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Canadian mayor unhappy with influx of Mexican illegals

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by poindexter, Sep 24, 2007.

  1. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/story.html?id=eb24c2f6-7372-4da6-abdc-806fad175d18&k=57287


    Refugees pose 'potential crisis'
    Mayor Francis asks the feds for help to deal with influx of Mexicans
    Doug Schmidt and Dave Battagello, The Windsor Star
    Published: Wednesday, September 19, 2007

    With city shelters filled and a surge of further refugee claimants expected to flood into Windsor, Mayor Eddie Francis is pleading for financial help from Ottawa.

    "When there is a possibility of adding thousands to the local social assistance system as a result of refugee claimants crossing the border into Windsor, we will become overwhelmed and our current resources will not suffice," Francis wrote in a letter sent Wednesday to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

    Over the past three weeks, 45 families and 31 individuals -- approximately 200 people -- entered Canada at the Detroit River crossings and applied in Windsor for shelter and social assistance after filing refugee claims with the Canada Border Services Agency. Municipal agencies dealing with the sudden influx of mainly Mexican refugee applicants are renting out hotel rooms and bracing for predicted thousands more to come.
    Concepcion Montiel and her daughter Perla, 2, arrived in Windsor Monday by bus with two other families. Montie said a lack of jobs in Florida, the fear of deportation and the perceived opportunities promised in Canada persuaded her to move her family north.

    "We don't have the means, ability or capacity to deal with this additional cost. We are not able to deal with this potential crisis locally," Francis wrote Harper.

    "I don't believe that Windsor's residents and taxpayers should have to foot the bill for U.S. immigration policy," Francis told The Star. He was referring to the suspected source of the problem -- a recently begun crackdown on illegal immigrants in economically struggling regions of the U.S. South.

    With the bulk of the latest arrivals being long-time Mexican illegals dislodged from their homes and workplaces in southwestern Florida, fingers are being pointed at unscrupulous outfits charging money and then directing desperate individuals and their families toward the Windsor border crossing.

    "We are aware of these operations -- they have been advertising incorrect and false information," said Marina Wilson, a spokeswoman for Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Wilson said Canadian immigration authorities have started contacting the Mexican and Haitian communities in Florida, as well as local media there, to get the word out that nothing has changed in Canadian refugee policy.

    "The fact someone wants to come here for better economic opportunity or a better quality of life ... that's no basis for a successful refugee claim," said Immigration Refugee Board (IRB) spokesman Charles Hawkins.

    But a group operating out of Naples, Fla., vowed to continue sending the so-called economic refugees to Windsor.

    "They ask, 'Is Canada an option?' and I say, 'Yes, it is an option,'" Jacques Sinjuste of the Jerusalem Haitian Community Center said in a phone interview Wednesday. For a US$300 "donation" (most of those interviewed in Windsor claim they paid US$400), JHCC staff download forms off the Internet, help applicants fill them out and give directions on how to get to the Canadian border.

    Sinjuste said he's simply providing a "referral" service.

    "Most of the time when the people come, they say they've heard something (about Canada). I say that I've heard the same thing," he said.

    Jacquie Rumiel, director of programs for new Canadians at the YMCA, where refugee claimants are referred by Windsor's border guards, said the new people she's seeing are "mostly" Mexicans coming from Florida.

    To be successful, refugee claimants must prove they are fleeing persecution at home, something most of the Mexicans arriving in Windsor would be hard-pressed to do. The IRB's Hawkins said there was only a 13 per cent acceptance rate of refugee claims filed by Mexican nationals during the first six months of the year, compared to an overall rate of 47 per cent.

    But the average processing time for a refugee claim in Canada is currently 14.2 months, said Hawkins, a period during which the applicant is eligible for financial and other support. A failed claimant then also has the right to seek leave to appeal his or her rejection to federal court.

    Despite the high number of failed applications cited by the IRB, Sinjuste said he gets calls to his Naples centre from "a lot of people" who've arrived in Windsor.

    "They say everything is okay -- they are doing good, going to schools, going to work," he said.

    Sinjuste said he was visited last week by an official from the Canadian consulate general in Miami but couldn't remember if he was told to stop helping economic refugees go to Canada.

    "I don't think they tell me that," he said. Federal bureaucrats confirmed the meeting but said they couldn't divulge details.

    Others are warning about the types of activities Sinjuste is engaged in.

    "The way he's misleading the most vulnerable is infuriating," said Pegg Roberts, executive director of Detroit's Freedom House, which runs a shelter and assists asylum-seekers with their refugee claims. Sinjuste said he uses the Freedom House website to download refugee claim forms and advises the people he assists to seek help there.

    "I do not help economic refugees," said Roberts, adding her non-profit organization assists the fleeing victims of torture and war crimes and has no affiliation with the JHCC.

    "This is a problem the U.S. has allowed to create. It's really unfair for Canada to have to face this," said MP Joe Comartin (NDP -- Windsor-Tecumseh), his Party's public safety and national security critic.

    "This is very much being driven by (the U.S. Department of) Homeland Security," he said, predicting that, "with few exceptions," most of these "economic claimants" will eventually be sent back.

    dschmidt@thestar.canwest.com or 519-255-5586
     
  2. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

    The Feds will jump in if necessary. It's the scumbag in Florida who's ripping these people off.

    There's no way they will be accepted as refugees.
     
  3. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    Fuck that mayor for blaming the U.S. for this problem. Sorry, the U.S. has the right to enforce it's laws. Try calling Mexico City if you want to talk to the people responsible for your problem pal.
     
  4. You were expecting anything less from a Canadian politician?
     
  5. 21

    21 Well-Known Member

    I wonder if Big Dog is Mexican.
     
  6. Perry White

    Perry White Active Member

    NYT article on the same situation: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/21/us/21refugees.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all
     
  7. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

    Wow, Lyman's not around for weeks and then comes up with his usual Pavlovian response as soon as Canada as mentioned.
     
  8. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

    Yes, you are partially responsible.

    All of a sudden, after years of the US turning a blind eye to illegal immigrants, certain jurisdictions have decided to do a Dirty Harry on them.

    And some of them have been scammed by illegal "immigration consultants" who are exploiting the situation. And no one in Florida seems to be pursuing these folks

    To say the US is not at least partially responsible for this situation in Windsor is nonsense

    You created the mess, not Canada.
     
  9. It IS nonsense, JR.

    Apparently you don't think the U.S. has the right to enforce its borders, and who is in the country and who isn't.

    All the Canadian officials have to do is deport the immigrants back to their country of origin. So why don't they do it?

    Oh, that's right, it's just easier to use the Canadian fallback position: Blame all our problems on the U.S.
     
  10. Well, this discussion slid into the stupid ditch quickly.
    Lyman, we don't have an immigration policy. We have immigration politics, driven now by the fatbellied-guys-on-the-border-Lou-Dobbs crowd.
     
  11. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    Mexico created this mess. But hey blame America if it makes you feel better.
     
  12. markvid

    markvid Guest

    Blame Canada and that bitch Anne Murray, too.
     
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