Refugee/Migrant Crisis

[petros]

Florida pitches 'Alligator Alcatraz' to detain illegal immigrants
Author of the articleenette Wilford
Published Jun 20, 2025 • Last updated 13 hours ago • 2 minute read

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has proposed that a new detention centre be built in his state to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as they carry out mass deportation efforts under the Trump administration.


The Republican posted a video on X showcasing a large swath of land — 39 square miles — owned by Miami-Dade County.


The “virtually abandoned airport facility” also happens to be in the middle of the Everglades, surrounded by alligators and pythons — hence, why Uthmeier has dubbed the potential space “Alligator Alcatraz.”

He noted on the video that it would have the capacity to “house as many as 1,000 criminal aliens,” and it could be up and running within as little as 30 to 60 days.

“Florida’s been leading on immigration enforcement, supporting the Trump administration and ICE’s efforts to detain and deport criminal aliens,” the AG said in the clip.

“The government tasked state leaders to identify places for new temporary detention facilities,” he continued.

“I think this is the best one. As I call it, Alligator Alcatraz.”



Uthmeier boasted the the massive plot of land offers an “efficient, low-cost opportunity to build a temporary detention facility because you don’t need to invest that much in the perimeter,” which has alligators and pythons “waiting” for anyone who manages to escape.

“Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide,” he added.

Uthmeier concluded: “Alligator alcatraz, we’re ready to go.”

While many supported the idea, calling it “fantastic” and a “great solution,” others questioned who would pay for it and who would eat the cost for housing them.


ICE migrant detention centres are currently overwhelmed with about 53,000 illegal immigrants under the Trump administration’s latest push — far beyond what is funded by Congress.


The agency is blowing through its budget, with ICE $1 billion over budget, Axios reported.

It’s unknown what the White House thinks of Alligator Alcatraz but it appears the Department of Homeland Security in on board with the offer, reposting Uthmeier’s video on X.



“ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ,” the department wrote, before noting the delegation of certain immigration enforcement powers to state and local law enforcement agencies by ICE.

“Under 287g authority, state and local law enforcement can now assist with immigration functions, including: arrests, transportation, and detention. 287g is a force multiplier in completing the President’s mission and making America safe again.”

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1935775425243808156

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1935741644101374271

‘NOWHERE TO RUN’: Florida pitches 'Alligator Alcatraz' to detain illegal immigrants

Florida's AG proposed that a new detention centre be built in his state to assist ICE as they carry out mass deportation efforts.

torontosun.com

PEI should get in on this.

 

[spaminator]

Native leaders blast construction of Florida’s ’Alligator Alcatraz’ on land they call sacred
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Kate Payne
Published Jun 26, 2025 • 2 minute read

062625-New-Detention-Center-Alligator-Alcatraz
This image grab from video shows activity at an immigration detention facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" located at an isolated Everglades airfield. (WSVN via AP) AP
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is racing ahead with construction of a makeshift immigration detention facility at an airstrip in the Everglades over the opposition of Native American leaders who consider the area their sacred ancestral homelands.


A string of portable generators and dump trucks loaded with fill dirt streamed into the site on Thursday, according to activist Jessica Namath, who witnessed the activity. The state is plowing ahead with building a compound of heavy-duty tents, trailers and other temporary buildings at the county-owned airfield located in the Big Cypress National Preserve, about 45 miles (72 kilometres) west of downtown Miami.


A spokesperson for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which is helping lead the project, did not respond to requests for comment.

State officials have characterized the site as an ideal place to hold migrants, saying there’s “not much” there other than pythons and alligators.

Indigenous leaders who can trace their roots to the area back thousands of years dispute that — and they’re condemning the state’s plans to build what’s been dubbed ” Alligator Alcatraz ” on their homelands.


For generations, the sweeping wetlands of what is now South Florida have been home to Native peoples who today make up the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida and the Seminole Tribe of Florida, as well as the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.

“Rather than Miccosukee homelands being an uninhabited wasteland for alligators and pythons, as some have suggested, the Big Cypress is the Tribe’s traditional homelands. The landscape has protected the Miccosukee and Seminole people for generations,” Miccosukee Chairman Talbert Cypress wrote in a statement on social media.

