Detroit woman looking for nearest Costco takes a wrong turn at the U.S.-Canada border. She now faces deportation
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A woman from Guatemala says she and her two U.S.-born children were held for nearly a week by customs agents in Detroit after a phone app's directions to the nearest Costco led them to an international bridge connecting the city to Canada.
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She now faces removal proceedings in June in immigration court, according to Ruby Robinson, senior managing attorney with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center.
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On Thursday, Robinson, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, and the ACLU of Michigan called for more accountability and transparency by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on detentions along the nation's northern border with Canada.
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'Our neighbors and families should not be disappearing because they made a wrong turn,' Tlaib said.
The Michigan Democrat said she was told on March 21 by CBP that about 213 people had been detained at the same location since January, with more than 90% mistakenly driving onto the bridge's toll plaza. Tlaib also said she was told 12 families had been detained in the same building where Robinson's client was held.
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'We don't know what exactly is happening. There's a lack of transparency,' she said, adding that similar detentions likely are occurring elsewhere along the 5,525-mile (8,891-kilometer) northern border.
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But Customs and Border Protection said agents encountered just over 200 undocumented people from Jan. 20 to March 21 at crossings in Detroit. About half were detained and turned over to ICE after secondary processing was complete, according to a CBP spokesman.
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The Michigan Immigrant Rights Center is representing the Guatemalan woman. Robinson declined to release her name or age, only confirming that she has been in the U.S. about six years, but has no legal status. Her daughters, ages 5 and 1, were born in the U.S. Their father lives in Detroit.
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She lives in Southwest Detroit, a neighborhood with a large Hispanic population that sits in the shadow of the Ambassador Bridge and just across the Detroit River from Windsor, Ontario.
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On March 8, the woman and her daughters were in a vehicle being driven by her 19-year-old brother. She used a phone app to find the nearest Costco and didn't realize the closest store was on the Canadian side of the bridge, Robinson said during a Zoom call with reporters.
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Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Nova Scotia strike that turned deadly a century ago a milestone for workers' rights
HALIFAX – During Nova Scotia's storied 300-year history of coal mining, one deadly riot in 1925 proved to be pivotal for workers' rights in Canada. One hundred years ago today, William Davis — a 37-year-old Cape Breton coal miner and father of nine — was shot to death by a special constable hired by the British Empire Steel Corporation (BESCO) — a monopoly mine owner that had repeatedly turned to violence to end strikes over poor wages and unsafe working conditions. 'William Davis's story highlights the many sacrifices that those unionized workers made when they stood up against oppression,' says Danny Cavanaugh, president of the 70,000-member Nova Scotia Federation of Labour. 'It serves as a reminder of a historic struggle that workers faced to secure their rights.' Davis's death on the outskirts of New Waterford, N.S., commemorated every year in Nova Scotia on June 11, was the painful culmination of a long series of strikes and chaotic skirmishes. During that time, the lives of mine workers and their families were tied to the fortunes of the corporation, which supplied them with homes and offered them credit at company stores that provided food, clothing and supplies few could afford on subsistence wages. Most miners were left deeply indebted, their hopes for higher wages frequently dashed. On July 1, 1923, a strike at the BESCO steel plant in Sydney, N.S., saw hundreds of soldiers and provincial police on horseback harassing and beating strikers and uninvolved citizens. A local publication described the resulting melee as a 'reign of terror.' In Cape Breton, the event is still known as 'Bloody Sunday.' 