Reeve worries about migrants crossing into province when Red River swells

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This article was published 23/02/2017 (3225 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Asylum seekers might not be the only thing flooding across the U.S. border into Manitoba — local residents and community leaders in Emerson may soon be dealing with rising water levels at the same time.

The U.S. National Weather Service said Wednesday there is more than an 80 per cent chance of major flooding along the Red River near the Manitoba border in the coming weeks. On the same morning, another seven refugee claimants (six adults and one child) walked into Emerson and surrendered to local authorities.

That brings the total of asylum seekers at Emerson to 111 since Jan. 1.

So the latest flood forecast was yet another cause for concern for Greg Janzen, reeve of the Emerson-Franklin municipality.

“Really? That high, eh?” Janzen said. “Wow, that sure changed in a hurry.”

Although dikes in both Emerson and nearby Dominion City have been built two to three feet above 1997 flood levels, Janzen said rising water levels could become an issue for asylum seekers and authorities tasked with protecting the border.

“What’s going to happen here if we get a flood and these people are still coming in?” the reeve said. “They’re going to have to be coming in even farther away from Emerson and that’s more open field.

“With all the people coming across, it could widen the search for the RCMP and the border patrol.”

Janzen and local MP, Conservative Ted Falk, met with RCMP Friday to reiterate concerns of local residents to bolster the number of officers. Since that meeting, another 42 refugee claimants have crossed the international border into Emerson — eight on Friday, followed by 22 early Sunday, five early Monday and seven Wednesday.

Falk said he stressed that staff and resources should be added to both RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) at the Emerson border — but not at the expense of other residents of the riding.

“I made it clear to them that residents of Emerson cannot shoulder this responsibility themselves, nor should they be expected to,” Falk said Wednesday. “I have been assured that resources are being reallocated to the Emerson area to deal with this situation.

“This is good news, but those reallocated resources should not come at the expense of services in other areas of Provencher.

“The last thing we want to see is an emergency in another area of rural Manitoba that cannot be responded to in a timely fashion because the majority of resources are focused on illegal migrants in the Emerson area. Taxpayers must have the services they pay for available to them when they need it. Any flooding in the coming months will only exacerbate the current problem.”

Meanwhile, the reeve said the crossings on Monday and Wednesday mark a departure from recent weeks when border crossings have largely been confined to weekends.

“They’re changing their routine,” he said. “And that’s where it’s going to get tough to watch the border with fewer people. When they were coming on the weekend you kind of knew it and could have more resources here just for a couple of days.

“Now that they’re starting to come in the middle of the week… that takes a lot more resources.”

The arrivals on Wednesday showed up at the Emerson Inn at about 6:30 a.m. They were welcomed in and fed eggs and coffee by the restaurant owner, said hotel manager Wayne Pfiel.

The claimants were in good condition, despite a four-hour walk, Pfiel said. They were all wearing winter clothing.

They surrendered to RCMP and were taken to border officials for screening before being transported to Winnipeg.

Emerson isn’t the only border-crossing hot spot that’s dealing with a spike in asylum seekers — and requesting assistance.

On Monday, the RCMP confirmed they had bolstered their presence at the Quebec border and that border authorities had created a temporary refugee centre to process a growing number of asylum seekers crossing from the United States near Hemmingford, Que.

The CBSA said the number of people making refugee claims at Quebec-U.S. border crossings more than doubled from 2015 to 2016. Last month, 452 people made claims in Quebec compared with 137 in January 2016, the agency said.

In response to a request to RCMP headquarters in Winnipeg about increasing staff at Emerson, a spokesman replied in an email: “The RCMP is continually assessing and enhancing resources at the border to ensure we can detect and arrest individuals illegally crossing into Manitoba. This includes adding both human and technological resources at the border.”

Meanwhile, Manitoba will issue its first formal flood forecast on Monday.

“I’m hoping we’re not going to have to worry about the asylum seekers that much,” Janzen said, “because I’m hoping we’re going to have all the resources here when that time comes… that will be one less thing we have to deal with… that we get all this stuff in order before the flood.”

randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @randyturner15