There are 15 remaining traditional Miccosukee and Seminole villages in Big Cypress, as well as ceremonial and burial grounds and other gathering sites, Cypress testified before Congress in 2024.


“We live here. Our ancestors fought and died here. They are buried here,” he said. “The Big Cypress is part of us, and we are a part of it.”

Critics have condemned the facility and what they call the state’s apparent reliance on alligators as a security measure as a cruel spectacle, while DeSantis and other state officials have defended it as part of Florida’s muscular efforts to carry out President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Tribal leaders and environmentalists are urging the state to change course, noting billions of dollars in state and federal funds have been poured into Everglades restoration in recent years, an investment they say is jeopardized by plans to house some 1,000 migrants at the site for an undetermined amount of time.

062625-Florida-Alcatraz-Things-to-Know
In this image from undated video released by the Office of Attorney General James Uthmeier shows an isolated Everglades airfield about 45 miles (72 kms.) west of Miami that Florida officials said an immigration detention facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” is just days away from being operational. (Courtesy of the Office of Attorney General James Uthmeier via AP) AP
Indigenous leaders and activists are planning to gather at the site again on Saturday to stage a demonstration highlighting why the area is “sacred” and should be “protected, not destroyed.”

“This place became our refuge in time of war. It provides us a place to continue our culture and traditions,” Miccosukee leader Betty Osceola wrote in a social media post announcing the demonstration.

“And we need to protect it for our future generations,” she added.

Native leaders blast construction of Florida’s ’Alligator Alcatraz’ on land they call sacred

A spokesperson for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which is helping lead the project, did not respond to requests for comment.

torontosun.com

 

[pgs]

Native leaders blast construction of Florida’s ’Alligator Alcatraz’ on land they call sacred
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Kate Payne
Published Jun 26, 2025 • 2 minute read

062625-New-Detention-Center-Alligator-Alcatraz
This image grab from video shows activity at an immigration detention facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" located at an isolated Everglades airfield. (WSVN via AP) AP
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is racing ahead with construction of a makeshift immigration detention facility at an airstrip in the Everglades over the opposition of Native American leaders who consider the area their sacred ancestral homelands.


A string of portable generators and dump trucks loaded with fill dirt streamed into the site on Thursday, according to activist Jessica Namath, who witnessed the activity. The state is plowing ahead with building a compound of heavy-duty tents, trailers and other temporary buildings at the county-owned airfield located in the Big Cypress National Preserve, about 45 miles (72 kilometres) west of downtown Miami.


A spokesperson for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which is helping lead the project, did not respond to requests for comment.

State officials have characterized the site as an ideal place to hold migrants, saying there’s “not much” there other than pythons and alligators.

Indigenous leaders who can trace their roots to the area back thousands of years dispute that — and they’re condemning the state’s plans to build what’s been dubbed ” Alligator Alcatraz ” on their homelands.


For generations, the sweeping wetlands of what is now South Florida have been home to Native peoples who today make up the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida and the Seminole Tribe of Florida, as well as the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.

“Rather than Miccosukee homelands being an uninhabited wasteland for alligators and pythons, as some have suggested, the Big Cypress is the Tribe’s traditional homelands. The landscape has protected the Miccosukee and Seminole people for generations,” Miccosukee Chairman Talbert Cypress wrote in a statement on social media.

There are 15 remaining traditional Miccosukee and Seminole villages in Big Cypress, as well as ceremonial and burial grounds and other gathering sites, Cypress testified before Congress in 2024.


“We live here. Our ancestors fought and died here. They are buried here,” he said. “The Big Cypress is part of us, and we are a part of it.”

Critics have condemned the facility and what they call the state’s apparent reliance on alligators as a security measure as a cruel spectacle, while DeSantis and other state officials have defended it as part of Florida’s muscular efforts to carry out President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Tribal leaders and environmentalists are urging the state to change course, noting billions of dollars in state and federal funds have been poured into Everglades restoration in recent years, an investment they say is jeopardized by plans to house some 1,000 migrants at the site for an undetermined amount of time.

062625-Florida-Alcatraz-Things-to-Know
In this image from undated video released by the Office of Attorney General James Uthmeier shows an isolated Everglades airfield about 45 miles (72 kms.) west of Miami that Florida officials said an immigration detention facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” is just days away from being operational. (Courtesy of the Office of Attorney General James Uthmeier via AP) AP
Indigenous leaders and activists are planning to gather at the site again on Saturday to stage a demonstration highlighting why the area is “sacred” and should be “protected, not destroyed.”

