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The scene greeting asylum seekers at a popular illegal border crossing point in Quebec on Thursday was vastly changed from that of a few months earlier.

What used to be an unmarked ditch monitored by one or two RCMP patrol cars had turned into a makeshift reception centre in response to the surging number of asylum seekers crossing the border at Hemmingford in the last two weeks.

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Folding chairs and bottles of water were available for border crossers in a large white tent as they waited to board a bus to be taken for processing.

Metal barricades kept the media at bay as five or six RCMP officers waited to arrest new arrivals crossing into Quebec from New York.

RCMP Constable Erique Gasse said any suspected criminals would be taken to a detention centre but the bulk of newcomers are sent to the Lacolle border to file refugee claims.

“Our officers are doing an extraordinary job in the field,” he said in a phone interview. “They’re patient, they’re professional, they’re Canadian police officers just doing their jobs.”