Asylum claims jump at Canadian airports after Ottawa eases some visitor visa requirements

2023/10/24 Leave a comment

“Fix” one problem by creating another! Waiving the sufficient funds requirements and the demonstration of intent to leave requirement may have appeared a good idea at the time but did nobody at the official or political level not expect an increase in claimants?

Canada is experiencing a surge of asylum claims being made at domestic airports after a contentious move by the federal government to waive certain requirements for thousands of visitor visa applicants.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has processed more than 26,000 asylum claimants at airports through September this year, an increase of 54 per cent from last year’s total, according to figures from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). While the numbers have been rising since 2022, the trend accelerated in the spring.

In March, the federal government closed Roxham Road, a popular route into Quebec for those seeking asylum in Canada. The closure has forced would-be claimants to find new entry points.

But there was another, less-publicized move, that likely contributed to the trend. Earlier this year, Ottawa waived some eligibility requirements for visitor visa applicants – in particular, those individuals no longer have to prove they have sufficient funds to stay in Canada or demonstrate they will leave the country when their visas expire. The policy went into effect on Feb. 28 and lasts through the end of 2023.

The Globe and Mail reported in January that IRCC was considering such a move, after the newspaper leaked a government document that outlined ways to reduce a significant volume of visa applications.

The memo said that not all applicants for temporary resident visas, or TRVs, would be “genuine visitors,” and that in waiving eligibility requirements for those individuals, it could lead to an additional 8,600 asylum claims.

Still, Ottawa pressed ahead with the plan – although it didn’t disclose anything publicly until June, four months after the policy took effect. Radio-Canada was first to report on the change.

“The percentage of people coming to Canada on a TRV and claiming asylum remains low compared to the overall volume of TRVs the department typically issues each year,” IRCC spokesperson Mary Rose Sabater said in a statement. “In the current reality of increasing global migration, Canada, like many other countries, is experiencing a rise in the number of people claiming asylum.”

Many people connected to the immigration system, including lawyers and government employees, have criticized Ottawa’s approach to expediting the processing of applications. They say the immigration department is not performing its due diligence in screening all visitors, while also putting stress on the refugee system, which was already struggling to accommodate a rush of people seeking protection in Canada.

The change “makes our immigration system seem unreliable,” said Zeynab Ziaie Moayyed, an immigration lawyer in Toronto. It’s “a short-sighted way to reduce that backlog, but creates all kinds of other problems.”

At times last year, there were more than 2.6 million applications in IRCC’s inventories, including for visitor visas, work and study permits and permanent residency. As of Aug. 31, there were 2.2 million applications in the queue.

The IRCC memo, which dates to December, said waiving eligibility requirements would apply to roughly 450,000 TRV applications in the system.

The document said the stockpile of applications was “eroding the public’s trust” in the department and its ability to manage migration. Hopeful immigrants and visitors often complain that it can take years for the government to render a decision on their files.

“The accumulated visitor visa inventory is limiting Canada’s attractiveness for tourists and business persons, in addition to keeping families separated,” the government said on a webpage that announced the policy change. “Facilitating the processing of applications currently in the inventory by streamlining eligibility requirements will position Canada for a clean start and a return to pre-pandemic processing times, thereby ensuring our international competitiveness moving forward.”

The measure applies to visitor visa applications that were in the system by Jan. 16, coinciding with the date of The Globe’s story on the policies under consideration.

The government also waived a requirement – the need for foreign nationals to establish that they will leave the country by the end of their authorized stays – for those seeking “super visas,” which allow parents and grandparents of Canadian citizens or permanent residents to visit the country for five years at a time.

Despite the exemptions, prospective visitors are still subject to other screening procedures, such as those ensuring they aren’t a known threat to national security.

In a statement, the CBSA said it has seen an increase in the number of asylum claimants in recent weeks at airports, including Montréal–Trudeau International Airport and Toronto Pearson International Airport. The agency said the claimants were mainly from Mexico, India, Kenya, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria and Uganda.

Federal data show that a majority of asylum claims made at airports occur in Quebec. Eric Forest, a spokesperson for Trudeau International Airport, said it is “not suited to receive a large number of asylum seekers daily nor should it be its mandate.”

The IRCC memo outlined the pros and cons of using “aggressive measures” to reduce its inventory of visa applications, which it described as a crisis situation. Among the drawbacks, there would be “increased pressure” on the asylum system, including for the CBSA, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, hotels and airlines.

As of June 30, there were more than 103,000 refugee protection claims pending at the IRB, an increase of 47 per cent over six months.

Ms. Ziaie Moayyed questioned why IRCC would waive some requirements when it already has methods to process applications in bulk.

“They could have used the technology tools they have to process those applications,” she said. “It wouldn’t have created this really bad precedent that Canada will, at some point, if pushed, allow a large number of applications to go through without any eligibility assessment.”

Source: Asylum claims jump at Canadian airports after Ottawa eases some visitor visa requirements

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Canada-U.S. refugee pact changes expected to ‘exacerbate existing threats’: memo

2023/10/23 Leave a comment

It may, but to date the number of irregular arrivals remains under 100, a small number compared to likely visa and permit overstays:

A newly released memo shows federal officials warned last spring that expanding a bilateral refugee pact to the entire Canada-U.S. border would likely fuel smuggling networks and encourage people to seek more dangerous, remote crossing routes.

Officials feared the development would also strain RCMP resources as irregular migrants dispersed more widely across the vast border.

The April memo, made public by Public Safety Canada through the Access to Information Act, was prepared in advance of a Cross-Border Crime Forum meeting with American representatives.

Under the Safe Third Country Agreement, implemented in 2004, Canada and the United States recognize each other as havens to seek protection.

The pact has long allowed either country to turn back a prospective refugee who showed up at a land port of entry along the Canada-U.S. border — unless eligible for an exemption — on the basis they must pursue their claim in the country where they first arrived.

However, until this year it did not apply to those who crossed between official entry points.

On March 24, during U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to Ottawa, the two countries announced the Safe Third Country Agreement would cover the entire land border effective the following day.

The move followed concern and debate about increases in irregular migration to both Canada and the United States.

