Mounties detained at least two families – including children – who illegally crossed from the United States into British Columbia over the weekend.
On Saturday morning, two Turkish nationals crossed just steps away from the Peace Arch Border Crossing, on 0 Avenue in South Surrey. The man and woman walked two blocks north before they were handcuffed by police and turned over to Canadian Immigration.
A family of four was detained on Sunday after crossing the border illegally from the U.S. in the same area, which borders a park and has minimal security.
Images captured by a Reuters news photographer assigned to watch the B.C. border show a young girl being searched by Mounties, her family in the backseat of a police car.
It’s happening all across Canada: foreign nationals concerned about the political climate in the U.S. are jumping the border to seek asylum here.
There’s no guarantee Canada will be more welcoming than the U.S: if the detained families aren’t accepted as refugees they will be deported.
“My government takes the approach that we have to be compassionate as a society,” Canada’s Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen recently stated.
“But we also have to maintain the integrity of our borders and maintain the integrity of our immigration system… Our law enforcement officers are conflicted.”
Many residents who live along the border say they are also conflicted.
“Some of the people should be allowed in the country, there's no doubt about it,” said John, who lives in the area. “But you really don’t know at the end of the day who's coming into the country and what they're doing.”
With files from CTV Vancouver’s Shannon Paterson