'That strike was crushed but there's a number of those moments in the lead-up to 1925 as the pressure ratchetted up again and again,' said Lachlan MacKinnon, Canadian research chair in post-industrial communities at Cape Breton University in Sydney. In early 1925, the miners were stunned to learn BESCO would again cut their wages. In response, District 26 of the United Mine Workers of America decided to go on strike. About 12,000 miners walked off the job. Some unionized miners were thrown out of their company homes. And the corporation eventually withdrew credit from the company stores, making it difficult for miners to keep their families fed. 'People hunted for rabbits and deer and whatever else they could get,' MacKinnon said in an interview. 'And so hunger was really setting in by the end of that winter.' At one point, BESCO vice-president J.E. McClurg taunted the miners, saying: 'We hold the cards. Things are getting better every day they stay out. Let them stay out two months or six months, it matters not. Eventually, they will have to come to us.' The dispute came to a head when the water and electricity supplied to the miners' homes was cut off. The miners decided to head to a company-controlled power plant and pumping station at Waterford Lake, where they planned to cut off power to the mine in New Waterford. According to Nova Scotia's Museum of Industry, between 700 and 3,000 miners, their relatives and neighbours walked to the plant where they were met by scores of special constables, many of them on horseback, armed with pistols and batons. The company police opened fire as the crowd closed in. What happened next is subject to dispute. One account suggests Davis was shot as he grabbed the reins of a constable's horse. Another version tells of the miner being hit by random gunfire. Up to four other people were wounded. Many others were badly beaten or trampled. 'After that, the miners overwhelmed the company constables and they brought them back to a (New Waterford) park,' MacKinnon said. 'There was concern, especially among the clergy, that the special constables would be lynched.' Instead they were thrown in jail and eventually sent to Halifax. Meanwhile, there was immediate retaliation against BESCO as all of its company stores were looted and burned. The era of the company store was over. Davis was given the largest funeral the town of New Waterford had ever seen. And at a union convention later that year, June 11 was declared Davis Day. Miners across the region were given the day off. 'Ultimately, the British Empire Steel Corporation … collapsed and was reformulated under new ownership,' said MacKinnon. 'And the idea of using special constables was widely repudiated …. The government of Canada launched an inquiry.' Nova Scotia's Trade Union Act was adopted in 1937. Bobby Burchell, a former miner and union executive, said Davis and his fellow miners made a huge contribution to the advancement of workers' rights. 'Those guys back in the '20s, they made a big difference in the laws, not only for Nova Scotia but … for all of Canada,' said Burchell, who worked in the coal mine at Lingan, N.S., for six years before serving in senior union roles for the next 34 years. 'They were tired of living under company rules, with company stores and company doctors. They wanted some independence. They wanted some safety in the mines. They wanted better wages. They decided to fight for those benefits …. And laws were enacted to make the mines safer.' Cavanaugh said Davis's sacrifice remains a key milestone in the province's labour history. 'Reflecting on this story, we encourage people to think more critically about the ongoing challenges we face today,' he said. 'In 2025, we're still struggling to get paid sick days and making sure that workers have a living wage. Even though we've come a long way, there's still much work to do around occupational health and safety laws.' As for Burchell, his father, uncles and brothers all worked in the mines. And for the past 25 years, he has served as the master of ceremonies at the annual Davis Day commemoration at Davis Square in New Waterford. That's where he'll be on Wednesday, along with some of Davis's relatives and Bea Bruske, president of the 3.3-million-member Canadian Labour Congress. Over the years, Davis Day has come to mean more than just a tribute to the fallen miner and his fight for fair wages. The event, also known as Miners' Memorial Day, has become a day of remembrance for the more than 2,500 miners who have died as a result of accidents or disasters since 1838. Ceremonies will take place in many former coal mining towns across Nova Scotia, which has only one underground coal mine left at Donkin, N.S., where operations have been suspended since 2023. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2025.
