Michael Barutciski: With Trump’s deportations underway, what will Canada’s asylum policy look like? 

2025/01/30 Leave a comment

Useful reminder of limits. But Trump policies undermine the principles underlying the STCA:

In light of the Trump administration’s early moves to deport migrants without legal status in the U.S., there’s been heightened debate here in Canada about how we may (or may not) be positioned to handle a surge of claimants seeking refuge. Beyond the logistical capacity issues of handling high volumes of cases at our border, there are outstanding questions about Canada’s legal obligations to claimants and what, if any, policy and legal scope we have to manage the potential influx. The truth is it is greater than is often understood.

A key source of the confusion is that for years many in Canada have held a false assumption about the legal constraints imposed on our asylum procedures through a landmark Supreme Court decision in 1985, Singh v. Canada. The Globe and Mail’s editorial board recently repeated this mistake, asserting that Canada’s top court decided the Charter guarantees asylum seekers the right to a hearing as soon as they set foot in the country. This misreading of Singh has a real effect on our immigration predicament.

The Supreme Court did establish an important general rule in Singh: all persons who arrive at the border are covered by the Charter, regardless of their immigration status. Yet establishing that the Charter applies is not the same as interpreting the content of these Charter rights in various contexts.

In terms of refugee status determination procedures, the Supreme Court noted in Singh that the claimants, all Sikhs, were going to be sent by Canadian authorities back to their home country. For six of the seven claimants, this meant being returned to India, a country the Court considered dangerous for them given the violent internal tensions at the time. (The other claimant was to be returned to Guyana.)

However, the Supreme Court never generalized by saying that all claimants always have a right to a hearing. That is the exaggerated interpretation encouraged for years by activists and wishful-thinking academics. If claimants come to Canada via a safe third country, such as the U.S., then they can be returned to that country. This is the basic principle at the heart of the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), which the Court accepted last year when it refused to declare the agreement unconstitutional (as activists and academics have been demanding for years).

In other words, dealing with asylum claimants coming from the U.S. is a different situation than the one addressed in Singh and the legal constraints are not the same. This nuance is recognized in both the 1951 Refugee Convention and Canadian legislation. The convention does not even mention anything about hearings. Its most basic protection is the principle of “non-refoulement,” which stipulates that refugees cannot be returned to a country where their “life of freedom would be threatened.” It allows claimants to be returned to safe countries, which is why the adoption of the STCA was possible in the first place.

Section 101 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act specifically includes eligibility clauses that should suggest caution to anyone who believes automatic access to a hearing is part of Canada’s system. There is an initial determination as to whether the migrant is eligible to make a claim, including various security-related grounds of inadmissibility.

Moreover, there is also a clause rendering claimants ineligible when they come “directly or indirectly to Canada from a country designated by the regulations.” This is the legislative provision that enables return to the U.S. Even a cursory reading of the act should make clear that an automatic right to a refugee hearing was never intended or established by Parliament.

Despite these legal provisions, the Liberals have spent years reinforcing the confusion regarding Singh, constantly asserting that asylum seekers trying to enter “irregularly” at Roxham Road had the right to a hearing. When the government’s inaction regarding the illegal crossings led to record numbers of asylum claimants and public anxiety over the lack of border control, the government eventually negotiated an amendment to the STCA that essentially closed Roxham Road. Nobody seemed to notice that the supposed right to a hearing in Canada disappeared.

It is ironic that Prime Minister Trudeau recently acknowledged in the French version of a YouTube video that asylum seekers at Roxham Road were actually abusing the system. This incoherent and unserious approach was again revealed when Immigration Minister Marc Miller repeated the false argument about a supposed unqualified right to a hearing during a press conference explaining the reimposition of visas on Mexican nationals (who he claimed were abusing the asylum system).

After many years of lax asylum policies, followed more recently by continual controversies, there now appears to be an attempt to debate the country’s genuine asylum dilemmas with the Globe’s editorial board suggesting “new thinking is needed.” Most reasonable Canadians realize that tightening the current asylum system in a manner that treats claimants fairly is sufficiently challenging; we do not need to make it even more difficult by inventing legal constraints.

