Thread: Haitian migrants trapped at Mexico border offered fake jobs in Canada

Josh Dehaas,
Published Tuesday, February 28, 2017 6:26PM EST

A Mexican migration researcher says there are now an estimated 30,000 Haitian migrants trapped at the U.S.-Mexico border, and a group -- likely a smuggling ring -- is targeting them with the promise of fake jobs in Canada.

Ariadna Estevez, a professor at the Center for Research on North America at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), toured shelters in Tijuana earlier this month, where she says a majority of people attempting to flee to the U.S. are now Haitian.

Estevez says the Haitians started arriving in Tijuana last May and less than a year later there are an estimated 30,000 in the border city. Many had fled to Brazil after the 2010 earthquake but could not find jobs due to Brazil’s economic crisis, so they travelled through 13 other countries attempting to reach the U.S., she says.

Estevez says a flyer at the women’s shelter caught her eye. It has the logo of a company called “Clearport” and shows photos of people waving Canadian flags, with the headline: “If you speak French, we have an option for you.”

“If you want to find a job in Canada, give us a call or send your CV,” the flyer goes on. “Travel costs are paid by the company.”

Estevez looked into the company and says it does not appear to actually exist. She says some people in the shelter were convinced the company is affiliated with the Canadian government, but the Canadian Embassy in Mexico City confirms it is not.



Estevez believes the flyer is likely connected to smuggling rings that would take desperate people illegally into the U.S. or Canada. The migrants have almost no money, so they would be expected to work off debts through sex work or other forms of slavery, she says.

It makes sense that gangs would now dangle Canada as an option, not only because the Haitians are French-speaking, but also because the United States is likely to deport them to Haiti should they claim asylum there, according to Estevez.

Haitians arriving in the U.S. were likely to be deported even before U.S. President Donald Trump took office, but his January executive order limiting the number of refugees has made it seem even less likely they will be accepted as refugees.
“I think that it’s for sure that they won’t be accepted,” Estevez said. “That’s a fact.”

Many have tried anyway. Figures from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol show the number “inadmissible” Haitians arriving at the San Diego-area border crossing rose from 333 in 2015 to 6,377 in 2016. In the first several weeks of 2017, there have already been 7,589 “inadmissible” Haitians who have arrived at that U.S. border crossing, figures show.

Estevez says the word is now spreading in Tijuana that Haitians may be deported if they try to seek asylum in the U.S., making it even more likely they will turn to human smuggling.

In the meantime, they are stuck in the crowded shelters. Few can find work in Mexico beyond day labour on construction sites or as maids, sometimes making less than $1 an hour.

Estevez said she believes the U.S., Canada and Mexico should address the crisis by granting the Haitians asylum rather immediately.

“Haiti is so poor and it’s so devastated that people don’t have anywhere to go back to,” she said.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/haitian...nada-1.3305331

They need to go home and rebuild their country. Yes, it's devastated and needs to be cleaned up and rebuilt. Go home and do it. It's your country!!

Let Mexico give them asylum.

“Haiti is so poor and it’s so devastated that people don’t have anywhere to go back to,” she said.

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Not our problem. They have been given billions of dollars...yet they continue to have children they cannot provide for. The DR does not want them either. On the way to ILLEGALLY enter the US they continue to get pregnant.

Mexico can bus them back to Central America and on down the line.

NO ASYLUM BECAUSE YOU CANNOT KEEP YOUR PANTS ZIPPED.

NO MORE PEOPLE! GO BACK AND FIX YOUR OWN COUNTRY...NOT DESTROY OURS WITH YOUR BREEDING AND LIFTIME OF WELFARE AND POVERTY.


How much money did Mexico make giving 30,000 Haitain's "20-day Visa's" to get to the United States? Let Mexico keep them!

How many thousands more of 20-day passes did they hand out like CANDY to invade our Country? And how much money did Mexico make off those passes?

Mexico is NOT our friend. They do nothing for anybody unless they make $$$ off of it and destroy others.

NO ASYLUM BECAUSE YOU CANNOT KEEP YOUR PANTS ZIPPED.

I love it Beezer!

Never too shy to say it as it is.

I agree they need to go home - period.

As to all the monies Haiti got - the people got little of that. Much of it went into the Clinton coffers and other such miscreants.

When greedy people stop exploiting these people in poor countries, maybe they can begin to have a country of their own. The so called charities are the worst.

Maybe Roger Clinton could be 'persuaded' to give back the monies he is making from mining their gold.

I agree we do not need to take them in, they need to stay in their own country. It's best for them, it's best for this country - it's best for the world.

Somehow, in order for that to happen, the plundering of these countries and the ngo's taking advantage of the suffering is going to have to stop.

Bringing them or allowing them into this country is not going to do any good.

There should be no money given to any of these phony "NGO's". They're just cash machines, getting it and handing it off to frauds and thieves.