Refugees Fleeing Into Canada From the United States

Reuters photographer Christinne Muschi recently spent time at the end of a small country road in Hemmingford, Quebec, that dead-ends at the U.S.-Canada border, just across from another dead-end road near Champlain, New York. She was photographing refugees, traveling alone or in small groups, who had taken taxis to the end of the road in the U.S., then walked across the border into Canada, into the custody of the RCMP. While the location is not an official border crossing, it is one of several spots that have become informal gateways to an increasing number of refugees choosing to leave the United States. Muschi reports that “in Quebec, 1,280 refugee claimants irregularly entered between April 2016 and January 2017, triple the previous year's total.” and that “the Canada Border Services Agency said in January that 452 people made a refugee claim at Quebec land border crossings.” Canadian advocacy groups say they are preparing for even more asylum-seekers, following increased anti-Muslim rhetoric in the U.S., and public expressions of welcome made by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

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