Canadian border | US tightens asylum rules

(Washington) The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has announced that people seeking asylum at the border with Canada will have less time to consult with a lawyer before submitting their cases, as President Joe Biden’s asylum ban heads to Canada’s doorstep.

Mr. Biden announced sweeping changes in June, primarily targeting the U.S.-Mexico border, as the issue remains a thorn in Democrats’ side ahead of the November election. The new procedural changes, confirmed by the department on Tuesday, will affect immigrants crossing into the United States from Canada, whose recent surge has drawn attention from Republicans.

The Department of Homeland Security says it has reviewed the Safe Third Country Agreement with Canada and concluded that it could streamline the process without affecting access to fair procedures for determining an asylum claim.

Under the agreement, in force since 2004, refugees must apply for asylum in the first of two countries where they land.

“Huge alarm signal”

The change in procedure means that people entering the United States from Canada will now have four hours to consult with a lawyer, a significant reduction from the previous 24-hour period, said Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.

“It makes it incredibly difficult when you think about how legal service providers operate,” she said.

The change also means that border officials will only consider documentary evidence that asylum seekers have with them when they arrive. People fleeing for their lives typically do not have their personal belongings with them, Mr.^me Bush-Joseph, “and even less tons of persecution documents.”

Ottawa had not responded to a request for comment by the time of publication.

“This is a huge red flag,” warned Jamie Chai Yun Liew, a law professor at the University of Ottawa. “It really raises the question of whether or not the United States is living up to its international obligations.”

She was part of a legal team that intervened when the deal ended up before the Supreme Court of Canada. The court ruled last year that the pact with the United States was constitutional.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Biden updated the Safe Third Country Agreement around the same time to close a loophole that allowed people who bypassed official border crossings to file claims.

This led to a dramatic drop in the number of people crossing into Canada from the United States through unofficial border crossings, but the number of people travelling in the opposite direction began to increase.

Strengthening processes

Data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows that agents took 12,612 people into custody along the international border with Canada in the first six months of 2024. The sharp increase — up from 12,218 in all of 2023 — has become a talking point for Republicans, as immigration and border security remain a political liability for Democrats.

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas last month urging him to strengthen vetting processes along the U.S.-Canada border.

“The possibility of terrorists crossing the Canada-U.S. border is deeply concerning given Hamas’ deep penetration of Gazan society,” Rubio wrote in the letter, after Canada promised to increase temporary visas for Gaza residents seeking to join family members in the country.

Former US president and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump hammered home his criticism of border security and immigration under the Biden administration during a lengthy conversation with tech billionaire Elon Musk on Monday night.

Mr Trump reiterated that the border was Vice President Kamala Harris’s problem and claimed the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee was “not a smart woman”.

Additional obstacles

The new rules at the Canada-U.S. border mirror changes to timing constraints made at the U.S. border with Mexico earlier this year.

M^me Bush-Joseph said lawyers have already seen the fallout from the policy. Four hours is typically not enough time to learn about an asylum seeker’s background, determine whether they qualify for exemptions and prepare them for an interview, she said. In some cases, there are additional hurdles, such as not speaking the same language or the lawyer not being able to see the documents.

M^me Liew said she understands governments trying to deal with backlogs and long processing times, but she said the new delays do not ensure people get a fair hearing.

“They fail to balance the interests of the efficient movement of people across the border with ensuring that we meet the obligations that are owed to those people.”

– With information from the Associated Press