«Je veux que Trump militarise la frontière nord»

2024/11/29 Leave a comment

Not surprising that many in border communities feel this way:

Chris Oliver n’avait pas besoin que le président désigné Donald Trump parle de la « frontière nord » pour savoir qu’il y a beaucoup de gens qui entrent aux États-Unis depuis le Canada : les traces de pas sont au bout de son champ, où les buissons sont piétinés au point de laisser voir des sentiers. Sa famille est établie depuis six générations à Fort Covington, dans l’État de New York, tout juste au sud de la frontière canado-américaine, qui délimite ses terres.

Il passait auparavant « quelques personnes par année », dit-il. Mais depuis un peu moins d’un an, le jeune père de famille américain est témoin de dizaines de passages par mois. Ce qui l’a mené à installer des caméras le long de ses champs et de sa forêt. « Cours, cours, cours », entend-on en anglais sur l’une des vidéos ainsi captées, où l’on voit trois jeunes enfants et une femme qui progressent vers le sud. Une autre femme, celle-ci enceinte, apparaît ensuite.

Les données sont claires : les migrants qui passent par le Canada pour traverser aux États-Unis représentent une fraction de ceux qui effectuent la traversée depuis le Mexique. Près de deux millions de personnes par année en moyenne ont été interceptées au sud des États-Unis entre 2021 et 2023, un sommet nettement redescendu dans les dix derniers mois, selon les chiffres du Service des douanes et de la protection des frontières des États-Unis (U.S. Customs and Border Protection). En comparaison, il y a eu 23 000 personnes interceptées le long de la frontière nord entre octobre 2023 et la fin septembre 2024. C’est donc plus de 80 fois moins qu’au sud.

Reste que l’augmentation du nombre de ces interceptions frappe l’imaginaire : elles représentent plus que les 13 années précédentes combinées. Cet été, « le trafic », comme M. Oliver nomme le phénomène, était tel qu’il a interpellé des élus fédéraux américains et a régulièrement parlé avec la patrouille frontalière.

Un modeste bungalow surplombe son terrain. Tout juste à côté, on peut voir une luxueuse voiture Mercedes — qui ne lui appartient pas. « Oui, c’est rendu qu’ils traversent en voiture », soupire-t-il. Le véhicule a été abandonné en août dernier par trois personnes, qu’il désigne comme des migrants, avant que la patrouille frontalière américaine ne vienne les chercher. Ceux qui forcent la frontière en voiture empruntent généralement d’anciens chemins transfrontaliers aujourd’hui condamnés, passent à travers champs et défoncent les clôtures.

La zone est pourtant très surveillée. Tout au long de son chemin qui touche à la frontière, il arrête sa camionnette à plusieurs reprises pour pointer les caméras installées par les autorités américaines.

« J’espère qu’un nouveau gouvernement va mieux gérer le problème », dit-il, révélant du même souffle avoir voté pour Donald Trump le 5 novembre dernier. Ne craint-il pas, comme plusieurs politiciens québécois, qu’au contraire, les arrivées se multiplient, même s’il s’agit plutôt de traversées vers le Canada ? « La seule chose décente à faire est d’essayer de ralentir ces gens. Donc, oui, ça va rester une préoccupation. Et, surtout, je ne saurai pas plus qui ils sont », répond M. Oliver, qui dit croire que M. Trump sera plus prompt à investir les ressources nécessaires pour l’aider….

Source: «Je veux que Trump militarise la frontière nord»

Chris Oliver did not need President-designate Donald Trump to talk about the “northern border” to know that there are many people entering the United States from Canada: the footprints are at the end of his field, where the bushes are trampled to the point of showing trails. His family has been established for six generations in Fort Covington, New York State, just south of the Canadian-American border, which delimits his land.

He used to spend “a few people a year,” he says. But for a little less than a year, the young American father has witnessed dozens of visits per month. This led him to install cameras along his fields and forest. “Run, run, run,” we hear in English on one of the videos thus captured, where we see three young children and a woman advancing south. Another woman, the pregnant one, then appears.

