Florida appears to have become one of the hotspots for irregular migration into Canada in recent months, with a record number of asylum seekers crossing the border this year.
More than 20,000 people passed through Roxham between January and July. That’s more than the annual total for 2017, when Montreal’s Olympic Stadium opened urgently in the summer to temporarily house migrants.
In contrast to this wave of asylum seekers in Quebec, the reality of those arriving in Canada has changed significantly. Initially, it was migrants who had been living in the United States for many years, fleeing Donald Trump’s policies.
Today, many people cross this country directly from Mexico to get to Roxham. Paul-Christian Namphy, one of the leaders of the Florida organization Family Action Network Movement, regrets that migrants are often treated here in quotation marks as criminals and illegals.
“This far-right ideology is gaining ground here and we don’t know what will happen in the next elections. »
— A quote from Paul-Christian Namphy
Don’t be surprised if increasing numbers of people, immigrants, including Haitians, go to Canada. Politically, it plays very differently, he believes, citing speeches by the former US President or other Republican figures such as current Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The US government doesn’t really treat Haitians fairly and well.
Father Reginald officiates in Florida Photo: Radio-Canada
Father Réginald Jean-Mary of the Archdiocese of Miami is even more direct. He claims to receive migrants in need every day who have crossed all of South America to reach the United States. An easy stopover before Canada.
During the Mass we attended, the priest asked to pray for the refugees, especially those who lived through the Del Rio tragedy. In September 2021, thousands of Haitians slept under a bridge at the entrance to Texas after crossing the Rio Grande, the river that separates Mexico from the United States.
American agents then turned back migrants on horseback and with lassos, angering President Joe Biden and promising to deport these people to their countries of origin.
Father Reginald, who was present at the site, understood the desire of these migrants to migrate as far north as possible. If we don’t welcome them here, they need to find a place that welcomes them.
They are real refugees, I meet them, they continue to suffer, he swears.
His church holds several immigration assistance meetings each month. When we visited, a third of the thirty present told us that they wanted to come to Canada as soon as possible.
A few weeks later, Enquete also found one of them in Montreal. I paid cash for a man who brought me in a van. There were 13 of us in the vehicle.
Francisco managed to get to Canada by a different route than Roxham Photo: Radio-Canada