“This place became our refuge in time of war. It provides us a place to continue our culture and traditions,” Miccosukee leader Betty Osceola wrote in a social media post announcing the demonstration.

“And we need to protect it for our future generations,” she added.

Native leaders blast construction of Florida’s ’Alligator Alcatraz’ on land they call sacred

A spokesperson for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which is helping lead the project, did not respond to requests for comment.

torontosun.com

They got moved from Oklahoma to sacred ground .

 

[spaminator]

Lax immigration vetting makes Canada prime target for Iranian infiltration, says Secure Canada
Reluctance to deport, IRCC caseworkers pressured to maintain low rejection rates, makes Canada an appealing target for foreign agents, Secure Canada says

Author of the article:Bryan Passifiume
Published Jul 02, 2025 • Last updated 15 hours ago • 2 minute read

Reluctance to deport, IRCC caseworkers pressured to maintain low rejection rates, makes Canada an appealing target for foreign agents
Protestors carry Iranian national flags and posters of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while chanting anti U.S. and Israel slogans, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, June 24, 2025.
OTTAWA — Canada needs real and rigorous reform of its immigration bureaucracy to deal with agents of the Iranian regime, urges a Canadian terror watchdog.


In a statement posted online this week by the Council for a Secure Canada, the organization highlighted the threat posed by infiltration of Iranian officials, and how ill-equipped Canada is to deal with them.


While the real numbers of active Iranian agents attempting to enter or already working within Canada isn’t known, a Secure Canada spokesperson told The Toronto Sun that Canada’s ineffective immigration oversight makes us a tempting target for infiltration.

“Considering the fact they figured out that Canada has a very lax vetting system, doesn’t take national security particularly seriously — at least in the past decade — I would say, or just over, and there’s a very established Iranian diaspora,” they said.

Recent news reports, however, suggest Iran has as many as 700 agents at work in Canada, with the possibility of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) members fleeing here as the Iranian regime becomes less stable.



The Sun spoke with numerous Iranian-Canadians who’ve said they — and their families back home — are under constant threat based on what they say in public or to the media about Iran’s despotic government.

“(Agents) have deep ties to Hezbollah, they have ties to other expat communities that share the Shia access and an ideological worldview,” Secure Canada said.

“Combined with lax vetting standards and a reluctance to deport, and the difficulty with which the system takes even really good cases for deportation — where agents work for over a year to build a very clear case — and the way the system can be gamed by people with deep pockets, and even people without particularly deep pockets.”


This reluctance to deport is baked into the institutional culture of Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC,), Secure Canada claimed — with sources and internal investigations suggesting career advancement for immigration caseworkers is based on keeping rejection rates low.


“The mantra (within IRCC) is ‘admit, admit, admit,'” they said.

“It’s that complex of wanting to appear PC in every step of the process.”

Automation of the immigration process also feeds into the issue, they said, saying that the chances of a human immigration agent getting a chance to thoroughly examine applications is becoming less and less common.

“There has to be a true review of what kind of system Canadians deserve, and what kind of system will allow us to retain a social fabric that is acceptable — we’ve seen in the past 2 1/2 years, especially since (Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel),” the spokesperson said.

“There’s a sense that this country is changing, in some ways that are not positive — in terms of its public conversation, in terms of normalization of certain kinds of violent rhetoric, foiled terror plots and things like that.

“There has to be a pause.”

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1938671534291238941

Lax immigration vetting makes Canada prime target for Iranian infiltration, says Secure Canada

Reluctance to deport, IRCC caseworkers pressured to maintain low rejection rates, makes Canada an appealing target for foreign agents

torontosun.com

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Lax immigration vetting makes Canada prime target for Iranian infiltration, says Secure Canada

Which begs the question. . . why the hell would anybody want to infiltrate Canada?

 

[petros]

Which begs the question. . . why the hell would anybody want to infiltrate Canada?

Free firewood.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Free firewood.

Makes sense. Parts of Iran, contrary to popular belief, get quite cold in winter.

 

[petros]

Makes sense. Parts of Iran, contrary to popular belief, get quite cold in winter.

