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Quebec and Manitoba see influx of asylum seekers crossing U.S. border

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TheStruggler

Report me for trolling ND/TLoU2 threads
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec-and-manitoba-see-influx-of-asylum-seekers-crossing-us-border/article33995516/

More than 40 people illegally crossed the U.S. border and claimed refugee status within Quebec this past weekend, while 21 others did the same in Manitoba, border officials say.

The influx of asylum seekers from the United States comes as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives at the White House on Monday for his first meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. Mr. Trump last month signed an executive order that temporarily banned Syrian refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries.

The RCMP did not respond to messages seeking comment Sunday. A force spokesperson earlier said it had witnessed an increase in illegal border crossings in Quebec, Manitoba, and British Columbia, with the largest of those increases in Quebec.

But it has said the number of refugee claimants crossing into Manitoba so far in the 2016-17 fiscal year is over 400, up from 68 in 2013-14. Most were from African countries, particularly from Somalia.

” ... That possibility is real. They have been coming across when there's wind chills of -35. ... I'd hate to be a farmer all of a sudden finding somebody dead laying there on the side of his field."
 

TheStruggler

Report me for trolling ND/TLoU2 threads
Canada's got room. Save them from us.

yep I think the scary thing however is the lengths they will go to leave. Again they are walking in -35/-45 wheather at times, one man arrived in manitoba and lost his fingers due to frost bite.
 

TheStruggler

Report me for trolling ND/TLoU2 threads
I have friends and family in MB who are infuriated by this. Conservative country...

Ya sadly Manitoba is Conservative right now, I welcome them, if they feel that threatened and are willing to go those lengths to get away, #letthemstay
 
Trudeau should do something to take care of this. Maybe this Trump guy has an idea on how to stop illegal immigrants...
A good start would be doing away with the Safe Third Country Agreement. With this agreement refugees are REQUIRED to apply for refugee status on the first country they land in, in this case it is the US. They're only able to circumvent it via these illegal and dangerous border crossings.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/laws-policy/menu-safethird.asp
 
I live in Manitoba currently, and to be honest, it'll be probably one of the defining moments of Brian Pallister's time as Premier, how he handles this growing situation. Most of them are East African migrants, coming from places like Somalia, by way of the East African community in the Twin Cities of Minnesota.

Considering what Trump is going to be doing, I don't blame them for trying to risk crossing the border in the frigid Manitoba winter.

I mean, Pallister is reeling from comments about night hunting that First Nations people do as 'becoming a race war situation' (paraphrased) so this is going to add to it.
 

bremon

Member
It will be hard for Pallister to do much of anything when he's suntanning near the equator with limited access to phone or email.

Ya sadly Manitoba is Conservative right now, I welcome them, if they feel that threatened and are willing to go those lengths to get away, #letthemstay
It's going to get worse when the weather improves. Safe third country is the real issue. I keep hearing "the USA is good enough" and if they come here they take spots refugees from the Middle East could take instead. Plus if they lose digits they are a "burden on our healthcare system". Since MB had been a "have not" province basically since confederation from my understanding I can understand tax concerns but come on. Poor people are the people big government is supposed to help, and my 20 years there tells me MB is full of poor people; they aren't going to be the ones shouldering the brunt of the financial burden involved in caring for refugees.
 

Apathy

Member
There was a story last week of an asylum seeker that wasn't wearing proper clothing for the weather, got frostbite and lost 4 fingers on one hand just to make it over the border. Dude is so scared of the US that he lost fingers over it.
 

DopeyFish

Not bitter, just unsweetened
There was a story last week of an asylum seeker that wasn't wearing proper clothing for the weather, got frostbite and lost 4 fingers on one hand just to make it over the border. Dude is so scared of the US that he lost fingers over it.

it's not fear of the US

it's the fear of the US sending them back
 

DopeyFish

Not bitter, just unsweetened
please be joking?

er, Niagara Falls? Michigan? Wisconsin? Vermont? NEW YORK?



oh god

All of them separated by water

River, great lakes, etc

There is direct areas where you can enter, but for an asylum seeker you can't enter officially once first claim made in US... so they'd have to cross water and the best place on foot is Minnesota/ ontario border... not a great place to do it in the winter

