You can buy anything on TikTok these days: galaxy projectors, novelty egg cookers, and detailed instructions on how to illegally enter another country.
Driving the news: A new investigation by Radio-Canada has identified a dozen TikTok accounts advertising services guiding Indian temporary residents through irregular border crossings into the U.S., claiming to offer safe passage via Montréal, Brampton, and Surrey.
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Radio-Canada spoke with smugglers who offered these services for anywhere from $1,500 to $5,000. One of the TikTok accounts has more than 360,000 followers.
- Some Indian migrants view the U.S. as a better place to live than Canada as it offers more job opportunities but enter from Canada as it's easier to attain a Canadian visa.
Why it matters: A full-fledged black market economy has now emerged to facilitate and capitalize on the record number of irregular border crossings from Canada into the U.S., often giving false hope to migrants entering the U.S. unaware of tightened refugee laws.
- Taxi drivers have been found offering rides from Québec border crossings to NYC for as much as $300 while scammers are selling all-inclusive packages with fake visas.
Big picture: U.S. border agents reported nearly 20,000 migrant encounters on the Canadian border so far this year — a 95% increase from this time last year. The rise comes primarily from Indian or Bangladeshi migrants living in Canada on student or tourist visas.—QH