Good skiin̈g there.

 

[spaminator]

Canada's immigration system must put national security ahead of applicants: Expert
"We need to get back to a system that's sane, we need to get back to a system that's secure," said Toronto Immigration Lawyer Sergio Karas

Author of the article:Bryan Passifiume
Published Jul 04, 2025 • 3 minute read

"We need to get back to a system that's sane, we need to get back to a system that's secure," said Toronto Immigration Lawyer Sergio Karas
"We need to get back to a system that's sane, we need to get back to a system that's secure," said Toronto Immigration Lawyer Sergio Karas.
OTTAWA — Canada’s immigration framework needs to put national security ahead of the interests of applicants.


That’s among many issues experts say need to change as Canada wrestles with what they say is decades of ineffective and damaging immigration policy, as the country deals with increased global security threats from bad actors.


“We need to get back to a system that’s sane, we need to get back to a system that’s secure,” Toronto Immigration Lawyer Sergio Karas, of Karas Immigration Law, told the Toronto Sun.

“Security for Canadians and Canadian residents should be the first priority, not the last priority. Security should be first and the applicant’s application should be second.”

As Iran’s Islamic theocratic regime staggers under Israeli and American attempts to dismantle the terror state’s nuclear weapons program, reports of officials and members of the regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) taking refuge in Canada are growing.


In addition, concerns are also being raised over properly screening thousands of Palestinian refugees expected to stream into Canada, and if they hold undisclosed links to Palestinian terror groups like Hamas and the far-left Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) — the mother organization of Canadian terror group Samidoun.

Karas pointed to the case of Palestinian terrorist Mahmoud Mohammad Issa Mohammad, who took part in the deadly 1968 hijacking of an El Al airliner in Athens.

Convicted and imprisoned in Greece, he was soon freed after a different Palestinian terror group hijacked another plane and threatened to kill everyone on board if Mohammad wasn’t released.

Mohammed immigrated to Canada in 1987, without disclosing his criminal history and ties to Palestinian terrorism.


After his lies were discovered, he filed a refugee claim before deportation proceedings could commence — sparking a nearly 25-year legal battle to stay in Canada, insisting he wasn’t a terrorist but a “freedom fighter” in battle with Israel.

Mohammad was finally deported in 2011, with observers describing his case as indicative of everything that’s wrong with Canada’s immigration system.

Karas said that with the Iran threat looming, the time has come for Canada to finally start taking the problem seriously.

“This is extremely concerning right now, because we have an Iranian community that by and large opposes the current regime,” he said, pointing out IRGC’s close ties to Islamic terror groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.


“They are the primary targets of these IRGC agents and mullah sympathizers.”

Karas recalled the system being taxed in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union, as well as conflicts in former Yugoslavia and Sri Lanka.

“They were all going through CSIS interviews, and applications sometimes were stuck for three or four years in Moscow and Kyiv because there were concerned that a lot of these newly-minted multi-millionaires were corrupt or part of organized crime,” he said.

“But now it seems the security apparatus is stretched so thin that they just can’t keep up … it doesn’t inspire a great deal of confidence in the ability of the government of Canada to vet people.”

Karas said Canada’s immigration bureaucracy has grown far too big, causing the government to do some dangerous corner-cutting.

“During the Trudeau years, the federal government created a lot of temporary programs that increase the pressure on the system,” he said.

“Canada should concentrate on increasing security and vetting people properly, because we live in a different environment now.”

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume

Canada's immigration system must put national security ahead of applicants: Expert

"We need to get back to a system that's sane, we need to get back to a system that's secure," said Toronto Immigration Lawyer Sergio Karas.

torontosun.com

 

[Serryah]

 

[petros]

Why does this guy think these people are being "housed" and will all die from dengue fever or be fed to alligators?

They will be there long enough to process and put on a flight back wherever to be eaten by crocodiles, cayman and killer bees instead.

What did the Dems plan offer to document and sort everyone look like? A weekend in Yellowstone to be eaten by bears, cats, wolves, mosquitos, ticks and black flies?

It's still 100°F but it's a dry heat.

 

[Taxslave2]

They must have interviewed every idiot in the US to make that video. Don't want to go there, don't enter the country illegally.