The data is clear: migrants who cross through Canada to the United States represent a fraction of those who make the crossing from Mexico. Nearly two million people per year on average were intercepted in the southern United States between 2021 and 2023, a peak significantly reduced in the last ten months, according to figures from the United States Customs and Border Protection Service (U.S. Customs and Border Protection). In comparison, there were 23,000 people intercepted along the northern border between October 2023 and the end of September 2024. It is therefore more than 80 times less than in the south.

However, the increase in the number of these interceptions strikes the imagination: they represent more than the previous 13 years combined. This summer, “trafficking”, as Mr. Oliver calls the phenomenon, was such that he challenged U.S. federal officials and regularly spoke with the border patrol.

A modest bungalow overlooks its land. Right next door, we can see a luxurious Mercedes car – which does not belong to it. “Yes, it’s made that they cross by car,” he sighs. The vehicle was abandoned last August by three people, whom it designated as migrants, before the American border patrol came to pick them up. Those who force the border by car usually use old cross-border roads that are now condemned, pass through fields and smash the fences.

However, the area is very guarded. Along his way to the border, he stops his van several times to point the cameras installed by the American authorities.

“I hope that a new government will better manage the problem,” he says, revealing with the same breath that he voted for Donald Trump on November 5. Doesn’t he fear, like many Quebec politicians, that on the contrary, arrivals are multiplying, even if they are rather crossings to Canada? “The only decent thing to do is to try to slow down these people. So, yes, it will remain a concern. And, above all, I will no longer know who they are, “answers Mr. Oliver, who says he believes that Mr. Trump will be quicker to invest the necessary resources to help him….

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Canada shouldn’t have to shoulder U.S. border problems – or vice versa – Immigration Minister says

2024/11/22 Leave a comment

Sensible but will see how it works in practice:

Immigration Minister Marc Miller says Canada should not have to shoulder the United States’ problems with border issues – and vice versa – adding that the U.S. needs to talk with Ottawa and work together if it wants issues affecting both countries addressed properly.

Last week, Tom Homan, U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s choice as border czar, said the security of the northern border with Canada will be a priority for the incoming administration, along with deporting millions of undocumented migrants. He called on the Canadian government to enforce its own immigration laws to stop people, including alleged terrorists, from slipping across the border illegally into the U.S.

Mr. Miller said in an interview that he is planning to meet Mr. Homan for talks about security on the shared border. Fears about waves of migrants trying to cross illegally into Canada to escape deportation have been raised by Bloc Québécois MPs.

“The basic point is this: The U.S.’s problems shouldn’t be Canada’s to shoulder, and Canada’s problems shouldn’t be the U.S.’s to shoulder. That is an alignment of interests that does coalesce around the border and how it’s properly administered,” he said.

“If the U.S. wants to affect anything in its national interest that affects Canada, if it wants it done in a way that we agree with or properly done, it’s going to need to talk to us and work with us,” he added.

Mr. Miller’s remarks followed the third meeting of a cabinet committee on Canada-U.S. relations, reconstituted after the re-election of Mr. Trump.

Source: Canada shouldn’t have to shoulder U.S. border problems – or vice versa – Immigration Minister says

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Immigration Minister Marc Miller says he expects tough conversations with the U.S. on border security

2024/11/15 Leave a comment

Understatement?

…Mr. Miller said Canada and the U.S. have had “equal challenges with respect to the flow coming from the U.S. into Canada, and have taken measures to secure it and to close some of the ways people get in here in an irregular fashion.”

“That’s going to continue,” he added, saying he would keep on working in the national interest of Canadians, which he believes “is aligned with the current administration and the one that is coming in to replace it.”

“I expect that conversation to continue fully, and I expect there to be some tough conversations,” he added.

In 2017, Haitians streamed into Canada from the U.S. after the first Trump administration ended temporary protected status for Haitians who had fled to the U.S. The policy sparked an influx of Haitians claiming asylum at the “irregular” Roxham Road border crossing into Quebec. After talks with the U.S., Roxham Road was closed in 2023. The Safe Third Country Agreement was renegotiated, barring migrants making it to Canada through irregular crossings, including Roxham Road, from claiming asylum.

With an estimated 11 million undocumented residents in the U.S. facing removal, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet has predicted that the “saga of Roxham Road” could begin again.

