A Sudanese man hopped out of a taxi just before daybreak, a duffle bag slung over his shoulder as he headed for the U.S. – Canadian border.
Within seconds, the man, who was braving negative 6 degrees Celsius (21 degrees Fahrenheit) weather, was confronted by a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer who shined her flashlight on him as he crossed into Hemmingford, Quebec, from Champlain, New York, reports Reuters.
“Stop! You have to stop,” the officer insisted, grabbing his arm.
Over and over, the man, who did not provide his name, muttered as if speaking to himself, “I need to be safe. I need to be safe. I just want to be safe.” He kept walking, desperately trying to plow past the officer.
Several hundred asylum seekers have entered Canada as U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to crack down on immigration.
Dressed in a checkered sweatshirt, pants and snow boots, the man only stopped when the officer said, “You’re in Canada already. You’re in Canada. You’re here.”
Now, with no reluctance, he put his hands in the air as she told him he was under arrest and that he had entered Canada illegally.
The exchange lasted all of four minutes.
Less than an hour later, a Turkish family of four showed up, also by taxi.
A young girl in pink pants and scarf, toting a small pink suitcase, pressed a doll under her arm as she tread through the snow behind her father, who was being placed under arrest.
She kept her head high and eyes focused straight ahead, looking back only once to make sure her little brother and mother were safe.
Tears began rolling down her cheek when she and her family were placed inside a police car.
Thirty minutes later, two parents and five children from Sudan arrived at the Champlain border in a white Chevy van after having driven from Texas. The father sprinted from the van first, somersaulting over a snow bank. He then helped his wife and children over it. The Canadian officers helped them, too.
“Are they leaving it?” one U.S. Border Patrol agent yelled to the RCMP officers while pointing to the van.
The mother nodded. A tow truck later took the car away.
The father dropped his cell phone on the U.S. side but was told by a patrol agent that if he crossed back to get it he would be arrested.
