Kesher Talk

Americans fleeing to Canada: "The number of Americans making refugee claims in Canada has skyrocketed since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to statistics from the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board."

Skyrocketed?

"The number of Americans seeking refuge in Canada increased by 135 per cent before the end of October over the entire previous year."

How shocking! Until you find out the real numbers, not just the percentage increase:

"From January to the end of October this year, 191 filed refugee claims citing persecution in the U.S., compared to 81 in 2001. In 2000, 85 had sought refugee status, already a huge jump from the 40 that sought refuge in 1999."

The Canadian Press seems to embrace the tyranny of small numbers in this story. Not only that, but it is all part of an unpaid advertizement for immigration lawyer Dave Matas, who held a press conference to announce these pointless statistics in Winnipeg. "I expect that what we're seeing is a reflection of the change in due process in the U.S. as a result of Sept. 11," he told CP.

According to the article, the IRB "has not had time to evaluate the increase, but believes some of it could be attributed to a number of American-born children of migrants in that country illegally who then come to Canada to claim refugee status... Only one American has ever been accepted as a refugee by the board."

The enlightenment comes at the end of the story, long after the reader has been innundated with a lecture on the oppressive and racist police state that America has become since 9-11. Vancouver immigration lawyer Phil Rankin said most of the American refugee claimants he's dealt with suffer mental illnesses that lead them to believe they are persecuted in the United States. Others are trying to avoid prosecution south of the border. None of them are successful, he said. "Nobody's going to buy that the United States is not a democratic place," Rankin said. "The problems that a lot of people have are legal. . . . That doesn't make you a refugee."

So the people fleeing the U.S. for Canada appear to be running away from the law, into the gracious embrace of Canada's pathetic immigration/refugee system. Once they get their citizenship, then they can easily travel back into the U.S. and get into more trouble. Hooray.

posted by Howard @ 12/30/2002 01:47:27 PM