GYPSIES SNEAK FROM MEXICO TO U.S., WITH CANADA IN SIGHTS

DERBY LINE, VT. -

A minivan with California license plates and a dozen passengers zipped across the border between Vermont and Quebec in October, heading north in a southbound lane unblocked by traffic.

Border agents could only watch as the Dodge Caravan sped off into Quebec. But the vehicle and its occupants didn't try to disappear.

About 22 miles later, they stopped in a Walmart parking lot in Magog, Quebec, and asked someone to call the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. After the Mounties arrived, the Gypsies in the vehicle applied for political asylum.

Canadian authorities announced this week that they had broken up a circuitous but ingenious human smuggling ring that shuttled Romanians 11,000 miles from Europe to Mexico and across the U.S. to the famously porous border between the twin communities of Derby Line, Vermont, and Stanstead, Quebec.

The Romanians are largely ethnic Roma people, or Gypsies. Canadian officials say that many of the immigrants move to Toronto and Montreal, which have large Roma communities.

A 2004 agreement between the U.S. and Canada in how the two countries deal with asylum seekers is driving the latest migration, experts told the AP.

The Roma are descendants of nomads who moved out of what is now India 800 years ago. They speak a distinct language, a variation of Hindi. They have faced centuries of oppression in Europe that many advocates - and some countries, like Canada - say continues today. They have been forcibly resettled through the ages and were put in concentration camps during World War II.

More than 1 million Roma are believed to be living in Romania, a country of about 22 million. There is widespread prejudice against Roma, who are often unemployed and lack formal education because they do not always send their children to school. Because of poverty and prejudice, Roma often travel to Italy, Spain, France and Britain, where they beg, busk, live off welfare benefits or get involved in petty crime, according to authorities in those countries.

If the Romanians were to present themselves at a Canadian border post, they would be refused entry and told to seek asylum in the United States, which has more difficult requirements and where asylum seekers are not eligible for welfare benefits.

Romanians seeking to enter the U.S. or Canada need pre-approved visas. They do not need visas to enter Mexico.

Once in Canada, the asylum seekers are freed in most cases from detention while their asylum claims are pending, a process that can take years. At the same time, they are eligible to receive public-assistance benefits.

The appeal of the border crossing between Derby Line and Stanstead, as opposed to other points along the long border with Canada, is apparent.

The two towns are separate only in name and country - otherwise, they are essentially one community. The border runs through yards and buildings. Until recently, people could freely walk across quiet residential streets to visit neighbors in another country.

Since Sept. 11, many of those streets have been blocked off and residents required to pass through border posts. It's not entirely clear how Derby Line and Stanstead became the focus for Gypsies, but until repeated crossings like the one in October led Canada to beef up security on its side, agents didn't have the resources available to their American counterparts.

In 2010, 85 people crossed the border illegally at Stanstead, according to statistics from the Canada Border Services Agency. In 2011, that number rose to 168, and so far this year, it is 260.

Canadian officials said that many Romanians have arrived indebted to a criminal organization and in some cases engaged in crime to pay back the smuggling debts. Twelve have been charged since arriving in Canada.