Manitoba aid agencies bracing for new wave of refugees
Manitoba aid agencies warned Thursday they are becoming overwhelmed by a wave of refugee claimants coming across the U.S. border near the community of Emerson.
Some 169 people have crossed the border on foot in sub-zero temperatures this year – an unprecedented amount for the cold weather months, according to Immigration Partnership Winnipeg, one of 23 agencies that work with The United Way to help newcomers.
“Can you imagine what is going to happen to us when the weather improves?” said Abdi Ahmed, a co-ordinator with the group. “Now we have (mostly) single people coming across.
We will have families and we will have many people coming across when the weather improves.”
Refugee claimants must wait 30 days before they can apply for a work permit and some government benefits. Until then, they are given shelter and other help by non-profit agencies. The United Way has set up a website – www.helprefugees.ca – to make it easy for people to donate money and help ensure the donations go where they are needed.
Sitti Ali, a 28-year-old refugee claimant from Djibouti, walked across the border at Emerson in November.
She walked seven hours after a taxi dropped her off in North Dakota, still far from the border, she said.
After making it to Emerson, she and her small group called police and were taken in for questioning.
“That was good, because we were not in a cold place,” she said. “They were welcoming, they started asking questions ... and the next morning, they said ‘OK, you can go to Winnipeg.’”
Ali said she expects the number of asylum-seekers to jump because of U.S. President Donald Trump’s plans to limit immigration south of the border.