Now Canada wants the U.S. to cut the flow of Nigerians crossing their border. Too bad

You may recall some of the stories we covered last year about an obscure, unregulated border crossing from New York State into Canada. It’s found near the northern tip of Lake Champlain outside of a small village. Up there you will find a dead end street named Roxham Road leading to a small path through the woods bringing you to the border. Illegal aliens, fearful of being deported by the Trump administration have been pouring over into Canada at this crossing and, at least until now, our neighbors to the north have made a point of welcoming them with open arms. (I found this to be such a good idea that I suggested we send some heated trailers and lunch service up there to help them across.)

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Unfortunately for the Canadians, it seems there really can be too much of a good thing. They’re getting a large influx of Nigerian refugees now and are running out of facilities to handle them all. So they’d like the U.S. to do a better job of… screening Nigerian arrivals to the United States? (Washington Post)

As Ni­ger­ian asylum seekers flood into Canada across a ditch in Upstate New York, Canadian authorities are asking the United States for help — but not with managing the influx at the border.

Instead, they want U.S. immigration officials to reduce the foot traffic by screening Nigerians more stringently before granting them U.S. visas.

It is a ripple effect that few expected last summer when people, mostly Haitians, began to walk into Quebec via an “irregular” border crossing north of Plattsburgh, N.Y., and seek refugee status.

With the coming of spring, the flow has picked up again. But recently, the asylum seekers have been mostly Ni­ger­ian, and their route to the border is more problematic, Canadian officials say.

Margaret Wente at the Globe and Mail cuts through the political correctness and identifies what’s going on with the Canadian government right now. The reality is that the flood of illegal aliens being welcomed into their country is straining resources, particularly in Quebec. The only solution offered thus far is to shuffle more of them off to Ontario, but they say they’ve already got too much on their plate.

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Quebec says it can’t afford the bills. Last year it had to borrow the Olympic Stadium as a temporary shelter. Social services are expensive. Last year, the biggest French school board in Montreal had to manage a 14-per-cent surprise increase in enrolment. And processing times are slow. The average wait time for a refugee hearing is nearly two years.

Quebec has been pressing the federal government for relief in no uncertain terms. And now the feds have an answer. The answer is to ship a large number of the asylum seekers to Ontario – provided that is their “preferred destination.”

But Ontario is stretched thin, too. “Our shelter system is at the bursting point,” said Debbie Douglas, executive director of the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants. It’s a familiar problem. The federal government may determine immigration and refugee policies, but it downloads the costs of settling them to local governments, schools and social agencies.

Canada, particularly since Justin Trudeau took charge, has made a big point of criticizing Donald Trump for his immigration policies and showing how “enlightened” they are by welcoming anyone wanting to flee the United States to avoid deportation. This year the bills are coming due and they can’t cover the costs. So now they want us to, “screen Nigerians more stringently before granting them U.S. visas.”

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We already know what the problem here is. Too many of these Nigerians are requesting tourist visas, implying that they will return home within a certain amount of time. If they overstay their visas, they become our illegal alien problem. But the group Canada is complaining about are lying about their intentions, arriving in America and then heading to Canada to ask for asylum.

Guess what. We’re not mind readers. We already screen people applying for visas. I suppose one solution might be to cut down on the number of visas we issue to allow for better background checks, but then, particularly given the racial makeup of Nigerian visitors, Trump would just be accused of being a racist again and would immediately be sued for trying to change immigration policy. So as far as I’m concerned, this is your problem, Canada. You wanted to show how much more socially responsible and “woke” you are by taking all of our illegal aliens. The Nigerians in question are coming to our country legally and, in most cases, leaving before their documents expire. When they hit the border it’s your responsibility to deal with them.

Best of luck. And just think of it this way. You could probably use a bit more racial diversity since you’re one of the whitest nations around.

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Stephen Moore 8:30 AM | December 15, 2024
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