Little kids ran through aisles of snacks and sweets. People slouched in their chairs. A single wall socket was used to charge several cellphones at the same time. In a corner of this small-town bus stop and gas station, two rows of tables were filled with backpacks and suitcases.
After being turned away at the Canadian border and being locked up for three days, about 15 asylum seekers were trying to figure out what to do at the Mountain Mart No. 109 in the town of Plattsburgh, N.Y., south of Montreal, on Tuesday afternoon.
In the hours after the attack, they tried to get into the country at the popular unofficial crossing on Roxham Road.Late last week, a new border deal between Canada and the U.S. went into effect..
Alan Rivas, who is from Peru and wanted to see his girlfriend, who has been living in Montreal for two years, said he had spent $4,000 to get this far.
“Right now, I’m trying to figure out what to do.”
When people saw each other from different parts of their time stuck on the border, they felt a sense of solidarity. They also felt resigned and sad.
“Disappointing and heartbreaking,” said a man from Central Africa, who asked CBC not to reveal his name because he was afraid it would hurt his case for asylum in the U.S.
He had taken a cab with a man from Chad who had fled to the U.S. last fall after his government used violence against political opponents.
“It’s not right. We’re not at home, and it hurts. We want to have a better life, “said the man from Central Africa.
The Chadian looked up and said: “No, looking for safety is not a better way to live. I was living.”
He said that the Chadian couldn’t get into Canada even though his wife and children were Canadian citizens. One of the few exceptions to the strict new rules that make it almost impossible to claim asylum at the Canada-U.S. border is if you have a family member with legal status in Canada.
Other exemptionsThose reasons include being a child who is alone and having a work permit or another official document that lets a person stay in Canada.
“I had to sign a paper I hadn’t had time to read. They didn’t give any reasons, “The man, whose name CBC agreed not to use because he fears for the safety of his family in an African country near Chad, told CBC that he was a Muslim.
The Canada-U.S. deal was put into place quickly, so local governments and groups didn’t have much time to react. Asylum seekers who were turned away now have a hard time finding food, shelter, and rides.
The man from Central Africa was trying to save up enough money for a $200 bus ticket to Houston, where he would stay with a friend. The man from Chad gave him the missing $40.
The man from Central Africa said that coming to Canada cost him all of his money. He planned to live here until he got a green card, and then he would make plans for his family to come meet him.
“I know a guy in Houston who hasn’t seen his family in ten years. He is still not important, “he said.
Steven, a 24-year-old Venezuelan who tried to get into Canada early Saturday morning at Roxham Road, hung out with people he’d met in detention. Then he tried calling his mother.
“She doesn’t know,” Steven said. He didn’t want his last name used in this story because he was afraid it could hurt his claim for asylum in the United States. “I may look happy, but I’m really sad.”
Carmen Salazar, 45, also from Venezuela, was at a different table and watched him.
She said, “It’s hard, really hard.”
The group of people looking for asylum felt better when they found each other. Tuesday night at 7:45 p.m., they all got on a bus and left Plattsburgh. It was mostly going to New York City.
Some people haven’t had as much luck getting out of Plattsburgh.
A woman was seen crying at a bus stop on Roxham Road early Saturday morning the night before.
Three nights in a motel without a pla
A 34-year-old Haitian man and his pregnant girlfriend were staying across the street in a small motel. They had three nights paid for by emergency housing services in the area, but only one night was left. But they didn’t have a plan and only had $41 with them.
“We’re here. I don’t know what will happen, but we’ll try to find ways to stay alive. I want nothing more than a place to sleep and a place to work. Nothing else, “The man, who was sitting in the motel’s lobby, said this. CBC won’t say who he is because they are afraid it could hurt his case for asylum in the United States.
After crossing the Mexican border, the couple planned to stay in the U.S., but the woman got pregnant and started having pains all the time. In the U.S., they had to stay with different family members far from each other, and the man worried about his wife and being able to pay for her medical bills. So, they decided to try to get to Canada, where they had heard it was easier to find work and health care was cheaper, he said.
Monday, a man from another Central African country had a hard time keeping back tears during an interview with Radio Canada.
He said that the confusion he felt after being taken in by RCMP officers at Roxham Road was hurtful because he didn’t know if he would be allowed to stay in Canada or not. When they called his name, he was full of hope, but when they told him he was going to U.S. Border Patrol, he was disappointed.
“I don’t know where to go. No one is willing to take me in, “he said.
The U.S. Border Patrol’s response seems to be all over the place. Some asylum seekers CBC talked to had taxis called for them, so they had to pay another $70 to get to the Mountain Mart. A social science researcher and documentary photographer met by CBC picked up a woman who was standing on the side of a service road near the border.
The man Radio-Canada talked to was part of a group that got a ride to the gas station on a Greyhound bus going from Montreal to New York.
CBC asked U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Monday what happens to people who apply for asylum in Canada but are turned down, but did not hear back.
Even though one local official is in favor of some sort of change to make Roxham Road less busy, they want help from the federal government to deal with the fallout.
Michael Cashman, the supervisor for the Town of Plattsburgh, wants the U.S. and Canada to come up with a way to help asylum seekers get to where they want to go in the U.S.
He isn’t against the idea of making it harder to get into Canada through Roxham Road.
Residents had been asking for a change, he said, but the way it was done was like turning off a light switch before entering a room: “You’re going to run into some things,” she said.
Cashman said that the area is rural and has its share of problems with getting around and finding a place to live.
“The infrastructure isn’t strong enough to deal with this humanitarian crisis as it gets worse.”
On Monday and Tuesday, only a few people who wanted to cross the border were on buses coming from New York. Most people knew about the new rules and thought that some of the exceptions would work for them. Still, some people didn’t know.
By Tuesday, cab drivers were no longer taking people to Roxham Road. Instead, they took them to the official border crossing at Champlain, N.Y., and Lacolle, Que.