Also the lack of population centres nearby
 

Oppo

Member
As far as I know Lake Erie hasn't frozen over this year, or any of the Great Lakes, so it's kinda difficult to walk across the border to Ontario.

it is, however, easy as pie to sail across.

seriously – if you hang out at a boating club, they are always looking for spare sailors for racing ("rail meat", sit where you're told, for speed) and they do sail boat races across Lake Erie all the time. source: most of my childhood.

and when you enter on a sailboat you are expected to make a friendly phone call to the Border people and tell them you're there. voluntarily.
 
please be joking?

er, Niagara Falls? Michigan? Wisconsin? Vermont? NEW YORK?



oh god

Those are bridges with border checkpoints. The refugees can't cross the border checkpoints because they'd be sent back, that's why they're crossing illegally. There's no border with Vermont or Wisconsin land or sea, though.
 

Oppo

Member
All of them separated by water

River, great lakes, etc

There is direct areas where you can enter, but for an asylum seeker you can't enter officially once first claim made in US... so they'd have to cross water and the best place on foot is Minnesota/ ontario border... not a great place to do it in the winter

I don't know that it's actually totally comprehensive, but if you are counting rivers, ok.

there are likely lots of spots where Minnesota meets western Ontario, along the Prairie Portage.
 

jstripes

Banned
it is, however, easy as pie to sail across.

seriously – if you hang out at a boating club, they are always looking for spare sailors for racing ("rail meat", sit where you're told, for speed) and they do sail boat races across Lake Erie all the time. source: most of my childhood.

and when you enter on a sailboat you are expected to make a friendly phone call to the Border people and tell them you're there. voluntarily.
You could rent/buy a boat. Or you could just make a land crossing into Manitoba or Quebec. Either way you end up cuffed and taken to customs and immigration.

MN and Ontario share a pretty big land border.

The border runs through a river. The bridges all have checkpoints.
 

Oppo

Member
You could rent/buy a boat. Or you could just make a land crossing into Manitoba or Quebec. Either way you end up cuffed and taken to customs and immigration.
which is why I didn't say rent/buy a boat.

but even then... I've been across and back many many times. Lake Erie is a smaller Great Lake but it's still huge. we used to race boats from Port Stanley to Ashtabula Ohio, stay overnight and sail back, and never bothered with any border stuff.
 

DopeyFish

Not bitter, just unsweetened
You could rent/buy a boat. Or you could just make a land crossing into Manitoba or Quebec. Either way you end up cuffed and taken to customs and immigration.



The border runs through a river. The bridges all have checkpoints.

Retract, there's a lot of places you can cross, but it's not convenient in any way

But i still think the immigration offices being 1000 km away is an issue

Getting to there and claiming from there would be difficult.... it's pure wilderness on both sides of the border
 

Mega

Banned
I live in Manitoba currently, and to be honest, it'll be probably one of the defining moments of Brian Pallister's time as Premier, how he handles this growing situation. Most of them are East African migrants, coming from places like Somalia, by way of the East African community in the Twin Cities of Minnesota.

Considering what Trump is going to be doing, I don't blame them for trying to risk crossing the border in the frigid Manitoba winter.

I mean, Pallister is reeling from comments about night hunting that First Nations people do as 'becoming a race war situation' (paraphrased) so this is going to add to it.

Can you explain what this means? Native Americans in Canada are hunting the border crossers at night??
 

ZOONAMI

Junior Member
You could rent/buy a boat. Or you could just make a land crossing into Manitoba or Quebec. Either way you end up cuffed and taken to customs and immigration.



The border runs through a river. The bridges all have checkpoints.

There are definitely portages, it isn't a constant river/lakes through the whole border. It is complete wilderness though and yeah you can't just drive across in a keep or something.

You could drive pretty damn close though and canoe/portage/hike in a matter of a few days though.

If I was a Muslim from one of the 7 countries in the ban I would probably be considering it. I would just walk across in NW MN and hitch hike to Winnepeg though. Much easier. I would also wait until May because it is fucking cold up there right now.
 
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