 

[Serryah]

They must have interviewed every idiot in the US to make that video. Don't want to go there, don't enter the country illegally.

And if you live there legally - whether citizen or otherwise - STILL don't be there!

 

[petros]

Why More Americans and Canadians Are Moving to the Riviera Maya in 2025

The Riviera Maya it’s becoming a prime destination for relocation and real estate investment.

theagencyrerivieramaya.com

 

[spaminator]

Immigration grew six times faster over past decade: Study
Fraser Institute study blamed unchecked Trudeau-era immigration policies for recent spike in unsustainable immigration

Author of the article:Bryan Passifiume
Published Jul 08, 2025 • Last updated 20 hours ago • 2 minute read

OTTAWA — Canada’s immigration levels grew six times faster over the past decade than it did from the turn of the century, says a new Fraser Institute study.


The numbers, which include temporary foreign workers and international students, are contained in a new report entitled Canada’s Changing Immigration Patterns, 2000–2024.


“Immigration, after 2000 and especially after 2015, is characterized by substantial increases in the absolute number of immigrants admitted, as well the share admitted as temporary foreign workers and international students,” authors Jock Finlayson and Steven Globerman wrote in the study.

Between 2000 and 2014, annual immigration in Canada was around 618,000 people, but between 2016 and 2024 — excluding the pandemic-impacted 2020 — immigration more than doubled to around 1.4 million annually.

These increasing numbers can be directly attributed to changes in government policy, the study points out — specifically mentioning 2014’s International Mobility Program (IMP), which allowed employers to fill gaps in lower-paying jobs with temporary foreign workers.


“A key development shaping immigration policy under the Liberal government of former prime minister Justin Trudeau was the work done by the Advisory Council on Economic Growth, appointed in early 2016, ” the study states, adding the Trudeau government welcomed their recommendations enthusiastically.

The council called for stark increases in permanent immigration to Canada, increasing from 300,000 per year in 2016 to 450,000 in 2021 — as well as increasing the share of economic migrants admitted into Canada.

“At the same time, Ottawa stepped away from providing meaningful policy and administrative oversight of the burgeoning international education ‘industry,'” the study continued.

“Thanks to this hands-off approach, Canadian universities, colleges, and technical and language schools ramped up enrollment of international students, essentially without limit.”


Unchecked immigration and international student enrollments greatly contributed to Canada’s cost-of-living and housing crisis, with foreign students snapping up the limited number of housing rentals and part-time jobs in many cities.

Foreign students not fortunate enough to find housing ended up in shelters and even living rough on the streets, relying on social services and food banks to support their studies.

As the pandemic response began ramping down in 2021, demand for workers prompted employers and lobbyists to push for even easier measures to hire foreign workers, particularly those in hard-hit industries like hospitality, retail and leisure.

Rules limiting employment hours for international students were also loosened, allowing them to work up to 40 hours per weeks.

At the same time, the federal government used international students with Canadian credentials and so-called “temporary” foreign workers with Canadian experience to meet its aggressive permanent immigration targets.

“In fact, more than half a million holders of a temporary visa transitioned to permanent residency status between 2021 and the end of 2023, representing one third of total admissions over that period,” the study stated.

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume

Canada’s Changing Immigration Patterns, 2000—2024

fraserinstitute.org

Immigration grew six times faster over past decade: Study

Fraser Institute study blamed unchecked Trudeau-era immigration policies for recent spike in unsustainable immigration

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Montreal businesswoman in U.S. immigration detention for months
Author of the article:Spiro Papuckoski
Published Jul 09, 2025 • Last updated 1 day ago • 3 minute read

Montreal businesswoman Paula Callejas was arrested on March 28 following a domestic dispute with her then boyfriend in Florida.
Montreal businesswoman Paula Callejas was arrested on March 28 following a domestic dispute with her then boyfriend in Florida. Photo by Handout /Paula Callejas Group
The family of a Montreal businesswoman has had no luck getting her back safely to Canada after she was thrown into U.S. immigration detention more than three months ago.


According to reports, Paula Callejas was arrested on March 28 following a domestic dispute with her then boyfriend in Florida.


The family of 43-year-old Callejas said she was returning to her Naples home at 1 a.m. when an altercation occurred. Her mother said she was slapped and pushed to the ground. He boyfriend at the time allegedly took her cellphone while she was calling 911 and she allegedly scratched his arm during the dispute.

