Canada sees rising tide of Haitian migrants from the US
HEMMINGFORD, Canada: The flow of migrants, mostly Haitians fearing expulsion from the United States, has surged in recent weeks on Canada’s southern border, with requests for asylum tripling since mid- July, officials say.
At the Lacolle crossing point on the Quebec border, federal police have erected a tent on a logging road to check the identities of the new arrivals, who come on foot hauling suitcases and packages.
More than 100 people were processed Sunday morning, while 50 others waited patiently to register with the Canadian border services.
Most were Haitians but they also included some Yemenis and Somalis.
Once registered, the migrants are taken to a transit center, and from there sent on to Montreal, where they are housed while authorities consider their requests for asylum.
Montreal’s Olympic stadium has been turned into a shelter for more than 1,000 people.
On Sunday, the new arrivals were cheered at the stadium by a group of two to three hundred supporters who staged a welcome rally.
A planned protest by those opposed to the influx of migrants was cancelled by its organizers, Radio Canada reported.
An estimated 450 to 700 migrants traverse the border each week at the Lacolle crossing point, according to the head of the union representing customs and immigration workers, JeanPierre Fortin.
Quebec’s immigration minister Kathleen Weil said this week that asylum requests averaged 50 a day in the first half of July, but “the pace has surpassed 150 requests.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday promised that Canada would step up its efforts to handle the surge. — AFP