Singh established that asylum seekers in Canada who risk being returned to a dangerous country benefit from a right to a hearing if they claim protection. The corollary is equally important if we are to explore creative solutions to Canada’s asylum problems: there cannot be a Charter violation if asylum seekers are sent to a safe country. Although it will disappoint activists, the future of a sustainable asylum system will inevitably involve extraterritorial procedures and an extension of the safe third-country idea. We need to properly grasp basic legal constraints to make sure these procedures are as fair and humane as possible.

Source: Michael Barutciski: With Trump’s deportations underway, what will Canada’s asylum policy look like?

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Trump’s executive orders on immigration could prompt rise in asylum claims in Canada, experts say

2025/01/22 Leave a comment

Changes do raise question regarding underlying premise of Safe Third Country Agreement along with specific implications for non-binary and trans persons. Monthly asylum claims data will provide confirmation or not, as well as extent:

U.S. President Donald Trump’s raft of policy changes on his first day in office, including rolling back rights of transgender people and ending citizenship as a birthright in the United States, are expected to lead to a rise in claims for asylum in Canada, immigration experts say.

He signed a suite of executive orders on Monday evening tightening up immigration rules, including to bolster the U.S.’s southern border. The White House confirmed that he plans to suspend refugee resettlement in the U.S., end asylum for illegal border crossers, and enhance vetting and screening of foreign nationals.

Among the slew of executive orders is one reversing a policy that means anyone born in the U.S. automatically becomes an American citizen. Citizenship as a birthright is guaranteed by a constitutional amendment and is one of the measures in the President’s program expected to prompt legal challenges. Speaking to reporters as he signed the orders Monday evening, the President said he thought the orders would withstand such challenges.

Canadian immigration lawyer Yameena Ansari said the change to the birthright rule, if implemented, would mean that some children born to immigrants in the U.S. may be stateless, which she said breached international law. She predicted that such a policy could lead to more minors turning up at the Canadian border to seek a safe haven.

“Trump is breaching the U.S.’s own international-rights commitments by making large swaths of the population stateless,” she said.

In his inaugural address on Monday, Mr. Trump said the U.S. government would also adopt a policy of recognizing only male and female genders. He signed an executive order on Monday night effectively reversing the gender-related policies of his predecessor, Joe Biden.

In 2022, the Biden administration permitted U.S. citizens to select a gender-neutral “X” on passports.

Mr. Trump is expected to direct the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to ensure that official government documents, including passports and visas, only recognize twogenders.

Canadian immigration lawyer David Garson said since Mr. Trump’s election victory he has received multiple inquiries from non-binary and transgender Americans, as well as U.S. parents of transgender children, about moving to Canada.

He said the policy changes are likely to spark more asylum claims at the Canadian border from anxious people, including transgender U.S. citizens fearful of infringement of their rights. He also predicted an increase in asylum claims from pregnant, undocumented migrants who fear not just deportation, but that their child could be stateless if born in the U.S.

Mr. Trump’s executive orders would mean “more people coming to Canada or the Canadian border over all,” Mr. Garson said.

Executive orders rolling back transgender rights and further tightening up asylum in the U.S. could also have an impact on its Safe Third Country Agreement with Canada, experts predict.

Under the agreement, most foreign nationals claiming asylum at the border are automatically returned to the U.S., but immigration experts say Mr. Trump’s policies may lead to a reassessment of whether the U.S. is now safe for particular groups.

The changes in the U.S. could lead to the consideration of more “carve-outs,” meaning that some groups – as currently with unaccompanied minors – are not sent back to the U.S.

Immigration lawyer Maureen Silcoff said that under refugee law, Canada has an obligation to consider whether there are marked differences between Canadian and American standards of protection.

“Legally speaking. it could mean that the Governor in Council might decide to de-designate the U.S. as a safe third country,” she said….

