Migrants Leaving NYC Head to Canada

Facts

• Amid New York City's migration crisis, NYC Mayor Eric Adams confirmed in an interview Monday that the city is providing tickets to migrants seeking to go elsewhere, with many heading to Canada.
• The National Guard has reportedly been distributing bus tickets to migrants at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan for them to head to upstate New York and then Canada.
• The free bus tickets are reportedly to Plattsburgh, NY– roughly 20 miles from the Canadian border– with Adams' admin. then paying for taxis and shuttles to bring the migrants to Quebec. Some say this plan exploits a loophole in the 2002 US-Canada treaty called the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA).
• Christine Fréchette, Quebec’s Immigration Minister, called Adams’ move “surprising” because, under the STCA, asylum-seekers must file their claim in the first country they enter. However, the agreement does not apply to unofficial entry points, such as Roxham Road, where NYC is sending the migrants.
• Fréchette said the current situation highlights the need to “solve the Roxham Road” problem, adding that the US and Canada are negotiating an update to the Safe Third Country Agreement.
• Adams’ decision to send migrants elsewhere comes as NYC is in the middle of a surging migration crisis. Last month, Adams declared there was “no room” for migrants in NYC, and he called on the federal government to help solve the “national crisis.”

Sources: FOX 5 New York, New York Post, BBC News, Finance, and ITN.

Narratives

• Republican narrative, as provided by Flipboard. Adams, who sanctimoniously condemned US border states for sending migrants to New York, is now hypocritically taking advantage of the STCA's loophole, which has opened a back — albeit illegal — door into Canada, where the majority face arrest. This calls attention not only to Adams' fabricated concern for migrants but, more importantly, to the need to close the STCA's glaring gap.
• Democratic narrative, as provided by KTVZ. Unlike GOP states that use migrants as political pawns, Adams is simply helping those already wishing to go elsewhere. Despite questions about its efficacy, the Safe Third Country Agreement is working, and Canadian officials are doing their best to make up for any perceived flaws in the agreement. Migration and asylum-seeking is a delicate issue, and with some tweaks, the agreement can help bring order and fairness to Canada, the US, and migrants.