Asylum seekers walked across U.S. border into Emerson Canada early Saturday morning
By: Jessica Botelho-Urbanski For Metro Published on Sat Feb 11 2017
At least 16 asylum seekers from Djibouti walked across the Canadian-U.S. border around 4 a.m. Saturday seeking to make refugee claims in Canada. A separate group of five Somali men also fled to Canada a few hours later, keeping the Canada Border Services Agency staff on their toes. J.P. Venegas, senior manager of Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council in Winnipeg, was at the Port of Emerson Saturday to help drive the refugees to Winnipeg. He said the men, women and children who crossed appeared to be in good health and were happy to be somewhere warm.
The five Somalis were the first to leave Emerson, being driven to Winnipeg's Welcome Place, a non-profit that provides social assistance to refugees. Metro News spoke briefly to eight of the men from Djibouti who were being screened in the Canada Border Services Agency office near Emerson, before being escorted out of the building. The men, who were huddling under blankets in a corner of the CBSA office, said they had all been staying in the U.S. for varying amounts of time, some for days and some for months. Most spoke some English and were fluent in French. One man said they flagged down a driver on the highway to get a ride to Pembina, North Dakota. Then they began the walk to Emerson.
The men said they also had women and three children traveling with them. The kids are six-years-old, four-years-old and six-months-old, they said. Bill Spanjer, the municipality's emergency coordinator, said he received two alerts on his pager Saturday morning about the new influx of refugee claimants. If the CBSA office is too full – as it was last weekend when 22 refugees arrived from across the border – officers may call the Emerson Community Complex to rent extra space.
Spanjer said they hadn't made the call yet Saturday, but the community is prepared to help if need be. Last Saturday, volunteers watched over a rotating group of 22 refugees from Somalia. The asylum seekers took turns sleeping on collapsed banquet tables raised about four inches off the concrete floor, and undergoing screenings at the CBSA office.
Read more: http://www.metronews.ca/news/winnipeg/2017/02/11/asylum-seekers-from-djibouti-walked-across-the-border-friday.html
African refugees who made it all the way to the US, are afraid to stay here. What a shame.
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