He called 911 and police arrested and detained Callejas for a misdemeanour offence. She was then taken from the Naples jail by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to detention centres in Miami, Jacksonville, and Arizona where she is currently in custody.

“It’s been very hard these last few months,” her mother, Maria Estella Cano, told La Presse. “Her condition is deteriorating there. The family members are desperate.”


While in ICE custody, guards reportedly took away her anxiety medication.

“She is very anxious,” Estella Cano said. “She is afraid and tells me about deaths that are happening in the prisons where she is. She tells me: ‘I can’t take it anymore, I can’t take it anymore.’

Callejas, born in Montreal to Colombian parents, regularly travelled to the U.S. for work, her family said. She created a swimwear business and also bought and renovated homes in Florida.

“We were raised to appreciate every dollar and make the most of everything we had,” she said, according to her swimwear website. “I loved fashion since I was a little girl. Together with my mom, we recreated garments by hand, recycling materials and styles, which inspired my journey.”


While her U.S. visa was being processed, she entered the country with her Canadian passport.

“She used to do fashion shows, and she wanted to do her own show this year too,” her mother said. “She even had buyers who wanted to come see her. But she lost everything.”

Her family called Callejas’ detention “unacceptable” and “an abuse by the U.S. government.”

“They treat her like she’s a criminal,” her mother said. “She’s not a criminal, just a girl with dreams.”

Global Affairs Canada has revealed to the media that an estimated 55 Canadians are being held in ICE custody. However, that is an approximate number because the Canadian government has no way of confirming how many citizens are being detained by immigration officials or even where they are detained.


Other stories have emerged of Canadians caught up in immigration custody.

More recently, Cynthia Olivera, 45, of Mississauga, was detained by ICE on June 13 while she attended her green card interview in California.

She “was previously deported and chose to ignore our law and again illegally entered the country,” Homeland Security wrote on social media platform X on Monday.

Her husband, Francisco Olivera, said they feel “betrayed” by President Donald Trump after voting for him in the 2024 presidential election.

“I voted for change, but I didn’t vote for this change,” he told ABC affiliate KGTV in San Diego. “My wife … up until 18 days ago, was a strong believer in what was going to happen the next four years. But we feel totally blindsided.”

Brand Background Insight

ABOUT PAULA CALLEJAS Passionate and creative, Paula believes fashion is less about what you wear and more about how it makes you feel. Born and raised in Montreal, Canada, Paula’s family immigrated from Colombia and built everything from the ground up. “We were raised to appreciate every...

paulacallejas.com

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1942221319505948915

‘I am so desperate’: Canadian arrested by ICE at green card interview for being in the U.S. illegally

A Canadian woman is fighting to get released from immigration detention after being arrested by ICE at her green card interview.

10news.com

Montreal businesswoman in U.S. immigration detention for months

The family of a Montreal businesswoman has had no luck getting her back to Canada after she was thrown into U.S. immigration detention.

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Canada sees U.S. asylum claim surge as both nations harden borders
Author of the article:Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Mathieu Dion and Randy Thanthong-Knight
Published Jul 10, 2025 • Last updated 1 day ago • 4 minute read

A growing number of migrants in the U.S. are heading north to seek asylum, even as Canada adopts increasingly restrictive immigration policies of its own.


During the first six days of July, Canadian officials at the Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle border crossing — the busiest land port between New York and Quebec — received 761 asylum claims, a more than 400% increase from the same period a year ago, according to data from the Canada Border Services Agency. The number of claims at the crossing rose 128% in June and is up 82% since the start of the year.


The spike comes amid a renewed push by President Donald Trump to tighten immigration enforcement. In recent months, U.S. authorities have stepped up immigration arrests and begun unwinding temporary humanitarian programs that had allowed hundreds of thousands of people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela and other nations to live and work in the US, in many cases for years.


Haitians and Venezuelans are currently the most common nationalities applying for asylum at Canadian land crossings, according to border agency data. Colombians, Pakistanis and U.S. citizens also rank high.

“All the people who arrive here are afraid of being arrested, whether they have papers or not,” said Marjorie Villefranche, an advocate for the Haitian community in Montreal and former director of Maison d’Haiti, an organization that assists migrants.

