New York City offers free bus tickets to asylum seekers wishing to leave the megalopolis, including to Plattsburgh, 45 km from the famous Roxham Road.
The news, published on Monday February 6 in the tabloid New York Postcreated a shock wave in Quebec.
“It’s amazing,” reacted the Minister of Immigration, Francisation and Integration, Christine Fréchette, on the sidelines of a press conference on emergency aid to Quebec community organizations that support migrants. .
“I question the relevance, if this is the case, that the government grants, like that, tickets, pays for tickets, to come closer to Canada, she declared. But above all, it demonstrates the importance of settling the Roxham Road problem, of settling the Safe Third Country Agreement. »
Mme Fréchette said he hoped that this Safe Third Country Agreement, which has been under renegotiation for years, “applies to the entire border”, including Roxham Road, near Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, where 39,171 asylum seekers were intercepted in 2022. An absolute record.
“I think that makes the urgency of the situation even more striking,” added the minister.
“Americans need to get their hands dirty”
Bloc Québécois MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe was amazed to learn of the existence of the scheme.
“Americans must be kidding themselves when they hear Canada say it is negotiating to modernize the Safe Third Country Agreement. How much they must laugh when you wonder why the negotiations have been dragging on for six years, ”he mocked in the House.
It is therefore urgent to unilaterally suspend the bilateral agreement, he insisted with the government, whose Immigration Minister, Sean Fraser, recently affirmed that the thorny issue would not be settled during the visit. of Joe Biden in Canada next March.
“I think we have to use this visit to change direction,” said Alexandre Boulerice, NDP Deputy Leader, who sees this new information as proof that the agreement with the United States “is not working. , that it is wobbly, that there is a flaw”.
The Conservative Party is also urging the Liberals to act quickly. It is “more than time”, because “migrants are the victims of the weakness of the government of Justin Trudeau”, argued MP Pierre Paul-Hus in a written statement.
“We are aware of reports of bus companies in the United States taking migrants to irregular entry points along the border […]and we are working with partners to assess the validity of this information,” Minister Fraser’s office said Monday.
shades
The news of New York Post must, however, be nuanced.
The City of New York offers free bus tickets to migrants who want to leave its territory, but there is nothing to suggest that it encourages them to go to Canada via Roxham Road.
Our goal is to help asylum seekers who wish to move to another location, to join friends and family or community members.
New York City spokeswoman Kate Smart in response to questions from The Press
“If necessary,” the City will provide a bus ticket to help people get to “their final destination,” she added. This final destination “may include Plattsburgh”, near the Canadian border and Roxham Road, or “other cities”.
It must be said that New York has been grappling with an unprecedented influx of asylum seekers since the Republican Governor of the State of Texas, Greg Abbott, had migrants transported by bus to the Democratic strongholds of the country, to denounce President Biden’s policy.
New York was very affected by this offensive. Enough for the mayor of this metropolis, Eric Adams, to declare, in December, that his city was approaching its “breaking point”.
taxpayers money
The New York Post affirms for its part that the migrants leave the city of New York to go to Canada “with bus tickets financed by the American taxpayers”.
“National Guard soldiers are handing out tickets at the Manhattan Port Authority Bus Terminal to migrants who wish to head upstate before crossing into Canada,” the tabloid writes, citing a Venezuelan who took the bus with his family to Plattsburgh. “The army gave me and my family free bus tickets,” the migrant said. “I am going to Canada for a better quality of life for my family. »
The daily traveled to Plattsburgh, where it says it has observed that “migrants regularly tear up their American immigration documents when traveling from Plattsburgh to the Canadian border”.
Under the Safe Third Country Agreement, in effect since 2004, asylum seekers must submit their claim in the first safe country they arrive in, the United States or Canada, to avoid “shopping around” for countries, with a few exceptions. Roxham Road is exempt from this agreement.
Quebec releases 3.5 million for migrants
The cry from the heart launched 10 days ago by the Montreal community sector has been heard: Quebec announced Monday emergency aid of 3.5 million to support asylum seekers. Of this amount, $3 million comes from the Ministry of Employment and Social Solidarity and will be managed by Centraide of Greater Montreal to help 22 community organizations. The additional half-million comes from the Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration (MIFI) and targets 12 organizations. Quebec plans to pass the bill on to Ottawa. “All the amounts that are invested, including the amounts that are announced today, are part of the request for reimbursement of all the expenses generated by this influx of asylum seekers who arrived irregularly”, specified MIFI Minister Christiane Fréchette at a press conference. This aid was greeted with “relief and satisfaction” by community groups. “There will be a second round, with a rested head,” assured Stephan Reichhold, director of the Roundtable of organizations serving refugees and immigrants (TCRI).
