A look at the expanded Canada\u002DU.S. Safe Third Country agreement and what it means for illegal border crossers.
In enacting these new changes, Canada is attempting to put an end to a loophole that made it possible for tens of thousands of asylum seekers to enter the country in recent years without being sent back to the United States. But it will likely also cause some bigger problems, warns immigration and refugee lawyer Maureen Silcoff, since migrants will come “undetected”.
Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada, also condemned the new agreement and said it is an “affront” to the rights of people seeking refuge in Canada. Silcoff said that the existing STCA is what created Roxham Road and what funnelled people through that unofficial border entry, and said there were better ways to solve the issue. She suggested simply ending the agreement to allow migrants to appear at ports of entry, and then be assessed by an independent tribunal to determine the merits of their refugee claim.
The new agreement is, however, seen as a win for the Trudeau government, who was under pressure by all federal opposition parties to either close Roxham Road or suspend the STCA. It’s also seen as proof that Canada was able to make the United States agree to budge on the northern border. Most of the U.S. efforts on asylum have been on their southern border.
The U.S. government notification did not specify when the revised ruling would come into force, saying it would happen when each side tells the other it has completed the necessary domestic procedures.Article content
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