MASSENA, N.Y. — Those who know Steven Nadeau, a restaurant owner in this town near the Canadian border, like to joke that his place is internationally renowned. A decade ago, the crispy wings and deep dish pizza were so popular among his northern neighbours that he bought a second cash box for Canadian dollars.
While the falling value of the Canadian dollar has hastened the decline, shopkeepers and local officials also point to another culprit: tighter federal immigration enforcement over the past two years. The northern border is the longest land boundary between two countries in the world, with about 400,000 people and over $1.6 billion in goods crossing through it daily. Customs and Border Protection officials disputed claims that it has gotten tougher to travel across it.
Decades ago, the area around Massena and Malone was a booming industrial belt home to companies such as Reynolds and General Motors. By the time GM closed its doors in Massena in 2009, the region had deteriorated into a string of struggling small towns, home to an aging population with little spendable income.
But as the value of the Canadian dollar began to fall in 2013, U.S. goods became more expensive for Canadians, and Baird Payette — like many of her neighbours — visited the United States less frequently, she said. In July last year, a Canadian yarn vendor traveling to a knitting festival in Maryland said she lost $25,000 in fees after border patrol officers told her she had received the wrong visa and turned her away.
Voters in the counties around Massena and Malone lean conservative, but their opinions on the national debate over immigration policy often diverge from their views of freer movement across the northern border.