Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on Thursday announced "immediate and decisive action" to secure the Alberta-U.S. border from drugs, migrants, and guns through the deployment of a new Alberta Sheriffs team. The announcement follows comments from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump that huge tariffs will be imposed on Canada unless it stops the flow of migrants and fentanyl into the U.S. Alberta is also interested in finishing the Keystone XL pipeline into the U.S. that was cancelled under former President Joe Biden.“We cannot take concerns about border security lightly," said Smith in a press conference. "By establishing this new team of sheriffs at our southern border, we are actively working to address security concerns and stop the criminals whose activities are destroying lives on both sides of the border.”At a cost of $29 million, the new Interdiction Patrol Team (IPT) within the Alberta Sheriffs will tackle drug smuggling, gun trafficking and other illegal activities happening along Alberta’s southern border. The team will focus on a 2 km wide "red zone" along the border. "It doesn't mean that Alberta intends or wants to act alone when it comes to securing the border," said Smith."We'll obviously keep working closely with our federal counterparts at the Canada Border Services Agency as well as the RCMP. We will start filling the ranks of the border teams as soon as possible. Our goal is to have the interdiction patrol unit up and running by early next year."IPT will be comprised of 51 uniformed officers equipped with riffles, 10 support staff including dispatchers and analysts, four drug patrol dogs to search vehicles, 10 cold weather surveillance drones that can operate in high winds with dedicated pilots, and four narcotics analyzers to test for illicit drugs. "This team will patrol to detect and intercept illicit drugs, illegal firearms and unlawful attempts at illegal international border crossing," said the province in a press release."Alberta’s government will also create a two-kilometre-deep critical border zone, deemed critical infrastructure, to enable the sheriffs to arrest individuals found attempting to cross the border illegally or attempting to traffic illegal drugs or weapons — without needing a warrant.
