Not everyone in Romania is Romani, the group also known as Gypsies. In fact, at about 1.85 million, Gypsies are only a small minority of Romania’s overall population, comprising about 8.32 percent. By comparison, approximately one million Gypsies live in the United States, congregating primarily in the Pacific Coast, states such as Texas, Louisiana, Florida, and large Northern cities such as Chicago, Cleveland, and St. Louis.
Since news accounts of illegal border crossings do not typically distinguish Romani from other Romanian nationals, we have no way of knowing how many Gypsies are entering the US illegally, but some already here are likely welcoming kinsmen from abroad, according to reports from Maine.
The Houlton border sector, which covers Maine’s borders with New Brunswick and Quebec, has seen a steady increase of Romanians crossing the border into Maine from the Canadian provinces. Recently, responding to a citizen tip, officials arrested two Romanian youths and 20 others caught crossing the border illegally in four cars. Two of that number were listed in a crime database. During the first five months of 2022, 40 Romanians were arrested while trying to illegally cross the border between Canada and the USA in Houlton, Maine. The CBP says Romanian encounters in the sector rose from 4% (13 of 303) in the 2023 fiscal year to 12% (40 of 344) last year and now stand at 13% (9 of 70) this fiscal year. Only Mexicans are more numerous among illegal border crossers in the North.
According to PressOne, a Romanian news outlet, Houlton has become a favorite destination for Romanian illegals trying to reach enclaves of their countrymen in the US.
The numbers continue to be small, but the increase has authorities puzzled. Karine Martel, of the Canada Border Services Agency said recently: “The Canada Border Services Agency cannot speculate on why a certain percentage of Romanians try to enter illegally both in Canada and the United States.”
The added traffic could be stemming from Canada’s having removed visa requirements for Romanian citizens in 2007, making Canada much easier to access, with only a lightly patrolled border between it and the United States. For similar reasons, ironically, the recent spike in illegal Romanian border crossing may soon flatten. The Biden administration, just 10 days before it dissolved, added Romania to the State Department’s “Visa Waiver” program, joining its northern neighbor in abolishing visa requirements for Romanian nationals. Now, Romanians can dispense with hazardous overland travel thrugh bear-infested mountains and simply overstay their 90-day visas.
Visa Waiver is a program President Trump might want to take a look at.
For more, see the Bangor Daily News.