New York City has been sending a record number of migrants to Canada, sparking concern among Canadian officials.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who last year condemned the “inhumane” treatment of Texas officials of migrants from the southern border after they were sent by bus to New York, is now using taxpayer funds to buy tickets for the same migrants who wish to go further up north and seek asylum in Canada.
The migrants are taking the overnight bus to Plattsburg, and then from there take vans or cabs to a cul-de-sac at Roxham Road in Champlain where they can cross the border on foot and surrender to Canadian authorities.
Canada traditionally receives immigrants with open arms, but the crossings are surging — and much like in New York, it’s proving difficult for authorities to cope with the migration.
“Any form of assistance to migrants crossing the border where it is strictly forbidden to do so should stop immediately,” Ewan Sauves, a spokesperson for Quebec Premier Francois Legault said.
“We understand that the situation of migrants in New York poses major challenges, but the situation in Quebec and particularly in Montreal is even worse and constitutes an important humanitarian issue.”
According to Sauves, each day, as many as 250 migrants take the Roxham Road crossing to illegally enter Canada, with a majority settling in Montreal. Last year, almost 40,000 asylum seekers crossed through Roxham Road, making up 42% of the total applicants for asylum in 2022.
Adams meanwhile claims that New York City is not making people leave.
“We are not telling anyone to go to any country or state,” he said. “We speak with people and they say their desire is to go somewhere else. So, there’s no coordinated effort.”
The city has instead been assisting migrants who wish to go elsewhere to reach out to family or friends. But this hasn’t been entirely the case as many pack up and decide to go to Canada without knowing anyone because it’s able to grant work permits to asylum seekers faster than in the US where it can take years.
Getting a work permit would only take three to four months in Canada, and once migrants make a refugee claim at the border, the country immediately grants them health coverage and social assistance.
The situation has triggered some outrage in Quebec. The separatist Parti Québécois proposed police intervention through the creation of an “enclave” that would block the crossing on Roxham Road between the US and Canada.
But on Tuesday, Quebec’s immigration minister Christine Fréchette shared that almost all asylum seekers who entered through Roxham Road have been redirected elsewhere in the country — only eight of the 380 asylum seekers who arrived last weekend stayed in the province.
“We’re very happy about this,” the minister said. “We hope that this will be maintained and that this will be the new approach to managing the borders and asylum seekers.” The minister also said that this was a sign that Ottawa is finally listening to Quebec’s concerns about the influx of asylum seekers entering the province through Roxham Road, which is considered an irregular border crossing.
While unable to provide details on where the asylum seekers were sent to or how they are being transported, Fréchette said that the federal government has prepared hundreds of hotel rooms.
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