Multiple asylum seekers crossing the border from the United States into the French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec have been caught in the possession of child pornography.
The Quebec town of St-Bernard-de-Lacolle, which lies on the border with New York state, has seen an influx of thousands of asylum seekers from the United States in recent weeks.
The Canadian Border Sevices Agency (CBSA) has reportedly caught “four or five” asylum seekers originally from Haiti possessing sexual material involving children, Canadian broadcaster Global News reports.
The issue has sparked CBSA Assistant Director Daniel St-Arnaud to put out a memo to border agents which provides guidance on how to handle cases in which asylum seekers have illegal child pornography in their possession.
The memo states that agents who find such material must report it to both the CBSA Intelligence division, which will then notify the CBSA Criminal Investigation Unit, and the Quebec provincial police.
Between the border crossing points the Canadian federal police force, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), have jurisdiction.
A spokesman for the Canadian Minister of Public Safety and Emergency commented on the cases saying: “We can confirm that, following an investigation, two people have been charged by the Quebec Direction des Poursuites Criminelles et Pénales with possession and importation of child pornography.”
The cases are not the first time Haitian nationals have been caught with child pornography at the border. In February of this year, a 36-year-old man was arrested by New York authorities after the CBSA found illegal material on his person and deported him back to the United States.
The man was charged with promoting an obscene sexual performance by a child and possessing an obscene sexual image of a child.
Conservative MP Michelle Rempel has deeply criticised the Trudeau government’s handling of the migrant situation in Quebec saying: “This is a troubling pattern where we’re seeing people with criminal records or involved in criminal activity come across the border.”
“I think that Justin Trudeau has been irresponsible in his language around how Canada’s asylum system should be accessed,” Rempel added.
Many of the migrants flowing into Canada’s French-speaking province are originally from Haiti and have fled after the Trump administration commented that there no longer exists an emergency in their home country. Over 50,000 migrants fled to the United States after the 2010 earthquake and some expect that many could attempt to seek asylum in Canada.
The numbers have so overwhelmed local governments that the Olympic Stadium in Montreal has been turned into a makeshift asylum home and the Canadian Federal government has sent around 100 soldiers to help build an asylum seeker reception centre on the border.
Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com
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