With a well-established Haitian community in French-speaking Quebec and growing anxiety among undocumented populations in the US, migration experts say a continued — even if modest — increase in Canadian asylum claims is likely.

The jump in claims is especially striking given that both the U.S. and Canada have tightened rules around their asylum systems, which had previously led to influxes at the Canadian border, including during Trump’s first term. A 2023 update to the Safe Third Country Agreement between the two nations effectively closed a longstanding loophole, now requiring asylum seekers to apply at official ports of entry where they are more likely to be turned away unless they can prove close family ties in Canada.


More than 2,000 foreign nationals who showed up at a Canadian port of entry and made a claim have already been removed and sent back to the U.S. so far this year. That’s about one for every 10 asylum claimants. The border agency said in a statement that it’s “committed” to increasing the number of removals.

“Once they’re rejected, it’s quite likely they’ll be detained. So it’s a very risky proposition,” said Pia Zambelli, chairwoman of the refugee committee at the Canadian Immigration Lawyers Association. “They could end up being in a great deal more danger by approaching the Canadian border and getting turned back than if they had attempted to see if there’s any avenues for them to remain or claim asylum in the US.”


Canada’s approach reflects a broader shift in public sentiment. After years of relatively open immigration policies, a surge in newcomers following the pandemic has strained housing, health care and public services, leading the government to introduce tighter limits on student visas, work permits and family reunification. It’s set a target of reducing temporary residents to 5% of the population from about 7.3% over three years.

For migrants living in the US, their options for refuge are narrowing. One of Trump’s first acts after taking office in January was effectively shutting down the southern border to asylum seekers. His administration deployed active-duty troops and expanded air and land patrols, and Trump last week approved a massive increase in funding to build out the US-Mexico border wall. The money will also fund the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s aggressive push to arrest those without legal status and put them in a fast-track deportation process, leaving many with few pathways to stay in the country.


Yael Schacher, an immigration historian based in the US, said she’s been following the case of a Haitian man who had entered the U.S. through a parole program for four Latin American nations, known as CHNV. His wife and young daughter remain in Haiti with a different sponsor, but with the program now scrapped and travel restrictions for Haitians tightening, their chances of joining him have evaporated.

“He can’t go back to Haiti for political reasons,” Schacher said. “That’s why he’s pursuing Canada so intensely — because he’s separated from his wife and child.”

Canadian border officials say they’re prepared for a potential surge in claimants at the Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle crossing, with plans to lease additional space for processing if needed.

“In the event of an influx of refugee claimants requiring additional space, the CBSA puts in place infrastructure contingency plans,” the agency said. “The leased space would be used as a processing centre for refugee claimants.”

— With assistance from Alicia A. Caldwell.

Canada sees U.S. asylum claim surge as both nations harden borders

A growing number of migrants in the U.S. are heading north to seek asylum, even as Canada adopts increasingly tighter immigration policies.

torontosun.com

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Good. Send the snowbacks to South Sudan!

 

[spaminator]

Quebec police search for group of migrants after crash near Canada-U.S. border
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Published Jul 13, 2025 • Last updated 11 hours ago • 1 minute read

MONTREAL — Police say they are looking for a group of migrants who were inside a vehicle that collided near the Canada-U.S. border in southern Quebec.


Authorities were called early Sunday to the scene in Hemmingford, Que., north of the New York border, where an SUV with two people collided with a vehicle carrying at least 10.


The 48-year-old driver of the SUV was arrested for impaired driving.

Provincial police spokesperson Sgt. Stephane Tremblay alleges the people in the second vehicle are believed to be migrants who illegally crossed the border from the United States.

He says four people from the migrants’ vehicle were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, while between six and eight fled the scene on foot.

Tremblay says provincial police and RCMP are working together to track down the missing people.

Quebec police search for group of migrants after crash near Canada-U.S. border

Police say they are looking for a group of migrants who were inside a vehicle that collided near the Canada-U.S. border in southern Quebec.

