Buffalo: A Point of Entry from the US to Canada
Asylum seekers have known for years that Buffalo can be a friendly crossing point to refugee claims in Canada.
Olgivio Ardila came to the United States on a tourist visa in October 2016 from Venezuela. Ardila (the name is a pseudonym, because he fears threats from Venezuelan government supporters) said he was fleeing the country’s deteriorating political situation, as well as specific threats against him as a shopkeeper. A few months later, his wife and three children joined him in Florida.
At first, the family planned to apply for political asylum in the U.S. But, “with the Trump administration, everything got complicated,” said Ardila. Four attorneys told him it would be virtually impossible for him to stay in the U.S. legally.
Then Ardila heard from an aunt, who had settled in Canada two decades ago with help from Vive La Casa, a shelter program in Buffalo run by the Jericho Road Community Health Center. On March 21, Ardila and his family arrived in Buffalo. A month later, in the sanctuary of the shelter, where he waited to hear if Canada would allow the family to join Ardila’s aunt in Toronto, he broke into tears.
“Perdon,” he said, “forgive me,” in Spanish, as his voice cracked. His tearful wife kissed Ardila’s head and wiped his tears. Sitting at the church, they shared the story of the journey that brought them here, and their hopes for what might come next.
Stories like Ardila’s are suddenly headline news on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border, inspired by President Donald Trump’s efforts to crack down on immigration and slash the number of refugees resettled in the U.S.
But in fact, refugee border crossings have been recorded for decades at this official Canadian entry point, where a refugee reception office, called the Peace Bridge Newcomer Center, shares space with the Canadian Border Services Agency. It’s a collaboration that seems to symbolize Canada’s welcoming stance toward refugees.
“Since the mid-1980’s, it is fair to say that 100,000 refugees were helped by Vive [the shelter program] to go to Canada at Fort Erie,” said Martha Mason, director of the Peace Bridge Newcomer Center, right across the border from Buffalo in Fort Erie.
Vive La Casa has operated since 1984 starting as a shelter for asylum seekers from Central and South America. In recent months, it has been the target of publicity for the work that it does in assisting asylum seekers to cross from the US to Canada. In 2015, the Jericho Road Community Health Center took over the operations of Vive.
“We have been operating at or near maximum capacity since prior to the [U.S. presidential] election” in November, said Mary Schaefer, events and marketing coordinator for the Jericho Center. “But after the election, and particularly after the first travel ban executive order was signed [by President Trump], the numbers increased pretty dramatically.”
Schafer said that in order to support the increased number of asylum seekers coming to Vive in Buffalo, the center has begun building partnerships with other organizations who can help house clients.
Canadian officials confirm that the number of families like Ardila’s seeking asylum in Canada has increased since Trump’s election. At the Fort Erie crossing, 316 asylum claimants arrived in March, compared with 174 in the same month a year ago, and 113 in March 2014. According to the Canadian Council for Refugees, arrivals are up because “refugees feel unsafe in the US,” but also “because there are more refugees around the world.”
Refugee border crossings into Canada are governed by the U.S.-Canadian Safe Third Country Agreement, signed in December 2004. Under this agreement, refugees should make a claim for asylum in the country where they first arrive after fleeing their homeland. In the case of the Ardila family, for example, that would mean asking for asylum in the U.S.
But the agreement has exceptions. For example, “If a person has close family members in Canada, they’re allowed to seek asylum even if they cross from a regular land border,” said Nicole Hallett, assistant professor of law at the University of Buffalo School of Law.
The other situation where the Safe Third Country Agreement does not apply is if a refugee enters Canada at an “irregular” border crossing — an open field that’s not patrolled by border officials, for example. Asylum seekers who make it into Canada that way can make what’s known as an inland refugee claim.
Those seeking to enter at the official Peace Bridge crossing make their way first to Buffalo. One destination is the Pilgrim St. Lukes & El Nuevo Camino United Church of Christ, which declared itself a sanctuary church in January.
The church’s Reverend Justo Gonzalez said he felt compelled to respond to growing anti-immigrant sentiments, “the profound national fear of undocumented folks, refugees and even people with permanent residence,” he said. Since January, Gonzalez’s church has helped 23 people, including Ardila and his family, to find shelter in Buffalo while they awaited scheduled interviews with the Canadian Border Services Agency.
In the basement floor of the church, a large room has been converted into a space for the asylum seekers. It is filled with mattresses and children’s toys, and outside are restrooms and a communal kitchen where the families can cook. The church is working to install showers for the asylum seekers.
In Buffalo asylum seekers have been assisted by Vive since the 1980s. Gonzalez’s church works with its partner organization, which vets asylum seekers and refers them to shelter at the church.
Gonzalez said most of those seeking shelter arrived in the U.S. on tourist visas that are now expired. He noted that most of the individuals they have housed have been from El-Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. All are seeking to cross into Fort Erie to make a refugee claim in Canada.
“What we are clear about in terms of the church is, we don’t directly get involved in anything that’s going to move someone in an illegal fashion or manner,” he said.
On a recent April day, as Ardila and his family awaited an appointment in Canada, a 25-year-old man from El Salvador was also sheltering at Gonzalez’s church. Juan, for whom a pseudonym is being used, said he had fled El Salvador two years ago when gangs threatened to kill him if he did not pay them a large sum of money.
For two years, Juan lived in Maryland with his mother and sister, who are U.S. residents. He worked a restaurant job, but had no legal documentation himself. After Trump’s election, he grew more fearful of deportation and eventually traveled to Buffalo. As he told his story in Gonzalez’s church, he said he was scheduled to cross into Canada the next day, along with the Ardila family.
Like the Ardilas, Juan had an aunt who had won asylum in Canada four years earlier, after Viva helped her make the crossing from Buffalo.
“It’s feeling great,” said Juan, “It feels like after such a long, long time, I’m finally getting to the end of all of this.”
The next morning at 6:30, Juan and the Ardila family were ready to leave the Unity Church and head for their asylum interviews at the Peace Bridge in Canada. Unmarked taxis picked them up at the church and drove them to the border.
Once across the bridge, Juan and the Ardila family were greeted warmly at the Canadian center for newcomers. The center’s waiting room has a play area for children, a television and food in the kitchen. Roy McGregor, the newcomer center’s program director, welcomed the asylum seekers, explained the interview process, and announced that pizza would be served at 12:30.
On the day that Juan and the Ardilas came, there were 17 arrivals — a pretty normal day, said McGregor. While those coming from Gonzalez’s church in Buffalo had appointments made in advance, five of the arrivals turned up unannounced. McGregor gave all the new arrivals forms to fill out. Juan, who speaks English, helped translate the forms for the Ardilas and another family.
A Canadian agent called the asylum seekers one by one to come for fingerprinting or for an interview. Those who waited chatted among themselves, talked on their phones or watched the movie Madagascar on the center’s TV.
Ardila and his wife were scheduled to be interviewed at 11 a.m. Canadian officials would also conduct background checks, and the asylum seekers could all count on being in the center until 4:30 or 5 in the afternoon, one official said.
Hallett, the law school professor, said she has warned clients that even when they make the official crossing with an interview scheduled in Canada, they risk being stopped by U.S. border officials before they get there. “There is a substantial risk that you will get arrested and again be in a worse position and potentially get deported,” she said, adding that for many, the risk may be worth it if they believe they can start a new life in Canada.
Both Juan and the Ardila family made it through the interview process at the welcome center, and reverend Gonzalez said they are settling into Canada — and a new life.
