File Photo / Zach Hirsch
Earlier this year, a man from Tanzania tried to seek asylum in Canada by crossing the border at Roxham Road, north of Champlain, NY. However, unlike thousands of others who had crossed in previous years, he was turned back to the U.S. under new pandemic-related border restrictions.
Canadian police gave him a piece of paper saying to come back when the border reopened, but returned him to U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, who detained him over lack of authorization to be in the United States. He was transferred to the federal immigration detention facility in Batavia, when he reached Jennifer Connor, executive director of Justice for Migrant Families in Buffalo.