Canadian Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale disputed claims by a Democratic congressman that the U.S.-Canada border is “totally wide open.”
As CTV News reported Sunday, Goodale was taking issue with Democratic California Rep. Lou Correa, who is the new chairman of the House Homeland Security Oversight and Management Efficiency Subcommittee. Correa told the network that the real border crisis is with Canada because so many border control resources are being shifted to the Mexican border.
Honduran migrants, part of a caravan of thousands attempting to reach the U.S., peer across the U.S.-Mexico border fence on Dec. 15, 2018 in Tijuana, Mexico. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
“Big swaths of area between Canada and the U.S. — nobody watching. A lot of negative things go in and out: drug trade, arms trade, things that happen on the northern border that nobody’s watching. And it’s happening now,” Correa told CTV, calling it “totally wide open.” (RELATED: Trudeau Blames Trump For Canada’s Illegal Immigrant Crisis)
Correa also claimed that an unnamed border control guard told him that security concerns with Canada are not corrected.
“When we see something suspicious in Mexico, we tell the Mexican authorities and they’re on it. Canada, they didn’t see the same urgency to address some of these issues,” Correa said.
But Goodale dismissed that criticism, reminding people that the U.S.-Canada border is still the longest undefended border in the world.
“It is the longest, most successful international boundary — un-militarized international boundary — in the history of the world, and we’re determined to keep it that way,” Goodale told CTV.
“I’m happy to work with the new Democratic leadership in the House if they need any kind of reassurance on that point,” he said.
Canada’s Official Opposition Conservatives also see a “border crisis” existing between Canada and the United States. But they — and many Canadians — are concerned about the steady stream of illegals coming into Canada, according to polls. The flood of would-be refugees began shortly after Trudeau issued the now-infamous #WelcomeToCanada tweet in January 2017 that invited the refugees of the world to come to Canada, even as President Donald Trump aimed to tighten American borders. (RELATED: Conservatives Tell Trudeau To Stop UN From Making Immigration Policy For Country)
FILE PHOTO: Three families that claimed to be from Burundi walk down Roxham Road to cross into Quebec at the US-Canada border in Champlain, New York, Aug. 3, 2017. REUTERS/Christinne Muschi/File Photo
Many of the would-be refugees are staying in three-star hotels because migrants have already eliminated any vacancies in homeless shelters. The Opposition has tabulated the cost to the federal government at over $1 billion (CAD).
Goodale didn’t discuss that side of the issue.
“I’ve had conversations constantly with my U.S. counterparts… and all of them indicated, whether it was Democrat or Republican, whether it was early in the Trump government or later in the Trump government, a very strong sense of satisfaction about the co-operation with Canada,” Goodale said.
