Crossing to Canada; the Frozen Journey of Refugees
By Shayma Musa
The mechanics of winter are familiar to Northern Pennsylvania natives.
Tom Devecio announces that it’s 6 below zero, we all double up on socks, lace up the winter boots, pull the jackets on tight and step out into the harsh winter winds without flinching. This is not the case for refugees crossing into Canada.
CNN reports that slow but steady trickles of refugees are attempting the cross from the United States to Canada. Originally hoping to settle in the states, many of the refugees say that President Trump’s executive order banning citizens of seven majority Muslim countries (an order which has been blocked by federal courts) has deterred them from seeking asylum here.
In what seems like scenes out of a thriller, the CNN report detailed the ordeal two men from Somalia who paid a man $300 to take them to North Dakota where they were supposed to walk 30 minutes into Canada.
However, as many reports have detailed the trip isn’t always so straightforward. Many refugees had already crossed the border from Mexico into the United States illegally and began the process of seeking asylum when Trump issued his executive order. So now the weary travelers have to pack up all over again and make the trek from wherever they settled up to North Dakota –where traveling into Canada is easiest. From there, they must walk through knee deep snow in order to go through the asylum seeking process anew.
Walking from point A to point B through sheets of blinding white snow isn’t so easy. Some cross in the dark of night and find themselves crawling without any direction through a desert of white. Often, refugees unfamiliar with the extent of a Northern winter, get frostbitten from the exposure to cold. The New York Times reported that some refugees have lost fingers when crossing on nights when the weather is well below zero.
The refugees often find themselves in Emerson, a small farming town that borders the states of North Dakota and Minnesota. The town is used to people knocking at doors on random winter nights, but according to reports from the NY times and CNN, the numbers that they’ve seen in recent months are alarming.
This image of weary travelers dragging their way through the snow, in some cases carrying children with them, is a stark diversion from the image of refugees being welcomed into Canadian airports full of warm open arms. Not to say that Canada hasn’t been doing its best to welcome these unexpected visitors.
Emerson natives keep their eyes and ears open for the exhausted journeyers, often providing them a warm meal and bed to sleep in before guiding them through the asylum seeking process.
The refugees who cross the border into Canada are illegal, however, an agreement between the United States and Canada allows any asylum seekers who cross the border into Canada and present themselves to Canadian Border patrol to claim asylum. An agreement that the refugees have been taking advantage of. Yet, with winter winds calming and the sun staying in the sky a little longer every day, citizens of Canadian border towns are concerned for their and the refugee’s safety.
Trump’s executive decision has forced another country to bear the brunt of our leader’s decisions. As Trump announces an amendment that will allow him to enact his ban again sometime next week it’s more important than ever for us to keep pushing back against policies that turn our ever accepting country into one that slams its doors shut on those fleeing from war and violence.
