CAMPLAN | The sudden announcement of a deal between Canada and the United States to bar migrants from crossing Roxham Road from midnight did not spark a rush at the border in the hours that followed.
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The Journal observed that asylum seekers continued to be met in small groups by Canadian customs officials the morning after crossing the border.
None of the dozens of people we spoke to knew they would be among the last to use this famous border crossing.
Because starting tonight, midnight, an agreement reached between Justin Trudeau and Joe Biden obliges their fellow human beings to go through an official entry point if threatened with rejection.
“¡Dios mio! [mon Dieu!]exclaimed a Colombian when we broke the news to her as they rushed to cover the last few meters before reaching Canada.
“I didn’t know,” Guerson, a 28-year-old Haitian, breathed in shock.
Roxham Road was the culmination of a three-month trip from Chile for him, his wife and their two-month-old twins.
- Listen to the interview with Stephan Reichhold, Head of the Round Table of Organizations at the Refugee and Immigration Service, on Yasmine Abdelfadel’s broadcast live daily at 2:15 p.m. via QUB radio :
It came
Other migrants suspected that the path would not stay open forever.
“The first question when they call me is often, ‘Have they blocked the way?’?” tells in Spanish a taxi driver who met at dawn on the American side of the border.
“I knew it was coming,” adds Mike Martineau, who drives a canary-colored cab that shuttles migrants back and forth several times a day to drive them home.
Starting tonight, the driver plans to erase the mention ‘Roxham’ from his window alongside ‘Lacolle’ and ‘Cornwall’.
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