It’s a reality. New York City and state authorities offer newly arrived immigrants the possibility of heading towards the Canadian border, if they intend to cross it.

Nearly 45,000 asylum seekers have arrived there since the spring of last year and Mayor Eric Adams announced on Tuesday that a sixth humanitarian emergency response and relief center – a special facility with adapted services to immigrants – would open in a Holiday Inn in Manhattan to help cope with the influx.

The city has also opened more than 80 emergency homeless shelters while its system is at capacity.

For this reason, Mayor Eric Adams’ office will support immigrants to reach Plattsburgh, NY, very close to the border between Canada and the United States, specifically Quebec.

For her part, a Quebec immigration official said it is “astonishing” that the authorities in New York are sending migrants to the Canadian border.

Quebec Immigration Minister Christine Fréchette made the comment after the New York Post reported that the National Guard was handing out free bus tickets to Plattsburgh.

Migrants seek asylum in Canada through a loophole under a two-decade-old treaty that Canada’s Immigration Minister Sean Fraser says needs to be significantly reconfigured. thanks to a legal loophole backed by a two-decade-old treaty that Canadian Immigration Minister Sean Fraser says needs to be significantly reconfigured.

The Safe Third Country Agreement, signed in 2002 between Canada and the United States, means that immigrants must seek asylum in the first of the two countries through which they enter and cannot try a second time at a official border crossing.

But the agreement does not regulate irregular entry points, such as Roxham Road, just outside Plattsburgh. Once in Canada, people have the right to claim refugee status.

Canadian response

The Canadian government had proposed renewing its border policy with the United States, prompted by the arrival of thousands of immigrants who crossed the country from New York in recent years.

They claim to have held firm for several years saying they are working with their US counterparts to update the deal, but no major changes have been announced. Fraser gave no timeframe for reaching an agreement.

And now, due to the current emergency in New York, particularly generated by Venezuelan migrants, the latest measure by the New York authorities seems an attempt to take advantage of this legal vacuum where Roxham Road appears.