U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Thursday that the Justice Department will expand Joint Task Force (JTF) Alpha to cover the U.S. northern border with Canada and all maritime borders.

“We will receive more resources to prosecute these cases and key figures in cartel, human trafficking and transnational criminals,” Bondi said at a press conference. “We will strengthen our collaboration with foreign law enforcement throughout this world to protect not only their citizens but ours and return these criminals to American soil for prosecution.”

Newsweek reached out to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) by email on Thursday evening for comment.

Why It Matters

The U.S. and Canada have remained in a tense standoff since before President Donald Trump even took office for his second term, with Trump making various comments about why Canada should look to join the U.S. and the means by which he could make that happen.

The border between the U.S. and Canada cover roughly 5,000 miles, and deep economic ties remain between the two countries even as Trump’s tariffs create turbulence in that relationship: Trump recently accused Canada of having “financially retaliated against the United States,” prompting him to threaten the northern nation with a 35 percent tariff, to which Carney promised to defend his nation’s economic interests.

This all occurs against the backdrop of the Trump administration carrying out the largest deportation of illegal immigrants in U.S. history, and immigrants with both illegal and legal residency have been detained.

What To Know

JTF Alpha was established in 2021 as a joint effort by the Department of Justice and DHS to enhance U.S. enforcement against human smuggling and trafficking operations operating in Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. The mission expanded to include Colombia and Panama in 2024, and now the Trump administration will expand it again.

In her comments made on Thursday, Bondi said the expansion will cover the northern border with Canada as well as “all of our maritime borders.”

Bondi also announced that this would occur by including the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and FBI agents to the task force.

The expansion will operate through the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the Northern District of New York and District of Vermont, according to a press release following Bondi’s announcement.

The new departments will benefit from a “whole-of-Department” network of expert prosecutors and other support personnel to prosecute and obtain convictions for smugglers caught by JTF Alpha’s expanded mandate.

Canada last year announced an expansion of its security capabilities along the border after Trump won the 2024 U.S. presidential election, after which he made clear he would pursue his immigration crackdown.

The expansion, which would cost $1.3 billion, included the integration of advanced technology, such as biometric screening for all travelers and the use of artificial intelligence in assessing risk and detecting smuggling activities. However, that expansion was announced under the previous administration, before Mark Carney replaced Justin Trudeau as party leader and then won the subsequent election to replace him as prime minister.

What People Are Saying

Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said in a press release: “By elevating and expanding JTFA, we are extending that reach across both our northern and southern borders and sending a clear message to cartels and transnational criminal organizations: the Department of Justice will relentlessly pursue those who endanger human life through smuggling and trafficking activities, and we will not stop until these groups are eliminated.”

President Donald Trump, in February, prior to Trudeau vacating his post, wrote on Truth Social, in part: “Canada doesn’t even allow U.S. Banks to open or do business there. What’s that all about? Many such things, but it’s also a DRUG WAR, and hundreds of thousands of people have died in the U.S. from drugs pouring through the Borders of Mexico and Canada. Just spoke to Justin Trudeau.”