Montreal opens Olympic Stadium to house asylum seekers from US

08/02/17 08:08 PM EDT



Montreal's Olympic Stadium has been opened up as a temporary refugee welcome center to house a wave of asylum seekers crossing into Canada from the United States, CBC News reported Wednesday.

"We've never seen this before," said Francine Dupuis, a spokesperson for PRAIDA, the provincial government organization that provides assistance to newly arrived asylum seekers. "It's really quite a bit more intense than what we're used to."

According to CBC News, many of the arrivals are Haitians crossing over from the U.S. after the Trump administration threatened to end the protected status of those who sought refuge in the U.S. after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

The Homeland Security Department extended the benefit in May for six months, but warned that the protection would end soon and that Haitians enrolled in the Temporary Protected Status program should get their affairs in order.

That has led to a surge of Haitian migrants entering Canada, according to the CBC. But that influx has overwhelmed PRAIDA, which typically works with Montreal YMCA to provide housing for asylum seekers.

So far, between 100 and 450 cots have been set up in the Olympic Stadium.

In July 2017 alone, more than 1,100 migrants crossed into Quebec, CBC News reported.

http://thehill.com/policy/internatio...eekers-from-us