Day promises consequences for illegal
refugees 2007
'People cannot come into this
country without proper documentation and consequences will follow if they do,'
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day told reporters
in
"People cannot come into
this country without proper documentation and consequences will follow if they
do," he told reporters in
His comments came on the
heels of reports suggesting that busloads of illegal immigrants currently in
the
In the past three weeks,
nearly 300 people have crossed into
Day said
"People who are coming
across the border will face anything that anybody would face if they didn't
have proper documentation and if they're not supposed to be here," he
said.
On Friday, Windsor Mayor
Eddie Francis met with a
"There are individuals
or organizations that are now planning for these types of arrivals at the
Detroit-Windsor gateway," Francis told A-Channel after his meeting with
Jacques Sinjuste, founder of
"He gave specific
reference as to one that will be coming the first week of October and they've
already made accommodation arrangements on the
So far, almost 300 people
originally from
Most have arrived with the
help of Florida-based groups who say
Another nine such people
arrived in
Sinjuste told reporters that they help illegal Mexican workers
in
"I understand that I
fill out the form, but in reality I do not send them here," Sinjuste told reporters. He said his group connects
Floridians with a company in
"We do not force the
person to pay."
Sinjuste told media after his meeting with Francis that
another person, responsible for sending the latest group, was charging more
than $1,000 a head to bring them to
Francis said he's concerned Sinjuste, who is staying in the
Francis has written the
federal and provincial governments asking for funding to help cover the cost of
keeping the refugees housed while they wait for their refugee claims to be
heard.
Last week, he said it had so
far cost the city $230,000, about 20 per cent of the annual budget for
shelters.
Dozens of settlers 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.
It has been reported that the
immigrants may not be covered under Canadian refugee status, meant to be given
to people with a well-founded fear of persecution in their home country.
According to the Geneva
Convention, persecution must be based on reasons of race, nationality,
membership of a specific social group or political opinion. Gender, in some
cases, can also be a factor.
Also, those applying from a
"safe third country," such as the
If Mexicans come to
"You're not helping
people by providing people false hope; you're not helping people by encouraging
them to leave where they are at now only to be returned a year and a half or
two years later," Francis said.
There are currently 30,891
cases awaiting adjudication across the country.
According to the Immigration
and Refugee Board, refugee claims from Mexicans have exploded in the past 10
years, from fewer than 1,000 to 5,000.
The recent migrant wave to
Minister of Citizenship and
Immigration Diane Finley has said she is monitoring the situation, but no other
help has been offered from the federal government to either the wave of
immigrants claiming refugee status or the overwhelmed city.
The websites for the Ministry
of Citizenship and Immigration , and the Canadian
Council for Refugees both have notes warning people to avoid groups of
individuals offering special programs.
"Canada Immigration has
been very clear about posting everything that needs to be posted, that there is
no special program," Day said.
Meanwhile, the Wednesday
arrest of a Montreal human rights worker allegedly helping 12 Haitians seek
asylum in Canada has sparked outrage from lawyers' and refugee's groups.
Janet Hinshaw-Thomas,
stopped with a group of Haitians at a
The Act says that "no
person shall knowingly organize, induce, aid or abet the coming into
Andrew Brouwer
of the Refugee Lawyers' Association of Ontario says it may be the first time a
refugee worker has been charged under the legislation.
Brouwer added that it could scare off groups helping refugees
seek asylum in
Members of the Canadian
Council for Refugees said the law should not impact people acting in
humanitarian reasons.
"This is a very grim
day for
She added that the decision
to prosecute a humanitarian worker working out of compassion is all the more
shocking considering the government has done little to crack down on smugglers
who exploit refugee claimants by charging large sums of money.
With report from CTV's
Graham Richardson and The Canadian Press