Trump's first border death was in...Vermont

A Border Patrol agent's life was claimed in a gun battle with a German national, who was also killed. Is this a harbinger of what's to come?

They call it the Northeast Kingdom, or just the Kingdom, or the NEK. The extreme northeast portion of Vermont is a pretty peaceful place, sharing a border with New Hampshire to the east and Canada to the north. And it’s the scene of a gun battle that claimed the life of David C. (“Chris”) Maland, a Border Patrol agent.

Image: Google Earth

There’s got to be more to this story. Maland, according to the FBI, and reported by VTDigger, made a “traffic stop” in Coventry on I-91, about 10 miles south of the Canadian border, which turned into a fatal gun battle that claimed his life. Also dead, a German national, here on a current visa. Another “subject” is being treated at a local hospital, and is in custody.

As of Wednesday, the FBI has not said any more, other than disclosing Agent Maland was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. He had served in Texas at our southern border before moving to Vermont.

The obvious question is why a CBP agent would be making a traffic stop on the interstate near the Canadian border. It’s generally not the Border Patrol’s ken to do speeding stops or traffic duty. And definitely not something that anyone would expect to lead to a gun battle—in the Kingdom—where cross country skiiing and fishing is more the rule.

But our northern border is heating up, and has been for the last few years. Youtuber Peter Santenello did a ride-along with the Clinton County, New York sheriff’s office, along the Canadian border. You’d be surprised at the level of activity there.

Part of the reason is due to the former Biden administration’s lax policies regarding illegal immigration, plus the northern border’s easy access to New York City, a sanctuary city with mandatory shelter laws. Boston is another city that is required to house illegal immigrants, and also generally does not cooperate with ICE on “detainers” to deal with foreign criminals.

One thing that President Donald Trump did on his first day in office was to shutter the CBP One mobile app at the southern border. A notice on the app’s website reads:

Effective January 20, 2025, the functionalities of CBP One™ that previously allowed undocumented aliens to submit advance information and schedule appointments at eight southwest border ports of entry is no longer available, and existing appointments have been cancelled.

Apparently, the app still works at other locations, such as our northern border. In Santenello’s video, the deputy sheriff noted that immigrants simply walking into the U.S. from Canada use that app to schedule their provisional applications for refugee status (Form I-94), and also find locations to grab an Uber or other ride to the big city. This traffic puts a strain on local law enforcement, which is not really allowed to apprehend the immigrants.

I imagine that in northeast Vermont, the same issues exist, along with smuggling, drugs, and other criminal activity. Whatever Agent Maland was dealing with, he found himself in much greater danger than he expected.

Maybe Trump and his new Border Czar Tom Homan should take a look at the longest peaceful frontier in the world and do something other than business as usual before it erupts into ugliness and violence.

On February 1st, Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods goes into effect. This will undoubtedly have the effect of massively increasing the amount of smuggling and illegal traffic over our borders. Trump covered the southern border by moving active duty troops from Northern Command to assist CBP. But nobody is covering the northern border, except Border Patrol agents like Chris Maland.

The stack of orders Trump signed on Day One may be political footballs and fodder for lawsuits in Washington D.C. and in state capitals. But there are real consequences happening in places that are not prepared for the kind of war that might be coming. I don’t know what kind of war that might be, but a German national in the U.S. on a valid visa in a gun fight, claiming the life of a Border Patrol agent on a bucolic stretch of highway in the Northeast Kingdom could be a clue.

I hope our media begins to focus on these issues, rather than dishonest rank stupidity like Elon Musk caught with his hand outstretched, calling it a Nazi salute.

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