RCMP catch 4 men illegally walking into Canada

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This article was published 13/12/2023 (668 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG — Canadian border agents have four African men in custody — one of them suffering serious, weather-related injuries — who were picked up near Emerson after they illegally walked into the country Saturday morning.

American border patrol agents in North Dakota alerted Manitoba RCMP about the irregular crossing at about 7:15 a.m., David Marcus of U.S. Customs and Border Protection told the Free Press Tuesday.

Mounties located all four men who were travelling north near the border town. The injured man was transported to hospital, RCMP confirmed in an email statement.

Police said the men, all between 27 and 33 years old, are from the Republic of Chad, a north-central African nation that has been subject to social and political unrest for decades.

While Mounties could not comment on the group’s motive for attempting to cross the border, they confirmed the men are in the custody of the Canadian Border Services Agency. They have not been criminally charged, police said.

Environment Canada data show the temperature at the border crossing was about -5 C at the time the group crossed the border. Wind gusts were tracking at 56 kilometres per hour, creating a windchill that felt like -16 C.

After intercepting the group, police conducted additional patrols along the border to ensure no one else was attempting to cross, RCMP said.

“We have previously discussed the safety concerns of crossing between the ports during inclement weather. The RCMP continues to remind everyone that winter weather can quickly prove deadly. Cross safely at the ports of entry,” police said.

In the last fiscal year, 300 people were caught attempting to cross from Canada into the Grand Forks sector, which includes the Canadian border with Minnesota and North Dakota, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol data show.

Meanwhile, data from the Canadian government show RCMP intercepted 71 people crossing from the U.S. into Manitoba during a similar time period. Such interceptions peaked in 2017 when Manitoba RCMP apprehended 1,018 people crossing into the country.

“Typically, people are crossing on foot and getting picked up either by somebody waiting on the U.S. side or somebody waiting on the Canadian side, depending on what way they are going,” Marcus said. “Then they get transported farther into the U.S. or farther into Canada.

“I know the asylum laws are a little bit different in Canada, so sometimes I think that is why people do it, to try and gain asylum in Canada, versus the U.S.”

In March, the Canadian and U.S. governments agreed to have asylum seekers rejected at “irregular” border crossings via changes to the Safe Third Country Agreement. Under the amended protocol, refugees who enter Canada on land without using an official port are not eligible to make a refugee claim unless they meet specific exemption criteria.

“The changes… are intended to deter irregular crossings between the ports of entry, and to re-affirm that foreign nationals seeking to claim asylum should do so in the first safe country they enter,” Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada spokesperson Jeffrey MacDonald said by email.

MacDonald could not confirm whether the men found Saturday were seeking asylum, but noted “all eligible asylum claimants receive a full and fair hearing on the individual merits of their claim.”

Winnipeg immigration lawyer Alistair Clarke said many people who attempt such crossings are fleeing political, social or gender-based persecution in their own countries.

He spoke against the amended agreement, saying some refugees fear anti-immigration sentiments in the U.S., forcing them to risk dangerous, on-foot crossings into Canada, where they feel they will be treated fairly.

» Winnipeg Free Press

Such refugees can become victims of criminal elements such as human traffickers as a result of their desperation, he said.

“It is a service that is extremely lucrative and these individuals take advantage of the most vulnerable people in the world for their personal financial gain,” Clarke said. “It’s unfortunate. The individuals who are crossing, they are crossing because the system in the U.S. is broken. They are not finding safety in the U.S. and they are coming to Canada to try and find safety here.”

Clarke represents up to 90 refugee claimants annually. His most recent client was a political refugee from Chad who was tortured by police there for being a member of an opposition party.

Clarke urged government officials to reconsider the approach to immigration and refugee programs, describing them as dated.

“I am very proud of the humanitarian tradition here in Canada. Canada still, as far I’m concerned, has the best track record for upholding international human rights law,” he said. “(But) what I would like to see is a much more holistic, systemic approach so we have more consistency…. It needs to be modernized.

» Winnipeg Free Press