Sarnia's mayor believes as the warmer weather approaches, the number of refugees crossing into the Canada will spike even higher.
Mike Bradley says he wants to see more action from the federal Government to address and prepare for an influx of asylum seekers crossing the border into Canada from the U.S.
"We need to be prepared because obviously the refugees crossing at the land crossings is growing and that's in the harsh reality of winter, so one has to presume as the word passes back that it may lead to more activity along this particular part of the border," says Bradley. "Particularly because there's so many people who live on this side of the country in Michigan and Ontario that it probably will lead to that type of thing happening and I just want the federal government to be ready for it."
Since U.S. President Donald Trump was elected in November, on average, there has been over 430 refugee claims a month made at the Southern Ontario Region of the Canada Border Services Agency, which includes crossings in Windsor, Fort Erie, Niagara Falls and the Blue Water Bridge. That's up about 77% over the last two and half years.
The majority of the refugees seeking asylum have been from Colombia, followed by Pakistan and Iraq.