More seasonal workers flee to the United States

Two Guatemalan workers fled the farm where they were hired for the summer in Bécancour to go to the United States on Saturday, a phenomenon that is becoming increasingly important in the region.

Every week, at least one foreign worker leaves Quebec to cross south of the border, hoping to improve their living conditions there. The migrants wish to reach states such as Texas or California, where several Guatemalan communities are located.

Last week, four Guatemalan workers deserted the berry farm where they worked on Île d’Orléans. The men paid $ 5,000 each to a smuggler who left them on their own.

Once in the United States, three of them were quickly arrested by the American authorities. Only one managed to escape.

“They weren’t sure where they were. They crossed a mountain, a river somewhere, they found themselves on the American side and it was in a small village that they were arrested, ”says Michel Pilon of the Migrant Farm Workers Assistance Network.

“They crossed at night. In principle, someone had to come and get them from the other side, he never came, ”adds Mr. Pilon.

The three workers were brought back to the Canadian border and are currently in segregation at a hotel in Dorval. They applied for refugee status, which would allow them to settle in Canada, and possibly bring their loved ones.

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