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Sebastian Saint-Jean/AFP via Getty Images
President Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Friday that the United States and Canada have reached an agreement that gives both countries the power to refuse asylum seekers at the border.
Prime Minister Trudeau said at a joint press conference in Ottawa that starting early Saturday morning, migrants entering Canada between official ports of entry will be promptly deported to the United States.
The new agreement will also allow the U.S. to send asylum seekers who crossed the northern border back to Canada at unofficial border crossings, according to the public text of the regulation to be published in the Federal Register.
The deal is the latest move by the Biden administration to deter immigrants from illegally crossing the border to seek asylum, overcoming opposition from immigration advocates and some Democrats.
“Today’s concerted action with the Government of Canada will protect the integrity of the asylum process, discourage dangerous crossings between ports of entry, and promote immigration,” said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorcas in a statement. would facilitate legitimate routes for
The United States and Canada have long held what is known as a safe third country agreement, which allows immigrants to turn back if they pass through an official port of entry. However, in Canada, traffic has increased dramatically at informal intersections.
Last year, more than 39,000 asylum seekers crossed into Quebec outside official ports of entry. Many used Wroxum Lords. Wroxham Road is a small road in upstate New York that dead-ends at the US-Canada border. This has prompted Canadian authorities to seek tighter restrictions.
Many of these immigrants first came to the United States at the southern border and were bussed to New York City. But since then, tens of thousands of people have found themselves stuck. I cannot work legally or send money to relatives in Venezuela or other countries in Latin America.
“We couldn’t just close Wroxham Road. People would have looked for other places to cross. That’s why we chose to modernize the Safe Third Country Agreement.” At a joint press conference, Prime Minister Trudeau said:
As part of the deal, Canada also agreed to provide 15,000 immigrants annually from Latin America and the Caribbean with “access to the legal channel,” according to the Department of Homeland Security.
“We will be accepting more asylum seekers from the Western Hemisphere to compensate for these irregular border closures,” Trudeau said in French through an interpreter.
But immigration advocates criticized the agreement for restricting the movement of asylum seekers.
“This is an unfortunate development for asylum seekers seeking protection and basic human dignity,” said Ellora Mukherjee, director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School.
“Asylum seekers flee violent situations to build a better future for themselves and their families,” Murad Awadeh, executive director of the New York Immigration Union, said in a statement. have traveled thousands of extreme miles in search of safety and relief: “Restricting the movement of asylum seekers now is recklessly endangering their lives.”
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