Preliminary statistics released earlier this month by the federal government show a slight decline in the number of asylum seekers using the border near Emerson as a back door entrance to illegally enter Canada from the U.S.

Since December, over 580 people have been intercepted by the local RCMP, but that figure does not include asylum seekers who were not caught by RCMP and were able to get into Winnipeg without being taken into custody. The latest release shows that 106 crossed in May compared to 146 in April and One-hundred and 70 in March.

Emerson-Franklin Reeve Greg Janzen said based on what he had seen so far this year he was expecting the numbers to be higher in May.

"I'm kind of glad I was wrong about the May numbers, however, I am wondering if the recent discovery of the body of a Ghanaian woman has scared refugee claimants from making the trek across the Emerson border. Now they know it is not as safe as they possibly thought. Yes, numbers in May were down, but they were still four times higher than in 2016. People are still concerned, the Municipality and the RCMP are still concerned. What is worrying us is that nothing is being done by the federal government to change or amend any laws. We are all getting fed up with this and cannot continue to monitor miles of border for much longer."

According to Janzen, the asylum seeker numbers from the Salvation Army or Welcome House the numbers the RCMP have intercepted are not even near the number of people that have actually crossed."

Janzen added that he is already thinking about the coming winter months, noting the trend is that we get the most in March, September, and October and those months are already pretty cold especially when they are crossing at night.

"They are putting many lives at risk including their own by choosing to cross at night in pitch black fields, in snow or rain storms. One death is all that has been recorded so far, but there will be a lot more until the law is changed."