border visit December 10, 2017

Sunday, December 10th, 2017,  3.45pm. Roxham Road, Champlain, NYS.   A very cold afternoon.  13 people (women and children) crossed into Canada, all of Sub Saharan African origin,  arriving in three separate vehicles. First a young French speaking woman  arrived on her own in a taxi.  The RCMP officer repeatedly (4-5 times) told her to go to the official border crossing  at Lacolle and questioned her extensively about where she came from how she knew about Roxham road, why she was crossing at Roxham etc. She told him she had no family in Canada and he still told her she would be OK crossing at Lacolle border. Next came the Plattsburgh Airport shuttle with three family groups: a woman with a baby and a teenage daughter (who was very happy to get a pink  hat and scarf!), another woman with a baby and two young children and a third woman with a baby and a young child.  One of the women spoke French and the other two English.  A second RCMP officer also told  them to go to Lacolle border crossing but insisted less than the first.  Finally a woman with a small baby arrived in a taxi. She was able to cross over before the officers came out of their trailer, so she was not questioned or told she would be arrested.