by Allan Stein at theepochtimes.com
A quiet crisis is unfolding on the northern border as tens of thousands cross illegally
PLATTSBURGH, N.Y.—One night this past winter, Lynne Lamon of Plattsburgh, New York, was driving up the U.S.-9 northbound by Canada’s border when she noticed three young men walking on the side of the road.
The men were dressed poorly for the subzero temperatures and wind chill from Lake Champlain. Their down vests were tattered and leaking feathers.
Lamon pulled over, rolled down the window, and told the men to get in and warm up.
Through broken English, she realized they were illegal immigrants from Ecuador who were on their way to the Canadian province of Quebec.
“They were happy to get a ride. I wasn’t afraid at all,” Lamon said. “They were young men that had wives and mothers at home.”
“They were so thankful. I turned on what you call an English-Spanish app on my phone so that we could talk. They were happy about that.”
Lamon drove the men to a local restaurant, bought them breakfast, and gave them water for the trip north.
The men said they wanted to go to the nearest U.S. port of entry, but Lamon said, ‘No. You will be taken in [by federal border officers] and brought back to Plattsburgh.”
“Why are they going to Canada? I don’t know,” Lamon said of the three men. “They didn’t have any relatives there. They walked forever, like three months. They had sneakers on that were frozen [to their] feet.”