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Reuters
REYNOSA, Mexico/TORONTO
Shortly after crossing the Rio Grande into the gang-infested border city of Reynosa, dozens of Mexicans deported during US President Donald Trump's first days in office said they would soon try to head north again - but this time to Canada.
In a Reynosa migrant shelter, just yards from the US border, 26-year-old Cenobio Rita said he had earned about $3,000 a month installing playgrounds in Richmond, Virginia, before he was deported on Feb. 15 after police found marijuana in his car.
Having left Mexico as a 14-year-old, he fretted about returning to his violent home state of Michoacan. With Trump taking a tough stance on undocumented immigrants, he ruled out a common path for many deportees - back into the United States.
"I want to go to Canada with my passport," he said."For those without documents, I think (the United States) is over. Now it's Canada's turn."
As Trump seeks to crack down on undocumented immigrants in the United States, about half of whom are Mexican, there are some nascent signs that more Mexican migrants see a future in Canada, which in December eased travel for visitors from Mexico.
Canadian government data shows a tripling of Mexicans seeking to travel to Canada in the three months since the visa requirement was shelved.
It is not a firm indicator as many people could be genuine tourists. But tie it to a surge in calls and e-mails to immigration lawyers from recently arrived Mexicans looking for work permits, as well as the accounts of deportees like Rita and Mexicans already in Canada, and it suggests a new migration pattern may be emerging.
Seven immigration lawyers, consultants and activists said that requests for legal advice from Mexicans who had entered Canada since Dec. 1 had roughly tripled compared with the same period in 2015-2016, while Mexico's Canadian consulates are also receiving more requests for help. Between December and late February, Canada has granted more than 61,500 eTAs (Electronic Travel Authorization forms) to Mexicans, about triple the number of quarterly tourist applications received in the year before the visa requirement was scrapped, official Canadian data shows. The true scale of Mexican immigration will only become fully apparent in June, when early arrivals on these ETAs are due to leave.
Mexico's foreign ministry said it, too, had noticed an uptick."Between January and March 2017, our consulates in Canada received more requests for assistance and protection than were seen in the same period of the previous year," it said.
The ministry, which estimated 90,000 Mexicans live in Canada, said it did not think Trump's election win was driving the surge, adding it was too early to detect a definitive trend.
Canada is closely monitoring"migration trends regarding Mexican travellers to Canada, including asylum claim rates," said Camielle Edwards, spokeswoman for Immigration and Refugee Minister Ahmed Hussen.
About 30 Mexicans in Reynosa who had been deported the previous night. More than half said they wanted to head to Canada. While it is unclear how many will succeed, almost nobody envisaged a future in the United States.
