Ezra Levant and investigative reporter Alexa Lavoie expose Roxham Road, a 2017-2023 hotspot where 100,000+ migrants—including Nigerians, Haitians, and Turks—cross illegally into Canada via organized networks, often paying traffickers for bus/taxi rides. They cite Justin Trudeau’s 2017 tweet and U.S. officials like NYC Mayor Eric Adams enabling access, while Quebec Premier François Legault demands border security. Levant argues closing Roxham isn’t about walls but enforcing the Safe Third Country Agreement, as Canada’s near-zero deportation rate fuels exploitation. The episode reveals systemic trafficking thrives due to misinformation, jurisdictional gaps, and political leverage, exposing a crisis beyond mere migration. [Automatically generated summary]
Tonight, what on earth is going on at Wroxham Road?
Well, we'll have a long discussion with our investigative reporter, Alexa Lavoie.
It's March 2nd, and this is the Ezra Levant Show.
Shame on you, you censorious bug.
I don't know the exact stats, but it's got to be around 100,000 people have illegally crossed the border from New York to Quebec at Roxham Road, which is just a little dusty.
dead-end road in rural New York, where there's a little ditch and you walk across into Canada.
It's not even an official crossing.
It's not a crossing at all.
But because there is literally nothing there and word has gotten out that you can cross with impunity, 100,000 people have done so.
Now, who would cross from New York or from anywhere in the United States into Canada?
The United States is a peaceful, fair, and just country.
No one is a refugee from the United States.
That's simply not true in fact.
And neither is it true in law.
The Safe Third Party Agreement, the treaty between our two countries, admits and asserts that anyone coming from one country to the other is by definition not a refugee and must apply for refugee status in the first country that they appear in.
So if you're going from the United States to Canada, by definition you're not a refugee.
By definition, your first act in Canada is breaking the law.
And finally, why would you flee the United States to Canada?
Is it from our better weather?
No, it's obviously because you're fleeing for another reason.
And we've known over the last six or so years that people who flee include those being chased by American authorities for breaking their laws, including violence.
And for people who just simply know that Canada's immigration system is so broken that once you get in our country, the likelihood of being deported is nearly zero.
It's a safer, softer touch than the United States.
Well, Pierre Polyev has said that he wants to close Wroxham Road simply by putting up a fence there.
That's all it would take instead of the concierge service of RCMP officers literally helping people bring their luggage across the road.
Polyev has called for a 30-day time period to shut down the crossing there, something that is a popular call to action in Quebec.
Well, Justin Trudeau wasn't having any of it.
Here's his response to Polyev's call to close the border.
The Conservative leader suggested yesterday that Wroxham Road can be closed without renegotiating the safe third country agreement.
Is that the case?
Can it just be closed without that discussion with the United States?
Could somebody put up barricades and a big wall?
Yes, if Pierre Polyev wants to build a wall, Wroxham Road, someone could do that.
The problem is we have 6,000 kilometers worth of undefended shared border with the United States.
And as we saw with tragedies at Emerson, as we've seen challenges elsewhere across the country, people will choose to cross elsewhere.
The only way to effectively shut down not just Wroxham Road, but the entire border to these irregular crossings, is to renegotiate the Safe Third Country Agreement, which is serious work that we are doing as a government right now.
So people can toss out simplistic solutions.
That's their right.
But if someone wants to seriously solve the problem, you're going to have to roll up your sleeves and do the work as we are.
You can see that Justin Trudeau was aching to say this is just like Donald Trump's wall.
Of course, we don't need hundreds of miles of walls.
We just need a fence there just to stop people from crossing.
They're not crossing because there's a 6,000-mile undefended border.
They're crossing because of this tweet put out in haste by Justin Trudeau, inviting the entire world to come.
And as we know, now that southern states like Florida and Texas are taking their illegals and flying them to New York as a kind of political protest, those same illegals are then being put on buses and taxis up to Canada.
There's actually a conveyor belt of illegal Americans being tossed around like a hot potato and given to Canada, not because there's no fence at the border, but because Justin Trudeau positively invited the world to come to Canada and let it be known he would not deport.
If you actually put a fence, it doesn't have to be a wall, just a small chain link fence, and simply turn people away, within days it would be known that, sorry, that back door is no longer open and you'll have to find another way.
Well, joining us now to talk about this is our friend Alexa Lavoie from Montreal, who has traveled to Wroxham Road, both on the Canadian side and recently on the New York side.
Alexa, great to see you again.
How you doing?
I'm really good.
And you I'm fine.
Now tell me first, why has the Wroxham Road issue flared up again?
It's been there really since 2017, if I recall, when Justin Trudeau issued that hasty tweet saying the whole world is welcome to come.
So it's been six years.
