Roxham Road Border. Image credit: Twitter page of Conie Provost
CMEDIA: Despite strict new border rules between Canada and the U.S. for migrants not to enter Canada via Quebec’s Roxham Road, dozens of migrants arriving on buses from New York City over the weekend risked crossing into Quebec’s Roxham Road due to slow spread of new Canada-U.S. deal, media reports said.
Several immigrants decided to get into one of the few cabs still ferrying people from the bus stop to Roxham, about 30 kilometres away. Although taxi drivers in Plattsburgh have been told no to take people to the border after midnight Saturday, some still opted to do.
Under the revised Safe Third Country Agreement announced Friday, migrants can no longer claim asylum after crossing Canada’s land border, save for some exemptions. Those who try to claim asylum after crossing into Canada would be sent back within 14 days of arriving.
The new rules have been condemned by immigration experts and advocates who feared people might go underground, take dangerous risks and pressurize on front-line responders to surveil and rescue migrants attempting to cross along Canada’s nearly 9,000-km long border.
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