Mexican man who died on U.S. border struggled to pay bills in Canada, family says
CBC
The Mexican man who died Feb. 19 shortly after crossing the border into the United States near Stanstead — in the Eastern Townships region of Quebec — had travelled from Toronto, where he and his family had been living for less than a year.
Jose Leos Cervantes, 45, had been struggling to make a living in the Ontario capital when he decided to try his luck in the U.S., his wife said in an interview with a Mexican radio station.
The family moved to Toronto in June, hoping to get better pay and better work conditions.
But she said Leos Cervantes lost his job two months ago and struggled to find another that could pay for their rent over the winter months. The couple have three children.
One of Leos Cervantes's daughters, Yanahi Leos Reyes, posted on Facebook last week about her father's death, asking for donations so the family could pay to have his body repatriated to their home city of Aguascalientes in central Mexico.
Another daughter wrote: "I'll never forget you. You were always my role model. I love you so much, Dad."
After struggling in Canada, many have tried their luck heading south. Others have come to Canada to avoid stricter policies at the U.S. southern border.
Since October, U.S. border agents have intercepted 1,513 people in the Swanton Sector, a stretch of the border from the New Hampshire-Maine state line to the western edge of St. Lawrence County in New York state.
That number is already 42 per cent higher than the year ending October 2022, during which agents stopped 1,065 people.
Leos Cervantes's death occurred less than two months after that of Fritznel Richard, a 44-year-old Haitian man whose frozen body was found more than a week after he attempted to cross by foot into the United States on Dec. 23. Like Leos Cervantes, Richard had struggled to make ends meet in Canada.
U.S. border patrol agents for the Swanton Sector said recently the 115 people they apprehended over one week in February were from 12 different countries, mostly from Mexico.
"Unfortunately, perilous weather has done nothing to deter this traffic. Don't risk it!" they said on Facebook.
Charlie Barnett of Brome, Que., says he's lived near the U.S. border most of his life. The house he's lived in for nearly 20 years sits about 500 metres from the borderline.
"In the past year, I've probably seen half a dozen people walking down the railroad tracks," heading into the U.S., Barnett said.