Smuggler's Inn owner granted bail for smuggling illegal migrants into Canada

The owner of a bed and breakfast in Washington State, who is facing 16 charges related to the smuggling of migrants into Canada has been granted bail.

Robert Joseph Boule is ordered to pay the court a sum of $15,000, which is expected to be fundraised by the Blaine, Washington community.

The offences are alleged to have occurred between April 2016 and March 2019.

The decision regarding Mr. Robert Joseph Boulé was announced in a Surrey, Britsh Columbia Provincial Court on Thursday.

Before being allowed to return to the United States, Boule was ordered to fulfill the following conditions, including:

• Cancelling all phone numbers and emails used by him or his business and providing his bail officer with the password of his new email. He also must keep a record of all the communications from that email.
• Erect a 4 by 8 foot sign on the property of Smuggler's Inn visible from 20 feet and illuminated at night which clearly states, "Warning: it is illegal to enter Canada directly from this property, the owner of this property is bound by a court order to report to Canadian authorities the identity of anyone who enters Canada illegally from this property."

Boulé must also send a photograph of that sign to his bail officer every week.

Along with those conditions, his business must also make copies of each guests ID, and report anyone who he suspects still intends to cross the border into Canada.

Outside of those major conditions, he was also instructed to follow almost a dozen other instructions such as continuing to reside a the Smuggler's Inn, reporting to his bail supervisor twice a month, stopping all contact with migrants he has helped, as well as removing any reference to a phone number online.

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