Clinton County officials reacting to Roxham Road changes

Joe LoTemplio, The Press-Republican, Plattsburgh, N.Y.
·3 min read
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Mar. 28—PLATTSBURGH — Officials in Clinton County have been keeping an eye on the Roxham Road situation and are prepared to deal with any impact that could arise from the new regulations.

"We don't want anybody to be under the impression that we just started talking about this," County Legislature Chairman Mark Henry (R-Area 3, Chazy) said.

"We've been dealing with this on a normal basis for a very long time. It just has a little twist in it now."

ROAD THROUGH PLATTSBURGH

New regulations agreed upon last weekend by Canada and the U.S. are designed to deter people from crossing into Canada at Roxham Road on the border in Champlain.

For as long as up to five years ago, Roxham Road has been an unofficial crossing for those seeking asylum into Canada. Many of these travelers would take a bus to Plattsburgh and then find transport, often a local taxicab, to the crossing.

DEVELOPING SITUATION

The new regulations are still a bit unclear, but some officials are concerned that it could create an influx of people in Clinton County if they get turned away by Canada.

Henry said the county is watching the situation closely and talking with officials at the federal level in both Canada and the U.S. as well as the province of Quebec, New York state and local authorities.

Based on what is known so far, he does not believe there will be a big influx of people into the county.

"We've been talking several times a day to see where we at," he said, adding that key county departments such as Emergency Services, Social Services and the Sheriff have all been involved in planning.

"We're not seeing any increase right now. It's like it kind of always has been. What we're trying to do is look into the future and the only way we're going to be able to tell is once the process on the Canadian side and on the U.S. side is figured out."

NUMBERS GAME

Henry said the county has dealt with people being returned to the U.S. from Canada for years, but it has never amounted to much of a strain on resources because the numbers have been low.

"This past weekend I think we handled three, but as long as the numbers stay manageable... we're able to to take care of that with the limited resources the county has," he said.

"Where it gets problematic is if those numbers increased dramatically. Then that creates issues for for everyone."

EXPECT DECREASE

With both governments putting the word out that travelers should not go to Roxham Road any longer, Henry suspects that the traffic will decrease.

"That's what we're hoping for, but we're going to have to see."

In the meantime, the county will continue to talk and plan.

"All I can say is the county has been talking about this for days," Henry said.

"We monitor this all the time and we're looking to see if the trends change as quickly as we can to predict out ahead what might happen next Wednesday or whatever the day is. But I don't think there is anybody that can walk in anywhere at any meeting and say, 'this is what's going to happen next Wednesday.'"

E-mail: jlotemplio@pressrepublican.com

Twitter: @jlotemplio