Source: Trump’s executive orders on immigration could prompt rise in asylum claims in Canada, experts say

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Labman and Gaucher: Why the ‘language of loopholes’ should be avoided if Trump cracks down on the Canada-U.S. border

2024/11/30 Leave a comment

Representative of the views of most academics/activists and divorced from both domestic and Trump administration realities.

It would be far more productive for them to make practical and realistic suggestions to attenuate the impact for those most in need rather than making these general arguments. (e.g., Rob Vineberg’s suggestion on how to improve asylum claim processing).

The general statement that these restrictions will result in an increase in “undertaking dangerous and sometimes deadly measures to seek protection” is correct but will likely cause some to reconsider the risks.

As to the loophole terminology, the reality is that it is likely perceived as such by migrants themselves and those helping them, as they understandably seek a way to enter Canada:

Refugee advocates on both sides of the Canada-United States border are already gearing up for the next round of battle regarding the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA).

With the re-election of Donald Trump as U.S. president, the incoming appointment of Tom Homan as a “border czar” and stated plans for border crackdowns and mass deportations, there is heightened awareness of the impact on Canadian border crossings.

Trump, in fact, has threatened to impose 25 per cent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico until they clamp down on drugs and migrants crossing the border.

STCA timeline

Originally signed in 2002, the STCA permits the return of asylum seekers who arrive in Canada from the U.S. — or vice versa — because both countries are considered safe.

For more than two decades, refugee advocates have called for it to be suspended given the agreement’s negative impact on access to asylum and how it can fuel human trafficking. Instead, the agreement was expanded in March 2023 to make it harder to cross the border.

Simultaneously, Roxham Road, a central crossing point in Québec for asylum seekers travelling from the U.S. to Canada during the first Trump administration, was closed down in 2023.

Supposed loopholes

Debates around the STCA often feature complaints that the agreement contains loopholes that must be closed.

Prior to March 2023, the agreement allowed Canada to refuse refugees coming through the U.S. who sought entry at official border crossings. Crossing at an unofficial border point, however, did not trigger the agreement, a detail described by critics as a legislative loophole.

These critics argued that asylum seekers were exploiting the loophole by avoiding official land ports of entry to make their refugee claims.

To be clear, the decision about official and unofficial border crossings was not accidental. It was an intentional recognition of the expansive reach of the Canada-U.S. border and the impossibility of attentively monitoring or tracking all refugee routes into Canada or the U.S.

Obscuring understanding

Our research, featured in Emmett Macfarlane and Kate Puddister’s upcoming book Disciplinary Divides in the Study of Law and Politics, explores how this language of loopholes works to dangerously obscure our understanding of how migrants move, the STCA’s effectiveness as a tool of border control and whether the U.S. is in fact safe for refugees.

The idea of a loophole implies an error that must be addressed, and, at the border, a hole to be closed or a road to be sealed. The language of loopholes centres on the “security” of the border.

The revised STCA now applies across the entirety of the border between Canada and the U.S., at both official and unofficial crossings. The perceived loophole of crossing at unofficial entry points and being able to claim asylum has been closed. Yet, in the aftermath of the U.S. election, new loophole language is surfacing.

Under the new STCA, migrants who cross into Canada at irregular border points will be returned to the U.S. (or vice versa) — but only if they’re discovered within the first 14 days of their arrival. This incentivizes refugees to evade detection for two weeks so that they can make a claim for protection in Canada.

With the land crossing “loophole” closed, we now see critics pointing to this 14-day provision as yet another loophole, describing it as an ill-considered gap in the revised agreement that must be closed — further limiting access to asylum.

Placing asylum seekers in harm’s way

Many refugee advocates have argued this new 14-day condition puts asylum seekers at greater risk, pushing them into hiding and making them reliant on human traffickers. But these advocates don’t use the language of loopholes — they simply see it as further argument on why the STCA is not the right way to control irregular crossings and should be suspended entirely.

