Canada complains that New York is using a legal loophole to send migrants its way, buying them bus tickets to the border

• New York authorities are paying for migrants to take a bus north.
• Once in the north of the state, migrants cross into Canada to claim asylum.

An immigration official in Quebec has said it is "surprising" that New York authorities are sending migrants to Canada's border.

Quebec immigration minister Christine Fréchette made the comment after the New York Post reported that National Guards are handing out free bus tickets for migrants to travel to Plattsburgh, in the north of New York state.

From there, migrants hire cabs to take them on the 30-mile trip to cross the Canadian border via Roxham Road, the Post reported.

"If they are seeking to go somewhere else, we are helping in the re-ticketing process," New York City Mayor Eric Adams told Fox 5.

"Some want to go to Canada, some want to go to warmer states, and we are there for them as they continue to move on in their pursuit of this dream," Adams said.

In recent months, New York has struggled to cope with an influx of migrants. Many are being sent on buses by Republican governors in the south of the US to Democratic-controlled cities in the north to score political point about the Biden administration's migration policies.

The latest move by New York authorities appears to be an attempt to exploit a legal loophole.

Under the Safe Third Country agreement, signed by the US and Canada in 2002, migrants seeking asylum must file their claim in the first country they enter, whether it is the US or Canada.

But the agreement does not cover unofficial border entry points, such as Roxham Road, and migrants can cross into Canada using that route and claim asylum there.

Fréchette told the Canadian Press that the situation highlighted the need to "solve the problem of Roxham Road," and added that US and Canadian authorities were negotiating to update the Safe Third Country agreement.