The internal memo said the Cross-Border Crime Forum was an opportunity to reaffirm Canada’s commitment to ensuring fair, orderly migration between the two countries, in part through support for expansion of the refugee agreement.

The memo noted there was a drop in the number of irregular border interceptions by the RCMP between March 25 and April 25.

But “Despite preliminary positive results related to irregular migration volumes, changes to the (Safe Third Country Agreement) are expected to change the criminal threat environment and exacerbate existing threats to the Canada-U.S. border,” it noted.

It said individuals may be motivated to cross the border via more dangerous and remote routes in order to avoid law enforcement and circumvent the expanded protocol.

It is “highly likely that human smuggling networks will expand their operations and play a vital role in these clandestine entries” by providing services such as safe houses, fraudulent documents and transportation to and from the border, the memo said

“Human smuggling creates significant risks for irregular migrants and exposes them to dangerous conditions. Irregular crossings in remote, rural, or isolated locations may result in physical injury or fatalities.”

In addition, the memo said, the RCMP is aware that irregular migrants may become victims of physical or sexual abuse or human trafficking during their passage to Canada.

Irregular migration through isolated regions puts responding RCMP members’ health and safety at risk, the memo added. “These activities also produce challenges on the RCMP’s resources as irregular migrants become less concentrated and more dispersed across the Canada-U.S. border.”

The memo also warned that organized crime groups might use shifting irregular migration routes along the border to smuggle illicit commodities including drugs, guns and tobacco.

The internal warnings echoed concerns the Canadian Council for Refugees voiced upon expansion of the Safe Third Country Agreement. In that sense, the content of the memo is not surprising, said Gauri Sreenivasan, a co-executive director at the council.

“What’s very concerning is it underscores how clearly the government was aware of the dangers that were associated with closing down the border,” she said in an interview.

The council has consistently argued against the refugee pact, saying the U.S. is not always a safe country for people fleeing persecution.

The best public policy is to allow a claimant to show up safely at a border crossing and to hear their case fairly, Sreenivasan said. “There is nothing illegal about asking for protection. In fact, it’s a right protected under international human rights law.”

In late March, just after expansion of the refugee agreement, eight people drowned in the St. Lawrence River when an apparent attempt to smuggle them into the U.S. went awry.

A statement issued following the Cross-Border Crime Forum meeting in late April said cabinet members from the two countries asked officials to review recent incidents along the border to identify opportunities to improve intelligence, detection and interdiction to disrupt cross-border smuggling, investigate events and hold people accountable.

RCMP spokeswoman Marie-Eve Breton says co-operative efforts “have demonstrated that we can respond to the evolving threat environment encountered at the border.”

When people crossing between ports of entry are intercepted by the RCMP or local police, they are brought to a designated port of entry providing there are no national security or criminality concerns identified, Breton said. Once at the port of entry, the Canada Border Services Agency will then determine whether or not the claim is eligible under the Safe Third Country Agreement.

The border service agency says it works closely with Canadian and U.S. partners to ensure the lawful, safe and humane treatment of refugee claimants while maintaining border security.

“It is illegal to enter between ports of entry and it is not safe,” said border agency spokesperson Maria Ladouceur. “We encourage asylum seekers to cross the border at designated ports of entry.”

Breton also urged border-crossers to follow the rules. “This process is safer, faster and according to the law.”

Source: Canada-U.S. refugee pact changes expected to ‘exacerbate existing threats’: memo

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Des demandeurs d’asile qui s’adaptent plutôt que de combattre en vain

2023/08/11 Leave a comment

Given ongoing levels of asylum claimants, some suggestions to facilitante their integration at the local level. Silent on the need for faster processing and decisions on asylum claims, however:

Le 20 juillet dernier, dans un article du Devoir (« Un nombre record de demandeurs d’asile passent désormais par les aéroports »), on apprenait que les demandeurs d’asile n’étaient pas moins nombreux à entrer au pays depuis la fermeture du chemin Roxham.

En effet, en suivant la courbe des entrées chaque mois comparativement à l’année précédente, on anticipe que le nombre de demandeurs d’asile admis en 2023 au Canada serait vraisemblablement similaire à celui de 2022. Si la frontière terrestre au sud apparaît plus imperméable, les demandeurs d’asile arrivent dorénavant en plus grand nombre par les airs.

Après quelques mois, le constat se pose donc simplement : la fermeture de chemin Roxham ne semble pas avoir eu d’effet sur le nombre de demandeurs d’asile qui entrent au Canada. Le phénomène d’arrivée des migrants qui touchaient jusqu’à récemment principalement l’Europe et les États-Unis est désormais une réalité chez nous. Si cette tendance a été longtemps ignorée, elle devient maintenant incontournable.

Pour faire face à cette question de manière pragmatique, il faut davantage s’intéresser au continuum de services d’accueil et à leur coordination, une réflexion qui tarde à se faire. Une meilleure cohérence entre les politiques publiques devrait être recherchée afin de s’assurer de l’accueil et de l’intégration de ces migrants, mais aussi de l’atteinte des objectifs nationaux chers au Québec, notamment celui de la francisation et de l’accès égal à des opportunités.

À cet égard, un écueil d’envergure est la collaboration entre les différents ordres de gouvernement. Cette coordination entre les ordres de gouvernement et les organismes qui offrent la majorité des services d’installation et d’intégration doit reposer sur une séparation claire des pouvoirs et responsabilités, un alignement des stratégies ainsi qu’un financement proportionnel au niveau d’engagement de chacune des parties prenantes.

Échelle locale

Également, et la recherche est claire à cet effet, la coordination des services voués aux nouveaux arrivants doit être menée à l’échelle locale pour être optimale. Le gouvernement du Québec, qui est responsable des services d’accueil et d’intégration en vertu de l’entente qu’il a ratifiée avec le gouvernement fédéral en 1991, doit absolument s’appuyer sur les lieux de concertation municipaux ou régionaux qui ont développé l’expertise des défis et sur les ressources disponibles sur le terrain.