With a Canadian federal election on the horizon and ongoing debates around the agreement looming large, Immigration Minister Marc Miller acknowledged there may be need to consider a “different approach” to border management. He says the government is focused on a “secure” border.

This public fixation on the type of border crossing migrants undertake isn’t unique to commentary on the STCA.

Migrants arriving in Canada by sea from various South Asian regions on the Komagata Maru in 1914, the Amelie in 1987, the Ocean Lady in 2009 and the MV Sun Sea in 2010 were met with strong opposition from Canadian governments, accused of using a disingenuous channel to seek entry.

Excluding some migrants

Characterizing asylum seekers who are crossing the border as exploiting a loophole is therefore aligned with a Canadian immigration history that, while inclusive in certain respects, has been marked by both legal and illegal attempts to exclude certain groups of migrants.

In fact, crossing a territorial border to trigger a legal right to claim asylum is viewed fearfully in contrast to the airport receptions of resettled refugees who, for the fortunate few with access to this discretionary route to protection, are celebrated.

Debating whether asylum seekers are exploiting perceived loopholes taps into public sentiment about specific migrant arrivals of the past.

It also ignores both Canadian and American complicity in facilitating these unofficial crossings in the first place by choosing to place obstacles in the way of asylum seekers rather than devoting care and resources to a fair and orderly processing of refugee claims.

Closing ‘loopholes’ won’t deter migrants

This language of loopholes suggests that once the loophole is closed, applications for asylum and incidents of trafficking will decrease.

This assumption is empirically false given the grim realities of migration. The presence or absence of loopholes does not prevent asylum seekers from undertaking dangerous and sometimes deadly measures to seek protection.

Conversations around the STCA that focus on loopholes have lost sight of the needs of asylum seekers and our commitments in international law to protect refugees. Instead they emphasize the supposed illegitimacy of border crossers, echoing the country’s longstanding preoccupation with how one negotiates the border.

Source: Why the ‘language of loopholes’ should be avoided if Trump cracks down on the Canada-U.S. border

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Canada preparing for influx of U.S. migrants facing deportation after Trump’s victory, Le retour de Trump pourrait provoquer des vagues d’immigration à la frontière 

2024/11/07 Leave a comment

Here we go again and we will see whether the revised STCA helps manage the potential flow:

RCMP in Quebec say they have prepared contingency plans in case of an influx of migrants from the United States after Donald Trump’s victory, as Quebec Premier François Legault and Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet raised fears about asylum claimants streaming into the province.

Mr. Legault warned about “turbulence” at the border, saying Wednesday that he expects a stream of asylum seekers from the U.S. and arguing that the capacity of Quebec to integrate new arrivals had already been exceeded.

Mr. Blanchet challenged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the Commons about whether Canada was prepared to deal with such an influx. He said there could be millions of people in the U.S. who may want to leave and a significant number could come to Canada.

Mr. Trudeau replied that Ottawa would protect the integrity of Canadian borders….

Source: Canada preparing for influx of U.S. migrants facing deportation after Trump’s victory

Alors qu’un vent de panique se répand dans certaines communautés aux États-Unis, des experts croient qu’il faut se préparer dès maintenant à des vagues d’immigration à la frontière canadienne, à l’instar de la classe politique québécoise. La ruée pourrait être rapide et plus « désordonnée » que celle du chemin Roxham, disent-ils, et les traversées plus « périlleuses », puisque les voies normales sont presque entièrement bouchées.

En campagne, Donald Trump a promis de lancer le plus grand programme d’expulsion d’immigrants de l’histoire au jour 1 de sa présidence en utilisant la Loi sur les ennemis étrangers, un texte législatif écrit pour les périodes de guerre. Plus de 11 millions de personnes vivent sans statut aux États-Unis, et des centaines de milliers d’autres ont un statut temporaire qui expire dans les prochains mois.

« Le gouvernement doit se préparer pour affronter une potentielle crise humanitaire. » Cette exhortation sans détour vient de Fen Hampson, président du Conseil mondial pour les réfugiés et la migration.

