One taxi driver who ferries immigrants fleeing the US for Canada has learned how to urge them to ‘Go, go, go!’ in as many languages as he can

Marisa Palmer/INSIDER

America’s immigration debate has largely revolved around the country’s southern border in the last two years — but one tiny road leading from the US to Canada has become a small-scale immigration controversy of its own.
Migrants from around the world have been coming to a rural village in upstate New York for a chance to cross the border into Canada and seek asylum.
Along the way, they encounter taxi drivers who ferry them from the Greyhound bus station in Plattsburgh, up to the very edge of America’s northern border.
One taxi driver, who asked to be identified only as Stephen, told INSIDER some of the migrants grow afraid when it’s time to cross, so he encourages them to "Go, go, go!" in their native languages.

CHAMPLAIN, NY — At the end of a quiet road, just feet from the Canadian border, a migrant exited a taxi and began fumbling with his heavy, black luggage.

The sun had already set, and bright floodlights from a small, white facility on the Canadian side of the border shone directly onto the man as he prepared to cross.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers had already exited the building, waiting to arrest him.

The man paused, clutching his luggage. His taxi driver recognized the hesitance.

"Gaba! Gaba! Gaba!" the driver began chanting, urging the man forward in Igbo, a Nigerian language.

The man took a breath, his shoulders quaking, then he stepped over a small ditch, toward the light.

‘They wait and wait and wait until miracles happen’

Marisa Palmer/INSIDER

Barreling down an empty, upstate highway on another taxi ride, the driver, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Stephen, told INSIDER that he does this all the time.

"I want to make sure that their mission is complete. You know what I mean?" Stephen said. "I learn their languages: Like in Turkey, I learned ‘git’ means ‘go, go, go’ if they’re scared. I learned Nigerian: ‘lo, lo, lo, lo, lo!’ I learned Arabic: ‘imshi, imshi, imshi!’ I learned Creole: "m’ale, m’ale, m’ale!’"

It’s an ethically dubious practice, and Stephen’s shouts are often to the annoyance of the RCMP officers.

Much of his business, based in the nearby town of Plattsburgh, revolves around ferrying migrants from the Greyhound bus station up to Roxham Road, which ends just before the Canadian border. That’s where people seeking safety cross, greeted by RCMP officers, and request asylum.

Michelle Mark/INSIDER

Though Stephen doesn’t know what will happen to them when they reach Canada, or how their cases will fare, he said he sees it as his job to make sure they reach their destination — even if it seems like they want to back down.

"What are you going to do? They stop there," he said. "They wait and wait and wait until miracles happen."

The migrants Stephen drives come from all over the world. Some have lived in the US for years and fear an immigration crackdown from President Donald Trump. Others come from conflict-torn countries in Africa, Central America, and the Middle East.

They’re all using the dead end road in upstate New York as a conduit to get to Canada.

‘What are you waiting for?’

Marisa Palmer/INSIDER

In the last two years, nearly 40,000 migrants have entered Canada illegally at locations like Roxham Road, many of them seeking asylum they believe is out of reach in the US.

Due to a legal pact known as the Safe Third Country Agreement, migrants aren’t officially supposed to request asylum in Canada if they’ve already traveled through the US — they’re told to claim asylum from the first "safe country" they arrive in.

The US is considered a safe country, at least by Canada’s definition, so migrants who come to Canada via the US are turned away at the ports of entry and told to seek asylum in America.

But a well-known loophole lets migrants request asylum if they reach Canadian soil without passing through a port of entry from the US. So the migrants Stephen drives to the border each day have been crossing illegally, surrendering to arrest, and requesting asylum.

During the cab rides, the asylum-seekers often ask Stephen what will happen to them once they cross — a sight he has witnessed dozens, if not hundreds of times now.

Stephen says he often drives migrants up to the border, only for them to pause for minutes, sometimes hours, and even try to turn back. Stephen says that doesn’t happen on his watch.

"They come from a long way. They might be scared, they might have doubts, but they are committed to go," he said. "I look at them and I say, ‘What are you waiting for? It will be okay. They are arresting you, but these are your rights.’"

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Source: Business Insider