=Continued=
Undocumented immigrants get help fleeing Trump's America to Canada
McFetridge, who said she encounters dozens of asylum seekers on some days, keeps a log of those she encounters.
“. . . Woman arrived by plane. 25 years in the US. Leaving son behind, degree in finance . . . Father stayed in taxi, sobbing as family left . . . Young adult – said she was bisexual & would be killed if returned to home country . . .”
Although McFetridge is the most visible advocate, a broad array of community and faith organizations have also mobilized throughout the Champlain Valley to assist people who pass through.
One organization that was formed to support refugees, Plattsburgh Cares, prints informational pamphlets about how to safely reach Roxham Road. Amid complaints from Canadian officials, the group stopped distributing the pamphlets this spring. It now relies on “word of mouth” to get information out, said Slatkin, 73, the woman in Essex.
As they continue their efforts, the advocates draw comparisons to the stealth network of abolitionists used to help guide people who escaped to Canada in the 19th century.
Of the estimated 100,000 enslaved people who fled the American South between 1810 and 1850, about 40,000 made it to Canada after being hidden in houses and churches along the way, said Don Papson, president of the North Country Underground Railroad Museum in Keeseville, New York.
One of the major routes there ran through Champlain, about two blocks from McFetridge’s house, he noted. Today, before asylum seekers arrive on Roxham Road, they must travel down North Star Road, believed to be named after the star that people who escaped slavery used to guide them toward freedom.
Martha Swan, executive director of John Brown Lives, a humanitarian group based in Westport, New York, and named after the 19th-century abolitionist, said the region’s “inspiring history” is what is causing more people to “summon the courage” to support refugees. She said interest in helping the refugees has grown considerably this summer because of outrage over Trump administration’s policy of separating detained undocumented immigrants from their children at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“You don’t have to do anything extraordinary, necessarily, but you do have to bear witness and help where you can,” said Swann, who recently helped a Nigerian woman make the trip from Los Angeles to the northern border.
At the First Presbyterian Church in Plattsburgh, the congregation decided to convert a Sunday school room into a temporary shelter for use by asylum seekers who may become stranded.
Stuart Voss, chairman of the church’s refugee committee, said the church is reviving a role it played in the late 1980s when thousands of migrants from Central America traveled through upstate New York to reach Canada.
Many spent an extended period of time in Plattsburgh – where they were fed, counseled and housed by local churches – while they waited for Canada to consider their asylum requests.
But Voss, 75, said church members now believe they must be far more discreet in their efforts than they were 30 years ago.
“We decided it wasn’t the same situation as in 1986 to 1987 because there was no ICE back then, and it was just Border Patrol,” said Voss, referring to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which was created in 2003 in wake of 9/11. “Customs used to tell us, ‘OK, as long as they are staying with you, you can help them out.’ ”
In a statement, the Canadian police declined to comment on Americans’ role in helping the refugees but said it added resources to the border and is confident it can meet the security and humanitarian challenge.
In a separate statement, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency said it is “working to identify trends and patterns” of cross-border movement into Canada.
Here along the border, the taxi drivers say they will continue transporting asylum seekers to the border.
Although the drivers say they got into the business to make money – they charge $50 to $75 in fares for a one-way trip from the bus station – they say they now see it as their duty to give advice and to comfort and calm passengers.
“They are scared. . . . They will ask me if American Border Patrol is going to be here, and how far they have to walk,” driver Troy Gelwicks said after he recently dropped a Haitian family off at Roxham Road. “I say, ‘You just have to walk 10 steps, and Canadian Border Patrol is very friendly.’ ”
As she waved goodbye to Malik, McFetridge said she is also banking that Canada’s government will continue to be more sympathetic than the Trump administration.
“But you have to be realistic,” McFetridge added. “It’s not going to work out for everybody.”
=End=