A rural community in southern Manitoba is reporting a spike in illegal immigrants seeking asylum from deportation in the United States.
More than 400 refugee claimants have been caught crossing the border illegally near Emerson, Man., in the last nine months, according to numbers from the Canada Border Services Agency. That's 70 more crossings than in the entire previous year, and hundreds more than in 2013-2014, when only 68 crossings were recorded.
The small community is located directly south of Winnipeg along the U.S. border, north of the state line separating North Dakota and Minnesota.
Members of the Ghanian Union of Manitoba say many illegal immigrants are seeking asylum in Canada because they fear they will be deported from the U.S. when Donald Trump comes to power.
"Some of his rhetoric before he was elected, it's been putting them in fear, not knowing what is going to happen," Frank Indome, of the Ghanian Union of Manitoba, told CTV Winnipeg on Monday.
The CBSA numbers show a sharp spike in border-crossing cases in the last two years, which appears to coincide with the ramping-up of the U.S. election cycle. The breakdown below shows crossings more than doubled from April-March of 2014-2015, to the same time period in 2015-16.
Refugee claimants illegally crossing the international border near Emerson (Source: CBSA)
|
Months of Claim |
FY2013-14 |
FY2014-15 |
FY2015-16 |
FY2016-17 |
|
April |
1 |
0 |
13 |
40 |
|
May |
0 |
0 |
15 |
48 |
|
June |
1 |
0 |
18 |
38 |
|
July |
2 |
4 |
23 |
42 |
|
August |
6 |
21 |
44 |
47 |
|
September |
16 |
22 |
28 |
51 |
|
October |
7 |
17 |
39 |
66 |
|
November |
4 |
22 |
41 |
66 |
|
December |
9 |
20 |
34 |
12 |
|
January |
14 |
11 |
18 |
0 |
|
February |
3 |
2 |
14 |
0 |
|
March |
5 |
17 |
53 |
0 |
|
TOTAL |
68 |
136 |
340 |
410 |
Emerson officials say they received 19 calls about men trying to cross the border illegally in 2016. Emergency services are often dispatched to meet these individuals, as frostbite and hypothermia are always possible during the winter months.
In the latest incident, two men from Ghana were taken to hospital and treated for severe frostbite, after they attempted to cross the frigid wilderness between Minnesota and Manitoba on Christmas Eve.
Mohammed Kamadeenulias, 31, says he and a friend took a cab to the Minnesota side of the border, but got lost during the crossing. They wandered through the wilderness in -20 C until they stumbled upon the highway and found help.
"I walked until morning. Passed through the jungle. It was cold," he told CTV Winnipeg.
Kamadeenulias, who is gay, says he is hoping for asylum in Canada because he can't go back to Ghana, where homosexuality is illegal.
"It's my country and I love my country, but my life is not safe," he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 running for my life. I don鈥檛 want them to take me back home.鈥�
The two men have been granted an extension to file their refugee claims once they get out of hospital, where they are being treated for frostbite.
Doug Johnston, a councillor for the rural municipality of Emerson-Franklin, says the community is aware of the recent spike in illegal border traffic.
"I can't believe, in the middle of the night when it's -25 C and windy and snow up to your waist, that they'd try this," he told CTV Winnipeg. "But certain people are desperate in this world."
With a report from CTV鈥檚 Manitoba Bureau Chief Jill Macyshon
