Asylum seekers take a walk outside Olympic Stadium as security guards look on in Montreal, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017. The stadium will be housing asylum...
Asylum seekers take a walk outside Olympic Stadium as security guards look on in Montreal, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017. The stadium will be housing asylum seekers after a spike in the number of people crossing at the United States border in recent months. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press via AP)
Asylum seekers take their belongings as they arrive at Olympic Stadium, in Montreal on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017. The stadium is being used as temporary...
Asylum seekers take their belongings as they arrive at Olympic Stadium, in Montreal on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017. The stadium is being used as temporary housing to deal with the influx of asylum seekers arriving from the United States. (Ryan Remiorz /The Canadian Press via AP)
Asylum seekers take their belongings as they arrive at Olympic Stadium, in Montreal on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017. The stadium is being used as temporary...
Asylum seekers take their belongings as they arrive at Olympic Stadium, in Montreal on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017. The stadium is being used as temporary housing to deal with the influx of asylum seekers arriving from the United States. (Ryan Remiorz /The Canadian Press via AP)
A group of asylum seekers leave Olympic Stadium to go for a walk, in Montreal on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017. The stadium is being used as temporary housi...
A group of asylum seekers leave Olympic Stadium to go for a walk, in Montreal on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017. The stadium is being used as temporary housing to deal with the influx of asylum seekers arriving from the United States. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press via AP)
A group of asylum seekers leave Olympic Stadium to go for a walk, in Montreal on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017. The stadium is being used as temporary housi...
A group of asylum seekers leave Olympic Stadium to go for a walk, in Montreal on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017. The stadium is being used as temporary housing to deal with the influx of asylum seekers arriving from the United States. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press via AP)
MONTREAL (AP) — So many asylum seekers are crossing into Canada from the United States that Montreal's Olympic Stadium has been opened to house them.
The first groups were bused to the stadium Wednesday. Cots are set up in the windowless, domed facility. The mainly Haitian migrants will stay until they get government financial assistance.
The head of a Quebec government-funded program that helps asylum seekers says a maximum of 450 people will be housed temporarily. Francine Dupuis says her organization helped 448 people in June and 1,174 in July, far more than previously.
Ninety percent are Haitians. The U.S. is weighing ending a program that granted Haitians "temporary protected status" after Haiti's 2010 earthquake.
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Associated Press writer Patrick Lejtenyi reported this story in Montreal and AP writer Rob Gillies reported from Toronto.
