This is part of my write-up for the Border book, section on Crossing the "Detroit River: The historical and contemporary issues of illegally crossing the boarder." I see a connection between the history of the Underground Railroad and illegal immigration.

Today the Detroit-Windsor boarder has high security after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Canada’s Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day says ,“People cannot come into this country without proper documentation and consequences will follow if they do”(CTV News Staff, 2007). Windsor’s unemployment rate is around 10%, so having unemployed refugees are a problem economically.

ICE (U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement) in Detroit, deals with
homeland security issues. ICE investigates cases of human trafficking and smuggling. What is the difference between human trafficking and smuggling? According to Ice, “victims are trafficked into the international sex trade and into forced labor situations throughout the world” (ICE, 2009). Human smuggling deals with the transportation of illegal immigrants.

On the Canadian side, the Citizenship and Immigration Canada handles the immigration applications. The Immigration Control Officer Network was designed to combat illegal immigration through set protocols, through reports, and resource materials (Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 2001).

The argument stands, are illegal immigrants wrong in seeking freedom in Canada and is there racism behind who can and cannot cross the boarder?

CURRENT CASES OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION:
January 3, 2006

“Since May, about 12 people have been arrested at the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, above, or Ambassador Bridge on immigrant-smuggling charges. Robert Johnson was down on his luck and short on cash last month when a man named Hunt offered him $800 to smuggle two Chinese immigrants in the trunk of his car into the United States through the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel” (DAVID ASHENFELTER, 2006).

Ashenfelter, D. (2006). Free Press. Asked to smuggle? Beware Border police on alert for illegal immigrants.Retrieved March 16, 2009, from http://www.freep.com


February 15th, 2006
“WINDSOR, Ontario (AP) - A human smuggling ring that charged Asian and Eastern European migrants thousands of dollars to send them across the Canadian-U.S. border - sometimes hanging on the sides of freight trains or stuffed in car trunks - was brought down yesterday with the arrests of 17 people, U.S. and Canadian authorities said. U.S. authorities said they intercepted 74 illegal aliens being smuggled from Canada into the United States. Canadian officials said 24 migrants were stopped going into Canada” (Michigan Daily, 2006).

Michigan Daily. (2006). Authorities topple human smuggling ring. Retrieved March 16, 2009, from http:// www.michigandaily.com

May 31, 2007
“A couple from Cameroon was sentenced for involuntary servitude and related charges. Joseph Djoumessi, 49, was found guilty of conspiracy, involuntary servitude and harboring for financial gain. ICE agents in Detroit began an investigation in 2000 after receiving information regarding a young girl who was possibly being held against her will. A 17-year-old girl from Cameroon was discovered in the Djoumessi home, living under a false identity and in questionable circumstances. The girl had been brought into the United States illegally when she was 14 years old” (ICE, 2009).

ICE. (2009). Retrieved March 16, 2009, from http://www.ice.gov

Why illegally immigrate to Windsor?

If slaves from the Underground Railroad could live freely in Canada, then what about an immigrant seeking the same freedom by crossing the boarder by “illegal standards”? Would the negative opinions surrounding illegal immigration change, if people could hear the personal stories of the ‘illegal’ immigrants?

“I don’t know if what I was told about coming here was correct or not, but what am I going to do about it now?” said Pedro Palafox Marin, who said he paid $800 to the organization before driving through the night to Windsor with his wife and children.
“I could smell the freedom when I crossed over,” said Ms. Gonzalez, 25. “I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but the pressure of worrying about getting caught never let you sleep well.”

MONICA DAVEY and ABBY GOODNOUGH. (2007). Windsor Star. Illegal Immigrants Chase False Hope to Canada. Retrieved March 16, 2009, from http://www.windsorstar.com

Both of these statements were made by illegal immigrants, who came to Windsor, Canada seeking freedom.

Over time, the Detroit-Windsor boarder has functioned as the route for the freedom of immigrants, whether through the Underground Railroad or contemporary illegal immigration. Boarders shape lives not only locally,
nationally, but on a global scale. The past is found in the present and the present is found in the past.

“A modern democracy is a tyranny whose borders are undefined; one discovers how far one can go only by traveling in a straight line until one is stopped.”
Norman Mailer