Why is it in the news all of a sudden?
Of course, we had like the new announcement from the mayor Eric Adant that was giving ticket to migrants of bus with taxpayer money for going up north close to our border.
And afterwards, we also know by Radu Canada that is actually the French CBC, that same, some federal agent border from US was doing this as a business to drive the migrant up north to our illegal border.
So now we have, as I say, people with this business doing trafficking, trafficking immigrants to our illegal border.
And now they are talking to renegotiate the third safe country agreement.
But the thing is, now, when I was talking with one of the taxi drivers from Plattsburgh, lots of migrants know about Wroxham Road via YouTube.
Do you know where they heard about Wroxham Road for most of them?
YouTube.
They watched it all on YouTube.
Mostly YouTube.
That's what they say.
What do people say usually when they come to your car?
Where they heard about Wroxham?
They think it's safe to cross here.
They're looking for asylum.
Most of these people are pretty noise.
So the information is spreading out there because the Liberal government didn't do anything for years now.
And so everybody around the world knows that if you want a better life, you can come to Wroxham Road in Canada and cross illegally.
And you have maybe 99% chance to stay and be a citizen of Canada because it's what Justin Trudeau is doing.
The system is broken right now.
The immigration system is broken.
And the border is not respected at all by nobody from nowhere in the world.
Everybody is coming here.
For him to say, oh, we have a 6,000-kilometer undefended border, that's the problem.
That's never been the problem.
That border has been there forever.
What's new is his policy of taking anyone, not sending anyone away, and not even putting up a simple chain link fence.
It's that Twitter tweet that did it.
Now, by the way, you mentioned the mayor, Eric Adams, that's the mayor of New York City.
I think that's one of the reasons things popped up in the news again.
I know we talked about this the other day, that when the mayor of New York City is taking taxpayers' dollars to send migrants to Canada, when American border officers are doing it as a side job, then everyone knows Trudeau is a sucker and everyone's getting in on it.
You come from New York and Plattsburgh?
No, we come from Boston.
Boston?
you took a bus to New York?
No, a friend took us in a van.
And so you took like afterwards a cab for coming here?
Where are you from?
Colombia.
Colombia.
Colombia?
And can I ask you quickly what so recently with the new announcement, Roxanne Ronda began to be the story of the hour.
Other journalists were there on the side of the U.S. to report on what is going on here in Canada with the illegal immigrant.
Everybody look at Canada as what is going on here?
There are more than before, because there were two or two days more in a week, so I went to work all the days.
Borderline.
Are you coming from New York, from Plattsburgh?
Madam, are you from which country?
Pardon?
You come from car.
For where?
From New York?
Where are you from?
Nigeria.
And why did you come here to cross in Roxanne Road?
You are in Canada, okay?
You are under arrest for immigrant Canada.
You have the right to meet Sanit.
I want to inform you that I am the police officer, okay?
All right, so now whatever you want is a decision now.
So here I have like multiple ticket of bus.
Here is to New York from St. Louis.
You just have one of the example of the bus ticket that they receive in New York.
New York to Plattsburgh, just right there.
$66, actually.
We have been told by one of the journalists of the side of U.S. that one of the bus from New York was arriving to Plattsburgh at 3 p.m. so we keep our eyes open for you guys.
Oh my God!
Monsieur, from this side, you are in the arresting to enter legally in Canada, OK?
Pardon, Monsieur?
You have to hold the guard in silence, so that you will be able to come to you as a friend, OK?
Hello!
Where are you from?
Hello!
You are here, you have taken the bus from New York to Plattsburgh, and you have taken after a taxi?
Yes, taxi.
You are from which country?
The Democratic Democratic Republic of Congo?
OK, you are passing by the South America.
So, Pérou, you are up to the top?
That's incredible.
People from Congo, from Nigeria, from Peru.
They made their way all the way up from the Mexican border.
If I understood you, that one fellow said he came in from Latin America, which means he would have crossed into Mexico and then made his way all and but he wasn't done.
Vans and Vagaries00:06:42
Now, by the way, America is a wonderful country with many great places, but he knew that his best bet for the biggest welfare check, the most lenient immigration laws, no one's going to deport him.
Soft touch is Justin Trudeau.
Even California was not as appealing as coming to Canada.
That is incredible.
And it's got nothing to do with a 6,000 square kilometer border.
These people were already in America.
They already got to the Golden Land.
But they came to Canada because Trudeau said, come on up.
Everyone's welcome.
And recently we had in the news a refugee who actually said a tweet from Justin Trudeau saved me because I came to Wroxham Road because of that tweet.
And yeah, it's a thing.
Everybody is like, no, why a tweet will make a difference.
But yes, some people have heard about these tweets.
Same if they didn't see it.
