Canada: Managing Asylum Seekers from the U.S.

 

"I know some people are struggling. I know it's tough, but in Quebec, our capacity to receive more and more people is overwhelmed."

"[Canada must ensure that] nobody is crossing the line between border crossings via the forest. Of course, I think it's really important to keep our humanity, to take care of people who live here, but we can't take more."

Quebec Immigration Minister Jean Francois Roberge 

"[Arrivals from Haiti are] somewhat different [because they are French-speaking]."

"That does not relieve us of the obligation to have a system that follows the rules and has the resources needed to properly manage asylum seekers."

Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet 

"I'm in favour of legal immigration. When people arrive here in Canada, if they are asylum seekers, they have to show that they are real asylum seekers."

"If someone is a true refugee who [is] truly in danger abroad and they come in under the proper rules, then they should be allowed to stay."

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre

There has been a significant change in the number of asylum claims since U.S. President Donald Trump took office, specifically at the regular border crossing in Lacolle, Que., according to Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) data obtained by Radio-Canada and CBC News. The data shows there had already been 557 asylum claims at Lacolle in the first six days of April — just three fewer than in all of January.  Photo: Getty Images

So many issues have erupted since the Trump administration returned to the White House, the world will have a difficult time adjusting to the impacts -- ranging from across-the-board abandonment of free trade, of trade pacts with the United States, of stiff new tariffs imposed on goods and services entering the United States, re-alignment of traditional trusted allies, uncertainty for NATO, and for Canada and likely Mexico as well, yet another influx of people claiming refugee status who have been targeted for their illegal status in the U.S. by receiving notice of deportation.

 

As a result, Canadian border authorities are seeing another rise in people seeking asylum at a Quebec border crossing near Montreal, leaving their years-long temporarily-granted status now revoked, to find potential haven in Canada. Haitians were given temporary status as a humanitarian gesture following a disastrous earthquake and in recognition of the civil war raging in Haiti and the dangers inherent in armed and dangerous gangs taking over civil society. As an option for their future they understandably don't recognize a return to Haiti as a solution to their homelessness.

 

In the first week of April alone, the Canada Border Services Agency report 557 migrants' arrival at the St-Bernard-de-Lacolle border crossing between New York and Quebec; roughly as many seen at that location for the entire month of January, approaching 40 percent of the number in March, when 1,356 claims were registered. Over 500,000 Haitians living in the United States with Temporary Protected Status will see that haven evaporate, ending in August. 

 

Migrants from Venezuela viewing a map of the US at a Welcome Center in El Paso, Texas in 2022  Getty Images

 

Since the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in 2010, Haitians were permitted to live and work in the U.S. Now, that protected designation sits on the cusp of ending, and some of those involved have decided to go to Canada, much as a previous wave of Haitians chose to do, whose permits were being revoked under the first term of President Donald Trump. Under the Safe Third-Country Agreement between the U.S. and Canada, asylum seekers can be sent by Canada back to the United States in reflection of its having represented a first safe-haven prior to arriving in Canada which under the agreement is then not obligated to admit them.

 

A family from Haiti approach a tent in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Quebec, stationed by Royal Canadian Mounted Police, as they haul their luggage down Roxham Road in Champlain, N.Y., last August. Charles Krupa/AP

A fresh influx of asylum seekers has no humanitarian popularity in Quebec, which has long since complained that its social services resources have been strained to the limit by years of illegal cross-border applicants for refugee status. The province, according to its immigration minister, is at full capacity for asylum seekers. His response is echoed by the leader of the Bloc Quebecois who maintains the federal government must accelerate the processing of asylum seekers so they can be distributed across the country to alleviate Quebec's burden.

 

It was announced last month by U.S. Homeland Security that it was in the process of revoking temporary status for 532,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. They had flown to the United States at their own expense, with a financial sponsor; their temporary legal status is set to end on the 24th of April. An end to Temporary Protected Status was also announced by the Trump administration for 600,000 Venezuelans and roughly 500,000 Haitians.

 

The Canada Border Agency, in anticipation of an influx of haven seekers, began expanding the Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle centre's intake capacity to enable expeditious processing of asylum claims "in the event of an influx". That influx has, as expected, materialized.

 

There has been a significant change in the number of asylum claims since U.S. President Donald Trump took office, specifically at the regular border crossing in Lacolle, Que., according to Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) data obtained by Radio-Canada and CBC News. The data shows there had already been 557 asylum claims at Lacolle in the first six days of April — just three fewer than in all of January.  CBC

 

There's so many people that have been deported since Donald Trump has been in office, you know they're just scared. [People have started receiving letters from U.S. authorities saying their status has been revoked].

So, as soon as they get the letter, they're looking for ways to get out of the states.

We've seen already what's happening, I don't think they're going to wait... because currently ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] is going to workplaces, to churches, going on the street. 

They intercept you and, if you are one of those, you're gone.

Frantz André, spokesman, Montreal-based group that helps undocumented migrants with asylum cases