For the last few years, when concerns about illegal immigration into the United States is concerned, it's kind of our national inclination to look south. The border with Mexico, after all, is a big concern, and the source of the majority of the attempts by people from all over the world to cross illegally into the United States.
But the northern border also sees such attempts. In one such case, four British nationals were caught, on April 3rd of this year, attempting a cross-country entry into the U.S. state of Maine from Canada. They even captured their triumphant, GPS-guided entry on to U.S. soil on video.
Oh, the British nationals' names? Here they are:
Ali Mohammed Ali Abdullah, Hameed Mohammed Nagi, Ibrahim Ayyub Khan, and Mohammed Sultan Saleh. Yup. No kidding.
On Substack, journalist Steve Robinson has the scoop.
Four British nationals were apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol agents in a remote stretch of Somerset County woods after illegally crossing from Canada into the United States on April 3, federal court documents filed this week reveal.
One of them captured the whole thing on a GoPro camera, narrating a celebration as the group set foot on American soil.
“I can confirm you are now on US Soil,” Mohammed Sultan Saleh narrated on video as the group crossed through thick forest just a few hundred yards from the St. Zacharie Port of Entry in northwestern Somerset County, according to an affidavit sworn by U.S. Border Patrol Agent Scott Hanton and filed April 7 in U.S. District Court for the District of Maine.
Another man in the group — Ali Mohammed Ali Abdullah — can be heard on the recording asking, “I’m on US Soil?” Saleh replied by showing his phone screen with GPS coordinates displayed, and declared, “Now, we are in the US. We just made it, baby.”
They were, no doubt, tracking down rumors of a Bangor pub that has the best warm nutty brown ale in the Western Hemisphere, or perhaps they were seeking that rumored place in Kittery that has the best tea, crumpets, and bikkers this side of Wales. Surely this was a lark, a bit o' larf, just four blokes out for a stroll, wot? A few good lads off on a walkabout, as t'were. S'truth!
Or, perhaps, these people were sneaking cross-country into the United States with some nefarious intent. In any case, they entered the United States illegally, and were caught - and a little over a year ago, they would have been handed a "notice to appear" with a date five years hence, patted on the head, handed an EBT card, and directed to the closest "migrant housing." And, Bob's your uncle, off they go.
Whatever these four Brits were up to, their plot was foiled, in a classic Maine way - by two maple sugar workers.
The bust began with an unlikely pair of informants: two maple sugar workers heading into Canada who spotted four men of apparent Middle Eastern appearance walking south along the Golden Road near mile marker 90 — in the wrong direction to be casual hikers.
For those unfamiliar with the Golden Road, it’s a 96-mile, primarily unpaved private logging road in Maine, stretching from Millinocket west to the Quebec border — and there’s nothing but trees to see for 95.9 of those miles and no cell service.
The unidentified maple sugar workers flagged down a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer at the St. Zacharie Port of Entry at approximately 9:15 a.m. to alert them to the bizarre sighting.
That led to the four British blokes landing in the hands of the constabulary - er, the U.S. Border Patrol. They would appear to be headed for the gaol now, and will soon have a date with a judge, who they will no doubt address in that strange British manner as "M'lord."