They heard about it by other people, and that word had been spread all around.
Yeah, I'm not sure if in Peru or Nigeria or Congo, they're following Justin Trudeau on Twitter, but they don't have to.
They've got those human traffickers who know what to do.
And the fact that they had that big bus, like to charter a big bus like that to come right to Wroxham Road is insane.
You know, the funniest part, I mean, there's nothing funny about any of this, but the funniest part was that RCMP officer saying, you are under arrest.
And, but he didn't kick him out, didn't put him in jail.
You're under arrest.
Now come here and let's give you a hot meal and I'll rub your tummy and you'll fill out some paperwork.
And in 10 years, if we can find you, we'll have an immigration hearing.
Like, you're under arrest.
Wink, wink.
What a joke that part was.
Since when you are doing it like the trip to Roxanne?
I've been doing it about seven years now.
Since they started.
So 10, 12 years.
12 years?
Yeah.
The three years we shut down for the COVID.
Okay.
When the COVID came, we took the vans right off the road.
Do you consider that it's a good business, the Roxanne Road?
Yeah, there are a lot of people.
Yeah.
It was real good when it first started.
Now it's slowing down because there's so many competitions now.
Okay.
See that $100,000 Mercedes man next to me?
He's a runner too.
He was a retired Greyhound bus driver.
So he's got a lot of info.
How many buses coming?
You have two in the morning bus, 4:30, 5:30 in the morning bus, 6:30 bus, 3 o'clock in the afternoon bus, 6:30 at night bus.
He's like, Come on, all around the clock.
There's usually seven, eight cabs out here at the same time.
Different companies.
How do you feel about the fact that now Canadians see it as a really terrible problem for our country, Roxham Road?
But you are encouraging and driving people to that border.
Well, they've got to get there one way or another.
But they shut the border down.
They don't want to come anymore, shut the border down.
It's one way to stop it.
But as long as they keep coming, they got to get there somehow.
So, how else are you going to get there?
And they don't realize when they get dropped off here in Plattsburgh, they think they're in Canada anyway.
You know, you got to tell them where they are.
They don't know where they are.
So you're telling them that they can go to Canada?
No, I'm not telling them.
They want to go to Canada.
They think they're in Canada when they get off the bus.
They tell them they're not in Canada, this is USA.
Then they say they want to go to Canada.
That's when we bring them to Canada.
And most of them are coming from which country?
Nigeria, Africa, Turkish people.
Do you think that helped them to bring them to Roxham Road?
Yeah.
So you're thinking that you are doing a good action for the islands?
Because they say if they go back to their country, they'll get murdered or killed.
And why they don't stay in the U.S.
A lot of them stay here until the visas run out and they can't get them renewed and they gotta look for someplace else to go.
So you heard yourself by the taxi driver, not only one bus per day, but multiple ones.
And he also saw some taxis coming from New York arriving here.
So as he told me, it's literally a nice and good business for them to make money.
So I'm gonna wait for the bus to come and I'm gonna try to talk with some of the immigrants and I'm going to drive through the border of Roxham Road but on the US side.
Are they going to Roxham?
Roxham.
How many of them?
A family.
A family?
So right now behind me a bus from New York just arrived at Grey Own.
As soon as the bus park, we have about eight vans ready to bring them to Roxham Road.
So I'm going to go over there and I will have the footage of them arriving at the border.
Let's check it out.
So, from which country do you come from?
I come from Haiti.
And why are you here today?
Everyone knows how to go to Haiti.
It's a bit difficult and complicated.
You know what you say to Roxanne?
I celebrate in the lives and all that much.
Where did you hear that there was a way to go to Canada?
There were people who passed.
People told you that there was a way to go to Canada?
It's difficult, but we can try it.
Illegal Immigration Smuggling00:02:49
It's just that.
You didn't know that it was an infraction?
It was illegal in a country, so it was an infraction criminal, yes.
What did we tell you?
I don't know.
think that this is a winning issue for Pierre Polyev.
I think that this is a winning issue in English Canada and especially in Quebec.
And I think that even other immigrants are so appalled by the fact that these people just walking right in when legal immigrants went through such a process.
I think this is a winner for Pierre Polyev.
And I think it's another difference between him and other conservative leaders.
I mean, Aaron O'Toole did visit Wroxham Road, it's true, but I think the way that Polyev is finding it, it seems sharper.
I'm mildly encouraged by his making this an issue, but I know that Justin Trudeau will do anything to keep this open because every one of those people he sees a future liberal voter.
I would say that don't forget also that you have like a big part of Francois Legault.
He actually being really active on what he was doing as a step for putting more pressure into Justin Trudeau.
First of all, he went to Washington to talk with the ambassador for working on the third safe country agreement and try to open the discussion about it.
