RCMP refutes claim that more Syrians are crossing border illegally

RCMP say they haven’t noticed any influx of Syrian or Iraqi refugees into Quebec, contrary to a media report that residents along the Canada-U.S. border have seen such a spike.

Cpl. Camille Habel, spokeswoman for the Mounties in Quebec, confirms that RCMP officers were called to intercept a group of migrants Wednesday morning that had crossed from the United States in the Montérégie region.

But Habel says migrants and refugee claimants do cross the border.

“It’s routine,” she tells Yahoo Canada News. “It’s not daily.. It’s not weekly but it happens.”

A report in La Presse says there has been a growing number of migrants crossing the border from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Citing local residents, the media outlet says at least 15 Syrian and Iraqi migrants have entered Canada illegally in the past month near the town of Dundee, along the border with New York state, including the six migrants that arrived Wednesday morning.

“This is the third time in a few days,” a farmer, who wished to remain anonymous, told La Presse.

The farmer said a couple with a child arrived last Tuesday, on Wednesday a couple with two children and on Saturday a man. About 15 migrants in total have come through the farm, including a pregnant woman and an elderly woman of about 70.

“They come mainly from Iraq but also from Syria and Afghanistan,” the farmer told the media outlet.

He said he’s lived on the farm his whole life and has never seen anything like it.

But Habel says the local RCMP office in Valleyfield, which is called in by the provincial police when migrants arrive, has not reported any increase or decrease in the numbers of migrants at the border.

She suggests that the media attention in recent weeks on the Syrian migrant crisis has raised awareness.

“It’s grabbing attention a little bit more,” she says.

Images of three-year-old Alan Kurdi’s body washed up on the shore of a Turkish beach after his family’s failed attempt to reach refuge in Europe made headlines around the world last month. His five-year-old brother Ghalib and his mother, Rehenna, also died.

The heartbreaking photo awakened the public to the plight of millions of Syrians fleeing war in their homeland.

The story sparked outrage and in Canada prompted the Conservative government to announce changes to its Syrian refugee resettlement plan in the midst of the federal election campaign.

Statistics from the Immigration and Refugee Board do not show any marked increase in claims in the first half of the year. From January to the end of June there were 277 refugee claims from Syrian national finalized by the board and 234 new claims referred to the board.

Last year, there were a total of 727 Syrian claims finalized and 553 referred. That compares to 154 finalized and 181 referred in 2011.

The board finalized 325 claims and received 182 referrals from Iraq nationals from January to June, compared to 403 and 163, respectively, last year. In 2011, board finalized 270 Iraqi claims and received 141 referrals.

According to the UN Refugee Agency, Canada resettled 21,000 Iraqis from 2009 to the end of 2014 and about 1,200 Syrians.

In the wake of the Kurdi family deaths, the federal government pledged to take in 10,000 more Syrian refugees by next September.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada says that of a commitment to resettle 11,300 Syrians, 2,406 had come to Canada by Sept. 4. Of the commitment to resettle 23,000 Iraqis, a total of 22,405 had arrived as of Sept. 2.

Habel says any migrants who cross the border without presenting themselves at a border crossing are assessed by RCMP to ensure they are healthy and not in need of medical help and then turned over to Citizenship and Immigration for processing.