TORONTO, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- Canadian immigration authorities say an unprecedented number of gypsies from Hungary are seeking refugee status on arrival in Toronto.
Canada Border Services Agency workers were overwhelmed one night last week when a record 110 gypsies arrived on one flight and extra staff had to be called in to process them, the Toronto Sun reported.
The agency said as many as 50 gypsies from Hungary show up and apply for refugee status each day.
In recent years, the stateless ethnic group has denounced the term gypsy as derogatory and adopted the name Roma.
Gina Csanyi-Roban, executive director of the Roma Community Center, told the Sun city shelters are full and efforts were under way to find housing for the newcomers. She said the problem wasn't with the city, but with the federal authorities.
"The Canadian government has been silent on the issue," she said.
All of the refugee status-seekers have alleged they have been targeted in Europe by neo-Nazis, or skinheads, the report said.
Unidentified border officials told the Sun many of the elderly gypsies have health problems that will likely place an increasing burden on the country's free medicare system.
