clients were issued an administrative warning and the five snowmobiles were seized.

Once open water becomes a solid surface it is treated as a land boundary, the release said, and once an international border is crossed, a person must seek re-admission at a designated port of entry.

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