The United States and Canada have reached a deal that would allow both countries to reject asylum seekers who cross the border illegally because the effects of irregular migration span the hemisphere, according to a U.S. official.
President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will make the declaration on Friday after the two chiefs hold a bilateral meeting in Ottawa. Additionally, they are scheduled to participate in a joint press conference.
The agreement, first revealed by the Los Angeles Times, will permit Canada to dismiss transients from unofficial crossing points like Roxham Road, a small, well-traveled street that rides the Canada-U.S. border between Quebec and New York. François Legault, the premier of Quebec, has slammed Trudeau and urged the prime minister to bring the matter up with Biden. This route was used by approximately 40,000 asylum seekers last year to enter Canada.
According to the official, citing the Los Angeles Declaration, which emphasized a regional response to unprecedented levels of migration, Canada will also announce plans to welcome an additional 15,000 Central American migrants through legal pathways over the next year.
For both Trudeau and Biden, the announcement of the agreement is a welcome headline. The influx of migrants is also putting pressure on Canada, just as the southern border of the United States remains a vexing political issue for Biden.
“We’re seeing an increase in irregular migration going north into Canada, which reflects the regional and global migration challenges we have been talking about,’’ White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Air Force One on Thursday, without confirming the reports of an agreement. “We’re committed to working with them to address it, including by prioritizing orderly and safe migration through regular pathways.”
The Safe Third Country Agreement, a treaty that the United States and Canada signed in 2004, requires asylum seekers to make their claim in the first country in which they arrive, has been updated in this agreement. Asylum seekers can be returned to the United States under the terms of the agreement if they pass through an official border entry. This will now include asylum seekers who illegally cross the border as part of Friday’s agreement.
Trudeau told reporters on Wednesday, giving the impression that a settlement might be reached, “This is something that is as everyone knows a deep, important, complex issue that involves vulnerable individuals. It involves sovereignty and ensuring that our own citizens have access to an immigration and asylum system that is robust and efficient.”
The Biden administration’s recent strategy to prevent migrants from crossing the southern border is reflected in Friday’s announcement. Since Biden unveiled a plan earlier this year to deter those who do not use the plan’s legal pathways and accept 30,000 migrants per month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, border crossings have decreased.
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