Gypsies take complicated route through Europe, Mexico and US to seek asylum in Canada

DERBY LINE, Vermont – A community on the border of Quebec and Vermont has become a funnel for Gypsies who are seeking political asylum in Canada.

Canadian officials said Wednesday that they had broken up a smuggling ring moving Romanians.

They are believed to be members of the ethnic group known as Roma, or Gypsies.

The asylum seekers are believed to fly to Mexico, cross into the US illegally in the Southwest and then travel to the porous crossing between Derby Line, Vt., and Stanstead, Quebec.

During a news conference in Quebec, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says his government has never seen anything like it.