[seakrait]

Originally Posted by BaoXu

I hear a lot about mexicans easily jumping over the US border.

is it possible for canadians or americans to sneak over the border to get to the other side?

the canada/usa border is often mentioned as "the longest undefended border in the world."

Security
[edit] Law enforcement approach

A sign at the International Boundary in Point Roberts, Washington, warning against illegal crossing of the borderThe International Boundary is commonly referred to as the world's longest undefended border, but this is true only in the military sense, as civilian law enforcement is present. The relatively low level of security measures stands in contrast to that of the United States – Mexico border (one-third as long as the Canada–U.S. border), which is actively patrolled by U.S. customs and immigration personnel to prevent illegal migration and drug trafficking.

Parts of the International Boundary cross through mountainous terrain or heavily forested areas, but significant portions also cross remote prairie farmland and the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River, in addition to the maritime components of the boundary at the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic oceans. The border also runs through the middle of the Akwesasne Nation and even divides some buildings found in communities in Vermont and Quebec whose construction pre-dated the border's delineation.

The actual number of U.S. and Canadian border security personnel is classified; there are in excess of 17,000 United States Border Patrol personnel on the Mexico–U.S. border alone.[9]

Following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, border security along the International Boundary was dramatically tightened by both nations in both populated and rural areas. Both nations are also actively involved in detailed and extensive tactical and strategic intelligence sharing. It is a common misconception that the nineteen terrorists involved in the September 11 attacks entered the United States via the Canadian border.[10]

[edit] Security measures
Residents of both nations who own property adjacent to the border are required to report construction of any physical border crossing on their land to their respective governments, and this is enforced by the International Boundary Commission. Where required, fences or vehicle blockades are used. All persons crossing the border are required to report to the respective customs and immigration agencies in each country. In remote areas where staffed border crossings are not available, there are hidden sensors on roads and also scattered in wooded areas near crossing points and on many trails and railways, but there are not enough border personnel on either side to verify and stop coordinated incursions.[citation needed]

[edit] Smuggling
In past years Canadian officials have complained of drug, cigarette and firearms smuggling from the United States while U.S. officials have complained of drug smuggling from Canada. Human smuggling into both countries has been an ongoing problem for border security and law enforcement personnel, although a minor one in comparison to the Mexico–U.S. border.[citation needed]

In July 2005, law enforcement personnel arrested three men who had built a 360-foot (110 m) tunnel under the border between British Columbia and Washington that they intended to use for smuggling marijuana, the first such tunnel known on this border.[11]

Cornwall, Ontario, is central to Canada's most notorious area of smuggling. Its location and transportation links make it a crossroads for cross-border smuggling of illicit tobacco, illegal aliens, drugs, and firearms. The neighbouring Mohawk territory of Akwesasne (which straddles the Ontario-Quebec-New York borders) enjoys a certain "First Nations" sovereignty which prevents Ontario Provincial Police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police from ready access to the source of smuggling operations on the territory. Customs and Excise members from the RCMP’s Northwest and Central regions have even gone to Cornwall to learn about the contraband phenomenon[12]. The smuggling industry is rampant, with collusion between local freelancers, and international organized criminals. Several lives have been lost by civilians as a result of police chasing smugglers; this on top of the hundreds of millions of dollars lost in uncollected government tax, and millions of dollars spent on law enforcement that has had a negligible effect on smuggling.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_..._States_border