Migrants recently arrived in the United States are given free bus tickets to travel to Plattsburgh to reach Roxham Road and cross the border, reports the New York Post.
• Read also: Immigration minister, who contradicted Legault, was right, expert says
According to the American daily, migrants who want to start a new life in Canada use bus tickets paid for by the City of New York to go to Plattsburgh, where taxi drivers take them to Roxham Road.
“Our goal is to help asylum seekers who want to go to another place,” explained in an email a spokesperson for the office of the mayor of New York, Kate Smart.
In almost a year, more than 43,000 migrants have arrived in the Big Apple. The City welcomes them in humanitarian centers, but also offers them the possibility of going to other American cities.
“It can include Plattsburgh or other cities/places where people want to go. (…) We do not treat Plattsburgh any differently, ”writes Ms. Smart.
Soldiers are assisting the City by welcoming migrants to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, where they help them find buses to another US city, US National Guard spokesman Eric Dutt said.
- Listen to the Know It All segment in 24 minutes with Alexandre Moranville-Ouellet on QUB radio:
To Roxham Road
Monday afternoon, about twenty passengers from New York arrived at the Plattsburgh bus terminal.
They were mostly adults in their twenties or thirties.
Those to whom Le Journal was able to speak had paid the cost of their ticket themselves.
“We paid $150,” mentioned, in Spanish, a Colombian who was heading to Canada with her husband and their two large suitcases.
A dozen taxis were waiting to take them to the Canadian border, 38 kilometers from the gas station.
By going through customs in Lacolle by bus, they risk being sent back to the United States, which is not the case when crossing illegally via Roxham Road.
Limited capacity
In a press briefing on Monday, Quebec Immigration Minister Christine Fréchette questioned the “relevance” for the American authorities to finance the transport of migrants who want to get closer to Canada.
“It shows the importance of solving the Roxham Road problem,” she said.
According to her, Ottawa must conclude the negotiations around the Agreement of the safe third parties with the United States, so that it extends to the whole of the border.
She also urged the federal government to distribute the asylum seekers arriving in the country among all the Canadian provinces.
“Quebec’s reception capacity has not only been reached, it has been exceeded. The influx is too massive to respond to adequately,” she said.
