The flood of asylum seekers crossing the Canadian border shows no sign of slowing down.
Immigration officials said that in July, 2,996 people were intercepted as they walked across the border with the United States. That's four times the number of people who arrived in June: 781.
However in the first two weeks of August alone, more than 3,800 people crossed the border, mostly at Roxham Rd. in Hemmingford.
The influx of thousands of migrants has created massive backlogs as Canada Border Services Agency conducts background checks on each person, then hands them over to the Immigration and Refugee Board to accept or reject their claims.
It's taking two to four days for asylum seekers to be processed at the border, during which time they are living in military tents.
Following that the hearing process -- which used to be finished in a matter of weeks -- is now expected to take months, perhaps more than a year, for some applicants.
The federal government announced Thursday it is going to hire 20 more agents to process the refugee claimants.
A new shelter will also be opened in Cornwall, Ontario.
Eighty-five percent of the asylum seekers are from Haiti. About half will likely have their claims rejected, since the special visa status created for Haitians in the wake of the 2010 earthquake expired last year.
The federal government has tried to spread the word among the Haitian community that Canada is not going to automatically accept them as immigrants, but that has obviously not had any effect on the numbers of people making an attempt.
Regardless, Canada is going to increase its awareness campaign.
Under the terms of the Safe Third Country Agreement, people who enter Canada somewhere other than a regulated border crossing are allowed to make a claim for asylum without being automatically rejected and returned to the United States.
