Despite closing Roxham Road, Canada faces asylum seeker surge

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

Despite the closure of Roxham Road, Canada had more migrants seeking asylum in September than any month since at least 2017.

According to the Journal de Montreal, the number of asylum seekers passing through Montreal airport exploded last September. 

"The Quebec government put its head in the sand a little by thinking that closing Roxham would solve everything," said Stephan Reichhold, director of the Table de concertation des organismes au service des personnes réfugiées et immigrantes (TCRI).

Immigration Canada data showed closing Roxham Road had a brief impact on the influx of asylum seekers into Québec, after lulls last March and April.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) processed no less than 3,420 applications at "air points" in Québec, including the Montreal-Trudeau Airport — the "new Roxham Road."

The phenomenon of refugee claimants landing in Montreal with a travel visa and applying for asylum on arrival has taken an unprecedented scale since the closure of Roxham Road last March 24.

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September marked the third time since 2017 where Canada set new monthly records for most refugee claims submitted. At that time, Immigration Canada counted 15,340 applications. 

CBSA spokesperson Jacqueline Roby confirmed a “recent increase” in asylum applications at airports as of late, mostly from Mexico, India, Kenya, Ethiopia Congo, Nigeria and Uganda.

Though Ontario and the rest of Canada had been largely spared by Roxham Road until 2022, they too have experienced an unprecedented increase in asylum applications.

Reichhold told Journal de Montreal the unofficial border crossing better directed claimants upon arrival than now. 

"It was going relatively well,” he said. “We knew who was coming and everything was under control."

This is a developing story.