Mexicans pour into Canada from U.S (fleeing Florida crackdown on illegals)

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=c977352e-d402-4f16-9f47-9bd487596021&k=8472

Mexicans pour into Canada from U.S

Agencies brace for thousands more; 'Give us a chance,' one begs

Sarah Sacheli and Roberta Pennington, The Windsor Star
Published: Tuesday, September 18, 2007

For 15 years, Manuel Ortega was living his version of the American Dream in Florida.

He had steady employment, sometimes working as a detailer for local car dealers, other times as a forklift driver. He earned enough to buy a van and rent a house for his wife and three children. His kids earned good grades in school and played with the family pet, a Shih Tzu named Chaparro (Shorty). They were safe and kept out of trouble.

Ortega's dream, as he recounted it Tuesday standing outside a room at a Windsor motel, is now but a memory. He is one of an estimated 180 Mexicans from Florida who've rushed across the border and into Windsor to claim refugee status, fleeing a crackdown on illegal aliens in Florida.

Every single day this month, Mexican nationals who have been living illegally in Florida -- some for a dozen years or more -- are turning up at the Windsor-Detroit border seeking refugee status. The first group arrived at the YMCA on Aug. 28.

[lovuian]

1. the jobs here are gone Canada has a thriving economy

Doesn't it make sense

[fasttense]

8. Exactly.

They are just looking for jobs. There are no construction jobs, no factory jobs and the service jobs are being filled by US citizens fired from their middle class jobs. Immigration is not a problem when the economy is sinking.

A rising tide drowns everyone.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. More

http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/story.html?id=eb24c2f6-7372-4da6-abdc-806fad175d18&k=57287

Over the past three weeks, 45 families and 31 individuals -- approximately 200 people -- entered Canada at the Detroit River crossings and applied in Windsor for shelter and social assistance after filing refugee claims with the Canada Border Services Agency. Municipal agencies dealing with the sudden influx of mainly Mexican refugee applicants are renting out hotel rooms and bracing for predicted thousands more to come.

"We don't have the means, ability or capacity to deal with this additional cost. We are not able to deal with this potential crisis locally," Francis wrote Harper.

"I don't believe that Windsor's residents and taxpayers should have to foot the bill for U.S. immigration policy," Francis told The Star. He was referring to the suspected source of the problem -- a recently begun crackdown on illegal immigrants in economically struggling regions of the U.S. South.

[whoneedstickets]

3. Unfortunately for them, its much harder to be illegal up there...

Canada has fewer issues with national personal ID (the Social Insurance system) and a stronger union presence that will prevent illegal labor from taking jobs in sectors like housing & construction, meatpacking etc..

[Kelly Rupert]

4. See ya!

:hi:

Seriously? I don't see a problem with this. While I'm all for immigration reform and massively expanding the number of visas we issue, I also do not believe that illegal immigrants hopping another border is particularly noteworthy.

[varkam]

5. Awww. That's sweet.

[PDenton]

6. it could also be other things

Naples' cost of living is ridiculous. Florida in general is no longer the low cost-of-living paradise it used to be.

While I believe illegal immigration is justly enforceable, I also think Mexico is a giant failed social experiment. It has always had a weak, almost nonexistant democracy. The irony of course, so many Republicans are against illegal Mexican immigration, and yet Mexico is a perfect example of the terminus of Republican rightwing policies- corruption, lack of hard seperation of church and state, very little abortion rights, rampant income inequality.

[Virginian]

7. But why Canada

When the Mexican border is closer to Florida.
Why go to another country when they can go to another state?

[Selatius]

9. I think there's a feeling a growing backlash is forming in the Southeast against illegals.

At least, it's starting to become a issue in states like Georgia and Mississippi.