I'm here on the border where people are sneaking across,
desperate to escape a country
where they don't even feel safe anymore.
But what if I told you that country was America?
Right? This part's America?
That's right, last year over 20,000 people
illegally snuck out of America and into Canada.
It starred when Trump began revoking
temporary protected status
for hundreds of thousands of immigrants.
NEWSWOMAN: The Trump administration
has so far announced it would also end
this temporary status
for migrants from Honduras, Nicaragua and Haiti.
LYDIC: All of this, not to mention Trump's feelings
about immigrants in general...
Are they ISIS? Is this a Trojan horse?
...has prompted a new wave of refugees
seeking asylum in Canada,
where their king in the north, Prime Minister Jon Snow
-is all like... -You're safe at home now.
LYDIC: 90% of asylum seekers are crossing
along a small section of the border,
about 25 miles north of the town of Plattsburgh.
So I headed there to meet a local coyote.
My contact told me to meet him here.
I gave him the code name She-Wolf Blitzer.
Are you Daisy?
-Hmm? Desi, yeah. -Okay.
LYDIC: Once we got our bad Tinder date out of the way,
I learned that Bill is a cab driver here in Plattsburgh.
And it's the cab drivers who ferry
the refugees to the border. It's gotten so busy
that even party shuttles have converted
into migrant caravans,
taking all these people right up to the border of Canada.
You know, if mayonnaise was a country.
What the hell. America's the country
where people sneak into, right?
Yes, 'cause we're the American dream.
-Everyone wants to do it. -We're the American dream.
-And look at all this food! -I know. I don't get it!
-It's crazy. -This serves one person.
Well, the American dream is still there,
but you got to do it by the process,
the way it's supposed to be done,
and that should go for the U.S. and for the Canada.
If I want somebody to come into my house,
I want them to come through the front door...
-Mm-hmm. -...not through the back door.
That's what I keep telling my husband.
Yeah. Well, there you go.
Except his birthday.
-Except his birthday? -Yeah.
-Oh... -And Christmas.
And Flag Day. Ugh.
I'll never forget Flag Day.
What were we talking about?
The... Right. You want them to go through the front-front door.
-Yeah. -LYDIC: But these people
can't go through the front door. Because of a quirk
in Canadian law, if you cross
at any official border crossing,
your asylum claim will be rejected faster
than a dick pic on LinkedIn.
That's why asylum seekers are crossing the U.S.-Canada border
at an illegal entry point on a dead-end road
where Bill and I were headed.
Wow. This really is like a bad Tinder date.
BILL: We are turning on to the Roxham Road right here.
LYDIC: I mean, look at how beautiful this is.
Why would anyone want to leave this?
Okay, not exactly this stretch of America.
BILL: Right at the end of this road
is where they cross.
-Is that Toronto up there? -No, that's not Toronto.
That's the Canadian's base.
LYDIC: Before Trump, this was wilderness,
but due to the flood of immigrants
at this illegal entry point,
the Canadians have built up a permanent presence,
which includes the world's largest birdhouse.
Between 70 to 80 asylum seekers arrive every day,
ready to cross with everything they can carry.
On the other side, the Canadian police
are standing their ground.
LYDIC: But then, like typical Canadians,
they let 'em in anyway.
I spoke with Armstrong, an asylum seeker
fleeing Northeast Nigeria,
where terrorists groups like Boko Haram are active.
Yeah.
LYDIC: But Armstrong was already in America.
Why not claim refugee status here?
LYDIC: But?
LYDIC: A better life?
I remember when people used to say that about us.
You're hoping for better things in Canada?
LYDIC: Opportunity? We used to be the land of that.
That's our brand.
City on a hill, land of the free.
Is Canada taking our place?
As I watched Armstrong walk away, I thought about
all we had been through these past 15 seconds,
and I realized he wasn't just going to Canada.
He was breaking up with America!
(indistinct chatter)
Well, we've just been dumped.
There's one thing I know-- it's how to handle being dumped.
You know what? Yeah, it's not working out.
I decided first before you decided.
Talking to him.
I spent all day trying to convince people to stay.
Any chance we can have a do-over?
What if Oprah were president?
Were all these people really choosing
America's boring cousin?
I don't think they're coming back.
Maybe we should be reflecting or trying to grow from this.
Or we can just handle it like any breakup.
Seriously? Canada?
Ugh!
Look, Mueller's closing in. We're gonna change!
I hope you're happy together!
(quietly): I don't mean it.
Only one person could pick me back up.
Which is because
Canada's younger than us?
We're still America!
We still got it going on.
We are the bomb. (laughs)
Don't say things like that, Bill.
Yeah, I know.
Makes it seem like we don't have it going on.