While the case has no “direct link” with the closure of Roxham Road, the death of several migrants in Akwesasne illustrates the fact that the increase in border control measures risks “creating even more deaths” , fear specialists and the community network.
“Obviously we cannot make a direct causal link with Roxham in this case, as the people were going to the United States. But in general, we know that the increase in border controls and deterrence measures has the effect of people taking more dangerous paths with smugglers and criminal networks,” explains the holder of the Research Chair on Immigration from Concordia University, Mireille Paquet.
She argues that the tightening of border measures, such as the closure of Roxham Road last week, “often increases the number of deaths and injuries” among migrants.
It’s documented: these people can’t help but take boats, badly lit paths, capes, tunnels, in short, crooked avenues.
Mireille Paquet, holder of the Research Chair in Immigration at Concordia University
The professor specializing in regional immigration and citizen mobilization Chedly Belkhodja also agrees. “It’s really unfortunate that all of this happens a week after the wide media coverage around Roxham, but these people wouldn’t have been there anyway,” he says straight away.
That said, “the fear now is to see even more risky crossings appear organized by people who are ready to take people on boats”. “This reality has existed for a long time, especially in this region, but with everything that is happening at the moment, it is possible that it will go up a notch, that we will see people who are literally ready for anything” , continues Mr. Belkhodja.
Stakeholders “very worried”
In the eyes of the spokesman for the Action Committee for People without Status, Frantz André, the death of these migrants – there were at least eight of them at the end of the day on Friday whose death had been confirmed – is “very worrying”. “For us, it was something that was predictable, and we weren’t the only ones to say it. That it happens just a few days after Roxham road, that, on the other hand, we did not expect. It’s really worrying,” says Mr. André.
He says he has perceived for a few days an “extreme distress” in several migrants, who contact him in search of answers.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Migrants arrive at Roxham Road on March 25, a few hours after it closed.
“In the United States, it has become too expensive for many, and others are outright afraid of being deported. These people are left on their own, with no answers. It is certain that what we see today, it will happen again tomorrow,” laments Mr. André, visibly affected by the news.
I don’t want to be the herald of bad omens, but it will happen again. We just didn’t think it would happen so quickly.
Frantz André, spokesperson for the Action Committee for People Without Status
He also describes as an “arbitrary decision” the agreement reached last week between Ottawa and Washington to close Roxham Road.
At the collective Care for social justice, the doctor Nazila Bettache also affirms that “these deaths were foreseeable”. “Just like the deaths on the Mexico-US border, just like the deaths in the Mediterranean, these deaths are the result of a system designed to endanger people who everyone knows will not stop and cannot stop coming,” she insisted on Friday.
“We all know that even more people will die as a result of the recent expansion of the Safe Third Country Agreement. This extension is supposed to make migrants invisible to citizens here. But we will not be invisible. Our lives and our deaths are important,” said Solidarity Across Borders spokesperson Hady Anne.
His colleague Samira Jasmin for his part argued during the day on Friday that “nothing comes by chance”. “These immigration policies are putting human lives at risk! We cross the border for a better world, and we find ourselves facing death. »