Fewer asylum seekers crossing into Quebec illegally, CBSA says

After an unprecedented spike in the number of asylum seekers crossing the border into Quebec illegally in early August, the Canada Border Services Agency says those numbers are now dropping.

Border agents are now handing the claims of 50 to 100 asylum seekers per day.

Compare that tothe beginning of the month, when as many as1,200 people were waiting to be processed at the border crossing in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Que.

Before the surge in the number ofpeople crossing into Canada began,agents were handling about a dozen asylum claims daily.

While the numberof refugee claimants has been on the decline since the end of last week, the CBSA said it's still taking the situation day by day.

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Many of the recent refugee claimants crossing into Quebec are Haitians who have been living in America for years but now face deportation.

In May, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he would not beextending temporary protection status (TPS) for Haitian nationals past January, when that status isset to expire.

TPS was granted afterthe 2010 earthquake, but now the Department of Homeland Security considers Haiti to be a safe country.

A slowing of the surge ofasylum seekers and more resources allocated to handle the claims also meanthat people are spending less time at the makeshift tent city set up at the border while waiting to be processed, said the CBSA.

Last week, Cornwall,Ont., Mayor Leslie O'Shaughnessy announcedthe tent city pitched outside the Nav Centre to make room for asylum seekerswill remain empty until further notice.

He said immigration officials told the city that processing was proceeding more quicklythan expected at Quebec crossings.

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