Pour l’instant, Québec, qui a transféré des compétences aux villes après l’abolition des conférences régionales des élus il y a presque 10 ans, peine à reconnaître le leadership de celles-ci dans la coordination des services locaux. Ses programmes et financements devraient être alignés sur les stratégies et les priorités locales, plutôt que d’en faire fi.

Les efforts et ressources seraient ainsi mieux alloués. De même, avec la mise en place des agents d’aide à l’intégration (les AAI, comme ils sont désignés par le milieu), Québec dédouble un service existant sans que ces agents aient la capacité d’arriver à la cheville de l’expertise qui s’est développée à travers les années dans les organismes communautaires.

L’arrivée des demandeurs d’asile crée d’ailleurs une pression immense dans les communautés, ses organismes et institutions, particulièrement dans la grande région de Montréal. Ce sont largement eux qui offrent les services d’installation, de francisation, pour l’aide à l’emploi ; ils accueillent les enfants dans les écoles, logent et équipent les familles, etc.

Or, les organismes sur le terrain vous le diront : pour faire connaître leurs services, il leur est souvent impossible d’entrer en contact avec les demandeurs d’asile pris en charge par PRAIDA, le programme québécois chargé des demandeurs d’asile. Ceux-ci finissent par accéder aux services des organismes du milieu, mais pas sans embûches.

Pour s’assurer de la pleine intégration des immigrants, notamment des demandeurs d’asile, et ce, dans l’intérêt de la société québécoise, Québec doit reconnaître le rôle stratégique joué par les communautés locales et s’assurer de les outiller adéquatement.

Responsabilité mondiale

En bref, il faut entrevoir une suite aux discussions concernant l’accueil des demandeurs d’asile, et ce, à tous les ordres de gouvernement. Il n’est pas étonnant que les décideurs aient bien voulu croire (du moins en apparence) que la fermeture du chemin Roxham aurait tout réglé : l’arrivée des migrants en Europe et aux États-Unis a largement polarisé les débats politiques depuis quelques années. La réalité canadienne demeure toutefois que le nombre de demandeurs d’asile qui passent ses frontières est minime par rapport à ce qui a été observé ailleurs.

À juste titre, la ministre de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration, Christine Fréchette, rappelait cet hiver que les demandeurs d’asile étaient avant tout des humains, exhortant ainsi à un peu d’humanité dans le débat public.

Les demandeurs d’asile sont admis officiellement au Canada comme réfugiés dans environ 50 % des cas après un processus administratif permettant d’évaluer leur demande. C’est donc dire que dans une large proportion, on juge qu’effectivement, leur sécurité et même leur vie sont menacées dans leur pays d’origine.

Établir ses pénates ici relève pour eux d’un exploit suivant un parcours difficile, et une chance inespérée de vivre en paix. Si ces migrants quittent leur terre natale, c’est qu’elle leur est devenue hostile pour de nombreuses raisons : groupes armés, conflits, persécution pour des motifs politiques et religieux, ainsi que les changements climatiques… Et bien sûr, les pays occidentaux ont aussi leur rôle à jouer, en amont, pour atténuer ces crises mondiales.

Source: Des demandeurs d’asile qui s’adaptent plutôt que de combattre en vain

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Asylum claims followed Montreal AIDS summit marred by visa woes, planning issues [better header: “Almost one-sixth of guests at a major AIDS conference in Montreal last year who received Canadian visas ended up claiming asylum”]

2023/07/25 Leave a comment

Indicates that IRCC was correct in its caution regarding granting visas, arguably not cautious enough. Cavalier attitude by immigration lawyer, “Good for them. If this is their only way of claiming asylum in a country, then so be it,” is telling:

Almost one-sixth of guests at a major AIDS conference in Montreal last year who received Canadian visas ended up claiming asylum, according to internal data obtained by The Canadian Press.

The documents also show that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) struggled to work with the International AIDS Society as both tried to avoid a mass refusal of visas.

When the society’s conference got underway in Montreal in July 2022, dozens of delegates from Africa had been denied visas or never received responses to their applications. Some accused Ottawa of racism on stage, saying international gatherings should not return to Canada.

Source: Asylum claims followed Montreal AIDS summit marred by visa woes, planning issues

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Un nombre record de demandeurs d’asile passent désormais par les aéroports

2023/07/21 Leave a comment

Of note:

Les passages par voie terrestre irrégulière, dont le chemin Roxham, ont drastiquement chuté au Québec depuis le resserrement de la frontière. Mais le nombre de demandeurs d’asile qui arrivent par avion ne cesse d’augmenter, au point où 2023 pourrait atteindre un sommet similaire à 2022 si la tendance se maintient.

Le gouvernement fédéral a de nouveau loué des chambres pour les accueillir dans au moins un hôtel, confirment des acteurs de terrain. Pour eux, cette nouvelle hausse démontre que la « fermeture » du chemin Roxham « n’a rien réglé » : les deux ordres de gouvernement n’ont toujours pris aucune mesure pérenne, disent-ils, dans un contexte où l’augmentation des demandeurs d’asile est un phénomène mondial.

Au total, en juin dernier, 4620 demandes d’asile ont été comptabilisées par Immigration, Réfugiés et Citoyenneté (IRCC) ainsi que l’Agence des services frontaliers (ASFC), les deux instances fédérales responsables. C’est à peine 20 de moins que pour le mois de juin 2022, où 4640 demandes avaient été enregistrées.

De celles-là, une majorité est arrivée par avion : ils ont demandé l’asile sur-le-champ à l’aéroport ou encore dans un bureau d’IRCC après un certain temps, selon la ventilation des données disponible.

On compte ainsi environ 31 000 demandeurs d’asile pour les 5 premiers mois de 2023 au Québec. Si le rythme d’ajout de plus de 4000 par mois se poursuit, le niveau de 2022 sera atteint, soit un peu plus de 58 000 au total.

Ces arrivées se font par voies régulières, contrairement aux années précédentes, où jusqu’à deux demandeurs sur trois passait par des voies irrégulières, surtout par le chemin Roxham.

Arrivée par voie régulière ou irrégulière, une personne a le droit de demander l’asile au Canada si elle craint la persécution dans son pays d’origine.

