A wave of illegal Mexican migrants has overwhelmed shelters and emergency services in Windsor, and it could be more than a year before their claims of refugee status are dealt with by Canadian authorities.
"Just yesterday evening, we received another 20 (people). I have no place to put them," Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis said.
Francis said it's so far cost the city about $230,000, about 20 per cent of the annual budget for shelters.
More than 200 illegal immigrants have crossed the Detroit-Windsor border in the past two weeks, on the run from an immigration crackdown in the United States.
Windsor's unemployment rate is currently pushing 10 per cent, making the influx of jobless refugees the last thing its economy needed.
Meanwhile, the refugees have begun to settle in. On Thursday, one refugee gave birth to a baby, now a legal Canadian citizen. Another woman is expecting any day, CTV Ottawa reported.
Dozens have begun receiving welfare benefits from the government while they wait for their refugee claim cases to be processes. Most of the claims have little chance of success.
The wave of migrants to Canada comes after U.S. President George Bush promised a crackdown on illegal immigration.
The New York Times reported that an organization in Naples, Fla., was the first to promote Canada as a haven for refugees, and charged a fee for assisting with the paperwork. Other groups cashed in on the scam.
"It is really regrettable that people are taking advantage of them and making money off of their misery," said Rivka Augenfeld, with the Canadian Council on Refugees.
According to Canada's department of Citizen and Immigration, those groups have been providing "false and misleading information" on Canada's immigration policies.
In a warning published on its website this week, Citizenship and Immigration cautioned foreign nationals to avoid the misinformation.
"Please note that the Government of Canada has no special programs to fast track applications, give preferential treatment or grant refugee status to Haitians, Mexicans or other nationals seeking refugee status," the notice reads.
It also gave the following tips to help immigrants avoid being taken in by people trying to make a profit off of spreading the misinformation:
- You cannot purchase admission or refugee status.
- You do not need to purchase forms.
- You cannot "exchange" U.S. documents for any type of Canadian "permit."
A spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration said Canadian officials have met with U.S. refugee groups in an attempt to curb the spread of misleading information.
Francis told the Canadian Press the influx has consumed 20 per cent of the city's annual $1-million emergency shelter budget.
The problem will only get worse as groups start popping up elsewhere in the United States.
"We may very well see this not only coming up from Florida but also Texas and California into the B.C. crossings," said NDP MP Joe Comartin.
In the first half of this year, more than 3,000 Mexican refugee claims were referred to the refugee board. Thirteen per cent of the 1,123 claims that were finalized in that period were accepted.
Canada has seen an increase in Mexican refugee claims over the past few years. Since 2005, it has been the top country, with almost 5,000 referred to the board last year alone.
With a report by CTV's Graham Richardson