Canada Standard
2 hours ago
- Canada Standard
"India is not a football which you kick around, it is an ally which you strive to embrace": Ex-Pentagon official Michael Rubin on India-Canada ties
Washington, DC [US], June 10 (ANI): Former Pentagon official and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Michael Rubin, said that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is showing a more serious and constructive approach than his predecessor Justin Trudeau regarding the future of the India-Canada relationship. 'India is not a football which you kick around. It is an ally to be embraced', Rubin remarked, underscoring the need for Canada to demonstrate sincerity and maturity in rebuilding ties with India. 'Mark Carney is working on repairing the relationship rather than following Justin Trudeau down the rabbit hole already shows that Prime Minister Carney is a much more serious person than the former Prime Minister of now needs to demonstrate its good faith. India is not a football which you kick around. India is an ally which you strive to embrace,' Rubin said. Commenting further on bilateral ties, Rubin criticised the previous Canadian leadership's posture towards India. 'Canada's relationship with India, especially under Justin Trudeau, was not principled. It was all virtue signalling and politics. The fact of the matter is that India is crucial to Canada, and Canada needs to decide whether ultimately it's going to side with the democracies like India and the United States, or whether it's going to posture the way Justin Trudeau did and allow China, which also has significant interests in Canada,' he added. Continuing his sharp critique, Rubin has strongly criticised former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for amplifying what he called exaggerated claims around Hardeep Singh Nijjar and the Khalistan movement. He also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's strategic diplomacy and called for firm action against Khalistani extremism. 'The grievances about Hardeep Singh Nijjar and the Khalistan movement were not real': Rubin said, accusing Trudeau of appeasing radical Sikh extremists in Canada and shifting blame to India rather than acknowledging domestic issues. Touching upon the issue of Khalistani extremism, Rubin stressed the importance of decisive measures from Canada. He said, 'It is so essential that India continued to press Canada to address the Khalistan movement head-on to designate the Khalistan movement and extremists as terrorists, to uproot terror finance and to stigmatize forever these groups that really have no popular legitimacy back home in Punjab or for that matter, among the larger peaceful Sikh community in Canada. It's time to stop allowing the loud, extreme voices to win and instead recognise that those same loud, extreme voices oftentimes deserve to be in prison for their involvement in terror, tax fraud and organised crime in Canada, in San Francisco and elsewhere.' Reiterating his criticism of Trudeau, Rubin again dismissed the narrative around Nijjar and the Khalistan movement. He said, 'The grievances about Hardeep Singh Nijjar and the Khalistan movement were not real. They were exaggerations that Justin Trudeau Trudeau may have wanted so much to appease radical Sikh extremists in various constituencies that he was willing to take an organised crime hit between various Sikh groups and mafias and blame an outside power for it, rather than acknowledge the problem and the fault was Canada's alone. That is Justin Trudeau's problem. But now that Justin Trudeau is gone and likely will never return to power, Prime Minister Carney is taking a sober approach and recognising that he is not going to be tied to Justin Trudeau's fictions...' In this context, Rubin has come out swinging against Khalistanis while praising Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to accept Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's invitation to the G7 Summit (from June 15 to 17) in Canada. He believes PM Modi's magnanimity in attending the summit shows 'India has nothing to hide.' Speaking to ANI on Wednesday, Rubin contrasted former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's approach with that of Carney's, saying Carney 'understands the importance of India' and wants to 'restore maturity to the relationship.' 'Canadian PM Mark Carney originally was a banker. He understands the importance of India. Justin Trudeau was a politician who peddled in image and imagination, and therefore it makes sense that Carney wants to restore maturity to the relationship,' Rubin told ANI. 'It makes sense for Prime Minister Modi to show that the problem was not Canada itself, but the immaturity and unprofessionalism of Justin Trudeau,' he added. Further, the American security expert highlighted that the Indian government is 'willing to have a serious dialogue, much like they had with the United States.' Rubin added that the problem with 'Justin Trudeau is that for his own domestic, political reasons and to assuage radical constituencies, he was shooting from the hip without any factual basis to support his accusations against India.' 'What Prime Minister Modi is showing is that India has nothing to hide. If you're going to have a serious law enforcement dialogue, it's got to be two-way. We've got to talk about illegal immigration into Canada, terror finance in Canada, radical Sikh mafias and how the Khalistan movement is tied to organised crime and terrorism,' he added. Rubin also raised concerns about the Khalistanis' movements, stating, 'When you give haven to any terror group. Ultimately, your interests are going to be subverted.' 'Justin Trudeau and frankly Pierre Trudeau before him, by embracing and tolerating the Khalistan movement in the face of some of the worst terrorist attacks in the 20th century, what they did is ultimately undermine Canada's moral authority and its strategic importance,' he added. (ANI)
