Canada immigration: Why record asylum seekers are crossing border from U.S

People escaping danger at home, and people trying to raise their standard of living. Our Dad came to this country after World War II. Back at home the Nazis had left the country in ruins. Dad came here to make a living, and for the first dozen years after the war sent goods and money back to his original home, as he could.

At least half the people we know either came from another country, or their parents or spouses did.

Cary Grant was in a movie titled, "I was a Male War Bride." He played a French officer who married an American servicewoman. Our Dad was a male war bride, so to speak. For those who don't know, after World War II, American servicemen could bring their spouses back from overseas. Mom worked for the Navy Department, so they went up to Montreal, Canada, got married, and then they went through the legal process of bringing Dad into this country as a male war bride.

Our Mom's parents were immigrants, Dad was an immigrant, my spouse is an immigrant, our in-laws are mostly the children of immigrants, some from Europe, some from Japan. Most of our Japanese-American in-laws were interned in camps during World War II, or served in the 442nd Regiment.

The North American countries are populated with immigrants. How do we balance the need to accept immigrants with need to not be overwhelmed with immigrants?

Nice comment glenn.

Like many things, countries need adult conversions about immigration, what actually happens and what the benefits and problems are.

As it is, immigration is something opportunist politicians get to spread ridiculous lies about ("they're all given a free house and free electricity, look at that big flat screen tv!"), which skews the whole debate with uncontrolled animosity. Politicians like the Clintons who make speeches against immigration are found to have undocumented immigrants working in their homes. I bet Trump had them working at his golf courses.

Not sure that I could take the sub zero temperatures in Canada.

Do potential immigrants know what they are in for?

@kurisupisu, you don't know much about Canada, do you? Sub-zero temperatures, while common in much of the country during the winter months, are really nothing to worry about because they're typically limited to the months from December to February, and more often than not, during the nights. Yes, I've experienced those temperatures during daytime, but they don't last forever. I've even sat in my backyard in mid-February, tanning in 15C sunshine. Do you typically dis Finland, Sweden, and Iceland, too? We're not frigid. As a matter of fact, we're a rather 'warm' people, outdoor temperatures notwithstanding.

Last year an Indian family of four froze to death in Canada's province of Manitoba as they were trying to cross the border into the United States.

No sympathies here.

Life in their Gujarat village was not so bad that they had to pay off traffickers and attempt to enter the US illegally, but for a small town Gujju running a motel or a convenience store in the US is the great American Dream worth dying for.