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Haitians in the U.S. are desperate for asylum in Montreal
Number of people seeking to escape Trump regime, move to Canada has surged in recent weeks

Author of the article:Montreal Gazette
Montreal Gazette
Rene Bruemmer
Published Jul 13, 2025 • Last updated 19 hours ago • 4 minute read

"I have been getting calls every day from people in the United States who are terrified they will be deported," says Frantz André, a co-ordinator at the Comité d'Action des Personnes sans Statut.
"I have been getting calls every day from people in the United States who are terrified they will be deported," says Frantz André, a co-ordinator at the Comité d'Action des Personnes sans Statut. Allen McInnis/Montreal Gazette
The rise in the number of Haitians living in the United States applying for asylum in Canada started even before Donald Trump was elected, Frantz André recalls.


In the months before his election in November, Trump had promised to deport more than 11 million undocumented migrants if he was elected. His anti-migrant rhetoric, coupled with baseless claims that Haitian immigrants were eating dogs in Springfield, Ohio, sent the message that their days in the United States could be numbered.


Their fears were confirmed in late June when the Trump administration moved toward deporting more than 500,000 Haitians living in the U.S. by ending their temporary legal status. The number of Haitians desperate to come to Montreal has surged in the last weeks.

“I have been getting calls every day from people in the United States who are terrified they will be deported,” said André, a co-ordinator at the Comité d’Action des Personnes sans Statut who has been helping Haitians to settle in Canada for more than a decade. “We have spoken to people who have been hiding out in church basements for weeks in the U.S. because they’re worried ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents) will come to arrest them.”


Many Haitians have been living in the United States under temporary legal status for more than a decade since the earthquake that devastated their country in 2010. Under President Joe Biden, the temporary legal status was extended until at least February 2026 because of gang violence, political unrest and other factors in Haiti. In June, the Department of Homeland Security attempted to move up the expiration date to Sept. 2 but was stopped by a federal judge in New York on July 2 who deemed the move unlawful.

Despite the judge’s ruling, “Haitians don’t trust Trump,” André said. “So they’re still coming to to Canada because that’s the one place where they might feel safe.”

In the first six days of July, officials at the St-Bernard-de-Lacolle border crossing between New York and Quebec received 761 asylum claims, a more than 400-per-cent increase from the year-earlier period, according to data from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), Bloomberg News reported. The number of claims at the crossing rose 128 per cent in June and is up 82 per cent since the start of the year. Most of those claimants were Haitians, the CBSA said.


Advocates like André fear Haitians applying for asylum here could be putting themselves in greater danger of deportation because those who are refused entry to Canada are put into the hands of U.S. authorities, who could detain them or put them in prison pending deportation. Under the long-standing Safe Third Country Agreement, which requires anyone seeking refugee protection in Canada or the U.S. to claim asylum in the first of the two countries they reach, only Haitians who have close family in Canada can claim asylum here if they’re coming from the U.S. Those who don’t will be turned back. Even those with family here can be turned away if they don’t have the proper documentation proving their case.

“Many Haitians living in the United States are not aware of these regulations,” said Marjorie Villefranche, the former head of the Maison d’Haiti organization in Montreal that serves the Haitian community. “And they are trying to come in just as the Canadian government is making it more difficult for people to seek asylum here.”


She also questioned how the U.S. planned to deport 500,000 Haitians to a country whose main airport is closed.

Canadian authorities had returned more than 1,600 asylum seekers to the United States in 2025 without hearing their case for refugee protection, according to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), the Gazette reported in early June. Many have landed in ICE custody.

André noted that Canada has put a moratorium on returning Haitians to Haiti because of the unsafe conditions in that country. He accuses the government of Prime Minister Mark Carney of “hypocrisy” by refusing access to Haitians from the United States and then putting them in the hands of U.S. authorities who might send them back to Haiti. Asylum claimants should have the right to claim their cases here, he argued.

“Canada is actually deporting people by proxy,” he said. “Carney is making the rules tougher — he’s using immigration as a bargaining tool because he knows Donald Trump is very sensitive about everything that’s immigration.”

In an emailed statement sent earlier to The Gazette, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada spokesperson Julie Lafortune said the U.S. “continues to meet the criteria … to be a designated safe third country.”

In 2024, nearly 80 per cent of asylum seekers who made their case to an immigration judge in Canada were granted refugee status.

'Terrified' Haitians in the U.S. are desperate for asylum in Montreal

‘Terrified’ Haitians in the U-S- are desperate for asylum in Montreal

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