Officials eye Salvadorans as potential source of next wave of border crossers
OTTAWA — Officials in Canada and the U.S. are concerned that the next wave of asylum seekers at the border could be a population far bigger than the Haitians crossing now.
More than 260,000 Salvadorans are facing deportation from the United States if their temporary protected status there is lifted in March — four times the number of Haitians covered by the program.
A belief among Haitians that their status will end in January has sent thousands fleeing to Canada; they make up the majority of the nearly 7,000 people apprehended crossing at an unofficial border point in Quebec this summer.
Government officials on both sides of the border told The Canadian Press this week that whether Salvadorans will follow in their footsteps is, for now, an scary unknown, given how much the current influx is already straining resources.