Emerson asylum claimants drop, but area residents still worried

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This article was published 20/07/2017 (2469 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Federal data suggest the number of asylum claimants from the U.S. who are crossing into Canada near Emerson continues to drop, but a federal NDP politician said Friday residents told her they remain worried about safety.

On Friday, the RCMP released the number of interceptions it made in June, recording just 63 that month, a steady drop from the peak of 170 crossings in March.

Refugee activists have long suggested these numbers would rise alongside the temperature, but last month the federal Liberals said this appeared to not be happening. 

While Friday’s data include only those police have intercepted, the number appears to be dropping in Manitoba and British Columbia.

In recent years, people have crossed outside of the border station at Emerson to claim asylum through a legal loophole. The number of these claimants rose during former U.S. president Barack Obama’s increased deportations, and intensified under current President Donald Trump.

Since 2004, the Safe Third Country Agreement has forbidden most people from making an asylum claim at the Canada-United States land border. But a 1951 United Nations agreement prohibits countries including Canada from prosecuting or deporting people who cross illegally in order to make an asylum claim.

Critics say that provides a perverse incentive for people to cross along remote, unpatrolled parts of the border, before reporting themselves to Canadian police. At least one woman died of hypothermia in May while attempting the crossing near Minnesota. 

Friday’s data show the phenomenon growing in Quebec, with some 781 interceptions recorded in June — the highest of any month this year. Media reports suggest dozens of claimants make their way from New York City to Montreal through organized transit routes.

The federal NDP’s immigration critic visited Emerson on Friday and said residents are wary of strangers knocking on their doors at 3 a.m. She said they worry criminals could pose as asylum seekers.

“Right now, it’s chaotic,” Vancouver MP Jenny Kwan said. “It’s not a sustainable situation. People don’t feel safe.”

Kwan said Ottawa should use the agreement’s 90-day temporary suspension to examine the issue and process refugee claims safely. “The numbers may have dipped a little bit, but it doesn’t mean that the problem’s gone away,” she argued.

In March, the federal government pledged $30,000 for Emerson’s firefighters, but Kwan says that’s not enough for the town and the Welcome Place shelter in Winnipeg, where hundreds of claimants have stayed.

“My hat falls to the people of the community, because they’ve managed to handle this situation extremely well,” Kwan said.

Federal Conservative MPs visited the town in May and called for a change to the agreement.

 dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca