Organized crime, including Mexican cartels, smuggling migrants to Canada

Foreshadowing likely re-imposition of Mexican visa requirement?:

Immigration Minister Marc Miller told the Commons that the government is looking at measures to “tighten the screws” on steeply rising migration to Canada, including examining whether to re-impose visas to visitors from Mexico.

“The flows that are coming into the country – regardless of the country of origin – particularly in terms of asylum seekers and irregular migration are very high,” he said. “I think it is important to take a look at our public policies to see where we can tighten that up – and that includes Mexico.”

Conservative immigration critic Tom Kmiec said there had been a surge in asylum claims from Mexicans to more than 14,000 a year, since the visa requirement was lifted in 2016. He pressed the minister on why action has not yet been taken to reimpose visas, with 70 per cent of Mexican asylum claims rejected.

Mr. Miller said he did not want to “downplay the severity of the issue” and that the acceptance rates from asylum seekers from Mexico were much lower overall than those from other countries. But he said Mexico is one of Canada’s most important trading partners and the issue involved “a process internally as well as with the Government of Mexico.”

Source: Organized crime, including Mexican cartels, smuggling migrants to Canada