Stemming the tide
Officials try to stop the influx of migrants

http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/ ... 42&k=82784
Dave Battagello, With files from Doug Schmidt
Windsor Star
Saturday, September 22, 2007


FINDING SHELTER: Mexican nationals gather outside the Salvation Army this week while waiting for supper.


JUST HELPING: Jacques Sinjuste, president of the Jerusalem Haitian Community Center in East Naples, Fla., leaves one of his offices Friday. Sinjuste's non-profit organization claims to help immigrants with legal problems, but has recently come under scrutiny by Canadian immigration officials and other American non-profits for sending illegal immigrants to Canada for asylum.

Refugee claimants from the Sunshine State keep pouring over the Windsor border while federal immigration authorities were in Naples, Fla., Friday attempting to stop the flow.

Another 20 Mexican claimants brought the official number Friday to 220, although several more -- including Haitians -- were still crossing the border, said Mayor Eddie Francis.

"Somebody gave birth (Friday)," he said. "It's an issue where we are trying to do the best we can. We just don't have the capacity to deal with it."

After firing off a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Wednesday pleading for help, the mayor finally received a response from the chief of staff for Immigration Minister Diane Finley.

Francis made three requests: Expedited hearings on the refugee claims in Windsor, financial assistance to help with skyrocketing lodging costs and a search of other Ontario cities to see if they have the capacity to take in many of the claimants.

The normal refugee claimant hearing process can take more than a year.

"If we can have hearings quickly, we can demonstrate it's not a guaranteed stay -- turn the tide of those fleeing and communicate the true message instead of the false promises being made down south," Francis said.

And it's that lengthy amount of time it takes for each refugee claim to work its way through the system which is leading to the spread of misinformation about Canada's refugee policy and has sparked the current rush to the border.

Jacques Sinjuste, leader of the Jerusalem Haitian Community Center, a Florida-based organization that helps minorities, said he will continue to help those seeking a better life in Canada because they continue to be allowed across the border.

"I have to tell them the truth. If they ask, 'Do you know anybody going to Canada under this (refugee) program?' I have to say yes," said Sinjuste, adding he doesn't know what the fuss is about. "It's something I cannot understand -- if they go (to the border) and they get in, what does that mean to you?" he added.

Mike Fraser, a spokesman for immigration minister Finley, said Canadian and U.S. immigration officials met in Naples on Friday with leaders of Sinjuste's organization, but Sinjuste, contacted by The Star Friday night, said he hasn't spoken with any government official since first being visited by a Canadian consular official early last week.

Sinjuste describes as "ridiculous" the notion that "everybody in Canada thinks I'm the only one filling out these applications." He said information that Canada's doors are open to all asylum seekers is readily available to anyone with access to the Internet. He said he knew of one woman in Fort Myers who is taking a busload of refugee claimants to the border on Oct. 5.

"The minister is aware of the situation in Windsor and following it closely," said Fraser. "Efforts are being made to indicate in the U.S. that there is no special program for Haitians, Mexicans and persons of any other nationality to immigrate to Canada. Nobody is automatically accepted for refugee status."

He would not comment on the mayor's request for expedited hearings in Windsor or added federal financial assistance for the city. Windsor's taxpayers are footing 20 per cent of the bill for lodging and welfare for the claimants -- which has already totalled more than $250,000.

"The province is responsible for social assistance," Fraser said. "An increase in the number of people, including refugee claimants, is factored into social transfers from the federal government to provinces."

'WILL RESPOND IN DUE TIME'

A spokesman from the Prime Minister's Office issued an e-mailed statement to The Star late Friday regarding the mayor's letter requesting help: "We have received a letter from the mayor of Windsor and the prime minister will respond in due time."

In Florida, Rev. Louis Telcy described how the last few weeks have been "sad and frustrating" as he has watched his Haitian parishioners and long-time Mexican friends fleeing in panic or being nabbed and sent home "in chains" by U.S. Immigration officials, who have launched a crackdown to remove illegal aliens from southwest Florida.

"Immigration has been coming right to your house -- at midnight, nighttime, daytime or your job. They come get you and you have to go," he said.

"People are afraid. They are putting them in chains like criminals. People are very, very scared because they are illegal."

Telcy, granted political asylum in the U.S. in 1995, is a leader for the Haitian community in Collier County -- the community surrounding Naples.

He talked of one Haitian member of his congregation who lived illegally in the U.S. for years, but was able to successfully work as an electrician and owned three homes.

"He just left (four weeks ago). Immigration came once to his house. He went to Canada and left everything behind. He went to Montreal. Five kids and his wife, they already live in Montreal."

The family has called back to Naples with news of their welcome in this country and financial support they have so far received.

"People -- they are finding out by themselves," Telcy said. "If one person left and succeeds they convey the message and then everybody knows. Word gets around pretty fast. It's better than broadcasting it on the radio."

Elysa Batista, a reporter for the Naples Daily News, interviewed a Mexican family Friday on the verge of packing up and moving to Canada.

"They have a sense of desperation," Batista said. "They talked about the safety of their family, but if it doesn't work out (in Canada) and they have go back to their country, they said, 'That's fine, but at least we tried.'"

Among those living illegally in the Naples area, it has been the worst for Mexicans, Telcy said.

"They are sending them home before everybody else."

The pastor told more anecdotes -- an illegal Mexican alien friend who injured himself last week on the job but refused to go to the hospital out of fear. Telcy helped him find private medical care.

Another illegal Haitian has worked for a phone company for 10 years, but is on the verge of abandoning two houses he owns out of fear -- one in Orlando and another in Naples.

"He is making good money and paying taxes. But he has made a decision and he is going to leave. It's frustrating. I believe in freedom of individuals."

With the Sunshine State's housing construction in a full swoon, Mexican and Haitian immigrants from Florida showing up on Windsor's doorstep may simply be connected to jobs, suggested a vice-president of the Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce.

"We are undergoing a significant economic downturn," said Steve Hart. "Residential construction has slowed significantly and a lot of people are suffering. A lot of people are finding it very difficult going these days in Florida.

"The bigger picture here I think is the hemispheric economic situation. That's really what we are talking about."

He cited 600 mortgage foreclosures in the county and "we are expecting a lot more.

"Lots of things are different here today given the way we have been the last decade."

He couldn't gauge the reaction of the people in Naples being connected to refugees fleeing to Windsor, saying: "There will be as many different opinions as people who read about this."