Fact check: Kristi Noem warns of ‘northern border crisis’ at Michigan event
- US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem spoke in Detroit Friday, promising heightened focus on US-Canada border
- Noem warned northern border crossings could be a target for illegal immigration into the US amid increased arrests at southern border
- Here are the fact surrounding illegal crossings in the northern, southern borders
DETROIT — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and fellow Trump administration officials are “not letting our guard down” at the US-Canada border, she said Friday in Michigan.
“Many more” transnational gang members are now attempting to cross into the country’s northern border amid ramped-up security at the southern border with Mexico, she said during a panel discussion in Detroit with Republican US Rep. John James and other border security advocates.
“As we seal those secure areas where criminals may want to cross, they will find new areas,” Noem said, warning a crowd of conservative allies that unauthorized immigrants could enter by land, sea or high-traffic border crossings like Detroit’s Ambassador Bridge.
There were 13,697 encounters between authorities and unauthorized immigrants at Michigan’s border with Canada last year — a small fraction of the 2.9 million encounters reported nationally, according to federal data. Michigan border encounters were down 46% in the first five months 2025.
James, a Shelby Township Republican running for governor, called Michigan the “epicenter” of what he called a “northern border crisis.” He urged Canadians to acknowledge concerns from President Donald Trump.
“We need them to take our border security as seriously as they want us to take their sovereignty,” James said at the event, organized by a group called “America’s Future Tour.”
Facts about the issue
Noem's visit came amid steep drops in illegal border crossings but heightened tensions over the federal government's increasingly aggressive deportation tactics under President Donald Trump.
Critics claimed her appearance and message on immigration was a distraction from less popular Trump policies, including proposed changes to Medicaid, food assistance and deportations.
State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, a Royal Oak Democrat who is running for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat, called Noem’s appearance “ineffective security theater.”
“We should absolutely be focusing all of our efforts on keeping violent criminals off of our streets so that we can keep our community safe, but rounding up parents dropping off their kids at school, or workers waiting in the parking lot at a Home Depot — none of that is actually keeping us safe,” McMorrow said in a video posted to social media.
Data from the northern border
Noem said people she’s met with around the country “see so many resources going to the southern border that they get concerned that we’re forgetting about the northern border.”
“I will assure you that that is not happening under this administration,” she said, citing a rise in migrant encounters at the US-Canada border in recent years.
Related:
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- Activists: ICE agents arrested migrants outside Detroit courtroom
- Trump's travel ban fuels despair, disgust among Arab Americans in Michigan
US Customs and Border Protection reported 198,929 northern border encounters with individuals attempting to enter or remain in the US without proper authorization or documentation last year.
That was up from 109,535 in 2022, but less than the 2.1 million encounters at the southern border with Mexico, according to the agency.
There were 22,370 apprehensions at the northern border with Canada last year, compared to more than 1 million at the southern border with Mexico.
Michigan, where Noem spoke Friday, does not appear to be a particularly busy border area for illegal crossings. There were about 5,000 encounters between CBP agents and unauthorized immigrants last month.
Fentanyl crossings
The Trump administration has pointed to drug trafficking at both the northern and southern borders as a motivator for initial tariffs against Canada, Mexico and China.
Fentanyl does cross the US-Canada border, but in minimal amounts when compared to the US-Mexico border.
US Customs and Border Protection reported stopping 43 pounds of fentanyl from entering the US last fiscal year, while Canadian officials reported seizing 14 pounds of fentanyl at the US border, according to the Detroit News.
Noem criticized former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s handling of the fentanyl issue, expressing hope that new Prime Minister Mark Carney would be more forthcoming with data that could help prevent trafficking.
James also cited fentanyl distribution and argued it was "absolutely appropriate” for Trump to use tariffs as a negotiating tactic with Canada, which is Michigan’s largest international trade partner and is part of an auto industry supply chain that blurs borders.
ICE practices
Immigration advocates have criticized how the Trump administration is handling increased arrests and deportations, including a recent deportation of a Detroit high school student to his home country of Colombia.
Supporters of the student, Maykol Bogoya-Duarte, had called for his temporary release so he could finish his education.
US Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, has also criticized the Trump administration for detaining hundreds of immigrants who made wrong turns onto the Ambassador Bridge, questioning the living conditions of detainees and their limited ability to access legal counsel.
Noem didn’t address those specific incidents during her Detroit appearance, but refuted claims of cruelty by ICE officers working towards the Trump administration’s goal of 3,000 arrests per day.
“We’ve never once deported a US citizen. We've never separated a mother from her child,” Noem said.
Instead, she criticized violence against immigration enforcement officers and said the Trump administration is attempting to partner with local authorities to increase deportations.
James, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor in 2026, encouraged cooperation and made a vow: “You have my word that Michigan will not be a sanctuary state if I have anything to say about it.”
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