The number of asylum seekers illegally crossing the border from the U.S. into Canada continues to climb, but the government says they still represent only a fraction of the total new arrivals to the country. That's up from 432 in February and 245 in January, and brings the total for the three-month period to 1,321. Scott Bardsley, a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, said the vast majority of immigration to Canada is carefully planned and managed and that spontaneous asylum seekers are much smaller and largely unpredictable. RCMP officers arrested asylum seekers, claiming to be from Yemen, after they crossed the border from New York into Canada on Wednesday, March 8, 2017 in Hemmingford, Que. Anyone who is detected by the RCMP outside official points of entry is warned they are entering the country illegally and advised of the nearest official border crossing point.

Source: CBC News April 19, 2017 22:41 UTC