ASYLUM SEEKERS TEST TOWN’S PATIENCE

Residents of Emerson, Man., population 700, pride themselves on being a small town with a big heart.

So when word got out Saturday that law enforcement officials had corralled 19 asylum-seekers who had snuck in from the U.S. in frigid conditions, the local emergency coordinator didn’t hesitate to open the community centre to provide temporary shelter.

But the recent surge in illegal border crossings from refugee claimants here and along other parts of the border is putting a strain on local and federal resources — and raising questions about security — causing some officials to wonder: how long can they keep up that generosity?

“We’ve had so many people just roaming around in the town of Emer- son knocking on people’s doors in the middle of the night. People are scared,” said Greg Janzen, reeve of the Municipality of Emerson-Franklin.

Janzen, who has called for an emergency meeting among local officials this week, says if the town opens its community centre again to “border jumpers,” there ought to be at least some presence from border agents or RCMP.

“We’re not trained to be security,” he said.

Conservative MP Ted Falk, who represents the area, said Tuesday he spoke to Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and expressed his concern that individuals were accessing the refugee claims process through the “back door.”

Once on Canadian soil, someone who makes a refugee claim is entitled to a hearing.

In a statement, a spokesman for Goodale said under international law, those who arrive in Canada and make refugee claims cannot be expelled without due process. He said the government is aware of the increase in illegal border crossings and that those caught could be subject to penalties. Someone can also be detained if there are reasonable grounds to believe they pose a danger.

The spike in so- called “irregular” crossings from asylum- seekers — purportedly driven by U. S. President Donald Trump’s hard line on immigration — is happening across the country, according to the Canada Border Services Agency.

In Manitoba, the number of refugee claimants crossing the border illegally has climbed sharply from 68 cases in 2013-14 to 403 cases so far in 2016-17.

In Quebec, 1,465 asylumseekers have entered the country illegally so far in 2016-17, three times more than the 424 cases it saw in 2015-16. In B.C., 652 asylumseekers bypassed a port of entry in 2016, more than twice the 319 cases in 2015.

“I think we will continue to see growing numbers of people trying this, as the process is viewed as easier in Canada, and as the U. S. becomes less friendly towards non- citizens,” said Jason Dzubow, an immigration lawyer in Washington, D.C.

Refugee advocates say asylum- seekers would be more inclined to enter through ports of entry, as opposed to trudging through fields and forests, if Canada agreed to temporarily withdraw from the Safe Third Country Agreement.

Under the treaty, the U. S. is considered a “safe” country to be a refugee, which means Canadian border officers can turn away asylumseekers who come via the U. S. Several advocacy and civil liberties organizations, as well as more than 240 Canadian law professors, have signed a letter urging Ottawa to temporarily suspend this agreement.

The 19 asylum- seekers who crossed the border near Emerson on Saturday were picked up by RCMP and taken to the CBSA border office for processing.

Brenda Piett, the assistant municipal emergency coordinator, said she got a call in the morning from border officials asking if she could open the community hall.

She and another volunteer set up makeshift beds using folded- down tables and blankets, fed them Nutella sandwiches and bought them tooth brushes. She learned that the asylumseekers, who included some children, were from Somalia and Djibouti.

One man described in broken English how he had to help a woman who had sunk waist-deep in the snow.

“Other than being tired and hungry, they were just happy to be in Canada,” she said.

Two Ghanaian refugees who crossed the same border earlier this winter weren’t so lucky. They suffered frostbite so severe they had to have most of their fingers amputated.

Many of the asylum- seekers who sneak across the border end up at the Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council’s Welcome Place, which provides social and legal assistance.

In an interview with CTV, Mohamed Mualim, 29, a Somali native, said after trying to get asylum in the U.S. for four years he was worried about getting deported. So he paid a smuggler $ 500 in Minneapolis to drive him close to the border this weekend and then walked five hours in the snow before he got picked up by police.

“I’m not safe anymore in the United States,” he said.

As the weather warms, residents say they are bracing for more illegal crossings.

Doug Johnston, an Emerson-Franklin municipal councillor, says he’s of two minds. As a volunteer firefighter, he knows protection of life must be the priority. As a taxpayer, he wonders about all the resources being spent. “Where’s this going to end? Your guess is as good as mine.”