I was surprised to see this Op-ed published in the Washington Post—a message to the media to look more closely at those going across the Minnesota border in to Canada.
It is too simple to say that the rise in numbers has anything to do with who is in power in Washington (the rise began several years ago during the Obama Administration):
The great challenge of Canadian journalism in the age of Trump is resisting the temptation to cram all bilateral news into a flattering narrative that contrasts crazed, bigoted America with righteous, inclusive Canada.
Canadian papers have been brimming lately with sensationalistic stories of U.S. Muslim refugees “pouring” into Canada to escape President Trump and his “Muslim ban,” risking life and limb to cross unmanned portions of the border in weather icy enough to literally freeze off fingers. Things reached a social media peak when a maudlin photo of a jolly Mountie escorting a young family over the snowy 49th parallel went viral.
Yet in the service of a tidy morality tale, much about these border crossings is being reported inaccurately, or at the very least, enormous amounts of complicating context are going conspicuously ignored.
Go here to continue reading. I especially want you to see the discussion about “asylum shopping.”
And don’t miss the 2014 story about one Somali who slipped in to Canada and the FBI asked Canada to hold him for questioning.
My previous posts on the ‘flood’ of migrants heading north to ‘welcoming’ Canada are here.
Remember that there is no reason that legal asylum seekers or legal refugees have any need to head to Canada. Those making the dash to get out of the US are obviously living here illegally.
Trudeau can have them!