He also wrote a letter to the mayor Adams to stop what he's doing with the ticket of the bus.
And he also wrote an open letter to Justin Trudeau to ask him to send all the migrants starting right now to all the province.
He doesn't want to keep any other migrants anymore.
He wants to have the money to pay back all the damage and the costs related to the illegal immigration, of course.
And he's also called out, Justin Trudeau, to say it's your job to take care of our border.
You need to do it and you need to make it respected by other people.
So the step of Francois Legault was pretty calculated.
And we see that we see more and more pressure on Justin Trudeau coming from not only from Quebec City, where the location of that road is, but also from the opposition of the Conservative Party.
I want to play some footage of your recent trip there.
Pressure on Trudeau00:05:48
And there's some disturbing footage of one human trafficker.
I mean, let's call it like it is.
That's his job.
He takes people, he takes as much money from them as possible.
He shows them how to smuggle themselves across the border.
He gives them like this is not a regular taxi driver.
He's not going to be waiting outside a bar on a Saturday night for a $10 cab fare.
He's going to be taking people from Plattsburgh or maybe even New York City, charging them a few hundred dollars and showing them how to cross the border.
He's a coyote if he was on the southern border.
He's a human trafficker.
Watch this footage of Alexa Lavois on the American side.
Take a look.
When the bus arrived in Plattsburgh, several taxis surrounded the vehicle.
It was hunting migrants and taxi were negotiating their prices.
One of the drivers was immediately aggressive with me when I was trying to do my job.
Give me your phone, please.
I'm here for real.
Cannot touch it.
You cannot touch it.
You want to make sure you put it in my face.
Please.
I'm here for reporting.
I don't give a f what you report.
Don't put it in my face.
Please.
Don't scream to me and don't be rude.
I tell you, ma'am, ma'am.
Can you stop?
I'll give you a warning.
Please, take your shit away.
Please, I'm warning you.
I will break that shit and you will hear me complaining.
Please.
Are you doing that because you are doing the transportation to Wroxham Road?
Please, take that phone away.
You don't touch me.
I'm not going to touch you.
I'm going to break that phone.
And if you break it, I'm going to sue you.
I then withdrew to avoid provocation and drove to Wroxham Road to wait for the taxis.
That's when I got caught.
Here is what happened.
Where do you from?
Where do you from?
Shut up.
Can you be.
You don't put the car.
Give me that phone.
I'm going to throw the way into that.
Let me doing my job.
I'm going.
I'm going.
Give me that fucking phone.
I'm going to show you.
I'm going to put that phone.
You.
You go away.
You go away.
Put that phone over.
You go away.
You don't touch my stuff.
Don't touch me.
Going to report your car.
What are you witness?
See that police is witnessed.
Don't touch me.
Shut the fuck up, man.
Don't call me my.
You're telling her to stop.
You're talking to me.
I'm talking to you.
I don't understand you.
I don't understand you.
Fuck yourself.
Do you know who I am?
You want to know who I am?
Do you want to know who I am?
Do you want to know who I am?
Do you want to know?
Thank you very much.
You too.
Keep on doing what you do best.
This is why.
This is why.
This is exactly what it causes.
By the way, we've retained legal counsel to assist you.
We're going to try and find some justice for Alexa.
We stand with you.
And as you know, we will pursue anyone who touches a rebel.
What was so crazy is that the RCMP were a few feet away.
But because you were standing on the New York side, they didn't have the jurisdiction to walk the 10 feet to arrest this man.
And there were no American police in sight.
And this guy knew it.
Can you be.
You don't put the car.
Give me the file.
I will get a throwaway into that.
Let me doing my job.
I'm going to.
Give me that fucking phone.
I'm going to show you.
I'm going to put that phone.
You go away.
See, that police is witnessed.
Don't talk me.
Get off.
Don't stay.
Don't put your cup.
And I want to reassure our viewers that we have hired a lawyer and we are, and Alexa, in fact, has made a police statement.
Well, Alexis, you know, we will stand with you on that.
Thank you for your journalism.
Thanks for being brave and not being scared by these bullies and human traffickers.
I appreciate you going to such lengths to get us that report.
And I invite everybody that, you know, if you want to stand with me and help me to fight against this trafficker that needs to be accountable, go to standwithalixa.com and chip in what you can for me to be able to afford my lawyer in the US side.
Thank you very much.
That's right.
That's standwithale.com.
Take care, my friend.
Keep up the great journalism.
Thank you.
All right, there you have it.
Alexa Lavoie, our chief correspondent in Quebec.
You know that Roxham Road is just not a problem of migrant, but it's a problem of human trafficking.
And these people are not all nice.
For our security and also for our border, we need to take action.