Si ces personnes ne se qualifient pas pour demander l’asile à un poste-frontière sur la base des rares exceptions, c’est « à travers bois » et possiblement durant l’hiver qu’elles tenteront leur passage vers le Canada, entrevoit Stephan Reichhold, directeur de la Table de concertation des organismes au service des personnes réfugiées et immigrantes. Les traversées sont déjà « plus périlleuses » depuis la « fermeture » du chemin Roxham, et le risque « va s’intensifier », prévient cet observateur de longue date.

À la frontière, la Gendarmerie royale du Canada (GRC) s’active déjà en prévision d’une augmentation des passages en provenance de chez nos voisins du Sud. Dans un échange avec Le Devoir, le sergent Charles Poirier a confirmé que l’élection de M. Trump risquait d’avoir « une grosse incidence sur le nombre d’entrées irrégulières au Canada ». Un « plan de contingence » qui détermine les ressources supplémentaires à déployer à la frontière a été élaboré.

Craignant des « turbulences » migratoires un an et demi après la fermeture du chemin Roxham, le premier ministre du Québec, François Legault, a toutefois affirmé mercredi qu’il souhaitait s’assurer « que le gouvernement fédéral protège [les] frontières » avec les États-Unis.

Source: Le retour de Trump pourrait provoquer des vagues d’immigration à la frontière

As a wind of panic spreads in some communities in the United States, experts believe that we must prepare now for waves of immigration on the Canadian border, like the Quebec political class. The rush could be fast and more “messy” than that of Roxham Road, they say, and the crossings more “dangerous”, since the normal tracks are almost completely blocked.

During the campaign, Donald Trump promised to launch the largest immigrant expulsion program in history on day 1 of his presidency using the Foreign Enemies Act, a legislative text written for times of war. More than 11 million people live without status in the United States, and hundreds of thousands more have a temporary status that expires in the coming months.

“The government must prepare to face a potential humanitarian crisis. This blunt exhortation comes from Fen Hampson, president of the World Council for Refugees and Migration.

If these people do not qualify to apply for asylum at a border post on the basis of the few exceptions, it is “through the wood” and possibly during the winter that they will try their way to Canada, sees Stephan Reichhold, director of the Consultation Table of Organizations Serving Refugees and Immigrants. Crossings are already “more dangerous” since the “closure” of Roxham Road, and the risk “will intensify”, warns this long-time observer.

At the border, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is already working in anticipation of an increase in crossings from our southern neighbours. In an exchange with Le Devoir, Sergeant Charles Poirier confirmed that the election of Mr. Trump risked having “a big impact on the number of irregular entries into Canada”. A “contingency plan” that determines the additional resources to be deployed at the border has been developed.

Fearing migratory “turmoil” a year and a half after the closure of Roxham Road, Quebec’s Prime Minister, François Legault, said on Wednesday that he wanted to ensure “that the federal government protects [the] borders” with the United States.

Filed under Immigration, Refugees Tagged with , ,

Regg Cohn: On refugees, Canadians aren’t that different from everyone else

2024/05/17 Leave a comment

Of note and a dose of reality:

On a recent visit to Dublin and London, it was impossible to ignore the human migration byplay. Even at the far ends of Western Europe, Britain and Ireland are on the front lines of a seemingly unstoppable migration wave that is destined to disrupt every country — and overturn all our assumptions about how to do the right thing.

The Irish like to think of themselves as more moral than most — they sound so very Canadian. But from the moment you deplane in Dublin, you see border patrol officers interrogating migrants for their paperwork on the sidelines while everyone else clutches their passports in the queue.

On the streets of the capital city, homeless encampments are a familiar sight, sheltering refugees with nowhere to go. On the front pages of the country’s newspapers, the issue never seems to go away.

Ireland, long a country of emigration, is now a destination for migration. Outbound has become inbound, which is turning its politics upside down.

