Smuggled Brazilian refugee recounts boat journey to Cornwall, Ont.

The high-speed boat ride across the St. Lawrence River to Cornwall, Ont.,was the last leg in a seven-hour journey"John" hoped would lead to a new life of safety in Canada.

Carrying only a backpack stuffed with a change of clothes, underwear, cologne and thousands of dollars in cash,the 32-year-old Brazilian refugee last month bet his future on a masked smuggler and strangers with unknown names.

CBC News has agreed not to disclose his identity because the refugee is a witness in an ongoing smuggling investigation spearheaded by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

Johnsayshefled the United Statesafter gang members from his hometown of Sobraliafound him in a suburb outside Boston, where he had beenworking as a painter. He wasan undocumented immigrant who fled extortion and gang violence in southeastern Brazil 11 years earlier.

I hear Trump is going to deport. I can't go back to Brazil. It's dangerous there.- John

Heconsidered running away to another American city, but after seeing multiple videos of immigration raids he opted to cross into Canadato avoid deportation.

"Trump is at war with immigrants," John said in broken English when asked why he fled. "I hearTrump is going to deport. I can't go back to Brazil. It's dangerous there."

CBC interviewed John with and without a translator after his release from the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre. His Canadian guarantor was also interviewed, along with the RCMP.

Smuggler was dressed in black, masked

Johnleft Framingham, Mass., the morning of Feb.2, after handing over $1,500 USto a white American womanwhodrovehim seven hours to the Canadian border near Akwesasne. The territory, dissected by the St. Lawrence River, straddles New York State, Ontario and Quebec.

There, he boarded a white motor boat operated by a smuggler on afrigid, windswept afternoon.

Refugee smuggled by boat

8 years ago

Duration 1:04

A 32-year-old Brazilian refugee recounts how smugglers transported him from a Boston suburb across the St. Lawrence River to Cornwall. (Video by Raphael Tremblay, Jean Delisle. Edited by Sylvain Lepage)

"He was dressed in black, had black gloves, a mask and sunglasses. Not recognizable," John recalls.

They were guided bya Canadian flag blowing in the wind onthe dock of the Monte Carlo Motel in Cornwall. Ittook less than 10minutes to get there.

Before the smuggler sped away, he instructed Johnto run up the wooden stairs to the street and hand over another $3,500 USto his partner, who was waiting for him at a nearby bus stop.Then Johnwould be on his own.

Refugee, boat driver arrested

But before he could hand over the cash to the next smuggler, Johnwas arrested by RCMP.

The Mounties were working withthe Cornwall Regional Task Force, which consists of nine Canadian and American law enforcement agencies who are responsible forpatrolling a 75-kilometre spanof roads and waterways from Iroquois, Ont., to the Quebec border.

RCMP Const. Jean Juneau saysofficers saw the man running up the dock around 1:30 p.m. The Mounties suspected smuggling immediately because ofsimilar casesalong the city'sshoreline.

"We stopped and questionedthis gentlemen. He didn't have alegitimate reason to be there. He didn't havethe proper paperwork and we turned him over to the CanadaBorder Services Agency," Juneau says.

The manis the first refugee this year arrested by RCMP in the Cornwall area. A deportation order was issued Feb. 13but is now on hold, pending his appearance in court. The 32-year-old Brazilian will still face deportation after he appears in court, according to the CBSA. A trial date has not yet been set.

Authorities later arrested the alleged smuggler after he docked his fishing boat in SaintRegis, Que. ACornwall Island resident is facing charges.

'There will be mass migration north'

According to statistics from the Cornwall Regional Task Force, American and Canadian border security agencies detained 77 people who were smuggled into the area last year. Forty-twoof themwere being transported south to the United States, and 35 were smuggled into Canada.

Prior to his retirement in 2013, former CBSA investigatorBrent Lafaveinvestigated the illegal transport of goods, weapons and people in the region. He expects human smuggling to increase this year along the St. Lawrence River given the anti-immigrant rhetoric coming from the White House.

"In my opinion, there will be mass migration north," says Lafave."The largest number of people are moved by boat because it hasthe least chance of detection and you can move the greatest amount of people."

Lafave says there are many knownsmuggling routesoperated by bothlocal criminals andinternational syndicates. Often, individuals are put up in safe houses near the border before they make the illegal crossings by boat.

Despite the sophistication of some operations, Lafave says river crossings are dangerous.He has investigated cases where smugglers abandoned asylum seekers on the small islands that dot the St. Lawrence, or left themin isolated woods when they got spooked. People have also died in night-time crossings as boats crashed while trying to evade authorities.

But while Lafavebelievesthe Canadian government should continue to crack down hard on illegal smuggling, he says it has to be balanced with sympathy for refugees.

"It'shard to say to somebody who has no possibilityof a quality of life where they live,to say [to them],'You can't have a piece of this dream that we have.'"

Released after 46days

Johnwas released from the Ottawa-Carleton Detention CentreMarch 24, after spending 46days in jail. He took shelterfrom falling snowunder a tree outside the gates of the jail for nearly an hour as he waited forfriends to arrive from Toronto to pick him up.

His body shook as he wept during thereunionwith his guarantor and a childhood friend his only ties to Canada.

CBSA had seized hisbackpack and belongings, so all Johnhad with him was a photocopy of his Brazilian passport, some court documents and a small OCDC-issued notebook in which he jotted down the names of some people he had met inside.

While in the detention centre, Johnslept in a one-room cellblock with 30 bunk beds reserved for minimum-security inmates.Johnsays there were two other immigration detainees housed with him.The menwere from China, arrested after policenoticed them driving erratically on the highway.

Johnwasreleased after his guarantor, AdemirDesouza, posted a $5,000 bond. Desouza is also from Sobraliaandknows John'sparents. Desouzaagreed tohouse Johnand ensure therefugee checks in twice a month with border officials until he gets a hearing.

If Johnflees, Desouza wouldhave to pay another $25,000, but Johnsays that won't happen. He wantsto prove to arefugee hearing board that he deserves to be in Canada.

"I gotta walk straight. If I'm lucky I continue staying here."