WASHINGTON — U.S. border agents used helicopters and a fixed-wing airplane to round up 124 people earlier this year along the Canada-U.S. border. 

Customs and Border Protection says the sweep, dubbed “Operation Jagdakommando,” was in response to what it calls unprecedented illicit cross-border activity. 

But the agency has refused to discuss the operation, conducted in April and May, after publicizing it in a news release last month.

That release says aircrews have played a key role in what the agency calls a “significant increase” in migrant apprehensions over the last nine months. 

Sharry Aiken, an immigration expert at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., says it’s not at all clear how many migrants were among the 124 people detained. 

She says it’s problematic that the agency is conflating irregular migration with clearly illegal activity like drug and weapons trafficking.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 14, 2023.

The Canadian Press