Windsor Braces For Refugee Tide

"If you think that in the U.S. there are perhaps eight million illegals, if you get just 5 per cent of the people who don't feel secure in the U.S. who want to come to Canada as refugees, that would be 400,000 people," Emilio Goicoechea told The Globe and Mail. The ambassador said he fears that if the influx turns into a flood, Ottawa will slap visa restrictions on all Mexican citizens visiting Canada. More National Stories Weathering the storm on B.C.'s fish farms Canada can't find 50 Afghan detainees Windsor braces for refugee tide From Idi Amin to Don Cherry, the hockey gods must be smiling There's a good reason why David fights Goliath VICTORY IS MINE!: HOW EACH PARTY SAW THE OUTCOME OF THE TV DEBATE Go to the National section "We're really concerned about it. We have a visa-free status we'd like to keep." In the last three weeks, 220 people, most of them Mexican, have shown up at Windsor's border crossings and applied for refugee status. Many had driven with their families from Florida, where they had been living illegally for years. Nearly all the claimants arrived with Canadian refugee application forms already completed, many containing the same wording. Several said they paid up to $400 (U.S.) to have the form completed by a Florida-based immigration agency. "There's no way that we can cope with this," Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis said yesterday after 20 more applicants arrived. "I just don't have the infrastructure or the resources." More: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070922.WINDSOR22/TPStory/TPNational/Ontario/ [Proofreader’s note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on September 24, 2007]

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