Mr. Miller said the agreement has allowed Canada to have a managed flow of migrants that is important to Canada’s economic relationship with the U.S.

“Are there changes to be made at any particular point in time when we see behaviours changing, when we see our security agencies advising us to adopt a different posture? I think absolutely,” he said. “Those are conversations that won’t be had in public.”…

Source: Immigration Minister Marc Miller says he expects tough conversations with the U.S. on border security

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Immigration minister says ‘not everyone is welcome’ in response to concerns about Trump deportation plan

2024/11/13 Leave a comment

Needed message from the minister and lawyers identifying a possible loophole:

…On Monday, several immigration lawyers urged Ottawa to change a policy that allows migrants fleeing from the U.S. to claim asylum here if they cross the border illegally and evade the authorities for two weeks.

In 2017, Haitians streamed into Canada from the U.S. after the first Trump administration ended temporary protected status for Haitians who had fled to the U.S. The policy sparked an influx of Haitians claiming asylum at the “irregular” Roxham Road border crossing into Quebec.

After talks with the U.S., the Safe Third Country Agreement was revised and Roxham Road was closed in 2023. The changes tightened the rules, but allowed someone entering Canada illegally from the U.S. and remaining undiscovered for 14 days to file a refugee claim in Canada. Those arriving from the U.S. at airports and regular border crossings are usually turned back.

The lawyers cautioned that unless Ottawa changes the policy quickly, record numbers of people facing deportation by Mr. Trump would try to make it to Canada, where they could qualify for a work permit and health care while waiting for their claim to be processed.

Winnipeg refugee and immigration lawyer David Matas urged the government to speak to the Biden administration now, before Mr. Trump takes office in January, about changing the agreement. He said the 14-day provision is “an incentive to traffickers to get round the system.”…

Source: Immigration minister says ‘not everyone is welcome’ in response to concerns about Trump deportation plan

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U.S. border patrol reports record number of encounters with migrants at the Canadian border

2024/09/13 Leave a comment

Quite a shift from most coming North to many going South:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection says it recorded a record-high number of encounters with migrants between border posts on the Canada-U.S. border between October 2023 and July of this year.

It’s a pattern experts say could be a problem for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government as the question of illegal immigration heats up in a close-fought U.S. election.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) records an “encounter” in its database when it comes across someone who is inadmissable to the U.S., or when border patrol officers find someone who has illegally crossed the border into the U.S. between border posts.

CBP reported encountering 19,498 migrants between border posts on the northern border between October 2023 and July 2024 — 15,612 of them in the Swanton Sector, which runs along the Quebec’s border with New York and Vermont.

While the numbers still pale in comparison with the U.S southern border, that’s more than twice as many as the 7,630 encountered between border posts during the same time period the previous year.

The year before that, CBP reported encountering only 2,238 migrants between border posts at the northern border.

U.S. news coverage of the surge in migration over its northern border intensified over the summer. In an interview with Fox News on Aug. 22, after complaining about illegal migration over the southern border, former president Donald Trump said the U.S. now had a problem on the northern border with migrants coming in from Canada.

Kelly Sundberg of Mount Royal University said the matter could become a political hot potato for the Trudeau government, regardless of who becomes the next president of the United States.

“I hate to admit it, but I think that Donald Trump is right on this, that there is a need to focus north,” said Sundberg, who worked for many years as an enforcement officer with the Canada Border Services Agency.

“But it’s not just the Trump campaign. The [Kamala Harris] campaign has indicated also that they have acknowledged that there’s concerns on the northern border.”

RCMP Sgt. Charles Poirier said “there isn’t a day or night where there isn’t a crossing.” In Quebec alone, the RCMP intercepts an average of more than 100 people per week on the Canadian side of the border and Poirier said that’s only a portion of those headed for the U.S….

Source: U.S. border patrol reports record number of encounters with migrants at the Canadian border

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Migrants Face Cold, Perilous Crossing From Canada to New York

2024/02/12 Leave a comment

The numbers that help explain the expansion of the STCA to the length of the border, not only a Canadian concern:

…Officials at the northern border recorded 191,603 encounters with people crossing into the United States in 2023, a 41 percent increase from 2022 — though still a small number in comparison with the more than two million people apprehended on the southern border last year.

