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Border guards seize 70 kg of cocaine being smuggled into Canada at B.C crossing
Border guards seize 70 kg of cocaine being smuggled into Canada at B.C crossing

CTV News

time3 days ago

  • CTV News

Border guards seize 70 kg of cocaine being smuggled into Canada at B.C crossing

This photo provided by the Canada Border Services Agency shows bricks of cocaine, seized at a B.C. crossing. A search of a pickup truck at a B.C. border crossing last month yielded the largest-ever seizure of cocaine at that port of entry, according to officials. On June 11, officers stopped a Canadian citizen returning from the U.S. at the Osoyoos crossing in the province's southern Interior, the Canda Border Services Agency said in a news release Thursday. 'Upon examination of the vehicle's truck bed, officers found bricks of cocaine weighing a total of 70 kilograms,' the statement said, adding that works out to an estimated 144,000 individual doses. The driver, who was not named and has not been charged, was transferred into police custody. 'With this significant seizure, illegal drugs will not end up in our communities, and the profits will not end up in the hands of organized crime,' said Canada's Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree, in a statement.

‘May not make it through the end of summer': Canada's duty-free shops struggling amid drop in cross-border travel
‘May not make it through the end of summer': Canada's duty-free shops struggling amid drop in cross-border travel

CTV News

time6 days ago

  • Business
  • CTV News

‘May not make it through the end of summer': Canada's duty-free shops struggling amid drop in cross-border travel

A sign for a duty free store at the Canada/U.S. border crossing in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Que., on Thursday, April 10, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes A duty-free shop at a New Brunswick border crossing is shutting down after more than three decades in business, with its owner warning that more closures could follow as Canada's trade tensions with the United States continue to strain cross-border traffic. John Slipp, owner of the Woodstock Duty Free Shop in Belleville, N.B., says he plans to close his store within the next six weeks, citing plummeting sales, a drop in Canadian travellers, and the lack of federal support. 'Canadians are not traveling across the border in anywhere near the numbers they normally would be,' Slipp said in an interview with CTV News Channel on Saturday. 'At the end of last year, we were down 20 per cent from 2019, still climbing out of the COVID hole. Now, we're talking 50, 55 to 60 per cent down versus 2019, which is the benchmark.' While American visitors are welcome, Slipp says his business is heavily dependent on Canadian travellers. 'Canadians are eligible and qualified to shop in a Canadian land border duty-free shop. They are the foundation of our business,' he said. 'And when you remove the tourism season in the summer months, we rely on those Canadians, who are no longer crossing the border.' The Frontier Duty Free Association, which represents 32 duty free stores across Canada, says many of its members have seen revenue drop between 60 and 80 per cent due to a slowdown in cross-border traffic and tourism. In June, the association joined 15 border-town mayors in calling for financial support from Ottawa and the alignment of tax and export rules to match American duty free policies. Slipp says he's spent the past year trying to manage with fewer resources and searching for government help. 'We certainly have been spending less money and trying to manage in a way that would allow us to extend life, if you would, and working with our trade association... to try to get government assistance,' he said, noting that his shop was closed for a year and a half during the pandemic and received some support at the time, under an emergency order, but that assistance has not been renewed. 'We've been asking for the ability to close temporarily and reopen,' he said. 'And for those of us that lease our land from the federal government, we've been looking for assistance, like rent deferral, which they did during the pandemic, but so far, there's been nothing on that front either.' Slipp says unless conditions improve quickly, more shops like his are at risk. 'Unless there is some miracle in the near future, it appears that my business, and I think probably another half a dozen Canadian land border duty-free shops, will not make it to the end of the year,' he said. 'Some of us may not make it through the end of the summer.' With closures looming, he's urging both the federal government and Canadian travellers to take action before it's too late. 'For many Canadians I'm sure they have appreciated the opportunity to receive the service and the tax-free goods, currency exchange, and the opportunity to spend their Canadian money in Canada,' he said. 'You're about to lose that not just at the Woodstock-Houlton border crossing, but at a number of border crossings across the country.' That's why, he says, the time to act is now. 'I would urge Canadians, if you are going to be crossing that border, keep your money in Canada. Spend it at a local Canadian duty free shop (and) help these businesses gain more life.'

Texas may not enforce migrant arrest law, US appeals court rules
Texas may not enforce migrant arrest law, US appeals court rules

Yahoo

time05-07-2025

  • Politics
  • Yahoo

Texas may not enforce migrant arrest law, US appeals court rules

By Nate Raymond (Reuters) -Texas authorities may not enforce a Republican-backed state law that would let them arrest and prosecute people suspected of illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, a divided federal appeals court ruled late on Thursday. A 2-1 panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an injunction that blocked enforcement of the disputed law, which former Democratic President Joe Biden's administration had gone to court to challenge. Republican President Donald Trump's administration dropped the federal government's case, but the Texas law known as SB4 had continued to be challenged by, among others, the immigrant rights group Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, which argued federal law preempted the state's. The law, which Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed in December 2023, would make it a state crime to illegally enter or re-enter Texas from a foreign country and would empower state judges to order that violators leave the United States, with prison sentences up to 20 years for those who refuse to comply. U.S. Circuit Judge Priscilla Richman, writing for the New Orleans-based court's majority, said that for nearly 150 years, the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that the power to control immigration was exclusively a federal power. Relying on a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down parts of an Arizona immigration law, she said the Texas law, if allowed to be enforced by the Texas Department of Public Safety, would interfere with the federal government's ability to enforce complex U.S. immigration laws. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, vowed to appeal the decision, saying "I will always fight to stop illegal immigration." The ruling upheld a lower-court judge's February 2024 preliminary injunction. The U.S. Supreme Court a month later briefly allowed the law to take effect, but the 5th Circuit within hours halted it pending further review. The opinion by Richman, an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush, was joined by U.S. Circuit Judge Irma Carrillo Ramirez, a Biden appointee. U.S. Circuit Judge Andrew Oldham, a Trump appointee, dissented. He said the majority treated as irrelevant that Trump has been encouraging states to aid his administration's efforts to ramp up immigration enforcement. "It is a sad day for the millions of Americans who are concerned about illegal immigration and who voiced those concerns at ballot boxes across Texas and the Nation," Oldham wrote. Cody Wofsy, a lawyer for the plaintiffs at the American Civil Liberties Union, in a statement welcomed the ruling, saying state immigration laws like the one Texas adopted have been repeatedly rejected by courts and "are deeply harmful to our communities.'

Divided US appeals court blocks enforcement of Texas state immigration law
Divided US appeals court blocks enforcement of Texas state immigration law

Yahoo

time04-07-2025

  • Politics
  • Yahoo

Divided US appeals court blocks enforcement of Texas state immigration law

By Nate Raymond (Reuters) -Texas authorities may not enforce a Republican-backed state law that would let them arrest and prosecute people suspected of illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, a divided federal appeals court ruled late Thursday. A 2-1 panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an injunction that blocked enforcement of the disputed law, which former Democratic President Joe Biden's administration had gone to court to challenge. Republican President Donald Trump's administration dropped the federal government's case, but Texas's law known as SB4 had continued to be challenged by, among others, the immigrant rights group Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, which argued federal law preempted the state's. The law, which Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed in December 2023, would make it a state crime to illegally enter or re-enter Texas from a foreign country and would empower state judges to order that violators leave the United States, with prison sentences up to 20 years for those who refuse to comply. U.S. Circuit Judge Priscilla Richman, writing for the New Orleans-based court's majority, said that for nearly 150 years, the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that the power to control immigration was exclusively a federal power. Relying on a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down parts of an Arizona immigration law, she said the Texas law, if allowed to be enforced by the Texas Department of Public Safety, would interfere with the federal government's ability to enforce complex U.S. immigration laws. The state did not respond to requests for comment. The ruling upheld a lower-court judge's February 2024 preliminary injunction. The U.S. Supreme Court a month later briefly allowed the law to take effect, but the 5th Circuit within hours halted it pending further review. The opinion by Richman, an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush, was joined by U.S. Circuit Judge Irma Carrillo Ramirez, a Biden appointee. U.S. Circuit Judge Andrew Oldham, a Trump appointee, dissented. He said the majority treated as irrelevant that Trump has been encouraging states to aid his administration's efforts to ramp up immigration enforcement. "It is a sad day for the millions of Americans who are concerned about illegal immigration and who voiced those concerns at ballot boxes across Texas and the Nation," Oldham wrote. Cody Wofsy, a lawyer for the plaintiffs at the American Civil Liberties Union, in a statement welcomed the ruling, saying state immigration laws like the one Texas adopted have been repeatedly rejected by courts and "are deeply harmful to our communities.'

Divided US appeals court blocks enforcement of Texas state immigration law
Divided US appeals court blocks enforcement of Texas state immigration law

Reuters

time04-07-2025

  • Politics
  • Reuters

Divided US appeals court blocks enforcement of Texas state immigration law

July 4 (Reuters) - Texas authorities may not enforce a Republican-backed state law that would let them arrest and prosecute people suspected of illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, a divided federal appeals court ruled late Thursday. A 2-1 panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld, opens new tab an injunction that blocked enforcement of the disputed law, which former Democratic President Joe Biden's administration had gone to court to challenge. Republican President Donald Trump's administration dropped the federal government's case, but Texas's law known as SB4 had continued to be challenged by, among others, the immigrant rights group Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, which argued federal law preempted the state's. The law, which Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed in December 2023, would make it a state crime to illegally enter or re-enter Texas from a foreign country and would empower state judges to order that violators leave the United States, with prison sentences up to 20 years for those who refuse to comply. U.S. Circuit Judge Priscilla Richman, writing for the New Orleans-based court's majority, said that for nearly 150 years, the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that the power to control immigration was exclusively a federal power. Relying on a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down parts of an Arizona immigration law, she said the Texas law, if allowed to be enforced by the Texas Department of Public Safety, would interfere with the federal government's ability to enforce complex U.S. immigration laws. The state did not respond to requests for comment. The ruling upheld a lower-court judge's February 2024 preliminary injunction. The U.S. Supreme Court a month later briefly allowed the law to take effect, but the 5th Circuit within hours halted it pending further review. The opinion by Richman, an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush, was joined by U.S. Circuit Judge Irma Carrillo Ramirez, a Biden appointee. U.S. Circuit Judge Andrew Oldham, a Trump appointee, dissented. He said the majority treated as irrelevant that Trump has been encouraging states to aid his administration's efforts to ramp up immigration enforcement. "It is a sad day for the millions of Americans who are concerned about illegal immigration and who voiced those concerns at ballot boxes across Texas and the Nation," Oldham wrote. Cody Wofsy, a lawyer for the plaintiffs at the American Civil Liberties Union, in a statement welcomed the ruling, saying state immigration laws like the one Texas adopted have been repeatedly rejected by courts and "are deeply harmful to our communities.'

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