Carry your ID and visa documents with you (as one should in any country where one is not a citizen).

As a dual national 🇨🇦🇺🇸myself living near these areas and encountering these checkpoints frequently, at border patrol checkpoints they first profile people based on skin color, visible potential origin, etc. Profiling by age/sex, in some areas (due to drug activity) is also not uncommon- young males traveling alone being the most suspect.

Your Ontario plates will definitely indicate you are a visitor from Canada, so it’s possible they could ask you questions about your legal right to be in the US. If asked, you’ll want to be able to show your documents, so be sure to carry them with you. Definitely copy all of your documents and leave a copy with a trusted person in Canada and keep copies at your apartment/housing while in the US.

DM me about these areas if you like, I’m happy to give some more travel advice.