Quebec asks for federal help over asylum seekers

MONTREAL – The Quebec government says it is facing even more asylum-seekers entering the province from the United States this year and is asking the federal government for help. Immigration Minister David Heurtel says the number is forecast to increase significantly this summer.

He told a news conference Monday there have been 6,074 asylum-seekers so far this year, up from about 2,000 during the same period last year.

Heurtel says projections suggest there will be up to 400 crossings a day this summer, compared to 250 in 2017. Several senior Quebec ministers joined Heurtel to announce the province will soon reach its capacity for accommodating asylumseekers.

Last year, the influx of border crossers was linked to the end of a U.S. government program that granted Haitians so-called “temporary protected status” following the massive earthquake that struck their homeland in 2010.