And while the vast majority of those migrants presented themselves at official ports of entry to request asylum, a growing number were caught after crossing illegally into the United States, sometimes guided by smugglers.

More than 12,200 people were apprehended crossing illegally from Canada last year, a 241 percent jump from the 3,578 arrested the previous year. Most of them were Mexicans, who can fly to Canada without a visa and may prefer the northern border to avoid the cartels that exploit migrants in their country.

The phenomenon has transformed a 295-mile border area along northern New York, Vermont and New Hampshire into a hot spot of migration: About 70 percent of the illegal crossings in 2023 happened on this stretch, known as the Swanton Sector.

Source: Migrants Face Cold, Perilous Crossing From Canada to New York

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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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As NH expands surveillance along the Canadian border, immigration and civil liberties activists push back

2023/10/25 Leave a comment

Of note. Would be helpful to have some numbers but a reminder of two way traffic across the border. Interesting no mention of expansion of the STCA to the entire border. As the article notes, seems more political than substantive:

New Hampshire’s plan to increase patrols and surveillance along its border with Canada is drawing praise from Republican politicians. But civil liberties and immigrants rights activists are raising alarm that an expansion of police powers comes despite a lack of data supporting claims there are migrants flowing across the state’s international boundary.

Gov. Chris Sununu and Attorney General John Formella released details of the Northern Border Alliance Task Force last week. The $1.4 million effort includes the purchase of unspecified equipment and increased police patrols within 25 miles of the border. State officials are also granting new powers to local and state police to temporarily detain suspected migrants who crossed the border without proper paperwork.

The move comes as U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials say they’ve seen a surge in crossings in the region, though neither federal nor state officials have shared hard numbers about the rate of crossings along New Hampshire’s portion of the international border.

Sebastian Fuentes, with the advocacy group Rights and Democracy, called the new initiative little more than “performative politics” in advance of next year’s election.

“Nobody has been able to show any numbers, or any kind of data, to validate those comments,” said Fuentes, who lives in Thornton.

The ACLU of New Hampshire is in an ongoing legal battle with Border Patrol over the release of state-level statistics on illegal crossings. On Friday, the civil liberties group also criticized the governor’s office and the New Hampshire Department of Safety for leaning into this new enforcement effort without showing hard evidence for why it’s needed.

Frank Knaack, the group’s policy director, characterized it as part of an effort to “to expand police power and surveillance within the Granite State under the guise of a ‘crisis’ on our border.”

The new task force was funded in the latest two-year state budget. The money, according to Formella, will cover the cost of an additional 10,000 hours of patrols by local and state police near the international border.

The Department of Justice is also laying out new rules to allow those officers to “cooperate with federal law enforcement officers in preventing and detecting crime and apprehending criminals, including those who have committed federal immigration-related crimes.” In practice, this could allow officers to temporarily detain suspected migrants who entered the country illegally and hand those people over to Border Patrol officials.

While state and federal officials haven’t specified how many border crossings are happening in New Hampshire, the Border Patrol has released statistics documenting a surge in interactions with suspected migrants across the region encompassing New York, Vermont and New Hampshire. Border agents have reported nearly 7,000 interactions in the region in the past 12 months, up from 1,095 encounters with suspected migrants during the 12 months prior, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Federal authorities have announced two suspected cases of human smuggling along the New Hampshire border in 2023. In one instance this July,10 people were detained in Pittsburg — nine people who allegedly entered the country illegally, and one man accused of facilitating their crossing. In September, four more people accused of illegal entry were arrested in Stewartstown, inside a vehicle that was first spotted in Vermont, according to court paperwork.

At a press conference announcing the new task force, Sununu criticized the Biden Administration and the state’s congressional delegation — all Democrats — for a lack of action on border security.

“We can’t stand by, and we won’t,” Sununu said. “We’re going to do whatever we can to make sure that we’re providing the necessary resources and security for our citizens.”

The northern border has become a regular stop for Republican politicians seeking elected office in recent months, including presidential and gubernatorial hopefuls. Earlier this summer, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen also met with local law enforcement during a trip to Pittsburg.

