“New York City Providing Free Bus Tickets to Asylum Seekers Heading to Canada: Urgent Action Needed at Border”

MONTREAL — News that the city of New York is providing free bus tickets to migrants traveling north to seek asylum in Canada underscores the urgent need to address the situation at the border, Quebec’s immigration minister said Monday.

Speaking to reporters in Montreal, Christine Fréchette called the report “surprising”. She said Ottawa needs to “solve the problem of Roxham Road,” an unofficial border crossing south of Montreal that was used by tens of thousands of people to seek asylum last year.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams told Fox 5 on Monday that his administration is helping with the “re-ticketing process” for people who arrive in the city but want to go elsewhere. He has previously said the city is being inundated with newcomers and he has criticized the practice of some US governors transporting migrants directly into the city from the southern border.

On Monday, Adams told the news channel that the city isn’t urging or forcing people to leave, but some are expressing a desire to move to other places, including Canada.

“We found that people had other goals, but they were forced to just come to New York City and we help interview those who want to go elsewhere,” he told the news channel.

“Some want to go to Canada, others to warmer states, and we’re here for them as they continue to pursue that dream.”

His comments came after the New York Post reported that some migrants in New York City are getting free tickets to Plattsburgh, NY. From there, you can take a shuttle or taxi about half an hour to get to Quebec on Roxham Road.

An Adams office official confirmed the city is working with community organizations to “get new tickets to get people to their final destination.” The city government does not treat requests for bus tickets to Plattsburgh any differently than requests for other American cities, the official added.

Eric Durr, a spokesman for the US National Guard, said its members are present at New York City’s main bus station to ask disembarking migrants what services they need — be it housing, medical care or help getting to another destination reach. However, the armed forces only connect people with resources and do not distribute bus tickets, Durr said.

Fréchette pointed out that Canada is currently negotiating with the United States to modernize the Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement, which requires people seeking refugee protection to seek asylum in whichever of the two countries they are in arrive first.

However, the agreement only applies at official border crossings, leading some people to use unofficial border crossings like Roxham Road to enter Canada. Fréchette called on Ottawa to extend the agreement to cover the entire border, from “coast to coast”.

“I think it makes the urgency of the situation even clearer,” she said of the bus ticket story.

Her comments came as the Quebec government announced $3.5 million in aid to community organizations struggling to provide food, clothing and shelter to a rising number of asylum seekers.

Fréchette said while Quebec is willing to support asylum seekers, it wants the federal government to ensure other provinces take on a bigger share.

Federal data shows that Quebec — with less than 25 percent of the population — received over 59,000 of the country’s 92,715 asylum applications last year.

All but a few hundred of the 39,540 people who crossed “irregularly” between official border points did so in Quebec, mostly on Roxham Road.

Fréchette also called on Ottawa to speed up work permits for asylum seekers so they can feed themselves and their families faster.

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on February 6, 2023.

— With files from The Associated Press

Morgan Lowrie and Marie-Eve Martel, The Canadian Press

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