Trey Paul, FISM News
[elfsight_social_share_buttons id=”1″]
New York authorities are paying for migrants who were bussed to the Big Apple to take a bus even further north, shining a light on a loophole that Canada’s immigration minister wants to see addressed.
According to the New York Post, the National Guard is handing out taxpayer-funded bus tickets to migrants so they can travel to Plattsburgh, New York, which is 30 minutes south of the Canadian border. Once there, migrants hire taxi drivers, who are standing by, to take them to the Canadian border via Roxham Road.
Québec Immigration Minister Christine Fréchette told reporters that what’s happening is “surprising” and highlights the need to “solve the problem of Roxham Road.”
Under the Safe Third Country Agreement, which the United States and Canada signed back in 2002, migrants must file their asylum application in the first country they enter. They cannot try a second time at an official border crossing. However, the agreement does not regulate unofficial entry points like Roxham Road.
Fréchette said U.S. and Canadian officials are said to be negotiating an update to the Safe Third Country Agreement which would address Roxham Road. “I think it makes the urgency of the situation even more apparent,” Frechétte said.
Reports show close to 40,000 people used Roxham Road to enter Canada last year. In December alone, nearly 4,700 people entered Canada via that route.
Now that it’s happening so often, some feel New York authorities are exploiting a legal loophole. The reasons why have been exposed for years.
An employee at Row, a well-known hotel in New York City, released photos of illegal immigrants trashing the hotel. “The chaos that we see at the Row today is [caused] by migrants being drunk, drinking all day, smoking marijuana [and] consuming drugs,” Felipe Rodriguez told FOX News.
One migrant from Venezuela, Manuel Rodon, told the New York Post that he would feel more comfortable in Canada because drug use in New York City is so rampant. “I feel like Canada will be safer. It is a much quieter country than America,” he said.
But the grass may not be greener in Canada because it’s covered in snow. In a recent article in the New York Post, Colombian native Jose Liandro said after crossing into Canada last week and staying at a hotel on the outskirts of Montreal, he wanted to return to the US. When asked why he replied with “Mucha nieve” which is Spanish for “Lots of snow.”
Some migrants bussed to Canada already heading back to NYC https://t.co/UuIjgEDGYl pic.twitter.com/prbGw2tThU
— New York Post (@nypost) February 9, 2023
IMMIGRATION CRISIS GROWS
What’s happening in both Canada and New York is pointing to a much bigger problem: the migrant crisis.
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo slammed President Joe Biden’s open border policy and admitted the “southern states were right.” In the latest episode of his podcast, he said: “It was a mistake for President Biden to open the border without having a plan to handle the tremendous flow of people.”
“President Biden had said he would do it in the campaign — but you can’t change a policy unless you have the program in place to manage the change,” he added, referencing Biden’s reversal of Trump-era immigration restrictions.
Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik of New York City recently addressed what’s going on in her state by tweeting: “Joe Biden’s failure to secure our border is a CATASTROPHE for New York communities. Because of his failed policies, we have buses of illegal migrants going right through #NY21. New Yorkers should NOT have to bear the burden for his failed crisis.”
Joe Biden’s failure to secure our border is a CATASTROPHE for New York communities.
Because of his failed policies, we have buses of illegal migrants going right through #NY21.
New Yorkers should NOT have to bear the burden for his failed crisis.https://t.co/2odUYidaU9
— Rep. Elise Stefanik (@RepStefanik) February 8, 2023
Buses of migrants have been arriving in New York City since the fall when Republican governors pushed back on President Biden’s reckless immigration policies and began sending asylum seekers from the border to cities run mostly by Democrats.