[19th Hole]

Justin Trudeau
A Surge of Migrants Crossing Into Quebec Tests Canada’s Welcome

By DAN LEVIN

Photo
Last week, the Canadian authorities opened a temporary housing center for migrants with 1,050 beds
in Olympic Stadium in Montreal. CreditIan Willms for The New York Times
MONTREAL — The crowd of asylum seekers who gathered the other day outside this city’s Olympic Stadium, their temporary home, hailed from across the globe. They had fled violence, poverty, persecution and, some say, President Trump, often with only a suitcase to their name and a wisp of hope that Canada will allow them to stay.
They are part of a new surge of mostly Haitian migrants who have illegally crossed into Quebec by the hundreds every day over the past several weeks, walking over a ditch at the end of a dead-end road in upstate New York. They are seeking to benefit from a loophole in a treaty between the two countries that allows them to make refugee claims in Canada if they do not arrive at legal ports of entry.
“I lost everything in Haiti, but now I’m afraid the U.S. will send me back,” said Jonathan Luima, 44, a Haitian migrant who arrived in the United States last year. “Canada is my only hope.”
This recent influx of asylum seekers poses a political and diplomatic test for the government of Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, as it seeks to balance its publicly compassionate statements toward refugees with a strict immigration system.
Continue reading the main story

[Snowball]

They are Haitian so it's no big deal
they already speak fluent French.

[themike78]

Why don't these people stay in their own dam countries. They are a bunch of cowards. If the United States gets attacked I'm staying right here.

[19th Hole]

“Canada is portrayed as very welcoming, but we’re not open to every kind of immigrants,” said Mireille Paquet, an expert on immigration policy at Concordia University in Montreal. “Being poor is not a reason to get refugee protection.”
Nonetheless, refugee advocates say the government is essentially encouraging people to come into the country — and to bypass the treaty — by setting up processing centers at popular illegal crossing points, and arranging for shelter.
The Canadian military announced on Wednesday that it would build a camp for 500 asylum seekers near the Quebec-United States border. Last week, the authorities opened the temporary housing center in the stadium, with space for 1,050 beds until September.
On a recent visit to the border crossing in Champlain, N.Y., taxicabs arrived at the dead end of Roxham Road practically every 15 minutes, stopping a few feet from a ditch that separates the United States and Canada. The passengers clutched their luggage, ignored a “no pedestrians” sign and made the short walk into Quebec.
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But Jean-Pierre Fortin, president of the Customs and Immigration Union, which represents Canadian border service agents, said agents had told him that the number of people crossing was much higher than the government’s figures.

[lakerboy]

Will make no difference to me. I WOULD not let them in though.