He’s back. And so are the numbers of people illegally fleeing into Canada from the United States.
The much-ballyhooed deal finally signed a year ago by U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, to return illegal immigrants flowing across the border to their country of origin, was supposed to end this national embarrassment. (You may recall images of forlorn people dragging suitcases through heavy snow at remote locations in Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba, only to be met by Mounties before being passed along to various agencies to be housed at taxpayers’ expense, because refugees aren’t allowed to work, and therefore left in limbo for years while their cases are determined.)
For a while, those numbers dropped and the disturbing news stories ceased, much to the relief of our Liberal government. But then two things changed.
First, the ending of the pandemic allowed everyone, everywhere, more freedom of movement — including those thinking of slipping across the Canada-U.S. border. But the real change arrived with the return of Donald Trump to the media spotlight, where he’s once again displaying the fire and fury that shocked us the first time around.
Trump is taking his outrageous outrage to an entirely new level, especially when it comes to the hottest issue in the U.S.: illegal immigration.
It’s where Biden is most vulnerable, and nobody ever accused Trump of missing an opponent’s weak spot.
It’s why he’s already promising the “largest domestic deportation operation in American history” to rid the country of those there illegally, if again elected president come November. Given there are an estimated 17 million such souls in the U.S., that threat’s probably making many folks very nervous indeed.
Perhaps, in the end, it will prove just more Trump bombast. However, some of those worried about deportation won’t take that chance. Ask yourself: would you sit and wait for a knock on the door or would you jump ship first? But where could you flee to safety?
The answer is obvious because we’ve seen this situation before. Remember when Trudeau polished his moral halo in the early days of the Trump presidency, announcing “Canada Welcomes You” to those feeling threatened?
Fast-forward to today and we find the flow northward is resuming. Given how nasty the politics south of our border will become in the lead-up to the presidential election, the number of desperate people making the trip will surely increase.
Refugee and Immigration Board statistics show in the first nine months of last year, 29,330 people were apprehended trying to cross between official border posts and filed refugee claims. The same period two years earlier — during the height of COVID and before Trump again ran for president — totalled less than a thousand. That’s an alarming jump.
It will get worse. Much worse. And which federal outfit will come to our rescue? Perhaps the Canadian Border Services Agency; it should, you would suppose, given its title.
Don’t hold your breath. It’s the same bunch that spent almost $60 million on that infamous ArriveCan app during the pandemic, though where that money actually went remains a financial black hole according to our country’s auditor general, who ruled that the agency displayed: “a glaring disregard for basic management and accounting practices.” Ouch.
If it makes you feel any better — and it shouldn’t — the numbers going the other way are soaring as well.
The U.S. has pressured Canada for several years to reverse a decision allowing people from Mexico to fly into our country visa-free. Why? Because a fair number subsequently try to sneak across the U.S. border — about 10,000 were nabbed last year, with Mexicans making up more than half the number.
Heaven help us: Not only do we face a future tsunami of refugees from the U.S., but we’ve ignored and annoyed the very same country that could help stem the flow.
Chris Nelson is a regular Herald columnist.
Nelson: Refugee tsunami resumes at our southern border
7
1
22.02.2024
He’s back. And so are the numbers of people illegally fleeing into Canada from the United States.
The much-ballyhooed deal finally signed a year ago by U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, to return illegal immigrants flowing across the border to their country of origin, was supposed to end this national embarrassment. (You may recall images of forlorn people dragging suitcases through heavy snow at remote locations in Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba, only to be met by Mounties before being passed along to various agencies to be housed at taxpayers’ expense, because refugees aren’t allowed to work, and therefore left in limbo for years while their cases are determined.)
For a while, those numbers dropped and the disturbing news stories ceased, much to the relief of our Liberal government. But then two things changed.
First, the ending of the pandemic allowed everyone, everywhere, more freedom of movement — including those thinking of slipping across the Canada-U.S.........
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