New York pays for bus tickets for migrants seeking to travel to the Canadian border to seek asylum in the neighboring country, seeking better job opportunities, health benefits and a system of immigration more agile than that of the United States.

The city’s mayor, Democrat Eric Adams, assured Fox 5 that New York is not forcibly transferring migrants, as has happened with the hundreds of charter buses from Texas to Democratic states in recent months.

“Some want to go to Canada, others want to go to warmer states, and we are here to help them as they continue to move forward. chasing your dream“said the mayor.

Canadian authorities said they were “surprised” to learn that New York is facilitating travel to the common border. Quebec Immigration Minister Christine Fréchette told reporters in Montreal that it is necessary “solving the Roxham Road problem”referring to a rural area of ​​New York in the Far North that is a frequent crossing point for asylum seekers in Canada.

While the neighboring country has eased migration routes to hire foreign workers and address labor shortages, it has also made it clear in the past that it is focused on reducing irregular border crossings.

New York has taken in more than 40,000 asylum seekers since last spring and has criticized migrant buses sent from Texas to states including New York, Massachusetts and California.

[Nueva York declara el estado de emergencia por la llegada masiva de migrantes de Texas]

Most migrants head for the city of Plattsburgh (New York) about 30 minutes from the Canadian border. There they head to Roxham Road and cross to seek asylum on the Canadian side. In 2022, more than 39,000 people used this route to enter Canada, about 4,700 arrived in December, according to Canada’s CBC News.

Agree with reportsWhen migrants arrive at the New York Port Authority bus terminal, they receive free tickets to cities of their choice.

“We don’t tell people to go to a state or a country. We talk to people and they tell us they want to go somewhere else,” Mayor Adams said Tuesday, in statements quoted by The New York Times.

In mid-January, Adams said “New York can’t take it anymore,” referring to the high number of asylum seekers sent from Texas, which led the city to declare a state of emergency last October.

Canada: more job opportunities and a more agile immigration system

For many Latino immigrants, New York was not their ideal destination, they have no knowledge or contacts in the city and they have not been able to find employment, Izle Thielmann, director of The TLC NYC Team, a non-profit organization that receives migrants at the bus station, provides them with food, cleaning and helps them with phone calls and transportation.

Thielmann said he’s noticed a recent increase in people asking the city for tickets to Plattsburgh.

“The City (of New York) is not forcing people to go to Canada, or even encouraging them to go,” he said. “But when people come and ask to go to Plattsburgh, we don’t ask them any questions and we give them a ticket to go up,” he added.

Thielmann explained that some migrants came to the United States with “false hopes, or an exaggerated idea of ​​the opportunities they would have here and I think it plays a role in the concept of going to Canada”.

[Un segundo migrante se suicida en un albergue de Nueva York en plenas crisis fronteriza]

He also said that rumors may have spread among the migrant community that “a few people managed to cross the (northern) border and were able to find jobs and let others know”.

Canada attracts asylum seekers because of the speed with which they receive certain benefits such as health coverage, social assistance and work permits, compared to the American system, explained the New York Times.

A spokeswoman for the mayor of New York told CBC News that the city does not buy Roxham Road tickets or help migrants cross the northern border. “Our goal is to help asylum seekers who wish to relocate,” said Kate Smart, spokeswoman for Adams.

“We don’t treat Plattsburgh any differently than any other city”, he alleged, but did not answer the question of whether they knew that from there migrants travel to Canada to seek asylum. The journey can take about seven hours and the ticket costs 75 dollars, details The New York Times.

According to CBC News, citing law enforcement sources, more than 200 migrants arrive on Roxham Road every day. They arrive first in Plattsburgh and from there taxi drivers take them to the border for between $50 and $150.

Why do migrants specifically cross Roxham Road?

The United States and Canada signed in 2002 the so-called Safe Third Country Agreementwhich entered into force in 2004 and specifies that “asylum seekers must seek asylum in the first safe country they arrive inunless they benefit from an exception to the Agreement. »

Roxham Road is one of those exceptions, according to Canadian media The Montreal Gazette. Under the Agreement, Canadian authorities refuse asylum seekers who want to enter through official checkpoints with the United States, but Roxham Road is not one of them.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government is “very concerned” about the massive influx of migrants and is working with the United States to modernize the Safe Third Country Agreement to “reduce these irregular crossings and promote legal immigration”. ”.

Some 60,000 asylum seekers entered Quebec in 2022 and some 34,478 were intercepted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police at border points in that province, according to The Montreal Gazette.

The Prime Minister of Quebec, François Legault, assured that this increase in irregular migration represents a challenge to fully meet the educational and housing needs of asylum seekers. The Canadian government will invest $3.5 million in emergency funds to deal with the arrival of migrants, Immigration Minister Christine Fréchette reported.

“Migrants don’t deserve this”

In mid-January, during a visit to El Paso (Texas), Mayor Adams criticized the transfer of migrants to Democratic cities like New York, assuring that there was “no clear coordination” and calling on the national leaders “to address this issue in a true way.”

“Our cities are mined. And we don’t deserve this. Migrants don’t deserve this. And neither do people who live in cities,” Adams said.

Since last spring, New York City has received some 40,000 asylum seekers. In early January, nearly 840 people arrived in a single day, according to the mayor.

At least two Latino migrants have taken their own lives after being placed in temporary shelters in the city, where relatives have complained about overcrowding and poor conditions.