Peu importe le point d’entrée, ces demandeurs d’asile ont aussi souvent des besoins d’hébergement, rappelle des organismes, qui déplorent le manque de « solutions pérennes », dit Eva Gracia-Turgeon, directrice générale du Foyer du monde.

Manque de communication

Un moins un hôtel à Brossard a recommencé à loger des demandeurs d’asile arrivés récemment. Au plus fort des arrivées par le chemin Roxham, Ottawa gérait des lits pour plus de 2500 personnes au Québec. IRCC, responsable de ces hébergements, n’a pas été en mesure de confirmer combien de places ont été remises en disponibilité à l’heure actuelle.

Les demandeurs d’asile cognent déjà par eux-mêmes à la porte des organismes, faute d’obtenir des services sur leur lieu de résidence temporaire.

« À notre grande surprise, l’hôtel a été rouvert par le fédéral, mais on n’a pas été avisés », raconte ainsi Mame Moussa Sy, directeur général à la Maison internationale de la Rive-Sud (MIRS). Cette organisation est située à « littéralement quatre minutes à pieds » de l’hôtel à Brossard.

« On n’a pas été mis au courant par le fédéral, mais on les voit, les gens. On a dû improviser pour commencer à les accompagner. On a parlé à d’autres organismes de la région, aussi », expose M. Sy. Il souhaiterait une meilleure coordination, surtout venant des autorités, déplore-t-il.

Les maisons du Foyer du monde sont, quant à elles, aussi pleines. « On a juste déplacé la problématique. C’est normal qu’il y ait plus de gens qui passent par l’avion, car malheureusement, il n’y a pas d’autres moyens de demander l’asile », note Mme Gracia-Turgeon.

Elle croit aussi que la hausse se fera encore plus sentir dans les prochaines semaines et à l’automne, car son organisme est en quelque sorte en deuxième ligne, après l’hébergement d’urgence. « Pour moi, c’est aussi la preuve que “fermer” Roxham n’était pas une solution », dit-elle.

Les conflits armés et les changements climatiques continuent de pousser des millions de personnes à quitter leur pays d’origine, rappelle la directrice communautaire : « Il faut prévoir pour l’avenir, ce n’est que le début. »

L’hiver dernier, le milieu communautaire lançait un cri du coeur pour un meilleur soutien et une meilleure coordination. Le gouvernement avait alors débloqué 3,5 millions de dollars en aide d’urgence. « Mais c’était un plaster et, depuis, aucune mesure n’a été mise en place par les gouvernements », regrette-t-elle.

« On est dans une mouvance mondiale », observe aussi Stephan Reichhold, directeur de la Table de concertation des organismes au service des personnes réfugiées et immigrantes (TCRI). Il n’est donc pas surpris de cette « reprise » des arrivées. La TCRI souhaite voir plus de services pour tous les demandeurs d’asile, y compris ceux hébergés par le fédéral.

« On a l’impression que c’est toujours à recommencer » en termes de besoins et de recherche de ressources, affirme M. Reichhold.

Ailleurs au pays

Le phénomène est aussi bien visible à Toronto, où des dizaines de personnes ont été contraintes de dormir dans la rue, faute de place dans les refuges de la ville.

L’Ontario a également dépassé le nombre d’arrivées à pareille date l’an dernier, avec 21 480 demandes d’asile entre janvier et juin 2023, contre 11 350 en 2022.

Il faut dire que le système de refuges d’environ 9000 places de Toronto accueille à la fois les personnes itinérantes et celles qui cherchent à obtenir le statut de réfugié. La province voisine ne dispose pas d’un mécanisme comme le Québec avec son Programme régional d’accueil et d’intégration des demandeurs d’asile (PRAIDA), financé surtout avec de l’argent d’Ottawa.

Le nombre de nouvelles personnes hébergées au PRAIDA a légèrement fléchi depuis les modifications à l’Entente sur les tiers pays sûrs, qui ont davantage scellé la frontière. En juin, ce sont 1112 nouvelles personnes qui se sont présentées au PRAIDA, dont la capacité totale est de 1 150 places.

Causes possibles

Les arrivées par avion étaient déjà un phénomène présent depuis 2022, même si peu mis de l’avant dans le discours politique. Alors que le premier ministre François Legault demandait de « fermer » le chemin Roxham à plusieurs reprises l’hiver dernier, Le Devoir avait révélé en mars que la majorité des demandeurs d’asile dans des hébergements gérés par la province étaient arrivés par avion.

La majorité d’entre eux étaient alors des Mexicains, mais depuis, les origines se sont diversifiées. Depuis 2016, ces ressortissants n’ont plus besoin de détenir un visa pour visiter le Canada. Le Mexique continue à être le premier pays d’origine des personnes hébergées par le PRAIDA, mais on compte aussi le Sénégal, le Cameroun, la Colombie et Haïti dans cette liste.

Certains changements pour obtenir un visa de visiteur ont été mis en place récemment, mais IRCC n’a pas pu confirmer au Devoir s’ils étaient liés à cette hausse. Plusieurs voyageurs en provenance de 13 pays qui nécessitaient un visa auparavant peuvent maintenant demander une simple autorisation de voyage électronique, un processus rapide qui ne coûte que 7 $.

Une politique d’intérêt public a aussi été mise en place pour accélérer le traitement des visas de ce type. Elle permet aux agents de dispenser de certaines exigences pour des demandes de visite faites avant le 16 janvier 2022.

Source: Un nombre record de demandeurs d’asile passent désormais par les aéroports

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Near Roxham Road, RCMP border patrol relies on locals’ help – and tests their patience

2023/02/21 Leave a comment

Interesting account regarding the local residents affected:

While politicians in Ottawa and Quebec City bicker and negotiate over what to do about Roxham Road, locals must put up with frequent RCMP stops while at the same time trying to keep an eye open to help Mounties enforce border rules.

Matthias Kaiser, a farmer who owns land in the area near what is now internationally known as the official unofficial point of entry for asylum seekers in Canada, is used to interacting with law-enforcement agents from both sides of the border.

