Door knocks in the dark: The Canadian town on front line of Trump migrant crackdown
Tue Feb 28, 2017 | 10:22am EST
By Rod Nickel | EMERSON, MANITOBA
Jaime French was jarred out of bed in Emerson, Manitoba early one morning this month by pounding at her front door, just yards from the U.S. border. A face peered in through the window, flanked in the darkness by others.
Outside were 16 asylum seekers, arriving at one of the first houses they saw after crossing a lightly monitored border between Canada and the United States. "They banged pretty hard, then 'ring ring ring' the doorbell," said French, a mother of two young girls. "It was scary. That really woke me up."
The town has become the front line of an emerging political crisis that is testing Canada's will to welcome asylum seekers.
Hundreds of people, mainly from Africa but also the Middle East, are fleeing U.S. President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigrants, migrants and refugee agencies say. Many asylum seekers say Trump's election and subsequent crackdown on illegal migrants spurred their plans to head north.
Those arriving in Emerson come on foot in the dead of night, unnerving its 650 residents. Some fear the influx of unscreened migrants while others are frustrated by the cost and effort forced on the community.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-canada-emerson-idUSKBN16717I