Canada Standard
2 hours ago
- Canada Standard
"The grievances about Hardeep Singh Nijjar and the Khalistan movement were not real": Former Pentagon official slams Trudeau for amplifying exaggerated claims
Washington, DC [US], June 11 (ANI): Former Pentagon official and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Michael Rubin, has strongly criticised former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for amplifying what he called exaggerated claims around Hardeep Singh Nijjar and the Khalistan movement. He also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's strategic diplomacy and called for firm action against Khalistani extremism. 'The grievances about Hardeep Singh Nijjar and the Khalistan movement were not real': Rubin said, accusing Trudeau of appeasing radical Sikh extremists in Canada and shifting blame to India rather than acknowledging domestic issues. Rubin further elaborated on Prime Minister Modi's leadership, saying, 'Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi's critics will acknowledge that he has grown tremendously in office and he's now one of the most influential statesmen not only in Asia but in the world. The fact of the matter is that this magnanimity is strategic and it also forces the Canadians to recognise that the problem all along was in Canada and not with India. So, kudos to Prime Minister Modi for this strategy and for rejoining and agreeing to go to Alberta and the fact of the matter is that a strong relationship between India and all of North America is within everybody's interests, especially given the rise of China.' Touching upon the issue of Khalistani extremism, Rubin stressed the importance of decisive measures from Canada. He said, 'It is so essential that India continued to press Canada to address the Khalistan movement head-on to designate the Khalistan movement and extremists as terrorists, to uproot terror finance and to stigmatize forever these groups that really have no popular legitimacy back home in Punjab or for that matter, among the larger peaceful Sikh community in Canada. It's time to stop allowing the loud, extreme voices to win and instead recognise that those same loud, extreme voices oftentimes deserve to be in prison for their involvement in terror, tax fraud and organised crime in Canada, in San Francisco and elsewhere.' Reiterating his criticism of Trudeau, Rubin again dismissed the narrative around Nijjar and the Khalistan movement. He said, 'The grievances about Hardeep Singh Nijjar and the Khalistan movement were not real. They were exaggerations that Justin Trudeau Trudeau may have wanted so much to appease radical Sikh extremists in various constituencies that he was willing to take an organised crime hit between various Sikh groups and mafias and blame an outside power for it, rather than acknowledge the problem and the fault was Canada's alone. That is Justin Trudeau's problem. But now that Justin Trudeau is gone and likely will never return to power, Prime Minister Carney is taking a sober approach and recognising that he is not going to be tied to Justin Trudeau's fictions...' In this context, Rubin has come out swinging against Khalistanis while praising Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to accept Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's invitation to the G7 Summit (from June 15 to 17) in Canada. He believes PM Modi's magnanimity in attending the summit shows 'India has nothing to hide.' Speaking to ANI on Wednesday, Rubin contrasted former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's approach with that of Carney's, saying Carney 'understands the importance of India' and wants to 'restore maturity to the relationship.' 'Canadian PM Mark Carney originally is a banker. He understands the importance of India. Justin Trudeau was a politician who peddled in image and imagination, and therefore it makes sense that Carney wants to restore maturity to the relationship,' Rubin told ANI. 'It actually makes sense for Prime Minister Modi to show that the problem was not Canada itself, but the immaturity and unprofessionalism of Justin Trudeau,' he added. Further, the American security expert highlighted that the Indian government is 'willing to have a serious dialogue, much like they had with the United States.' Rubin added that the problem with 'Justin Trudeau is that for his own domestic, political reasons and to assuage radical constituencies, he was basically shooting from the hip without any factual basis to support his accusations against India.' 'What Prime Minister Modi is showing is that India has nothing to hide. If you're going to have a serious law enforcement dialogue, it's got to be two-way. We've got to talk about illegal immigration into Canada, terror finance in Canada, radical Sikh mafias and how the Khalistan movement is tied to organised crime and terrorism,' he added. Rubin also raised concerns about the Khalistanis' movements, stating, 'when you give safe haven to any terror group. Ultimately, your own interests are going to be subverted.' 'Justin Trudeau and frankly Pierre Trudeau before him, by embracing and tolerating the Khalistan movement in the face of some of the worst terrorist attacks in the 20th century, what they did is ultimately undermine Canada's moral authority and its strategic importance,' he added. (ANI)