But with the rise in irregular crossings at Roxham Road and the RCMP operation there, “it’s more severe now,” he said. Mr. Kaiser, members of his family and his employees were all stopped on several occasions by the RCMP last fall.

Once, he was intercepted while driving with his wife on Alberton Road – Mr. Kaiser’s private farm road lined by his soy, alfalfa, and corn fields that runs 2½ kilometres to the east of Roxham Road and is the subject of intense scrutiny by the RCMP. Five police cars came after them.

“Unbelievable. I thought they were going to arrest me … When they asked me what I [was doing] here, I said, ‘Well, I drive on my road, and what are you doing on my road?’ ” Mr. Kaiser recalled.

He allowed the RCMP to patrol Alberton Road under the condition that they “put some gravel down once in a while,” something they have not done yet, he said.

On another occasion last fall, officers stopped his youngest son, driving with a Guatemalan employee. Somebody had to go and get the employee’s paperwork to prove he was not being smuggled.

RCMP officers also stopped other employees during harvest time while they were transporting truckloads of grain, saying they were looking for someone who got out of a car in the area. The interruption disrupted Mr. Kaiser’s operations, and he lost patience with the officers. “I had to apologize” after the heated exchange, the farmer said.

“I’m surprised they’re not here yet,” Mr. Kaiser said of the RCMP when The Globe and Mail met him on the private road Friday morning.

Sure enough, the flashing lights of a police cruiser and two agents appeared near The Globe’s rental vehicle parked on the farm road. Constable Tommy Pepin politely asked for ID and explained they wanted to make sure the vehicle was not abandoned by someone who planned to cross the U.S. border through the fields on foot.

Mr. Kaiser stressed that he has nothing against the officers and wants to maintain a good relationship with the RCMP. Most stops are short, he said, and he understands the importance for federal agents to look for potential smugglers.

But he questions the relevance of such efforts on the Canadian side. “They’re running after us, they’re running after one man but on the other hand, they let thousands come in, which they have no control over,” he reasoned, referring to Roxham Road.

The famous cul-de-sac, at the border between New York State and Quebec’s Montérégie region, has become the primary route for irregular entries into Canada in recent years. The RCMP intercepted 39,171 asylum seekers who did not use official ports of entry to enter Quebec in 2022, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada data, compared with just 369 in the rest of the country.

People who cross irregularly elsewhere are often brought to the RCMP’s Roxham Road facility for their application to be processed there, said Sergeant Charles Poirier, a spokesperson for the Mounties.

The long-standing Safe Third Country Agreement requires border agents from the United States and Canada to turn away asylum seekers from the other country if they arrive at official land border crossings. Because of this and given all the media attention it has received, most people coming from the U.S. who want to claim asylum in Canada use Roxham Road to avoid being turned away.

But sometimes, through bad luck, lack of knowledge of the area or for other reasons, people cross elsewhere, Sgt. Poirier said.

The RCMP’s main concern remains the smuggling of items such as firearms and drugs, he said. As the interaction with Constable Pepin showed, Mounties are also on the watch for smugglers and migrants going the opposite direction, into the U.S., sometimes risking their lives trying to cross in isolated areas in difficult weather.

This is likely what happened to Fritznel Richard, a Haitian migrant whose body was found on Mr. Kaiser’s land on Jan. 5. A little less than a year earlier, an Indian family of four died near the borderbetween Manitoba and the U.S.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection noticed a drastic uptick in recent months of people trying to enter North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin illegally from Canada. Swanton sector, which includes counties in New Hampshire, New York and Vermont, also had “historic highs” of apprehensions and encounters with migrants illegally crossing into the U.S., the U.S. border service said in a news release last week.

Sgt. Poirier worked for years with the local RCMP detachment, whose agents take care of Roxham Road arrivals and patrol a vast territory between Valleyfield and Lake Memphremagog. He said good relationships with locals are paramount to help prevent smuggling and avoid other deaths.

Dominique Martin, the owner of Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle’s Coolbreeze camping, said RCMP officers have questioned his clients on occasion. “If you walk on the road with a backpack, they are sure to stop you,” he said. Conversely, Mr. Martin called the Mounties several times when taxis left people near the campground, suspecting they made the hour drive from Montreal to cross irregularly into the U.S.

“It’s often people who call us,” Sgt. Poirier said of the locals. The RCMP monitors numerous surveillance cameras on the border, but “we need their intelligence,” he stressed.

Source: Near Roxham Road, RCMP border patrol relies on locals’ help – and tests their patience

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , ,

USA: The Rate of Successful Asylum Cases Shot Up This Year. But That’s Probably Not Due to Biden

2021/11/12 Leave a comment

Of note:

There’s been a significant uptick in the rate at which immigrants have been granted asylum since President Joe Biden took office, new research shows. But that likely has nothing to do with the new President’s policies.

Asylum case success rates jumped from 29% to 37% between Fiscal year 2020 and Fiscal Year 2021, during which Biden took office, according to a new report published Wednesday by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a data and research organization at Syracuse University. Looking only at the period Biden has been in office, the success rate has been 40% — and as high as 47% in September.
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“The obvious inference is, oh, well this is because of Biden,” says Austin Kocher, assistant professor and researcher at TRAC. But, he notes, the Biden Administration has made no major policy changes that would influence how immigration judges rule in asylum cases.

Instead, Kocher says, the higher rate of asylum grants may be due to a confluence of factors. For example, more asylum seekers this past year have had legal representation — and, historically, having a lawyer significantly increases the odds of winning asylum. (The reason for the uptick in legal representation is unclear. One possibility, the researchers say, is that attorneys representing clients with particularly strong cases may have simply succeeded in pushing their cases to the front of the line.)

Another factor may be the nationality of the people whose cases were heard. For example, Chinese applicants have more frequently won asylum cases in the past, while Haitian or Central American nationals have had lower success rates. “The country that people are from goes a long way in determining who gets asylum,” Kocher says. Geopolitics and U.S. foreign policy goals have historically played a big role in shaping asylum decisions.

The absolute number of people being granted asylum remains low, largely because courts have yet to resume their pre-pandemic decision rates after COVID-19 shut down some court activity. “The immigration courts have absolutely not recovered at all, not even a fraction really,” Kocher says. “We still have only had barely more than than 2,000 cases completed a month even right up until the end of September [2021].”

Immigrants Waiting Years for a Decision

Immigration courts are roughly 1.5 million cases behind schedule, which means thousands of people have been waiting for years for their asylum requests to be decided by a judge.

A partial shut down of immigration courts beginning in March 2020 as COVID-19 spread across the U.S. exacerbated this backlog. Before COVID-19, immigration judges were deciding approximately 10,000 asylum cases per month, according to TRAC. That number dropped after the pandemic started. In April of 2020, judges were deciding fewer than 2,000 asylum cases per month.

In Fiscal Year 2021, which ended in September, just over 23,800 asylum cases were decided in court. That’s down from 60,000 cases that were decided in Fiscal Year 2020. Roughly 8,350 people won their asylum claim in FY21, about half the number of people who won their claims in FY20, according to TRAC, which analyzed data it received through a Freedom of Information Act Request.

An additional 400 people won some type of relief from deportation in FY21 that was not asylum, the researchers note.

In the meantime, asylum seekers will likely have to continue to endure long waiting periods before their cases are heard in court. Prior to the pandemic it was not uncommon for people to wait up to four years for a case to be heard.

“The key thing here in terms of what’s driving a lot of the data is really getting past the pandemic,” Kocher says. “Until the immigration courts are fully open, and society is fully back to normal there’s just no way that the courts are ever going to be able to really get through these cases.”

Source: The Rate of Successful Asylum Cases Shot Up This Year. But That’s Probably Not Due to Biden

Filed under Refugees Tagged with , ,

Canada has right to turn back asylum-seekers at U.S. land border points, appeals court rules

2021/04/17 Leave a comment

Looks like a defeat for the more “anecdotal” approach of focussing on individual cases rather than the broader administrative oversight issue:

In a setback for refugee advocates, the Federal Court of Appeal has rejected the argument that it is unconstitutional for Canada to turn back refugees at the U.S. land border and prevent them from seeking asylum in this country.

The court sided with the federal government Thursday in overturning a lower court decision that had called into question the future of the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), amid arguments that the United States cannot be considered a safe country for asylum seekers.

The decision will have devastating effects on would-be refugee claimants, their advocates say.

“The real consequences of this decision rest with those refugee claimants who are being returned to U.S. detention facilities after being turned back and facing harm both in jail and in the U.S. asylum process,” said Amanda Aziz of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers.

“What is lost in this decision are the people who will continue to face real and severe harm because of the ongoing operation of the STCA.”

Under the bilateral pact, Canada and the U.S. each recognize the other country as a safe place to seek protection.

That means Canada can turn back potential refugees who arrive at land ports of entry along the Canada-U. S. border on the basis they should pursue their claims in the States, the country where they first arrived.

The agreement, which took effect in 2004, was originally touted by officials in both countries as a way to curb “asylum shopping.” However, critics have long argued that the U.S. asylum system is cruel and inhumane — critiques that grew louder during the Trump administration.

In July, the Federal Court found it unconstitutional to ban would-be claimants from attempting to enter either country at official border crossings, saying the impacts of the policy “shock the conscience.”

Justice Ann Marie McDonald had given Ottawa six months to respond and fix the policy to make sure it complies with the Canadian charter before declaring the accord invalid. That deadline was later extended at the request of the government while the appeal was being heard.

However, in its decision released Thursday, Canada’s appeal court said lawyers for asylum seekers and their supporters focused on the wrong issues in challenging the law’s constitutionality.

It said there are proper checks and balances in the legislative scheme to ensure Canadian laws and the charter are upheld, and it’s within the government’s authority to make regulations designating a country as safe for refugees.

Instead of using individual refugees’ experiences to show the bilateral pact itself violated their Charter rights, said the appeal court, lawyers for the litigants should have made a case of how existing administrative oversight has failed to safeguard their rights.

“The legislative scheme as a whole, assuming it is operated properly, is designed to protect fundamental human rights, including charter rights,” wrote Justice David Stratas in a unanimous decision on behalf of the three-member panel.

“Based on the record before us, to the extent that detrimental effects are being suffered by persons being returned to the United States, the legislative scheme as a whole is not to blame.”

The federal government welcomed the decision.

“Canada remains firmly committed to upholding a fair and compassionate refugee protection system and the STCA remains a comprehensive means for the compassionate, fair, and orderly handling of asylum claims at the Canada-U.S. land border,” said Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino and Public Safety Minister Bill Blair in a joint statement.

In its ruling, the appeal court said Parliament created a mechanism to monitor the designated country’s compliance on an ongoing basis.

Although the law doesn’t specify what continuing review means, who should conduct it and what should be examined in a review, a policy was developed for the assessment based on a wide variety of governmental and non-governmental sources.

The court said immigration officers also have a number of powers and discretions to make exemptions to accept claims by individuals who would otherwise be ineligible to cross into Canada and seek asylum under the Safe Third Country Agreement.

As well, refugee claimants have access to the Federal Court if they believe the circumstances of their removal warrant the court’s intervention.

“In this case, there was no evidence that could support a finding that the treatment of returnees to the United States at the Canada-United States border ‘shocks the conscience,’” said the appeal court.

“There is evidence of individual cases of substandard treatment but nothing that rises to the very high level required by the ‘shocks the conscience’ standard.”

In 2007, three advocacy groups — the Canadian Council for Refugees, Amnesty International and the Canadian Council of Churches — took Ottawa to federal court and successfully had the U.S. declared unsafe for refugees.

However, the decision was later overturned on appeal, largely on the grounds that the groups failed to find a lead individual litigant who was directly impacted by the policy.

In 2017, those groups returned to the court with a group of asylum seekers whose access to Canadian asylum was denied under the Safe Third Country Agreement to support their arguments.

This appeal court said some of the evidence, although voluminous, is piecemeal and individualized and, thus, is problematic for drawing system-wide inferences concerning the situation in the U.S.

“The value of evidence is not measured by the pound,” Justice Stratas wrote. “The evidence of the particular treatment of ten individuals — all selected by the claimants — cannot itself provide a basis for making system-wide inferences.”

Citing a previous court case that found psychological suffering inherent in the plight of refugees fleeing persecution, Stratas wrote: “One must ask whether sending refugee claimants back to the United States actually increased psychological suffering above this inherent level.”

Janet Dench of the Canadian Council for Refugees said the court’s findings were disappointing.

“The court heard the evidence of the very horrific experiences of people who were sent back to the U.S. The conditions in detention were found to be completely unacceptable by the federal court judge. Those experiences were not engaged by this court,” said Dench.

“Those experiences, the rights abuses and their suffering don’t seem to be heard in this (appeal) court.”

Source: Canada has right to turn back asylum-seekers at U.S. land border points, appeals court rules

Filed under Immigration, Refugees Tagged with , ,

Trans woman required to identify as ‘male’ by Immigration Canada: ‘It was agony’

2020/07/14 Leave a comment

As a refugee claimant only, based on their foreign passport. If their claim is accepted, Canadian documents allow for gender identity.

Given the apparent inconsistencies between the IRB and IRCC regarding the policy and its implementation, expect this will change but given the large numbers of temporary residents (students, workers) this would apply to, implementation may be more complex than it would appear:

The last thing Naomi Chen’s wife said to her before she fled Hong Kong was “don’t cry too much — Canada is the place where you can live as who you are.”

But this, it turns out, was untrue for Chen, a trans woman who says she was persecuted in Hong Kong because of her gender.

After arriving in Toronto Chen made a refugee claim and was then told by Canadian immigration officials she must be identified as “male” on her refugee protection claimant document, her only valid piece of identification in Canada.

Global News has agreed to use a pseudonym for Chen because of fears she could be persecuted if sent back to Hong Kong.

“I was stunned. I was crying. I was distressed,” Chen said. “This is not something I expected.”

According to government policy, all information on an asylum seeker’s immigration documents “must reflect what is indicated on their foreign passport.”

This is true even in cases such as Chen’s, where a person receives hormone therapy, has undergone sex reassignment surgery, and where their lived gender no longer conforms with the sex they were assigned at birth.

It’s also true for all temporary resident documents issued by the government, including work and study permits.

“It’s discrimination,” Chen said.

Since coming to Canada, Chen has felt isolated and dreads leaving her apartment because she might be asked to show her ID that says she’s a man, essentially outing her as a trans woman.

She also said being misgendered by the Canadian government makes her feel less valued than other people.

“I’m so afraid to live as a woman here,” she said.

Right to self-identify

The Canadian Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on: sex, race, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Ontario Human Rights Code also prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex or gender identity.

“A person’s self-defined gender identity is one of the most basic aspects of self-determination, dignity and freedom,” reads an Ontario Human Rights Commission policy on preventing discrimination based on gender identity and expression.

“For legal and social purposes, a person whose gender identity is different from their birth-assigned sex should be treated according to their lived gender.”

The federal government allows citizens, permanent residents and refugees whose claims are accepted, meaning they’re allowed to stay in Canada permanently, to change their sex or “gender identifier” on official travel documents, such as a passport or permanent resident card, by completing a one-page form.

Yet for refugee claimants whose cases have not yet been decided — even those whose claims are based solely on alleged persecution due to their status as an intersex or LGBTQ2 person — the only way they can change their documents to reflect their lived gender is if they first change the information on their foreign passport, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s policy.

But this is impossible in Chen’s case because she fled Hong Kong due to the persecution she experienced there, including the alleged theft of her business by family members after she came out as a trans woman.

Chen married a woman in Hong Kong before she transitioned. And because same-sex marriage is illegal in Hong Kong, even if she were able to change her original passport, which she can’t, she fears this would invalidate her marriage.

“It’s simply unconscionable that the Canadian government would knowingly contribute to a process that discriminates against individuals based on their gender identity and gender expression,” said Chen’s lawyer, Ashley Fisch.

Fisch also believes the government’s policy violates Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms by failing to provide “equal treatment under the law” for trans and gender diverse refugee claimants and by perpetuating the types of hardships they’re forced to endure in other countries.

“I just feel sorry for the poor woman,” said Amanda Ryan, outreach committee chair for Gender Mosaic, an Ottawa-based trans support organization.

Ryan believes recent changes to federal human rights law could be a basis for extending the right to self-identify to refugee claimants and temporary residents. She said education — both in and outside government — is key to expanding protections for the trans community.

“When you start talking to people and they start learning about trans issues, there’s an awful lot of sympathy and understanding for us,” Ryan said.

“People that don’t have to deal with a trans person simply don’t have that information. That’s ignorance in the true sense of the word.”

Trans and intersex refugees at greater risk

After arriving in Canada and undergoing initial screening to determine if they are eligible to make an asylum claim, would-be refugees are given their refugee ID, which must conform with their foreign passport.

Claimants must then submit their formal claim to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB).

The required paperwork asks claimants what sex appears on their foreign passport. However, contrary to Immigration Canada’s policy, claimants are told they can self-identify on IRB documents if their passport does not conform with their lived gender.

IRB adjudicators are instructed to refer to claimants by their preferred pronouns, including in written decisions, even if this does not match their foreign passport. The Board’s guidelines also acknowledge that not recognizing a person’s lived gender can lead to serious consequences.

“Trans and intersex individuals may be particularly vulnerable to systemic discrimination and acts of violence due to their non-conformity with socially accepted norms,” the guidelines say.

Dr. June Lam, a psychiatrist at the adult gender identity clinic at Toronto’s Centre of Addiction and Mental Health, said misgendering trans and gender diverse people can contribute to negative mental health outcomes, including increased suicidal thoughts and actions.

“It’s like we’re recreating the systemic oppression that they’re trying to escape by coming to Canada,” Lam said.

“These barriers really reinforce that even our society views their life, their identity as less valuable.”

While Lam believes Canada is generally a much safer place for LGBTQ2 people than many other countries around the world, he said being forced to use an ID that outs someone as having a different birth-assigned sex than their lived gender puts them at greater risk of physical and psychological harm.

