Former U.S. Ambassador to Canada Bruce Heyman shared some strong words about his country's immigration policies, saying he鈥檚 鈥渆mbarrassed鈥� that people are fleeing his country.
鈥淚鈥檓 totally embarrassed with the way our country treats people, that they feel that they have to flee the United States of America,鈥� Heyman said in an interview that airs Sunday. 鈥淏ut that鈥檚 the circumstances we鈥檙e in.鈥�
Appointed by former U.S. President Barack Obama, Heyman served as his country鈥檚 ambassador to Canada between April 2014 and Jan. 2017.
With U.S. President Donald Trump pursuing an aggressive immigration policy, many people, Heyman said, 鈥渁re very scared.鈥�
鈥淧sychologically, if people are under pressure and threatened in the United States and feel they have to flee, they鈥檙e going to go somewhere,鈥� he said. 鈥淓ither they鈥檙e going to go in hiding within the United States or they鈥檙e going to flee the country.鈥�
Many of these people, he noted, are now fleeing north into Canada.
鈥淭his is going to be a continued stress point,鈥� he added, particularly in 鈥渢he summer months.鈥�
Tens of thousands of asylum seekers have entered Canada from the U.S. since Trump won the 2016 U.S. election. Many more are expected this spring and summer, particularly because the Trump administration plans to end special immigration protection for nearly 60,000 Hondurans.
While Heyman hopes that Trump 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 do anything that causes people additional anxiety,鈥� he doubts that the northward flow of asylum seekers will ebb.
鈥淭he tensions are high,鈥� Heyman explained. 鈥�(Trump)鈥檚 highly distracted, there are a lot of things happening here, he鈥檚 trying to feed his base, we鈥檝e got an election coming up here in the fall and it wouldn鈥檛 surprise me if they get more aggressive on immigration.鈥�
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