In a statement, Shaheen’s spokesperson rejected Sununu’s claims of inaction by Democrats, noting that she has been advocating for the issue dating back to her time as governor and has backed more funding for border patrol as a U.S. Senator.

Source: As NH expands surveillance along the Canadian border … – Maine Public

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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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Canada’s change to its Roxham Road deal is called a ‘shameful downgrading’

2023/10/17 Leave a comment

Of note. The Temporary Foreign Workers Program is economic, not humanitarian:

The federal government has been accused of downgrading its commitment to welcome 15,000 “humanitarian” migrants that it agreed to in exchange for closing down the land border to asylum seekers.

Instead of accepting 15,000 migrants on humanitarian basis, Ottawa now said 4,000 of the spots will be allocated to temporary foreign workers while the other 11,000 spaces — for permanent residence — are restricted to Colombians, Haitians and Venezuelans.

“It is a shameful downgrading of our commitment to refugee protection in the Western Hemisphere. We are deeply disappointed with the government’s backpedalling on already insufficient targets for refugee protection,” said Gauri Sreenivasan, co-executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees.

“Let us be clear, the temporary foreign worker program is not a humanitarian program. It is one designed to fulfil Canadian economic needs. It only affords temporary access and is marred by its own serious rights violations.”

In March, Ottawa and Washington expanded the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement across the entire shared border — not just at the official ports of entry.

In doing so, they closed a loophole that had been used by irregular migrants to cross from one country into the other, through unguarded border crossings such as Roxham Road in Quebec, to seek asylum.

Following the announcement, a joint statement said Canada would bring in an additional 15,000 migrants on a humanitarian basis from the Western Hemisphere over the course of the year to expand safe, regular pathways as an alternative to irregular migration. (Canada had set a target of 76,305 permanent residence spots for refugees and protected persons in 2023; the 15,000 will be on top of that.)

“We couldn’t simply shut down Roxham Road and hope that everything would resolve itself,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters at a news conference then.

“At the same time, we continue to be open to regular migrants, and we will increase the number of asylum seekers who we accept from the hemisphere — the Western Hemisphere — in order to compensate for closing these irregular crossings.”

Earlier this week, advocates who were already upset with the arrangement were shocked when Immigration Minister Marc Miller released further details about the new resettlement initiative.

Starting this fall, the permanent-residence pathway will be newly available for up to 11,000 Colombian, Haitian and Venezuelan migrants in Central or South America or the Caribbean. To qualify, they must have extended families in Canada, who are either a citizen or permanent resident.

The Canadian relative must be at least 18 years old and sign a statutory declaration that they will provide supports to the applicant to help their settlement and integration, such as helping them find housing, enrolling children in school, and registering adults for language classes.

While the humanitarian pathway has yet to open for application, immigration officials said they are on track to bring in the additional 4,000 temporary foreign workers from the Americas.

The 15,000 new arrivals would not have to meet the United Nations refugee definition — as those arriving at Roxham Road often sought to — and the Immigration Department has not clarified what the standard of humanitarian need would be.

“This is a far cry from the protection that was promised to refugee claimants when Roxham Road was closed and it is not acceptable,” said Sreenivasan.

“We urge the government to at the very least stick to their original commitment and ensure all 15,000 arrive to permanent safety in the country.”

The Immigration Department said the humanitarian program is open only to Colombian, Haitian and Venezuelans because they make up the largest volumes of irregular migrants fleeing ongoing violence and political unrest in the continent.

Those from other nationalities, it said, can still come under the temporary foreign worker program and the so-called Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot, which grants permanent residence to skilled refugees abroad if they have a Canadian job offer.

“Safe and regular migration pathway are alternatives for irregular movements, which are often dangerous ways to move across borders, where people are made vulnerable by criminal gangs and put in terrible humanitarian situations,” said department spokesperson Mary Rose Sabater.

“By providing access to regular pathways, including through existing temporary foreign worker streams, more people have access to safe migration opportunities to work in Canada.”

Sabater said the yet-to-open humanitarian program will close one year after launch or when 3,500 applications representing up to 11,000 migrants have been approved.

Source: Canada’s change to its Roxham Road deal is called a ‘shameful downgrading’

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