He also cites research that found having a government-issued ID that reflects a person’s lived gender significantly reduces the likelihood of suicidal thoughts and actions among trans and gender diverse people.

“It’s almost like transgender folks have to proove themselves over and over again before our government and our society believes they are who they are,” he said.

Policy sometimes ignored

When Chen was first issued her refugee ID she was told in person by the Canada Border Services Agency that it must conform with her Hong Kong passport, in accordance with government policy.

Chen’s lawyer then sent a letter to the government requesting the ID be reissued with her correct gender, but the request was denied.

“We regret to inform you that refugee claimants are not able to request a change in gender,” a manager from Immigration Canada wrote.

But nearly identical requests have been accepted in the past, said Adrienne Smith, a Toronto immigration lawyer who specializes in LGBTQ2 refugee claims.

Smith knows this because the letter Chen’s lawyer sent the government was based on a template she wrote several years ago. Smith said she’s used this letter on multiple occasions to persuade immigration officials to issue documents in a claimant’s lived gender.

“It just doesn’t make any sense,” Smith said. “A trans refugee claimant shouldn’t need to have a lawyer that understands trans-specific issues in order to get access to a basic right.”

Global News asked the government to explain why refugee claimants’ documents must reflect the information on their foreign passports and whether this policy systemically discriminates against trans and non-binary asylum seekers. The government did not answer either of these questions.

The government also did not say whether it believes that insisting that non- Canadian citizens and temporary residents be issued documents that don’t align with their lived gender violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“Everyone should be free to lead happy and authentic lives in Canada, regardless of how they identify, or who they love,” said Kevin Lemkay, a spokesperson for Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino.

Lemkay said the minister has made reviewing gender identity requirements for government-issued documents a priority. This includes the refugee protection claimant document.

The government has also passed legislation, including changes to the Canadian Human Rights Act, that make it illegal to discriminate based on gender identity and expression, while introducing the “X” gender marker on passports and permanent resident cards.

“We remain steadfast in our dedication to inclusion and equality,” Lemkay said.

Despite being misgendered by the government, Chen is determined to remain in Canada. She believes Canada is a place where she can live a life free from the type of persecution she experienced in Hong Kong.

She also hopes that one day she’ll be reunited with her wife — who was denied an entry visa to Canada because of questions about the purpose of her visit, and who does not have a Hong Kong passport, which would exempt her from visa requirements — and that they’ll be able to live together in a same-sex marriage.

“I came to Canada for the freedom of my soul,” Chen said.

Source: Trans woman required to identify as ‘male’ by Immigration Canada: ‘It was agony’

Filed under gender, Immigration Tagged with ,

Ontario overestimated cost of services to irregular border crossers, AG finds

2020/07/11 Leave a comment

In contrast to Quebec, which estimated correctly:

Ontario significantly overstated the costs of providing services to asylum seekers coming into Canada from the United States, the province’s auditor general said Wednesday.

In a special report, Bonnie Lysyk said the $200 million estimate given by the governing Progressive Conservatives in 2018 represented the cost of providing services to all refugee claimants, not just so-called “irregular” border crossers.

She said the minister of social services at the time, Lisa MacLeod, was given inaccurate information by civil servants.

“The accuracy of information provided by the ministry to the minister for the public announcement was far off the mark,” Lysyk said in a statement Wednesday.

“Senior government officials need to ensure the accuracy of the information provided to government for public announcements and decision-making.”

MacLeod had formally requested $200 million from Ottawa to cover costs she said were incurred by the province and its municipalities as a result of an influx of asylum seekers arriving from the U.S.

Lysyk said her office found the Ontario government spent roughly $81 million on services for irregular asylum seekers between April 1, 2017 — when the federal government first started tracking their arrival — and July 31, 2018.

More costs were incurred until the border was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lysyk said.

She recommended Ontario seek an immigration agreement with the federal government that includes compensation for providing services to refugee claimants, including irregular border crossers.

The current deal does not, and the federal government has given $15.6 million in compensation to Toronto, Ottawa and Peel Region for their expenses during the April 2017 to August 2018 period, she said.

Quebec, which has a separate cost-sharing agreement with Ottawa, incurred $300 million in costs and has received $286 million in compensation, Lysyk said.

When asked about the report Wednesday, Premier Doug Ford said his government did not intentionally mislead the public and was simply relying on the information provided.

Ford blamed the federal government for leaving the province to shoulder the costs of what he called “illegal immigration,” and suggested the auditor general should do another report to examine more recent expenses related to the issue.

“Where’s the money? We need the money,” the premier said. “Every single day, it’s costing us more and more and more.”

Opposition legislators criticized the government for using inflated numbers to make policy decisions.

“The auditor general’s report makes clear that the claims Doug Ford and Lisa MacLeod made about the cost of accommodating asylum seekers in Ontario were pure fiction,” NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said in a statement.

“Shame on them for making stuff up to fan the flames of division instead of uniting us like they should have been.”

Liberal House Leader John Fraser said the Ford government has a record of “continually overstating, overstepping, and exaggerating.”

Ford previously came under fire for saying his government inherited a $15 billion deficit from the Liberals, and later revising that number down by about half, to $7.4 billion.

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said the debate over the costs of services for irregular border crossers took place at a time when many governments were “playing politics with immigration.”

“The government inflated this number … to provide cover for what in this case is a divisive political agenda, which I think was to question immigration policy in this country. And I think it’s wrong,” he said.

Canada’s Safe Third Country agreement with the U.S. says asylum seekers are required to make their claims in the first “safe” country where they arrive, which means those who try to enter Canada at an official land crossing are sent back to make their claim in the U.S.

The agreement does not cover those who come in through unofficial crossings, known as “irregular” asylum seekers.

The auditor says 36 per cent of refugee claimants in Ontario in recent years entered at unofficial points.

Federal data show 26,415 asylum claims were filed in Ontario in 2019, which could include some filed by irregular border crossers.

The province provides services such as temporary housing, settlement services and language training.

Source: Ontario overestimated cost of services to irregular border crossers, AG finds

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , ,

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