To be clear, the Irish have done their fair share of helping Ukrainian refugees resettle on their shores. More than 100,000 people displaced by Russia’s invasion are living and working in the republic, one of the highest intake rates in Europe given its own small population of 5.3 million.

That’s an economic bonus for the Irish, given that their unemployment remains at a rock bottom 4.2 per cent amid resurgent tourism. But Ireland’s long-standing housing crisis is even more acute than Canada’s sudden shortage.

Now, a surge in claimants has triggered economic and political pressure on a country that, like Canada, prides itself on laying out the welcome mat. When I visited recently, the Taoiseach (Ireland’s prime minister) announced an expansion in refugee centres, but also a decline in government supports for Ukrainians:

“It’s so important that we maintain social cohesion,” Simon Harris said earnestly last month. “Irish people are a good and decent people who see the benefits of migration. They also like to see a bit of common sense when it comes to migration.”

A Canadian politician couldn’t have put it better. But beyond welfare adjustments, he also announced a broader refugee review because of how many are “still living in free state accommodation without making a contribution.”

The Taoiseach might have added that the Irish, like their Canadian cousins, can also count.

Fully one-third of all asylum seekers so far this year are coming from Nigeria — nearly double the rate of a year ago. That so many emanate from Nigeria — a perennial source of dubious claims compared to true global hot spots — seems reminiscent of similar distortions among claimants in Canada.

Belatedly, the Irish are designating Nigeria a “safe country” that triggers “fast processing” for claimants (to deter long stays). Interestingly, most Nigerians come not by boat or plane — there are no direct flights between the two countries — but overland from Northern Ireland, making their way via the United Kingdom.

Their sudden exodus from the U.K. is likely motivated by the anti-migration mania gripping British politics, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government concocting an accord with Rwanda to relocate refugee claimants before they put down roots on British soil. The outcry — legally, morally, politically — over his strategy dominates the headlines, but it is Ireland’s retrenchment that is perhaps more telling.

In Dublin, opposition Labour Leader Ivana Bacik described the encampments in Dublin as a local manifestation of London’s Rwanda policy: “This failure, resulting in so many tents, this amounts to a sort of Rwanda policy for the Irish government … as if they’re seeking to send out a signal to those who may be coming to Ireland to claim refuge.”

Times change. Tones change.

Source: On refugees, Canadians aren’t that different from everyone else

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Some illegal border crossers receive $224 in food and accommodation per day while awaiting processing

2024/05/15 Leave a comment

Silly comparison between pension income, for those who largely have a home and are settled, and asylum claimants who are not. Legitimate to question the government’s handling of asylum claimants and immigration in general as many do but need to do so intelligently rather than just to stoke outrage. And of course, these are irregular arrivals in legal parlance, not illegal ones:

As the number of Canada’s refugee claimants hits new highs, a Conservative MP has revealed that Ottawa budgets about $224 per day to feed and house some foreigners who claim asylum after illegally entering the country.

Last week, Conservative MP Lianne Rood uploaded documents to social media showing the government’s answer to her question about what “goods and services” are provided to foreigners who have claimed asylum in Canada — but have not yet had their applications reviewed by immigration authorities.

The average accommodation cost is “$140 per night per room,” and the average cost for meals is “$84 per day per claimant” — for a total of $224 per claimant, per day.

And the per diem cost may go even higher once factoring in the other “essential items” provided for free to claimants, including “toiletries, medicines, diapers.”

“Claimants in IRCC operated hotels, regardless of how they entered Canada, are provided with accommodations and meals once they are relocated,” read the official answer to Rood, signed by Paul Chiang, parliamentary secretary to the minister of diversity and inclusion.

“The NDP-Liberal government is giving TEN TIMES the benefits to illegal border jumpers than it is giving to help Canadian seniors! DISGRACEFUL!” wrote Rood in an accompanying caption to a May 7 post on X uploading the document.

As of the most recent figures by the IRCC, there are 156,032 pending asylum claims before the agency — although not all of them are in Canada and living within an IRCC hotel….

Source: Some illegal border crossers receive $224 in food and accommodation per day while awaiting processing

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Canada threw open its doors to visitors after the pandemic. Now, many don’t want to leave

2024/04/24 Leave a comment

Yet another example of an immigration policy failure, likely politically-driven by then Minister Fraser, leaving yet another mess for Minister Miller. Money quote: “They made a decision with a full understanding that there would be an impact on in-Canada asylum processing,” said Sharma. “There’s significant cost and it’s not just the refugee (determination) system. There are other downstream effects.”:

A special program Canada brought in last year to make it easier for tourists, business travellers and those with relatives in this country to visit has led to some unexpected consequences.

Newly obtained documents show that a striking percentage of people who took advantage of the expedited visitor visas that the program offered have now applied to stay here — as asylum seekers.

It’s a situation, some say, that reflects among other things the pent-up demand for asylum created during the pandemic, when the border was closed.

The Immigration Department said as of Feb. 29, 2024, about 152,400 visas were issued under the time-limited program, including 7,300 applicants for the so-called “Super Visas” for parents and grandparents, who come frequently to visit Canadian children and grandchildren.

A government internal memorandum obtained by Star under an access-to-information request said 19,400 asylum claims were made by visitors granted visas under the special program, though few were Super Visa applicants.

That means almost 13 per cent of these visa holders have already sought protection in Canada.

It’s a rate that appears to be abnormally high.

For instance, in 2019, before the pandemic, there were 5.7 million temporary resident visas issued and 58,378 people asked for asylum, but that number also included those who arrived as international students, foreign workers and irregular migrants walking through the United States land border.

The asylum seekers emerging from the program account for 14 per cent of the 137,947 new refugee claimants received by Canada in 2023.

The number is further expected to grow as many visa holders have yet to come before their admission document expires.

“A lot of these individuals would probably have been refused for visas but for the relaxation of the rules,” said Calgary-based immigration lawyer Raj Sharma.

“The program is done by December. That means that they’ve got a six-month entry. This surge or uptake will be with us for some time.”

Effective between Feb. 28 and Dec. 7, 2023, the temporary policy waived the requirements for applicants to prove they had enough financial resources for the travels and would leave Canada after their visits. But they must have submitted a visa application before Jan. 16 last year and not been previously denied. All must still pass security, criminal and medical clearances.

“With the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic now behind us, international travel is resuming and the Government is focused upon Canada’s economic recovery,” said a notice of the public policy signed by then immigration minister Sean Fraser.

“To position Canada to maximize the benefit of the movement of tourists, business persons and family visitors, the Government is committed to reducing processing times for visitor visas.”

Toronto immigration lawyer Adam Sadinsky attributed the high rate partly to the pent-up demand for asylum from people fleeing persecution during the pandemic between March 2020 and September 2021, when the border was closed. The relaxation of the rules also allowed some who would otherwise have been refused to get here, he noted.

“The reality is that during the time that people weren’t able to travel to Canada, the types of persecution that people face that lead them to flee their countries and seek protection abroad didn’t cease,” said Sadinsky, a spokesperson for the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers.

“It’s natural that among the group of people who applied for temporary residence, there was a cohort of individuals, whose plan, it seems, was to claim refugee protection in Canada because there were nearly two years in which they weren’t able to do that.”

He pointed out that the easing of the rules also took effect around the time that Ottawa and Washington expanded their bilateral border agreements in March to ban asylum seekers from crossing between the two countries, which has essentially made it impossible for irregular migrants to cross the land border for asylum.

The land border restrictions, he said, mean only the most privileged who are able to secure a visa to fly to Canada can have access to asylum.

“It has always been possible for individuals to make refugee claims after they come to Canada with a visitor visa, a student visa or a work permit,” said Sadinsky.

“The reality is that people flee their countries and they do that in ways that it is possible. Canada has international obligations to grant protection to those who are within our border.”

Sharma said the federal government had the options to either return applications and refund applicants caught in the backlog, or simply inform people about the backlog and ask them to wait if they could.

