border visit December 9, 2018

Sunday December 9, 2018. Afternoon. Roxham Road, USA. 
It was a cloudy overcast day when we arrived. The temperature was about 0 C.  After waiting for a bit, the first taxi arrived with a couple from Eritrea who spoke English with us. The woman was visibly pregnant and remarked on the cold even though they were dressed appropriately for the weather. They  had numerous suitcases that they struggled with as they crossed over.  As they were preparing to cross the next taxi arrived, stopping further down Roxham Road. A tall black man got out and rushed by us to cross the border. He was clearly anxious to get across.
 
Immediately afterwards (and before the first taxi had even left) another taxi arrived with two men, a woman and a small girl. The driver helped them with the luggage and they headed over on the heels of the first group. No one was interested in hats and mitts but the woman with the small girl told us they were from Burundi and the taxi driver told us that the two men were from Haiti and Yemen.
 
Shortly afterwards a taxi brought a family of four from Libya:  mother, father and two primary school aged children (a girl and a boy).  The father was not wearing a hat or gloves but politely declined our offer of warm things. The driver also helped them with their luggage and told us that the man was a doctor and the woman a teacher. We noticed that they were waiting outside the RCMP building for awhile before being taken in.
 
Lastly, a taxi brought an older woman in her 50’s and as she struggled to get her backpack on I one of us asked where she was from and she answered "America". She went straight towards the RCMP officer but when she heard what he said about her being arrested etc she hesitated.  The officer repeated that it was her choice and finally she did move forward. 
 
Today a total of nine adults and three children crossed into Canada without incident and the RCMP respected their protocol.