He said the special public policy was unprecedented because the visa relaxation applied system-wide regardless of country of origin, but said the measure was harmful.

“They made a decision with a full understanding that there would be an impact on in-Canada asylum processing,” said Sharma. “There’s significant cost and it’s not just the refugee (determination) system. There are other downstream effects.”

An Immigration Department spokesperson said the special public policy has been successful in clearing most of the older temporary resident visa applications in the system. According to its website, there are currently 1.14 million such applications in the queue, almost half exceeding service standards, down from 64 per cent in February 2023.

Source: Canada threw open its doors to visitors after the pandemic. Now, many don’t want to leave

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Globe editorial: Ottawa’s next immigration emergency [asylum claimants]

2024/01/30 Leave a comment

Similarly, a pattern in the Globe’s coverage of and commentary on immigration with the needed critical eye:

A pattern has emerged in Liberal immigration policy over the past year: Ignore mounting evidence of trouble, dismiss rumbles of criticism and, finally, take the smallest possible action to avert an all-out calamity.

There was abundant evidence for months that the pace of new arrivals, particularly temporary migrants, was putting unacceptable strain on housing in big cities and other social infrastructure. But it was not until November that the Trudeau government took the tentative step of tamping down the growth in permanent immigration – misleadingly referred to as “stabilizing” by the government. Even with the change, permanent immigration targets will rise this year and next, with an extra 55,000 people admitted over that two-year span.

Last week, there were half-measures to curb the eye-popping growth in the ranks of international students, with Immigration Minister Marc Miller announcing a two-year cap on international study visas. But that cap is being imposed with visas already at historically high levels.

…

In the first 11 months of last year, 128,690 people made asylum claims in Canada, more than double the number in the prepandemic year of 2019. Claims from Mexican nationals in 2023 accounted for 17 per cent of the total, nearly double their proportion in 2019….

source: Ottawa’s next immigration emergency

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Jump in illegal crossings causes speculation amongst residents of Canada-U.S. border states [southbound]

2024/01/30 Leave a comment

Of note:

The number of apprehensions in the border sector that includes Vermont, New Hampshire and part of New York state rose to 6,925 last year from 1,065 the year before, according to figures from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. About half of these were Mexican nationals, with significant proportions from India and Venezuela as well.

The totals are still modest compared to those on the U.S. border with Mexico. The entire frontier with Canada saw fewer than 200,000 apprehensions last year, a little more than 6 per cent of the 3.2 million nationwide total.

But the increase has prompted Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley to argue for building a wall on at least part of the Canada-U.S. border. Before quitting the race this month, Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis also endorsed such a policy. New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu announced a tenfold increase of state trooper patrols in the area.

Source: Jump in illegal crossings causes speculation amongst residents of Canada-U.S. border states

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‘Abnormal’: Quebec says there are still too many asylum seekers entering the province

2023/11/04 Leave a comment

Of note. Many air travellers arrive in Montreal but still surprising so much less than Toronto. May reflect the presence or absence of direct flight connections or other factors.

She is correct, of course, in her critique of federal visa policies being too loose given the removal of the need to demonstrate sufficient funds and intent to return to their country of origin:

Quebec’s immigration minister says the number of asylum seekers entering the province is “abnormal.”

Christine Fréchette told reporters today that the federal government needs to do more to distribute would-be refugees across the country.

She says that since the closure of Roxham Road — the irregular land border crossing between Quebec and New York state — there are now too many asylum seekers showing up at the province’s airports.

Federal government statistics show that 17,080 people claimed asylum at Quebec airports between January and September of this year, more than double the second-highest province for airport claimants, Ontario.

Fréchette says Quebec has welcomed more asylum seekers so far this year than all other provinces combined, which was also true in 2022.

The minister also says Ottawa is too “loose” with the way it gives travel visas, saying many migrants are taking advantage of that pathway to claim asylum in the country.

Source: ‘Abnormal’: Quebec says there are still too many asylum seekers entering the province

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